The Pivot: From Fashion to Fatherhood:Shawn Rhoder's Entrepreneurial Journey

What happens when an entrepreneur's greatest innovation isn't a product, but his approach to fatherhood? Shawn Rhoder's remarkable journey weaves through military service, fashion retail, and revolutionary barber design before arriving at his most fulfilling venture yet—being a present father.

Shawn's story begins with pure hustle. After military service, driven by a passion for sneaker culture and design, he meticulously crafted a business plan for a modern men's store. During the 2008 financial crisis, banks repeatedly rejected him until one loan officer at Broadway Bank recognized something special in Shawn's vision. Years later, that same business plan would become a teaching tool for other loan officers seeking promising entrepreneurs.

Eventually saving enough to launch independently, Shawn opened SCR in what was once Selena Quintanilla's boutique. The store showcased exclusive brands like Karhu (who originally owned the three stripes later sold to Adidas) and brought minimalist, thoughtfully curated fashion to San Antonio. Despite being "five to ten years ahead of the curve" for his market, Shawn's innovative spirit remained undaunted.

When challenges arose, Shawn pivoted to barbering with the same visionary approach. After immersing himself in cosmetology and barber training, he identified fundamental flaws in the industry's business model. His solution? Nomad—a revolutionary mobile barbering concept featuring a custom-designed "Rover" chair system that empowered barbers to work autonomously while keeping more of their earnings. Every detail was meticulously considered, from material strength to accessibility for clients with disabilities.

But Shawn's most powerful innovation came unexpectedly. A friend observed that he had redirected his entrepreneurial energy into raising his children—approaching fatherhood with the same strategic thinking and attention to detail that drove his business ventures. From coordinated, logo-free wardrobes to intentional family "branding," Shawn created a cohesive vision for his family that rivals any business plan.

The most poignant moment? When Shawn's young son told him, "I'm glad you weren't as successful as you wanted to be," recognizing that his father's business setbacks created space for a priceless presence in his children's lives. It's a powerful reminder that sometimes our greatest legacy isn't what we build in the marketplace, but who we help build at home.

Chapters

• 0:00 Patreon Support Announcement
• 0:31 Introduction to Sean Roeder
• 1:27 Starting a Fashion Store
• 5:37 SCR: Creating a Unique Retail Experience
• 8:43 Birth of Nomad Barber Concept
• 11:36 Designing the Barber Rover System
• 14:26 Entrepreneurial Spirit in Fatherhood
• 17:14 Closing and Support Request

Transcript

Langston Clark: 0:04

Hey everyone, thank you again for your support of Entrepreneurial Appetite. Beginning this season, we are inviting our listeners to support the show through our Patreon website. The founding 55 patrons will get live access to our monthly discussions for only $5 a month. Your support will help us hire an intern or freelancer to help with the production of the show. Of course, you can also support us by giving us five stars, leaving a positive comment or sharing the show with a few friends. Thank you for your continued support.

Langston Clark: 0:31

What's up everybody? Welcome to a very special Father's Day preview and bonus episode of our show. What's up everybody. Once again, this is Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of Entrepreneurial Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting Black businesses. And today I thought we'd record a special bonus episode with Sean Roeder, who stepped in as a guest host for our conversation with Dr Teresa Moses, who had just gotten her PhD, and they were in conversation about her edited book called An Anthology of Blackness the State of Black Design, and they had a really good conversation talking about Black folks in the design industry and entrepreneurship, but we didn't get an opportunity to hear Sean's story and so, sean, if you will just talk about your journey as an entrepreneur. Oh yeah, man.

Shawn Rhoder: 1:22

Thank you once again for having for adding. So my journey kind of started, uh, in in the army I was. I always loved, you know, sneaker stores and so forth, and undefeated was a great inspiration. Pata and a lot of other uh, some more california-based, european-based stores and, um, from when I got out, I started to close the line and um, didn't really understand how to, like you know, cut and sew and make your own clothes. And i't really understand how to, like you know, cut and sew and make your own clothes. And I asked a lot of questions. I would, you know, go to different events and from there wrote a business plan to create, um, my store. But I didn't have the money and so I shot my business plan around to banks here in San Antonio. Some of them threw them in a. You know, I remember going back to it.

Shawn Rhoder: 2:02

I actually pick up the actual, you know, the plane that I binded and everything, and it was all over the place. One person had it in a file cabinet. Other one had it on their desk, but it was one actually person. His name was Mr Nick man and Nick Garcia, if I'm not mistaken. He was at Broadway Bank, nick. He put all your information out. See, man was at Broadway Bank. He put all your information out. Man, look, look, he was at Broadway Bank and I'll never forget it because he actually read it. He went straight to the financials and he said I think we got somebody here and I was. I stood up in the seat. I sat up in the seat and then so he gave me the time of day and then they actually had me come to a boardroom and I had to pitch Never done this before, why?

Shawn Rhoder: 2:44

And so I, you know, didn't have any collateral and this is, you know, 2007, 2008, I'm sorry, 2008, sometime Right, and you know, the collapse happened. I had no collateral, I had no money for anything, no-transcript. And so I end up becoming a contractor and saving the money to start my own store and so forth. And I kept in contact with him and I mean man, he cried, you know, into the bank and I had the money to start the store and he, tears came down his eyes. He was like man, he got promoted for finding me. Tears came down his eyes. He was like man, he got promoted for finding me. He actually they, they, they use my business plan as a tool to show other loan officers, like what to look for in specific entrepreneurs, and so, um, that was like a surreal thing and so that that kind of started saved the money. I started SCR, which was on Broadway, which is Selena's old boutique. Um, started making my own clothes out in Maywood.

Langston Clark: 4:05

California. When you say Selena, you mean like Selena's Selena.

Shawn Rhoder: 4:09

Yeah, yeah, it was an old boutique, yeah. So I had a store in her old boutique and so forth. I renovated it with Robie Architecture and even then, you know, I went to Sattel's Before I even opened the door or anything. I went to Sattel's before I even opened the door or anything. I went to Sattel's and I think there was another men's store here and I wanted to actually just work for free so I could really learn the business of fashion, because I understood. The one thing I fundamentally understood was I had a cap. I didn't know a lot of stuff, so I needed to actually be in it.

Shawn Rhoder: 4:40

Look at, you know how, the buying process. Look at the, and I learned all this on my own. You know how the buying process. Look at the. Uh, and I learned all this on my own, you know. And like, when those people just wouldn't let me in and let me learn, um, and I understand, you know, they just different cultures, they don't operate like that. And so, um, I had to pull the trigger on my own man. It was scary, you know, and I made a lot of mistakes and I remember, you know, praying. I said God, do it all, Give me wisdom. And so, um, and that's exactly what I got, man, I, I, I got messed over, lost about 25,000 in retail, uh, wholesales, like 12 grand Um. But in that the guy taught me to make how to, what the production process was to make your own products and garments and so forth, and the cost associated with each and every detail.

Langston Clark: 5:27

Tell us what, what the store was and what you were doing and what you were selling. Absolutely yeah.

Shawn Rhoder: 5:33

So um, scr was a uh, come over, modern men's store, um, and so what we were? What I was really trying to capture was think, if anyone knows Colette, which was one of the you know, the one of the greatest retailers in, in, in in our modern modern era, uh, they, they had different, um, different elements of design, whether it was who, couture, street wear and so forth. It was kind of this amalgamation of just all these things that made sense and you got all these different consumers. So I wanted to bring something similar to that, but just on the men's side. You know, very minimalistic watches from Uniform Wears, which they had. It took me about two and a half months to get them to. They weren't even in the States. Like, that's how cool. It was.

Shawn Rhoder: 6:18

Carhu, which is a brand that's synonymous, they do running. I was the first store in the country to have them as a um, as a lifestyle brand. I was one of the first accounts. I found them at um at a trade show out by the restroom and I said yo, and so they had a cool story. They actually sold the three stripes to adidas um and and they lost it in a car game. It was a car game they were playing at the bar and the car the owner of car who lost to adi donsler. He lost in a card game. It was a card game, they were playing at the bar and the car the owner of car who lost to Adi Donsler. He lost in a card game and he said what do you want? He said sell me the three stripes. And that's how the that's how Adidas got those three stripes. Uh, with car who's Um, and so I had all these different things. I had slim suiting and so forth.

Shawn Rhoder: 6:59

We were selling like this minimalistic lifestyle to San Antonio because there was just nothing like that here. However, I was so far on the front end of that. You know you're talking about. Instagram is only two and a half years old at this time, you know. So you're, I'm, I'm doing things. I have collaborations with different brands that are in California, and people were like man, how are you, how did you manage to get these accounts and how did you manage to have these collaborations, bro? And from what I knew, the people just said, like Sean, there's something about you, these account managers and so forth, there's something about your vision, um, that we like and we would. They were down with, and so I brought that to San Antonio. It's just, it was packaged in the wrong way and, to a certain degree, san Antonio, just I was just probably five to 10 years ahead of what the curve was and just you know, bad timing man, and I couldn't. I just didn't know when you don't know what you don't know.

Shawn Rhoder: 7:57

And making my own clothes, what I was trying to do with that was buying for San Antonio in the weather is incredibly tough. There's a lot of cool stuff out there, but in that same vein, we can't wear it. 10 to 11 months out of the year it's between 65 and 80 degrees. You know, on a good day Everything else is hot. So I got 39 garments that make sense for this particular climate and I was going to make my clothes. So I could obviously have better margins and things would have been a lot better as far as you know revenue retention. But it just you know, the guy got me. But again, the tradeoff was he taught me how to make my own clothes and he taught me the process of it and I understood every aspect of it because I was right there with him.

Shawn Rhoder: 8:41

Yeah, talk about Nomad. Nomad was kind of the. It was born out of necessity. My wife, you know. She said, you know, I was going to put a barbershop in the men's store anyway at SCR and we were together and she said, you know, why don't you just be a barber? And I said, ah no, I had so much respect for the trade and just the profession. I just didn't want to just be like, oh, I didn't make it in this, so I'm going to go to this. So I went to cosmetology school to then become a better barber so I can have a comprehensive skill set when I actually step out there. So I have something to offer the industry.

Shawn Rhoder: 9:19

So, yeah, I was very altruistic when it came to that and so my wife convinced me and so when I was there in school, I started designing different things that they needed and I would show my teachers. I'm like, hey, what about this? And they're like, wait, who did that? I'm like, hey, what about this? And they're like who did that? I'm like me and they're like you designed that. So this went on for months. I would just design, design.

Shawn Rhoder: 9:39

I started writing a business plan about this, this, and I essentially settled on like, okay, if I'm going to do this, I don't want to be confined to a chair. Because when they broke down the business model of the barber and beauty industry, 30 kids were in our class two to three possibly would make it a career because of just the way the structure of the business were. And I completely designed something out of that. I was like, okay, well, what if I can retain 20 of them, because they actually can do this autonomously and they have everything they need. And I started designing it, and so by the time I left cosmetology school and went right to a barber school, which was at Alamo Barber Beauty College, because I went to Tony and Guy first, we moved here, finished at Ogle and then I went to Alamo Barber.

Shawn Rhoder: 10:27

I was already done with Nomad and so that name came about was reading a book called the 22 Laws of Immutable Branding and a lot of other books that had to do with you know how does your brand work in conversation? You know, piece it together Like, what do you need to become a mobile barber? Oh well, you need a rope. Okay, after that you get on a Nomad app, then you're a Nomad. So I kind of put it all together and that's how Nomad was born out of necessity to try to not work, but to augment a business model that was incredibly antiquated and it was actually driving people and driving talented individuals away from the business because it was incredibly predatory. So I wanted to decentralize everything and actually put the revenue generation back into the hands of the artists, which are like you know, so there won't be any hundred dollar haircuts, man stuff like that. I think that's actually, I truly believe that's ridiculous.

Langston Clark: 11:23

So, when you say you designed it, what did you design for Nomad? Like, what was Nomad? Was it the app? Was it the apparatus that the barbers would use to go from place to place? What, what exactly did you design and create?

Shawn Rhoder: 11:39

Yeah. So I designed everything man, from the chair, the different elements that would go back, the actuations, how, how light it would be, the tensile strength of the steel. I looked at all that stuff and so the engineers, they took all of my ideas and what I was doing and they they kind of made a prototype. But it was me Like it was me doing the research. And Japanese napping chairs that they use in the office and beach chairs, all of these different scissor actuations, whether it was pneumatic, uh, hydraulic powered or anything, um, taking in consideration people with disabilities or that who are in a wheelchair, which our first designer, or in mechanical engineer, he was actually in a wheelchair. So I specifically tailored it to somebody that, if he was a client, how does he, you know, get into the chair? How does it make him feel? Does he feel?

Langston Clark: 12:27

more empowered. What was the first thing that you created? Tell us? Tell us, like cause. You described the different pieces when it all came together right, the chair, the, the mechanical engineers and all that like. What was that thing that was created?

Shawn Rhoder: 12:43

So, what that? That was the rope, and so that was the rover, which was the chair, which to me, was the crooks of the entire process. Um, I was cutting that Facebook and uh, in Austin, and so, um, I was cutting with a company called a go print and I think it's called print now, which is go privilege or whatever it was. A it was the app beauty barber beauty mobile app, started by a gentleman, I think that was in the makeup industry, and so they, they asked me to go up there. So I went up there and I kind of tested it out. I had all the stuff and I was, um, I said, would you purchase these? And it was just a sketch, no-transcript, that I did all the research for that. I made certain that functionally made sense. We put it together and then we created the Rover and then we created more of a travel case that was, first and foremost, being able to be sanitized, and they all came together as a functional piece like a luggage Back in the day.

Langston Clark: 14:07

Doctors used to go house to house and do visits. Exactly so. You created an apparatus for the barber to be mobile and go place to place and do cuts, but then also had additional packaging for the barber to have all the tools and utensils that they needed to do their job, to go along with them as well.

Shawn Rhoder: 14:26

Fatherhood was something that.

Langston Clark: 14:28

Hold on. Before you go into this, let me. I got to tell the audience this man. I'll send Sean a text message like hey man, I'm coaching soccer. Hey man, I'm with the kids in New York they modeling hey man. Hey man, I had to take the kids to the bus stop. I'm with the kids in New York they modeling, hey man, hey man, I had to take the kids to the bus stop. So the reason why I have Sean talk about being a dad is because it's like for him, his first thing popped in mind here.

Shawn Rhoder: 14:50

So go ahead. My boy, marques Mitchell, said something to me that was absolutely amazing. He said you've taken the same exact entrepreneurial spirit that you had for Nomad and everything, everything, and you actually are pouring it into your family. And so I, when he said I was driving off hb, and I was like wow, it's like damn, I never thought about it like that. I guess I am.

Shawn Rhoder: 15:10

You know, uh, when you look at, when you read the book, uh, 22 laws of immutable branding, um, the way I dress my kids is specific to having people look at them as an ocular unit, like not specific about shoes or socks. They don't wear any clothes with logos, they don't wear any kind of branded stuff. I go to Children's Place to get all their t-shirts because they're unbranded, with a bonded collar, they can kind of get rough with them and then the collar snaps back. They wear three pairs of pants and so those pants have three different shades and that's it. And they wear specific shoes. The socks either have stripes or something, so it's all like, it's all purposeful, they. They smell a specific way because the women that I've that have taken care of them and stuff. One lady told me she's like your kids smell like my boyfriend. I was like y'all got a good relationship. She's like, yeah, so I was like, oh, okay, and when you look at the branding, it's all about smells. So essentially I took my family and said, okay, this is my startup. My kids are different brands and suites of services as they grow and they have different interests. You add that suite of services Having the opportunity to be a full-time father as a black man bro. It's like it's so rare, and in my experience it's so rare. Why not? We talk about hustle and grinding it and get it out the mud.

Shawn Rhoder: 16:34

Imagine if you turn that to our families and my son tells me all the time like it's crazy. He'll just randomly tell me. He'll say, dad, I'm glad you weren't as successful as you wanted to be. He'll just tell me, and he's about to be 10. I say what you mean, man? I know what he means now, but when I forget, I say what do you mean? No man would have taken off, you would have did this. He said he wouldn't know how to play basketball, play baseball. I wouldn't know how to be cool. I wouldn't know how to dress. I wouldn't know how to do my hair. So, in his eyes, me not getting what I wanted, gave him everything that he needed.

Langston Clark: 17:11

Thank you for joining this edition of Entrepreneurial Appetite. If you liked the episode, you can support the show by becoming one of our founding 55 patrons, which gives you access to our live discussions and bonus materials, or you can subscribe to the show. Give us five stars and leave a comment.