8knots has a staff of one. Our company’s CEO is also its only designer, merchandiser, buyer, sales department executive, quality control overseer, web designer, delivery person, driver and hard-working employee. That person is me, and when my friend Sedat Saka, the CEO of MTS Logistics, invited me to guest-write for his company’s blog and suggested I’d write about my company “logistics”, the first thing I did was look it up in the dictionary:
logistics|ləˈjistiks; lō-| plural noun [treated as sing. or pl. ] the detailed coordination of a complex operation involving many people, facilities, or supplies.
Well, that won’t do.
My company 8Knots LLC was launched in 2009 with an initial production run of 200 units of our signature style – The Original 8knots Pestemal.
Traveling often to Turkey and working with textiles there, I discovered the perfect signature product for 8knots – a highly absorbent wrap towel which is traditionally used/worn in Turkey’s famous baths (Hammams). The pestemal is light weight, fast drying and packs small, making it a great everyday, beach or travel towel.
But logistics?
The biggest “logistical” challenge 8knots faces is shipping the goods. First, the costs and fees associated with importing relatively small quantities of merchandise are steep, especially by air. By sea is more economical provided the goods can fill a standard shipping container of 1,140 cubic feet, which means approximately 16,000 units of 8knots pestemals. Then there’s the complex detail of duty rates, which can be figured by consulting the current (3,112 paged) Harmonized Tariff Schedule – customs broker anyone?
But once the merchandise is landed and cleared, our dedicated delivery staff gets into high gear:
Just kidding, you know I don’t actually have a staff. So here’s how it’s really done:
So that’s what we small business owners call logistics.
