I’ve been putting off this video because I’ve been trying to figure things out with the Pete & Pedro vendors first. We will have to take a loss on some of Pete & Pedro’s products due to a situation I want to discuss today. I want to share what’s going on with Pete & Pedro because you are why we are successful.
Lesson One | Nothing in business is flashy
One thing that sucks is when you do the best job that you can, and it doesn’t matter. That is what’s happening with Pete & Pedro, which has been a grind for the last ten years. My team and I have been doing what we can to make the business profitable and prosperous, growing the company to nearly $10 million annually.
The first lesson I’d like to share is that nothing’s flashy regarding business. It’s not what you see on social media. It’s not fast, and you have to focus on fundamentals. Building a business requires you to be profitable, which means you need to manage inventory. Inventory is the lifeblood of any business, which brings me to the problem I’m having.
Lesson Two | Cash flow is king
About a month ago, one of our most prominent vendors announced that they were killing off a large portion of their business, which included about 700 businesses. Pete & Pedro is large enough that we were not killed off in the process, but the vendor raised their minimum order quantities to an astronomical amount. For our hero products, it’s okay, but it’s a non-starter for many of our other products that don’t move in significant quantities. We want to avoid tying up our cash in inventory.
We will have to discontinue some products, including ones I love. The critical issue is that some of these products are mid-level, where we need to sell more to justify the unit order. So we’re having to make some hard calls. We’re going to have to move some of these dead soldiers out the door and be able to afford some bigger orders coming up.
Lesson Three | You’re going to get punched in the face. Get back up!
Last year, we had our best year ever. We were starting on a great track this year and moving in the right direction. Then, this bomb dropped on us, presenting another business lesson. In business, you need to be able to get punched in the face repeatedly and get back up. You need to be able to move forward. You will get smacked in the knee with a baseball bat when you think everything is good and moving in the right direction. You need to pick yourself back up and figure out what to do.
Running a business involves systematically solving problems that never stop. When you think everything is cool and comfortable, you must adjust and be nimble. Unfortunately, Pete & Pedro will lose some of its outstanding products. The good news is that we have a lot of amazing products, and we’re going to do our best to bring back some of the other SKUs that we’re having to kill right now or in the near future.
