Hidden Gems: Meet Chris Dorsey of Quindecim Red

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Dorsey.  

Hi Chris, 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.
I was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan, and had a sort of rocky start to life. It was me, my mom, and older sister. My mom was young and still figuring out life, but we all managed to get by. Early on, around age 5, I started hustling and selling candy to the neighborhood kids so I could support my own candy habit. Looking back, this was the start of my entrepreneurial mindset. We later moved to Clinton Township, MI where I met new friends and found new hustles. I shot dice for loose change, sold stolen bikes and parts (embarrassing, I know), and collected a ton of bottles that I returned to the store for money. I was always on the hunt for a new hustle, and when I got to high school, I found the best one yet. Well, it was actually three: Limewire, WinMx, and BearShare. While everyone used these programs to illegally download music for pleasure, I used them to make some money. I burned CDs for $5 and sold 10 ringtones for $5 using a program and transfer cable I bought for $35. The ringtones were my bread and butter. Everyone had Nextel phones that could play 30 seconds of a song, and I could get any part of the song you needed. My customer service was immaculate as well. You would give me a list of songs for the cd, I would burn the songs in that order, put your cd in a case or sleeve, and the list of songs would be included inside the case with your name written on the cd. Don’t know the name of the song? No problem, call me and sing or hum it to me, and I will find it. In 2006, this hustle came to an end the first month of my freshman year at Wayne State University when I received a scary letter from the Recording Industry Association of America for my criminal activity. That’s when I realized what I was doing was wrong and illegal. But I was always told to go to college and get a degree in something that would earn me a safe and steady job. So, there I was, at Wayne State University, pursuing a nursing degree. At the time, nurses were in high demand, especially male nurses. Oh, and this recession thing was brewing. So “safe” careers were the talk of the town. I took all the classes I needed to apply for nursing school and also landed a job at a hospital to get some experience. In 2009, I applied to nursing school at Wayne State and BAM! Denied… I was pretty discouraged, so I took a couple semesters off. In 2011, I decided to try again, and I took a crack at Macomb Community College’s nursing program. I received a denial letter from them as well. I immediately started to reflect on what the hell I was doing. I was broke, going to class, going to work, rinse, and repeat. I was living in an unwanted daily cycle, and I wanted to break it. I realized I’ve been pursuing something I wasn’t really interested in doing, which was nursing. I wanted to get back to what I enjoyed doing when I was younger, and that was hustling and selling things. I knew from experience that hustling was a temporary thing and I needed to come up with a legitimate business idea if I wanted to break that cycle. After months of brainstorming business ideas, I kept coming back to real estate and a clothing brand. I also had a lot of college credits under my belt, so I decided to switch my major to business and finish up at Wayne State. My thought process was that I would need the business knowledge to run my own business. I also started forming my clothing brand, Quindecim Red at the same time. I wanted to create something that motivated those closest to me to break their cycle as well. I knew that clothing would be a great canvas to get a message out and build a community around. I came up with a concept that I believed in for the brand message, and that was; to break our everyday cycle, we have to tap into our childlike imagination and apply it to our ideas. I read that childlike imagination is imagination in its purest form, and during my reflecting, I realized that mine was under attack as soon as I exited elementary school. By the time I was a young adult, it was completely destroyed. I graduated from Wayne State in 2013 with a bachelor’s of science in business administration (finance). The next few years were spent working at the hospital and searching for a job that required my business degree. I was going against my concept. I was not pursuing something that I enjoyed, and I was staying in the cycle. I even tried to start a business selling costume jewelry because I thought it would be easy money. I wasn’t really interested in the product, so that failed. In early 2015 I eventually got licensed to be a realtor and started selling real estate. I worked at the hospital a few days and worked on real estate deals the other days. Sometimes I would show homes right after my 12-hr. shift at the hospital. I would change clothes in the car and zoom over to the house that I was showing. Quindecim Red was always on my mind though. Every day I would add something to the plan. I also had a life-changing event happen during this time; I had a little one on the way. I’ll be honest, I was scared shitless, but I had to pivot and adjust. December 31, 2015, my daughter Ava was born. Her birth put a fire under me. I had to get this thing (Quindecim Red) going before she started really moving and shaking. Beginning of 2016, I juggled daddying, working full time at the hospital, being a realtor, and preparing the launch of Quindecim Red. By fall 2016, I was ready to launch the brand. I had as many things in place as I could and presented the brand to the world (actually, my 900 or so followers on social media). As soon as I launched, my friend Aldo called me and wanted to buy a shirt. We met up, and he purchased the first shirt I ever sold. Shortly after Aldo’s purchase, my friend Josh and I were talking in the breakroom at work about the website that wasn’t quite ready. While we were talking, he went on the website and ordered a shirt. It was my first online order. I was hooked. I was back selling something that I enjoyed selling. People started ordering here and there, and I would mail out the online orders or meet up with them with my mobile inventory that I kept in the back of my truck. I kept the bulk of the inventory in my sister’s basement, and eventually, she would help with delivering local orders. Although the numbers weren’t great, people liked the brand, concept, logo, etc. Some of my friends (s/o Kristina Dortenzio and Ashley Jimenez) started spending a few hundred dollars at a time with me. My friend Rashad was meeting up with me every Friday to buy clothes for his coworkers. He would buy something for himself, and they would want it as well. So, he would collect money at his job, take orders, and meet up with me to purchase what they requested. Out the blue, my best friend Mykel would meet up with me every week and buy a shirt. Eventually, people I’ve never met would purchase something. I came to the conclusion that people really liked the brand, and I needed to establish some type of physical location where people could come buy in person whenever they feel like it. I started searching at local malls and came across a great opportunity at Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights, MI. August 3, 2018, with no experience working retail or running a brick-and-mortar business, I opened my first location with the help of my sister and best friend Mykel. We just went with the flow and took it day by day. First month of business was a hit! Went from $500 to $1000 a month in sales to $25k in sales. Tons of friends and family came out to show love and support. The dust settled after that first month, and the support kept coming in. Our three-man/woman team continued to manage, learn on the go, and adjust with every obstacle. Obstacles like finding reliable suppliers, finding what products work best, and staying relevant so people would continue to come in and shop. I bought a camera and learned how to do photography by watching YouTube videos, learned how to do my own bookkeeping, and even took a class at Joann fabrics to learn how to sew. We figured out a schedule that works for all of us and manned the store with no interruptions. One of the biggest obstacles was navigating through the pandemic. The first few years of a business is difficult by default, and covid just exemplified that difficulty. Also, the shopping mall we are located in is also on the decline since the pandemic. Many stores have departed, so it’s a challenge to capture new customers. But there is still a lot of opportunity here. We are still hanging in there, and that is a success in itself. We are continuing to offer quality and unique products and planning to introduce new ones. The learning never stops, and we are still taking it day by day. Fine-tuning as we go!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been the furthest thing from smooth. There are so many things to learn, create, and keep track of. Especially having a physical store. It’s the unexpected things that pop up like a leaking water heater, light bulbs burning out and the replacements are hard to find, and other software/hardware malfunctioning. The largest struggle is work-life balance. One of the biggest differences of working a traditional 9 to 5 vs. owning a business is, with a 9 to 5 you get to clock out. When owning a business, there is no clocking out. The work is with you everywhere you go. It’s with you at the dinner table, in the shower, when you’re laying down to go to bed. Some will say you have to have time management but when you’re first starting out, figuring out how to manage time is a job in itself. There simply is no work-life balance. I’ve worked 12 hours at the store,  went home to sew tags for 6 hours, and got back up to do another 12-hr. shift in the store. But for some odd reason, it is all worth it!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Quindecim Red?
Quindecim Red is a brand that focuses on utilizing your imagination and ideas to break our everyday cycle. The cycle is often a result of not being in control of your time and other factors that keep you from reaching your full potential. With an emphasis on entrepreneurship, we believe that if you tap into your childlike imagination and apply it to an idea that you are passionate about, you can break your everyday cycle. You have to understand how important childlike imagination is. It is simply believing something you want to happen CAN happen. We are usually stripped of this ability by the time we are young adults even though it comes natural when we are children. I am simply trying to lead by example and provide a “how to” on breaking your everyday cycle. I originally wanted to motivate those closest to me to break their everyday cycle, so I used elements from my old neighborhood to create the name and logo. Our neighborhood is something we all have in common, so I really wanted to pay homage to and build a community with the brand. But once things started going, I realized that many different people can relate to this concept. Because of that, many strangers have linked with the brand and shopped, and that’s what I’m most proud of. It’s a local thing that I created for us and has expanded beyond!

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I’m a firm believer that luck is created by the person. Winning the lottery is a lucky event, but most likely, that person has been playing the lottery for years. Their chances of winning will be higher than someone who doesn’t play the lottery. Usually, when someone goes viral, the thing they went viral doing is something they’ve been doing well before the viral moment. So, I don’t necessarily believe in luck. It’s about working at something, knowing the right people, and being at the right place at the right time. Me personally, I’ve been working at some things and will one day meet the right people and be in the right place at the right time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.QuindecimRed.com
• Instagram: @quindecimred
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/quindecimred
• Twitter: @quindecimred
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@quindecimred

Image Credits
Chris Dorsey