Over the course of just 10 years, Rusty Sellars, CEO of TrueTimber (http://truetimber.com), built a company that is thriving today. With the help of Rusty’s wife, Paige, and two sons, Hunter and Cody, the Sellars have created a “one stop shop” for everything camo – they even built their own retail store. Reviewing background info on TrueTimber and the Sellars family, I came to appreciate Rusty’s background. It is the all-American ‘buck up or shut up’ kind of story. So many businesses in our industry are built on bootstraps and sweat – Rusty seems to be no different. With that, enjoy this “5 Minutes With” Rusty Sellars…..Michelle
Q1: Looking back on your journey to TrueTimber – would you change anything? If so, what?
RS: I wouldn’t change anything, looking back today, because the experiences and struggles we had along the way forced us to be more hands-on and learn more about how many different products are MADE from a manufacturing level. This helped us put together what we feel is one of the best product development and sourcing models within our industry today.
Rusty Sellars, CEO of TrueTimber, and his elk from fall, 2017
Q2: Reviewing those struggles now, what would he tell your younger, more inexperienced self?
RS: Don’t ever take for granted the sacrifice, support and dedication my wife and family made along the way and that success is not always determined if you can afford a college education (I don’t have one) or have things handed down to you to get a jump start. Having to go through the struggles and challenges to build a successful business is the best and most priceless education you can ever acquire.
Q3: Share with us the news on your recent expansions within the TrueTimber brand. What’s on the horizon?
RS: We continue to expand our manufacturing and product development teams for both TrueTimber branded products and private label to support our retail partners by investing more into designers, marketing, distribution and other areas. We also have plans to introduce an extensive line of fishing products that will launch in Spring 2019, a new hunting line for Fall 2019 and continue to expand the TrueTimber lifestyle collections.
Q4: What a great opportunity for the company to have partners Johnny Morris and Dale Earnhardt on board. How key have they been to the success in recent years? What goals do you have that you still want to conquer from a company standpoint? Or a personal standpoint?
RS: Having partners like Johnny Morris and Dale Jr. has been awesome and something even I would have never imagined was possible. The support we have received from both have added a lot of credibility and brand awareness to our company. Our goals are simple – we want to be the #1 outdoor brand within our industry and bring great products to the market at the best value for our customer.
One final thought from me, it’s interesting to see how his life story – his career path – all led to him starting this business. For example, Rusty is an experienced Tool and Die machinist – which came in handy to get his first printer off the ground. How many people would know how to run a machine like that? I had to ask him if he ever looked back and saw how one experience led to another and another…and they were somehow all tied?
RS: I’ve thought about this a lot—how each new phase of the journey to starting my own business fell into place and taught me different skills along the way at the best strategic times--and that only God could have planned this out for me.
- Michelle Scheuermann, editor, Archery Wire