Find a Niche. Not only has Heritage cultivated a community loyal following through its personal service and supplementary classes, they've also branched out online. There's a catch though. Ask anyone involved in the bike industry and they'll tell you: it's cutthroat. "There's very little pricing structure,' says Lewis. "It's tough to sell any bike that's over the $400 price range, especially to any audience of everyday commuters who aren't aware of the quality and value of our bikes."

Articulating the value of a custom-build bike? to a mass audience is quite the challenge, he says. "We're in this middle no-man's-lands: we don't operate through dealer networks and we don't have the margins of mass market brands that get all of their parts from overseas, but our bikes are of a higher quality." The solution Heritage arrived out: focus on selling designer, specialty items online to bicycle experts and enthusiasts who can immediately recognize the quality of their parts.

"It works well, gets our name out there," says Lewis. In fact, this past Christmas, the team at Heritage got a phone call from one former, happy customer based in Colorado who wanted to order an entire fleet for every employee at his company. "That's one of the coolest Christmas presents you can get, ever, from age three to adulthood, as far as I'm concerned. That project was fun."

There you have it. Income diversification is as simple as maintaining both an online and brick-and-mortar store - but you have to be aware of both your audiences. There are some products which, according to the dictates of your customers, only sell well online and vice versa. Do you market research first.

When properly executed, diverse revenue streams act as insurance against hard times, or in the case of Heritage, rough winters. It can deepen your connection to your customers as you continually stretch your offering to account for their varying needs and push your business to pursue more creative avenue for profit.

Salvatore hit on a remarkable idea in marrying two complementary cultures each with polar-opposite busy seasons. From individual custom builds and whole bike fleets, to coffee brewing classes, and breakfast pastries, Heritage has built itself into an indispensable fixture of the neighborhood.

"Being a bike manufacturer is a pretty tough gig. It's tough to take a step back with all the work that we do to realize how far we've come but it's kind of amazing," says Lewis.

When I asked him what he attributed the growth to, he had two words for me: "hard work."

Share this Story