Episode Details

If you own a tablet or iPad, you’ve probably shopped for a case for it. And if you bought a case for it, did you ever run across beautiful leather cases that looked like books?

If so, you and I have the same taste. Pad & Quill makes those luxurious cases.

Our guest today is Brian Holmes, President, and owner of Pad & Quill. He started the business in 2010 with his wife, Kari.

It was a desire to create exceptionally crafted luxury accessories (rather than profits) that motivated Holmes when he chose to start the business with a budget of just over $1,000.

Pad and Quill is the tale of a shop formed with bookbinders, carpenters, a painter and a working mom coming together to create beautiful handmade iPad/iPhone cases, leather bags, and other dry goods.

In this episode, we dive into his seven-year journey in ecommerce and discover what he’s learned along the way.

—

Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via Email

Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on iTunes

Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast on Stitcher

Subscribe to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast via RSS

Join The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook Group

Work with Kurt

—

Learn:

• How Pad & Quill got started
• Their direct approach to launching the brand
• Why you should embrace your passion
• The advantage of lifetime warranties
• How to Brian pitches the press
• The golden rule that governs Brian’s marketing
• Why he moved from Magento to Shopify Plus
• And his advice for entrepreneurs

Links Mentioned:

• PadAndQuill - Use coupon code BHAPPY10 to get 10% off any product
• Shopify Plus

Free Guide

I want to send you a sample chapter of Ecommerce Bootcamp, absolutely free.

Tell me where to send your sample at ecommerce-bootcamp.com

Transcript

Kurt: Hello, and welcome back to The Unofficial Shopify Podcast. I'm your host, Kurt Elster, recording from Ethercycle headquarters; about 10 minutes from O'Hare Airport, if you're familiar. And today I'm talking to a wonderful, seven year-old eCommerce store owner. Well, the store is seven years old. The owner is not seven years old, I should say, I should be specific. But we've got this app called Crowdfunder, and it's not the easiest thing to install if you're not familiar with HTML.

So people ask me, "Hey Kurt, can you install this thing for me?" And I say, "Yes, of course." And in doing that, I always get to check out some interesting stores. And in this case, I said, gee this seems ... I was looking at a store, it was called Pad & Quill, and I thought, this seems awfully familiar. So I went and I searched through my email, and sure enough, I had bought an iPad case from Pad & Quill in 2011. So I reached out, and I acted like, this seemed familiar because it is familiar; I used to have your case on my first gen iPad, and I would love to hear your story. This looks like a fascinating brand, they were in the process of moving to Shop