Maximum Yield Australia/New Zealand May/June 2019 | Page 85

The third-most important is the staff
we have and the representative team. I
hand-picked all our representatives after
years of studying the market. Each staff
member has their own unique skills and
strengths to help service our customers,
so our clients can be assured our reps
are all from this industry and know all
aspects of retail and growing.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR
PROUDEST MOMENTS?
My proudest moments are most definitely
the three beautiful children I share with
my wife, Sasha, but as far as my proudest
industry moments go, that is hard as
there have been many! I think the one
moment that really stands out was when
my product, Cyco Platinum Series — the
same product I had travelled all over the
world promoting with many sleepless
nights, ridiculously long plane rides,
and many lonely nights away from
my beautiful family — finally started
becoming recognised as a top-shelf,
high-quality product that I knew it to
be. This led to Cyco being picked up by
my first major distributor in the USA, an
extremely proud moment for me after so
many people had turned me away during
the journey. This one event alone made
it all worthwhile and I knew right there
and then that Cyco as a business would
never be the same again… We were
playing with the big boys now. To further
that proud feeling, in 2017 we secured our
Canadian distributor, Hydrotek. Hydrotek
has been a true pleasure to work with
and has continually grown our Cyco
customer base. It has been an absolute
pleasure working with these guys on a
day-to-day basis.
In July 2018 we were picked up for
distribution in the United States by
Hawthorne Gardening Co. (formerly
Sunlight Supply). This made me
extremely proud as in my eyes they are
the mecca of US distribution and after
working with them I truly understand
why; their everyday professionalism,
customer service and staff’s commitment
is refreshing. A true joy to work with
and we look forward to a strong healthy
relationship in the years to come.
Watching the line grow with our distrib-
utors makes me extremely proud as the
hard work we have all poured into the
line for many years is now supported by
the biggest distributors on the planet
and what I call our working family.
Our company is only as good as the
people selling our products and I am
very proud of the distribution channels
and retailers we have aligned ourselves
with. As a result, the Cyco brand is a
global leader, with full service across
the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.
OUR SECOND-MOST IMPORTANT
STRENGTH IS WE MANUFACTURE ALL
OUR OWN PRODUCTS IN HOUSE —
liquid nutrients, dry fertilisers, and rooting hormones.”
The list of proud moments is endless, and the journey of
good business and growth are continuing for Cyco and
we thank our global distributors in each country for
making this a reality.
WHAT SIGNIFICANT THINGS HAVE YOU
LEARNED SO FAR ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?
I have been in this industry for over 20 years
and, in that time, I have seen the industry cycle
multiple times. All the markets are as they have
always been with exception of the United
States. As the US industry corporatists, it
becomes susceptible to commercialisation.
This saturates the margins on the finished
product, creating a need for stores to
become market savvy and the idea of more
online and commercial will become a
reality, enabled by new product tech-
nology and often at a lower cost. Think
portable calculators versus computers,
Amazon versus bookstores, Netflix
versus Blockbuster, or digital cameras
versus film — Cyco versus the rest.
Maximum Yield
83