2015 Was Quite a Crucible!

Yes, it has been about a year since I last posted and oh man, has so much happened. I didn’t feel like writing while in the midst of so much change, but now that I am back on somewhat sure footing again, I wanted to share what I’ve been up to.

Last year at about this time, I decided to make some big changes at Po Campo. Basically, I decided to cease doing business as usual. That decision was the culmination of many sleepless nights that led me to realize that how I was leading Po Campo was just not working.

• Our products were selling too slowly. We had too much money tied up in inventory, killing us cash flow-wise. Also, why weren’t our products selling better?
• We continued to have manufacturing problems. After many conversations with our manufacturer, it became clear to me that they were not the right partner for us, but I had no alternative.
• The team was getting tired. Sales growth had slowed and nobody was being paid nearly what they were worth, despite years of hard work. Including myself.
• Customers were asking for new products, but we already had too much inventory, no money to make new products, and not enough energy to develop them.

Here is a situation that we have all been in, which will help you relate to why I decided to change course: You are discussing a problem with a longterm romantic partner, and before you know it, that conversation about a small problem quickly escalates to why you need to break up. It makes you sick to think about it, but in your heart of hearts, you know it is the right thing to do. That is how the decision to “break-up” with the existing incarnation of Po Campo felt to me.

And like in those conversations with a partner, you might try to patch the problems  first before cutting the cord completely. I did that last spring with Po Campo too. We launched a new mobile-friendly, keyword-optimized website to improve our online sales. We started partnering with bicycle advocacy groups to build brand awareness among their supporters, who I felt understood the intent of Po Campo the best. Regretfully, both of these last pushes fell flat. Our traffic and conversion rate with the new website actually decreased, and the nonprofit partnerships did not yield much traction either.

I had funded the company with my own savings and through debt (loans). We were out of money again, but I didn’t want to borrow any more. It felt like I was just going to be throwing good money after bad. With no new money, my only option was to dramatically cut expenses. So that’s when the break-up really happened.

I let go of my team and sublet our studio space, which cut about 60% of the expenses off the bat. As part of my mission to make Po Campo the “right size”, I liquidated all the slow-moving inventory. Going from a 3 person team to a 1 person company meant I had to relearn a lot of the business, and decide what to keep doing myself, what to cease doing, and what to outsource. Figuring all that out occupied me for many months, plus I wanted to set some time aside for soul searching about to do next, and to work on some long standing problems.

During this tumultuous time, my loving father past away and an opportunity arose for my husband and I to move to NYC. I was in a daze and kind of wanted to give myself a fresh start, so we decided to take the leap and move. Changing your surroundings does make you look at everything anew, which I needed, so I’m glad we did this.

Looking back, for all the stress and trauma over the last 12 months, I feel like I came out ahead. We have a new manufacturer who I really enjoy working with, and the products are so much better! Finally the quality and craftsmanship matches my vision, and it only took me six years (and hundreds of thousands of dollars) to get there. Eeesh. I also redesigned our flagship bike bags to correct some of the longstanding problems with them, and can’t wait to launch them this month. I don’t know if they’ll move the needle too dramatically sales-wise, but at least I feel completely proud of them.

Po Campo 1.0 is now living more-or-less within its means. I’m getting by as a solo entrepreneur. I don’t enjoy it as much as when I had a team, and our own office, but this is what a company of our size needs to look like.

I’m also working on Po Campo 2.0. I love dreaming big, and have big aspirations for the company and brand. I have a plan for what I want to do differently this second time around. Or, what to do differently to build on what I’ve already accomplished.

While 2015 was definitely a tough year, after all that soul searching, I know I want to continue this journey because I still believe 100% in the brand and the product concept. It’s not done yet, and I want to see it through.

So that’s where I’ve been, and what I’ve been dealing with. Back to the regularly scheduled content next week!