YOU WANT THE TRUTH?!

Oh…OK, no problem, you can handle the truth.

Truth is…I’ve been busy.  We are really trying to promote this Trop Rock / Wounded Warrior Project promo.  It’s a great cause, and one of my favorite t-shirt designs and music genres.  Thanks again Jimmy Pirate over at The Shore Radio along with the good folks at Trop Starz & Tiki Barz for including Snoloha.  It’s crazy how much time goes into just getting the website setup for one single promo…then throw on top of that an email campaign and social media and there’s a lot to do.

It’s also retailer fulfillment time.  There are a bunch of shirts sitting in my office / warehouse that need tending to.  I’ve not been hitting the retailer scene as hard as I have in the past.   I’ve really tried scaling back and being a bit more selective with which types of stores carry Snoloha, and I’ve put more time and effort into the website.  If you really want to know my thoughts on this…read this post from Seth Godin.

Now that the Spring Ts are in and all the pre-orders are fulfilled (with GREAT feedback)…I can now turn my attention to a few new ‘ideas’ that have been bouncing around my head for some time.  One really needs some time and attention to detail, and the other…well could just be a crazy idea.  But it came to my while on the beach at Bolongo Bay last November…so I’ve gotta give it a try.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed…but I’ve been actively social-networking it up and I haven’t done much complaining about it!  I’m not sure if I’ve finally fully accepted it, or if I’ve just become numb to it…or perhaps those are the same thing.

And then there is this…

As you know (or maybe you don’t), Snoloha and Bay Breeze are collaborating on a little project called Unsalted Sailing.  This is an effort to promote and highlight sailing the Great Lakes through a series of events, merchandise and internet presence.

This little project is becoming a big project…but in a good way.

• There are 4 events planned throughout Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan and The Straits.
• A full on PR campaign
• A Great Lakes based Sales Rep to sell merchandise to retailers
• A collaboration with a Great Lakes based Trop Rock musician
• A collaboration with the Great Lakes Potato Chip Co.
• Catalog Design
• E-commerce functionality
• A full on sponsorship campaign
• Boat Show
• Social Media
• Product and Graphic design
• Ambassador program for all 5 Great Lakes

I’m pretty sure this list keeps going, but I’m going to stop now since I’m already feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Yup, add to this a 23′ Hunter sailboat sitting in the driveway that needs bottom paint and the daily duties of being a daddy and husband…and yea, it’s a little busy.

Nope…I’m not complaining.  Just rationalizing why it makes sense that I take advantage of a little Living on Snoloha Time myself soon.  Ya know…there’ still no t-shirt with that saying on it.  Maybe I should fix that!

Thanks for listening.  I feel better.

If you read this far…you deserve something.  So…for your next purchase, all you gotta do is in the “Order Notes” box during checkout, type “Rod is SO cool”  or “Rod is SO awesome” or “Rod is SO (insert whatever you want here, keeping my fragile feelings in mind) and you’ll get a sweet Snoloha SnoFlake Palm Tree sticker and a Snoloha koozie free with your order.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to have a better attitude toward social-notworking…I mean social-networking.  Well, as with most resolutions that people make, I’m pretty much failing.

• Facebook, for Snoloha…yeah I get it.  It works, and I’ll still use it.  I like the connection with customers.
• Linkedin…I actually don’t mind.  I use it for more industry type of connections.
• Twitter…I’m hanging on by a thread.
• Google+…that place is a ghost town.
• Tumblr…eh, I kinda like it, but I can’t keep up.
• Pinterest…I’ve already lost interest.
• Who knows what’s next…

Part of me wants to walk away from it all.  I constantly struggle with walking that line of growing an escapism brand that promotes turning it all off, and in the next breath promotes the brand via the same social networking nonsense that I’m saying to turn off.

I have this fantasy that Snoloha.com becomes the kind of website that everybody wants to visit, because it’s off the beaten path and not the easiest to find (my SEO friends are cringing in their chairs, I can feel it).  Everyone wants to go there, because it’s so hard to get there…and once you get there, you can’t stop telling everyone that you went there.  Yes, just like some of our favorite spots in the Caribbean.  Those hidden treasures that you seek out because of the stories you’ve heard.  And when you leave, to go back to reality, you’ve just gotta bring back a t-shirt or a hat…or a $10 coozie (yes, they get $10 for coozies).

But I know the reality is that these damn social-networking sites seem to be sticking around.  So walking away might not be the best business decision…but I’ll still fantasize.

However…perhaps what I should consider is a Snoloha Online Brand Ambassador.  This person (or persons) would actively engage in all these social networking sites on Snoloha’s behalf.  In exchange…Free Snoloha gear, and the prestige of being featured on the website, and of course that powerful title of “Snoloha Online Brand Ambassador”.

Interested?  Shoot me a note.

At this point, this is still just an idea, but depending on the response and interest…maybe it’ll come to fruition (yes, I said ‘fruition’).

Oh…and make sure you “Like” this post, Tweet it, + it, Pin it, Beep it, Bookmark it, Memorize it.

Once again, Seth pretty much sums up exactly why it is that I blog as well.

Doing it wrong, relentlessly

According to this post by Neil Patel, I blog incorrectly–missing on at least 7 of his twelve rules.

On purpose.

I’m not writing to maximize my SEO or conversion or even my readership. I’m writing to do justice to the things I notice, to the ideas in my head and to the people who choose to read my work.

The interesting lesson: One way to work the system is to work the system. The other way is to refuse to work it.

I’ve decided to go back and re-visit some of my favorite books sitting on my shelf (that Savannah thinks is a riot to pull down and spread across the entire house).  As I’m going back re-reading (Seth Godin’s “The Dip”, “We Are All Weird”, “Purple Cow” and “Tribes”…along with Hugh MacLeod’s “Ignore Everybody”) I’m reminded of why I launched this brand and how I want to continue growing it.  I realized that so many of the things I use and ways that I use them are no different than how every other brand out there is using them.  So it’s time to get back to my original premise.  Time to start doing some things the opposite of how they are being done.

Does this make any sense?  Good.  Whether you said ‘yes’ or ‘no’, the answer is still ‘good’.  I know, ‘Lohasno’ isn’t the exact opposite of ‘Snoloha’, but I thought it looked cool.

As many of you know, Snoloha is working with Bay Breeze Yacht Charters and Sailing School to bring you Unsalted Sailing.  It’s been a crazy 2012 already.  The ‘official’ launch in Chicago, followed by a handful of boat shows, securing a sales rep, finalizing a catalog and POP and working on sponsorships and events has been intense.  But the one thing I’ve learned is that this built-in market of Great Lakes sailors already ‘gets it’.

Unsalted Sailing has become a nice complement for Snoloha.  It’s such a more straight-forward and simple message.

What this has allowed me to do, is to go back to what Snoloha was always suppose to be, and not water it down and make it more bland in order to fit into a potential retailers product mix, right alongside all the other boring brands.

I can go back to doing things differently, or the opposite if what’s being done.

Of course this reminds me of the great Seinfeld episode when George decides to do everything opposite of what he normally does.

George : Why did it all turn out like this for me? I had so much promise. I was personable, I was bright. Oh, maybe not academically speaking, but … I was perceptive. I always know when someone’s uncomfortable at a party. It became very clear to me sitting out tere today, that every decision I’ve ever made, in my entire life, has been wrong. My life is the opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every of life, be it something to wear, something to eat … It’s all been wrong.
( A waitress comes up to George )

Waitress : Tuna on toast, coleslaw, cup of coffee.

George : Yeah. No, no, no, wait a minute, I always have tuna on toast. Nothing’s ever worked out for me with tuna on toast. I want the complete opposite of on toast. Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted … and a cup of tea.

Elaine : Well, there’s no telling what can happen from this.

Jerry : You know chicken salad is not the opposite of tuna, salmon is the opposite of tuna, ‘cos salmon swim against the current, and the tuna swim with it.

George : Good for the tuna.

( A blonde looks at George )

Elaine : Ah, George, you know, that woman just looked at you.

George : So what? What am I supposed to do?

Elaine : Go talk to her.

George : Elaine, bald men, with no jobs, and no money, who live with their parents, don’t approach strange women.

Jerry : Well here’s your chance to try the opposite. Instead of tuna salad and being intimidated by women, chicken salad and going right up to them.

George : Yeah, I should do the opposite, I should.

Jerry : If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

George : Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do something!

I just finished reading the Steve Jobs biography.  It is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read.  Jobs was a difficult and perplexing man, but there are more earmarks in that book than any other business / marketing / branding book that I’ve ever read…and this is a biography.

Though I do not share much in common with Jobs when it comes to technology, his temper, how he treated people and is diets (he was mostly a vegetarian, I ate a ‘Baconator’ from Wendy’s over the weekend, I’m pretty sure Jobs wouldn’t eat that)…but what hit close was his vision for what he was building, how he built it and and why he built it.

I’ve always tried explaining what it is about Snoloha that is so fulfilling…why it drives me.  I’ve never really been able to articulate it.  I can ‘feel it’, but for some reason I never knew how to explain it.  So when Jobs, in his own words, explained what drove him, it made PERFECT sense to me…and it goes like this:

“What drove me?  I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that’s been done by others before us.  I didn’t invent the language or mathematics I use.  I make little of my own food, none of my own clothes.  Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on.  And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow.  It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how — because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays.  We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow.  That’s what has driven me.”

That really sums up for me.  I can’t write a Jimmy Buffett song or a Judd Apatow movie, so Snoloha is about creating something, in a way that I know how, for the world to enjoy.  That is what drives me.

It’s funny…regardless of how much I fight it, the end of the year always brings about reflecting on all that has happened the past 12 months.  In my case, I go back a bit further to the end of 2010 because of some things I was working on that were part of 2011′s anticipated direction.

Usually, I do a pretty good job highlighting and celebrating strides the brand has made, but not this time.  This time I’m being MUCH, MUCH harder on myself (don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of good things that happened, but this time around I’m focusing on things that will be changing).  Simply put, chasing reps and retailers and ‘dummying down’ certain designs to appeal to the masses got in the way of staying true to the brand and what makes it so unique, and the reason people connect with it so strongly.

There are plenty of great, straight-forward, simple brands out there that people ‘get’ because, in my opinion, there’s a sense of ‘familiarity’ with what is being sold.  It is what it is.  Appealing to the masses is actually an easier path…but it’s not nearly as original or remarkable.

A creative vision can be a tormenting experience.  Trying to share with the world what is in your head can be extremely frustrating if you don’t have the proper platform to do so.

I’ve not yet had that platform…and that is what is driving me mental.  This website still needs some serious love in order to even come close to sharing the vision (which is part of 2012′s ‘to-do’ list).  The real platform, where I can fully share this vision, comes in the form of a brick-and-mortar Snoloha location.  I’ve already begun the process of looking and meeting on potential space.  I know this won’t happen overnight, and quite frankly, it may take most of the year…but it’s the direction I have to take.

Of course, Seth sums it up quite nicely (sometimes I think he’s in my head):

Gravity is a constraint. If you’re designing an airplane, it would be a lot easier without gravity as a concern, but hey, it’s not going away.

A problem is solvable. A constraint must be lived with.

For years, Apple viewed retail distribution as a constraint. They had to live with cranky independent computer stores, or big box mass merchants that didn’t display or sell their products well.

Using the internet and then their own stores, they eventually realized that this was actually a problem that could be solved, and it changed everything for them.

Want to know more of what’s in my head?  If so, keep reading.  If not…I don’t blame you.

Now let’s assume that this first location here in Traverse City happens, and it works.  Where to next?  Maybe another northern Michigan tourist town?  Or the Pacific Northwest, or California, Colorado, New England…you get the idea.  Another area where Snoloha ‘makes sense’.

It’s been a wild ride growing this concept from an idea in my head (building an international brand around a completely unique concept, a made up word, along with original artwork in an already crowded market from a small northern Michigan tourist town) to something people want to buy and be a part of.

The next time I blog, it will be 2012.  February will mark the 5 year birthday for Snoloha being available for sale in the marketplace.  There’s no question that I’d do things much differently knowing what I know now.  But I guess that’s part of growing a business, and that’s why 2012 will be different.  There will be some great additions and programs to the brand that I’ve been toying with for sometime now.  There will be designs that go bye-bye forever and new ones that I’m sure you will love,  along with new products that complement the brand.

AND finally…are you ready for this one?  I’m going to try my best to ‘like’ social media from both a business AND a personal perspective.  This might actually be even harder to accomplish than opening a store, but I’m gonna work at it.

So on that note…have a Safe and Happy New Year!

It’s been a bit of a stressful roller-coaster ride with this new website. What we had anticipated to be a fairly quick turn-around ended up taking MUCH longer than I had hoped. But, it’s done…kind of. There are still some products to add and content to include, but for the most part it’s done, I’d say 92.5% finished.

It’s no secret that I have a love / hate relationship with the internet and social media. So, yes, you will see all the fancy schmancy social networking icons over to the right. Go ahead and click ‘em to connect. I’m still not sure about Google+. I’m kinda diggin’ Tumblr though…great way to share photos and quotes.

I’ve gotta get the International section of the site fixed up. Yes, we are still growing ‘across the pond’ and this new site will be an integral component to those growth and marketing efforts.

And then there is the Unsalted Sailing gear. I know there are some waiting to buy gear, and that will also be available on the site real soon.

I’ve been a little behind with blogging, partly because I was bobbing around the Caribbean on a sailboat for a while, but also because I was buying time for this new site to launch.

So…let me know what you think. Place an order. Tell me if something is broken. Tell everyone you know. Do a little Christmas shopping. Send me a Snapshots & Scenery photo. Or…just ignore me and go about your day.

‘Tis the season…