We were lucky to catch up with Chris Hunn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
I manage my own social media. I made that decision because I have experience as a digital marketer, I enjoy it and it allows me to spend money elsewhere for the business. As for results, I’m closing in on 65K followers on Instagram since launching in Oct. 2021 and just over 35K on TikTok. Both organic and paid social have been instrumental in the growth of my business. One of the most important things is post consistently. Also engage with customers/followers and respond to all DMs.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Chris Hunn and I live in Connecticut with my wife, and two sons. I have been working in digital marketing for about 7 years. In addition to my full-time job in digital marketing, I have always done digital marketing work for a couple of local business as a “side hustle.” I was helping these small businesses grow and thought to myself, I want to do this for my own business.
Meanwhile, my older son, Daylin, had been playing baseball since he was 4. He was a pitcher aspiring to pitch in college. When I wasn’t working, a lot of time was spent driving him to tournaments, practices and training lessons. I was around it all the time and thought how can I build a business around this niche? “PO” is a term used in the baseball community which means “Pitcher Only”. A PO is a player who focuses solely on pitching. They don’t bat or play a position in the field. On the many car rides to baseball my son and I brainstormed and eventually came up with Pitchers Only, an apparel brand for pitchers. We launched on Oct. 30 2021 and it’s been a fun and exciting journey. Products range from training shorts and tees with pitching designs and slogans to hoodies, hats and dorm flags. The brand logo is a backwards K which indicates in a scorebook that a batter struck out without swinging.
There are several other baseball clothing brands, some with a few products specifically for pitchers. But what makes us unique is we are brand designed specifically for this pitching community.
While I’ve had help along the way from family, friends and mentors, I’m most proud of building this brand from the ground up while learning so much along the way and overcoming several challenges and mistakes. But I try not to focus on the success. I want to stay focused on growing and scaling. Some specific examples that make me proud are the DMs from kids who save their money to buy a product I created, a pitcher from Switzerland who gets a tattoo of Pitchers Only tee design or when a friend sends me a photo from the gym of a pitcher wearing Pitchers Only gear. I’m closing in on $1M in revenue in my second year and I’m excited to say I’ll be leaving my full-time job next month to go all in on Pitchers Only.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I think it’s just those late nights where I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I was missing out on valuable time with my family. I was at a point where this side hustle has become a second full time job but I wasn’t ready yet to leave my full time job. You ask yourself is this worth it? I continued to just push through the highs and lows and focus on the end goal. I’m excited to say I will be leaving my full time job next month to work full time on Pitchers Only.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was at a point where I had to make a decision. I could no longer balance my full time job and the business I built. I had to pick one. It was scary and exciting at the same time. On one hand you have the security and benefits of a full time job. On the other hand, you’re making more money with this new business. You’ll have freedom. That’s where your passion is. Then you ask yourself what if it fails? So I made the move and decided to pivot to entrepreneurship life, which I will begin next month.
Contact Info:
- Website: pitchers-only.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pitchersonly_apparel/