Inspiring Conversations with Vance Zahorski of Line Cutterz Fishing & Outdoors

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vance Zahorski.

Hi Vance, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Vance Zahorski and i’m the founder and product developer of Line Cutterz LLC. Line Cutterz started as a single idea – a ring that cuts fishing line. At four years old I was introduced to fishing on my grandfather’s dock in Chetek, Wisconsin which instantly became a lifelong passion. After many years of fishing, I found myself always frustrated when it came to cutting fishing line. I’ve chipped my teeth twice biting line, cut my fingers, misplaced cutting tools countless times, etc. I used fingernail clippers, pocket knives, rusty pliers, scissors that don’t cut braided line etc. After stepping on a knife while trying to cut line to release a shark in Florida, I came up with a faster, safer and more convenient way to cut fishing line, and the Line Cutterz ring was born. I made the first prototype out of JB welding putty from Home Depot and a dental floss cutter. The idea led to a spot on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2016, a spot on ABC’s The View in 2018, and several industry awards including best cutting tool at ICAST in 2020. Our fast paced growth required more operating space so I bought and renovated four commercial buildings in West Columbia, TX and opened our first retail store-front – Line Cutterz Fishing & Outdoors. This transition added two new revenue streams (retail sales and tenant income) all while taking care of our need for more operating space. The 4 commercial buildings were vacant for 10 years and now they are full of life which is an added bonus. 4 new businesses all chasing their dreams. Today, Line Cutterz products are sold globally and are used in several new and exciting industries. The best part about chasing this dream is that we are just scratching the surface of our growth opportunity. We will be the YETI Coolers of cutting tools!

Can you talk to us a bit 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 most start-up owners know, the road is far from smooth when starting a business from scratch with no outside investors. Cash flow challenges, global economics and politics impacting tariffs and shipping fees, insanely long hours, time away from family are just a few of the challenges that I have experienced along the way. The short smooth patches are separated by mountains and canyons. During one particular rough patch, our house and shop flooded during Hurricane Harvey which resulted in losing the majority of our possessions. My wife and daughters evacuated to Austin while my brother and I moved our Line Cutterz inventory into the attic of our house to prevent it from flooding. We had to stay and look over the inventory so we essentially camped out with no running water. If the power went out mold could potentially grow and ruin $100k in inventory (which could have put us out of business at the time) so we stayed and prepared to evacuate our inventory by kayaks. During this challenging two weeks, we actually filled up a large green bin and delivered customer orders by kayak to highway 35 where a friend picked up and delivered the bin to the closest USPS location that was still operating. I have always had a “whatever it takes” attitude and it continues to pay off when business threatening challenges pop up.

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?
One of the most exciting and unique aspects of Line Cutterz is growth opportunities in entirely new markets like the home improvement, military and medical industries. We have a proven business model and the framework can be applied to much larger markets. To date, Line Cutterz has never received funding via selling equity. Through hard work, dedication, relentless determination and bootstrapping we have built a brand that is now globally recognized in the fishing and sewing industries. We specialize in developing innovative cutting solutions that increase speed and convenience while reducing risk of injury. Our patented cutters can be seen on Striker Ice Suits, Falcon Boats, Triangle Sports Spooling, Innova Long Arm Sewing Machines and HooDoo Kayaks (Impulse Model) to name a few and we have several more OEM deals in the works. One of my proudest moments was winning best cutting tool at ICAST in 2020 (Dual Hybrid Micro Scissors). It validated my first vision to have the best fishing line cutters in the fishing industry. I have now expanded my vision to be the most recognized cutting solutions manufacturer in the US. To many, this vision sounds unattainable but to me, it’s just a matter of time.

As a team, we are most proud about our efforts giving back to our Veteran’s, Youth fishing programs and breast cancer awareness programs. I chose these programs because my biological father is a Vietnam Vet and gave me up for adoption while battling PTSD. My grandmother battled breast cancer so this cause is also personally very important to me. I’m always involved with youth fishing programs in any way I can – fishing changed my life at 4 years old so I am doing my best to get as many kids into fishing as possible into the outdoors and away from video games.

We have built our brand with the focus of organic growth. I believe organic growth is authentic growth and provides a business with a more solid and stable foundation for long-term growth. This has helped us build an insanely strong customer following without the need for paid sponsorships.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
As an entrepreneur, I’ve learned that hard times and adversity can create opportunities if you look hard enough. Due to Covid, we ended up securing an amazing deal on four commercial buildings that we may not have been able to purchase if the market had not dropped. Because of this, we were able to renovate the buildings that had been falling apart for years and give new energy to West Columbia Texas. In addition, we gave three other small businesses a place to run their businesses. During the pandemic, while people were unable to go to work, many people found a new love of the outdoors and came to shop at our store. We saw an opportunity to radically increase our retail sales by adding kayaks to our mix of product offerings during the pandemic. Our business thrived and we became Hoodoo’s #1 kayak dealer in the country. This may seem insignificant, but remember, we started with just a simple ring that cuts fishing line. Now our ring sits as one of HUNDREDS of products we sell in our 5,000 sq ft retail location, and we often get asked “when are you opening up a location near me?”

Pricing:

Contact Info:

• Email: vance@linecutterz.com
• Website: https://www.linecutterz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/line_cutterz/channel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linecutterzllc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/line_cutterz
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LinecutterzLlc

Image Credits:
Sony Studios
Shark Tank ABC
Mark Cuban
The View ABC