Water High the Experiential Brand

Running the Bases today with David Randall the Founder of WaterHigh® - a unique Ohio-based experience brand apparel company.  WaterHigh® is a full lifestyle celebration of our relationship with and unyielding attraction to the water...an experiential brand to the fullest! David Randall has been thinking, dreaming, and creating WaterHigh® over the last 2+ years. Through our conversation, we discover that WaterHigh® is not just another idea for a beachy themed t-shirt line conjured up in a late-night bar or bonfire. (But cheers to all of those!) 

David shares his story of searching for the perfect "experiential" brand to embody our innate love of water….beach, sea, lake, river, and stream. The euphoria that water lends us all. He discovered it—then sent it off to the US Patent and Trademark office for their stamp of approval.  Then, he began the development of creating unique and inspiring artwork and designs.

Growing a new business during a pandemic has its challenges.  David speaks to inventory management issues, distribution, and sales channels - all difficult to expand or maintain when the world is shutting down.  However, as David says “Confidence is everything. Ego is nothing. You have to have confidence. Believe in your abilities. Believing in your idea.”

It’s a fun show as we chat about the love of water and getting that “Water High” - wherever you can find it!

Learn more about WaterHigh® and this experiential brand at https://waterhigh.com/

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Transcript

Running the Bases with Water High

[00:00:00] Randy: [00:00:00] I'm Randy Rohde and I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs and small business owners. Plus I love baseball. Every show I sit down with the small business owner and we discuss their running the bases of entrepreneurship. We throw the ball around on strategy management, execution and innovation, plus a little fun baseball town.

[00:00:27] Hey, thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your Cracker jacks and you know what they say, play ball. Okay. Hey, it's a great day for a ball game. This is Randy Rohde, and you're listening to running the base with small businesses. And today we've got a local entrepreneurial we're in our Midst, uh, David Randall from water high.

[00:00:50] This guy is a graphic designer. Marketing professional watercolor painter, uh, and the founder and CEO of water, high [00:01:00] clothing apparel. So pretty exciting stuff. Uh, David, welcome to the show. 

[00:01:05] Thank you. It's an honor to be here. Looking forward to this. This is going to be fun. 

[00:01:08] Yeah. 

[00:01:09] Yeah. 

[00:01:09] I'm glad you're hanging out with us before we get started.

[00:01:12] Uh, I do have to ask you so, um, But, you know, we're going to listen to all about it, water Heil and the very cool brand and apparel tip that you have going for us. But I really want to as well hear about your background, your history in water color painting. I have to tell you, I think you're the first on the show that we've had, at least to my knowledge, somebody is like, Plaza watercolor painter, but I mean, you put it out there.

[00:01:41] You've got some great stuff. I've seen it on your website. Beautiful. 

[00:01:45] David: [00:01:45] No, I appreciate it. It's definitely my main hobby when I have the extra time to pursue it. But it's something I've been doing since I've been about 12 years old. , My parents signed me up for a course, basically to kind of maybe keep me out of trouble as a 12 year old.

[00:01:58] I took my first lessons [00:02:00] at the Valley art center here in chagrin falls. Oh yeah. They signed me up for a color, a couple of weekend workshops with them, with some notable artists. , the first week shot workshop was like a three hour course. And my dad came to pick me up afterwards and I had my painting out in front of me and he actually thought it was the instructor's painting.

[00:02:16] So that was my first like, Maybe I can do this, that, you know, at a very young age, so that I continued with the coursework with another local artist, most people know Maryanne Boysen chagrin falls resident, and, um, took about a year or two of lessons with her. , and from that, I'd just been Peyton on my own, you know, ever since it's just something I love to do when I, when I have the time to do.

[00:02:36] Yeah, that is awesome. Since 12. So let me ask it, did it actually keep you out of trouble? For the most part it did it did. I think it really did. Um, it was just a fun thing to have as a, as a, as a boy. And then, you know, in high school I did it and I had a show and, you know, I played sports. I played football and ran track, so I'd leave the track or the football field and go paint.

[00:02:57] So it was kind of a diverse. Type thing as a [00:03:00] teenager that, you know, they have that. And

[00:03:01] I tell ya, I think it is great. One of my college roommates, , is an artist as well. And he, uh, I used to sit and watch him just do this. Cause I'm like how in the world? I, it was like, it would just sit and scratch stuff out, but he could do.

[00:03:15] Pencil and ink and charcoal, he used to love to do that.  you know, the mind of an artist I think is just fascinating how you guys can visualize in your, in your brain, how you see it and then can put it out on. Some, whatever the platform is, I think is amazing to me.

[00:03:33] So, yeah. Example, just two nights ago, actually I'm down in the outer banks. I was down there a couple of months ago with my son doing some business and the neighbor was throwing out an old surfboard and we saw him put it out in the band and, and he took it back out of the band and he put it back in the band.

[00:03:50] And then we went down to talk to him. Instead of you throwing that away, he's like, I am, but it's hard for me to do this. I've taught, taught my kids how to surf on this board. I've taught my ex wife how [00:04:00] to surf from this board, and it's just hard for me to throw it in that bin. I said, what if I take it back to Cleveland and put it to good use?

[00:04:06] So just a couple of nights ago, two or three nights ago, I put it out in the deck and lit it up and got a bunch of acrylics out and painted a, um, a big seascape on the surf board, which I'll use at some trade shows and put it in the office. And. But you're right. It's um, first time for that kind of campus for me, but it's, it's fun.

[00:04:21] You just kinda like how cool. 

[00:04:23] I think I actually saw that on Facebook. I think they had it posted out there, which is very cool. I'm super excited to talk with you today. Water. Hi. I love this concept. I love the brand. I'm excited because David's a new client with us with water high.

[00:04:40] And I just think this thing is so cool. And I invite folks go to  Water high dot com. Go check out some of this right. Really creative, unique. Artwork that's on clothing and apparel. It's just as really something. Tell us [00:05:00] about that water high. , that concept, that idea. It kind of mystifies me a little bit, almost like.

[00:05:05] Watercolor painting, like how did you come up with it or, or 

[00:05:08] why in the heck is a guy in chagrin falls, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio developing a coastal inspired lifestyle brand. Right. So I guess the answer to that I'll make it short, but I'll just kind of go back over a 30 year career. And it's kind of a winding path that kind of took me here.

[00:05:24] So finished school in Ann Arbor in 1989. And. , got a job out of the gate at an 

advertising agency in Cleveland. And my degree was like basically general studies. I had a minor in English and a minor in psychology and a minor in astronomy or otherwise, I don't know what the heck yeah. Waited tables and took a job.

[00:05:44] And so for about nine years, I worked with some large, large advertising agencies managing BP oil business for one. And. And that sort of ran its course. And then the principal of the Cleveland office of this firm and I, and the creative director went off and started our own small advertising agency. We had offices [00:06:00] in chagrin falls, actually it was called playground advertising and we pretty much did toy commercials for toy companies.

[00:06:06] Very fun. And we did that for about three or four years, and then the three of us had different, different viewpoints of where we wanted to take it. So we kind of soft, landed that. Guy. And then I got involved with another startup, with a friend, uh, which was an online furniture import business. we did that and it was very aggressive, aggressive business model, raise a lot of money.

[00:06:27] And that was right prior to one of the major crashes. I forgot what year, but the economy basically just completely trashed and that business was, , ill-fated so at that point I'm like, okay, I've done this, I've done that. You know, I think it's time for me to go off on my own. Which was probably like 15 years ago, I believe.

[00:06:43] So. For 15 years of I had my own marketing firms, small marketing firm, graphic design, you know, that some of the things I do basically offering communication, , marketing design services for small business. during that time I've always been intrigued with the apparel business. I've sort of been observing and watching [00:07:00] and, , sort of been a student of it.

[00:07:01] I'm not a fashion guy and not, but it's just been a business I've always been interested in. Right. So about two years ago, thinking about, okay, where I am in my career. I said, maybe I got 10 more years of this 10 more years of a hard push. And do I want to continue doing what I'm doing? Yeah. I love what I'm doing.

[00:07:20] I love my clients. I'm friends with all the clients and I really enjoy what I've been doing, but do I want to do it all the way to them and game? So I started thinking about something else. And then the apparel thing was like, I think I have the tools and the experience to develop a brand. That may be, can do better than some of the brands that are out there.

[00:07:39] So, , this is where water high comes in. Actually, I just, I, I,  I committed to two weeks alone down in the outer banks, which is kind of our second home. We go down and then occasioning down there, my whole life with family. And so I'm, it's kind of my second home. And so I went down there two weeks alone to work and to paint.

[00:07:57] And the third goal was to come home with a brand. [00:08:00] And just come home with that ocean, you know, inspired brand. And while I was down there, it's early spring, it was early April crappy weather, typical winter storms and spring storms bring a lot of water in and driving up the up and down the beach that week or those two weeks.

[00:08:17] There's these large high water signs everywhere, high water warning, the traffic, 

you know, looking out for the high water. Right. So I'm thinking one night, maybe that's the brand high water. Just turn that into a, , Ocean inspired culture, ocean, ocean culture, um, lifestyle brand. And then, , I kept thinking about it, like, is that the answer?

[00:08:36] Is that, what are the other ideas? And then I just flipped it. Just completely flipped it and just played around with it and water high came out and it's kind of the same notion of Rocky mountain high, you know, it's, there's no such thing in the ad business. One thing I've learned there's, there's no such thing as a purely original idea.

[00:08:52] Right? Every good idea is based on another idea. And so John Denver offered a little assist in this one and that's kind of [00:09:00] the Genesis of the brand is it's for people who get high on water, we get a high out of water. Get euphorea of being in on or by the water, whether it's fishing or. Ocean or beach or Lake or water, sports or bathtub.

[00:09:14] Dishwashing, whatever it is, you know, it's been proven that, you know, human beings have a lifelong affinity for water. You know, we come from water where we're made of water , I thought there was, 

[00:09:25] Randy: [00:09:25] yeah. Yeah. So there is this like incredible attraction. And I think, you know, when you look at some of the imagery and.

[00:09:32] Things either on your website or just anywhere, and you see that beautiful sunset happening over a beach or an ocean, a Lake, a river there is that serenity or peace or, but just a sensation. Definitely. I think that begins to overcome , When you look at your, uh, designs and I think the overall feel of what you're communicating absolutely [00:10:00] connects, you know, it does the, the water high.

[00:10:02] It just makes sense. 

[00:10:04] David: [00:10:04] You know, and there's, there's, there's a science behind it actually. I mean, there's, there's a gentleman by the name of J J Wallace Nichols. He's a PhD, he's an ocean scientist. He's based out of California. A mutual acquaintance put Jay and I, dr. Jay and I together. And he wrote a book after 15 years of research on the science of water high, basically the physiological and the psychological benefits we get.

[00:10:30] From being on in or by the water. So I was fortunate enough to spend about three hours on the phone with him about a year ago, you know, discussing water high. And he wrote a book called blue mind. So basically he's the science behind water high. And he kept the reaffirmation I got after being on the phone with him was really powerful because he started interrupting.

[00:10:48] Twining the phrase water high with blue mine. His, his phrase for it is blue. Mine. Mine is water high. So mine is more of the celebration of it and his is the science behind it, so. Okay. , so I'm [00:11:00] still in touch with dr. Jay. I'm one of his patrons on his Patrion site. And so hopefully in the near future, we can actually collaborate, you know, some more, but yeah, there's definitely a science behind.

[00:11:09] Randy: [00:11:09] Why, how crazy is that? So here you are probably a, yeah. Enjoying life in the outer banks, like, and I need a brand name. I'm trying to think of something. And here's some guy wherever he is on the West coast, the West coast, like 

hanging out and having all of this science business and need something to connect it with, , an, a reality.

[00:11:29] And you guys like boom, Sarah come together and hook it up. That is cool. , So I mentioned about, you know, the, the, the unique designs and I I've just have never seen anything like what you guys produce. I mean, the artwork, , Is so original and so colorful. So, uh, alive and again, I just think it's a complete connection with the brand name, water high, and that feeling.

[00:11:58] I think that, [00:12:00] that you get, I mean, when there's some of the stuff that you have on your shirts, Christine wave, and, and some of this stuff that I'm like, ah, that's just like being right there. And, but it helps like, create that feeling. So tell us about. , the design, the artwork. What's the story behind that?

[00:12:18] David: [00:12:18] Uh, there's a couple of, a couple of stories behind it, but first, you know, back to the brand, , people throw out the term lifestyle brand when it comes to clothing, right. It's a lifestyle and you know, one of the early ones, obviously still at it and life is good. Is a great example of a lifestyle brand.

[00:12:34], there's a bunch of them that I've followed, but this is more of a, it's a lifestyle brand. You can call it that, but I refer to it as an experiential brand. So it's something you can actually have an emotional attachment to. So if you're one of the many people that love to go to the beach, whatever, you know, ocean or you're a fishermen or.

[00:12:54] Whatever it is, but you relate to getting that high out of the water and you relate personally and emotionally [00:13:00] to that feeling. That's where I want to be even if I only spent a week in my life, I'm here in Cleveland or I'm in Minneapolis, whatever it is. But if I spend a week in my life and that's the most enjoyable a week in my life, I can really relate to water high. 

[00:13:13] So the art, you know, needs to reflect that it needs take that experience with you a little bit. So the obvious answer is, you know, maritime themed are, you know, the typical stuff. And so, you know, over a year ago when I was starting to design some of the garments during my night job, which is what it's been for about a year and a half, you know, I came up with some, you know, some cool stuff, good designs and some early on things.

[00:13:35] And then it kind of occurred to me that I needed to take it beyond my. Perspective, you know, my outlook or my, my design feel. This is the true story. It's a, it's a great little story, but it's a big part of the brand is, um, there was a little coaster that had had for years next to my computer. , it's got a really cool design on it.

[00:13:54] It's, um, color, pencil, and water color, and Penony mixed. And I just was looking at it [00:14:00] and I'd liked it for years. And. It just hit me one night. Like this could be wate high, this is kind of the personality and the style. I'd love to have represent water higher, be a big part of it. So I said, I gotta find out who this is and, and there was a little tiny signature on it.

[00:14:14] I'm not sure where I got it. It was a gift and I'm pretty sure it came from the outer banks from an art store down there, got like a magnifying glass out and made out the word 

Stephanie on it and went online and just started looking for artists named Stephanie Outerbanks and founder. And she's from Buxton, North Carolina.

[00:14:31] I'm Stephanie hikers, her name, and she's just a brilliant. Brilliant artist and a wonderful person. And I, I got in touch with her. I put together a proposal. I didn't want to just come out of the blue. It came out of the blue, but I put together a five page, you know, here's my thought, here's the idea behind water.

[00:14:48] Hi, here's what I want to do with it. And I sent this to her and she always tells the story like, you know, what the heck is? Who is this, this Yahoo and Cleveland contacted me about. Licensing my art or using my art for this new [00:15:00] company he's, he's come up with. And so we went back and forth a couple of times and, um, she actually contacted a licensing expert on the West coast.

[00:15:08] Who's involved in the surf business. Who's actually written books on licensing deals with artists and brands and, um, and this person told her, it looks like he's. Yeah, he's got a good idea. He's got his heart's in the right place. Why don't you follow up and see what it's all about? So we were able to get together and.

[00:15:25] Put together a deal. And we've been working together for almost two years and I visited her a lot whenever I go down there and she's been involved in a couple of press conferences with me and her designs are just wonderful. So I've incorporated probably about 15 to 20 of her designs and they're kind of, I call it the signature series.

[00:15:41] Right. , and in the future, I want to find some additional artists to represent the brand because of the inspiration. Is twofold. It's, it's water inspired, but it's also original art. I didn't want it to just be clip art and the typical one or two color graphic designs. You see, I wanted this to people to see it and say, that's, that's original.

[00:15:59] That's a really [00:16:00] unique piece of art. So yeah. To go back to your question. I think a big piece of the design and the art is as a result of, of being able to connect with Stephanie Hiker. 

[00:16:09] Randy: [00:16:09] Some of this stuff is just great. I mean, you get the big, uh, I'll call it a sea turtle. I don't know what that big thing is, what it is that what it is?

[00:16:16] David: [00:16:16] Yeah, it's a big loggerhead.

[00:16:18]Randy: [00:16:18] I mean, that thing is so cool. My, my daughter loves the whole kind of the I'll call it a whale tail, uh, emblem on a shirt that I got for her and so fun. It's feel good. It really is the feel good stuff. So folks go, if you haven't gone to go check it out, you had waterhigh.com.

[00:16:39] You know, you're sounds like an entrepreneur at heart. I mean, you've been involved in a lot of different kinds of things before, , you launched water high, you don't, that takes a certain kind of, , Confident, , in, you know, continuing to kind of pursue and push and do things you were launching water high and an [00:17:00] odd time in our world and society right now.

[00:17:04] Can you dig a little bit further into this? Confidence. , maybe that either you have,  

or you know, that you believe that you built over time, or maybe even just recognized in yourself, like, Hey, I've, I've got this thing. And especially, I think for folks who are thinking about starting a business, even, , what, what do you think about confidence?

[00:17:22] What, what's your thoughts there? 

[00:17:24] David: [00:17:24] Yeah, I think it's everything. Now. You think you and I are kindred kindred spirits, you know, with a corporate background. Turn it into an entrepreneurial background. , confidence is everything. Ego is nothing. You know what I mean? I think you gotta have the confidence. If you believe in your abilities, are you believing an idea?

[00:17:40] You have, you know, go at it, do it, keep working at it, fail at it. But the ego part, I think is critical. I think you gotta have no ego when you're, when you're in this type of business. When you're starting something up, you need to listen and learn and work with collaborate and work with other people. But I think.

[00:17:57] I guess the confidence thing is I prefer [00:18:00] to work for myself than to work for someone else and the other people, the only other people I want to work for our clients, you know, whether they're purchasers of this product or clients I've had in the past. Yeah. The clients. 

[00:18:12] Randy: [00:18:12] So. Any challenges. So, you know, especially kind of coming out of, hopefully we're coming out of, but in, in working through kind of this pandemic environment, I mean, it's been challenging for a lot of different people, but how has it been.

[00:18:27] For you a launching a brand. And I shouldn't this concept in is, you've said you've been thinking about this and have been in various stages of launch for a couple of years. Yeah, I think you and I probably first even kicked around the idea. It was two years ago. Actually. I love it back then, as well as it's been difficult.

[00:18:49] Coming through COVID as well for you. Is it been have some challenges? 

[00:18:53] David: [00:18:53] Yeah, I think the two primary challenges that come to mind and obviously COVID was, is, has been [00:19:00] a six month rain delay. Yeah. Speaking of baseball it's yeah. And that's exactly what it's been, you know, the plan was to launch this thing pre spring and put some finances behind it and get with you and get this thing going and put the sail out.

[00:19:13] And, but. For the online business, it's a drop ship business primarily. So you order it's printed and shipped and packaged and it arrived. The providers I've been using her typically a two day turnaround, quick ship, you know, the customer, they want it now. They don't want to wait. And, but through the covert experience, these providers, you know, the supply chain just went from two days, so 45 days.

[00:19:35] So I didn't want to promote the site and have people get excited and buy something and wait two months for it. So, yeah. That's been the delay and these providers were back to the two day they're back to normal now. So that's why you and I are things are, things are happening. Yeah. That would make it a little challenging for somebody I'm when to order something.

[00:19:53] And it's like, well, what's going, yeah. That talking about a onetime customer. So you can't have that. [00:20:00] Yeah. But I think the other challenge is, is like I mentioned, my, my night job and day job, it's just. You know, having that leap of faith, when is it time to jump from one to the other? , there's a lot of financial implications , and I think I just got it to the point and I do recently I do have an equity partner, a private equity partner, who's , a managing partner.

[00:20:20], just giving me some resources to make that. Take a little bit of risk out of that decision. So now it's all, all in on water high and no turning back. 

[00:20:29] Randy: [00:20:29] Well, that's exciting. Absolutely. An exciting venture. All right. Hey David, in case you're not familiar, but I always say it is that time. It's time.

[00:20:42] Okay, David. So in case you don't know, we've been talking about water high and all of that fun stuff. Now we're going to talk a little bit. About baseball. All right. All right. Uh, one of my favorite topics as well. So, um, research team has done a great job as [00:21:00] usual on findings, um, baseball related conversation that we've going to have in relationship to your industry here. We'll call it fashion apparel. Alright. Lifestyle brand in baseball. All right. So, , of course there's massive, , sports apparel. Companies out there. Nike Adidas Puma actually is. I think they're the number three. Now these guys really come on.

[00:21:33], so a little bit, yeah. History around baseball and jerseys and all of that stuff. All of the ware. Okay. Okay. So think of MLB, uh, fashion, retail, fashion. Okay. , okay. They give you a question. This will be the question. We'll give a little background and some stuff on this here in a sec as well. MLB properties.

[00:21:54], so MLB, you know, baseball has been around 151 years. I believe it is now. [00:22:00] , what year was it that M L B properties for licensing so that people like yourself could replicate, uh, and make jerseys. And in any of these other kinds of things, when do you think that that licensing was formed? MLB properties for licensing.

[00:22:23] I want to guess, I would guess in the 1980s, Uh, uh, no earlier than that. Okay. You know, the 1980s though. It is interesting. So actually it was formed in 1966, but not nothing really happened. Right. Nothing. I mean, even at that point it was still fairly unregulated. Um, yeah. Jerseys, you know, if you saw stuff, they were still very much custom ordered.

[00:22:49] And if you think way before, even the sixties or fifties or wherever, everything was custom ordered, like you would have to go to a shop or maybe there was some [00:23:00] little specialties, very local specialty chefs, people would knit you sweaters. And I mean, but it was very, very customized, very special or. Okay.

[00:23:09] I, I whiffed on that one. That's all right. , and then the licensing occurred and then the seventies and, and so much, but then through some technology where they could do this heat transfer lettering, uh, on shirts and stuff, then some of this stuff began, , blowing up. And it wasn't really until the early eighties that the leagues.

[00:23:30] So back to your eighties, at least, because that's when you started seeing all of a sudden , the leagues getting involved and. Policing the trademarks and logos and working with larger companies to create mass amounts of jerseys. And then you could really kind of 

see if you look at early baseball footage, you know, in the 70 people were wearing Indians jerseys, stadiums in the games, and then you flash forward 10, 15 years into the eighties.

[00:23:55] And then you got, you see people out wearing jerseys and stuff. So do you know what the. [00:24:00] Probably the most popular way before, early days of baseball, what do you think the most popular kind of fan wearable fan were? Wow. So I'm thinking that yeah, a hundred years ago, hundred years ago, babe Ruth. Yes, babe.

[00:24:16] Yeah, the wearable would be, I mean, all caps would be one thing. Um, Kevin we're good and still very customized though. They had to all be hand-sewn right by somebody's buttons. Buttons buttons somehow. I don't know why, but they can make and press buttons easily. So the buttons was the big deal. People would walk in and wear buttons and show who you're rooting for and wear it on your sweater.

[00:24:39] Yeah. Yeah. And that is a huge collector's item in the marketplace. So anyway, that's a little bit of baseball talk. Wasn't that hard? Was it? No, that's great. All right. Well, let's get back into it. 

[00:24:49] What have been some of the key learnings you've gained through the process so far? , if you had to do it. All over again from day one.

[00:24:58] Would there be any [00:25:00] thing or things that you would do differently? 

[00:25:03] David: [00:25:03] You know, to be honest with you, not a lot. Um, it's taken a little bit longer than I had hoped even pre COVID. You know, the idea has been in, I had it trademarked actually two years ago. It's been a trademark for two years and I guess if I would have done anything differently, I would have.

[00:25:20] Um, pursued some funding earlier than I did. So probably be a year earlier if that occurred, then it, that could have left the day job the night, that night job thing, but I'm not really regretting the timing at all. , I think I've learned a thousand little things, ,  back in January to the surf expo, which is the big trade show, American trade show for any retail or a product or.

[00:25:45] Or brand that's in the water, coastal surf skate, um, realm. And I went and walked in , they didn't quite know what I was doing. Didn't have the confidence to actually, you know, pay for a booth, go out there and, and, and cross my fingers that people [00:26:00] would show up. And the first hour or two of the show, I kind of got really depressed because I saw, and it's an unknown, it's a large shelf and all the brands are there and there's a lot of.

[00:26:11] And I just saw 50 to 60 to 75, basically t-shirt companies. I'm like, geez, what am I doing? You know? But then I spent more time and, and notice that, you know, they're kind of, I didn't want to be negative towards any other business, but I just noticed there's kind of a, was a little bit of a herd mentality.

[00:26:28] They're kind of all doing the same thing. They're trying to get the lowest price point. And all the designs were your standard things that you buy in shops. When you go, you know, surf art, the compass, the anchor, the sail fish, you know, great stuff. So it occurred to me. So for the next rest of the afternoon, I was still realized that water high is very unique. 

[00:26:48] It is the only experiential brand that I'm seeing here, to be honest with you. , so I went from a low to a high in one day and said, okay, I've got a lot of confidence. And plus I was meeting a lot of people and had my shirt on and passing out some [00:27:00] cards , I guess that was the biggest learning experiences too.

[00:27:02] Not be deflated, you know, and just, you got, I believe in it and go for it. And, um, so that was one of the biggest things. And I've had lots of reaffirmations along the way. In fact, in that, at that same show, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the owner and founder of kitty Hawk kites, which is a chain of.

[00:27:21], shops and outfitter locations up and down the coast, actually primarily on the outer banks, but they're in Florida and Maine. And I spent a little time with the owner and who's kind of legendary on the East coast from a retail standpoint. He also is pretty much the pioneer of hang gliding. He opened up his first shop in 1974, next to the big dunes jockey's Ridge and the outer banks and taught hang gliding lessons.

[00:27:44] And. And he got it. I know he Academy has been actually I handed my business card to him. He looked at the art. I explained what water high was. He knew I was new at this as a five minute discussion walking, the Concourse handed me his card said, I'm going to take you out in the outer banks, [00:28:00] call me after the show.

[00:28:01] So that was the first like, okay, this is great. So talk about an all time high right there nine months ago. And we're in the stores, we're in all the, you know, a lot of the locations , And I guess a big learning experience since I haven't done, this is sort of the operational aspect of the nitty gritty, like the proper way of, of putting packing slips on boxes when you're shipping wholesale, what they expect pricing and, um, the whole pricing models and the margins.

[00:28:29], so I was fortunate enough to have a retailer as in kitty Hawk Heights and Kittyhawk surf to be, have a little bit of patience with me knowing that this is new. And so I've learned a ton from them. , so the next go around with the next retailers and retailers, et cetera, I have a really much stronger sense of how to do it, where to price it.

[00:28:45] Right. , and when you're small and when you're growing your, your margins, aren't going to be as good as they will next year. Cause your buying power kind of stinks. Right. You know that the more you buy your, the better your margins is it going to be? So to me, to me the first year is really. [00:29:00] And my, you know, my partner, financial partner agrees, it's more about customer acquisition and then margins and revenue.

[00:29:07] It's getting customers getting it out there, building an audience. And that's the most exciting thing I'm excited about right now is cause you and I are going to really start digging in on that and, you know, and, and go, yeah. Right. I love it. What a great story to just, you know, you. Kind of walking the floor.

[00:29:28] I get, you can almost visualize it. Like here you are kind of wearing your water high shirt and you know, like, Hey, I don't have a friend here, but I'm gonna I'm here. Right. And just putting it out there just to meet this guy and boom, boom, boom. One thing after the other and here you are in their stores.

[00:29:48] Yeah. I think the coolest thing about the one thing about that show is I was fortunate enough. I don't even know how it happened. I didn't finagle it. But I was able to, I got a buyer badge. So the badge walking it when it says buyer on [00:30:00] it. Yeah. Every booth, whether they're large, they want you to come in.

[00:30:03] Oh sure. And so salt life people know SaltLife and this is a SaltLife is actually one of the inspirations for me doing this because I just, I saw what they did. I know their story. And I just felt like I could do a little bit differently and be broader, have much broader appeal and. W I just walked up to the entrance.

[00:30:21] They had a private, large, large booth, and one of the reps saw me and invited me right in. And so I told them out of the bat, I said, I'm not a buyer. I'm here doing research and I'm starting a new brand and he couldn't have been nicer. And he actually gave me his card and said, Hey, if you, if you need some help down the road, you have some questions, feel free to contact me.

[00:30:40] So yeah, it's kind of, I think that's how the industry is. People want to help you. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:30:45] Randy: [00:30:45] Well, that's a great story. And you know, one of the things that I love. , as you're sharing this and especially for our audience, that's listening and thinking about launching whatever business venture that may be.

[00:30:57] There's a couple of things that I think that you touch on, which [00:31:00] is terrific. One. You didn't go. All right. I know everything and how to do this. That you recognized? I don't know everything and that's okay. I'll learn it. We'll figure it out and write. And I think that's great because often, and you can talk to any business person probably is that there's a lot of things that happened.

[00:31:19] Nobody knew out of. Conduct business during a worldwide pandemic. How in the world, what, you know, how is that going to impact? And the smartest CEOs strategy and business plans went out the window in February, March and it's okay. Right. So we, you know, I love, I love your transparency. They're like, I didn't know how to do this and where I'm figuring this out, you know, as we go.

[00:31:44] And the other thing, I take a great lesson too, that you. Shared is that you did both a day job and a night job. So I'm recognizing, I've got to do what I have to do if I really want to commit to this, but I still have to [00:32:00] have that foundation. Right. You can't put stuff at risk because otherwise I'm not even going to be able to launch the dream.

[00:32:05] Cause I won't have the financial support to do it. Kids are in college know. Right. You got people that says dad, right? Yeah. Right, but I think those are great, great lessons around that. So here you are, you're launching your, I say you're launching, but you're, you're in the midst of it, right? So you're right.

[00:32:22] You're acquiring, , wholesale customers. So getting into stores where expanding, , and getting greater visibility to your site. As well, um, where they can go on and buy direct. What's your approach for explain to me what's around the corner then for water high, where do you maybe short term, like in the next six, 12 months, but even beyond I, are you looking 

over the horizon a little bit and thinking like three to five years, what would you want to be the next it's good.

[00:32:52] David: [00:32:52] Yeah. You know, it's, it's a great question. And, and. It's probably smart to have that kind of planning in place. , [00:33:00] but my partner and I, and he's wonderful by the way, he's not he's there for any support or wisdom sharing his experiences. When I asked him, you know, he's not micromanaging or anything, but I both agree that it's too early to set goals as far as.

[00:33:16] Financial goals or timing or the end game. If we want to sell this down the road, we don't know what that timeframe is. We agreed. I need to let's let's talk about that in six months, six or 12 months, then we'll know, then we'll have learned everything. We'll have one whole full annual cycle into this.

[00:33:32] Right. We'll have a better idea of what kind of vine we can do. I'm in wholesale. What kind of volume one store represents 30 stores, a hundred stores. What kind of online volume we can, we can generate and what kind of online community we could, we could develop. And then we can sit down and say, okay, here are our goals right now is acquire as many customers as we can on the wholesale end and then on the online piece , keep ramping it up , generate a buzz in the industry and meet more and more [00:34:00] people take advantage of opportunities.

[00:34:01] And I think. One of the things I'm going to need to keep growing. This is. Um, besides partnering with you on the digital marketing side and having my other partner is too, you know, when is it time to get help? I've been on my own from day one on this, just getting people's reactions to things and it's, it's been well received, but now it's time to actually have someone on a daily basis, like a general manager.

[00:34:27] Right. That could say, okay. That I could, that can manage the finances, managed to help with some sales, continuing to build the ship. And I can focus on design, meeting artists, helping with sales, um, just taking advantage of opportunities. Going out and, and doing a, um, some kind of event with dr. Nichols on blue mind and water.

[00:34:49] I just am thinking big and looking for influencers, influencers, and potential celebrity endorsements is a big thing you never know. Right? Yeah. A few people have told me that to, to launch a [00:35:00] successful apparel brand is about as difficult as getting a hit record. You know, it's pretty difficult and. I think I've got the hit record.

[00:35:08] The name of the song is water. I, now the song it's gotta be written and it's got to get some airplay and a few lucky breaks down the road. You know, if someone, we can find the right influencers and whether it's some, some guy on Instagram was getting a hundred thousand views of every video. Cause he's the expert.

[00:35:26] Skim boarder. And he decides to wear one of our rash guards, just that I want to be able to take advantage of those things and not be bogged down in the daily daily stuff. Right. , I think that's the future as far as goals is to who's the crew where, where right now I need to keep using bone analogies, but I'm just, that's all I've been talking for two years, so you can use baseball too, and that's fine.

[00:35:47] Randy: [00:35:47] Right? What is the family think about all of this. So here you, you quit the day job. Now you're focused on the night job. What do they think? 

[00:35:55] David: [00:35:55] They're excited about it? You know, they're, they kind of sit back and go, you know, they're very [00:36:00] hopeful. This is what I wanted to do for the next 10 years or whatever it is, you know, for, you know, there's two motivations to do.

[00:36:06] I loved what I was doing, but I wanted to find something that I really love to do for the next 10 years. And. And of course the second motivation is financial. You know, I wanted to take the ceiling off the, off the roof and take the roof off and have no ceiling put it that way and see where it could go.

[00:36:20] And they were very hopeful and supportive and they love the concept they share with their friends. And so they're all. Very much behind it. Oh, they're all they've been shaking their heads for about two years. Like, what is this, why are you doing this? Does the world need another apparel brand? No, it doesn't, but they've been shaking their heads, but they're very, very supportive.

[00:36:40] Randy: [00:36:40] Yeah. Wow. I'm, I'm sure that it's, they would need to be, , and to go on this venture with you. So I'm sure that's very, very welcome. All right. So here we are. Bottom of the ninth. Dave, what advice do you have for rookies? I mean, you're just, I, I kind of feel like you're just kind of still jumping into that [00:37:00] for those folks, just starting out in business or, or wanting, you know, similar to you or maybe a year or so behind you that are thinking about it.

[00:37:09] What do you think? What's some advice

[00:37:11]David: [00:37:11] I'll use a baseball. Um, somewhat of a baseball Bo Jackson. How about that? A Bo Jackson. Yeah. Um, who knows? Bono's or who's this? Just do it? Yes. Okay. Cause I think there's always going to be, I think one of your prior, um, podcasts, contributors. Talked about friction in the purchasing decision, right.

[00:37:34] Um, there's always going to be friction, friction, and starting a new business. There's always going to be risks related is always going to a lot of them, and I think it's just, maybe it's part of my personality or just experienced from the people I've worked with over the years, mentors, you know, just dive in and go do it.

[00:37:51] And then you're going to run problems. You're going to solve them as long as you believe. And I know it's very cliche, but if you believe in it and. You [00:38:00] enjoy what you're doing. I think you're going to, you know, get over those hurdles. I guess the only advice I've had, if, if you have something that you're passionate about, just do it, just start, just get into it.

[00:38:11] And, , like me, it was different. I had to delay this for two years for, you know, but. Um, figuring out how to do it and, um, and commit to it. I think good things were going to happen. Yeah. Good. Good. And you still stuck with the water? Just dive in right now. That's all right. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Just take your swing, take a swing or something like that.

[00:38:32] Um, well I just, I love the brand and again, I encourage folks, , jump in water high dot com I think you're going to love it. Like I do. It is such a clever, unique and just wonderful  

brand and unique artwork. Um, can I want you to kind of mentioned one, one more thing? No, no, you're done. Okay. Go ahead. One last thing is in the future.

[00:38:56] Because there was a question Mark from a seasonality standpoint, is this a seasonal [00:39:00] brand? Yes. Look for a mountain height to come. Uh, yes. That's another thing that's in the works. . And that I love the water high stuff, but growing up as our farm boy in Nebraska, w we were nut. Anywhere near water.

[00:39:15] The only water I saw was shooting out of a irrigation spicket, but the mountains. So that, that, that there are mountains in Nebraska. My wife won't be the first that kicked me. Like, what are you talking about? Right. You know, we can get to Colorado and go see I'm out pretty easily. And yeah, I love, I love the mountain high concept as well, so.

[00:39:34] Good. Good. All right. Well, Dave, thank you so much for being on the show. It's been great. Great, great to learn about water. Hi. Thank you, Randy. Appreciate it. It's been fun. Yeah. Everything you get going. I know I'm going to wish you the best success, but I know it's, it's, it's there for you. It's a great concept.

[00:39:50] You have. All right. And again, check out a water high and all of the great stuff. Water high.com. And that's the ballgame folks. [00:40:00] Thanks for joining us today. If you liked our show, please tell your friends subscribe and of course hit. That review. We'd love to hear from you. And we'll see around the ballpark.

[00:40:13] Running the bases with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital marketer, a digital marketing agency, committed to client growth with lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today@thirtyeightdigitalmarket.com.