Black History Month has special meaning for Joe Porche, a physician assistant (PA) in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana – and winner of the first season of “Making It… With Lowe’s!”
“My dad was the first to go to college in his family,” he said. “Everyone else was in construction. I was honored to become a third-generation carpenter, although it’s not my profession.”
“Even though my dad was a school principal, he and I did carpentry projects at home every weekend from the time I was 9 years old,” Porche added. “I followed in his footsteps, went to college and was lucky enough to become a PA. I’ve been in orthopedics and pain management for 23 years.”
His Creole family – a mashup of myriad cultures – instilled in him the values taught by Dr. Martin Luther King. They taught him “to love all, reduce division and not let your skin color limit who you want to be. Those values are part of who I am.”
Carpentry know-how
Porche’s knowledge of carpentry and how things work helped him invent and develop Handle and Haul, “a product that can be attached to any rope or strap, adhere to an item to drag it, lift it or carry it with one or two hands,” he explained.
“It allows you to always be in the best position when you move an item you’re lifting. The primary purpose is to make work easier; the secondary purpose is to reduce injuries when you lift.”
His succinct tagline: “Lift smarter, not harder.”
You can see how his work as an orthopedic PA came into play in creating his unique gadget.
In his “day job,” he helps people heal from injury. At that’s something he can relate to. Injuries sustained in an automobile accident make it tough for Porche to lift heavy boxes and the like. That said, he was Handle and Haul’s first customer.
After inventing Handle and Haul in 2016, he began selling it in 2017. He saw a need. “There are about 30 million people a year who move from one location to another,” he said. His product is so simple and revolutionary, it made it onto Lowe’s shelves.
Where Lowe’s comes in
He was at a copy center one day – compiling marketing materials for Handle and Haul – when someone told him he should go on “Shark Tank,” the ABC reality show that helps fledgling entrepreneurs take their product to the next level.
Porche said he didn’t have an outgoing, made-for-TV personality.
Someone – a man who had turned his own product into a successful business – overheard that conversation and told Porche he didn’t need “Shark Tank.” He needed Lowe’s, which was launching its first season of “Making It… With Lowe’s!”
It’s a “Shark Tank”-style, product-pitching competition that provides diverse entrepreneurs the opportunity to boost their business by being sold on Lowes.com or in Lowe’s stores nationwide. Porche’s Handle and Haul beat out 1,300 other products.
Porche’s prize? Becoming one of Lowe’s suppliers. Most inventors take seven years to go from prototype to retail-ready product, but Porche said, “With Lowe’s help, I did it in five months.”
He learned a lot from the experience: “There are things you learn from being a small business, but when you get into the realm of major retail, there’s a lot more to learn.” Lowe’s helped with the learning curve.
Handle and Haul has dozens of uses. “It works for dragging something, lifting something, moving something, securing something for travel,” Porche said. “It can be applied to all those things – not just moving boxes.” But the manufacturer needs to quickly help consumers understand all a product’s possibilities.
Porche is gearing up for the next iteration of his product. He said he couldn’t have learned all he did about consumer behavior, quality standards and marketing without Lowe’s as a guide.
Being one and only
What did he learn? For one thing, being first is invigorating, but it can also be a burden.
On his journey from small business to big-time, he discovered Handle and Haul had no competition. His product wasn’t just first in the marketplace; it’s literally one of a kind.
So, as excited as he was to start his own company, Multus, he discovered there were unexpected challenges in selling a product unlike any other. For instance, you have only seconds to communicate to a consumer what your product does. The packaging has to do a lot in an instant.
What's next for Handle and Haul?
“I have new products in the works,” he said. “And, Handle and Haul is still a work in progress.”
And there’s the issue of being both a PA and a CEO. “At some point, I won't be able to do two jobs,” he said. “I still work as a PA four days a week, and nights and weekends are devoted to Maltus. I’m moving forward steady and slow.”
And Lowe’s will continue to be his partner in the journey. “I appreciate the opportunity,” he said. “I'm very grateful to [Lowe’s CEO] Mr. Marvin Ellison and all the staff at Lowe’s for the opportunity. I could not have gotten in 20 years what I have gotten in the last year from them.”
Porche’s family taught him there should be no limits based on skin color or anything else. Lowe’s has helped reinforce that belief.
