Christine Esposito, Managing Editor03.02.20
Scotch Porter
Calvin Quallis, founder and CEO
Headquarters: East Orange, NJ
Founded: 2015
Big News: Picked up by Target
Calvin Quallis knew he wasn’t cut out to be a 9-5, behind-the-desk guy, but he stuck with it to build a solid foundation for his new indie brand. Today, Scotch Porter can be found in Target stores and Walmart is coming on-stream this month. Here’s his story.
What were you doing before starting Scotch Porter? I worked at a global design firm and global market research firm. I worked for myself and someone else for almost two years. It was exhausting, but allowed me to fund the business in its initial stage, without accruing debt or giving up equity. I left the cushy desk job over four years ago to devote my time and attention to seeing Scotch Porter really take off.
I’ve known, for a very long time, that I wasn’t quite cut out to be a 9-to-5-er. The thought of spending the rest of my working life in an office space-type work environment and confined to a cubicle seemed like a death sentence. My brain and spirit dwindled a bit each day. But while sitting at my desk one afternoon, this past June, I literally said to myself aloud, “Dude, this can’t be it. Life doesn’t go on forever, and you don’t get a second chance at this.” I understood that there were great financial risks if I quit my job and the business failed. However, what I feared the most is taking too little risk and settling for comfortable and ordinary, and all the regrets that come with it. Also, if I didn’t walk, it meant that I would be undervaluing myself and that instead of being great, I would have become okay with just being good. I couldn’t live with that decision, so the very next day I sat down with my boss and discussed my plan to resign. She was super supportive of the decision then and is still a great friend...
When you started on the journey, who was your biggest supporter? When I first started on my journey, my biggest supporter was my partner, Douglas Harris. Doug was there in the kitchen helping to fill bottles and jars and helped get packages out every day including Saturdays. I could not have done any of this without him. It would have been impossible. He still helps lead fulfillment today.
What has been your biggest challenge? The biggest challenge was maneuvering and avoiding the many pitfalls that can leave a business flat-lined. From proper management of your financial books, to building a great team, to addressing operational inefficiencies, to developing effective marketing and sales plans, it can feel very overwhelming at times. I find simple breathing exercises, getting in some physical exercise from time-to-time and reminding myself each and every day of all the things that I have to be grateful for, helps tremendously. The one thing that has gotten me through the toughest days has been my daily ritual…Every morning, before thinking of all the things that I have to do for the day, I think of all the things that I’m grateful for. It always begins with me being grateful for waking up to a new day, followed by whatever else I’m grateful for, like being able to pick up the phone and call my mom, or something very simple, like enjoying a cup of coffee. It forces me to focus less on what I don’t have and find happiness in the simple things that I do have. I read something that Oprah Winfrey said a while ago, that has stuck with me. She said, “I got so focused on the difficulty of the climb that I lost sight of being grateful for simply having a mountain to climb.” Perspective is everything.
How do you approach NPD? With our most recent relaunch, I’ve worked closely with a group of highly engaged customers that we call “Super Users.” These customers tell us what they like and don’t like about Scotch Porter; what other brands and products they like and why; how can we make some of our existing products better. With this feedback, we present product and design ideas, along with samples and get their feedback, constantly iterating and redeveloping products until we get it right.
What’s has you most excited about 2020? We’re incredibly excited about the relaunch of our newly reformulated better-for-you hair, beard and skin care products that deliver multi-functional benefits and solve really big pain points for men; expanding our distribution online and offline via traditional retail, and being much more accessible to our customers; and widening our reach and continuing to educate and arm our customers with information and products that align with internal and external wellness, while delivering a much more diverse product assortment that adds value to our customer’s lives.
Calvin Quallis, founder and CEO
Headquarters: East Orange, NJ
Founded: 2015
Big News: Picked up by Target
Calvin Quallis knew he wasn’t cut out to be a 9-5, behind-the-desk guy, but he stuck with it to build a solid foundation for his new indie brand. Today, Scotch Porter can be found in Target stores and Walmart is coming on-stream this month. Here’s his story.
What were you doing before starting Scotch Porter? I worked at a global design firm and global market research firm. I worked for myself and someone else for almost two years. It was exhausting, but allowed me to fund the business in its initial stage, without accruing debt or giving up equity. I left the cushy desk job over four years ago to devote my time and attention to seeing Scotch Porter really take off.
I’ve known, for a very long time, that I wasn’t quite cut out to be a 9-to-5-er. The thought of spending the rest of my working life in an office space-type work environment and confined to a cubicle seemed like a death sentence. My brain and spirit dwindled a bit each day. But while sitting at my desk one afternoon, this past June, I literally said to myself aloud, “Dude, this can’t be it. Life doesn’t go on forever, and you don’t get a second chance at this.” I understood that there were great financial risks if I quit my job and the business failed. However, what I feared the most is taking too little risk and settling for comfortable and ordinary, and all the regrets that come with it. Also, if I didn’t walk, it meant that I would be undervaluing myself and that instead of being great, I would have become okay with just being good. I couldn’t live with that decision, so the very next day I sat down with my boss and discussed my plan to resign. She was super supportive of the decision then and is still a great friend...
When you started on the journey, who was your biggest supporter? When I first started on my journey, my biggest supporter was my partner, Douglas Harris. Doug was there in the kitchen helping to fill bottles and jars and helped get packages out every day including Saturdays. I could not have done any of this without him. It would have been impossible. He still helps lead fulfillment today.
What has been your biggest challenge? The biggest challenge was maneuvering and avoiding the many pitfalls that can leave a business flat-lined. From proper management of your financial books, to building a great team, to addressing operational inefficiencies, to developing effective marketing and sales plans, it can feel very overwhelming at times. I find simple breathing exercises, getting in some physical exercise from time-to-time and reminding myself each and every day of all the things that I have to be grateful for, helps tremendously. The one thing that has gotten me through the toughest days has been my daily ritual…Every morning, before thinking of all the things that I have to do for the day, I think of all the things that I’m grateful for. It always begins with me being grateful for waking up to a new day, followed by whatever else I’m grateful for, like being able to pick up the phone and call my mom, or something very simple, like enjoying a cup of coffee. It forces me to focus less on what I don’t have and find happiness in the simple things that I do have. I read something that Oprah Winfrey said a while ago, that has stuck with me. She said, “I got so focused on the difficulty of the climb that I lost sight of being grateful for simply having a mountain to climb.” Perspective is everything.
How do you approach NPD? With our most recent relaunch, I’ve worked closely with a group of highly engaged customers that we call “Super Users.” These customers tell us what they like and don’t like about Scotch Porter; what other brands and products they like and why; how can we make some of our existing products better. With this feedback, we present product and design ideas, along with samples and get their feedback, constantly iterating and redeveloping products until we get it right.
What’s has you most excited about 2020? We’re incredibly excited about the relaunch of our newly reformulated better-for-you hair, beard and skin care products that deliver multi-functional benefits and solve really big pain points for men; expanding our distribution online and offline via traditional retail, and being much more accessible to our customers; and widening our reach and continuing to educate and arm our customers with information and products that align with internal and external wellness, while delivering a much more diverse product assortment that adds value to our customer’s lives.
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Melina Marcus & Ali Florsheim Rebel Green ask: What innovative ways do you find to tell your story to consumers in a crowded marketplace? “We have some work to do in this area, but we’re focused on building out communications where we give customers behind the scenes access to the brand, myself and the team. We’re also focused on delivering more and more valuable stories leveraging video.” —Calvin Quallis |
