As a result of what’s been a very busy spring, I’ve really struggled with new blog topics.  Call it writer’s block, I guess.  It happens.  What I like to do when it does happen is re-visit blog posts from the same time frame a couple years back…this one is from May of 2007 (Snoloha was just a fragile newborn at that time) and seemed appropriate given the amount of screen time and office time needed right now:

“Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.” Peter Gibbons, Office Space

The joys of owning a business: A regular paycheck? nope. A set schedule? not quite. Guaranteed customers willing to buy your product? that would be too easy.

How about working wherever you feel like it for the day? !’m currently working on the Fall / Winter product line and catalog. It requires a lot of office time, which I don’t particularly care for. Office time can drive me crazy, and as Buffettt says, if “we weren’t all crazy we would go insane”. So as I stared out the window today I realized I don’t have to stay in this office and work all day. After all, there is no over-bearing, micro-managing boss to get in the way.

So I packed up my messenger bag, hopped on the bike, and peddled down to Clinch Marina, where I set up my “temporary office space” on an empty and inviting picnic table, and spent a few hours working on the catalog and product line.

This is what I call “office atmoshpere”. Not a bad way to spend the workday.

We all grow up with those dreams, don’t we?  And eventually reality sets it and you realize that you just don’t quite have what it takes.  Then what?  I guess most of the time we settle.  We settle for some shitty cubicle job that we never ever truly enjoy and waste a few years away before jumping to a new job and maybe a few more…and before you know it, it’s all in the rearview.  And you’re pissed.  At yourself.  Not for failing to make it to the NBA or as a rockstar (hell, you never even learned to play the guitar so what do you expect?!).  You’re pissed because you never took that leap of faith and gave that business idea a try, went back to school, completely switched industries…any kind of change from what you spent your career doing…and hating.

I think about this stuff.  ALOT.  Too much.

I do feel feel very fortunate that my ‘career life’ is made up of Snoloha, Unsalted Sailing, Bay Breeze and a couple other things that I’m involved in.  Have I bitten off more than I can chew?  Somedays it feels that way…that’s when I have to practice what I preach and find a dose of escapism myself.

I’ve been very deliberate in my attempt to surround myself with a work life that I enjoy and want to be a part of.  Yes, it’s stressful…only because I give a damn.  There’s no ‘working for the weekend’, punching out at 5:00 or one week of vacation time.  There can’t be.

But that’s OK.  Because sometimes the lines between work and play are very blurred — sailing, snowboarding, trips to the Caribbean, a cold one on the docks, getting lost in the woods…it’s all brand related.  You really do have to practice what you preach if anyone is going to believe you as a brand owner.

Remember:

“Need is a relative thing these days
It borders on desire
The high tech world is full of bright shiny things
We think that we really require

Sometimes more than others
You see who and what and where You are
I’m a one-man band with no Immediate plans
Tonight I just need my guitar

Don’t need to feel important or famous
No limos or my little Nash car
One lucky man
With my feet in the sand
Tonight I just need my guitar” – Jimmy Buffett, Tonight I Just Need My Guitar

I get a decent amount of inquiries and solicitations and most of them are ignorable. This one was different, though.  It had a ‘real’ element to it.  And the name intrigued me.  And I really liked the language used to describe the sandals, “From your gym bag to your camping gear, your front closet to your back porch, we’re confident that wherever your Bokos end up, they will soon become your new favorite sandals.”

I also really like the price.  They are affordable, as sandals should be.

Of course, being the sandal and flip flop fan that I am…I needed to try a pair out.  Matt was very gracious and sent a pair my way…even though there was still snow on the ground at the time!

Well, I dig ‘em.  They are comfortable.

So I’m confident in giving Bokos Sandals the Snoloha stamp of approval.  You should get a pair…and if you use the code SNO you can get 20% off…and the regular price is only $16.00.  I’m no mathematician, but if my calculator is right 20% 0ff of $16 is $12.80.

OR…if you spend $50 or more on Snoloha gear…you can get a pair of Bokos for FREE (just let me know your size and color in the Order Notes box during checkout — Men’s Bokos & Women’s Bokos).

And when t-shirt weather finally arrives, someday, don’t be left out in the warmth without a Snoloha Castaway T for only $10.00.

These shirts really need a new home.  They need someone to care for them.  Someone to wash and dry them.  Maybe even give them a nice fold every once in a while.  And most importantly, someone who will listen to them.

So if you’re looking for a way to cover your torso this summer, pick up a Snoloha Castaway T for $10.

On a chilly Wednesday afternoon as another busy day was ‘trying’ to wind down we managed to escape out of the marina and spend a little time flying sail on the Catalina 309 “Adele Lina” getting her ready for a charter this coming weekend.

It really was work related.  Really, it was.

Leaving land behind, raising (in this case unfurling) sails, and shutting off the diesel has this amazing calming ability that makes the ‘hecticness’ (new word) of the day simply fade away.

It’s been a long winter.  As much as I enjoy escaping to Boyne Mountain on my snowboard, or in the woods with some snowshoes…it’s time for sailing, stand up paddling and relaxing on the beach.

It’s time to get the “Snoloha” in the water and on her mooring ball…my favorite way to escape.  Just sitting there, alone, on the mooring ball.  Time on the water.  Sure, I love bringing the wife and little one along…but even they need a break from me once in a while.

I’ve been listening to this new Kenny Chesney album “Life on a Rock” and the song “Marley” is one of my early favorites…puts me right there aboard the “Snoloha”, alone:

“Sometimes my life takes more than I can give
That’s when I gotta go where no one’s around
But the silence and the sound
Of Three Little Birds for company
I got a sip of something strong
A 2nd hand Old Man and the Sea
Out here with me
Me & Marley.” – Kenny Chesney, Marley

We learned that someone from the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau snapped our photo and posted on their Facebook page (photo below).

Wow…Am I now using the same reverse psychology tactics in marketing that I use with my daughter?! Pathetic, I know.

Seriously though, I wouldn’t order this t-shirt…if you have any other t-shirts that you’ll feel bad about never wearing again. These are by far the most comfortable Snoloha t-shirts that have been released. And they are pretty true to size. They don’t fit like a box, nor do they make you look like you’re trying to show off your guns, pretending you’re way younger than you really are.

Living on Snoloha Time…for guys and for gals.

Why are we doing this?  Because we either suffer from serial entrepreneurship…or we are buffoons.

It’s probably a mixture of the two, especially depending on who you ask.

The real answer is that it’s a way to focus on Great Lakes Sailing and promoting Unsalted Sailing.  And yes, it’s brought to you by Snoloha and Bay Breeze, so we hope to introduce folks to both our other companies as well.  Diabolical, I know.

So Snoloha is now in the publishing and media business (oh, it’s also in the consulting business, but that’s a different blog post).  We are anticipating the inaugural issue to hit digital newstands in late May.

The story of sailing the “Snoloha” last summer to Omena will make the issue.  It ended up being a pretty story…stressful, but a good story.

Everything seems to be a reality based contest show.  And they are unwatchable.

Mostly, I think I just don’t have any patience or sympathy for many of these ‘contestants’ looking to make it big overnight.  The 16 year old high school student whose lifelong dream is to be a singer.  Lifelong dream?  You’re 16!  First you need to feel the pain of life.

Yea, I know.  I’m turning into an old curmudgeon.

But then I hear a great interview while listening to Howard Stern and it gives me hope that there are people out there willing to put in the time and effort.  Bobby Moynihan was his guest.  He is a Saturday Night Live cast member.  And then you hear his story.  Yes, he was a lifelong fan of SNL, but in order to even get an audition, he prepared himself by acting with the Upright Citizens Brigade for nearly 10 years.  Yes, it took him 10 years to finally achieve his goal.  An overnight success, 10 years in the making.

Of course it always comes back to me and to Snoloha.  Of course it does, why else am I writing this.

Yogi Berra famously said “when you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

There have been many forks in the road as I’ve navigated this entrepreneurial path.  Some have turned out as expected….and others have been dead ends and cliffs.

But the one thing that always stays consistent is the emotional connection and the feeling that folks have with the brand, AND my very original concept and idea for the brand remains in tact.  I’ve tinkered with the original plan, and each ‘tinkering’ has failed.  Each time that I ignored my intuition in order to ‘be open-minded and give it a shot’…my intuition ended up being right.

What scares the hell out of me is

“They’re tryin’ to drink all the punches 
They all may lose their lunches 
Tryin’ to cram lost years into five or six days 
Seems that blind ambition erased their intuition 
Plowin’ straight ahead come what may” – Jimmy Buffett, Cowboy in the Jungle

It’s a long, hard and rough road building a brand from scratch based on a made up word and a very unique concept.  But I can’t imagine trying to find an easier route that takes me to a place where 20 years from now I’m trying to cram lost years into 5 or 6 days, wishing I would have followed my intuition instead.

I’m looking forward to being an overnight success, someday.

Why?

I don’t network (online social media excluded, which is a different conversation) and I rarely take advice.

I’d like to be better at both, but I’m not sure if I have any interest.  And that’s a horrible attitude, I know it is.  My doctor once said to me that I have a tremendous sense of self-realization…seriously, she said that.

I have no interest in business after hours shindigs, or attending meetups and tweetups or belonging to any clubs (I was a co-founder of the Traverse City Parrothead Club, but I have such an issue with having that kind of obligation that I couldn’t even belong to a club that I was the co-founder of…that’s messed up).  I always feel that if I have time for that…then I have time to spend with my wife & daughter or to go snowboarding, standup paddling or sailing.

Advice?  Forget about it.  The advice that has stung the most was “get out of my own way”…in order to dummy down the Snoloha brand and appeal to a bigger audience.  That has just ended up being more of a motivator.

I’m just not very good at either.

Sure, so there have been a few select individuals that I have accepted (and sought) advice from…and I have networked (barely).  But as my accountant pointed out to me last week “it’s on your own terms”.

Problems?  Yes, I have them.  Therapy?  Sure, I probably need it.  But then again…I consider getting lost in the woods, on the water or at the ski hill all alone therapy.  Or to put it another way – -Living on Snoloha Time, alone…and suddenly it becomes a “business expense”.

“If we weren’t all crazy, we would go insane.”