Boud and one of his newest backpacks. He's also been making missionary backpacks for 24 years.
The head of a Salt Lake City, Utah-based backpack, missionary bag and sports luggage manufacturing company shared several principles of success with BYU-Hawaii School of Business students in the January 30 entrepreneurship lecture.
Joseph R. Boud (rhymes with "loud"), CEO of Uphill, said he and some of his fellow students at the University of Utah in 1980 were complaining about their backpacks — "how lousy they were, and how we wished we had something else" — when he decided to follow the advice of his businessman father: "You've got to seize the moment, and take the opportunity in your hands."
"We thought this might be something that would really help us get through school. We were your standard impoverished students," said Boud, whose wife at that time was a talented seamstress with experience making ski apparel. "We stayed up all night and came up with two different patterns."
Boud said the next day he drove his old car to Los Angeles where he secured fabric and other suppliers, "all within 24 hours." He next approached the buyer of the most prominent department store in Utah at that time, ZCMI, who ordered 100 of the new backpacks. "We didn't let him know that we were his only customer. My wife and I cut those out with a pair of scissors."
When a similar pitch to the BYU Bookstore in Provo netted an order for 400 more backpacks, Boud said, "That's when the dreamer in me came out. I thought we were going to be multi-millionaires overnight. Of course, that's not the way it works. If you decide to go into business and you want to be an entrepreneur, you'll find you'll always have your ups and downs."
For example, in 1987 their fledgling company received a huge order and the Bouds had gone out to celebrate when they were hit by a car: She was killed and it took him a year to recuperate. "I was playing Mr. Mom with three kids at the time, but when you stick to the core and you have integrity, people will rally around you. I had a personal assistant who pretty much ran the business when I couldn't." Today, Boud's second wife, Diane, is Vice President of Marketing for Uphill.
In 2001 the company was "having our best year ever and then the bottom fell out. Everything changed after 9/11," Boud said, pointing out they soon had to shift production to Asia to remain price competitive and "lay off people, which was hard. Business throws you loops, and you need to be able to change."
"We're still a small company," Boud said of Uphill's current status. "We have a lot of customers, but we're nowhere near [the size of] some of the larger companies." But, he stressed they enjoy a good measure of success by sticking to "three core attributres" of an entrepreneur: integrity, dreaming and passion.
"If you ever get in a position to be an entrepreneur, these three things will bring you to success," Boud said.
"To me, the most important thing you have is integrity," he continued, pointing out this includes leadership. In small businesses, he said, this might mean being the first one to empty the rubbish and clean the bathroom.
Boud added it also means using high-quality materials and manufacturing, explaining Uphill's products include the best ballistic nylon and Japanese YKK zippers — "that's the best in the world."
"You have to be a dreamer, which will help you have vision and set goals," Boud said, recalling one of his father's favorite sayings: "It's better to shoot for a star and miss it, than to shoot for nothing and hit it."
"With passion, you need to be ready to seize the moment. It may only arrive once. You need to have a belief in yourself and your product. You also need to have dedication to your company," he said, noting he would often work after hours and take additional shipments late at night to their courier service so the products would get out faster. "What that meant is that our products were hanging on the shelves one day earlier, and our invoices arrived one day earlier. Our customers also said, wow, I got the product fast. We constantly got that compliment. In business...service is everything."
"Under passion, you need to have strength. If you have that, you will be able to handle those setbacks," Boud said. He added it's also important to take care of yourself physically and mentally. "Continue your education. If you're constantly improving yourself, you'll always be a better person."
Asked how to "take a cool idea to market," Boud replied, "You've got to define your market place. Make up your sample, and go get your feet wet. You can learn so much by just jumping in and trying to sell the product. You'll be amazed by what you learn from the buyers, which can help you evolutionize your product. Get your feet down in the trenches and hear the response from the customer base."
"I'm totally convinced you have a great opportunity here," especially in relation to the international experience with Asia, said Boud, who served his mission in Japan and has a son enrolled at BYU-Hawaii.
For example, "if it's China, you need to understand the Chinese. You also have to understand your product. You have to have a very good product, and work with the people over there to make sure you have the very best quality. If you don't have a good product, you could be out of business."