How to Make Inc's Fastest Growing Companies by Catching the Big Fish

Do Today What Others Won’t.

When John Harley created Fishing Online in 2015, his motivation was to do things better. This concept is not new, and it is certainly prevalent in the business world, where entire industries have flourished on simple day-to-day improvements.

However, Harley’s approach to his one-stop shop for all things fishing has encompassed this idea time and time again. His refusal to accept the satisfactory or even comfortable status quo has consistently yielded Fishing Online and its customers benefits that will only continue to grow.

From its inception, through numerous growing pains, to being honored on the INC. 5000 list for the third year in a row in 2022, Harley has strived to make his company as efficient as possible.

“Oh, the places you’ll go?” -Dr. Seuss

Coming from a family with five other siblings, Harley was no stranger to facing challenges. Even as the family struggled to pay for his college education, he was able to earn his degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Although he always wanted to own his own business and be his own boss, his career as a software engineer provided him with a good life.

Even as his brother launched a successful online business, Harley had yet to make the jump himself, instead helping his brother streamline his company on the side.

It wasn’t until he went to a kayak fishing tournament that he visualized his path to entrepreneurship. He saw countless competitors with their kayaks and gear, often valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.

He realized that this was a massive market, without a convenient, fully stocked, vendor with the data integrity customers demand when providing their credit card information.

From here, Harley set out to build Fishing Online. For the first three and a half years, he had to keep working his day job to accumulate the capital he needed, where he had entire months with no days off.

In his own words, “I thought I’d be a millionaire overnight. With my automation background, I’d just optimize everything, it would just run itself. This was not true.”

Despite the hardships, and hitting low points, Harley’s final words of wisdom to me were “Stick with it. Keep pushing through the hard times, and eventually you’ll get there.”

He sacrificed his own comfortable life to pursue his dream of owning a business because he knew there was a better way for avid fishermen to shop for all their needs.

“Automation is driving the decline of banal and repetitive tasks.” -Amber Rudd

Harley’s pursuit for improvements didn’t end once the company began. He continued to optimize his electronic footprint, both externally and internally. Originally, Harley used Bigcommerce for his platform, but they were overbearing and had several negative issues.

After forcing him into a corner, he made the decision to switch to Shopify. This was a major risk, as this could’ve crippled his business for an unknown amount of time.

However, Harley was willing to take the risk, as he knew there had to be a better way to operate, and he wasn’t willing to accept the current situation.

With his programming background, he was able to get his company to go live on Shopify within three days and has been much happier with their service.

In regard to catching the search algorithms, there was a rude awakening for Harley to develop the brand. He was unaware that the product descriptions were crucial to getting in front of customers as they searched the web.

From his own experience, his brother told him that good descriptions are a necessity to being found organically. Harley had thousands of products that all needed new descriptions.

Despite the task in front of him, he did not accept the state of things and invested the time to improve the search engine presence of Fishing Online.

Inside his own walls, he first relied on C# to build his accounting software, with the hopes of crafting a system that would automatically manage the ordering process.

He soon learned that Excel, with the right Macros could accomplish everything he needed, catapulting his efforts with a solid foundation he no longer had to construct.

His custom-made spreadsheets incorporated all the different data that his employees tracked, including inventory, invoicing, and ordering materials. His automated bookkeeping system was able to instantly pull all the information he needed to issue purchase orders.

He could now make orders as large as a quarter of a million dollars within minutes, with zero errors. Harley acknowledges that there is existing software that could mimic this capability, but his current system has been crafted and polished to specifically meet the needs of his company.

From his service provider to his online sales pitches to his internal data management, Harley continuously pushed for a better way to do business.

“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all.” -Michael LeBoeuf

His dedication wasn’t limited to the virtual world. From limited warehousing to product selection and customer experience, Harley also looked to optimize his operations in the real world.

By the time his original shop had grown to include a 10,000-square-foot warehouse, this space was already too small. Rather than slow his scaling, he worked to reduce or eliminate slow-moving products, while also negotiating with a third-party logistics firm.

Luckily Harley’s business model was well established to keep his largest items moving, in this case, kayaks. They would sell out before even hitting a shelf. This enabled him to relegate using 3PL for smaller items, which is naturally their strong suit.

The kayaks themselves were an excellent opportunity for him, despite their challenges, and often provided the coattails for accessory sales, increasing overall profits.

As mentioned, he had to prioritize his inventory due to space, but he made sure to account for the secondary sales a loss leader could generate. One example is the Hawk Trough.

As he said “We made no money on it. But we were the only vendor that offered it. Everyone who needed one came to us. Even though it wasn’t profitable, it got people to shop.”

Harley’s understanding is that a better customer experience with limitless options, despite the detriments, would pay off in the end. Finding a better alternative for his customers and his business has certainly contributed to Fishing Online’s success.

Be Proud, but Never Satisfied.

Harley’s unwillingness to settle drove him to create a lucrative, niche business that caters to all the needs of its target clients.

Over the course of creating and growing Fishing Online, had he simply accepted the status quo at any of its crucial milestones, the company might not exist, let alone thrive the way it has.

From his personal goals that drove him to leave his comfortable programming job to developing a superb, automated process for inventory and order management, to optimizing his real-world footprint and product selection, Harley has always kept his eye out for better and more rewarding opportunities, regardless of the hardships required to seize them.

He stated that his next goal is to surpass his personal best on the INC. 5000 list of 260, which he achieved in 2019. I have no doubt he will accomplish this, as his success over the years has never made him complacent or scared of hard work and change.