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Behind the Scenes: Jeff Interviewed By Our Best Listener... Episode 150 [Podcast]
Today on the podcast, Jeff is joined by our friend and legendary listener Matt from Portland, OR who sent us such an incredible email a while back we just had to have him on the show for an awesome conversation. Nothing is off the table as Jeff dives into his first bike, how he started Worldwide Cyclery and so much more. Tune in!
Worldwide Cyclery YouTube Channel
Submit any and all questions to podcast@worldwidecyclery.com.
If you are one strange human that would like to read a transcript of the podcast above, continue reading below!
ladies and gentlemen welcome to MTB podcast episode 150 this is going to be
a bit of a different episode for you we got a really funny and entertaining email from a customer and let me just
read it for you so I can explain please tell the team that the podcast is amazing even with Jared the podcast is
informative entertaining and downright fun I would love to hear more about Jeff's Journey as an entrepreneur details about his story would be very
informative and motivating especially for a younger audience I have two sons who need to hear how hard work stead
fadness risk-taking and strong leadership is needed to be successful in life I believe Jeff story can provide
that many may think that Jeff and Liam simply ride all day but I know there's a lot of hard work behind the scenes to
allow Jared to actually ride all day as an organizational design professional I would also like to hear about Jeff's
management and Leadership approach what keeps him up at night where he wished his organization was better and how he
attracts and retains top talent like Liam in all honesty if I were stuck at a baseball game for nine innings I think I
would rather sit next to Jared the whole time I think I would laugh a lot more with him not at him thanks for
everything Matt Portland Oregon we got this and I thought it was really hilarious and entertaining in in several
different ways but also insightful so we just replied to Matt here and said hey why don't you come on the MTB podcast
and just interview me ask all the questions you want and he came back and was stoked and was willing to do it and
broke down all of these questions about the past past present and future and that's what this podcast is for episode
number 150 it's just this gentleman Matt interviewing myself and uh all things
worldwide Cyclery Kettle mountain and Trail one a little bit more on the business side but also still entertaining so here's a unique podcast
that's uh yeah something special so without further Ado here you go all right so I grew up in the 80s and I can
tell you my first bike but you'd be bored out of your mind so everybody has
a story right about how they start with mountain bike for you and I mountain biking came about while we were still alive my boys it
came came around after so what was your transition in mountain bike how how did you find mountain
biking yeah I I rode BMX and Motocross a ton as a kid I mean Growing Up in
Southern California you're kind of just immersed in extreme sports so skate surf snowboard uh you know and BMX and
motorcross mixed in there were the main ones that I did and mountain biking uh was I was 13 friend of mine him and his
dad had mountain bikes and they just looked like this crazy creation of a BMX bike and a and a dirt bike and we we
went out and wrode him once he just rode his dad's bike and I rode his and I had so much fun I just thought this is the
coolest sport and the most fun thing to do because it was this awesome it was BMX bike and a dirt bike combined into
one and a I just fell in love with it right away when I was 13 and and then from there I just you know kept riding
with him and he would ride his dad's and I would ride his and then you know after about I don't know six months or so I just saved every penny I could to to buy
my first mountain bike and I and I did get a believe it was a KHS XC 204 was
the name of it some you know 4in toel cross country uh it was copper it l
looked cool had a red red spring on the rear shock I think it was probably about 1,200 bucks and yeah I loved it man that
was a super fun bike and then it just kind of you know took it from there KHS that used to be a great brand right and
when I was when I was used to be us to be used to be just a killer brand and I remember I always wanted a wi frame I
always wanted those Trek W frames that was my big thing it's like could I save enough money to get one of those Tre white frames and then I assume you had
like all the lizard skins and stuff that I had on my mountain bike also back in the day yeah yeah it's funny you say
that because it was I mean KHS lizard skins uh WTB was still super relevant
that was the tires that were on that bike yeah and uh yeah that's probably the most the most stuff I remember from
it of course there was trative cranks on it Avid brakes suram drive train so some of the stuff is similar Rock
shock suspension at least up front I can't remember what that shock was that shock might have been shock or something
I don't remember which Fork it was yeah I can't remember at this point that was that was quite some years ago so so not
to age you how what year was this like what what what was this what time of frame was this like 90s late 90s early
2000s uh well I was I was born in late ' 89 I'm 35 now so I was I was 13 when I got that first bike so yeah somewhere in
like those early earlys I guess they call them yeah that's good that you didn't have a mountain bike that just had rigid Fork
right that's that's what I grew up on was that's what we started on watching those old Gary fiser videos yeah all
right so let's fast forward let's fast forward this is this is the most intriguing part for me Jeff honestly is
I think there's a lot of people out there that have passions like whether it's mountain biking or snow skiing or basketball or whatever it is that would
love to do that for their career how did you get this idea for worldwide cycl I mean you're hitting the
trails skate parks and then suddenly you're like you know what I'm going to do this how how did that come about yeah
the way that happened you know a couple things I I had always as a kid and as a
teenager just had sort of a a knack and interest in business and and I didn't really even recognize it or notice it
neither of my parents were entrepreneurs or into business by any means my my dad's a medical malpractice lawyer that
defends doctors being sued and he lives in a very different world than mountain bikes and business and uh yeah I would
always I was always kind of Wheeling and dealing and enjoyed it I started custom painting BMX bikes it just with spray
paint but I got really good at it and I would disassemble the whole thing and use electrical tape to make cool designs on BMX frames and and then I started
doing it just for myself and then selling them to friends and friends of friends and I was I was doing that as a teenager and I had a little eBay
Consignment business where I was selling random stuff I could find in my garage and then I would knock on all the
neighbors doors and try and see if they had anything worth value that I could list on eBay and sell it and so I was
doing that stuff just I don't even really know why because I thought it was fun and entertaining when I was a teenager and looking back on it clearly
that was kind of a a knack for entrepreneurship and business that um you know I now realize but at the time
just was doing it because it was fun and then I I started working at a a local bike shop in in newb Park where where
we're still at and where I still live um Newber Park California and that that's a
really cool local shop called Michael's bicycles not to be confused with Mike's Northern California so this this
was just an individually owned shop still around awesome little place and and uh I I worked as a mechanic and just
did the the random stuff around the shop right I I changed tubes cleaned bikes and and then slowly climbed up the ranks
but I worked there I probably worked there until I was 19 um 19 or 20 and and throughout those throughout those
handful of years I just learned a lot about you know how he operated his small bike shop and the industry I learned all
the products I love the products I was racing bikes a ton I started getting sponsored because I was I was doing
quite well as a as an amateur downhill and Enduro racer as a teenager and I just learned a ton about the industry
and the sport and racing in the sport and being immersed in it and all the products and the brands the Distributors
who buys what how they buy it I I learned all that stuff in the industry really well so once I figured all that
out I I then was having a lot of stuff that I would get from sponsors that I would no longer need for the next season
so I would start selling it I would just list stuff on eBay list stuff on you know pink bike byell forums and and
that's kind of the original way I saw this opportunity and started figuring things out because I realized oh you know it's it's similar to selling
anything on eBay you just make a good high quality product listing reply to people's questions quickly and promptly
and concisely and you could sell stuff and and then you build a feedback profile and and so I started doing that
um sort of on the side of working on the shop and you know going to high school and uh this is all this is all happening
when you're 15 16 17 18 type of thing exactly yeah I was I was I was I was a
busy dude I guess so I was always doing something you know and uh luckily in those years I
wasn't really distracted by phones it's a different world now for teenagers but I wasn't really distracted by too much
um I was just riding bikes a ton racing bikes building bikes selling bikes and yeah having fun with that um so yeah you
know that was that was the kind of the way I figured out the industry and learned all about it what did your parents think of this like when you were
a teenager and and and early early 20s what were your parents thoughts your dad's like what are you doing go to
college do something else or were they like go Jeff go you got this yeah you know what's funny is I have absolutely
incredible parents that I'm so grateful for and they they were so supportive of
anything I wanted to do I don't think they ever once said you should do this or you should consider that that the the
the word should wasn't even in their vocabulary they just I just did whatever I wanted and they treated me with
respect and always cared and loved me and supported me and said yeah that's cool go ahead y you want to you want us
to drive you to a race we'll drive you like they were just so nice and so supportive and and and never were never
judgmental at all and and really just let me be who I was and it led me to just living a very authentic childhood
and and teenage years and I I look back on that with such gratitude now but at at the time you know as a teenager you
just oh yeah cool I I have cool parents you I have say one thing I learned from what you just said is is what I get from
is you you you just were a sponge right you started your job and whether you were sweeping at the at the bike shop or
at a race or talking to vendors you were just bringing it all in right as much as you could the passion just brought that
that's where you got your knowledge that's what I'm picking up from this yeah that's exactly right I I was just
infinitely curious and interested so I was always asking questions and learning and reading and yeah paying attention
your parents weren't in the industry obviously so was there a mentor was there was there anyone who said Jeff let
me let me take in my wing here and show you some more ropes that you may not be able to do on your own when you're young is there is there a mentor in your life
for this no not not really you know you I could I can definitely say that you
know Michael of Michael's bicycles you know I was working for him as a teenager I learned quite a bit from him you know
he he had a great successful little small business bike shop that man I think he started that shop in 1978 or
something like that it was it had been there a long around leond years right that's yeah yeah seriously yeah it was
you know he started that shop before I was born um you know and but he operated his business in a in a very different
fashion than than I ended up as I became an adult um he just different mentality you know he he was much he wasn't trying
to to build anything huge or miraculous he just wanted to run an awesome cool little local bike shop and support his family and that was kind of all all he
cared about and he wasn't uh you know he wasn't a maniacal sophisticated businessman by any stretch of the
imagination but he was a good kind guy he liked everyone that walked into the door he enjoyed helping people enjoyed
selling people bikes that he believed were vehicles for fun and and and I could say that that was you know very
very inspiring and interesting to see as as a kid watching his passion and excitement sort of you know and and I
get that from when I listen to your podcast or see other things is is that your team and you what you exude is I
want you guys to have fun and let me get you the best stuff that you can possibly have to have fun and not have a bad day
and I I see that in the trail one I see that in all the stuff you guys are doing and I think that's a a great mentality
so so let's fast forward you have young Jeff he's 20s something I don't know living at home doing whatever he's doing
selling stuff on eBay so you're like you know what I'm gonna do something bigger I'm
gonna I'm gonna build something what was the moment like I'm doing it I'm I'm going in both feet I'm
GNA start a company yeah so I was I was 20 years old when I really thought you
know there's there's something here that could be a real you know bigger business and and funny enough I I pitched it to
to Michael I said hey you know I've been selling stuff on on the side all the sponsorship Goods or any other stuff and
on on eBay and on various ways online and and I want to sort of take it to the next level and and really get into it
and open up a website and yeah you know he he just wasn't he wasn't a tech-savvy
guy he was a bit older at the time and he just he just said you know that's that's cool kid but I don't really care
about the internet and and so I said okay cool well in that case Mike I'm GNA open up a
shop and and just focus and specialize on on you know high-end mountain bikes and be predominantly online and try and
curate all the best stuff in the mountain bike world that's on the high-end segment and and sell it online
and and focus on Boutique Brands and whatnot and he said yeah that sounds cool man have have fun you know so where
was your first Warehouse was it was it a garage your parent was a storage unit like where did you start in that where'd
you hang your shingle I guess you yeah so the the way the bike industry works is you you do need a a physical brick
and mortar Loc in order to just be taken seriously and get uh accounts with Brands and
Distributors and be able to acquire things at wholesale prices and sort of become a player in the space so there's
a bit of a barrier to entry with that rule in the industry and which which I think is good because it it makes sure
that you know people that are coming to play as as legitimate bike shops and retailers are are meaning it so so yeah
I I you know pitched this idea to my dad to co-sign on a a lease for me for a it
was 1,200 bucks a month for a small it was was about a th000 square feet uh in
in new BR Park and it was in Flex space so it wasn't in in like traditional retail space it was sort of half half
industrial half half retail and so yeah he he said yeah sure I'll coign and I
told him I said look I I can afford it I'm GNA try and sell enough bike parts that I can pay the lease with that I'm
gonna try I'm gonna try but I at the same time you know i'
asked Michael I said hey Michael you know I would like to still work here part-time in the evenings and I'm going
to try and start this small online shop uh and I'm going to do that in the mornings and he said yeah okay cool
whatever you know and so essentially what I realized was uh from the income I
had working in the evenings at Michael's bicycles I could pay that lease um
ideally I wouldn't have to pay it with that money but I could and then I was renting a room uh just with a bunch of
other buddies and at a house in town and I think I was $600 a month or something for for kind of a measly room sharing a
bathroom with four other dudes eating a lot of mac and cheese you know just whatever you guys can find yeah exct and and I thought you know what if if I uh
if it really doesn't pan out I'll just sleep in my 4Runner I had a Toyota 4Runner and I lay the seats flat I slept
in it all the time camping I was like I'll just sleep in that if I need to um and it was a one-year lease so I thought okay I got one year I'll see if I can
make it work in one year uh my dad's willing to co-sign on it um you know because they're not going to lease it to
a 21y old kid yeah who technically didn't you know I didn't totally graduate high school I did the first two
years then I went to a charter school and then I just tested out doing this thing called the California high school
proficiency exam um so I I barely barely squeaked by through high school and and
yeah now now I'm trying to go lease this small building um so my dad said sure he he's going to co-sign my mom had just
gotten um I don't know what it was a small chunk of money from her parents that pass away my grandparents and so
she said she would loan me $20,000 at a 10% simple interest rate your 10% interest rate for your
parent wow that was that was actually my idea I I had no yeah that was my idea
and and it wasn't because I you know I thought that was I had no idea was I didn't know what you know the federal
reserve's rates were what bank I didn't I didn't know any of that it just seemed it seemed reasonable off the top of my
head mom can I borrow $20,000 and I'll pay you back $22,000 in a year or two and that's what we wrote down and she
she said sure So So that year the Year happens right and you're working through that year what was the point where like this
is going to work this is g to work I this is happening yeah I would say it
was it was probably probably eight months in I was getting quite a bit of traction you know
in terms of just volume of selling stuff and at that time it was mostly I was selling most of the stuff just through
through emails and through pink bike buy sell and even Craigslist and eBay and I didn't have the website live yet so I
was just selling this stuff various ways and and I started um just prior to that
i' started meeting a lot of people that I was selling these things to in in South America and in all these other
places around the world because and it really made me realized wow mountain biking is very Global and at that time
so it was 2011 when I started the business the USD was really low against a basket of global currencies mostly
because the US was still kind of you know making its way out of that big Financial in 2008 2009 so a lot of the rest of the
world wanted to buy all these mountain bike parts from the US and I saw that as an opportunity because we have the best
selection here and because of the way that the foreign exchange rates worked it was actually reasonable to buy and
ship the stuff all over the world so that's actually where the name worldwide Cyclery came from the idea was to be
much more targeted International and and that's how it was for the the first several years a lot of
the stuff that we were selling Niche that I was sort of filling was I was curating all this really good stuff in
the mountain bike world and I I became really good at understanding sort of international trade laws and regulations
and international shipping and shipping I was say the shipping how to do all that yeah and it's it's hard and and a
lot of people struggle with it there's a lot of mountain bikers all over the world that you know wanted to buy things from the US but weren't sure how to
import it how to deal with all that and the shipping and so I got really good at all that sort of stuff and and that was
kind of the the Genesis of why it was called worldwide cyy which is the name is a mouthful and I wish I would have named it something different but you
know at the time 21 trying to sell bike parts internationally that's that's what I came up with but it sounds like that
was your Niche that was kind of the niche that that made you grow is that you spent time saying listen there's a need International I'm going to learn
the international trade I'm going to learn about International sh uh shipping I'm G to learn about tariffs all those type of things and you provided that
right and that's that was kind of set you apart from all those other retail sites out there yeah yeah it's exactly
right right yeah cuz most of them weren't weren't really focused on it and and funny enough you know if if you
rewind it's hard to remember but you rewind back to you know 2011 2012 2013 there wasn't a lot of big online shops
there was you know of course Jensen's been there for for ages nashar may you know yeah yeah it's yeah quite a few now
that are defunct nashbar supergo which slightly turned into performance price point which went defunct you there
wasn't that many it was it was pretty it was a pretty small non-competitive Market cuz e-commerce was still just
sort of a budding thing at that point you know it had gotten more popular for books and stuff and Amazon still was not
even really that much of a household name at that point so e-commerce was just new so there there was a lot more
opportunity if you knew how to do it and could figure it out back then so I I want to make a statement just give me
your response and then I want to move on to kind of how worldwide SOC works today but one things that I've been told
before is that listening to your story there sounds like there's some luck of timing but luck but luck is is only used
when you work super hard to get it and and I found that what you just said I work nights I work during the day at
worldwide recyclery trying to get it up work nice to pay for the the lean of the um for the shop the Luck came because
you worked hard is that is that a true statement or do you agree or disagree with that yeah I I I completely agree I
mean I think there's there's always some level of what you could call luck in any
entrepreneurial journey and if one that become successful some some way luck and timing are are in the favor and the
Tailwinds there but none of those none of that luck and none of those Tailwinds goes anywhere unless you're extremely
dedicated and and I was you know that the the first few years of the business I I was I sacrificed a ton of you know
that was I mean if you most people can remember what they were doing between the ages of 21 and 23 it was mostly
partying and you know goofing off in college and stuff and I was the opposite I was actually most of the time for for
quite some time I was sleeping 9 to5 that was that was what I decided was going to be the most effective sleep
schedule I was going to sleep 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and then I was I was going to work on worldwide Cyclery from 6:00
a.m. to 2 PM and then from 2: PM uh I would literally ride my bike over to
Michaels bicycles 15 minutes and I'd work 2:15 to 7 p.m. and then at 7:00 p.m. I'd go home and eat dinner and then
be asleep by 9:00 p.m. so that that was my schedule for nearly two to three years and and I just dedicated an
immense amount of effort and time into you know not not only working extremely
hard but doing my best to work on the right things yeah and then also also being cautious and understanding you
know that I had backup plans you know okay if I can't make this work can I still make money at Michaels if I can't
make this work you know and I and I need to cut my expenses can I sleep in my Forerunner you know I was I was I had
all these things figured out and sort of thought through and and that was a big piece of the puzzle is just making sure I knew what was going on at all the time
at all times and and yeah timing was important in terms of the industry but and and the luck there but yeah it
wasn't wasn't to say I didn't work in an obscene amount during those years and still time do many times nowadays as
well so so today worldwide cycler how many employees does worldwide Cyclery have on on your just over 30 at the
moment over 30 three stores do you remember the first time you actually felt like a
boss I don't know you know I don't know if I still do
yeah I I don't know I I I definitely don't really enjoy the term boss because it carries such a strange conation that
I in pretty much no way shape or form fit into yeah um you know it's it's probably when I think we I think
probably about four years in when we had close to 10 people and and I started bumping up into a few just just
personality things you know people people receive feedback and criticism
some differently than others and you know dealing with some of that stuff I think that was the first time where I
you know started realizing oh wow I'm in a I'm in a leadership role and it was it was probably I can't I can't put a
specific moment on it but I I do I am in a certain position where you know the
the stuff that I say holds holds a different level of weight than what a coworker says to somebody right so as
much as I can hang out and and very friendly Andor friends with a lot of our staff um I I still don't have the the
you know ability to to kind of just use some of the words that you
might yank your co-worker's chain and stuff like that that's kind of off limits for me you know as much as I as
much as it feels like oh I could do that these guys we're all friends together yeah we're all friends together but people still listen to my words
differently which is sometimes frustrating but it is but that's you know that's the burden of leadership sometimes leadership can be a little
lonely at times I'm hear you but the other part is is is I think from where you're telling me you take your your
role very seriously because do you have 30 people relying on you to make a living for them and to give them to help
their families I mean that's uh that's just something that as a leader if you don't take seriously then you're not a
great leader right yeah yeah I completely agree it's something I take extremely seriously and I'm always
putting a huge focus on making sure we're running a good sustainable healthy business for the long run and that is is
not always easy to do and it's not always easy to educate people on especially in the age of social media
when people see and listen listen to all sorts of random totally factually incorrect things about business and
money and you know the reality is very different in the world of business than it's the way it's portrayed in headlines
and social media so I'm always kind of trying to educate people on that too you know and that is very true and um it is
a rare it's a rare situation indeed where you don't have to work very hard and you actually make it every
successful person I know doesn't exist it does it doesn't exist I I fully agree with that um and whatever track someone
takes hard work is always in the recipe it's it's never not yeah it
really is and and focus and you know the biggest thing I always tell people nowadays is you know hard work is a huge part of it but part of hard work is
focus and I think focus is one of the most underrated skills ever because so many people just live in these
distracted worlds that they just they lack persistence and they lack the ability to ignore social media even lack
the ability to just stop looking at their phone constantly and that's a huge hindrance until their ability to be for
their ability to be productive and effective at anything they want to do I I fully agree I don't even have a
Facebook page I actually steal my wife's Facebook page every once in a while and pretend to be her uh but uh but yeah
it's an interesting strategy you got there it is so no no one can find me they all I talk like I'm her she hates it but uh but yeah social media is just
not a thing and and if I may just put a plug that's what's great about activities such as mountain biking or
outdoor sports or anything that you can get your your teenagers into that takes a tremendous amount of time outside of
the home and and creates a passion for them yeah that is to me one of the greatest things to reduce screen
time I totally agree I mean I I I certainly you know have built a life uh
that I'm really proud of and really enjoy and it all came from a passion of of business and mountain biking and
being outside and that's that's a huge thing that was a great positive influence for me in my life and always
always want to share that it's a big reason we we really enjoy and care about what Nike is doing and want to be big supporters of that because they're
trying to get the youth on bikes and interested into a really good healthy fun sport to I totally agree I do I do
want to talk about Nika but but I think what what I want to know is what is it like to work at worldwide Cyclery today
and and what what is this what is the what does it feel like to work at worldwi World R cyy so if I had about
let's say 10 of your employees and I put them on a panel I said guys what what are the most important values what's the most important thing at worldwide cycl
what would they say to me yeah I think you know people really do use the word fun a lot and that's
that's a big thing for me because I I just genuinely believe life should be lived with the most amount of fun and
that's an important thing to put a big emphasis on when it comes to when the rubber hits the road uh the thing I'm
always constantly saying is balancing fun and focus so that's the thing that I think really matters and I and I
genuinely believe that you can you can have a really good work environment that
can be full of fun and also full of focus and there's this beautiful balance and that's one of those things that you
know you bake into the culture over years and years and and people come in and really enjoy and appreciate and and
really see and become self- policing to some extent but fun and focus I I think is a is a big piece of the puzzle
because we don't just goof off all day but we certainly goof off at some points in the day every day guaranteed yeah so
we're always making sure to be very focused and productive and working hard but we're also still always finding time
to you know make make jokes and laugh and enjoy each other's company at the same time so that's that's a big part of
the culture that I care about because you have to focus and work hard and and be diligent and and disciplined to just
have any business succeed these days and that's that cannot be forgotten um but
at the same time you should you should be able to do it and know how to do it while laughing simultaneously in my opinion my favorite co-workers of people
I I you know work with is those that take their job seriously but they don't take themselves seriously yeah
absolutely right that yes the job is important but but you're just another person let's just have a little fun
while we're here right yeah yeah totally I I I just I love people like that so speaking of that speaking of finding
those right people that can do that balance you know uh labor I can't even imagine the labor market in California
especially where you're at um the cost of living all those type of things that you have to deal with uh how do you how
do you get employees and retain them in your business given that you are in California it's it's an expensive place
to live hard to get hard to get labor what do you do to retain why do people
stay with you yeah well well luckily it's not just only California because we have three stores so C California is
yeah California is just a third of it and then there's Nevada just north of Reno and then Pennsylvania which is just just west of Philadelphia so yeah the
the the whole crew is split up between those three stores and California is the toughest I I will
absolutely say in terms of cost of living and doing business and legal things and all that um for for us when
it comes to finding good people you know that that I'll probably say is where i'
I feel extremely lucky and I've felt lucky over the years in finding just really good genuine awesome people it's
easier nowadays because we've got much more of a a social presence and and people reading our emails listening to
our podcast YouTube so there there's definitely people now that when we say we want to hire people already know who
we are and know what we're all about and and that's a huge win uh you know
obviously wasn't always like that and it's you know we've just gotten really lucky honestly at finding really good
people that have come into the business and and love the company culture love what the company stands for and what
it's doing and love the work environment and uh and do a great job so so that's
tough and that's a that's a never- ending battle for any business to to to build and craft a company culture that people feel emotionally safe in and have
fun in and can still be productive in that's that's always a challenge um but you know I will say
that uh you know we have such little turnover because when you come in and
you you fit the culture and you enjoy the culture and and and you're productive you're probably going to be
around a really long time and you'll probably realize that this is a really really rare business that you would ever
work for and and and think you know the the older older the older ones of our
staff know that more than the younger ones the younger ones don't have enough experience to realize oh this is a cool
job but I'm sure working at Jadu is a cool job too it's like okay go go try that see see if you're right um so so
people learn in different ways and and that's everyone's individual career path right but you know we do have a really
unique culture that uh people people hop into and they're incredibly grateful for
and they they recognize how unique it is and how special it is and and how rare it is and how hard it is to find another
culture like that so I think that's a big big key for us when it comes to retention is actually just being a better place to work that people enjoy
to be at yeah and and I can hear it you know in your leadership style which is when you when you hire someone or come
across anyone if you look for the good in them and what they do well and go after that good it's amazing how well
people perform and want to be a part of something yeah versus just doing a job and that sounds like when you find
somebody you're like I'm so lucky I found found you I'm so lucky I have you people resonate with that you you remind
me you have those two other shops right you have California you have Nevada and you have Pennsylvania how has that change how's your leadership or or or
business Chang trying to manage a company across the country now which
different time zones different people they really see you how have you had to change your approach when you're not there anymore yeah yeah totally I mean
that that is one of those things that I think a lot of small business owners get stumped on they don't know how their
business would operate without them let alone any location would operate without them and when I got to that point I had
I had similar feelings of that limitation and then I also looked at it and thought you know if if Howard
Schultz thought that there would be one Starbucks not several thousand it's just it's just not true yeah you know if if
you have this fundamental belief that you know people are out to get you and bad and and you're the only one that can
operate your business then frankly a you're wrong and be that's just a bad mentality to have and a terrible life
right just a terrible way going about life absolutely so so for me it was the thought of you know uh yeah I just
believed I could do it I just believed that there was good people out there that could be great general managers and and great team players in in shops and
it didn't matter if I was there um and and yeah I I've Pro proven that theory
right we've got incredible people that um that work in all three of the shops that I have full trust and faith in and
do a fantastic job so yeah you know there's always little bits of challenging communication barriers there
and you know coaching of you know I've tried to help make sure people know how to communicate with people and that's
always ongoing you know there's there's always that you know the the the guys in the front shop or you know know the guys
in the back and vice versa and it's people pointing fingers and you know so you have to put out those little fires here and there then but people get
better at understanding that and you know forcing people to make phone calls which nobody likes to make phone calls
anymore and they just want to sendex send text messages no no just you have have to hear the tone of voice you have
to call this person yeah and that's the best part about like teams and all these other zooms meetings you know what what
I like hearing is is it's I I come from the kind of the same thing I'd rather trust everyone and be burned every once
in a while than trust no one and be alone and unsuccessful and there you're right I've
seen a lot of entrepreneurs who get to that moment that they can't grow past themselves they are the company they are
their organization and uh I just applaud you for doing that I mean opening up stores
across the country and saying I'm gonna trust something that is three time zones
away that it's going to run that takes leadership and takes risk and that's that's what you're doing I'm
really impressed yeah it's definitely a piece of the puzzle and you just you have to believe in people and and believe in your skill set to find the
right people and and take the risk on those people and um you know not everything always pans out but that's
fine then you solve that problem and move on and try again just part of the part of the fun game was there was there
any moment in the early days of worldwide Cyclery where you thought this isn't gonna work like I don't think this
is gonna work I've got to do something else or was it all did it always have a pretty good trajectory you know it it always had a
pretty good trajectory I I would say that there was uh you know the the funny
thing is that I think you know once once the business scaled and got a little bit
more notoriety people had kind of thought that that was always my plan and they thought man you know you took this
huge risk and built this company and um that really wasn't what I was trying to do I was pretty much just trying to make
$60,000 a year for myself I'm not and if you made the 60,000 you're there you won
did that was it I didn't I didn't think I can pay for I can pay for utilities and I can go mountain biking totally yeah yeah so my my my thought process I
was I was thinking so much smaller in the early days I just thought I just want to try and you know sell enough
parts and get this thing spinning that I that I can make $60,000 a year and that was all I was focused on and all I
thought about and that was it simple as that and then you know I hired the first employee and and things started going
better and then and then I thought oh man maybe maybe we can you know grow this even more and then maybe if we grow
it a little bit more at the sacrifice of some marketing spend then we could have something you know more more I just like
figured all this stuff out it was totally um I I certainly didn't have uh
a big term vision for the thing I didn't to where it is now by any means uh I didn't have that in the early days I
developed that throughout the course of the first handful of years and in the first handful of years I didn't have any
you know I I had I had General business Acumen that was just sort of from
working at a bike shop and and selling bikes as kids things like that but I I didn't didn't go to any formal business
school or anything I just learned absolutely everything on the internet I just watched YouTube videos I read tons of books really I read tons of stuff
online I would just be a machine of sitting there on Google I wish I had things like chat GPT but I would just be
a machine of Google and and trying to understand and learn business better and you you learn so much of that as you go
so yeah a lot of that like all all that stuff was you know Lear learned on the Fly and so just kind of transpired can I
not to get a little personal but um so I went to business school I got my MBA from a top 25 MBA
school and they teach you everything you know finances how to do balance your all
that stuff marketing spend all those things but I have to say what you did is so much more impressive to be honest
with you you know I went to NBA school because I needed a job I wanted to get a
job and I wanted to be you know have be able to have family what I love when I'm hearing though and for anyone who's I
think thinking about what do I do next in my life it is about that focus and that sponge like you got to be focused
and want to bring everything that you can possibly learn all the time and
coming from a guy who went to business business school I am far more impressed of what you accomplished than even what
I've accomplished or my peers have accomplished by going to these universities and I think you should be
really proud of that and and I can just sense that from you and it probably permeates your business I would say also just your own people having that pull up
yourself out the bootstraps and let's go yeah well thank youe appreciate the kind words and and uh you know I I think that
is a funny thing about business is it is a big massive complex ball of wax that can be contorted in any way that you
want to you want to shape it and and it's and it's not that easy I I definitely use a lot of sports analogies
I think you know there there's a reason that 3% of the population owns successful businesses it's it's
challenging it's hard it takes a lot of focus and discipline and effort and and interest and Intrigue in the game and
and it is it is very similar to you know the people that make it as far as the NFL and are successful there is it's a
small breed right and and you really have to love the game beyond belief and and be really interested in it all the
time and kind of eat sleep and breathe it to some extent and and also hopefully have some natural Talent at it whether
that you know how you got that I don't know how that even happens who knows but um yeah you know it's it it is fun
business is incredible right I mean you can you can sit there and learn about it all day and still have a different opinion on how things should work versus
other people but what's to me so interesting and fun about it is it's there's nothing more quantifiable
everever it's it's that that's it right you you get out there and you compete in business and if you're right you'll be
able to continue playing and if you're wrong you'll have no money and it's over that's pretty fun to me so so do you
still keep your hands in the books you still watch the accounting the finances and everything yeah totally because I
have this picture of not my mind but someone could picture here's Jeff on his mountain bike and there's some guy in some suit sitting the office telling you
what to do no Jeff you cannot do that today but that's not the case you are watching the finances you are the CFO if
you will of the company trying to make sure where spend goes and how Investments happen and all that that's amazing yeah yeah I'm I'm definitely you
know deep in the Weeds on all that stuff and always have been and and likely always will be you know we've got some
really talented people that that work on our team these days um but at the end of the day I I'm still um I'm still
crafting all of the the strategy and making all the big decisions and paying attention to every dollar and where
everything's going and where every investment is being put um because I love it I enjoy it and uh yeah and it's
just yeah that that is what I do for sure yeah I could certainly see how if you watch some of our YouTube videos you'd think I was some weird
off-the-wall CEO that somehow got lucky and met some guy in a suit but that's
not the case at all met some lawyer that protects doctors he helped me out um one
of the things uh that I always thought about when I listen to the podcast is I heard that right I would hear you drop
little subtle pieces of the business in there and that's what intrigued me about talking to you about this when you
interviewed the CEO of Shram I noticed in your questions that I said to
actually said to my son I said Jeff knows his stuff like he knows his business he is not just the guy who just
happened to have the idea and his name on the the business so I just want to tell you very impressive and my son was
very impressed by that too he's like Dad he works really hard I'm like yeah he works very hard all right i' i' we we're
on at of time I GNA let on let me ask just two more questions um one I do want
to hear about you do interact with Nik and I know you interact you when you do talk to Youth and if if you do have a
chance to talk to youth what's your go-to what do you what do you talk to youth or what are some amaz some of the questions that surprise you from youth
that you meet when they say hey you're Jeff what are some of the things you you come across when you're talking to 15 16
17 year olds yeah you know I I don't I don't have a as much time as I probably
should just being out there at niker races and and talking to talking to the youth um when I went to the World Cup in
West Virginia Snowshoe MH that was a few years ago now um I I did meet a a ton of
sort of aspiring professional mountain bikers and Junior professionals and all that sort of stuff and and and that was
awesome and you know it's it is funny I don't uh I don't know I don't I don't think
there's any common threads everybody asks different things some ask questions about YouTube some ask questions uh you
know funny enough uh some people will ask questions about just random bike fitment things
which you know it's fine I can answer that question I I probably have a little SI be on this should it be a 15.7 I just
need to know Jeff you should know this yeah so so I don't know it's it's it's a little bit all over the place when it
comes to that sort of stuff but I I do always encourage you know I always encourage people to have fun and I think
that's a big part of the sport and a big part of why you should ride bikes is is to have fun yeah and uh yeah you know I
I don't get a lot of questions in regards to to business or entrepreneurship from the youth in the
mountain bike world they're just more interested in in having fun and cool
things about bikes and stuff and that's cool because that's you know that's the stuff I was thinking about back then too so but the good news there's there's
some more Jeffs out there I'm I'm sure you're going to get some competition as you age from some out there man I would
love I would love to see more youth kind of get into the business of the sport and and enjoy it because man there
there's there's always constant evolution in the sport and tons of opportunities so all right one quick question answer if you weren't CEO and
you could do any job worldwide Cyclery what would you do besides you know besides Jared's job what would you
do well that that kind of is what I would do is Jared's job I I would I would want to just sit there and do
marketing stuff all day and make funny videos I I think I would I would enjoy just making goofball videos and writing
funny emails and funny ad copy all day that's that's probably what I would be effective at and just laugh doing all
day so that I would love to and I still do some of that but I I can't do that fulltime unfortunately so does does is
Jared the brains behind all that copy that you guys write in the in the website and and the you know the emails
and stuff is he is he It's a combination yeah it's a combination of him and I yeah a lot of it you know I I wrote a
lot of that copy myself years and years ago and um you know Jared obviously him and I have a pretty similar sense of
humor in many ways so yeah we we work on that stuff together all the time and um yeah and then a couple other people
behind the scenes that are really good at it as well so I say first time I bought some worldwide socer when I got the says glorious Matthew I thought wow
that that's a great company right there love I love that all right so the
last thing is is listen you have you have 30 employees worldwide cyc is grown to a respectful business you're actually
at a point I would think in your size where philanthropical things would not really make sense to do right now you
you're probably still in a growth mode and your Capital needs to be put back into the business but you're not you guys are giving back which honestly is a
rare thing at a company your size at this moment in your inflection point why is that so important to you at this time
to give back philanthropically and what what are some of those things you guys do yeah I mean I I I do believe that
businesses should should operate and support the industry that they're in and
um and just do good by Nature I think that's an important piece of business I I don't think that business should exist
just to make money um obviously plenty of big Fortune 500 companies do but I'm just frankly not interested in that I I
want to run a business that people actually love to interact with and love to work with and then also is able to do
some good things as well on the side and for for us that's been supporting Nika and youth mountain biking all all over
the nation that's that's been a big piece of the puzzle to me that I think is an important thing to support especially because of what uh you know
great life that I'm proud of that I've built that's been totally based off of the fact that I just happened to be introduced to mountain biking and fell
in love with it when I was a when I was a te AER so so yeah supporting Nika is a huge one for me and you know the other
one there that we execute on a ton with Trail one is is supporting Trail networks and Trail building I think
that's another huge thing that's that's a big piece of the puzzle because nature would eat back those trails that we all
love and ride if if there weren't really good dedicated Trail Builders to go out there and maintain fix and even build
new ones so yeah those those are two important things that I I really am you know passionate about and want to make
sure that our our companies are always supporting and it's not always easy because because like you said our our you know our business is you know has
kind of always been on a bit of a growth rate here and we've got it's just also challenging right we live in a dynamic
environment especially with this crazy roller coaster that happened during the pandemic and and all that it's uh you
know it's not always easy to to give back but at the same time I'm I'm focused on making sure I can operate as
efficiently as possible so we can do things like that such as you know pay competitive rates and um to our staff
and and have a good work environment and make sure we're giving back to things that we're passionate about so easier
you know easier said than done in a small business these days and uh you know I definitely always defend small
business owners in many ways because uh I think a lot of people I I always get a
little agitated when people kind of rag on you know either their boss or the business they work for if it's a small
business because it's it's so much harder than people think and so different than it is to be you know
working in a cog in the wheel of a big fortune five 00 company versus working and operating and running a small
business and being a part of that so agre yeah that's that's something that you know yeah anyways tangent there but
any no that's a good and and just take that tangent in the other side I just want to say to everyone if you ride your
trails and you come across someone working on the trail you need to get off your bike and give them a hug because that is hard work man that is hard work
and a lot of us take a lot of trails for granted that's for sure yeah and it's just so important you know you you ride
all these trails and then you you go who built these built these yeah who's maintaining this it's it's like is is it
elves at night like who's coming out and doing this you know yeah that's a funny people always say you know mountain bike
is expensive Sport and you know I agree the mountain bikes are very expensive but for the most part all these trails
are here for free free for free so the next time you spend $300 on your Aspen
lift ticket to ski just remember that you can ride all this great single track for zero for zero I yeah and it's
amazing yeah it's they're the unsung heroes of of mountain biking and um totally I I'm so glad you guys support
them that is so important all right we're coming up on an hour so I do have some quick hit
questions for you let's here you ready all right all right here we go so these are either or right either
or all right Whistler or Moab always Whistler full of jumps and
fun and way way more enjoyment Moab is a you know disaster of techy rocks which
is also cool but you know I'd prefer to just ride huge huge jumps and big BMS all day yeah I I fully fully agree I I
always feel like Moab is the 1990s of mountain biking yeah in my opinion and
I've ridden a lot of Moab I agree ice cream or popcorn ice cream definitely
all right I I put this one special Disneyland or Magic Mountain I think I already know the answer yeah Disneyland I'm a huge fan of Disney theme parks fun
29 or 275 I you know as much as I could I could give you the uh the politician
answer and say Well they're different in different ways for different people for different use cases I'm I haven't rid a
275 bike in several years I'm always on 29 so yeah I like that all right this is
the hardest one Indiana Jones or Han Solo uh Indiana Jones yeah yeah thank
you I I I like them both but no I'm a way bigger Indiana Jones fan as a kid and still than Star Wars but I like them
both best movie ever made Raiders lost AR in my opinion absolutely all right last one Neil Diamond or John
Denver you have to choose one I mean these are greats right I mean but you have to choose one these are great well
if I'm being honest I don't I haven't really listened to either of them recently but uh I would probably go Neil Diamond just because as a kid my mom
loved Neil Diamond and would play that so I'd probably at least recognize some of those tunes and
uh uh yeah that's that's the reason I go with Neil dime John you know the funny thing about John Denver the only thing I can remember about John Denver is is
that scene from Dum and D oh yeah oh jeez yeah that's that's one
best that's one of the best lines I I would say Dum dber is also one of my one of my favorite movies of all time that
and Napoleon Dynamite great movies yeah they're so good Jeff is there anything you'd want to share or anything you want
to say as we as we wrap this up yeah I think the only thing I would I would add
is that uh a couple things one if if you're passionate about learning
anything in everything about business in general there's certainly a a size of
business if if you can work in a business so most small businesses are you know under a million or two in
revenue and then you have your massive businesses over 100 million plus the big Fortune 500s all those guys yeah if you
can get into a business that's sort of in between that you know five and $50 million Revenue phase generally that
ends up being about you know 20 to 100 employees depending on the the industry
if you can work in a business business like that and work closely with the person who founded it anybody who's
founded a multi-million dollar business is going to be unbelievably chocked full of all this business knowledge and and
interesting stuff to hear so if you want to learn and and see how the game's really played that's that's the way to
go because if you go to a small business you're not going to learn a ton you might just learn how to not run a business yes um and if you go to a huge
business you'll probably never interact with the CEO or any of the sea levels and you never will really get to see how how how the you know how the pie is made
but if if you're in that sort of midsize business you'll learn a ton so I think that's an important piece that I I would
just mention out there and then the the other thing too is uh also when it comes to podcasts for uh for us the MTB
podcast we filled a bunch of questions many of them are great almost all of them are great but also don't hesitate
to ask the occasional uh business question because I I love Fielding those when when they come in rather than
telling you about the tires I'm riding well Jeff thank you thank you so much
for this time it was so enlightening and you know I listen to podcast and to be honest I just have a different lens now
of what you did what you accomplished the hard work you put in and uh this is very insightful thank you yeah cool well
thank you Matt I appreciate you you know take taking our offer and you know be being willing to do that
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