duced me to mountain biking when I was 13. His Dad had a mountain bike, and riding it was like a perfect combination of a rigid BMX bike and a fully suspended motocross-bike. One ride and I fell in love. From there I got my own bike and raced full-on from the age of 15 to the age of 20. I was able to tack on some sponsors, travel all around the country racing, meeting tons of like-minded people and learning a lot about the industry – it was a ton of fun. I also had a part-time job at a local bike shop during that time, so the business side of it became second nature too. I discovered early on that I love talking about bikes, especially when it’s someone’s custom dream bike. It’s a fun and healthy industry to be a part of and I knew that’s where I wanted to be.” “So I pitched my parents my business plan looking for a small loan from my Mom and to use my Dad’s credit history and credit cards,” Jeff continued. “Luckily my parents believed in me and agreed to everything I asked. I’m eter- nally grateful for their support. I used my Dad as a co-signer to lease a building, used his credit cards and my Mom’s loan to build everything out. Just like that Worldwide Cyclery starting rolling and I was able to pay my Mom back in year one. By year two it was profitable.
What I lacked on the business knowledge side of things I made up for when I hired some great people.
The awesome people that make up the Worldwide Cyclery team are driven by a desire to help the customer and build an amazing company while doing it. We’ve found the perfect balance between fun and focus. We do right by our customers and each other and I really think that has a snowball effect.
More people want to join our team and more people want to be our customers. It’s a win-win.”
For Jeff, the A-Team dynamic is critical for a business plan that sets out to put the customer first at every turn. “Any team that’s successful has a dynamic like that.” “We’ve got a good mix of people with just the right talents. A lot of the accounting and strategy falls on my shoulders; we’ve got a guy who’s phenomenal with high-end customer service, managing and organizing people in the shops; we’ve got a guy who is incredible with data and logistics; and a marketing, design and social media guru – plus a bunch of awesome guys turning wrenches, helping out cus- tomers and loading trucks. We have one mechanic who’s a former World Cup race mechanic – his brother is actually in the top twenty worldwide in downhill racing. He’s our top-notch mechanic out East. Here out West, we’ve got a couple of guys who’ve been in the industry for more than a decade and they’re phenomenal wrenches. I still work alongside them on occasion. I actually had a short stint
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JUNE 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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