How did you find yourselves involved in archery? What did it take to make the jump to the business side?
Being a passionate bowhunter and 3D archer, it wasn’t too hard to become involved in the archery business. Previous experience working in the industry made the transition easy - having the relationships and contacts with others as well as understanding the business is a critical component to success. We both share a love of the outdoors and are also entrepreneurial, so getting into the archery business as a husband and wife team just made sense.
What are your hopes for Athens Archery? What do you hope to bring to the table with this venture?
We feel very strongly about putting the customer first - this drives everything we do. When you start shooting Athens, you become part of our family - that’s a concept that we embrace and memorialize in our daily activities. Everyone in the archery community should support one another. This will go a long way towards ensuring both long term growth in the sport, as well as success for all of the businesses that support archery. That passion and drive will in turn translate into growth for Athens.
What have you learned from being in archery that helps you to succeed in your business?
Understanding the customer and what they want is the biggest key to success. Being heavily involved in archery and listening to other people that are involved makes it easy to understand the customer mindset and provide options that they want.
What's next for Athens?
Next is looking at ways to grow Athens vertically while expanding our dealer network. We want to bring more to the marketplace that our customers tell us is of value, while maintaining everything that makes Athens a superior bow.
The Archers Association of America negotiates discounts in travel and archery equipment for archers of all disciplines. To learn more or sign up, go to www.archersassociation.org.