2023 will be the 5th year that Boyds has been in existence, and it has been one hell of a ride. Starting as a concession in a small shop, opening a new location with cafe, closing down completely and then being re-born as a stand-alone brand and now having our own workshop/warehouse, nobody can say it has been easy.
Going in to this year, I have to say I felt we had plateaued. We make enough to cover our costs, but never make any profit, and after five years of working unpaid, and loading myself with debt, something had to change soon or I would probably throw in the towel.
Being terrible at marketing, our growth has always come from events, be it our own meets or trading at shows, we reached a point when we decided to throw the kitchen sink at it and take a seat at the top table of Moto brands - the Bike Shed Show.
Honestly this was a terrifying decision as we had to clear out our bank balance to make sure we had the money to trade, and have enough stock to get a return on investment, and even before that, we had to be accepted to trade.
Well sat here, 2 days after the event I can honestly say it was the best decision we have ever made. Not only did we smash all our expectations from a sales perspective, the reception we received from the show attendees, other businesses and the Bike Shed team blew us away.
I wish I could sit here and write out a thorough review of the bikes at the show, but TBH we were pinned to our stand serving customers and chewing the fat which meant we didn't get a huge amount of time to get around.
I have to say the thing that really stood out to Dan, Brano and I was how hard the Bike Shed team work to put on the show. Dutch, Gareth and Vikki are so hands on and at no point it the weekend did we see any of them take a breather. If you want to know how the Bike Shed has become so successful, it is 100% down to the drive and commitment of their whole team and volunteers, and this is something that we at Boyds always try to apply. Huge huge love and respect to them.
The cherry on the cake for us was having the Sinclair C5 we built in the show. Big thanks to Signs by Jorge for making it a bit special and it was a real talking point for attendees.
I have never been more excited for the future of Boyds and we plan to be back at Bike Shed show next year.
Thanks to everyone who has supported up to this point, it would not have been possible without every person who has decided to invest their hard earned cash in something from Boyds. Here's to the future!
