Nobody Buys Recycled. They Buy Nice Things.

Somebody asked me the other day what a year of building this thing has actually taught me. I had a proper think about it. Five things came up, and not one of them is what I would have guessed back when I was staring at my first box of dead rope.

Here they are, in the order they hurt.

Nobody buys recycled. They buy nice things.

This is the big one and it took me the longest to accept.

Recycled is the story. It is not the reason someone hands over money. Nobody walks past my stall, sees a belt and thinks, aye, I will buy that because it used to be landfill. They pick it up because it looks good and it feels solid in the hand. Then they find out what it is made of, and that is the bit they tell their pals about later.

So if you are wondering how to sell recycled products, that is the running order. Make it good first. Then tell them what it is made of. Do it the other way round and you are just asking folk to feel guilty enough to buy something average.

Every recycled climbing rope belt I make is cut to an exact waist size, anywhere from 22 to 50 inches. That is what makes it a nice thing. The fact the rope already held a climber is what makes it worth talking about.

Same goes for the wee stuff. A five quid keychain gets the same attention as a belt, because if the small thing feels cheap, nobody trusts the big thing. Have a look at the gifts for climbers and you will see what I mean.

Your packaging is not separate from your product. It is the product.

The devil is in the detail. Packaging, layout, how the thing actually lands on somebody's doormat. It matters far more than anyone lets on.

Nobody opens a battered jiffy bag with a belt rattling about inside and thinks, what a lovely wee brand. The box is the first thing they touch. It is the product as much as the thing sitting in it.

Which drags in the next lesson. Own as much of your supply chain as you can. I cut and make my own packaging here in the workshop. That gives me control, room to keep tweaking it, and it means I am not sitting on my hands for three weeks waiting on a supplier for something as simple as a box. Less admin, less cash tied up in cardboard.

Cash flow is king, and your network is your net worth

Not having cash in the bank when an opportunity turns up costs you something you will never see on a spreadsheet. A big rope haul lands. A market slot opens up. A shop asks about wholesale. If the money is not there, the answer is no, and nobody ever writes that no down anywhere.

Cash management is not boring admin. It is a proper skill. I was rubbish at it for a good while and it quietly cost me more than any bad product decision ever did.

And the last one, which is the one I actually feel soft about. I have been very lucky. Folk have handed me knowledge, tips and tricks I would never have worked out on my own. Climbing walls setting rope aside for me instead of binning it. Other makers telling me what not to do. Aberdeen folk digging dead rope out their cupboards and shoving it in my hands. Community is everything and I am not just saying that.

Day whatever of building a company out of literal rubbish. Still learning, still getting it wrong, still here.

Stay classy and remember,
Make Waste Useful.

George