We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Heather Saulsbury a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Heather, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love for you to start by sharing your thoughts about the pros and cons of family businesses.

Our business started out with just my husband and me. He was making some really cool things and I saw an interest in the market so asked if I could put his handcrafted gear up for sale. Things went well and eventually, due to demand, he needed help creating things so my Mom and I were recruited to be a part of the team. As our company expanded we needed help with new things so our oldest joined the team to help with video production for social media and my sister-in-law joined to help with creating gear. I think this works really well for us because we are focused on what skills the family can bring to the table versus asking someone to do something they don’t enjoy. We strive to keep the business fun and focused on growing. When the demand calls for more help we turn to family members first and they always are up to the challenge. We are so lucky to work with each other every day and to learn together.

Being part of something that the whole family is involved in is so important and amazing. It allows us to utilize people’s individual skills while all aiming towards a common goal that creates a better life for the entire family.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Have you ever been frustrated failing to find the quality gear you could depend on? Have you ever wished there was gear designed to work in a damp and cold environment?
Well, we did, and that is what started the whole journey of PNWBUSHCRAFT. We were looking for heirloom bushcraft gear designed for the Pacific Northwest climate, and when we couldn’t find what we wanted, we decided to try and make it for ourselves.

We are huge vintage gear lovers and have always been inspired by the gear that has been passed down from generation to generation. We love using Grandpa’s old Coleman lantern, and each time we sit by the glow of the old lantern, we feel nostalgic. Can you just hear the slight hiss of the fuel flowing into the mantels and see the slight pulsing of the light?
The smell of waxed canvas brings back memories of putting up the old army tent next to a creek with the family and spending the day wading in the water, chasing frogs, and drinking Mom’s homemade cocoa next to the crackling fire. Can’t you just smell the scent of warm canvas as you enter the tent to take your afternoon nap?
We didn’t plan on becoming gear makers, it just sort of happened. My husband was sharing what he had made for himself and people started to inquire if it was for sale, so we posted some items on Etsy and our journey began.
From the very beginning, we wanted to create quality heirloom gear you could depend on. We wanted outdoor gear we would be proud to send to people, and they would be proud to pass it on to the next generation. We wanted to be good stewards of the land by creating a product that wasn’t going to end up in a landfill next year. We did not want to be a part of the throwaway society.

We are always working hard to create rugged outdoor products by taking the extra steps to ensure our outdoor gear will hold up. We double-fold our seams, reinforce our pockets with rivets, and finish our raw edges so you have the best-handcrafted gear possible. We want our gear to last a lifetime and more for you. Our rugged waxed canvas is sourced right here in the USA from a company that has been in business since the late 1800s.

Running a family business is a learning experience, and we are all growing together. We really take great pride in what we create and ship to our amazing customers. We are fortunate to collaborate with some of the best people and we have so much fun coming up with new ideas to help solve problems we have ourselves and the problems we see in the industry. We feel such gratitude to be in business every day and truly value customer service. We want our customers to know how much we appreciate their hard-earned money. We work hard to creating items you can depend on and hope every person enjoys there time outdoors.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We create all of our own gear and when we first started I didn’t even realize I was considered a manufacturer. In fact, I didn’t realize that was the structure of the business until we got an accountant and he was asking what our business did so he could file paperwork.

One of the best things about manufacturing our own gear is that we have endless possibilities. When an idea pops into my head I can go to the shop and create it from start to finish. If a customer or business reaches out about an idea I am able to create a prototype right in our shop. I did not initially realize what a great advantage this was. Everything has been learned as we go, but the more experience I have the more I realize how well we set ourselves apart from others by being able to create custom items for people and companies in a timely manner. This has also allowed us to align ourselves we other companies we like and respect.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media has been so important to our growth as a company. So much of our day-to-day traffic has been from our social media accounts and that has been a very deliberate focus for us. When we started our company we wanted our gear to speak for itself and we wanted people to talk about their experiences with it. We choose not to send out “free gear” to people on social media so that all of our growth and feedback was organic and not bought. I know this was a smart decision because we have a great reputation in the industry. I think it probably made our growth a little slower than others but it has been very manageable. we have always been moving forward year after year and we are still going strong after 9 years. One of the best things we did was build a community and spend time interacting with people. We always try to respond to comments and actively participate in other people’s accounts. It is important to us to be actively engaged and not just post and run. We take all of our own photos and live the lifestyle we represent so we are very fortunate to have lots of images and videos to share. It does take a lot of work to keep up with these things but it is fun and helps our company grow. We do have a “look” we try to stick with and we like to mix up our product photos, with lifestyle and scenery photos along with images of the family. We work hard to share us and stay authentic and that is what we get the most feedback on when we see people at events. I think its important to have a long-term plan for how you want your social media to look and it’s such a great free way to expose your company to your ideal client.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pnwbushcraft.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pnwbushcraftshop/

Image Credits
Heather Saulsbury PNWBUSHCRAFT