If you’ve been wondering about starting up a small business, launching an internet site and being your own boss forever, let me tell you how I made $20K on the internet in one phone call selling truck accessories, namely cargo nets.
I found a niche. I originally started making the CargoCatch in my garage, the bags being cut and sewn in Mexico, I handled the hardware, tooling, assembly and shipping in California as I brought the bags up to San Diego from Tecate.
CargoCatch Truck Bed Cargo Organizer
I took CargoCatch to the SEMA show in Las Vegas, got a licensing agreement, and we started manufacturing them here in the USA, then subsequently China as it was way too expensive to do it here, the retail price would have been way too high.
Internet retail sales started increasing for all industries, so we went to drop ship and started a website. Today, we’re authorized to sell everybody’s stuff, and we’ve been doing it for years. The competition on the internet is fierce, and you cannot stop constantly updating, upgrading, marketing, social media, etc…it’s a lot of work, especially when you have to do all this, and run every other aspect of your business, and we all know what that entails~!
I categorize our internet orders into 3 categories. One is the bread and butter, quantity one or two of whatever product. Two is the corporate repeat customer who’s researched our company’s products and customer service/order processing system with initial orders and has re-ordered, sometimes in qty’s of 10’s and sometimes 100’s. Then, rarely, you have the big guy, the company with really deep pockets who needs qty 250-1000 or more of a particular product. This was that big call.
Boom~! A few years back I had a customer who liked our customer service, bought a sample, tested it and ordered hundreds of various sizes to be delivered to about 10 different locations. They were pickup truck cargo nets that were to be used in many states by their trucks working in the oil fields. Sure it was a lot of coordination to ship, billing, etc…but one phone call made us $20K.
Gladiator Cargo Net
With the Google updates of late, it’s been challenging, but rewarding. We, after some time, developed a reputation for ‘cargo nets’, ‘custom cargo nets’, ‘truck cargo holders’ and other relevant keywords to our industry and others. A reputation for good customer service, easy order processing, Net 30 billing and a knack for detail, determination, follow through and never giving up was how I did it. It took me years of hard work and sacrifice. It also took me a lot of ‘buying your way into the market’.
After years of change, adaptation and assimilation to this electronic jungle environment, we carved out a nice spot with ‘custom cargo nets’. It’s always a challenge, and your always working, but when you want to spend more time with your family and create daily memories instead of weekends only, you better be ready to sacrifice a lot of your life. The last 15 years of my life, I’ve said no to friends and weekends for the most part. It can be lonely, entrepreneurship, and at times very frustrating, but if you stick with it, even if you end up not getting rich, you’ve re-created your resume, and can count on your next job, if you need one, to pay you probably 5-10 times what you were making in your previous job.
Though we have designed and sold many different products for various vehicles including custom cargo nets for many applications, we spent the majority of a decade really concentrating on and perfecting our ability to design, market and sell cargo nets. We hope that we can bring to you, our customers, that same sort of dediction and expertise to all of the other products we offer, over time.
Good quality customer service is the ultimate key and having a niche. This is how I made $20K in one phone call.
CargoCatch Current
