How To Build An Outdoor Business With A Full-Time Job
And behind the business of The Running Event and Switchback
Starting Line
One theme behind both podcast discussions this week: if it goes right, no one notices. Whether you’re running an event or building a business, the stakes are high to get every detail right (even the ones you never could have planned for).
If you’re enjoying these conversations as much as we are, could you please share Second Nature with another person - and/or rate us on your podcast platform of choice? Everything helps!
Building An Outdoor Business With A Full Time Job
Sam Degenhard is the Founder and CEO of Campfire Ranch. Like most of us, Sam dreamed of one day launching a business in the outdoor industry. His approach to taking "the leap" involved graduate school, using the dedicated time to hone his concept and approach, preparing as best he could for the launch of the business. As things typically go, the universe had a different timeline in mind. Find out how Sam dealt with an accelerated timeline, what he's learned since then, and how he envisions the future of the business.
Behind The Business: The Running Event
Christina Henderson, the director of both The Running Event and Switchback, is a 10-year veteran of TRE. In this episode, she shares stories and details about the event - as well as the future of Switchback, a show that is focused on the outdoor industry (running and beyond) that is launching as a standalone event this June in Nashville.
Article Of The Week
Peter Abraham made the trip to Sea Otter and brought back a mountain of insights: from speaking to CEOs and founders to participating in the actual event, check out his full breakdown of the event here.
We also share Patrick Crawford’s articles somewhat frequently in this section of our weekly newsletter, and it’s for good reason. Read his latest about the merge of content creators (both athletes and employees) into this next era:
Show Notes
BPC - Brand, Product, Content
BPC is our closing segment, a chance for everyone to share something that has caught their attention in the categories of Brand, Product or Content. This week’s BPC offering has quite the range - from iconic destinations in remote areas to upcoming video games created by athletes. Enjoy!
🏔️ Baldface Lodge: This iconic destination in Canada has a waiting list measured in years instead of months, and for good reason. If backcountry powder supported by incredible hospitality is your thing, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place to experience it.
🎮 MAVRIX Game: Matt Jones, professional mountain bike freerider and content creator, has developed a video game for mountain bikers. As someone pushing the boundaries of what success looks like as a creator, this game is another best practice that we expect others to emulate in the future.
📕 Untamed (book): TRE and Switchback director Christina Henderson shared this book on the podcast as one of the books that has inspired her most throughout her life and career.
🏃♂️ The Speed Project: The best known underground race? If you’re not familiar with this race from Los Angeles to Vegas, definitely check it out!
👨🏻🔬 Inside Tracker: Aaron recently tested out Inside Tracker for the first time and got all sorts of fascinating data back from it - and what impressed him most was how easily and actionable the results were. Inside Tracker helped him make changes to routines and diet to optimize his program.
📘 The Art of Gathering (book): A big thank you to Tim Tollefson for suggesting this book, it was the perfect BPC for a conversation about massive industry gatherings. Tim said this book helped him prepare for mammoth trailfest and if you’re interested in improving your in-person event skills.
Thank You
A big THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to meet up with us at Sea Otter Classic this past week. The Second Nature meetup at the Smith Optics booth was a success, and we can’t wait for the next meetup. See you at TrailCon?
We are only a few weeks away from Episode 100! Stay tuned, we’ve got some exciting conversations coming up next week.