Q&A: Soxcessful founder Michael Agbortoko Jr. helps clients dream big

Michael Agbortoko, Jr. founded Soxcessful in Worcester’s Midtown Mall last year, both as a space for creatives and a business linking clients up with manufacturers all over the world. Have you always been entrepreneurial? I founded a landscaping business while he was in high school and had about 15-20 clients. When you are in high school and you need money, I was like, “Do I do my own thing and be happy, or do I go work someplace like McDonald’s?” When I went to college, I handed off my clients to someone who could help them, as it was mostly my neighbors and people who really needed help. What is Soxcessful all about? Soxcessful is an incubator and makerspace for makers all over the world. Customers can buy, personalize and source almost anything they can dream of.Let’s say you want your whole life to be unicorns. I can work with makers to do that: your furniture, your iPhone case, etc. We can put your face on a rug. We are more of a middle guy between the customers and then the manufacturers and creators. We can work with people in different communities. Worcester is our first testing ground, where we want to create good in the community. How was business in your first year? Things have been slow, but coming in, that was expected. Worcester is undergoing gentrification, and we moved in a few weeks before the Midtown Mall got sold and is now being fixed up. Business at the physical store is slow, but we are selling on Amazon and other channels, so we have been relying on e-commerce. Overall, it has been better than I expected, even with the coronavirus pandemic. I’ve pretty much been working remote the whole time. It is like building an engine. It looks very simple from the outside, but on the inside, there is a lot going on. How are things looking going forward? We just got new deals with makers who have Star Wars and Batman licenses, and we are gaining new access to things that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. One of the things I’m working on is a store made out of recyclable shipping containers. Maybe we take that out to Martha’s Vineyard and start selling out there. During this pandemic, we are going after state contracts, particularly for personal protective equipment. We were working on a project for Harvard, although that got put on hold until the students come back. I’m not worried about our revenue going forward. We want to do our part to add value to the Worcester community, and then use what we learn here when we expand to other locations. How do you add value to the Worcester community? Our space is meant to be a creative space. We hosted a 43-person mini concert. We have back rooms to be used as artist studios. It is more of a showroom/creative space where we can bring people together and do stuff in the community. You mentioned you were able to keep selling during the pandemic. Anyone can be happy and motivated when things are going well, but you will really find out if you are going to survive when things get tough. You become calm and figure out what you need to do to succeed in those times. We started making face masks in January, because there was already a need for them in China. When the pandemic hit the U.S., we were already prepared for that. That helped us not be in the same situation like others who were blindsided. For us, we wanted to help businesses that want to be contributing toward this global fight against the coronavirus. What do you think about the global protests erupting since George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota? Change globally needs to happen. My generation really wants to address these issues like racism, and even other major concerns like global warming. Individually, we see it as doing the right thing, and we want to challenge the institutions keeping these problems in place. With George Floyd and the issue of police brutality, this time is different because we all have access to the most dangerous thing: the cell phone. When people see these videos, they understand change needs to happen. For Worcester, we at my businesses want to work with others to create opportunity, particularly people of color, but we want to engage the whole community. If we all work together, we can make the city better. All this change happens slowly, but you have to stay serious about it, not just put a bandaid on it. What should people interested in your business know? We are now making a big push, so if there are any B2B businesses needing materials and wanting to cut costs, we can help you with almost anything: banners, tents, posters. We even have a manufacturer who can take recycled shipping containers and turn them into tiny homes. If you can dream it and are willing to pay the price, we will help you make it happen. This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by Brad Kane, WBJ editor.