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

Alright, Vasily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

March 2021 – I was shopping for ammunition online and became frustrated with limited options. Due to the pandemic, it caused several ripple effects in the firearm / ammunition industry. Manufacturers were unable to get raw material components and international supply chains were interrupted. They stopped production during the height of the pandemic – which caused shortages. People started panic buying, and the price of ammunition sky-rocketed.

Although manufacturers have ramped up production – the “other” problems that I experienced while shopping online was what I wanted to fix – terrible customer service, slow shipping, and high prices. Something clicked in my head – this was the perfect opportunity to start my own ecommerce business. I strived to do the complete opposite and be my own boss.

April 2021 – I registered the LLC and organized all the basics. When I first started the business, it was really on a whim. There was no formal business plan, no financial projections, nothing I learned in Graduate school was applied. I simply just started and didn’t let fear / doubts get in the way. Then, we made our first online sale on June 24th, 2021. The company started in my garage and grew quickly – through word of mouth and guerilla advertising.

When I first started KIR Ammo, my wife and I worked nonstop – 7 days a week. Monday-Friday at our 9-5 and weekends were dedicated to growing the business. On top of running the ecommerce business, we started doing trade shows. For 6 months, we spent our weekends working (7) gun shows in the DFW area. Soon enough we developed enough cash flow to start advertising on the web and industry-specific search engines. We were finally making more online sales, and eventually stopped doing gun shows.

It has been a challenge, trying to keep up with the high order volume. With so much demand, we needed more inventory. There was almost no more space in my home garage, it was chaotic. I eventually realized that having big commercial trucks driving into our residential neighborhood was not ideal, so we searched for commercial space and found the right landlord in Arlington. We moved into our warehouse early October 2021.

April 2022, 6 months after moving into our first warehouse and running out of space – we secured our second warehouse. My wife and I are now full-time with KIR Ammo. I often hear entrepreneurs talk about working more than 50-65+ hour weeks, they were not exaggerating. It is true, when you have your own business – you put in many hours, rarely getting a day off. I truly believe – we work hard because we love what we do, and when you love what you do… it doesn’t feel like “work”. Everyday, we look forward to going into the office and making a difference in the 2A industry.

Vasily, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

KIR Ammo is a family- owned business; husband and wife operation located in Arlington, Texas. We are a licensed – Type 08 FFL, national ammunition and firearm distributor. We firmly believe in Constitutional Rights and helping people exercise theirs. Our goal is to provide affordable, quality ammunition to the people who need it most: YOU, the freedom-loving American.

(KIRAMMO.COM, AmmoSouth.com, AmmoWall.com) serves the lower 48 states and offers excellent customer service, quick processing time, and same-day shipping. Our loyal returning customers appreciate our fast response time via phone or email, low – competitive pricing, promo offers, and attention to detail. We carefully and discretely pack all orders – preventing damage during transit.

We provide a service that allows our customers to protect and defend themselves under the Second Amendment. In addition, hunting and shooting sports are a lifestyle. This is a generational pastime passed down from grandfather/mother to father/mother and to their children. We are blessed to be able to be a part of people’s lives in that respect – our customers are able to use our products to put food on the table – many in parts where grocery stores are not quickly accessible and those impacted by inflation. We now have gun shops, police departments, private security, competition shooters, wild-life service, state land management dept, and people from all walks of life purchasing from us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We are an online distributor of ammunition (KIRAMMO.COM). We serve the lower 48 states and also take special orders for guns (not a big fan of selling guns, but we do have a license to do so – the gun market is way different than ammo, kind of like owning a car dealership vs. a gas station). We are most known for our fast shipping (same day!), excellent customer service (I pick up the phones), and ability to find hard-to-get calibers/ammo.

We want the customer to feel appreciated, not just “another order”. The whole business is founded on the bad things I experienced when buying ammo online – bad/no customer service, slow shipping, high prices, no availability. I strive to do the exact opposite. It isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. There is an altruistic motive behind the business too. We’re not in it just for the money – money is important, but there are other important things. We firmly believe in Constitutional Rights and helping people exercise theirs.

Hunting and shooting sports are a lifestyle. This is a generational pastime passed down from grandfather/mother to father/mother to kids. We are blessed to be able to be a part of people’s lives in that respect. Providing this service allows our customers to put food on the table – many in parts where Kroger is 50+ miles away. That makes it worth it.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

To be quite honest, it has been a smooth ride so far. Every month we are surpassing our goals and previous month’s sales numbers, so that positive cash flow helps make things “easy”. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been struggles. Making the decision to sign a 3-year lease was huge. At the time, the business was entirely supported by my salary/commissions and my wife had quit her job already – so I had all of our personal expenses (mortgage, cars, dogs, etc.) on top of the business expenses to take care of. It was a true leap of faith.

The biggest struggle is wearing ALL of the hats in the business. From finding/ordering ammo, shipping, taking calls, managing the website, dealing with claims, accounting, taxes, PR, and finding time to eat food – time management is the biggest challenge. Prioritizing my time is paramount to remaining successful. People ask Elon Musk (definitely not comparing myself to his genius) how he does it, and he says that he breaks out his days into 5–15-minute blocks. I didn’t think that was possible – but now I know it’s necessary. Otherwise, you’ll never get everything done – not that you ever get everything done, but at least the important stuff.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kirammo.com
• Instagram: @kirammotexas
• Facebook: @kirammotexas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vasily-c-21aa4b65/
• Twitter: @ammokir
• Youtube: @kirammo

Image Credits

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