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Meet Kristle Pressley of Geaux Bikes in Cumming

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristle Pressley.

Kristle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
About two years ago, my husband purchased a bike for myself and my daughter for Christmas. When the weather was finally warm enough to ride, she and I went to one of our favorite places to visit in Forsyth County – The Big Creek Greenway for a bike ride. We had a blast, but we missed her dad on our ride. My husband is a big guy (a 6’4” former NFL defensive lineman) and just lost interest in finding a bike to fit his size for leisure rides.

I came home after our ride and complained about the fact that our county didn’t have any cool bikeshare programs like downtown Atlanta and that someone should bring one to Forsyth County. My husband is a serial entrepreneur so his immediate response was “Why don’t WE bring one here?”. That day, the idea for Geaux Bikes was born. We decided on the name Geaux Bikes (pronounced “GO BIKES”) because of my New Orleans roots. I was born and raised there and met my husband there during his tenure with the New Orleans Saints. We did lots of research on bikeshare programs and platforms, developed a plan and took it to our local Parks & Recreation Department and they LOVED the idea. They were so supportive that it was almost unreal! We opened our first station at Fowler Park here in Forsyth County in June of 2019 and business took off right away. A few short months later, we launched our second station farther down the Big Creek Greenway at Halcyon, the newest mixed-use space that came to Forsyth County in 2019. We couldn’t be happier with the way this whole thing played out and we are looking forward to expanding in the near future.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As with any new business, the road to where we are today has definitely been a bit bumpy with the typical “startup” problems. Our biggest issue was finding the best technology for the bike system we wanted to offer. We eventually found the one we felt worked out the best, but technology is always a blessing and a curse. We had a few technical glitches and issues with locking hardware but took everything in stride and things smoothed out just fine. Our customers have been so amazing and patient with us and understand that every small business is a work in progress. To make up for any hiccups or faults of our own especially with ever-evolving technology, we decided long before we were operational to always keep a concentrated focus on customer-service. None of the success Geaux Bikes has accomplish thus far is possible without our wonderful riders. We spend a lot of our days answering chats, emails and we send instructional videos to every new rider. I do think that a lot of pitfalls and customer issues can be resolved if the customers see a genuine concern from the owners to make things right and improve a business.

COVID-19 was another hurdle we had to cross. After only nine months of business, we decided to shut down in March but are grateful that we operational again as of July 25th.

Starting anything new is hard, but definitely worth the reward once you figure out your niche and where your talents can be best showcased. Prior to Geaux Bikes, I owned an online children’s boutique that I eventually closed. Although that particular business didn’t work out for me, it helped me learn a lot about running a business, honing in on my strengths and improving my weaknesses. In my opinion, every “failed” business is just a stepping stone to a successful one in the future.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Geaux Bikes story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a pay-per-use bikeshare company based in Forsyth County, GA. Users can visit one of two bike stations and rent bikes for short-term use along the Big Creek Greenway. It’s a great, affordable way to get outdoors with family and explore nature. I am most proud of our customer service. With almost 800 users, I take pride in the fact that I personally text every new user, I take every complaint and every suggestion. My husband and I are very involved with our riders. We will meet them at the bike stations if they are having any trouble, we hold events to meet our users and we just try to be very visible so people can know that they are supporting a locally owned, small business that loves the community.

We also have our business model structured to offer inexpensive advertising to local businesses that may be looking to reach users in a market like ours. Advertisers can purchase designated spaces on our bikes or use our in-app location based ads that allow for proximity based notifications that are triggered when a rider is inside a specified radius. These ads are the perfect way to highlight locations of interest to our riders.

Part of our focus that we rarely mention is that we find it very important that everyone-whether you ride our bikes or not- has the opportunity to enjoy the nostalgia of a satisfying bike ride. It has slowly became a focus of ours to work side-by-side with Forsyth County officials to improve the infrastructure for biking on city streets to allow more micro mobility options in the future.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Lots of good luck has been thrown our way. We were lucky and blessed that Forsyth County was even willing to take a chance on two local citizens with an unproven program, but they did and it worked! That chance they gave us has opened many, many doors for our business. Maybe they were lucky too! 😉

Pricing:

  • Rides are $2.50 per thirty minutes

Contact Info:

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