Introduction: Welcome to Monkeeroos. Join us as we dive into the Who’s, the What’s and the Why’s to how we went from idea, to garage, to warehouse in less than 2 years!
The Spark of Inspiration: Every great venture begins with a spark of inspiration, and for Monkeeroos, it was no different. For us, our spark came during a pretty dark time – For the 11 years leading up to Monkeeroos, I had worked as a furniture sales rep with a business partner who I thought hung the moon. I was making good 6 figures and had built a life of comfort and happiness. My husband, Trey, had just retired from a 9 year overseas professional basketball career so that we could finally settle down and start our family. Life was PERFECT; he was getting to take time off before jumping into a 9-5 and we were getting ready to have our first baby. Our house is on the market and we are PUMPED to start the build of our forever home! Then – BOOM, Covid.
I have a sneaky suspicion we are the only ones with an “Oh Crap, Covid” moment, but regardless, this is ours. My partner and I weren’t seeing eye to eye on some critical issues and in April 2021, he fired me. Here comes the OH CRAP. What now? We have a 4 month old baby and no home.
Pretty unsure of where my next paycheck would come from, we settled into a rental house and I told my husband that I wanted to take the money we made from selling our house and invest in a start-up company. I was TERRIFIED he would laugh in my face or write me off, but instead, he started diving deeper into the thought of this company than I even had. He was coming up with name suggestions and telling me we could use the garage as a warehouse and so on. It was his belief in me and maybe a little bit of secrecy on my behalf that allowed us to fill up said garage in about 60 days after my initial “let’s do this” conversation. As the truck was being unloaded with our first 5 prints, Trey’s face quickly went from excitement to “what on Earth have you gotten us into”!?
Let’s back up just a second though – WHY bamboo you’re asking? Well, Amelia was quite the large child, being born at 9lb 3oz…3 WEEKS EARLY…she never even fit in NB clothing. (Don’t mind the $80 embroidered going home outfit my loving child lol)..any who – she was outgrowing clothes after just 1 wear and we were buying UP. My sister actually taught me to cut the toes off of our rompers, so she could wear them because her feet were so big, none of them fit. INSERT A GIFTED PAIR OF BAMBOO JAMMIES HERE. The rest is history you guys. Literally, 1 pair in, I was like “what is this magical voodoo material?” She was wearing it for over a month (ended up being over a year) and it was soft…my goodness it was so soft. So I told you earlier, I was into furniture. Cool huh? What I didn’t tell you was that I had been sourcing furniture from China and had a Chinese partner who is the Bomb.com and can do anything he puts his mind to…so. I call my Chinese partner up and I’m like “G, what do you know about this magical plant called bamboo?” – he thinks I am insane but goes and finds me a few factories to sample. So we order a few samples. Some of them are REALLY bad and I get discouraged telling G “You really should stick to furniture – this was a bad idea” ….last sample of the original 6 arrive and my lord, I tell you “its BUTTER…its better than the pairs I had bought from LARGE companies. I couldn’t believe it. “Sorry G, you win!”. Who do I send the PO to?
Want to find out what happens next? Come back next week....