Resolve Pays Off When Hit With Competing Product
When Shane Pase returned to fishing as a hobby a few years ago, he was disappointed to discover that the gear had not changed much since he was a kid: hard, plastic tackle boxes that were bulky and hard to carry. Pase, 31, figured a backpack-style tackle box could be a big hit. But after he invested in design and manufacturing, a large sporting goods company released the same product one week before his was due out. Persevering in the face of disaster paid off, Pase said. He was interviewed by freelance writer Karen E. Klein.
I came up with the backpack idea in 1999, but not having any true experience in business, I had no clue how to start. I was just a fisherman with an idea that I knew could be huge. I still have the pencil sketches I did of the design. I talked to people around me and asked everyone, relentlessly, for advice. It took a full year of researching before I found the people I needed to help with manufacturing capabilities and supplies.
I came across a baby products manufacturer in Orange who has been a fisherman for 40 years. He loved my idea, so he helped me to do a ton of research and development. After I had worked with him for eight months, we came up with a final prototype. I funded the development right out of my pocket, with accumulated savings and credit cards. It was tough. My wife and I invested about $15,000, and we weren’t sure it would work.
We took the prototype everywhere, just to put feelers out. We showed off the backpack on local boating trips, at lakes and anywhere we could find people fishing. Apparently, we showed it to the wrong person along the way, because nobody had come up with anything like this until one week before our first order was scheduled to be delivered. I opened up the sports page and saw a big sale ad for a nationally known fishing tackle company. There it was in bold, living color--a backpack tackle box. My wife and I looked at each other and panicked. We had dropped 15 grand and the big guys beat us to the punch by a week.
I knew a company like that had production capability and marketing value and millions it could spend on advertising. How could we possibly compete against this monster? I figured we were finished. Then I called William Soto, my marketing manager, and he started laughing and asked why I was so worried. Our backpack was better, it was made in the U.S., and we could offer customer service that would be untouchable by a big company, he told me. He was a great rock of support. Even if we sell only a few a month, he told me, we’ll have a great little side business.
I listened to him, because we had talked to real fishermen and knew what they wanted. I knew our product, and our quality and customer service couldn’t be beat. Besides, theirs was selling for $95, and ours would be a lot less expensive [$59.95, plus $7.50 for shipping]. So we decided to go forward.
When the first backpacks were delivered, we started our Web site, posted messages on fishing bulletin boards online and started selling them from the back of our truck--with an on-the-spot discount--when we went fishing. We sold a few that way, and meanwhile I kept approaching local fishing stores. After several months, I came across a retailer in Brea who was willing to take a chance. He told me that he’d been looking for something like this, since the backpack from that big company did so poorly they discontinued it. His customers were asking for something like [ours], so he tried a few in his store. They sold really well there, so he suggested that we take it to a fishing and boat show in Long Beach last March.
I couldn’t afford the exhibition fee, but a professional fisherman who saw the product and loved it offered me free booth space in exchange for a cut of any product we sold at the show. We had hats and T-shirts printed up and 250,000 attendees got a chance to see the backpacks. We had incredible sales at that show and had to call our manufacturer from the floor and make another order immediately. The response helped propel us into the marketplace, and the sales we generated have given us enough money to be able to go to a huge sports fishing trade show in Las Vegas in July. We hope to have a shot at winning their “new product of the year” award.
We now get 4,000 to 7,000 hits a month on our Web site, and orders are coming in from all over the world. Our sales goal for next year is $250,000. I’m a full-time administrator of group homes for the developmentally disabled, and I love being an advocate for my clients, but someday I hope to devote all my time to this business. What I’ve learned going from ground zero to this point is that you can never say die. The more people told me I couldn’t do this, the more I was convinced that I could. If you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve got an idea that you can make work, do whatever it takes to make it happen.
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If your business can provide a lesson to other entrepreneurs, contact Karen E. Klein at the Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016 or at kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number.
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At a Glance
* Company: Angler Sports
* Owners: Shane and Michelle Pase
* Nature of business: Manufactures fishing tackle boxes
* Location: 6312 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd., Road, #200, Anaheim Hills 92807
* Founded: 1999
* E-mail: shane@anglersports.com
* Web site: www.anglersports.com
* Employees: 2
* Annual revenue: $100,000
