Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Ashley.
VM Sales was founded in 2007 by two Forest Rangers, Dick and Voda. They drew their inspiration for the business from their love of the outdoors and their work with the U.S. Forest Service. Their work with the Forest Service often took them to remote areas and out of the way spaces which required running a generator for power. After a short while, it became apparent that stopping work every few hours to refuel the generator was a chore. Thus, began the age-old quest to “build a better lightbulb”. Namely a generator that kept running and allowed them to focus on forestry. After several months they had a design that they were proud of and it wasn’t long before they realized they had something that other people wanted. A website and word of mouth campaign soon followed and a cottage business was born. As Dick and Voda began to think about retirement they wanted to find someone that would continue what they had built. They had developed a friendship with one of their parts suppliers, Jeff, Jeff bought VM Sales when Dick and Voda retired and incorporated it into his wholesale business. Among other things Jeff is a rancher and entrepreneur and saw the potential in VM Sales and knew that he wanted to grow the company. Today over 10,000 EZ Flow Fuel Systems are in operation and continuing to grow.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being a small business is great in that we can make decisions and act quickly, but at the same time growing from a small business to a medium sized business has its challenges. Advertising via the internet has been helpful but at the same time competing with the vast array of items that are available online is a challenge. Our customers have been fantastic in that they recognize the quality of our product and the camping/RV community is tightly knit and the people that use our product are keen to pass on the word to their friends.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the VM Sales story. Tell us more about the business.
We sell camping and RV equipment. Our main product is the EZ Flow Extended Fuel System that couples with Honda 1000 series and Honda 2000 series power generators. The Honda generators are excellent generators and a lot of people that enjoy camping or RVing use them. That being said the internal fuel tank on them is relatively small which means stopping to refuel or getting up in the middle of the night to refuel. Our EZ Flow Extended Fuel System can keep them running for up to 60 hours. I honestly think what sets us apart from others is our customer service and support. When you email us or call us, the person you’re talking to is the same person that’s going to make your system and send it to you. If you have a question or there’s an issue the person that helps you is going to know how to fix the issue, you’re not going to get transferred to a different department.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We’ll still be here in 5-10 years and if we continue to do what we’re doing, there will be more EZ Flow Systems being used by campers, RV’ers, and on construction sites.
Pricing:
- 1 EZ Flow Extended Fuel System with attachments to run a single Honda generator is $144.95
- 1 EZ Flow Extended Fuel System with attachments to run two Honda generators is $184.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.vmsales.com/
- Phone: 866-551-1590
- Email: jeff@vmsales.com
Image Credit:
Mike Smith
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