Exploring Life & Business with Emily Clawson of Porcupine

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Emily Clawson.

Hi Emily, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
In 2019, my little family moved across the nation for my husband’s medical training at Vanderbilt. We didn’t know what was in store for us for the next few years here in Nashville. Music City is where musicians, singers, and songwriters follow their dreams. I had no idea it would be where I started mine.

For as long as I can remember, I would put my shower hair on the wall. It seemed to just be instinct; I did it for years and years and didn’t think anything of it. One day, while showering, I had a thought come into my head… why isn’t there a place to put our shower hair other than down the drain or on the wall? This thought would not get out of my head! It stewed in my mind for 5-6 months. Each time I would wash my hair, ideas of this hair catcher concept flooded my mind. Finally I decided to fully jump into solving this problem and chasing my idea. In late 2020, I started the process of product development.

The first thing I did was reach out to an attorney. As I did my product research, I saw nothing like this on the market. I wanted to try to patent this new concept and protect my idea. I worked with a local designer who helped me think through every scenario both functionally and esthetically. As we were thinking through ideas and trying out different homemade prototypes, I discovered something important. The big idea wasn’t just to have something on the wall to put your shower hair on; it was missing something. The shower hair needed to be hidden!

Why hide the shower hair? More often than not, individuals forget to remove their hair from the shower wall. It then remains on the shower wall and grosses the next person to get in the shower. Or it dries, falls onto the floor, and ends up down the drain anyway. So the idea of giving you a place to put it and hide it was the key to this product idea.

Once the design was finalized and the patent was filed, I moved on to manufacturing and branding. Manufacturing is a whole other ballgame. I tried reaching out to different companies across the US. Some called me back, others did not. Luckily I was introduced to a fantastic product development company Klugonyx. They helped me tweak a few design changes and set me up with the best manufacturing company overseas. I know I wouldn’t have been able to figure all of this out without them.

While finalizing manufacturing, packaging, etc, I started my social media account in late 2021. Within a couple of weeks, I had a video take-off. Within a month, it had over 30 million views. So many people loved this idea and wanted to know where to get the product. The only problem, it wasn’t available. So, I decided to open pre-orders. I was overwhelmed by the support I received.

In April 2022, the product arrived, and we started shipping out all the pre-orders. A few days later, we opened orders again and have been open ever since. In 2023, my patent was issued, and I am now a proud owner of a patent! How cool is that?!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think entrepreneurship or running a business is ever a smooth road, is it? A few things come to mind. One of them is related to the product itself, and my other thoughts are geared toward being a small business owner.

The first is something I encountered with my product. Early on, after opening up orders, I learned quickly that there are so many different shower wall surfaces. The suction cups on the back weren’t suctioning as well as they should with certain types of shower walls. I quickly started working on how to resolve this. Within a couple of months, I created a back piece attached to the wall via semi-permanent tape. The Porcupine then slides down on it and stays in place, so there are no more falling Porcupines.

Because of the community I have developed and being so grateful for the honest feedback, I sent all previous customers experiencing issues with the suction cup a new back piece. And because I just don’t know what types of shower walls people have, I now include a back piece in every box. This honestly was a scary hurdle for me, getting feedback that my product wasn’t working like it should was not a good feeling. But I decided that it only hurt me if I let it. And that is something I wasn’t going to do. I was able to pivot, help solve the problem, and now customers are even more happy because their Porcupines aren’t falling off their shower wall.

The next two obstacles are ones that I will continue to hurdle over and will keep figuring out as I go. I didn’t go to college for business or product development. I went to Nursing school. But I didn’t let that stop me. I used every resource I had available to try and figure out each phase of the development process. My biggest resource was the people I knew. I was surprised time and time again when I would chat with someone about my idea or the phase of the process I was in. 8 out of 10 times… they would say something to the affect of “I know someone that does that or know about that.” The majority of my contacts and resources started from someone I already knew.

The last thing I am still figuring out is work and family life balance. I am a wife to a busy husband and a mom to three cute kids. Trying to find that balance is challenging. I want my dream of running a small business to succeed but at the same time family is most important. There are a lot of early mornings and late nights working on social media content, responding to emails, and fulfilling orders. It can be exhausting.

But this business isn’t just a me thing. It’s a family thing. My boys help me label orders and run them into the post office, its a team effort. My oldest even got his teacher onto my website at school and was explaining the Porcupine to her. They love being a part of it, and I love teaching them what it takes to work hard and follow a dream.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I developed a product, a brand, and a small business called Porcupine. Porcupine is a one piece, easy to use, reusable, hiding place for your shower hair. The bristles on the inside help remove the hair from your hands, contains it in one place, and allows your hair to be HIDDEN. The holes on the top and bottom allows water to drain and air to circulate ultimately drying the hair inside.

When you’re ready to clean your hair out you simply flip it inside out. Your Porcupine is made out of silicone which allows it to be flexible enough to flip inside out (like a sock) for easy hair removal. Easily remove the hair along the bristles (like you’re cleaning out a hair brush) and then throw away your hair. Clean your Porcupine as necessary with soap and water, its even dishwasher safe. Once it’s clean and hair-free, flip your Porcupine back to its hiding place and place it back on your shower wall.

Porcupine shines a little bit of light on your shower hair. Individuals lose 50-100 strands of hair a day; that’s normal. More often than not, that hair is in the shower. There are varying reasons as to why some individuals might lose more or less hair than others. We are all in different phases and different seasons of life. Some contributing factors to more hair loss might be stress, postpartum, hormones, health-related concerns, the type of hair we have, etc. Surprisingly, our hair can tell a lot about us and our story.

When I was postpartum with my second child I remember the shower was the only place for me to be alone. I didn’t need to nurse my newborn, chase my toddler, or try and clean the house. The shower was my sanctuary. But the post partum hairloss kicked in. I remember putting my hair on the wall and just starring at it. It brought sad and negative feelings to me. Seeing that hair reminded me of the chaos I was in. Don’t get me wrong, I tried to enjoy and embrace the chaos. But I wanted to be able to get in the shower, relax, and try to feel myself and take care of myself. If I didn’t care for myself I couldn’t care for others.

Porcupine is a product that will hide that shower hair. Whether your hair reminds you of something going on in your life you need a break from or you just need to hide that hair from your partner so they aren’t nagging you about cleaning it up. It doesn’t matter what your WHY is for the Porcupine. I just know everyone has a story, everyone’s hair has a story, and Porcupine should be a part of your hair story.

I have developed such a supportive community around this idea that everyone has a story. We might all be different, but we all have something in common…we all have a story to tell. Porcupine isn’t just a product there’s more meaning behind it and the brand.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Growing up I had a a boy cousin that was my age. We did everything together and was involved in a lot of different activities and sports. This often meant I played sports with more boys than girls. I didn’t know anything different, it was normal, and I held my own.

I remember being on a basketball team and being the only girl. One of my teammates was suppose to pass the ball into me so I could dribble it down the court. Instead of passing it to me he yells “go long!” and chucks it to another one of our teammates. I remember wondering if he didn’t pass it to me because I was a girl. You might think this would have made me upset and wanting to quit, it didn’t. It actually made me even more determined to be better.

Another time where I was the only girl on my team was when I played flag football. Walking up to the line of scrimmage I remember a boy on the other team say “they have a girl on their team, this is going to be easy!” At first it made me a little upset, but when I scored a touchdown the next play I was the one smiling, not him.

Playing sports and being the only girl more times than not helped me develop confidence to be different and to stand out. I truly believe this helped me have the courage and determination to develop something unique like Porcupine. I really do look back on these memories as some of my favorites, not only because they make me laugh because they are a little silly, but because I know they helped shape me into who I am today.

Pricing:

• Sage Green Porcupine $37.99
• Dusty Pink Porcupine $37.99
• Cool Gray Porcupine $37,99
• Use Code VOYAGE15 for 15% off

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yourporcupine.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your.porcupine/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@your.porcupine?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Image Credits
@flake.photos and @filmgarage208