Will Hardison, 25, is the founder of a new BMX apparel company out of Indianapolis, Ind. His clothing company, Fourcast, grew out of his desire to produce a footwear line nearly three years ago. However, after a few prototypes, Hardison realized the direction he was headed was just too expensive, leaving him to put the company on hold altogether.
That was until this past summer.
“I was wearing one of the shirts around a local mall and got a handful of compliments on it. Even from a few managers of lifestyle stores,” says Hardison. “It sparked my interest in doing more of an apparel line.”
With two up-and-coming riders on his team, clean designs, a professional looking website and a grassroots approach to things, it seems as though Fourcast has all the workings to be a successful BMX company. As of now, Hardison runs the company entirely out of his home, complete with a bedroom turned office and another turned stockroom.
For him, the current state of the economy is easier to forget than to fret over.
“I pretty much ignore the state of the economy. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad idea,” he says. “Instead of going huge with trade show booths and forcing stores to buy our product, we’re creating a huge underground grassroots movement that we hope will persuade stores to call us asking to carry our brand.”
Currently, Fourcast relies heavily on social media as a means of marketing. Every morning Hardison wakes up at 6:30 a.m. to update and keep up with Facebook, Twitter, the blog and email. Already, the company has nearly 2,000 followers on Twitter, a Facebook fan page, a YouTube channel and a profile on Vital BMX (a popular BMX social network).
Aside from his new company, Hardison also owns a creative agency, designing and developing websites for other companies. Even being armed with a strong business sense already, he admits that splitting time between the two has both its ups and downs.
“Since I own both companies, its not hard to focus on both. I just have to make sure that all of the tasks for both companies are done for the day before I turn the computers off,” he says. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen because you just never know what will happen during the course of a given day.”
For Fourcast’s future, Hardison says he hopes to sponsor a BMX team of household names, ultimately helping turn the company into a household name itself. As for now, he plans to continue adding new apparel and riders, and focus his attention on providing innovative products no one else in BMX is offering.
Learn more about Fourcast:
Managing the Recession 
This was a great interview for your project. You can also ask how the internet benefits him as far a advertising and getting his name out there? This could go for other people as well that you interview, how does the internet benefit them.
Brand names are a staple in the business world, and this is one that I’ve never heard of. I think that this is a story that’s going to really pan out for you, and I would love to read your module when you’re done with it. Good luck with this.
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