With the way forward for their startup, OME Gear, hanging within the stability, South Carolina entrepreneurs Jules Weldon and Stacey Pierce believed that they needed to both hand over their dream of proudly owning and working a household enterprise or “go all in” and promote their final substantial asset, their beloved home.
It was two days earlier than Christmas 2020, and this was the toughest choice that that they had confronted of their 10-year, tightknit relationship, together with 5 years as a married couple.
““I just never wanted to live in a should-a, would-a, could-a world.””
After maxing out their bank cards, draining their financial institution accounts and shutting their 401(okay)s, they have been low on choices for elevating capital wanted to maintain the enterprise working. They requested one another how a lot they believed in OME; each answered 100%.
They have been satisfied of the significance of shifting ahead, “even when the dream or goal looks impossible,” defined Weldon. Added Pierce, “We always look at roadblocks as new opportunities to learn.”
Betting the home and its contents
Committing wholly to the outdoor-products firm meant they needed to downsize their way of life and decrease their private overhead, Weldon, 52, and Pierce, 51, offered, gave away or threw out 95% of their stuff, together with furnishings, garments, kitchen objects, a ship, a truck and a golf cart. They put the remaining 5% in storage.
The story of OME Gear started on the shore some 25 years in the past when Weldon’s dad and mom, Jerie and Paul, noticed a single mother wrestling along with her seaside stuff whereas spending time along with her three youngsters on the sand.
Shortly afterward, her dad and mom invented a two-in-one lounger/dolly initially supposed for the seaside. But regardless of their arduous work, and success in securing a patent, they lacked ample capital to take the product to market. Her dad and mom didn’t have the cash to maintain OME afloat whereas caring for his or her household wants and duties. They didn’t have the know-how to make it occur, and her mother was busy working her bakery.
Weldon and Pierce picked up the household dream and pursued it with extra arduous work, redoubled willpower and 4 extra patents. They persevered regardless of many setbacks, together with the COVID-19 pandemic, which made elevating cash and manufacturing merchandise extraordinarily troublesome.
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Trading right down to an RV
The choice to downsize their private lives got here on account of needing to rescue 2,500 models of their merchandise that the producer was holding in a warehouse in Utah and wouldn’t launch till Weldon and Pierce got here up with the cash. “We were broke, broken and stressed to the max,” defined Weldon.
Once they made the choice to go “all in,” a purchaser snapped up their single-family home in Charleston, South Carolina, 4 days after it went available on the market. At the time, they didn’t even know the place they have been going to reside.
They determined to hit the street for 2 years in an RV, leaving their three-bedroom residence in a stunning neighborhood and shifting right into a 250-square-foot RV with one small closet. As additional proof of their dedication to the enterprise, they wrapped the motor residence in plastic printed with OME Gear branding to advertise their outside furnishings firm.
Weldon settled in inside a couple of weeks, however Pierce, a self-proclaimed nester, took a couple of months to think about the RV her new residence.
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Stranded in ‘Nowhere, Arizona’
They additionally loved the journey of being on the open street for 2 years and discovered to giggle on the pitfalls, just like the time their automotive got here off the hitch in “Nowhere Arizona” and slammed into the again of the RV they have been driving…not as soon as however twice.
They shortly discovered about life on the street in an RV, corresponding to the truth that all the things must be safe and you need to unhook the bathroom and the ability every time you draw back from a campsite, and you’ll’t run the microwave and the hair dryer on the identical time or you’ll blow a fuse.
They additionally moved 55 instances and slept in 63 beds within the two years whereas touring an eye-popping 73,000 miles.
By being keen to place all the things on the road and embrace the potential of failure, they imagine that they set themselves up for fulfillment.
While they have been on the street, they made greater than 200 “cold call pitches” to a wide range of small and enormous corporations. “There is no shame in this game,” mentioned Pierce. “If people have ears, we are telling them about OME Gear and the Wanderr.”
The Wanderr is an progressive, reworking cart that holds as much as 150 kilos of substances, rolls simply over any terrain, together with gentle sand, and may remodel right into a low seaside chair, recliner/lounger, increased off-the-ground tenting chair or tenting cot. With three optionally available straps, it may be used as a “hauler” to move kayaks, paddle boards and surfboards.
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Blueprint for a wealthy life
Their quest was about a lot greater than a product or a enterprise. It turned a blueprint for main their richest and best lives, whatever the obstacles.
“It is imperative that you figure out what you are willing to give up in order to reach those dreams,” mentioned Pierce. “When the going gets tough — and it most definitely will — you’ve already made the decision to not quit. The words ‘give up’ are not in our vocabulary.”
These resilient entrepreneurs say having each other to lean on is the important thing to getting them by way of the robust instances.
“There are many entrepreneurs who would have given up by now, but having a partner on this journey makes the tough times seem just a little easier,” Pierce explains. “One of our mottos is in having each other, our joys are multiplied and our sorrows are divided. This is so true in every aspect of our personal and entrepreneurial lives.”
Have a dependable companion
Their relationship is completely one of many prime components of their tenacity and perseverance ranges.
“We embrace the theory of the ‘little red wagon,’ ” Weldon mentioned. “I think having that support from Stacey is everything. Being in our position as an entrepreneur who invented a product is one of the loneliest places that you can be because people don’t understand how difficult it is to take a product to market.”
This helps them by way of the tough patches. “People have told us that they think we are crazy,” Weldon provides. “But the resilience of the human spirit is nothing short of amazing. We look at one another and wholeheartedly disagree. When you have someone else to validate the mission that you’ve been called to, it makes it so much easier. There have been so many times when we would have given up if we didn’t have each other.”
“My husband Paul and I and the entire family are immensely proud of these two women. It means the world to us,” mentioned Jules’ mom, Jerie Weldon.
“When you look at the extreme struggles they have gone through, we are so proud that they keep persevering, and keep going like the Energizer Bunny,” she added. “They might bump or fall down, but it’s wonderful to watch their progress.”
Jerie Weldon took her personal leap of religion when a good friend invited her to learn to beautify muffins early in her 59-year marriage. The mom of two discovered a brand new talent and as her household elevated to 6 youngsters she grew her goals into The Master’s Baker, a profitable enterprise now operated by one in every of her 4 sons, Chad, in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
In reality, she notes that 5 of her youngsters are following in her entrepreneurial footsteps. “It’s exciting to watch Jules and Stacey step out of their comfort zone and thrive, especially when I know a lot of people would be too frightened to take that first plunge,” Jerie mentioned. “How can I not admire their courage and tenacity?”
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A calling, not a product
OME stands for Oceans + Mountains = Earth, or Outdoors Made Easy. The thought was to have the corporate enchantment to many outside actions. As a consequence, its merchandise are made for a large cross-section of nature lovers and adventurers, together with those that frequent the seaside or the lake, in addition to those that get pleasure from tenting, fishing, looking, tailgating, soccer video games and different sporting occasions.
What Pierce and Weldon love about OME Gear goes past the merchandise for which they secured patents. These impassioned entrepreneurs say the most important function of the corporate is to open the door to the outside for individuals who discover it troublesome or resolve to keep away from it due to all of the “stuff” that’s required to get pleasure from a time out in nature.
“We believe we’re supposed to have a global impact with our company,” Weldon defined. “When I am called to something it is impossible for me to give up.”
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Sharing their story
Beyond constructing a profitable firm, these two inspirational girls plan to create a platform of affect and constructive change. They have received a number of prestigious innovation awards, are efficient motivational audio system, and lately spoke at TEDx Wilmington in Delaware.
In constructing OME Gear, Weldon explains, “we have come up against some pretty significant obstacles and roadblocks, and our heartbeat is to help fill in the potholes so that those who come behind us, particularly women, will have an easier go at it,” she added. They need to develop their firm in order that they may give again in an enormous approach.
“We have come through so much and persevered,” Pierce says. “We know it will be worth it, but even more so, it is worth it now. Who we are becoming as a result of this journey is what this is all about!”
They hope to purchase a brand new residence in South Carolina within the close to future, after two and a half years of not having a everlasting deal with, and haven’t any regrets about playing massive on their enterprise. Their beloved RV is available on the market prepared for the following house owners to make their recollections.
“There have been moments when Jules and I have been brought to our knees, but the wins have kept us going,” says Pierce. “I just never wanted to live in a should-a, would-a, could-a world. We believe this is so close to being a breakthrough for our future that if we stopped now and looked back, I think we would have regretted that for the rest of our lives.”
Weldon provides that, “the hard truth about our journey is that it has required us to give up more than we thought we could.”
“But,” she continues, “it goes back to the commitment we made during our wedding vows, to live a life with no regrets and one that is filled with lots of adventure!”
Debra Wallace is a multi-award-winning skilled journalist, creator, editor, social media/net content material supplier, and autism advocate with 20+ years of expertise. She often contributes to Parade.com, Orlando Family Fun, South Jersey, Monsters & Critics, Delaware Today, and several other different print and digital publications. Her experience contains celeb profiles, leisure, native heroes, well being/wellness, particular wants parenting, and autism advocacy. Wallace is a loyal single mom to her 17-year-old son, Adam.
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