We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessie Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessie below.

Jessie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

While living on the East African coast in Tanzania, access to some of the world’s most sought after game fish were only a 10 minute boat ride away. Most of the fish in the area were huge, tackle was quick to lose and hard to come by. I recall one day when a school of wahoo took 5 of my precious Iland Lures that were brought from the US. After that day, I started wondering if there was a better way. Soon I began hand making my own lures out of sheer need and, after a few adjustments, I was catching more and better fish on my own lures than I was with ones I bought from the store. After leaving Africa, I started Evolution Lures using the knowledge I had gained both as a fisherman and working as a software developer for 18 years. Over the past few years the core concept of my company has evolved. Using 3D printers, I found that I could quickly design and produce lures that have never been seen before both by fishermen and fish. After some market research, I learned that the fishing lure market is saturated with craft lures and large scale manufacturers, so I shifted gears and began to produce not only the lures, but also the parts for other creative fishermen to produce their own unique designs. There’s something special you feel when you catch that big one on a lure you put together yourself and when all your fishing buddies start asking you, where’d you get that lure?

Jessie, 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?

Offshore trolling is a type of fishing that’s practiced by fishermen worldwide. It involves dragging lures at various speeds and distances behind a boat to represent a fleeing school of fish. Most of the worlds largest fish such as marlin and tuna are caught using this method, and techniques and lures used to do it are diverse and often secretive. I’ve loved to fish since I was a kid. Living hours from any coast kept me from fishing offshore, but it also made me long to fish even more. Knowing there were bigger, unknown fish out there and the prospect of getting a chance to do battle with them left me dreaming of fishing blue water. Throughout my 20s and early 30s I travelled the world fishing where I could. My job as a software developer allowed me to work remotely and I certainly took advantage of it. After moving to Tanzania, I finally got my opportunity to live the offshore fishing dream. World record fishing grounds were now just a boat ride away, so I bought into a 32 ft offshore boat and went full into the offshore fishing game. I’ve always been creative and after losing a few expensive lures to some toothy fish, I started making my own. My very first lure was made from a bunch of nylon hair and a water faucet spigot. To my surprise the thing caught more fish than any lure I had purchased. I remember there was this overwhelming feeling of excitement that I could catch fish on something I created. Over the next year, I made many more lures and eventually decided it was time to make the leap and start my own company. After some adjustments, we now make about 5,000 lures a year using mainly 3D printers. It’s been a fun progression to build the company up from 1 printer to now having a small farm of 12 printers and plans to expand further as needed. With 3D printing, the possibilities to prototype and scale are endless and remain fairly inexpensive compared to traditional manufacturing processes. The ability to make lures using new materials that have never been used in saltwater fishing is very exciting. Getting fishermen to try something new isn’t easy, so I’ve been really happy to see how many fans we’ve gained. I often get photos of people with big fish showing off their catch using our lures. I think because the lures are so different, many fishermen aren’t sure they will work and when they do, people are elated, especially considering our price points are below many of our competitors. Our goal is to keep growing the brand and excitement around our products. We know they work well, now we just have to get out there and show everyone else.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I’m constantly trying new things to increase brand loyalty. Getting fishermen to try something new is not an easy task. The good news is, once you have them hooked on your product, they can be fiercely loyal. I always throw in extra swag into my shipments, it can be anything from a sticker to a couple of extra lures or, if I know the customer, a prototype of a new lure design I’m working on. I’ve even taken to cold calling some of my larger customers to get to know them and to talk about about the product. Usually we end up talking about fishing and the excitement is palpable. Another recent idea that I’m implementing is an online fishing competition for the top 5 biggest fish caught using Evolution Lures. The contestants can win some pretty nice lure packs and apparel. I’m doing everything I can to keep customers engaged with the product to produce a following.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell my products on my own Shopify website: www.evolutionlures.com. The long-term plan is to grow the brand and offer a broad enough spectrum of products so that customers will come to my site first. In addition to my website, I sell on Ebay, Amazon and Etsy. I’m also in a few brick and mortar stores. Honestly, I’ve had to push pretty hard on social media and offer some great deals to increase traffic on www.evolutionlures.com. Luckily, once I’ve gotten people off the other sites like Amazon and Ebay, they continue to use my site because I have more products and better deals. I offer automatic discounts on products purchased directly from my site. I feel strongly that the key to success is to move customers away from Amazon and Ebay completely. These companies control too much of my business and can stop the flow of sales overnight without warning or explanation. For me, they’ve been helpful in getting exposure, but overall they just aren’t small business friendly. I would add that Etsy is more geared toward small craft businesses but unfortunately fishermen don’t shop on Etsy too often. My biggest successes on social media have been through Instagram and Facebook. Particularly on Facebook, I’ve joined several large groups and published how-to videos and posts featuring my products. It’s basically free advertising and a way to meet new customers directly online. I really appreciated the opportunity to chat with you and your readers about my products, the evolution of my business and how I’m trying to leverage social media and existing eCommerce sites to continue to grow my brand. I am hopeful in the coming years that Evolution Lures will become synonymous with innovative offshore lure design.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.evolutionlures.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolutionlures
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionlures
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evolution-lures-llc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/evolutionlures
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@evolutionlures