Business

How Selling Knives in College Inspired My Business Today

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">During the entrepreneurship forum at the Pinnacle Business School&comma; we were honoured to have one of the alumni speak to us on his entrepreneurship journey&period; Jack Williams is the founder of HikePartner – an online store that sells all kinds of hiking equipment&period; He revealed that his business was inspired by the time he spent selling knives in colleges&period; Here is his detailed interview&period; Such interesting conversations you can read at During the entrepreneurship forum at the Pinnacle Business School&comma; we were honoured to have one of the alumni speak to us on his entrepreneurship journey&period; Jack Williams is the founder of HikePartner – an online store that sells all kinds of hiking equipment&period; He revealed that his business was inspired by the time he spent selling knives in colleges&period; Here is his detailed interview&period; Such interesting conversations you can read or even ask about <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;researchpapers&period;io&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">buying a research paper<&sol;a>&comma; where the talented writers share their experience&comma; where the talented writers share their experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Who is Jack Wilshere&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">I would describe myself as an online entrepreneur&comma; a philanthropist&comma; a husband and a father of two nice kids&period;  I am a graduate of Pinnacle Business School&period; I graduated with a Bachelors of Commerce&period; I ran an online store known as HikePartner that is our true hiking partner&period; No matter what you may need for your hiking experience&comma; we got it&period; We sell all kind of hiking gears like tents&comma; knives&comma; floating boards and much more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What makes the HikePartner unique&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">I would say it’s because it offers a unique experience&period; For one&comma; we specialise in all products in the hiking niche&period; This store is a product of passion and thorough research of the industry&period; Our goal is to ensure that we provide hikers with high quality equipment at an affordable price&period; During the two years&comma; we have been in operation&comma; we have made a turnover of over one million&period; We have over 100 staffs and thousands of partners from all over the world&period; Our sales figures keep growing every day&period; This is because we are the one stop shop for all your hiking needs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What would you attribute HikePartner enormous growth to&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">I would say understanding the needs of the customers is the main reason&period;  They understand it when they need anything in the hiking niche&semi; our store is the place to be&period; We also have a hardworking team who have given everything to the success of the business&period;  Our good relationship with our partners has also helped in the growth of our business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>How did your time at Pinnacle Business School shape your business journey&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When I was young&comma; I always was a hiking enthusiast&period;  During my college years at the Pinnacle Business School&comma; I discovered that my finances were never enough&period; That is when I started looking for a side hustle that could help me supplement my pocket money&period; I was not sure what to do&period; But during one of my hiking experience&comma; I discovered that I did not have a hiking knife&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When I tried searching for one in the local store&comma; I discovered that they only had the usual kitchen knives&period; These could not stay sharp for a long time as they had to be subjected to hard task like cutting wood&comma; slaughtering and much more&period; That is when I discovered that there was a gap in the hiking knives industry&period; I started by selling these knives in college&period; Later I created an online store provide hikers from around the world with the necessary equipment&period; My business started growing&comma; and I decided to add some other items&period; And as they say&comma; the rest is history&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What are the 3 lessons you have learned through your entrepreneurship journey&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<ul style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&NewLine;<li><strong>Start small&period;<&sol;strong> I would say start small but think big&period; I literally started HikePartner from my dorm room&period; But even as I sold knives to my fellow college students&comma; I was thinking of a way of scaling up the business&period; I finally did it by opening an online store and expanding our range of products&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li><strong>Identify a need and seek to fulfil it&period; <&sol;strong>I realized that there was a demand for high quality hiking equipment&period; I decided to fill that gap and today&comma; and I would say the move has paid off&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li><strong>Meet the customer’s passion fast&period; <&sol;strong>At first&comma; when I started HikePartner&comma; I wanted to do something that was within my line of passion&period; Since hiking was my hobby&comma; I decided to start something in that niche&period; But along the way&comma; I discovered that the customer’s passion mattered more than my passion&period; When I started&comma; I would stock items which I thought I needed most when hiking&period; But today&comma; I stock items that my customers need&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<h2>What would you advise students who are looking for a side hustle to do in college&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Do a lot of market research before starting&period; This is what will provide you with an idea of how viable the business is likely to be and the chances of it surviving&period; Work hard&comma; persevere the bad times and be prayerful&period;  During the early days&comma; things will not be easy&period; But with time&comma; your efforts will be rewarded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">What is the future of HikePartner&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">We can plan to become a fully pledged online store selling anything under the sun from dog food to TVs to accessories and clothing&period; We have used the hiking niche to understand the market and what we now have to do is to scale up the business in different niches&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>If you were to start again&comma; what would you do differently&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">I would find a mentor who has walked the same way I have&period; The main benefit of having a mentor is that you will be able to avoid some of the mistakes&period; This is because you can learn from what they did right or did wrong&period;  At the start of any business&comma; you will make mistakes&comma; lose money and even feel like giving up&period; But you should treat every mistake as a lesson&period;  Once you do that&comma; you will keep growing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>What would you like to be remembered for&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">I would like to leave a legacy of a man who incredibly touched humanity&period; This could be through business mentorship and even helping those in needs&period; In HikePartner&comma; we have a corporate –social responsibility where we support students who are needy to pay for their school fees&period; We also support several shelters for the homeless&period; We participate in events that are aimed at protecting the environment and reducing carbon emissions&period; Apart from earning money&comma; we have a goal of making the world a better place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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