Hello, everyone! I'm Chad, and I'm the owner of Pedchem.com. I'm sure that many of you, like myself, are counting down the days until the end of winter so that we can head back into our yards and gardens once again. I am especially excited about this spring because of all the new products that we have available on the site, including the new design and features. I'm also excited to introduce our new pest control line and the added lawn and turf care products.
Counting My Blessings
I have been truly blessed by the opportunities that have been offered to me as a SDVOSB, as well as all the help that people have given me since I started this website. The products on Pedchem.com would not be possible if it weren't for everyone at Winfield/United and Alligare. They believed in me and my abilities and made this entire thing possible.
Once I sealed deals with Winfield and Alligare, I thought everything would be downhill from there. After all, how hard could it be to set up a website and sell some products? I watched all the GoDaddy commercials twice and thought my site would be right up there with Biker Bob and his knit shop. Unfortunately, I underestimated everything when it came to setting up a commercial retail website. In fact, the only easy thing was buying a theme, and it took me four times to get that right!
Looking Back at It All
Back in 2015, which was 90 days into this project, I was already at my wit's end and ready to scrap it all. Every time I took a step forward, I took five steps back. The more I read and learned, the worse it seemed to get. It was like having a plate of marbles and trying to get one red marble through the hole in the center. I spent a lot of time and effort throwing money out the window. Things looked pretty bleak in Mudville…
Toward the end of June 2015, a friend sent me a lifeline and introduced me to Shawn Davis, the owner of Zipline Interactive in Spokane. Sitting down with Shawn was the first step in getting me to where I am today.
For those who don't know me…
I've been described as an acquired taste. I'm old, grumpy and set in my ways to put it plainly. I'm a giant pain in the you-know-what and very hard to please. If I were Shawn, I would have kicked my butt down the road long ago. However, Shawn and Ryan never wavered and have shown an incredible amount of patience and understanding with me. It didn't matter if I called at 9 a.m. on Monday or 10 p.m. on Saturday. They were always there for me and never took their eyes off the prize. They kept me focused every step of the way and helped to produce the race car, my amazing website, that you see today.
A Car Has Many Parts
A great sports car isn't anything without a first-class engine. The same can be said about a website. It can have all the bells and whistles, but it's nothing without great products and content. Ninety-nine percent of my content comes from one person: Kristopher. He writes for Textbroker.com, which has helped make the content process easier than it normally would be. Grampa once told me, "If it works, don't fix it." That's Kristopher in a nutshell. His writing is solid and speaks volumes for itself.
I would be a daily mess without people like Lisa, Rob, Norma, Mitchelle, Dustin, Josh, Hope and last but not least Scott. Thank you all for your help, understanding and support. I would not be here without any of you.