Saturday, September 30, 2017

The Business Wilderness: A chat with the Co-Founder of Qalo Ted Baker

(bright rock music) - Hello and welcome toThe Business Wilderness.

Today, I have a very specialguest, Mr.

Ted Baker.

How are you? - I'm very well, thankyou for having me today.

- Welcome, welcome, anytime.

You come from a veryinteresting background, and interesting business.

Many people basicallyexperience this daily, monthly.

Many people experienceit once in their life.

Can you tell us a bit aboutwhat problem you have solved for these people? - So.

Well, yeah, my name is Ted Baker.

One of my best friends andI, my co-founder and I, started a company called Qalo.

- Qalo.

- Qalo.

- Qalo.

- Yeah.

- If you don't know what that is, Qualo stands for QualityAthletics Love and Outdoors.

He and I each married ourwives about a month apart, and immediately found a pain point in this newfound, this greatnew thing we call marriage.

And the pain point was,the happiness of our wives with our inability to find a way to want to wear a wedding ring.

- So, there you go, people.

All of you do this, evenin a week, or a month, or in a year.

There you go, you got married,at some point in your life.

- Yeah.

For those of us who have gotten married, at least for me, as a male.

I know, for females, veryaccustomed to wearing rings.

For me, I had never worn a ring, I didn't want to wear a ring.

My partner and I both were, you know, we were beating ourselves on the head.

We worked together at the time, and we were both complaining incessantly about how terrible it was tohave to try to wear a ring.

I tried for about a week,I had just got a new car, I was very excited, I got married, I got a new car, all thesethings were happening.

I'm scratching up my car with my ring.

You know, I'd spent all this money, I wanted to just basically take it off.

So, eventually, of course,my ring found its way to my side table, or whatever, and I just stopped wearing it, so.

I had a very interesting interaction with my wife, one day,she came up and asked me if I was ever going towear my wedding ring, and I looked at herand said, probably not.

Because it didn't really fit my lifestyle.

- It didn't.

- And she may have usedan explicit word with me, and told me that I should figure it out.

And so, I then went back to work, began speaking to my now, you know, business partner about it, and we came up with this idea to solve this problem.

And that's it, you know like-- - Tell us the solution? - It's very simple, it's a Qalo ring.

It's made of.

Well, we have it made ofdifferent materials right now, different polymers, butthis one was made.

This particular one was made of silicone, which is hypoallergenic, it's flexible, it stretches four times its size.

It'll rip at 39 pounds of pressure, so those people who are worried about losing their finger.

It's great for, you know,like occupational hazards.

If you're a firefighter,if you're military, if you're a police officer,if you're a plumber, if you're a woodworker,if you play sports, if you go to the gym, if you Cross Fit, if you 45, if you yoga, you know, if.

Whatever it is you do, this kind of goes with your lifestyle.

So, it's been a great thing for me, solved a problem for me.

I had a void, becausewhen I want to represent that commitment to my wife, I did want to, I just didn't want to have this ring.

And I found myself walking around, and people would ask me if I was married, I'm like, of course I'mmarried, yeah, you know.

If another woman would askme, oh, you're married? You don't have a ring on.

I'd be a little ashamed, like, oh yeah, I don't have a ring on, but I am married, and I love my wife.

And it just, you know,a couple months of that, and we needed to fix the problem.

So, we fixed it for ourselves,and, now, seemingly, we've apparently fixed it for an awful lot of other people, so.

And we're now, here today, in Australia, because we're coming to the market, here.

We recognise that theAustralian market is, even though it's not, youknow, a huge numbers market, we feel like the DNA of the Australian, that commitment aspect,that who you guys are, like, at the base ofyour, you know, person, a lot of you are occupational, a lot of you work with your hands, you know, there's a lot ofdifferent things like that, there's a lot of sport,you know, a lot of sport going on, here.

And we just felt like itwas a really good synergy, for a place for us to go internationally.

And we've opened in Canada.

You know, we're basedin the United States, we opened in Canada,Australia's our next market, and then we're going withthe EU later this year, which we're very excited about.

Basically, bringing ourbrand, and our mission, kind of to, you know, theinternational culture, because it's really about the mission.

I mean, the mission of the company is to inspire and sharethe power of commitment.

You know, it doesn'tmatter if it's your wife, or your kids, or, you know, your job.

Your sport, if you have.

You know, if yourmother, father, you know, are fighting a disease, you know, like, my mom died of colon cancer when I was a child, my sisterbattles lupus, right now.

We have a Lupus ring.

We do a lot of charity,a lot of give-back.

We sit on a lot of boardsfor philanthropic things, something I think is very important when you're starting a business, to start giving back really soon.

So, it's been a realgift, our journey's been a real gift, it's been interesting.

- Amazing.

- Yeah.

- Some touching words.

So, when did the journey start? - You know, the moment we got married.

We each got married in2012, July 8, for me.

It was later that year, about August, about a month later, thatwe kind of recognised that we needed to fix this problem.

My wife had looked at me, she had given me those words.

And then it.

I had done some otherbusiness things in the past.

My co-founder came on, and looked at me, and said, we've gotta do this.

Like, let's start a business.

And at the time, I was doinga couple of other things.

And I was being very successful, you know, I had finally.

I had worked years and years to get to a point of success, andI was doing relatively well, I felt like I was doing well.

And he was like, I'll do it with you, like, we can do this together.

And, like, it was that inspiration of him being like, wecan do this together, I'll do it with you, whichreally turned the corner for me, and made me say, like,okay, I would like.

That sounds like a great idea.

I think having somebodythat you trust and value as a business partner is a huge benefit.

You know, being in business,one of the first things you hear is, watch out for your partner.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And it's amazing howmany warnings I've had, from mentors.

And choosing a partner islike choosing a spouse.

- Yeah.

- If you choose the right one, it's going to be the greatest ride, ever.

And it's just aboutchoosing the right one.

So, I got lucky inchoosing the right wife, and now I've gotten very lucky in choosing the right business partner.

And his name's CaseyHoliday, he's an amazing guy.

Just at the core of hissoul, a great human being.

And I think that's.

I think that's what we need to look for in business partners, in relationships, in all things we do.

If we are looking to the right people, and having the right personalrelationships with them, I think that is a gamechanger, and that's kind of what I've always leaned onfor when I'm doing business, and I'm doing work.

I kind of have a propensityto be overly loyal, sometimes.

But, I think if you're dealingwith the right human being, and the people have the right agenda, then you should be all in,and do everything you can.

'Cause, at the end of the day, there's.

Nothing is perfect.

If somebody is always agreeing with you, there's something wrong.

- Sure.

- You know, you have to have a banter, and you have to be big enough, and be able to put your own ego aside, at times, to get around, and makethe business kind of grow.

And that's one of the things I think is extremely pivotal for many businesses.

People can't get around their own ego, so they wind up trashingwhatever great it is about the business, becausethey can't get around their own ego.

And I think that's oneof the things that.

My wife keeps me in very goodcheck with that, as well.

(laughing) So, she does a lot ofdifferent things for me.

Keeping my ego in check is one thing that she does extremely well, so.

- So, with such a uniqueconcept, I mean.

Coming into the market,and selling the idea of having a ring that's,say, that's made out of a few different.

- Polymers.

- Yeah, what is it?- Polymers.

- Yeah, polymers.

The key point in selling these rings wouldn't haven't beenthe actual ring, itself, it would have been.

Or, this is basically my assumption, from what I've seen, it would have been the message, or themovement behind the ring.

- Yeah-- - Because, let's face it, I mean, you can go down to your local store and just grab a ring.

I call it rubber, here, rubber ring, and put it on.

So what were some of the key factors that really took this concept, this idea, off the ground? - Well, I guess.

First of all, we were never really trying to sell you a ring.

We were trying to sell you a way of life.

We're trying to sell you.

You know, we're sellingyou an emotional value, we're selling you functionality, a representation ofsomething so much bigger than a piece of gold,metal, silver, or rubber.

- Correct.

- This is a representation of who you are.

And, to build that community was, like, the basis of the company really exploding.

Because it needed to be morethan just selling a ring, it needed to be selling a lifestyle.

And that's what we've tried to do, we've tried to, you know.

If you walk by, in the United States, at this point, and I'm very realistic, like, we're still in a growth stage.

We've had three years, where.

I'm not anybody importanton Google, we're like.

I haven't gone.

I have a grind to share with people, I don't have like, somemad dashing success story, it's not like everything is just roses and popping bottles of champagne.

But, you know, the goal wasto sell something bigger.

And when you walk by someonein the United States, if I'm walking in anairport, I see someone else with a ring on, it's a Qalo ring, it tells me somethingabout them, immediately.

And that's what we wanted it to do.

We want this to be arepresentation of who you are on the inside, as a human being, you know, because, in a way, it's the opposite of the way society normally values things.

Normally, society values things as, the more expensive it is,the more meaningful it is.

And I'm trying to go the exact opposite.

I'm saying, wait.

Spend less, and make that show more.

Because if you're wearing a Qalo ring, it says that you're going out of your way, because of an occupational problem, or because of a.

It could be a health reason,because, like, you're allergic to gold metal, or whatever.

What it's saying is that, at all times, you want to represent yourcommitment to your spouse, your family, or to whatever.

And so, it's actuallypeople who really want to represent that commitment even more than a $10,000, you know, wedding ring.

They can spend this,and always have it on.

There's nothing you can't do with this on.

You know, we make 'em special, now, that if you get your hands dirty with gas, or whatever, we cameout with a Q2X material, that facilitates that.

If it's just a comfortability material, you can use the classic.

The goal is to, like, make that show that like, in a way, I love my wife, I represent my wife,I represent my family, I represent my commitment, even greater, and I spent less to do it,but it means even more, because I always want to have it on.

And it's very adversarialto what normal society, you know, like, if I drive a nice car.

It cost more money.

You know, like, I want to saysomething about myself, my.

How much is my suit jacket? Or, you know, my shoes, or whatever it is.

I have 12 year old son,trust me, I know all about.

All about, you know, what itmeans to buy something nice.

And, I want a pair of nice shoes, because people'll think whatever.

And I'm just like, it's notabout how much it costs, son.

- Society's really becomingabout materialistic things.

We can tell, especially ifyou jump on social media, especially the platforms that are really image and video-based, youwill really, really see how materialistic individuals are.

And what Qalo is doingis quite the reverse.

And slowly, slowlychanging that mentality.

- And that's the wholething, we want to change.

You just gave me thetingles, that's awesome.

If I ever get tingles in an interview, normally it's something good happens.

It's literally.

It's going against the grain,and thinking outside the box.

And that's what, youknow, in everything I do, I'm always about.

I look at my leaders, and I say, like, think outside the box.

And people come to me and say, well, that's not how it's done.

I'm like, well, figureout a way to get it done, a different way, that would facilitate.

We're in a very complex world, right now, with e-commerce exploding,brick and mortar dying, there's all of thesethings that are happening around us, and the entirelandscape of business is evolving, we're inthis very crucial time.

And I believe that people need to stop, take a look at things, andnot just go to the norm, but begin to think outside of the box.

I think that's the key for the evolution of things happening, thatwill really drive society.

- Social pressures arereally driving people in quite the other way.

So what you guys are doingis honestly, amazing.

And I'm not just saying thatbecause you're sitting here with me.

There's not many companies out there that represent such, what's the word? Just so I can be fair to you.

That represent such aunique, sentimental value.

Because if you look around, companies in modern day society, work towards what the consumer wants on the surface.

- Right.

- What you guys are doing is,you're telling the consumer, no, this means more to you than what the rest of the gang is telling you.

This is really somethingthat you need to treasure, need to look after, which is basically, that ring there, it's not about the ring.

It's about--- It's about commitment.

- Exactly.

- Yes.

- The family, the wife,the kids, the legacy that you leave behind you.

- Money is only so much.

- Exactly.

Exactly, we hear so many stories of people who are worth millionsand billions of dollars, committing suicide, not happy, miserable.

Yeah, why? Obviously, money is not the solution.

- Money, my wife will tellme on a regular basis, money cannot buy your happiness.

- Exactly, exactly.

- I hear it every day,it's drummed into my head.

We're just, you know, this is a battle, it's a struggle, like,what we're trying to do is not normal right now, it is very much thinking outside the box, and, you know, we're very.

We've been very blessed,we've been very lucky.

I mean, luck, let's behonest, luck has a huge part.

- Hard work, a little bit.

- You have to put in your hard work.

And I always say, I'drather be lucky than smart, because I'm not that smart.

But, you know, I like to surround myself with smart people.

I like to think that whatI value in human beings goes much beyond, youknow, what you pay them, or, you know.

It starts with the culture of the company, it starts with who we are on the inside, you know, the same wayyou, as a human being, what really matters iswho you are on the inside? It matters what's going oninside these four walls, in our building, and what Qalo means, and what we do with ouremployees, how we treat them, how we go.

How we want to representourselves to them, and then how we wantto represent ourselves to the outside world.

And, you know, it's a different time than, quite frankly, when I was really.

Had a real job, per se,when I was growing up, you know, how businessesrun, and what my employees.

Very lucky, my partner is amazing.

One of his goals wasto make our company.

We have very lofty goals.

We wanted to make ourcompany one of the top 100 places to work in thecountry, in the United States.

And, you know, like having goals like that are so much more important than saying, I want to do $100 millionin sales, you know? - That's gonna lead to that.

- Well, that's.

Exactly.

- That's going to lead to that, and that's what many CEOs.

Well, not only CEOs, companies in general, they forget that.

Creating that workplace, that environment, where your employee wants to come to work, and stay there, hedoesn't want to go home, he's happy to be there,because you've created that atmosphere for him.

He's motivated every morning.

He comes there, he's workingfrom somewhere deep inside, not because he has to bethere, to pay the bills.

That's what leads to hundreds of millions, that's what leads to the billion, that's what leads to the soon, and so on, and so on.

- I mean, with this test theory right now, let's hope.

(laughing) Let's hope everythinggoes the way we want.

But, I mean, I will tell you this, that, you know, we.

As far as employees go, Irespect my employees so much, I appreciate them, wheneverI see them, you know, I say I appreciate their hard work.

I'm not even, you know, I'm in the office least of all our employees, probably, because I travel a lot.

I'm doing either licencing deals, or travelling for ambassador meetings, or, you know, giving thistalk, or presentation, or whatever.

So, I'm in the office less than anyone, and it always cracks me up because, I go to the office, or I'll see something, you know, someone will show me something on social media that'shappening in my office.

I'm like, ah, hell, that looks amazing.

How am I not there for that, right now? So, I miss out on those things, a lot.

But, you know, my partnertakes a huge stance on making sure that theculture of the company is sound, and so that's really important.

- Awesome, awesome.

So, tell us a bit about some of your areas that you guys faced,or problems or issues coming to market, like.

Maybe, share that fight withus, so we can, you know? - Well, I mean, we got.

When I say we got lucky, we.

I was very lucky tofind the right partner, have the right thingshappen, but it doesn't matter how lucky you are, it doesn't mean you don't still have headaches.

- You still, in effect, face obstacles.

- Obviously.

I mean, manufacturingwas a huge issue for us.

Trying to.

I.

I tried to get the productmade in the United States.

Because I wanted.

I mean, we're from the US, so I was like, I want it to be made in the US.

We could not find, for months,and months, and months, call after call, meeting after meeting, we couldn't find anybody,you know, at the time, no one ever knew we would grow to, you know--- This size.

- Yeah.

So, nobody wanted to take a chance on you, and we started this companywith all of our own money, we didn't take anyinvestment, everything was.

You know, we worked out of our garage.

You know, like this is as grassroots as you could ever imagine.

And so, we couldn't find anybody else, manufacturing was a huge problem.

I wound up going toAsia for manufacturing, and I know a lot of peoplein the United States say they want everything made in the US, but I would make anargument where innovation actually happens becauseyou find people outside that are willing towork, and take a chance.

That factor of me, me,me, greed, greed, greed, that is very valid in the United States, and people don't want to take a risk.

They only want things that are sure locks, everybody wants something positive.

Nobody wants to take a risk.

So, we found someone to take a risk, and our manufacturing wasn't great at the very beginning,it was a huge issue, it was a huge nightmare.

But we got it done, westarted, we were able to spend a lot of time, afterwe got the product here, fixing the product,making the product right, you know, every product was basically.

Our first couple oforders, our first orders for the first nine months was like, we handpicked every order,put it in a little dime bag-- - Quality control, that is-- - Quality control at its best.

Put it in a little bag that looked like it held drugs, and put in the thing, wrote a personal note,sent everything out.

Like, it was very, verymuch grinding, hands-on.

And, you know, we got through.

We went from one manufacturerto another manufacturer, and then that manufacturer,we outgrew that one, and we went to another manufacturer, and now we have a coupledifferent manufacturers.

But I've actually stayed in Asia.

We were looking at manufacturingin the United States, right now, we're doingsome licencing agreements with some of the militarychannels in the US, they are very.

It's more advantageous ifyou have it made in the US, so we're looking at those things.

But the world is a global market, now, and you know, yes, we go to our facility, we make sure that there'sno child labour laws being broken, and we have.

Actually, have a great relationship with my manufacturer,now, so it's been great.

- Awesome.

Okay, so, just quickly before we go, any tips, words of advice, words of wisdom to all the young people out there who are trying to build businesses? Old, young, they can bewhatever they want to be-- - Yeah, absolutely-- - I'm sure everybody canuse a piece of advice.

- Well, first of all,I'm a big proponent of, you know, starting a businessand trying something new, happens at any age.

It doesn't matter ifyou're 60, if you're 80.

- That's the mostbeautiful thing about it.

- If you're 15.

You can literally, this whole, like.

To use the word entrepreneur,this whole idea behind that is that we are in a society now, where you can literally reinvent yourself, over and over again.

So, when I see somebodywho's 70 years old, and they have an idea, I'm like, why aren't you doing it? - Exactly.

- Like, do it, it's youropportunity, right now, there's no reason.

Ageism should not exist in this.

You know, go.

- It's literally just a number, now.

When it comes to business.

- It's ridiculous.

- You know, like youcan be a genius at 12, or you can be a genius at 80.

- Exactly.

- But words of wisdom are, you know, I guess, figure out who you want to be, figure out what you want to leave behind, and then act accordingly.

Treat people like you want to be treated.

And.

- And be real.

- Yeah, you know? Like, just be up front,just, this is who I am, this is what I believe in.

And just be honest.

More than anything, just be honest.

Do your best, you know? - Honesty's the best policy, I'd say.

- It's crazy.

It's so simple, but ifwe utilise these things, and just like.

You're going to makemistakes, just fix 'em.

When you do something wrong, apologise, and move on.

If the person doesn't accept your apology, and can't get around it, then.

- Time will heal.

- Yeah.

- Time will heal.

- So, I guess that's my word of wisdom.

Just, be honest.

- Where can we find you on social media? - Oh, wow, okay, so.

We're launching in Australia, so please, if you're married, andyou want to be a part of our community, which would be awesome, Qalo.

Com.

Au.

Very excited to get this market rolling, and to like, really spreadthe movement over here.

You can find us, you know, obviously-- - Facebook?- Instagram.

Facebook, yeah, we have AU pagesfor Instagram and Facebook.

We got a great team out here, very excited about those people, what they're doing, what they're going to bring to the thing, to the market.

And just excited to becomepart of this community.

- Awesome, we'll be linking all that up in the video, and so youguys have access to it.

Thank you very much, Ted, it'sbeen an absolute pleasure.

- Awesome, brother, appreciate it.

- Unbelievable, thank you very much.

- Appreciate you having me.

- Thank you, thank you.

(bright rock music).

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