After throwing a line in the water to see if I’d get any bites, I’ve decided to move forward with this idea of an Online Snoloha Ambassador.  Please keep in mind that this is a total work in progress and we will figure it out as we go.

First, what is an ambassador anyway?  According to Google it’s “An accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.”  But the 2nd definition sounds more like what I’m thinking – “A person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity.”

I’m thinking that I don’t have to limit this to just one person.  So this will be the last casting call for folks interested.  I have come up with a few prerequisites:

1. You must be a customer (meaning you’ve made a purchase previously…either via the website or a retailer).
2. You have to be actively using, or willing to start using, all the fancy schmancy social media stuff.
3. You will have to promise to do your very best to be a positive and genuine representative of the brand.  If not…you will be stripped of your title and be forced to watch a Jersey Shore and the Kardashians weekend marathon, and nobody wants to do that.
4. You will do your very best to get Jimmy Buffett’s attention so he can write a Snoloha song and wear a t-shirt on stage.

What do you get?

1. A very prestigious title of ‘Snoloha Online Ambassador”.
2. Snoloha gear.
3. Your own Snoloha discount code (can be used on items outside of the free supply / credit that you will receive for being an ambassador, and to use on a limited basis for friends, family and connections).
4. Your very own profile on Snoloha.com, making you an instant internet celebrity…at least among your circle of friends and family.

Yes, there are details to work out…and we will work them out.

So if you are interested, send me an email.  Tell me why.  Tell me more.  Tell me something.  Anything.

If you are a certain entertaining and experienced bartender in a warmer climate who has been a long time Snoloha customer, supporter and fan…no need to email, I’ll be in touch.

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.

Seattle Dave has been a longtime Snoloha fan, customer and supporter.  He recently submitted this entry to share on the Barefoot & Exposed blog.  If you’d like to contribute to the blog, I’d love to have you.

This morning, as I watched the “Today” show, Al Roker really pissed me off. As the weather map of the USA popped on the screen, he was a little bit too delighted by the “unseasonably” warm temperature across 99% of the country. The remaining 1% I happen to live in and as I squint my eyes to see through the blowing sleet while wrapped up in a parka, I really think this state sucks. I live in Washington, and though we get a sometimes deserved bad rap about our weather, it is usually not too bad. This week is the worst for me. I don’t like the cold…really anytime, but combined with thick rain and wind that pierces to the bone, I really hate it.

My response to these desperate times is Snoloha and Jimmy Buffet. I have a “break glass in case of emergency” kit for these occasions. I busted some glass today. I am currently wearing my beaten and faded blue Snoloha hoodie as Jimmy Buffet sings of sand, warm water and boat drinks. My “kit” has received some substantial use over the years. And I am so happy that Snoloha was invented to recognize the need to escape and feel warm and calm and to strip down life to its bare essentials. It saves me.

Snoloha represents a certain wanderlustful dream of simpler times. It is always good and always warms up the pieces of me that need some sunshine. It serves places that often get overlooked in my busyness of busy. It is peace and it is joy and it is soft in a life of much hardness. It represents the best things about a life. It is a reminder that my feet will feel warm sand and that my shoulders will get sunburned again. These things are easy to forget when faced with 36 degree rain.

For these reasons, I will keep my “kit” handy and know that I can hit the beach, if only in my mind, for a few minutes and retrieve the parts of my soul that would be lost if not for this thread-bare and beautiful Snoloha sweatshirt.

Sounds like Seattle Dave needs a new hoodie.

This might be the single coolest product available, Snoloha Driftwood Signs.

Straight outta lake Michigan and hand-painted. A perfect addition for your tiki bar, backyard patio, basement hangout, ‘Man’s Land’…or cubicle!

You can also request to have yours custom-painted with any of the following:

• “Sno Worries”
• “From Snow Shoes to No Shoes”
• “Living on Snoloha Time”
• “Somewhere Between the Islands & the Arctic”

Just let us know in the comment box during checkout if you’d like any of these sayings painted on your sign.  If not, you will receive the “Snoloha” sign pictured here (well, it’ll be similar, no two are identical).

Please allow roughly one week for delivery, as these are painted-on-demand.

NEW designs are on the horizon!  These will be start shipping in mid to late April…you can pre-order now for only $15.00 (normal pricing will be $24.00…save $9 and spend it on a nice 6-pack, maybe a pizza, or perhaps a 9 items from the drive-thru dollar menu).

The long-awaited SnoMon design.

The SnoTiki Bar design.

Close Eyes Escape design.

SnoWorries design.

My wife came home recently from her folks and presented me with this great drawing of the Snoloha Sailing Yacht (it’s not really a yacht, it just makes me feel good to say ‘yacht’).  It’s from my niece, Callie, who is turning into quite the little artist.  I probably owe her a little Snoloha something…and now that I said it, I’m sure she won’t let me forget it.

Are you feeling creative?  Well, here you go.  I might end up owing you a little Snoloha something as well.

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.