Austin DeBlauw was given an opportunity to help grow a US eyeware manufacturer. It would mean creating more jobs and putting more US-made products on the market… but it would do no favors for his budding sprint car career. The growth opportunity, which would include a move from California to Illinois, came just as Austin was in position to wrap up a sprint car championship. … [Read more...] about The Cost of Opportunity: Austin DeBlauw Reinvents His Sprint Car Career
Funding Dreams with Other Plans
There's nothing like a story with a little musical accompaniment, courtesy of Nether Land, the band you're about to read about. Here's "Keep On" cued up for you! “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans,” is a quote made popular by John Lennon; it applies to another musician you probably haven’t heard of: Joe Willis. Maybe you don’t know his work, … [Read more...] about Funding Dreams with Other Plans
That Tarahumara Sandal Photo
Barefoot Ted AKA Ted McDonald, is an extreme runner who started a sandal company but often runs barefoot. But this story is not about running, or footwear, or the Rarámuri tribe that still lives mostly in traditional ways in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. This story is about this photograph. In his travels and quest for footwear that ultimately led Barefoot Ted to create … [Read more...] about That Tarahumara Sandal Photo
Briefcase Malfunction
Before 2007, Tom Sega was a sales and marketing man in the paper, pulp, and paper manufacturing machinery business for over twenty years, and he traveled a lot. “For my complete career I've been a road warrior. I had traveled, some years, 30 weeks a year; and when you travel that much you get pretty particular about the gear you carry whether it's a briefcase, an overnight bag, … [Read more...] about Briefcase Malfunction
Three Men in a Tub: A Fishing Story About the Weather
When you’re on a canoe fishing trip up in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota and several portages from home, a change in weather can really throw you for a loop. Grant Sega knows first hand. He’s now the Vice President at Spring Creek Manufacturing after his family purchased the company in July of 2017. But a few years before that he was a customer, and he’s glad he was. … [Read more...] about Three Men in a Tub: A Fishing Story About the Weather