Meet Stephen Davis | TAKE OFF Luggage Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephen Davis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephen, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Back in 2021, a friend of mines moved from Detroit to Phoenix. So to help him break Phoenix in and explore, some of the fellas decided to go down there for a few days to see what Phoenix has to offer.

When booking our flights, I found a ticket on Spirit for $44 Roundtrip. I told my friend about it, but said the carry-on baggage fees were going to be around an additional $100. He replied, I’m not paying that, I’ll just take a bookbag (backpack). I agreed that it didn’t make any sense that to carry my own suitcase onto the plane was going to cost more than the plane ticket itself.

Me thinking that was a good idea, but not wanting to carry a backpack around, I went on a search for underseater suitcases, but they all seemed too small. Then while looking at my carry-on suitcase, I thought, what if you just took the wheels off, it probably would fit as a personal item…. And that is how TAKE OFF Luggage was born.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
TAKE OFF Luggage is removable wheels suitcase that easily converts from a costly carry-on into a FREE personal item with our signature removable wheels suitcase, and helping travelers avoid the rising baggage fees.

We got where we are today, by noticing a pain in the market, and being the solution to people’s problem. No one likes to pay baggage fees, so they would rather pay for our suitcase once, and never have to pay baggage fees again. TAKE OFF Luggage pays for itself after only one roundtrip flight.

Building this business wasn’t easy at all, but I did learn that you have to move fast, and make adjustments on the go. Issues are going to always arise, but you can’t dwell on them, having to keep moving, gotta keep motion! Also learned the power of influencers and how they can scale your business quickly.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Downtown Detroit is up and coming. They rebuilt it and it has tons of new hype things to do down there. Plenty of places to eat, 3 casinos, and our 4 major sports teams play all within a mile of each other… Plus you can see Canada across the Detroit River, and you can visit Canada by crossing the bridge or tunnel with a 5 minute drive Where else can you get that!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Would like to shoutout my family! I have a million ideas that I try, and they always stand behind me and support me whether they work or fail. When I told my wife Ashlei about TAKE OFF Luggage idea, she said o ok. Then 4 months later I was bringing in 500 suitcases, and she said O guess it’s time to get to work then! And has been making sure the wheels don’t fall off ever since.

Also my 2 daughters, to see the look in their eyes as their Dad is their superhero, they always try to help the business the best they can, and tell everybody about the business. They are learning quickly, and my motivation.

Website: https://takeoffluggage.com/

Instagram: @takeoffluggage

Image Credits
Dele Nguyen
De’Juan James
Hassan Ahmadu