It Takes..... a Community! (October Newsletter)

Well, we had a stormy, 1 day, Fall season, and now we are back to idyllic San Diego…with rain scrubbed clear blue skies and a sunny blue ocean. For the most part, the SDSI business community is doing well and life is somewhat comfortable.

Unless you are homeless. There are 20,000 of us, “neighbors” as Father Joe noted. Each a human tragedy of some scope and scale. Shockingly, the population of unsheltered people has grown over 70% during the pandemic. The City, county and State are doing what they can, but the pace is slow.

Pat and Stephanie Kilkenny, long-time supporters of SDSI, have turned their energy and philanthropy, through their Lucky Duck Foundation, to address the challenges head on, now, not years from now. The LDF has erected the large tent structures you see down-town that house 300 plus people a night. LDF is approaching 1 million meals served to the needy.

At the SDSI Board of Director meeting Oct 26, Pat presented their winter “jacket” program, clever jackets that roll into a sleeping bag, providing warmth day and night. These jackets are built in a homeless industry and cost $125 each. LDF will distribute 3,000 jackets this winter.

I am happy, proud, to report that with Chairman Bill Walton and John Sarkisian’s leadership the SDSI Board of Director members pledged $22,800, enough for 182 jackets! Its really a great start, but it is a just a start. You can help too by clicking here (Luck Duck Foundation) and making a pledge of any amount. If you are going to forego the company Holiday party this year, why not consider donating the funds to the Luck Duck Foundation?

“Community” encompasses us all, fortunate and less so. We can all do better to help those who need it.

-Bob

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What Exactly does SDSI do? (September Newsletter)

This is the most frequently question I get. I have struggled with all kinds of responses. Recently our friend and member Daniel Lozier at Primary Funding Corp posed a few questions like this to Renne Catalano Gussman. Her complete interview is here

But let me share a few answers from someone who really gets it…Renne:

"My name is Renne Catalano Gussman and I am the Director of Business Development and Membership Services. I have the greatest job in the world because I get to work with our community of Sport Active Lifestyle and Healthy Living business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs to help them reach their goals and their businesses thrive."

Can you please tell us more about SDSI? What does the organization do?
"SDSI is a nonprofit focused on making San Diego the capital of the Sports, Active Lifestyle, and Healthy Living (SAL) community. We have created a business community of entrepreneurs, founders, community, and business leaders to support the growth of the SAL industry. The consequence of our community is the San Diego Lifestyle we all live and love. Our community is comprised of 125 member companies and nearly 100 volunteer Mentors. We work with companies of all sizes including young companies that are just getting started, to larger companies like Sun Bum, Taylor Made, Reef, Sony, Padres, and everything in between. We talk a lot about the power of community and SDSI exists to harness the collective knowledge and resources to the benefit of our members and the industry. More specifically, we offer programs and services that facilitate knowledge sharing, executive learning, cross-vertical collaboration, and business mentoring."

What else would you like people to know about SDSI?
"Our people are what makes SDSI so amazing. We are a community of individuals that all care deeply about San Diego, our Active Lifestyle, and supporting one another in reaching goals. It’s an eclectic group – that is for sure – that is overflowing with deep industry experience, knowledge, and the willingness to share those experiences to help others make fewer mistakes. Our mentoring programs are possible due to the dedication of nearly 100 executive-level mentors that donate thousands of consulting hours each year… Incredible! And all this happens within the realm of Sports, Active Lifestyle, and Healthy living… it doesn’t get much better than that!"

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Views from the Bus: Episode 9, Tradian Maier of EarPro

In this episode of the Views From The Bus podcast, Bob Rief is joined by Tradian Maier, Founder of EarPro. Many surfers and water sports participants have a common issue of Surfer’s ear, a condition that causes blockage of the ear canal. Tradian caught Bob’s attention when he applied to the SDSI Accelerator Group with a solution for Surfer’s ear. Listen to Tradian and Bob discuss the importance of ear health and how SDSI teamed up with EarPro to launch their product successfully in the United States. 

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

2:40 – How diving enlightened Tradian on the issues of Ear Health: “I used to work in the scuba industry, down in Asia and people were paying a whole bunch of money to actually do four to five dives a day. And where actually the issue first came up to me was when we had guests sitting out basically every single dive trip because of ear problems.”

5:00 – How does Surfer’s ear develop: “It’s basically a problem that when water goes into the ear and gets stuck in. It’s important to say water in the ear in itself is not really an issue I’ve learned. The problem is when you go in and you get a little bit of water that actually sticks there and you cannot get out. And that’s where really the issue starts. Even the swimming pool water will have bacteria in it and those bacteria, if the water sit in the ear where it’s a moist, warm environment, the skin is getting a bit soggy. That’s a perfect way actually for the bacteria to enter the body.”

8:00 – What is Surfer’s ear?: “The bone starts actually to grow out and make the ear canal smaller and smaller, which means that water gets trapped easier and easier…as the ear canal gets smaller and smaller a lot of surfers experience more and more ear infections because the water doesn’t manage to drain out from the ears.”

10:30 – The problems with ear plugs: “You can just imagine trying to force the kid for the full summer to where your ear plugs. It’s going to be a very hard sell.”

“They are definitely not cool. The problem with kids in ear plugs. Let’s say you managed to wear them. Obviously they don’t hear you. So if you scream or you try to get them back on shore or whatever, that’s also gone at the same time. So it’s really not an ideal solution.”

15:45 – EarPro’s solution for ear health: “If we use a highly hydrophobic or water repellent oil that will coat the ear canal. So think they call it the ‘Lotus effect’ or think when you wax your car and see how the water actually runs down the newly waxed car. That will do the same thing with the inner ear and water drops, the water molecules don’t have a way of actually getting stuck to the surface of this.”

“We worked together with a professor at the University of Berlin whose specialty was Natural oils and their anti-infective properties. We realized that the oregano oil was something that was actually already researched that kills off the full bacterias on two fungus that are causing your infections.”

26:00 – How SDSI accelerator group helped EarPro: “This has been above and beyond actually what we could even imagine. So in four months we went from absolutely nothing to have an absolutely huge support network. Thanks to Bob, but also thanks to some other, really, really heavy hitters within the SDSI network we did a very successful launch, even though COVID hit we did a launch during COVID, but even, so we have really taken off in the US both online and also with the reps in the specialty stores.“

Mental Olympics? (August Newsletter)

Pretty amazing Olympics. San Diegans scored big time… skate, BMX, volleyball, golf, surf… to name a few… so awesome to see the local Sport and Active lifestyle industry have such success. No doubt, the visibility of “action sports” on the worldwide screen will fuel demand well into 2022.

But, it occurs to me that the ultimate Gold Medal should be awarded for honesty and courage… and the winner is Simone Biles. The drama that unfolded was so very revealing and personal, and admirable. This diminutive, 4’8" world class female, GOAT, showed us all how fragile our mental fitness can be, and how destructive as well. Watching it all unfold was heart wrenching, and it reminded me that as a sport community, we need to talk about mental fitness and do all we can to remove the stigma that asking for mental help is somehow “weak.”

I decided to seek some guidance and contacted Rob Haskell from Surf Cup and Ami Belinoff and Brian Alexander, co Founders of Well U, an app designed to help world class athletes manage their mental fitness. These three and their organizations have a direct line to peak of the pyramid athletes (and their parents, a whole ‘nother issue). The bottom line is simple: athletic performance and mental fitness are stacked one upon the other; the sum of the parts greatly exceeds the basic metric of performance in any particular sport. Naomi Osaka springs to mind. She too can beat the best, but dealing with external pressure brings on depression and anxiety, readily apparent to the world. Naomi is another courageous Gold Medalist!

There is no space here to dive deeper, but let me say on behalf of SDSI, we are dedicated to making mental fitness a critical part of our vocabulary and advocacy. Life is a journey. Mental fitness is key to happiness, long after you have run your last mile, caught that last wave or spent your final season on your favorite sport.
-bob

“It's important to remember: you start out a kook, and you will end up a kook. Do it gracefully.” -Skip Frye

Read the full newsletter here

Good Changes Coming (July Newsletter)

Guest writer Nick here filling in for Bob this month. The news on the SDSI front is that after eight incredible years of working with/for/alongside truly amazing people, the next chapter is upon me, and it is time to move on. All this means for the average newsletter reader is that you’ll soon get a new and improved author and life will go on. For those that are more active with the organization, the members and mentors, it means my responsibilities will be passed along to someone else in the near future. I owe all of my professional and personal growth over my tenure to SDSI and its stakeholders/constituents, and I will remain forever grateful for this terrific opportunity that led to so many good things in my life!

I cannot thank everyone enough for the amazing memories I have made and the countless connections to such a welcoming, friendly, and downright cool bunch of individuals. A special shoutout to Bill and Lori Walton for being the best two people in San Diego (perhaps the entire World?), our Industry Chairman John Sarkisian, and the people that I have been privileged to work with on a daily basis: Bob, Renne and Dana!

While I’m not exactly sure what is next for me, I figured a little shuffle up would be the best way for me to get onto whatever may be on the horizon (fingers crossed that it’s not an early midlife crisis.) This intro may be a little premature as you all are still stuck with me for another(ish) newsletter until the new-and-improved author takes over. Thank you to everyone again… Onward, upward!
-Nick

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL NEWSLETTER

Peace of Mind (June Newsletter)

Well, dear readers, I remain on my soap box regarding Cyber Security: it is an existential threat to every business, big or small – especially if you are selling direct to consumer! Yes, I know that you are:
a. Too busy
b. Too overwhelmed by the topic to “look” into this
c. Too small to attract the attention of a cyber thief
d. Too lucky to have anything happen to you

Maybe you are just in denial! SDSI is a business development organization. We feel that cyber security is the biggest risk to our collective businesses, and that no excuse to avoid mitigating the risk is good enough. The time for action is now.
a. 68% of small businesses have no disaster program
b. 56% have no cyber security measures
c. 60% of cyber attacks result in a failed business.
Add in the fact that most SDSI members have had a substantial increase in D to C transactions, with cyber risk rising in direct proportion to the increase….

If you want to know a little more, click here for our youtube channel. Gain some peace of mind!

bob

View the full newsletter here

Views from the Bus: Episode 8, Justin Gardner of BLDG Active

In this episode of the Views From The Bus podcast, Bob Rief is joined by his friend Justin Gardner, CEO and Founder of BLDG Active Skin Repair. BLDG Active Skin Repair is 99% effective against all bacteria, including the complex bacteria that you find in the ocean. And here’s the big news…it does not sting. BLDG Active uses the same molecule that your white blood cells produce and is able to replicate the same immune response that your body’s creating to help fight off bacteria and help heal. Justin is a very progressive thinker, very fast to pivot, and uses a very contemporary digital marketing plan that has allowed him to navigate the pandemic and come out with a stronger brand.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

4:45 – How BLDG Skin Repair Works: “Is it using the same molecule that your white blood cells produce? So we’ve been able to replicate the same immune response that your body’s creating to help fight off bacteria and help heal that skin damage too. You’re killing off that tough to kill bacteria, but you’re also helping reduce the inflammatory response your body’s having. So it’s going to help heal that abrasion or irritation quicker. We are able to recreate that molecule through electoral insulation of salt and water.”

“You’ve got something that’s natural, non-toxic and much more safe for the environment and safe for use.”

9:30 – Why BLDG didn’t go to a ‘Big Box’ pharmacy and go into specialty retail: “Not only are you going into a dusty category, but you’re launching a new technology, which requires education. So we just didn’t think we could expect that consumer to understand and read a box and educate themselves. So we knew we needed to have an educational component to it.

We took, kind of a playbook from the GoPros of the world and we said, let’s go into specialty retail. Let’s educate the store employees and let’s go into the specialty retail where we’re authentic.”

13:40 – Financial benefits of selling direct to consumer: “We were very cognizant of cash flow and inventory. It allowed us to scale faster to be able to realize that cash and be able to see a return on investment so quickly. It allowed us to just significantly reinvest that capital quicker, which just is going to compound. And actually, in my opinion, allowed us to see a significant increase in sales because of how quickly we were able to realize that return on investment.”

15:40 – Launching products into Amazon and working on your reviews: “You really live and die with your reviews. So thankfully our product, because it does work so well, it reviewed really well. Getting those reviews to a meaningful number, only one to 2% of your customers are going to leave a review.”

18:00 – BLDG’s relationship with natural product influencers: “It really felt like a natural fit for these influencers to really educate their followers on our product and that significantly changed the volume that came into our website. So once we really started to understand that influencer model and be able to scale that traffic to our website, is really what built that e-commerce business for us.”

19:30 – How BLDG coordinated influencer marketing: “We just built a list and we went at it just by reaching out through Instagram to some of the influencers that we identified as being really authentic that had strong engagement. We would do meetings a lot and I would, as a CEO and founder, talk about how we started the company. I would give them a backstory on the brand. I’d also give them medical journals and I’d say, listen, this is way more complex than your followers want to know, but I want you to understand the science. You can feel very good about endorsing this product.”

25:00 – How BLDG handles influencer marketing: “So we have a hybrid model. Sometimes we’ll pay for the post itself. Sometimes we just do an affiliate so that there is a percentage of sale. We use a backend system called Refersion.”

33:51 – How Justin became nimble in business: “If you’re not embarrassed of your first product launch, you launched too late. We went out to market really naive.Our messaging has evolved a lot. We’ve gone through three different rebrands, we’ve taken paragraphs and now got them down to four bullet points. You know, we just keep cutting, cutting, cutting, and really figuring out what’s connecting.”

June 15, 2021: CA Reopening (May Newsletter)

June 15th, just around the corner, what does it mean? Back to the… future? Back to the office or… work at home…? School…? Well, time for the next Chapter of the Covid saga. One thing is for sure: we cannot move forward without remembering the sacrifices families made and the Herculean efforts our first responders put forth to meet this tragic event head on. “Thanks” seems like a trite and shallow statement, I am hoping that adding “heartfelt” makes our Thank You all the more credible. To really make it credible, make sure you thank all the responders you know personally…soon!

So on to the immediate future, one of critical importance to all of us in the San Diego Lifestyle industry; how transformative will the pandemic experience be? How will it impact my business? My briefest of hopes:
1. Padres, SD Loyal, Gulls bring fans together… Hopefully Golf and Wonderfront Music follow suit. The Seals click in with their new season in December.
2. The event industry… the Convention Center, Airport, Tourism Board, marriages… EVENTS.com… all come back in an avalanche of activity and success.
3. Personal health strategies remain important across San Diego and that the YMCA, Mesa Rim Climbing and all of our gym, yoga and other health oriented venues and business get fully open and flooded with customers.
4. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club brings the Opening Day back, 2 seasons of racing and the best Breeders Cup ever.
5. Our own Surf Cup gets the hundreds of thousands of kids back on the fields of play.
6. Retail, led by Sun Diego, makes a social event out of the shopping experience and that specialty shops across the sports spectrum emerge stronger than ever.
7. And that the “new” work week remains balanced between WFH and WFO, and that the new “free time” continues to drive demand for all the SDSI member businesses.

And finally, that SDSI can return to “real time” meetings and events. We are a business community based on communication…in some ways we are thankful for the Zoom culture, but for me, missing seeing everyone, catching up on the happenings, talking shop, are all a fundamental part of our success. Can’t wait to meet up again!!
-bob

READ THE FULL NEWSLETTTER HERE

Views from the Bus: Episode 7, Guy Kawasaki of Remarkable People

In this episode of Views From The Bus, Bob Rief is joined by his good friend and legendary tech leader Guy Kawasaki. The two talk about Guy’s love for surfing and how he picked the sport up at 60 years old. Guy now has a podcast called Remarkable People that has featured guests like Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Arianna Huffington, Kristi Yamaguchi, and more!  

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

7:45 – Guy’s love for Surfboards: “Some people collect cars, some people collect paintings, some people collect mistresses. I collect boards. I love to buy surfboards.”

11:59 – Guy now only spends time in the ocean: “That’s all I ever do. I would usually spend four to five hours surfing every day, literally every day. I literally never surfed in Hawaii till I was 60.”

16:20 – Taking up surfing: “I fell in love with surfing and believe me, you know, when I do something, I’m either in the whole way or I’m not. So, you know, as they say the difference between a chicken and a pig in terms of dedication to breakfast, well I’m the pig, man, I give my life for breakfast.”

22:40 – Starting surfing at 60: “If you start off at eight and you can get pounded and all that, and you have the rest of your life to figure it out. But if you start off at 60, you need to move things along. So I got a lot of lessons from my daughter’s surf coach, he compressed a lot of learning for me.

29:14 – The Remarkable People Podcast: “I have this podcast called remarkable people and I interviewed remarkable people, such as Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, Arianna Huffington, Kristi Yamaguchi, Vivek Murthy, the guy who’s running Biden’s coronavirus task force.”

30:06 – Meeting and learning surfing from Shaun Thompson: “So we’re in the Apple store sitting at the genius bar to get the screen replaced and this guy comes up to me. He says, are you Hawaiian? I said, no, I’m not. He goes well, but you really look like Guy Kawasaki. I said, I am Guy Kawasaki, but I’m not Hawaiian. I’m Japanese. And then the genius sitting next to me says that’s Shaun Thompson. I said I don’t know who Shaun Thompson is. He’s like the world champion, you know, Kelly Slater of his day. And so that’s how I met Shaun Thompson and he took me surfing and not even Shaun Thompson could get me to stand on a board. That’s how pathetic I was.”

32:00 – The two kinds of naysayers: “I think there are two kinds of naysayers. So one is just a total loser. You know this is like the guy who has never done anything in his or her life but always tries to bring other people down. So I’m a failure. So I’m going to tell you why you’re going to be a failure. So, you know, basically a loser, I don’t think that’s particularly a dangerous bozo because only a loser would listen to a loser. So that’s not the dangerous one. 

The dangerous one is the winner bozo. So the winner dresses in all black, owns a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, famous, you know, millions of followers, all that stuff. So you think, oh this person really knows his or her shit. So if this person says it can’t be done, it shouldn’t be done, isn’t necessary, I should listen to that person. But my observation is half those people are just plain lucky. They aren’t any better than anybody else. So you should not listen to them.”

34:10 – Cash is king during a pandemic: “I think that cash is king right now. In good times you can sort of worry about your image, right? That you want to be presented and positioned and perceived as this high-end exclusive brand, blah, blah, blah. Well, I’ll tell you right now in a pandemic, the question is, are you dead or alive? It’s not whether you’re alive and prestigious, it’s are you alive or dead?”

41:20 – Outdoor sports future: “If you look at how well outdoor sports are doing in the worst time with the worst infection and unemployment and all that, you have got to assume in great times, it’s going to be even better.”

Not an SDSI Member? (April Newsletter)

It’s no surprise if you are not (yet) a member. The SDSI newsletter reaches several thousand readers monthly… SDSI’s company membership is 112, so the likelihood is that you are an interested reader, but not a member or not directly involved.

At the same time, I suspect many readers have pondered and questioned, “what exactly is SDSI and why should I care?”

Well, we are a non-profit business development organization. Our focus is on the “Sports, Active Lifestyle and Healthy Living Industry.” Its bigger than you think, $5.1B in economic impact just in our home base of San Diego alone, and full of great brands. In addition, SDSI runs a two, twenty week Accelerator programs annually; we have now helped over 112 companies get up and going. So what we do is advocate for the San Diego Lifestyle Industry, create commerce for members and create new companies and jobs.

We hope it goes without saying, that if you or your company is active in the Sport, Athletic Lifestyle or healthy living space, we would be happy to discuss the benefits of membership.

If you or your company provide services to our Lifestyle space, we represent an excellent source of potential clients, click here to learn more.

If you have a wealth of experience and would like to know about our awesome Mentor community, click here.

And finally, if you are an investor and want to link into the Accelerator to get an early look at what’s happening in truly modern new companies, click here

And if you don’t fit in any of those categories above – you’re right where you should be, keeping up on the latest in our industry here in our newsletter and following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

We can say with some modesty, SDSI is a pretty amazing community. It would be even better if you joined us!
-bob

Read the full newsletter here

Views from the Bus: Episode 6, Joe Kudla of Vuori

Joe Kudla, Founder of Vuori, a performance apparel brand with a nontraditional approach to activewear, joins the Views From the Bus Podcast. Vuori is inspired by the Encinitas and Southern California Lifestyle. Their mission is to create products that help people live extraordinary lives. In this episode, Joe shares how Vuori entered the market, and how they survived a few obstacles on the way.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

6:21 – Starting Vuori: “We were so inspired, by this community that we’re so blessed to call home, Encinitas and kind of the way people live their lives here.”

10:24 – Entering the men’s yoga category: “There were like 4 or 5 million people that actually surfed in the United States. And when you compare that to yoga, you know, I think there were 30 million people practicing yoga. 30% of them were men and men were the fastest-growing demographic within yoga participation. And then to second that, there was a stat that said 84 million people would try yoga within the next 24 months. 

15:09 – Being a platform for emerging artists: “We had so much fun in those early days, and we wanted to be a platform for emerging artists in our local community. A lot of them were our friends. And so we had this idea of utilizing art things that were very inspiring to us and things that we look to that inspired the design and the direction of the brand.

18:52 – How Vuori survived running out of money: “Out of necessity we had to find a way to survive and we were running out of money. And so we took all of our last dollars and we focused on an e-commerce effort. It was our last ditch effort to define an engine of growth that we could take back to the investment community to raise a little more money. I’m just so grateful that we made that decision when we did, because it was instrumental in getting us to that next round of funding.

25:19 – How to get into retail: “Go out and build a customer base first and you’ll have a much better shot at not only getting in the door, but also having a more kind of advantageous kind of relationship”

34:35-  Building relationships with factories: “If you have a great relationship with a factory or a group of factories, they can be your series, A, B, and C, and you can build a working capital model that is actually profitable.”

EDC Healthcare Update April 5th

The note below is distributed to Board members of the EDC and provides an excellent snapshot of where we are in nationally, statewide, and countywide in terms of positivity rates, infection rates, and vaccination rates.

Good morning, Board members!  I hope your holiday weekend brought renewed hope and fresh beginnings.  I am forwarding last week’s healthcare update from Sharp, on behalf of our medical organization representatives from Sharp, Scripps, Kaiser Permanente, and Rady Children’s Hospital.  As always, it is our hope that this ongoing information helps to put medical considerations into clearer context in the quickly changing and often confusing landscape of these complex times.   

Feel free to reach out to the EDC Team if you have any questions or if we can be of any assistance.  We appreciate your continued feedback, insight and support.     

Here’s to keeping hope, embracing possibilities and realizing promise for the future.  Have a wonderful week!     

National/International, State, County/City HealthCare Highlights

National/International

·       Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus can travel “at low risk to themselves,” both within the U.S. and internationally, but they must continue to take precautions, such as wearing a mask in public, to avoid possibly spreading the virus to others, according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

·       On Thursday, the CDC walked back comments made in a TV interview by its director, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, suggesting that people vaccinated against the coronavirus never become infected or transmit the virus to others. The public health agency pointed to conflicting data on post-vaccination transmission, noting that clinical trials were focused on the vaccine’s efficacy against hospitalization and death.

·       At least 955 new coronavirus deaths and 77,718 new cases were reported in the U.S. April 1. Over the past week, there has been an average of 65,574 cases per day, an increase of 20% from the average 2 weeks earlier. As of Friday morning, more than 30,562,800 people in the U.S. have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, according to a New York Times database.

State

• More than 30% of Californians, which equates to more than 18 million people, are now at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 — a hopeful milestone that comes as the state dramatically expands who is eligible to receive the vaccine.

• The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the following COVID-19 statistics Thursday, April 1: There were 2,234 newly recorded confirmed cases in the state Wednesday, and the 7-day positivity rate is 1.9%. More statistics are available here.

County/City

• The County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) reported Thursday that nearly 1.89 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to the region, and almost 1.73 million have been logged as administered. This number includes both county residents and those who work in San Diego County. Of those vaccinated to date, over 576,000 county residents, or 21.4% of San Diegans 16 and older, are fully immunized. Other updated county metrics about outbreaks, testing, hospitalizations and deaths are available here.

• Free COVID-19 testing is now available at 3 churches in San Diego County through June 30. A new partnership between the county, the Tabernacle Community Development Corporation and the African American Community Empowerment Council launched today to offer COVID-19 testing at Bethel AME Church, Bayview Baptist Church and Total Deliverance Worship Center. While vaccine distribution is now underway, community-based testing remains a key strategy to reducing coronavirus transmission and mortality. Through this partnership, COVID-19 testing will be more accessible to vulnerable communities.

• Countywide data shows the number of patients with COVID-19 in San Diego County hospitals decreased to 177 Friday, April 2, an improvement over the prior week’s number of 197. The distribution of patients with confirmed COVID-19 is as follows:

o   60 at Sharp HealthCare

o   53 at Scripps Health

o   24 at UC San Diego Health

o   13 at Palomar Health

o   8 at Tri-City Healthcare District

o   7 at Kaiser Permanente

o   6 at Navy Medical Center

o   3 at Rady Children’s Hospital

o   2 at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center

o   1 at VA Medical Center

Views from the Bus: Episode 5, Jeff Kelley of Sanuk

When it comes to legendary brands that reflect the San Diego lifestyle, there’s not many better than Sanuk. Jeff Kelley, Founder of Sanuk, joins Bob Rief in the Views From The Bus Podcast. In the 90s, Jeff started making sandals out of indoor-carpet and the spirit of innovation became the backbone of the brand. Jeff has a rare combination of creativity and sense of humor. We hope you enjoy the episode! 

Podcast Highlights

5:07 – How Jeff Kelly got started in the outdoor business: “I was fortunate enough to grow up in Huntington beach, which was kind of the epicenter of the surfing world.”

8:47 – How the Furreal Sandal came to be: “I decided to start my own sandal company, which I called Sanuk and it means fun in Thai.”

11:55 – Making sandals flexible: “I realized that if I were able to make a shoe on a sandal foot bed, it would be flexible, like being barefoot. It would feel more like walking naturally.”

12:20 – Creating the hang footwear category: “We introduced a line of sandal shoes that hung on racks. Like flip-flops with a tagline that says this is not a shoe, it’s a sandal. And that was the beginning of the whole hanging footwear category. It was the beginning of the whole natural movement motion, which Nike then followed with their free category and everybody in the world jumped on.”

16:00 – How the name Sanuk came to be: “I was looking for a name that was a positive name. And then I was with a friend of mine that was manufacturing jewelry for a home shopping network. On the inside of some of his rings was the word Sanuka nd I asked him what it meant. He said, Oh, it means fun in Thai.”

22:48 – Creating a bike that attaches to a paddle board: “Sometimes you hit bullseyes, sometimes you don’t. I had been working on a bike that you could attach to a standup paddle board. A buddy of mine that started events.com was at my house. And somebody from San Francisco had sent him water bikes and he said, hey JK, I don’t think this guy knows what he’s doing, he’s got a product that’s pretty cool, but I think he needs some help branding.”

Marketing in the Post Pandemic Times (March Newsletter)

Dare we consider this? Are we jinxing ourselves in acknowledging the fact that covid barometers are all indicating a significant reduction in new cases? San Diego County is moving down the infectability scale. Stores are opening again, as are restaurants. Opening Day is April 1… go Padres! Kids are headed back to school. Spring sun is bringing our event industry to life, thankfully.

With respect to all the personal heartache this pandemic has caused, it looks like we are in fact emerging into the new future which looks like… what? Will Work from Home continue in a meaningful way? Will there be inoculation passports? What are employee/employer rights regarding back to work and vaccine mandates? Will ecomm continue to be the spearhead of new consumer habits or will brick and mortar retail be the celebration point as consumers shed their social distancing restraints? Will demand continue to exceed supply? Will all those ships off Port of LA get offloaded?

With so many questions, we’re going to try and tackle them one topic at a time – starting with Marketing in the Post Pandemic Times – an interactive panel discussion presented by SDSI and Group Y. Join us on April 8th to hear from thought leader Guy Kawasaki, along with top SAL industry executives from: Sony (Matt Parnell, Marketing Director), Sun Bum (Cynthia Herrera, CEO), Electra Bicycles (Kevin Cox, President), and BLDG Active (Justin Gardner, CEO) who will discuss how they’re planning for the road ahead. Bring your questions and get ready to take notes! Register to join us here.
-Bob

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Bike For Humanity Free Bikes 4 Kidz Ride

Bike for Humanity, the global initiative co-founded by NBA Hall of Fame Center Bill Walton, joins forces with Free Bikes 4 Kidz and USA Cycling in a collaborative effort to put 1 million underprivileged children on bicycles

Bike for Humanity, the global initiative co-created by Basketball Hall of Fame member Bill Walton, has joined forces with Minneapolis-based Free Bikes 4 Kidz (FB4K) and USA Cycling in an effort to help put 1 million kids on bicycles in the next five years.

The first initiative in this collaborative effort is the Free Bikes 4 Kidz Ride, a socially-distanced virtual bike ride set to take place on Saturday, May 1. Bicyclists can ride their bikes anywhere around the globe to participate, and they can register for as little as $25, the same amount it costs Free Bikes 4 Kidz to put a child on a gently-used and beautifully refurbished bike. And many of those bikes will go to kids who participate in USA Cycling’s Let’s Ride Camps, which are designed to teach kids about bike safety, while providing bikes to many kids who would otherwise not have access to them.

“Together with USA Cycling and Free Bikes 4 Kids, we’re on a mission to give away a million bikes,” said Bike for Humanity co-Founder Tony Finn.

There are several ways to sign-up and participate in Bike for Humanity’s Free Bikes 4 Kidz Ride. Most importantly, you can ride for as long or as short as you choose, so long as you sign up and get out and ride your bike on May 1. For people who simply want to participate, there is no cost required to sign-up and register, however there are multiple options for participants to contribute as little as $25 to Free Bikes 4 Kidz and receive commemorative keepsakes, including official t-shirts, medals and more. There are also VIP experiential opportunities available, as well as chances to register and win great prizes. Riders can visit www.BikeforHumanity.com to register and learn more.

Individuals are encouraged to get out and ride their bikes for as long as they like in an area where they can practice social distancing. Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines continue to recommend a minimum of six feet of social distancing in an effort to stem the coronavirus pandemic. It is CRITICAL to note that Bike for Humanity is NOT a group ride and riding in clusters is PROHIBITED due to the coronavirus.

Free Bikes 4 Kidz (www.FB4k.org) is a national organization that collects used bicycles, rehabilitates them with the help of volunteers, and then gives those bikes away to kids in communities around the country. Since its launch in 2010, FB4K has already given away 100,000 bikes and their goal is to give away 1 million bikes in the next five years. Their method is simple. They collect gently used bikes from people looking to donate them. They then receive donated or low-cost parts from bike manufacturers, and secure qualified bike mechanics to refurbish the bikes. And they then deliver those bikes, with helmets, to kids all across the country.

“We are looking for every child in America without a bike—we see you and we have your wheels,” said Terry Esau, Founder and Executive Director of Free Bikes 4 Kidz.

USA Cycling (www.usacycling.org) is the national governing body for the sport of cycling in the United States and oversees the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclocross, and BMX. With a mission to develop the sport of cycling in the United States at all levels and to achieve sustained international racing success, USA Cycling supports cyclists from enthusiasts just beginning in the sport to seasoned professionals.  

“My first experiences of riding bikes shaped my life,” said Mari Holden, Olympic silver medalist and USA Cycling’s Community Director. “I am excited to be working with organizations who share the same vision of getting more kids to ride. Nothing compares to joy that comes with your first bike.”

Bike for Humanity was launched by Walton and Finn in 2020 during the global COVID pandemic. The duo hosted three events in which more than 5,000 people signed up and rode while raising more than $200,000 for a host of nonprofit partners. Outside of essential costs, one-hundred percent (100%) of all net proceeds will support Free Bikes 4 Kidz. 

For more information, visit www.BikeforHumanity.com

Light, the Tunnel and a GPS (Feb Newsletter)

If appearances can be trusted, it does indeed look like we are at the beginning of the end of this version of the pandemic. The County is merging from Purple to Red. The infection rate is on a decline. ICU availability is increasing. Schools are estimating opening April 12th. Employment is rising. Cares2 support and the State of California business and consumer assistance funds are starting to flow. Home officing seems to be taking root, liberating many people from the average workday… giving time to exercise and get fit. Of course, these are very significant way points.

So, we have the tunnel, we see the emerging light, now we all need the GPS… to navigate the opportunity for those of us whose business is headed for what may be the very best year in memory. Supply chain backups, lower manufacturing output, and new consumer “funny money” are very powerful forces that surely will drive demand above supply well into 2022.

But the recovery is not universal. Our Event based members and their 60,000 employees are not out of the woods. One mission for all SDSI members is to help create pressure on our local leaders to get back safely to outdoor public events. Arizona has the public at PGA events: we need the same at the Open, at Del Mar, at Petco for the new awesome Padres, for the Loyal, for our youth soccer leagues and suppliers, for Wonder Front and their awesome music scene... The pandemic is not over at SDSI til we are all back on track... please help us make it happen. Call or text your local county or city leadership!

bob

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Views from the Bus: Episode 4, Beaver & Pam Theodosakis of prAna

There aren’t too many husband-wife successful entrepreneurs with successful marriages in this business, but Beaver and Pam Theodosakis, Founders of Prana, are really the best example of coming together and creating something that wasn’t there before.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

6:20 – Starting Life’s a Beach: Beaver says, “We made these long shorts and started wearing them around and some motocrossers started liking them and guys on the beach, then spring break hits and millions of kids came to South Florida. So we had this captive audience pretty much and the brand took off.”

9:18 – Biggest lesson Beaver learned in his career: Beaver says, “This one is the most painful, hardest lesson with the most important one.Having honest and frank communications with your partnership and your partners, whether it be, your spouse, your girlfriend, your business partner, whatever it is, creating a forum where you can sit down and air your differences because you’re going to have differences. You’re different people.”

13:41 – Growing Prana without partners: Beaver says, “We grew without any partners cause we didn’t want to be put on a treadmill row at a certain rate, and we didn’t want to compromise the ideals of the brand.”

23:21 – Splitting up roles: Pam says, “Beaver is the marketing master guru in business. He definitely owns that side of the business and I was more the design. So I always put my 2 cents in on the marketing, but not on the financial side, he can do numbers like with his eyes closed and that’s not my specialty.”

26:20 – Having a barebones machine: Beaver says, “It was just running a super lean machine. Turning over money, really only investing in inventory and branding. My desk was a piece of plywood for five years, six years. There was no fancy anything at our place.”

31:30 – Human touch: Beaver says, “There’s something to be said for a live experience for a handshake. Whether we’re selling stuff at a climbing event, whatever, there’s something to be said for human touch.”

32:14 – Working with retailers: Pams says, “It puts you on the map and then it opens so many other doors.”

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Views from the Bus: Episode 3, Tony Finn of Liquid Force

In this episode of the Views From The Bus podcast, Bob Rief is joined by Tony Finn, the Founder of Liquid Force. Tony is one of the most disruptive and unique marketers and is virtually known by everybody in the global world of action sports business. 20 years ago, Bob met the stranger Tony and he is certainly the best example of openness, friendliness, and positive energy of anybody he’s ever known.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

4:00 – Is Tony the father of Wakeboarding?: “It’s actually not true because there were a lot of people wakeboarding before I started Skurfer. What I did do though, was we were the first people to successfully market a board that you stood sideways on behind a boat.”

7:00 – When Liquid Force became an idea: “Jimmy and I just started talking to each other because his red line design boards were actually better designed than mine. They were better than what Skurfer had to offer, but the thing was, he’s an artist and he wasn’t a good marketing person. So I sold a lot more than him, but I always thought his boards were really good. So me and him started becoming really good friends and we were just hanging out one day and we said, dude, we got to make this happen. “

9:29 – From failed marketing class to business: “So I had a marketing class at the time and at San Diego state and I worked super hard on this business plan to create the brand score for and marketed and everything. I made a presentation to my class and my professor said, this is the dumbest idea ever. This will never happen. What is wrong with you?“

14:00 – Wakeboarding vs Water Skiing: “I’d had a very aggressive marketing campaign where we ran ads in water skiing mag. There was no internet then. So I just went straight at the people and then some people would call and be pissed.”

17:21 – If SDSI was available during Skurfer: “if there was a SDSI or I knew some people like you or that I had better mentorship when I was like 22, trying to figure out how I was going to do everything, I could have done a lot better.”

23:40 – Using social media for speed: “Now you have an idea, you put it out in 15 seconds, like everybody knows about it. That’s one of the positive things about social media that you can get your message across like super quick and effectively.”

25:08 – Retailers working with Manufacturers: “Smart retailers know how to get involved with the right brands and they’ll help you promote your brand. And just like I’m telling all the manufacturers, you be nice to your retailers because they can do a lot for you and help them help you.”

28:35 – Developing product for cable parks: “We developed a really super cool product directly for cable parks. So basically it was like a snowboard on the water and that was able to keep them durable and hit all these obstacles. And that was what really grew Liquid Force into the number one brand in the world.”

33:30 – Starting on events.com: “I ended up getting on the advisory board at events.com and working there in the sales and marketing department. And I really, really love it.”

40:18 – Advice for young entrepreneurs: “If you have something cool, make it happen. Believe in yourself, don’t take no for an answer and then be nice. Be nice to everybody, be nice to your customers, and be nice to your competitors. Then just go for it and have fun.”

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Views from the Bus: Episode 2, Bob McKnight of Quiksilver

In this episode of Views From The Bus, Bob Mcknight, former CEO of Quiksilver joins Bob Rief. There has been no brand more legendary than Quiksilver and no founder more legendary than Bob, even though he’s probably going to deny that.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

3:48 – Everyone wants to be at the beach: “About half the world population lives at or near the beach and the other half can’t wait to get there. Which is a metaphor for really meaning that everybody loves to be at the beach.”

4:39 – The beginnings of Quiksiver: “The story of Quiksilver was actually started in Australia by a guy named Alan Green. In Victoria, which is where Bells Beach is. He started making board shorts.”

8:35 – Starting Quiksilver in America: “Everything I learned in business school about doing business plans and cash flow statements and the five P’s and all the business law and all these things would go right out the window. We didn’t do any of that.”

11:15 – Quiksilver’s humble beginnings: “For the first 12 years of our business, we only made three styles of board shorts and a logo t-shirt. It was very easy to manufacture because it was all the same fabric, just multiple colors.”

12:18 – Quiksilver’s extreme growth: “We grew up to $18 million in sales by the time we were 12 years old and we took the company public and then we grew to $100 million in the next year. The public money helped us bring in professionals to help us manage the merchandising, the sales growth, the banking, the finances, accounting, all those skill sets that I knew about from college, but I wasn’t equipped with, so we had to bring in professionals.”

18:08 – Competing against other surf brands: “We always compete with each other in a really friendly environment with all those guys that started all those businesses. Behind the scenes, we’re drinking beers, we’re surfing together.”

22:25 – Including women and girls in the sport of surfing: “Everybody else was totally against it, we used to have debates and arguments in the building about if we do women’s, it’s the kiss of death, we’re going to be out of business in a year.”

47:58 – Importance of strong partnerships: “I’ve just seen so many partnerships blow up over money, ego, and spouses. I have a strong view about. In partnerships you just have to really be careful.

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Views from the Bus: Episode 1, Steve Lake of Sector 9

The SDSI Podcast has Launched! Views from the Bus features candid conversations between Bob Rief and the innovators within our community; exploring their business and - sometimes personal – journeys, and sharing their learnings along the way. This is a “must-listen-to” series for anyone in the Sport and Active Lifestyle Industry to get some insight from those who have “been there, done that” so that you can learn from their mistakes (without making them yourself!)

Our first episode features Steve Lake who founded Sector 9:

5:57 – How did Sector 9 Happen?: “It started with somebody asking us where we got boards and, you know, I’d finally told some guy that didn’t know that we were making them in our backyard for $25 a piece.”

11:45 – Innovating ways to make Skateboards: “We literally made molds out of concrete, which in hindsight, it’s kind of funny and we took big I-beams and made some rudimentary presses and got hand pump hydraulic cylinders to press concrete into skateboards.”

14:30 – Motivation from naysayers: “We weren’t going to be easily stopped, you know? And if it felt right to me and it felt right to them, then in our minds, that must’ve been right.”

19:00 – Handling finances early on: “As my stepdad would say, I was one of the worst kids he’d ever met in math until they put dollar signs in front of it. Then I became a genius.”

22:20 – Starting in the dotcom era: “We were also one of the first 25,000 websites ever on the world wide web, established in 1999.”

25:00 – Making skateboarding for everybody: “Our company in particular never tried to sell a Sector 9 to skateboarders, from day one, our goal was to sell them to everybody else. In that sense, you know, I guess in our minds, we were somewhat freedom fighters for making skateboarding fun and available to everybody.”

34:00 – Moving from regional to global business: “Moving from a regional operation into a global business was the career opportunity of a lifetime.”

39:10 – Working with your friends: “We were able to separate our friendship, be brutally honest with each other, define some lanes.”

40:50 – The business of relationships: “I realized that we were in the relationship business more so than the skateboard business. Anybody today or even 10 years ago could replicate what we were doing, but it was the relationships that we built along the way that. Really that was the foundation for success.”

46:27 – Success is a product of passion: “I think success is a by-product of passion. You know, you’re not going in on Sunday with a smile on your face and happy to see the people you’re working with.”

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