Ryan Meader
Entrepreneur / Creative Director / Videographer
READ MY STORY - Love 4 Creation
Ryan Meader - Founder of 3Hi LLC / 2021
My First Entrepreneurial Endeavor
In 2015, during my sophomore year of high school, I started my very own clothing company called Foolish with the help of my friends. This was my first entrepreneurial endeavor, so I had no idea what to expect - but quickly I realized how powerful of an impact one idea can have on a group of people. After a small investment, I had my first inventory of t-shirts and long sleeves with a design that I made myself printed on the front. The experience of seeing my very own design come to life was super accomplishing, but what really made me fall in love with running my own company was yet to come. Before I knew it, dozens of students from my high school were contacting me to buy one of my shirts. Every night consisted of packaging up new orders or recording pre-orders for my next batch. All the success I was seeing, came so easily. I was just showing my friends what I made and word of mouth took off. But soon I realized that companies with no sense of marketing have a very limited lifespan. Once everyone who wanted a shirt in my school and surrounding towns/states got one, the "hype" of my brand quickly died. I was so young and was yet to take any marketing classes, but the developed passion for entrepreneurship and creation was there. So after retiring my first project, I started engaging myself in the marketing courses and resources through my high school and community. Those same friends and I played around with new brand ideas including LVL and a brand called DreamsNevrDie that we actually pitched at a DECA marketing conference. Aiming High Enough As time moved on, and my "big idea" that I told myself I would wait for hadn't come yet, I found myself at the podium receiving my diploma. That summer before I would leave for college, I sat down with my two best friends time in and time out, brainstorming that one big idea. We constantly were telling ourselves that we were overthinking the whole concept and in turn "aiming too high". But we eventually came to the conclusion that telling ourselves this would only make us content for settling. So collectively, we essentially said one night "Screw that" and that we should be striving for something even larger - that we shouldn't even be aiming too high but "three high". And there, was born "3Hi". Passion for Production I grew obsessed with the concept of business at such a young age, and I've been in love with creating my own products and content ever since. 3Hi, an idea I have felt so confident about since the night it was blueprinted, came three years after my initial business endeavor. Not only had I grown so much in those 3 years as an individual in business and marketing, but I also developed a fiery passion for production on multiple levels. Before I graduated, I picked up photography and videography in my Graphics class and was often considered a teacher's pet because of all the time I spent in the lab after school hours editing content that I had been working on. Content production became another hobby that I grew OBSESSED with. This obsession quickly started tying into my love for music and before I knew it I was producing music with the same friends I spent hours doing photo and film shoots with on the weekends. Furthermore, I was 18 and had this idea for a brand that I felt so strongly about it but I wasn't sure if a well-marketed clothing company was aiming high enough for me. To tackle this issue, I combined all my passions, obsessions, and hobbies together and told myself that 3Hi was going to be a brand with various avenues. If I wanted to embody this brand and I wanted the brand to embody me, I was going to do it all. Soon, 3Hi was a growing brand selling shirts, hats, etc. AND pushing out content of multiple formats and on numerous platforms. We were making music, vlogs, skits - anything we wanted to bring to life. I obviously took my marketing education seriously and applied them to the operation but I also learned that by having all these avenues of content, they were marketing each other within my brand. The Brand on Campus My two best friends and I moved away to college and quickly found ourselves surrounded by new people we met and who loved what 3Hi was trying to do. 3Hi started to have this community feel to it - where you could indulge in the vibe and atmosphere of this "make it come alive" culture. As some projects started to feel like shooting for the stars, more and more people were jumping on board to make them happen, and naturally the 3Hi team began to expand. Before we knew it, there were around 10 core members of the group, all of which who were seriously engaging themselves in the content we wanted to make. By sophomore year of college, we released an entire studio album completely produced in house under a record label branded by the same company we were just selling t-shirts under to the friends of our younger siblings - 3Hi. I knew that this brand was special because we weren't just another college campus t-shirt brand, we were doing so much more. But as it says in the name, we wanted to accomplish even MORE. In the summer of 2020, I wanted to come up with a project that would lift the pandemic spirits, or lack thereof, and get inspired kids outside. A Teenage Film Crew Soon, what was planted was the seed of my dream project since I was a kid. I spent the first two months of quarantine in my basement sitting at an old broken desk writing the script for a short film. I wanted the film to be a prequel to an even bigger series to come, essentially signing a contract with myself for future films to be produced down the road. I spent endless hours building characters and logistics, writing a story, and gathering a film crew. I had reached out to the UNH football team's videographer, an extremely talented kid, to be my Director of Photography and he immediately was on board to make it happen. In August 2020, I rented an Airbnb in the town where my film was to be located. For 5 days, I invited all the 3Hi members and outside film crew guys to stay at the condo while we shot this film. This was something none of us had done before so we knew it was going to be an absolute journey. After working through legitimate blood, sweat, and tears, we overcame what was likely the entire crew's most challenging endeavor thus far in our lives. Not only had we gathered an entire film's worth of footage, but we grew together as a team and bonded into a band of brothers. The last day of this journey was both a beyond emotional and inspiring moment for me. I realized journeys and moments like this was what 3Hi was all about and I was going to take this movement to the grave with me. *short film "JAGO" releasing sometime in 2021 Forever Aiming "THREE HIGH" Since then, numerous other accolades have been accomplished. More clothing pieces were constructed and sold, another music album was released, more videos were produced, and in October 3Hi became an official LLC. A creative team having the versatility to also take on a professional and organizational structure is a very proud thing to be apart of. 3Hi now has a CEO (myself), VP, Marketing Director, Music Director, COO, Director of Fashion and many more officers. We are still a small company, but our extensive story of how we got to where we are today bestows a promising shine on where will go in the future. I eat, sleep, and breathe our brand, and I live for telling our story to whoever is listening. THANK YOU |
To live is the rarest thing in the world. |
Licenses and Certifications
Adobe Creative Suite Certifications / Photoshop and Premiere Pro
In my senior year of high school, I complete two Adobe Suite courses and earned certification in both Photoshop and Premiere Pro. LLC Certificate of Good Standing / 3Hi
In October of 2020, I worked closely with my COO to complete the necessary procedures to become recognized as a Limited Liability Company by the State of New Hampshire. Fill the Funnel / JB Sales Training
In the summer of 2020, I completed a sales raining program through JB Sales Training and did some part-time intern work for a close friend and current member of the sales team. |