Today we’d like to introduce you to Georgi Hadsall.
Georgi, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Our family went to the Mediterranean in March 2015 for vacation. Throughout the entire trip, we would see Segway tours. Unfortunately, our children were too young to do a tour, but it piqued our interest. That holiday season, the hover boards were all the rage. Every single household in our neighborhood had one. Of course, one by one, they started to break and there was the issue of them having severe complications (catching fire). Shortly after, we looked into the pros and cons of Segways. They were safer, sturdier and they had units that were small enough that even my youngest boy could ride one without issue. That’s when Oswego Extreme was born. I was a stay-at-home mother of three very rambunctious boys, but they were now in school all day so it was a perfect time for me to spread my wings. Working 20+ years in administrative positions at Fortune 500 companies, I had gained a wealth of knowledge of how I envisioned Oswego Extreme becoming the next big thing. But, my ideas and reality are sometimes skewed…enter my husband! Even though my husband has a full-time job as a top-level executive at a global manufacturing company, he spent his evenings and weekends helping me develop a business plan to present to the bank, the Village of Oswego and the Oswego Park District. Without his complete support and help, this dream would have never taken shape. We were able to get all of our ducks in a row pretty quickly and opened our door on October 1, 2016. We started out with a 2-hour Fox Valley River Segway Tour, which will start back up on Memorial Day Weekend. We are looking at having four tours a day, seven days a week. We have also become a Green Mountain Pellet Grill Authorized Dealer and a Burromax MiniBike Authorized Dealer. Each of these product lines were very under-served in the Greater Chicagoland Area and these companies have rallied around us to get our business up and running. We are still always looking at finding more “extreme” items to add to our inventory, so check out our website (www.oswegosegway.com) for all the up-to-date products we have!
Has it been a smooth road?
Having my husband help me out with the business plan, we were able to secure a small business loan right away. It took a few months for the location that we wanted to be ready. It also took us months to get meetings and the “go ahead” from the Oswego Police Department and Oswegoland Park District to allow us to use the bike paths. It was definitely a learning experience for me to go through all of these steps, as I was just ready to buy the Segways and start the tours. The local government, police force and community have really been wonderful to work with and we can’t thank them enough for all of their support.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Oswego Extreme – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
First, we are an authorized Segway dealer. We can operate tours, sell and rent and train people on Segway Personal Transporters. We also are authorized to provide Segway solutions for all Northern Illinois police departments. We can sell or lease police units to any police department in Northern Illinois.
Second, we are an authorized Green Mountain Pellet Grill (GMG) dealer. GMG grills are electric start, wood pellet grills and smokers. They come with or without Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi grills allow you to turn on/off your grill from your phone, as well as, set profiles for food you cook often. It also allows you to change your temperature without even going outside. GMG only uses environmentally friendly compressed harwood pellets, so you don’t have to store, use or be exposed to messy, toxic and explosive fossil fuels.
Last, but not least, we just became an authorized Burromax MiniBike dealer. These bikes are awesome. We currently have lead acid and lithium ion battery models available. All of the bikes are electric and have three selectable MPH modes (ranging from 7mph to 17mph!), key ignition, rear disc brakes, can handle 250 lbs. and can go 8 to 16 miles on a single charge.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I have lived in the Chicagoland area my whole life. It is home. I have lived downtown, the Southside and now in Oswego. I love the season changes. I’m not a year-round hot weather person. I love seeing the snow fall. I love the people. No matter where I’ve lived or visited in the Chicago area, people are always friendly. I also love that we have so many indoor/outdoor activities, museums, fine art centers, musical venues and street fairs.
The thing that I would love to see improved on is the transportation. I love that I can hop on a train and get downtown. But every train has an end point of downtown. It would be lovely to have a better developed system that could get me from Oswego to Gurnee Mills or Rosemont.
Still, I love this city. Best people, best sports fans, and best pizza!
Pricing:
- 2 hour Segway Tour along the Fox Valley River $52 pp
- We offer discounts for bachelor and bachelorette party tours, as well as wedding packages
- We have hourly, daily and weekly rental rates for all of our Segway Personal Transporters
Contact Info:
- Address: 57 Main Street
Oswego, IL 60543 - Website: www.oswegosegway.com
- Phone: 6306366209
- Email: sales@oswegoextreme.com
- Instagram: oswegoextreme
- Facebook: @oswegosegway
- Twitter: @oswegosegway
Image Credit:
Segway, Inc.
Green Mountain Grills, Inc.
Burromax, LLC
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
