Kai Miller, creator of Fleces.com came up with this fascinating idea in midst of decorating a nursery for his soon to be born baby and before he knew it, Fleces was up and running.
Fleces are adorable poo pillows come in various shapes and sizes that relate to different texture and variety of actual poo (Click here for more info).
When we learnt about Fleces we couldn't stop ourselves from knowing more about this truly unique idea and therefore we contacted the brain behind this concept. Kai, who is also a programmer has been very kind to spare some time to answer couple of our questions. Read further to learn more about Kai and his latest entrepreneurial endeavor.
To begin with, tell us about yourself.
I guess you could say I'm a pretty big nerd. I am a programmer by so called profession, but maintain my sanity through an assortment of tried and typically failed artistic endeavors. Most of which are not for profit, but just amusement. I am a walking encyclopedia of Star Trek knowledge and often find my time lost to video games - both new and ancient.
Fleces is a very fascinating idea. We would to hear the inspiration story behind it.
My wife and I are about to have a baby, so I was painting this massive mural in our nursery when I happened to look down upon this blanket that someone gave us. It said "Fleece Blanket" on the package but my mind read it at a glance as "Feces Blanket" and of course I revolted in the thought. Strange how the mind works though - as I thought back on it, I mistakenly vocalized "fleces blanket" and then the idea hit me. Fleece feces! I immediately registered the domain names, went to the fabric store and bought tons of fleece and stuffing then broke out the sewing machine and went to town. A few days later, fleces.com was up and going with special thanks to e-junkie for saving me months of time on programming a shopping cart.
You are always welcome. :)
What we loved was the way you have categorized types of Fleces, we are curious about the kind of research you had to do to get the idea moving.
What we loved was the way you have categorized types of Fleces, we are curious about the kind of research you had to do to get the idea moving.
It was at my sister's birthday dinner. Since the idea came to me a couple days ago, I had already made the chunky and coil pillows. I brought them to the family event and we all had a good laugh. Then through the night we were thinking up the most revolting ideas for different poo pillows, and eventually narrowed it down to a few kinds, to keep things simple, should someone actually order one.
Apart from Fleces, what other work do you do?
As I said, I am a programmer by day. But that's not my passion - so to say. I tend to jump from art project to art project. Sometimes it is a doll of someone, sometimes a custom bottle, sometimes a mural. I just get ideas and see how hard it is to do them. I have a few pet programming projects going, but I don't really like them and don't feel the need to promote them.
What future plans do you have for Fleces and how do you intend to promote or market it?
I plan on selling a million poo pillows and getting rich so I can peace out and never work a menial job again. I would probably do something constructive and beneficial to the world with the riches, so it's not all bad. Problem is - I have to do something to get there, huh. It all has to start somewhere, and I guess the baby steps have been in an online ad, the occasional feature on someone's blog, and piggybacking google results. Everyone hopes the viral thing will be their ticket cause that's the cheapest way to get rich, but it's also the least likely. So I guess I'll have to pitch it somehow. Maybe send a free poo pillow to all gastroenterologists and hope they tell people where they got them?
We would love to know your views on exponentially growing 'social media'?
I don't think my opinion will be favored by anyone. I don't think there is anything useful about social media. I see no reason to participate on facebook, myspace, youtube, other social outlets, and especially twitter. I hear many people say things like - but all my friends are on there and I can communicate with them, and my family is on there and so on. But ultimately they're all just a switchboard for email, which is the less personal form of a snail mail letter, which was deprecated by the telephone. And unfortunately people seem to need the visual stimuli of the switchboard to remember to email their brother or friends. Some feel like they are part of their uncle's life by reading his updates and occasionally commenting on his wall. It takes the personality out of life and to me seems like a much lazier version of existence that I want nothing to do with.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they have their purposes, but I just believe they have all been so abused that the hype has now given control of our planet to an abstract entity. Next time you feel like telling the whole world what kind of jello you're eating right now, or you are so stressed by life that you have to spend 5 minutes logging in and updating your status to "stressing out" - try stepping outside and looking at a tree. Then think of all the horrible things that live in the bark and the fact that the tree lives off feces. The sentiment may soak in and you'll realize that this thought is no different than telling the world what kind of jello you're eating or stressing out... it is equally inconsequential.
Tell us about your interests and hobbies. What kind of books you read, blogs you visit, movies you like and places you love to visit.
As far as interests go, I like sci-fi apocalypse and other improbable survivalist scenarios, so I will entertain the idea of stories or movies about these things. My list of conquered books is small since I have not read a whole lot of fiction, and listing text books or non-fiction based publications would be too boring for anyone to read. My aversion to fiction is reversed for the internet. I can't stand reading about facts online, so I don't read any blogs or news sources... except the onion. That's the only place I get any real news. The only other frequented websites I go to are www.redmeat.com, www.pbfcomics.com and www.maakies.com.
I could write a book on movies I like since I tend to listen to about 2 a day while programming. All time favorites though - Aliens, The Shining, Terminator 2, Predator. Most recent theatrical releases - Kick-Ass and Inception.
The only other place I've lived was San Francisco and there will always be some kind of endearing feeling for it. I get to Vegas strangely often. That will probably change with the baby and all.
Your favorite quotation?
Ha! My favorite quote is from a friend of mine named Tommy Morgan. While perfectly sober, he once said "Tattoos are suck" and it has remained my favorite quote ever since.
Lastly, what advice would you like to give to those who wish to join E-commerce bandwagon?
Don't over think it. If you have a few shirt designs, set up a basic site and use e-junkie to handle the shopping cart. If you want to sell custom jewelry, or your paintings, don't worry about popular packages like zen cart or oscommerce when you don't even need your own site or know how to program to use e-junkie. Plug in anywhere.
Probably the most important piece of advise after that is that your products will not sell themselves if nobody knows about them. Even someone as lazy as me took an ad out and spoke up a little. In many cases, even a very niche market - like poo pillows - is like a plant. Just a little watering and it may grow into a massive tree over time, which may end up breaking your walls down and have scary insects living in the bark.
Thanks for a great interview Kai, we hope that everything works out your way. :)
Click here to visit Fleces.com.
Hilarious! (and a bit gross) But love the back story and Kai seems to have a "stinkin" winner on his hands. lol.
Hilarious! (and a bit gross) But love the back story and Kai seems to have a "stinkin" winner on his hands. lol.