I started the YOLO Compost Tumbler business in early 2017 with Celliers' superb design of the compost tumbler unit and my passion/obsession for recycling / waste reduction. At this time, we needed a composting solution for our home and while Googling concepts for compost heaps, Celliers stumbled across compost tumblers. They made so much sense. We ran with it.
YOLO has never been a big business as it has often struggled with product supply challenges from the factory. This makes it really difficult to market and promote a product when you do not have anything on the shelf to supply to customers. Nonetheless, YOLO has a niche, loyal following and scope for expansion.
YOLO was also severely compromised by last year's factory closure. When I got my assets back, I moved the moulds to a moulder here in George. Through summer, they struggled with loadshedding and keeping up with their existing orders and were not able to get to even test moulding my YOLOs. I moved the moulds in February to another moulder in Cape Town who had more capacity.
In late March, I travelled through to Cape Town to approve the moulding and assembly of the test units. They were perfect. These were the first units moulded since May/June last year! The first moulded and completed products started going out to waiting orders four weeks ago.
I have a lot of work to do to get YOLO properly up and running and out there again. The first step is having stock on hand - I do have some stock now with the moulders. And then getting word out there more. This means making videos and sharing content more regularly.
I've met with a marketing guy (a YOLO customer who loves his YOLOs and sees much scope for expansion) but have yet to secure his services until I get my stock flow sorted. I look forward to hearing his ideas. Good to have an outside perspective.
YOLO is quieter over winter so I have some a bit of time to prepare and look at a push for spring and summer.
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