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Unicycle and banjo salesman, Marietta
Job: Unicycle and banjo salesman, Marietta
What I do: John Drummond, if pressed, calls himself a banjo-playing unicyclist -- rather than a unicycle-riding banjo player -- because he started selling unicycles online first. The banjos came later.
He's president and co-owner, with his wife, Amy, of Christian Ventures Corp., a company that runs www.banjo.com and www.unicycle.com., which sell -- you guessed it -- unicycles and banjos worldwide over the Internet.
"I'm the research and development guy," he said. "I play with the toys and test them."
Drummond, 48, left a career at IBM about seven years ago to start selling unicycles. He had been a unicycle rider and started the Web site with a simple goal: to make enough money to buy his wife a new car. Now, the business ships 10,000 unicycles a year worldwide, with 99 percent of the business from online sales, some from their warehouse/office between Marietta and Woodstock, and some wholesale to bicycle shops.
The success helped Drummond start banjo.com, which follows the same business model: focus on a niche and sell top brands online. While he concentrates on banjos, as well as some acoustic guitars and mandolins, Amy Drummond runs unicycle.com.
The Drummonds have five employees on the unicycle side and three with banjo.com.
What got me interested in this: Drummond began riding a unicycle for fitness. "As a unicycle rider, I knew what people wanted -- I knew what I wanted," he said. As for the banjos, he "fell in love with the sound" while growing up in Pensa-
cola, Fla. He got a five-string bluegrass banjo for his 16th birthday.
Best part of my job: "We try to make this a fun place to work," he said, pointing to the low-stress atmosphere and noting the jeans-and-golf-shirt attire of all the employees. "When a new type of banjo comes in, we're like children, ripping open the box to try it out."
Most challenging part: Staying on top of the technology required to run a Web site.
"We work hard to make the Web sites easy to shop," Drummond said. Customers can look at the products in detail and learn about the materials and specifications "so you can make a buying decision online."
In addition, he said, "self-employment is overrated. You trade one boss for 10,000."
What people don't know about my job: "When we started out, we didn't know we could make a living doing this," Drummond said. When he told his father of his business plans, he was asked, "How many clowns do you know?"
Now that the sales base is bigger than a circus, all of the employees emphasize customer service. Most of the unicycle users are ages 8 to 14.
What keeps me going: Drummond's goal has grown quite a bit since he bought that new car. He hopes to oversee 10 businesses -- each with revenues of $1 million a year and each of them self-sufficient. He intends to pick similar niches and explore them online.
Preparation needed for this job: "Burning desire." Drummond says he tells high school and college students to pick something they love to do. "If you like it and can make money at it, it's a much better road," he said.
Also, he said, listen to your customers. For e-commerce, "do a ton of reading" about software, sales and technique.
A bit of marketing and showmanship help, too. Drummond is organizing an attempt to set a Guinness world record by having 500 banjo players all play the same song at the same time at Turner Field before the Braves game on Sept. 13.
But they won't be riding unicycles.
- By Karl Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.
