Tailor-Made Solutions: Dakota Grady, Owner of Gentry’s Limited, Shares His SwipeSum Experience

"As someone who runs a business that prides itself on being tailor-made for each individual customer, I was so impressed by SwipeSum. They not only offered a great service, but I could tell they really cared about my business."

Dakota Grady is the owner of Gentry’s Limited, a lifestyle brand focusing on luxury casual and professional wear for men located in St. Louis, MO. While he focuses primarily on creating custom suits and tuxedos, Gentry’s Limited has recently branched out into casual wear, jewelry, cologne, and even event planning.

In late 2018, Dakota was introduced to SwipeSum by a friend. After participating in the SwipeSum process, Gentry’s Limited was able to lower their monthly payment processing fees by 33%.

Recently, we sat down with Dakota to learn a bit more about what makes him tick, and how SwipeSum made a difference for his business:

What inspired you to start Gentry’s Limited?

Clothing oozes out of my skin. I have dreams about it, and I’m thrilled to walk into my store and create clothes that I love every day. It’s an obsession for me. Really, that was it. Being able to pursue my own vision was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

My vision is to make Gentry’s Limited iconic and recognizable. The midwest has a unique take on men’s fashion, but that’s not really defined or represented by any one brand. I want Gentry’s Limited to become that.

Sound like you really enjoy running your own business. Is there any part of your business that you’re not super excited about?

Yes. Accounting. Numbers are not my thing, so keeping track of expenses and managing margins has been a huge challenge. I’ve discovered that pennies really add up quickly when you’re running a business.

That’s why I was so excited when I found SwipeSum. The processor I had been using previously was great, but the cost was just astronomical, especially considering that many of my clients are using high-reward credit cards. It made my job just a little bit easier.

How did you approach those difficult aspects when you first started Gentry’s Limited?

Honestly, Google and YouTube. I really just looked up stuff I needed to know and went with it. Luckily, I had an amazing CPA who helped me out with accounting at the start, but that was really all the outside support I had.

So what made you pursue a processing solution through SwipeSum?

My previous processor did a great job, but the cost was just too high, and there was almost no customer support. As someone who runs a business that prides itself on being tailor-made for each individual customer, the lack of customer support was a huge issue. I want to be able to email or call somebody and have them pick up right away. SwipeSum not only offered a great service, but I could tell that my account manager Erin Rose really cared about me and my business.

If you could condense your SwipeSum experience into a few words, what would you say?

It was easy and secure, and it really fit well with my business. I know it sounds weird, but the look of the card reader was really important to me. SwipeSum made sure that I got hardware that I would be proud to display alongside my clothes. And cheaper, I can’t forget about that.

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