PJ’s Fine Bamboo Rods
Meet SCAPE 2022 Cohort Company, PJ’s Fine Bamboo Rods. This Pagosa Springs company is run by a husband and wife duo and the artisanship of their craft speaks for itself. Learn about how they pivoted during the pandemic and chose to cast a line to their dreams.
Q: What’s your name, title, business?
A: Paul and Rosanna Dufour, co-owners of PJ's Fine Bamboo Rods: www.pjsfinebamboo.com
Q: What does your business do?
A: We build handcrafted, heirloom quality bamboo fly rods and landing nets.
Q: Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey.
A: PJ's Fine Bamboo Rods has been our way of turn our passion for fly fishing and quality craftsmanship into products that we can share with the fly fishing community. After spending decades working very hard in our restaurant and construction businesses, we were ready to take what we had learned from those professional experiences into a business that excited and inspired us. We have been living the Confucius saying "choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" for over two years now.
Q: What was the most powerful lesson you learned on this journey?
A: Selling a restaurant in late 2019 to open PJ's Fine Bamboo Rods in early 2020 has taught us that no matter how great of a product you have, how much business experience you bring, or how solid of a business model you have there will always be unforseen aspects that are out of your control. Like everyone else in the world, we were not prepared for the implications and effect the pandemic would have on our business plan. In retrospect, it was a great exercise in creative thinking and learn to pivot a business model as a changing business environment arise.
Q: Why did you apply for the SCAPE Program?
A: We were impressed with the business experience and backgrounds of the SCAPE mentors. We felt like the SCAPE program would be a great fit for our business because it is comprised of like minded professionals in our area that value being able to live and opperate a business in Southwest Colorado. We are excited to learn from the experience and gain additional insight into ways we can grow PJ's Fine Bamboo Rods into a larger part of the local business and fly fishing community.
Q: What companies inspire you the most (local, national, worldwide)?
A: We are extremely inspired by outdoor recreation manufacturing companies based in the Four Corners area that have successfully scaled their businesses to national and multi-national level companies while staying rooted on the Western Slope of Colorado. We hope to be among such names as as Osprey Packs, Ross and Abel Reels, SheFly, Smartwool, and Voormi one day.
Q: What do you love most about the Four Corners?
A: Absolutely the access to outdoor recreational activities, particularly fly fishing of course. We have the ability to enjoy the outdoors, doing something different every day of the week, every season of the year in the Four Corners area.
