All February we’re focusing on things we LOVE- like National Entrepreneurship Week and their successful stories of entrepreneurs, a topic that is near and dear to our hearts here at PHAG!  As PHierce advocates of individual freedom and expression, we tip our hats to anyone who has ever dared dream, whether it’s taking a design risk with your home’s interior, or risking everything to start your own business.  So what makes a person go into business for himself?  We sat down with PHAG PHounder, Jason Crook, to find out about the art of smart risk-taking!

Where did the idea for PHAG come from?

Most people are not aware that my professional background is one of advertising and corporate branding, and that in addition to building the PHAG brand, I’ve been a University professor for about 15 years.  My motivation to start PHAG really came from an awakening I had that teaching is something I was simply, “meant to do.”  If I was going to give up my corporate job (and salary) to increase the flexibility of my schedule and allow myself more opportunities to teach, I would definitely need something else to supplement my income.  

I took a vacation to visit my family over the July 4th holiday back in 2003 and on the plane, I started listing all the things in life that brought me joy- it was on a drink napkin, I think.  After spending a contemplative week lakeside in western North Carolina, I used that list on the return flight to Philly to imagine what a professional opportunity around the things that brought me joy might look like.  Having painted as a hobby for many years, a recurring theme in the notes was art, but I knew I didn’t want to own a gallery so I started thinking about what a retail concept might look like that wouldn’t be a gallery, per se, but would have an artistic focus.  

As I started to list the items I would be interesting in selling the Home, Art, and Garden aspects of the business became quite clear, and the business acronym just revealed itself- PHAG!  I could literally build a PHAG shop in the middle of the fifth largest city in America, taking ownership of a term that had been used to taunt me for much of my life and turning it into something positive- a story of success.  When I returned to my corporate job the following week, I shared by idea with a few friends and colleagues.  Most thought it was, “crazy,” but a week later, I gave my notice, and I was working on PHAG full-time by the end of the month.  I made my first sale in November of the same year.  The rest, as they say, is history…

Why do you focus on curating cool kitsch and awesome design? Where does that love of surrounding yourself with the things you love come from?

Our homes are our most personal space and they should be a reflection of our unique interests, styles, and personalities.  A world filled with big box chain retailers supplying all the contents for our homes and our lives is horrifying to me!  Often, the “story” behind an item is as attractive to me as the item itself.  The story of what we sell at PHAG mirrors the story behind the origin of the business, really.  The business concept was born from a list of things that bring me joy, and now I’m in the business of selling stuff that allows people to surround themselves with the things they love!  The result of our unique blend of cool kitsch and high design is a vast product selection that allows anyone the opportunity to create the world they imagine- then live in it.  A long-standing tagline for PHAG has been, “The ONLY thing discriminating HERE is TASTE.”  So, whether the item is perfectly playful or distinctly designer, everything I select has that common denominator- a level of taste. 

What are three things in your own house you cannot live without?

My personal home is so eclectic that it would be impossible to pick only three items!  Having been in the home furnishings business for more than a dozen years, probably 70% of the content of my home is like a historical journey through the “Best of PHAG.”  First-time visitors to my home make comments like, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen,” or “there’s just cool stuff everywhere I look,” and one of my favorites was a friend who visited from out-of-town and referred to it as a, “museum of awesomeness.”

What would you say to PHabulous folks who are thinking of going into business for themselves?

I believe a lot of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur is really about a certain mindset- an innate desire to make people’s lives better.  If you have an idea that you think accomplishes that, go for it!  We spend the majority of our lives “working for a living,” so why not shape your own opportunity?  The idea of, “being your own boss,” is a myth to me.  I’ve never felt more accountable to others (my customers and my employees) than in my life as an entrepreneur.  But, what’s real to me is that entrepreneurship has provided me the opportunity to control my professional destiny, and the gratification of knowing I’ve made the lives of others a little more enjoyable (and their homes a little more PHabulous) along the way.