Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhonda Stuewe.
Rhonda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The journey has been a great one – filled with highs and lows, friendship and partnerships. Being lifelong horse people who truly care about our animals and their owners – my daughter, one of my best friends, her daughter and I decided that we wanted to start a business focused on the community that we all love so much. With that thought process, we started asking ourselves “What problem” can we solve to bring our value proposition to our fellow horse owners?
We wanted our product or products to be a value add, high quality, USA sourced and made, and all-natural – which, in our opinion, is the very best for our horses. This is how Warrior Fly Boots was born. We had already created our parent company – Muvado, LLC as we started the business doing Magnawave for our first year of business. This background gave us a great basis to understand what horses need to feel and move their best.
We all worked on design, field testing, and proto-types for about 6 months. When we decided we finally had the final version – we made the hard decision to file a patent on our boots – that was in April 2021. Once the patent was filed – we launched our brand and product to the public. Warrior Fly Boots was officially born. Since that time we have launched more products – Our Cool Edge Poultice has become one of the best and most sought-after poultices in the market today.
We found out just a month ago that our Patent has been approved and we are currently just waiting on our official number. What sets us apart from others in the competition is our dedication to:
– taking care of our customers
– producing the highest and best quality product at a fair price
– sourcing and manufacturing everything in the USA (we are the ONLY fly boot company sourcing in the USA – others will say made in the USA, but all components are sourced overseas.
– listening to our customers – what they are saying to us, adapt and implement
We TRULY do care.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with all new businesses – it has not been an easy road. We started our company with nothing but sweat and tears. Here are some of the highlights:
– Once we chose our product, we had to figure out how to get our product made. Not wanting to be traditional, and wanting better quality – we decided to set up an Amish factory to manufacture our boots, so every boot is hand-inspected multiple times before it gets to our customer’s hands.
– Wanting to stay committed to the USA – we set out to find suppliers that could give us all of our components that were made here in our country. HUGE task and undertaking; we were shocked at how much is imported.
– We had to design the logo, create the collateral, design the bags, and find the avenues to get everything printed.
– In the first year of our company, we hand-stamped our logo and the size on every single boot.
– The first year we hand-folded and bagged our boots.
– In the first year we drove to the factory daily to pick up boots that had been sewn to do each of these steps to get them ready.
– We are the marketers, the website creators, the sales force, the fulfillment center, the billing, & collection department, and customer service – we do it all. So for a team of 4 – it has been a lot – incredible, but more than a full-time job for sure.
– We have been so very blessed with phenomenal growth year over year – it has given us a lot of new challenges from “how to get everything done” to warehousing to inventory management.
– COVID was a part of our journey too – with supply chain issues, etc…….things are still not “normal” or we are still trying to find the new way it is going to be.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I feel like I gave you a lot of this information in the opening. I was in marketing as a Chief Marketing Officer in a few different companies and capacities for over 25 years – and I kept asking myself why wouldn’t I try and do something for my family and myself. When my daughter age 15 at the time – told me she would love to own her own business also, I decided that I wanted to take the “leap of faith”. I left my high-paying job to go to a zero salary to hopefully build something special and fulfilling for my family.
In 2019 – I started down the path of doing Magna Wave (a service business) working with people, horses, and dogs. Giving PEMF therapy – by traveling to their homes and barns to make animals and their owners feel better. I created Muvado, LLC. It started fast and great! Growing soooo fast – my best friend and her daughter wanted to join so we formed a partnership. in 2020 – COVID hit and it was HARD. So halfway through 2020 – we decided to pivot and focus on a product. Warrior fly boots were born.
We didn’t launch until April 2021 (as described earlier). We did develop quite a few other products under our Muvado brand…….CBD based. My partner and her family grew the plants and made the oil and we developed the products. We have CBD products for people, dogs, and horses. The products that we have grown nationally – are CBD Cool Edge Poultice, Equine Oil, Dog Oil, and CBD biscuits for dogs and horses.
In 2022 – we launched our clothing line that compliments our Warrior Fly Boots – Called Ride Like A Warrior. Our clothing line has grown extremely fast.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting.
I would just tell people to always follow their dreams, stay true to who they are, and never settle. It doesn’t make your journey easy – but in the end – it makes it a true victory.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thewarriorstore.com
- Facebook: @warriorflyboots
