We reluctantly came. We nervously saw. OMW, we sold!

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Bo

The choice of touch points or channels has always been quite a strong focus of most of my career. Where to target customers, on which channel, when and how. So when we launched our small business CW-X SA, I seriously thought that I would be able to lure customers to the website via a range of beautiful imagery on Instagram and engaging stories on Facebook.

Sales have been slow.

We realized that the brand had dipped into very low awareness levels, the competitor environment was fierce and that unless we put money behind our social media posts, no one was really seeing our brand.

We decided to get our faces out there and approached Randburg Harriers Running Club asking if we could promote our goods at their Thursday evening time trial. I won’t lie, a social media collaborator and an engineer, face-to-face sales was not our strong point and we were dreading it.

The nerves ran high!

But here’s what we learnt:

Our brand needs to be seen in the real world. Once people saw the banners, it suddenly felt real.
Our faces need to be seen and recognized by fellow runners to make the connection between our brand and ourselves. Why? Because trust sells. Relationships sell. Networking sells.
And most of all, word-of-mouth is key! Once people realized its was us and they knew our faces and names behind the brand, they were really excited and started to tell other people.

Mini brand ambassadors were born.

I’m all for eCommerce but it doesn’t allow for much human connection. With the face-to-face interaction at time trial along side the track, it was easier to question and probe. We showed an interest in people and their stories.

It created a comfortable space for people to share their running injuries, their eating struggles and their choice of what running tights suited them more. People opened up to us about personal stories they would not necessarily do online.

After one evening, we’re no experts. But what an eye opener.

And here’s one more nugget. We fell out of our comfort zones and rolled straight into realizing that maybe, just maybe, we can do this thing called sales.

Teething problems of a new business

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Bo

To say that we’ve had a few “teething problems” running CW-X SA, our small business, would be a massive understatement. The definition of teething problems is: “short term problems at the early stages of a project.”

The night we signed the contract & loaded KK’s car full of stock. We were officially the owners of our own business!

I bet if you asked any mother to describe her child’s teething, she would mention the drooling, the irritability, the niggles, the loss of appetite, the red gums, the chewing of fingers and toys. Yeah, sounds familiar to us.

The teeth cut so far have been for the following reasons:

Delays in getting our payment platform up and running. And I’m talking months, not weeks!
Our stock was delayed at customs and then audited by SARS. Fluke, I swear!
Commitment from buyers but the orders don’t come through. Everyone promises to go buy, but then … don’t.
Orders for stock we didn’t think people would be interested in. Funky colours are not as popular as we thought.
Running social media campaigns is tough! Providing fresh content 24/7 and having minimal engagement is frustrating.

The challenge is also running the business after hours while we have our day jobs. It has meant a lot of late nights and busy weekends. We accidentally missed a failed order on the site last week. Thank goodness for our site developer Liza who has been absolutely amazing!

Through the drool and niggles, there are some nuggets that we’ve picked up along the way:

The personal touch is important. While I’m all for online shopping, there’s something about speaking face-to-face with someone. I totally get how retail giants such as Amazon and even Yuppie Chef are toying with bricks and mortar. Don’t underestimate the value in hand deliveries.
Runners are all so different but yet all so alike. Sticking to what we know has worked for us. Trying to be all things to all people is impossible right now.
I love these lava print tights! And everywhere I saw jacaranda trees, I would stop to take pics.
Knowing the stock makes all the difference. I have started running in different bras and running in various styles of running tights. It definitely helps knowing the product, but not only through the brochures, but from personal experience. I’ll tell you now (for free) that the racerback Xtra Support bra is not nearly as comfortable as the StabilyX Running bra.
They say you shouldn’t try anything new when running a race, but I decided to try out the StabilyX Ventilator 3/4 tights for Kaapsehoop half marathon. This is me and my dad 300m from the finish line. We were hurting! But the tights felt amazing!
Finding the right brand ambassadors who love your product and believe in your vision has been so motivating! Thank you Kirsty & Dan!
OCR & Trail running fanatic!

Kirsty just had to try out a couple of handstands in her new Generator Revolution Trailprint tights. Gosh, they fit her like a glove!

The snag of spraining my ankle and KK traveling for work during December is yet another teething problem for us – something we need to work around. You start becoming incredibly solutions-focused and agile.

The running injuries come & hopefully will go. The projects at work should come to an end. But runners don’t stop running. And so the sales must go on!

Get to CW-X SA and find out why we’re committed to sticking through the teething problems!

My blog has been silent and yet I have so much to share!

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Bo

My blog has been pretty quiet lately. It’s not that I have nothing to share. Quite the opposite in fact! I’ve been busy. Very busy!

Here’s what’s been happening:

We bought a small business. What an eye opener this has been! It’s taken us ages to sort things out. From bank accounts, merchant accounts, web development, ordering stock, waiting for the stock to arrive. It’s been such a learning experience, full of ups and downs. We wanted to wait until we were ready to start telling everyone and sharing our news, but that seems to be taking forever! So here it is: We’re officially the distributors for CW-X in Southern Africa! *Squeal*
Running your own social media content plan for your own business takes time! Most weekends and weekday evenings, I’m sitting down writing posts and creating content. The Instagram account is live (go check it out!) but we’re reluctant to get going on Facebook until our website is ready & people can purchase stock. Want to help me? If you do wear CW-X and have any photos showing the running kit, please can you share those with me. I’d much rather show real athletes (that’s you!) than posed models in the kit.
This is us both in our CW-X clothes at Parkrun. We might need to work on our posing. LOL
Like almost 90% of Jo’burgers, I got bronchitis and was out of action. It took forever to heal, two visits to the Doc, daily nebulizing, lots of sleep (read: Allergex). Then out of the blue, I get shingles. On my face! WTH? 3 weeks of misery has taught me two lessons. One: listen to my body. Read bullet point number one. It’s been a stressful time! Lesson number two: when you can’t run, your body had no way of de-stressing. You get even more niggly. I acknowledge the huge role running does play in my life & will ~~try~~ not complain about my running again.
I have been on a mission to help an after care centre in Kliptown called Izanokhanyo Community Based Project get SnapScan so that donations can be easier as well as kickstart their social media so that we can start telling their story. Let me tell you, it’s made me incredibly happy inside to help. It’s early days but here’s holding thumbs I can help make a difference! I’d love your help! I’ll let you know how soon!
Helen, who runs Izanokhanyo without a salary, handing out sweet to the kids.
I’ve been successful in my application to be part of a pilot project kicking off at work. All new. Unknown. Virgin territory. Exciting as hell but I’m also nervous. But after climbing in & assisting with some of the project management for the last couple of weeks, I’ve proven to myself that I am capable of learning & trying something new. Doing this nowadays at work needs to be the norm.
My Dad’s partner Rina passed away too. It’s funny how you think you have time and you discuss illness and old age and plans on what to do if this happens and if that happens. But when things do happen, no one is quite prepared. Everyone grieves differently. Each person says goodbye in their own way. I’m glad we’re spending more time with my Dad. I wish my parents stayed closer.

Everything I’ve mentioned above happens for a reason and at the right time. The delays in getting our business up and running gave me more time to spend with my Dad. Getting sick slowed me down and forced me to rest and take stock of what mattered. What mattered was helping Izanokhanyo in my spare time and not using that time for reading work emails. And yet I was rewarded by getting the job at work.

I’m going to make more time to blog too. This one was long. If you made it to here, the key take out is that I’m fine, I’m excited and yes… I’m still running! We’ve got Run-The-Berg (or in my case with limited training Walk-The-Berg) coming up, Kaapsehoop and Otter.

Can’t wait for that purple carpet to line the streets!

By the way, the jacarandas are starting to bloom. It’s the most beautiful time to be outdoors! Go for that run!

When running a small business feels like running Comrades

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Bo

In less than a week, entries open for the Comrades marathon. Mentions of this iconic race have started to slip into conversations. For me, it conjures up memories of the intense training that goes into preparation for race day. KK heading out on his early morning long runs, driving to the ultra’s and the months of carbo-loading & daily lunch preps. It’s a tough & long buildup.

I’d say that nothing else compares to how tough this is, but lately, it’s met its match. As previously mentioned, KK and I have bought a small business.

Our excitement and enthusiasm has been fiercely squashed as we’ve struggled to get business bank accounts opened, a courier account registered and our first order processed. With no previous knowledge of how things work and with zero credit business references, not many people have been willing to help us. But we’ve persisted.

As with any marathon training, there any many days where as a runner you want to give up. When getting out of bed to run is a huge mental struggle. When there is this mountain ahead. And from what many have reported, you start to hate the training and long for race day to come.

It’s all been a learning journey and as most runners will tell you, they enjoyed their first Comrades marathon the most. Maybe as newbies, it’s not knowing what to expect and just never letting anything get in your way? It’s the rush, the euphoria, the dream.

Regardless of all the obstacles, I must admit that sitting in this space right now feels amazing. Green behind the ears, excited beyond words, Comrades down run, here we come

Ps: don’t forget to enter Comrades! It’s the journey of a lifetime!