Notes from Chris

Episode 1303

Butch Baker has been an archer for most of his life. In parts of Idaho where he lives, it’s a way of life. There’s a huge community built up around the sport. And, when it comes to archery, those in the know, know that if you’re serious about bows and hunting you’d always be working on and optimizing your equipment.

So while Butch spent his days working as a power plant generation specialist, he’d dabble in his passion for archery and bows during his downtime, mostly at night and on weekends.

Something that Butch spent a large amount of time on was making new bowstrings. You see, when it comes to archery the string doesn’t get much credit. However, that same string does most of the propulsion to hurl the arrow forward. The right handmade string can aid in shooting faster and more reliably.

But… twisting bowstrings in the appropriate way is harder than you might think. There are problems that only special equipment can help with. Enter Butch! As a top-notch member of the archery community he knew these problems better than anyone.

He decided to take aim at creating a product that would solve the bowstring building conundrum. Using the tools and machinery he already had, Butch assembled a toolkit of trays, struts, jigs, and pulleys that when combined made the ultimate string building system.

In his excitement, he posted a picture of the kit on a popular archery forum. Instantly, someone offered to buy it. Since Butch already had some ideas on how the design could be improved, he sold version one and took aim at version two. It too, promptly sold when he posted a photo of it.

Butch felt like he was shooting with his eyes closed, yet somehow hitting the bullseye.

He’d tried side hustles before and failed but this time it looked like he found success almost by accident. Because of the interest he’d already received, he decided this was something worth pursuing.

To get the cash he’d need to setup a workshop, Butch sold an old nineteen fifties trailer his family had received for free a year earlier. The money went toward buying equipment to transform their garage. Butch set himself a rule: after this expense, there could be no more money spent on the business. Any future costs would need to be covered by selling the bow string making jigs.

With that, the deal was done and soon, Baker Archery Products—BAP for short—was quivered and ready for the range.

Word spreads in small communities, particularly if you do a good job. Which Butch does. Second only to his design and fabrication skills are his customer service skills. It’s essential each and every customer has a great experience—because if positive word of mouth travels fast in niche communities, the only thing faster is negative word of mouth.

That customer-centric attitude goes into crafting the products themselves. Butch, and now his family, still make every piece by hand in their home workshop in Idaho. Customers like that attention to detail but it’s also one of the roadblocks to BAP’s growth.

Still, fast growth is a good problem to have, especially for a profitable side business. This one generated over two hundred thousand dollars last year, forty thousand of which was profit.

While that’s enough to make a difference in his family's life, it’s not quite enough to drop the tools at the power plant. For now, he’s continuing to put in the hours for both jobs.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more Butch and his archery products at, BakerArcheryProducts.com.

SEE ALSO:

• High School Student Earns $20,000 Making Wooden Bow Ties: When a young woodworker receives a wooden bow tie as a gift, he’s unimpressed. After making his own, he earns $20,000 while going to high school full-time.
• College Buddies Create $15,000 Bow Tie Hustle: After making the decision to upgrade their wardrobes, two Virginia college students start a bow tie side hustle.
• Disappearing Barrettes Lead to Bow-tiful Business: A mom and “kidpreneur” daughter solve the age-old problem of disappearing hair bows by inventing a double-face, double-snap barrette.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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