"The GFC was brutal; the dollar plummeted, going from 0.7 to 0.54 against the US dollar. This meant bikes we sold for $1,000 now had to be sold for $1,500, and nobody had any money."
"I ripped off the old signage in Hamilton and Cambridge, but couldn't afford new signs for about six months, so we had two black buildings - it was chaos! During this name change the original supplier turned up one day with a truck and took all his bikes away - I really don't know how we survived those early days."
"I got a local business mentor, who helped me reframe my mindset. I was wearing way too many hats. He taught me that while 100% of my effort yields 100% return, getting hundreds of people to give 80% is a much larger multiplier."
"We'd secure rent-free periods in the leases, using that time for fit-outs, and then have massive online and in-store opening sales to pay for the next few months of rent."
"My CFO, senior team, and I had to sit down and rank all 200 crew to decide who we could save and who we couldn't - it was brutal and incredibly stressful. Being a family-owned business, it was incredibly tough to have to even consider this, as the crew were like our family."
"We went from little to no supply of bikes and five years’ worth of demand, to much reduced demand and five years’ worth of supply."
"My team and I worked our a**** off. There were countless 3 AM and 4 AM mornings, seven days a week, because online retail is 24/7, 362 days a year."
"Resourcefulness is about taking calculated risks; looking at a problem and figuring out what you have at your disposal, who to talk to, and what you can leverage to solve it."
"There are so many people that go into business thinking it’s one thing but realise that it’s the other and by that time it's too late, they’ve put their parents’ house on the line and their partner’s parents’ house."
"There are no globally recognised retail bike chains like Walmart or Apple; even major brands like Trek have acquired stores and have experienced tough trading conditions even with all their scale."
"The key is to figure out if you're better off working for someone else or working for yourself. If you feel undervalued, consider proving your value by starting your own business, where your money can work for you instead of just trading time for dollars."
"If you decide to go into business, you must commit 100%. My mistake early on was trying to do both my accounting and the bike business part-time, neither thrived."

"The GFC was brutal; the dollar plummeted, going from 0.7 to 0.54 against the US dollar. This meant bikes we sold for $1,000 now had to be sold for $1,500, and nobody had any money."

"I got a local business mentor, who helped me reframe my mindset. I was wearing way too many hats. He taught me that while 100% of my effort yields 100% return, getting hundreds of people to give 80% is a much larger multiplier."

"We'd secure rent-free periods in the leases, using that time for fit-outs, and then have massive online and in-store opening sales to pay for the next few months of rent."

"My CFO, senior team, and I had to sit down and rank all 200 crew to decide who we could save and who we couldn't - it was brutal and incredibly stressful. Being a family-owned business, it was incredibly tough to have to even consider this, as the crew were like our family."

"We went from little to no supply of bikes and five years’ worth of demand, to much reduced demand and five years’ worth of supply."

"My team and I worked our a**** off. There were countless 3 AM and 4 AM mornings, seven days a week, because online retail is 24/7, 362 days a year."

"Resourcefulness is about taking calculated risks; looking at a problem and figuring out what you have at your disposal, who to talk to, and what you can leverage to solve it."

"There are so many people that go into business thinking it’s one thing but realise that it’s the other and by that time it's too late, they’ve put their parents’ house on the line and their partner’s parents’ house."

"There are no globally recognised retail bike chains like Walmart or Apple; even major brands like Trek have acquired stores and have experienced tough trading conditions even with all their scale."

"The key is to figure out if you're better off working for someone else or working for yourself. If you feel undervalued, consider proving your value by starting your own business, where your money can work for you instead of just trading time for dollars."

"If you decide to go into business, you must commit 100%. My mistake early on was trying to do both my accounting and the bike business part-time, neither thrived."

Pinnacle Post — Inspiring Successin Waikato’s Next GenerationBy William Kingsbury

Pinnacle Post — Inspiring Success
in Waikato’s Next Generation

By William Kingsbury