(uplifting music) ♪ Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping ♪ ♪ Into the future ♪ - That's when I started about 2014.
As an entrepreneur, the thing I get the most fulfillment from is creating.
(gentle music) Back in 2008, I was in a bad state financially.
I had just had my car repossessed.
And two of my investment properties, including the one I lived in, were in foreclosure.
So I was having a conversation with my cousin who lived in Chesapeake, Virginia.
I was in Atlanta.
And she said, "You know what?
Why don't you just come and stay with us for a while?
We got a extra bedroom."
And I took her up on her offer 'cause I was clearly about to be homeless.
And I stayed because I realized that Hampton Roads had a lot to offer for me.
I met my wife, and I started a business here, so.
Well, I got my first watch during my senior year in high school on a trip to The Bahamas, a cruise.
Bought it for $40.
It was a Guess watch, and I just fell in love with it.
So for birthday and Christmas, my go-to gift was a watch.
One day I was on my lunch break at work, at my last job.
I was talking to my wife and I asked her, I was, "What do you think about me starting my own watch company?"
I couldn't find watches in the price point that I wanted.
I couldn't find the quality that I wanted or the design that I wanted.
And as a creative person, I just began to sketch out the things that I would want on a watch that I wanted to wear.
And that's how Talley & Twine was born.
Once I figured that I had a design that I would like to wear, then I began my research process.
So I got on Google, and I realized that the next step for me was just bringing the watch to life.
So bring in some real artists.
So I hired someone online to create a graphic design of the watch.
And then from there, I hired somebody to create a 3D model of the watch with the specifications, the size, the detail, the materials that would be used.
I used that 3D model, and I gave that to manufacturers and began to get samples.
(upbeat music) Talley & Twine is actually an intersection here in Virginia.
It's in Portsmouth.
And it is near the location where my wife and I purchased our first home.
We became homeowners and got our first taste of the American dream.
And it was significant to us personally.
I felt that it could represent just the change that occurs in our lives and the fact we don't have to finish the way that we started.
As we've grown, I no longer sketch the watches myself.
We start with an inspiration board.
This is a model that is not released yet.
I pulled together some images that kind of speak to how we ultimately want it to look.
And then I give the direction for the designer over here.
We only feature the number seven on our watches.
So I wanna build around this constellation cluster called the Seven Sisters and incorporate that into the dial of the watch to have a celestial themed design.
And so I'll give the designer this and then they'll in turn give me back some examples and then we can tweak it from there.
This is just the various pieces that we need for assembly.
We assemble those pieces based on what that customer wants.
So we received orders this year from both Macy's and Nordstrom, but overall I think we want to continue to keep that relationship with our customers and sell directly on our website so that we can reach back out to them and really bring them into what we call the Talley and Twine family.
We started with our leather band watches, but now we have leather bands, metal band collection and we also have canvas collection which is our more casual style.
So I would like to say that we have watches for everything that you're doing in life.
We have about 125 SKUs.
No two days are the same.
It involves some form of overseeing content creation.
As a digital first brand, our content is the most important aspect of what we do.
So that's some type of photo shoot, video shoot and coordinating that with our social media staff.
Also, you know, checking the sales for the day.
Like how are we doing?
Are we slow?
Do we need to get some type of promotion.
Taking a look at the ads.
How much are we spending on advertisements?
A bunch of meetings and phone calls.
Who's wearing Talley and Twine?
A little bit of everybody.
♪ Tik tok you don't stop ♪ ♪ To the tik tok you don't stop ♪ ♪ To the tik tok you don't stop ♪ The most recent incident that comes to mind was that the new mayor of Atlanta chose to wear Talley and Twine during his inauguration and his swearing in ceremony.
You know, he's putting his hand on the Bible and he has Talley and Twine watch on for, you know, one of my favorite cities.
Looking at people's wrists is an obsession of mine.
It can be present day.
It can be movies.
It really doesn't matter because to me I wanna see how it fits.
Why did you choose this design?
And also trends, I wanna see what are people wearing?
Why are they wearing this and where are they going when they have this on?
(upbeat music) This is a collaboration that we did with Tuskegee Airmen Association.
It's officially licensed product.
I reached out to them probably last year and we've been in development for a few months after that.
And we finally dropped it this year.
It sold out twice already.
It just features the P51 bomber blown by the Red Tails during the war.
And then it also has the red buttons to signify the Red Tail.
And on the back of the watch, we got custom engraving with the Tuskegee Airmen logo as well.
My former roommate from college and I are business partners.
In about 2019, he came on board as a partner.
He left his corporate job.
But we also used to be roommates at Albany State University in Georgia.
We decided to do a $10,000 business scholarship starting at Albany State, but also going nationally to other HBCUs for students who are interested in entrepreneurship in business.
(upbeat music) We've been extremely blessed.
Starting out with nothing and last year we did 2.6 million in revenue.
We're able to sell products nationally and internationally.
It's been a very rewarding experience.
(upbeat music)
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