We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Becky Goebel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Becky, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Axel Co is how I see the return of my hustling efforts over the years – For years of working very hard as a Motorcycle Magazine content producer and professional rider in Canada, I was slowly growing on social media and doing any type of “motorcycle marketing” work I could for magazines, brands, TV shows etc. I had started a women’s only motorcycle camp out, and an indoor motorcycle and art show and worked on this for 6+ years. I felt like I was putting so much energy in, and loving what I was doing, but wasnt really ever sure how it was going to be that profitable. I was going to motorcycle events all over the world for my magazine work and I’d always come across quite sexist things in the biker culture. I felt like biker dudes treated women weird and there wasn’t ever a lot of visible woman representation at events. I’d see all sorts of stickers and shirts at events that would say things like “If you can read this, the bitch fell off” Or “Cash, Grass or Ass, nobody rides for free” etc. When the pandemic hit, I wasn’t getting hired for shoots or for magazine jobs. My events were all cancelled and I wasn’t really sure the future of my career at all. That’s when I unknowingly started my brand. I decided to make a shirt that said “If you can read this, the dude fell off”. In order to sell it – I needed to make a website. So I just went through those steps one day and the next thing I knew, I sold over 200 in the first day.
Becky, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am Becky Goebel – a Canadian living in Southern California on a o1 Special Ability work VISA. I am a professional motorcycle rider/content creator. Since moving to the states, I have started a brand called Axel Co that takes old sexist biker sayings and spins them around in the voice of a woman. The brand is growing to be more than t-shirts – I also make unisex motorcycle gloves, motorcycle bags, tool rolls, vests, and some motorcycle parts. There was a large gap in the market for women’s-specific biker clothing and expression in general. We started during the pandemic in 2020 and have since grown to a warehouse in Long Beach California where we house and ship all our inventory. The brand is still growing and is majority based around me and my personal brand – backpacking off my personal social media pages that have been around and growing for many years.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Being a woman in a very harsh and male dominated industry has been pretty hard. I have had to show a lot of resilience and continue to keep pushing with every project I have taken on. I have comments from men online every single day criticizing my every move. I was invited to build a motorcycle for the world’s largest chopper show in 2022. I was the first woman to finish a motorcycle build for the event. Throughout the entire process I was shunned by other builders, talked down to, criticized and told I shouldn’t be there or wasnt good enough to be a part of the event. It was a very hard year – even just building the bike, figuring out everything I was doing, putting myself out there, spending thousands of dollars on this project etc. At the event I won an “award of excellence” and look back on the project in a positive light. It was a huge risk to say yes to the invite, but I did it and proved a lot of people wrong. It also boosted my personal brand as well as Axel Co. I vended at the event and my booth was non-stop busy the whole event and I made tons of money off merch sales and brand deals throughout the project. I learned a lot and continue to work on bikes to this day because of the skills I learned throughout that time. I also now feel like I can take on anything.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
A lot of people think that I have financial backing with what I do, or that I have business loans. I have never in my life taken out a loan or have used any family money. I think it’s so important to SAVE MONEY when you are young. My parents always taught me to save my money and since a very young person, I’d always just save until I didn’t have to anymore. I’d go out to eat but not order a drink, I’d drive a scooter instead of a car, I’d take the bus and public transportation even though I could afford a car, I’d have room mates even when I didn’t really have to etc. It really paid off to have that chunk of money when the time came to start my business. Otherwise, I would never have had to the freedom to be as creative and take as many risks as I have. I make very good money with my career now but I still drive a little old car. Car payments financially hurt young people so early in life. It’s okay to have an older car, phone etc. cus one day, you can use that $$ to get yourself your dream car I promise you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.actuallyitsaxel.com
- Instagram: @actuallyitsaxel
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beckygoebel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpCIZN-HYYbpctSD9xUzjmQ
- Other: TikTok: @actuallyitsaxel