Meet the Founder and CEO of Hand Armor Liquid Chalk
Meet Tony Maddalone
THE/STUDIO: Introduce yourself. Tell our readers a little bit about who you are!
Tony: My name is Tony Maddalone. I’m the Founder and CEO of Hand Armor Liquid Chalk. I’m a former Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Utah.
THE/STUDIO: What does your business do?
Tony: We manufacture and sell our own patent-pending liquid sports Chalk, called Hand Armor Liquid Chalk.
THE/STUDIO: What have you learned since starting Hand Armor Liquid Chalk?
Tony: There’s a lot that goes into business, and running a business. At the end of the day, it all comes down to people. Yes, you must have an amazing product or service to offer, but beyond that, I think being successful comes down to the small daily interactions with people.
THE/STUDIO: That is very true! What about your business are you most proud of?
Tony: I think the thing I’m most proud of is the fact that our products do a lot of good for people. Hand Armor gives people a better grip, it lasts longer, so it saves them money. It isn’t messy at all like regular chalk, so there’s no chalk dust getting on the floor, and in their respiratory system. The biggest benefit though, that I’m very proud of, is that it’s antibacterial. It kills nasty stuff that likes to hang out on barbells and gym equipment like; H1N1, MRSA, Staph, etc. Any one of these can be life threatening, but can also make your life very miserable.
THE/STUDIO: What are some of the greatest challenges you face with your business?
Tony: One of the biggest challenges for us, is making people aware that our product exists. Most people have never heard of Hand Armor, but we’re trying to change all of that. We’re also trying to educate people, about how easily germs and bacteria are transmitted. Did you know that weightlifting equipment including barbells, and dumbbells, are dirtier than toilet seats? It’s a fact. So with Hand Armor, not only do you protect yourself from all of that, you protect your hands from rips and tears, and it aids your grip. When you take into consideration that it’s much more cost effective than regular chalk-what’s not to love?
THE/STUDIO: I love that your educating people on maintaining a healthier environment. Where do you see your business in 10 years?
Tony: We want to dominate the chalk world. We want to be in every weight room, and gym bag in the world. We have already expanded into Europe, and hope to continue to grow. We are moving into other sports area as well: such as Rock climbing, kettlebells, baseball/softball, basketball, gaming, golf, etc. There are so many ways people use sports/hand chalk, and we want to be at the top of all them,in terms of supplying Hand Armor
THE/STUDIO: What type of legacy do you want to leave?
Tony: We want to change the world. We truly feel that if everyone used our products, it would make the world a better place, with less transmission of illness and disease. It’s so simple to apply and use our products, and we want to have Hand Armor making that difference to better everyone’s lives.
THE/STUDIO: What is the story behind the custom product that you produced with THE/STUDIO ?
Tony: We came to THE/STUDIO to have custom patches made. Primarily to give to members of Team Hand Armor on clothing they wear to train and compete. Team Hand Armor is a group of athletes that have distinguished themselves in their chosen sport. All use Hand Armor in their training. These athletes range from NFL athletes to world ranked CrossFit athletes, to World Champions in Powerlifting.
THE/STUDIO: How are you going to use this custom product?
Tony: We are going to use our custom patches as giveaways for promotions, and also to outfit the many athletes that we sponsor known as Team Hand Armor.
THE/STUDIO: Do you have any promotions you would like to offer our community?
Tony: Yes, we are providing a special promotion of 10% off any order to THE/STUDIO customers and clients. Please use code: STUDIO10
THE/STUDIO: Do you have any upcoming events that our community members can attend?
Tony: We have powerlifters, and CrossFit athletes on Team Hand Armor that compete all across the world in their sport. We also have several members of Team Hand Armor in the NFL, on different teams including the: Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, Houston Texans,the Oakland Raiders, just to name a few. So the chances are pretty good, if you watch any of these sports you’ll see athletes that train with Hand Armor.
Tony: I wanted to take a minute to tell the story of how I came up with Hand Armor. In December of 2013, while I was still a Strength Coach at the University of Utah, I was hospitalized with kidney failure. The kidney failure was due to an auto immune disorder-essentially my immune system had attacked my kidneys. After several surgeries and an extended hospital stay, I was allowed to go home. Eventually I felt good enough to return to work as a Strength Coach. They decided to try to fight the auto-immune disorder with Chemo-therapy, using it as an immune suppressant. Because of this I was told I had to be very careful exposing myself to germs, because if I got sick, I had no immune system to fight it, and I could die. So, I was back at work in our weight room trying to keep my hands clean between sets, and it hit me. I thought to myself ” Why can’t there be a antibacterial chalk, that gives you added grip, and protections from germs?” After a lot of experimentation, and research Hand Armor Liquid Chalk was born.
Thank you Tony for sharing your story with us! You have a great product! We wish you much success! “Chalk it up!”
