55+ PROFILE
Tom Pollard By Janice Lane Palko
“Some people are like beautiful flowers. They’re planted in a career and work at that job their whole life. Me? I’m more like a weed.” Tom Pollard laughed. “I thrived through persistence!”
T
om Pollard, 70, of Brighton Heights is the owner of three businesses: Tom Pollard Designs, a custom brass ornament company; Positively Pittsburgh, a business specializing in Pittsburgh souvenirs and gifts; and PopularPittsburgh.com, a website devoted to everything Pittsburgh—from recipes to movie and restaurant reviews to profiles of Pittsburghers and entrepreneurs to sharing fun activities in and around Western Pennsylvania. “I don’t believe many people want to really stop working. I believe that after you do the same old, same old for years and years at some point, many people want to do something different. For many that means retirement. For me it means starting a new business venture,” Tom said. “I feel fortunate I’m able to do this. At this point, I’ll only get involved with a business I can start very small and try to grow. I have to be very careful with the businesses I pursue. Money doesn’t grow on trees.” Tom grew up in the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and attended Langley High School. As a teen, he developed a love for photography. “My friend, Bill, had a grandfather who lived in Homestead. His grandfather had a darkroom and would invite Bill over to develop pictures every Saturday morning. Bill would only go if I came along. One day while making black and white prints, Bill’s grandfather looked at me and asked if I had seen Bill lately.” Bill had stopped going to the darkroom lessons a long time ago, but Tom had continued. He couldn’t get photography out of his system. Tom’s entrepreneurial bent was apparent even as a teen. “I cut grass, shoveled snow and sold newspapers on the street corner in the West End,” said Tom. After high school, he got a job at Max Azens, “doing anything they wanted me to do.” After two years, he was promoted to manager of the shipping department. “The company sent me to Pitt for specialized retail courses. I learned things there that I still use today.” One of Tom’s biggest regrets came in 1969 when he was drafted. “I really wanted to serve. Probably because my dad told me I should go to Canada. Maybe it was rebellion, but I went through all the physicals until someone noticed on the day we were scheduled to leave that I was walking with a limp. I’d broken my leg a couple of times as a kid, and they told me I couldn’t serve. You can’t march and limp. I was so
10
Winter 2018 | www.PittsburghFiftyFivePlus.com
embarrassed, I didn’t go back to Azens,” he said. He did some construction and then took on some side jobs painting until a job came open at Penn Camera on Smithfield Street. “I grabbed it. I didn’t even ask what they paid.” The job gave him access to the world of photography. From the retail store Tom and a friend opened a commercial photo studio, Triangle Studio, in the heart of the city. “We shot catalogs for Gimbles, annual reports for utility companies and public relations photos for everybody from Alcoa to Westinghouse,” Tom said. Then the 1980s came along with the demise of the steel industry and many others. “Gimbles went out of business. It seemed like many of our corporate clients were cutting their budgets. My partnership ended; our studio was gone.” Now 35 and married to wife, Carol, and the father of two girls, he found himself selling photo magnets and postcards to make ends meet. That was the beginning of Positively Pittsburgh. “Tom Pollard Designs started when I was making a delivery to a former retailer in Station Square, The Hello Shop. Susan, the store manager, told me that they wanted to find a supplier of Pittsburgh brass Christmas ornaments. I told her I could be that supplier. I knew nothing about the ornament business, but I learned quickly, and she had her ornaments as promised,” said Tom. Nine years ago, Tom launched his Pittsburgh information web site, PopularPittsburgh.com. “I don’t know how this venture survived,” Tom said. “There were just so many things I didn’t know, so many things I assumed would happen.” But he didn’t give up on the site because of something he recently learned. “I heard that if you want to be successful in just about anything, you have to put 10,000 hours in to developing your skills. I believe I’ve hit the 10,000-hour mark. Let’s see what happens from here,” said Tom. In the beginning, Google Analytics revealed that a paltry 20 people were reading the site daily. This year, 250,000 come to the site for information on Pittsburgh. Tom employs nine people either on salary on freelance basis for his three businesses. “I’m very fortunate to have these talented men and women working with me.” Even though Tom is in no hurry to retire, he