Meet Tom and Shin Tome of GRC Commerce in Harbor City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom and Shin Tome.

Tom and Shin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
How did we get started? Well, it was a culmination of life events, similar to that of a tornado picking up everything in its path, jumbling things around and spitting the pieces back out wherever it wants. (Maybe an earthquake metaphor would have better for us SoCal folks)

My brother, finishing up entrepreneurial studies at USC had started dabbling on an eBay business on the side. I, on the other hand, had come back from a couple of years of working abroad, re-adjusting to life back in the South Bay. We both had promising careers but knew that we wanted to take a swing at starting a business. During this time, we were both broke and deep in student debt, begrudgingly living at home.

One day, as I sat daydreaming, I asked my brother what he thought about me helping him with the business. We began to discuss potential partnership ideas and saw that we had complementary strengths. The discussion and business planning continued over giving each other haircuts. (Yes, we did anything to “cut” costs) This was the genesis of GRC Commerce.

As we took action on our strategies, we first began to see results in the form of inventory filling up our small bedroom, then into the hallway, then to the living room, then pallets of shipping supplies started arriving at home, filling the garage. This was when our parents made it clear that they wanted to come back to a home instead of a warehouse. We finally moved out.

Since then, we’ve grown to an international team of over 10, moved to a warehouse, a larger and even larger warehouse. We still feel that we’re only in the beginning stages, but it has been one wild ride, and we are grateful to be working with a great team.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As with achieving anything worthwhile in life, growing a business has been full of roadblocks, difficulties, emotional and physical labor.

For many years, we had been working 100 hour work weeks, grinding and learning the market, laws, financials and seen pains of health issues due to pushing ourselves too hard. But, we’ve also seen achievements like being named on the INC fastest growing companies, building strong relationships with our partners, that has kept us inspired to continue providing value to the marketplace.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We at GRC Commerce see ourselves as a company that helps people who create products do what they do best, to create products. We help sell, advertise, warehouse and fulfill (ship) products on all the major online sales channels. If you have a product you want to sell online, come to us. We’ll take care of the nitty-gritty and help you sell your product worldwide.

We’ve also recently launched grinderPUNCH.com, an affordable take on fashion sunglasses with a mission of supporting people who are working hard to make their dreams come true. We have been partnering up with social media influencers in fashion, lifestyle, dance, photography and open to many more people who are on the grind.
Reach out to us if you’re making your dreams come true and let’s share it on social!

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
Aside from the genesis of planning the business on a toilet seat, every day is a privilege to work with our team. We hope to continue creating more moments that we look back with warm smiles. We’d like to personally thank every one of our team and the people who continually support us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.grinderPUNCH.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grinderpunch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grinderpunch/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/grinderpunch
• Other: www.grccommerce.com

Image Credit:
Tom Tome, Shin Tome, Jess Baker

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