About Industry Grease

What is it?
Industry Grease is a private, collaborative platform where individuals from every segment of the Bicycle Industry come together to ask questions, share ideas, and learn from each other on a grand scale. No matter the size, shape, or age of the shop or business, each member has an equal opportunity to share & receive feedback we can all learn from. Here members of the Bicycle Industry will have access to… and more importantly, participate in, weekly homegrown content designed to spark the kinds of discussions we need to have about today’s marketplace. Each discussion-filled article will be followed up with a podcast to bring the discussions together in a more comprehensive & digestible format. This is not another industry news site or a place where suppliers are going to push products. This is a place for people who care about the direction of the Bicycle Industry and their role in it.

Why?
Due to the turbulent shifts in the bicycle marketplace affecting how consumers shop, the Bicycle Industry’s various retail & supply channels have scrambled to solve their individual challenges that too often don’t align with each other’s. This has led to us becoming less organized as an industry and more vulnerable to the growth of larger corporations, outside industries entering ‘our space’, and all that is eCommerce. We’ve become accustomed to adapting to the marketplace rather than setting the pace and it’s distracted us from leveraging the advantages we do have… especially when it comes to going after the consumers we don’t know about, but should. We’re also having to quickly adapt to methods like direct-to-consumer programs and online fulfillment sales that either aren’t refined or are just confusing to all involved.

There are a lot of loose ends the Bicycle Industry needs to tie up before we can move forward and that begins by having some inclusive discussions on a massive scale. Regardless of how much experience or knowledge a person or small group has, ideas & decisions can become a bit monolithic without the involvement of a diverse & widespread resource of information… and each member here is a part of that. Industry Grease opens the doors to all involved to add a broader & more valuable set of perspectives, with the intention of guiding us towards a healthier & more sustainable industry.

But don’t listen to me…

To be blunt, I don’t want anyone to listen to me. You will hear me say this repeatedly but I think one person or group telling everyone else what they should do is as arrogant as it is dangerous. Even after spending 35 years in & out of every corner of the Bicycle Industry, my knowledge, experience, & perspective is a virtually unmeasurable fraction of what members of our industry possess as a whole. What I do know revolves around sparking the right conversations and bringing people together. I have been in just about every one of your shoes and feel that many of the issues we face can be avoided & even solved by having the right conversations at the right time… rather than after the fact.

Who is it for?
In a sort of ironic plot twist, Industry Grease isn’t here for retailers or suppliers in the Bicycle Industry. Industry Grease is for our consumers. In today’s marketplace, we need to reverse-engineer how we did things over the last 20 or 30 years and work from the consumer up. If we better serve consumers, they will better support us, improving our profitability & long-term sustainability. Okay… maybe that isn’t entirely true. In reality, Industry Grease really is for ALL of us because consumers need us, as much as we need them. The more we increase our understanding of the consumer, the more they’ll be able to recognize the value we offer. If they win, we all win!

Retailers – These are the Bicycle Industry’s customer-facing feet on the ground. Unique in size structure, & location, retailers are made up of individuals, each with a different perspective based on their role as well as the operations of their store. Industry Grease gives each person a place where they can share & receive feedback from like peers all over the country. Suppliers recognize the obstacles retailers face because one of their greatest challenges is adjusting to such a vast array of needs on a massive scale. Retailers of comparable size & shape supporting similar communities will be more able to discuss & learn ways each other approaches specific challenges. By bringing retailers from all over the country together, they can more easily generate a larger & more uniform voice their suppliers will greatly value and in turn, create a better & more profitable relationship.

Suppliers – Manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and others are often structured where only a small handful of people make decisions based on a varied & geographically scattered amount of feedback from retailers… who themselves are making decisions based on a very unpredictable marketplace. Since the dawn of all that is the web, forecasting has become more valuable than profitability and the absence of reliable information can be crippling to suppliers, often forcing them to become more conservative with supply and/or change the way they do business. A little communication on a larger & more diverse scale goes a long way toward helping suppliers & retailers support each other and more importantly, the consumer.

No Advertising

While Industry Grease doesn’t offer any sort of traditional advertising, we recognize suppliers have a lot to offer to their retailers. To keep it simple, effective, and fair, we will soon offer suppliers & service providers the opportunity to create & manage their own resource page where they can list just about anything that has to do with supporting retailers. This could include links to new product information & training, specific contact information for various departments or people, technical information & training, and other related items (check out Supplier Row under the Resources menu for the specifics). Industry Grease is not only a place suppliers can use to gain valuable information, this is a place they can establish a better presence to retailers by offering solutions in real-time and simply being a part of a discussion. Think of it like a Bicycle Industry trade show that runs 24/7 365 days a year but far more broad, and wrapped up in a nice tidy, easy-to-access package. As this grows and we’ve accumulated enough feedback, we look forward to offering more in the future.

Who is this guy?
I’ve been called a lot of things… most of them good. The first person to drag me around on a bike and accept me in a bike shop called me Tomac. Some call me Tex based on where I was raised and how I say the word ‘guitar’ (gee-tar). On Strava & amongst my local bike friends, I’m Steeze McQueen. To most, I’m just Trey. I’m not going to claim I am the Bicycle Industry’s guru or that I know everything that needs to be done. I’m more of a self-proclaimed Industry Rat who just won’t leave and has spent several years envisioning ways we can better work together. As stated above, I think one person preaching to such a varied & widespread population is a dangerous thing, especially when we’re so operationally & geographically different.
You can find more dirt on me under the About tab by clicking on The Head Mechanic but you’re probably wondering what possessed me to create Industry Grease in the first place. In short, I’ve walked in most of your smelly shoes over the last 30+ years and am fluent in, or at the very least can relate to, what each of us is up against. Thanks to the unexpected pleasure of having a number of perfectly-timed experiences in every segment of the Bicycle Industry, I’ve gained a wider perspective than the average bear… yet admittingly, like every human, I don’t possess the bandwidth to know everything, GASP hence why I chose this format for Industry Grease.

One thing I do know… the Bicycle Industry is more than ready to have the conversations it has desperately needed to have for some time. For those who know me will tell you, I listen… but I tell it like it is whether you want to hear it or not. In other words, Industry Grease is here to bring each of us closer together so we can have some great conversations without feeling like we need to blow GT-85 up each other’s cable housing. We’re here to discuss the good, the bad, and even the dreadful so we can help guide each other in a healthier & more sustainable direction.

How to Join
*I’m still working out the kinks before exposing all of the features, so hold tight!

Just like any business, I can’t afford to do this for free. While traditional advertising is an easier & more common way to generate a website’s revenue, we’re not here to push products. Industry Grease is a communication & education-based platform and resource designed to benefit its members, the businesses they’re associated with, and the Bicycle Industry as a whole. If you think that’s for you, we only require members to pay an extremely modest annual membership fee and verify they’re a part of the Bicycle Industry. Because participation is our most important asset, a no-brainer annual membership fee will depend on whether you are a retailer, a supplier, or a non-profit organization related to the Bicycle Industry. That’s pretty much it. Another factor is that people value things they’ve invested in and more to the point, Industry Grease is only for those who have a vested interest in the Bicycle Industry and their role in it.

Quick disclaimer: Since I have already been asked, while quantity discounts are a way of life, we chose not to offer any sort of programs for multiple memberships should someone want to purchase several for their employees. In the spirit of keeping everyone here on as a level playing field as possible, we felt giving larger businesses a discount would be unfair to others. When you’re ready, click the Sign in or Register at the top left of the page and go from there!

In closing
My role in all of this is to create thought-provoking content around current subject matter and to provide the Bicycle Industry a space where distinguished members can collaborate about everything on a massive scale. Industry Grease is not a person or business, it’s a collective of peers who care about our Bicycle Industry and their role in it.

If you want to know more…
What on earth is Industry Grease? It’s my personal theory that 1+1+1 > 5
First, for those who are busy or have the attention span of a flea *raises hand*, this intro went past my word count so if you want to know even more, the next three to five paragraphs (depending on your bandwidth) are the all the nitty without the gritty. If I still have your attention after that, be sure to check out the Retailer & Supplier Benefits section to see what’s in it for you.

By my calculations, 1+1+1 > 5. I have always said, 3 shops working together will improve ridership in their community better than 5 that don’t… so why not do the same with the entire Bicycle Industry? I created Industry Grease to be a discussion-based website for the entire Bicycle Industry, incorporating interactive discussions that are prompted by weekly content specific to the Bicycle Industry’s current & future needs. Still with me? At its core, this is a 100% inclusive platform for every individual from each segment of the Bicycle Industry no matter the size, shape, or location of their shop or business. From shop rat to CEO, there is plenty here for everybody to learn from. Industry Grease is designed to nurture discussions based on current & upcoming situations in the marketplace and how they affect the Bicycle Industry. From there we can collaborate to come up with reasonable strategies to maximize the way we do business with each other, our customers, and the communities we share.

As I was laying out the structure for Industry Grease, all I could think about was how excited I was to hear what everyone had to say about each topic and then it hit me like a pothole on a road ride. Each key article will include a follow-up podcast that digests & brings together the discussions from our members. Putting everything together into a polished form of content for all to enjoy will be the finished product while offering members two forms of content to choose from. Each article will fall under one or more of the categories listed in the sidebar so members can jump into the ‘way back machine’ to reference content specific to their needs at any time. While I have already created a massive library of topics to cover, much of what we’ll produce will be based on your feedback.
Not only will the discussions found here be valuable, but imagine how much more productive a 15-minute staff meeting would be if each team member understood a little more about how everyone else operated. Peers in similar marketplaces that are hundreds of miles apart can exchange ideas & strategies they use in their marketplaces as well as the successes they have with various business tools. Suppliers & retailers of all sizes will be able to better plan & support each other just by having a little more exposure & communication with each other. Rarely, if ever, does an industry of this size have such a high percentage of individuals so passionate about it and it’s important that we not lose sight of that. After all, it’s why we’re still here and not going anywhere.

I’ve put everything career-wise aside to take on & grow Industry Grease full-time. Don’t get me wrong, even I thought I was nuts for considering making this more than something I did in my spare time. In the end, I knew I could never do this justice unless I went all in. The more I talked to long-time friends from various corners of our industry and other peers, I began to realize the potential a resource like this could offer. Most of us really care about the Bicycle Industry (sometimes to a fault) and have become that parent figure who bounces between giving it tough love & sacrificial empathy. It is no secret that we need to push our industry in a better direction, and I believe making it easier for us to (ALL) come together to collaborate & learn is the first step to figuring out the right path. Look at it this way… I dare someone to tell me the Bicycle Industry doesn’t need to collaborate better. I dare someone to tell me we don’t need more educational resources & training to help us understand and take on today & tomorrow’s marketplace. I dare someone to tell me they hate working in the Bicycle Industry and don’t care about personal growth & happiness. Personally, I would have loved to have had a formal industry-related resource offering a broad amount of information that came straight from the people who made it tick. After over 30 years of wishing… I’ve decided to make one for you.

A Bit About the Journey
When I first started planning out how I ‘wanted’ to structure Industry Grease, I thought in terms of sharing information based on my own experiences to make it easier to manage. Write articles, sell advertising… easy peasy George & Weezy! Eventually, I decided one person sharing their opinions & ideas would be way too monolithic, and having been around, I felt traditional advertising would conflict with the overall purpose of this site. I went back & forth on whether or not to have a discussion platform of sorts as I want this site to be somewhat professional(‘ish) without conversations going into the abyss of a social media-like presence. I concluded that if my content is purpose-driven to improve our industry, the comment section will naturally follow the same path. Members can even send in comments they may not be comfortable putting in the public eye that an unbiased person (me) could add to the discussion. By having a widespread level of comments & feedback accompanying each article, all from & seen by various segments of our industry, we will be able to nurture more suitable ideas that lead to better solutions for us all… BUT it was still missing something.

For the diehards who want to know more, don’t stop now!
We will dive into topics that help us come up with easy & cost-effective ways to network & leverage our own communities, various educational & training resources in & outside the industry to help us stay present & prepared for the future, long-term forecasting & how to make each year more predictable than the last, and ways we can become a better value to our customers & suppliers. Much of what we’ll cover will be based on your feedback as I am here to support your needs as they come about. One of the category tags I created is The Crystal Ball. We have joked for decades that the industry is an unpredictable rollercoaster that requires a non-existent crystal ball to succeed. One of our biggest challenges today is, while we scramble trying to adjust from one change to another happening in the marketplace, we get further & further away from getting ahead of the things within our reach. We’ve groomed ourselves to react to things out of our control because we often assume we can’t compete… much less defeat what the marketplace has become. Believe it or not, the marketplace has become more predictable than it ever has been. The tools & tactics being used today have changed (controlled) how the marketplace flows and forecasting has become more important than profit when it comes to long-term business health. Simply improving how we forecast will help us decide how to leverage the advantages we have… that the others don’t. The Crystal Ball category applies to much of the content here simply because the primary goal of Industry Grease is to bring all corners of our industry closer together to get ahead of these unpredictable shifts so we can better serve our current & potential customers. Everything we do from adjusting to supply issues to sales & marketing strategies becomes more effective when we’re just a little more aligned with each other’s & the consumer’s expectations. Learning a little about what other industries are doing or have done will give us some comparable insights we can use to see even further up the road helping us prepare for what lies ahead.

Altogether, I am excited to see how far a little communication & collaboration goes, and appreciate every one of you who help make this happen.