A Breath Of Fresh Air - A Millennial Entrepreneur Who Made It Without VC Money

“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” - Bishop T.D. Jakes

Jeff Cayley is a millennial full of passion and most of that passion has to do with bicycles. He explains, “I grew up on two wheels. Not only did I love riding bikes, I loved building them, talking about them, dreaming about them and eventually selling them.” Jeff took that passion, mixed in with some competitive drive and began racing mountain bikes as a teenager. The opportunity to travel the race circuit all over North America proved to be invaluable when Jeff eventually set out to launch his own business in the bicycle industry.

During his time racing Jeff got an inside look at the industry and more importantly the gaps in it that proved to be big opportunities. Cayley explains “The knowledge I gained racing and just being so involved in the bicycle world was integral to the success of my original idea…” That idea was Worldwide Cyclery. A modern and completely unique approach to retail in the bicycle industry.

Worldwide Cyclery was born in 2011 when Jeff was only 21 years young. Just over 6 years later the business is on track to do over $7-Million in revenue for 2017. Cayley’s brainchild has gone from just himself to over a dozen people; has two retail locations/distribution centers (California and Pennsylvania); landed on the Inc. 5000 multiple years running and the Entrepreneur Magazine 360 list, among others. The cool part? It’s been profitable since year two and has thousands of customer testimonials giving nothing but praise for the company. “Highly reviewed” would be an understatement.

Jeff built the company the hard way. Persistent effort, no venture capital and just about no debt. Aside from a small loan of $20k from his Mom (that was paid back in the first year), the business has grown on the profits from it’s unique “Inventory light” business model. As Cayley tells it “Our unique business model and flow of cash allowed us to bring in profit quickly and put it right back into growth. Cash has never hindered us, we are hindered by our ability to learn the game of business at the same speed that we are growing.”

Worldwide Cyclery has had some big growth years and continues to grow at over 35% each year. Jeff and his team aren’t stopping anytime soon. He explains “My dream was to turn the company into something significant, not just another small business.” He wanted to establish Worldwide Cyclery as the most sought-after shop for bike lovers in the history of the industry. They certainly seem to be on their way.

Like any successful and growing business, Worldwide Cyclery has a good mix of the right things. A unique approach/strategy, genuine care for its customers and genuine care for its internal team. Cayley explained “Our growth came from several variables. A solid strategy and efficient business model mixed in with a passion to make customers happy and a passion to keep our culture top notch.” Important aspects to any business but certainly easier said than done. Jeff’s company is walking the talk and their numbers and testimonials prove it.

Retail is ever evolving and somehow at just 21 years old Jeff Cayley saw its direction and built his company on the new new. Cayley says “From the start the focus was always omni-channel. We knew we had to be wherever our customers were and wanted to shop. That could be in a brick-and-mortar retail store, on our website, on eBay, Amazon, Jet or even on the classifieds section of an industry forum.” Thus they developed a multi-channel approach that appears to have served them well.

With no formal business education and only stepping foot in a college classroom to speak about his company, you might wonder how Jeff built Worldwide Cyclery so big so fast. He filled us in - “I fell in love with the sport of business at 19. From there out I dedicated hours and hours to learning. I still read 2 books a month and am always partaking in events and groups based around entrepreneurship and business. We live in the information age, so if you have a true desire to learn something, it’s at your fingertips.”

What are the three things Jeff Cayley thinks will allow Worldwide Cyclery to continue to grow?

1. Great people. “Every solid company is full of good people. Businesses are groups of people, and having a winning team is a key element.”
2. Caring about customers. “This may sound obvious, but it really isn’t common these days. Service is extremely important to us, and our reviews and testimonials speak for themselves.”
3. Drive and Focus. “The team at Worldwide Cyclery is focused on building something significant in our industry. We never had a huge single event that put us on the map; it’s been six years of pure persistence to bring us where we are today. Consistent effort day by day, week by week, year by year we’ve gained a following and grown. We did it the real way with hard work and patience.”

Jeff Cayley is obviously a man who has that special passion for what he does. “The challenges never end in business, they are just different every day. In my eyes though, the sport of business is the most fun thing I’ve ever done and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he says with a grin.