2018 in review

It is that time of the year when we look back at what we achieved last year, and what we are planning for this year.

Starting out in a niche market allowed Jizni to focus and develop our core processes first: managing stock levels, presenting stock on our website, and getting orders to customers as quickly as possible. Last year we've started a journey to make our products more accessible to customers looking for a more involved experience, and this year we've made major progress towards that target. We now have state of the art phone and e-mail systems, and Annelicia's appointment creates more capacity to interact with customers. We have always had close relationships with our customers, but we can already see even better relationships developing.

As a small operation, Jizni must choose our involvement in the community carefully to make the best of our limited resources. Normally, you won’t see us at the big, prestigious events, as we prefer to be involved at grassroots level. We also believe that we can have a bigger impact by giving a bit of ourselves, rather than just cash.

So, during 2018 we sponsored some stages at the IDPA Southern Nationals, SADPA DMG “Nationals” as well as one or two minor donations towards smaller competitions. But I’m prouder of the steady growth in our grassroots programmes. For a couple of years, now, we’ve been investing into training days for our local CPF / neighbourhood watch. This initiative got a major boost this year when we’ve managed to expand it into a new neighbourhood. At club level we’ve sponsored a training event at my IPSC club, and I’ve been involved with prospective and new members at my IDPA club.

Experience has taught me that working with new shooters needs a special touch, as you need to deal with everything from extreme caution to overinflated egos. I do however believe that we’re getting better at it, and that we’ve found “our” spot in the shooting community. We’ll be working hard to reach even more people in 2019.