SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/605094
www.stma.org December 2015 | SportsTurf 17 before selecting on one located 45 minutes from our home. Our selected manufac- turer owns a sister company in China, and helped us develop engineering CAD drawings, select a supplier, and produce samples for testing. We negotiated with our manufacturer to pay half of the tool- ing costs up front and the other half when the samples arrived and were approved. We also arranged for a 30-day/60-day pay- ment plan for inventory. Manufacturing is an area that can be very frustrating because you have to give up some control of the process to others. Once we place an order, it takes about 6-8 weeks for product to arrive from China. We tried desperately to find a manufac- turer in the United States, but the price of natural rubber is so high that we have to continue working with oversea compa- nies. Many inventors recommend having three manufacturers that you work with. We are still working on finding two addi- tional satisfactory manufacturers. Testing your products is another huge part of manufacturing. We did not test our first product long enough before ordering additional units. This was a costly mistake. We now know to test each product for at least 6 months to a year before placing a large order. As a result of listening to our customers' feedback, we redesigned our products multiple times. Our redesigns were also based upon Chad's own experience with our products. Our first tamp handle was 6 feet tall. After hitting himself in the head while helping at the local minor league ballpark, Chad reduced the height of the tamp handle! Last December we sold three quar- ters of our products' shipment before its arrival from China. Once the products arrived, we were devastated when we inspected the shipment. We found the pitching rubbers and home plates dis- colored; they were not white. We also discovered that the glue used on our home plates was not the correct glue. The supplier had also used recycled rubber and leftover rubber for part of our order instead of using only natural rubber. We worked persistently and tirelessly with our manufacturer to find a new supplier in China. We worked with our customers to make sure they received product they were happy with, or we issued a refund. It was a very tough winter for us, but we have finally found a new supplier with our manufacturer, and recently received a shipment with excellent products that passed our inspection. ESTABLISHING MENTORS/RESOURCES Before we embarked on our journey, we sought the advice of many professionals who we now consider mentors. Make sure to take the time to develop your mentor- ing team. Find the small business and inventor resources in your area. Our team includes: the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center, The VT KnowledgeWorks (an entrepreneurship organization at Virginia Tech), a pat- ent attorney, a certified public account, a business insurance agent, a financial institution, our family and friends, and of course the STMA and its members. We continuously are adding to our mentor- ing team, and recently added a China business consultant. One of the most important things to remember is that this journey will have setbacks. That is okay, because you can learn from each setback. We cer- tainly have. The best advice we heard when starting out was from one of our mentors, Jim Flowers, director of VT KnowledgeWorks. He said, "get comfort- able with being uncomfortable." This is so true. You will be outside your comfort zone during many of these steps, but keep going if your heart, soul and mind are happy. We have enjoyed our journey of ups and downs and continue to learn and love what we do. I hope these tips help you turn your idea into reality. Cathy and Chad Kropff are founders and owners of Bulldog Field Equipment, www.bulldogfieldequipment.square- space.com. ■ ST