Ep. 532: Breaking Free from Spreadsheets to Handcraft Wooden Paddle Boards - Tony Smith
Adventure Sports Podcast
Curt Linville
4.6 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2019
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s not easy leaving something secure to go after something so uncertain. However, that’s one of the necessary ingredients to have a true adventure. Tony Smith knew that when there was sawdust left in his hair during a work meeting after working on his passion for crafting over a lunch break, it was time to take a leap. He left a stable career to jump full-time into handcrafted wooden paddle boards but gave himself the deadline to try it for a year. With a young family and no real certainty it would work out, the journey of building Jarvis Boards was truly an adventure of a lifetime. Today, 5 years into the adventure, Jarvis Boards is still going strong and getting more and more publicity. Today, we talk to Tony to get a feel for what it was really like to make the leap, the reality of risk when doing what you love for a living, and the highs and lows of growing upon a new and solid foundation.
Enjoy!
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Facebook: @JarvisBoards
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think the biggest thing is just open your eyes to the opportunity set that's out there. |
| 0:06.2 | And yes, it's going to be hard work and yes, it's going to be sleepless nights and difficult |
| 0:10.2 | and all that. |
| 0:10.9 | But I think you kind of owe yourself to at least try. |
| 0:19.6 | This is the Adventure Sports podcast where we talk to athletes, adventurers, and business owners from around the world of adventure sports. |
| 0:27.8 | Whether you're climbing Mount Everest, starting a bike shop, or getting up off your couch to take your kids hiking for the first time, |
| 0:34.5 | we want you to have the motivation and inspiration you need to chase that |
| 0:38.5 | next adventure. |
| 0:40.0 | The Adventure Sports podcast is brought to you by Camp Crate, the leaders in fully planned |
| 0:45.2 | self-guided backpacking adventures, as well as backpacking gear rental. |
| 0:49.9 | You can check them out at campcrate.net. |
| 0:53.3 | Thank you. You can check them out at camp crate.net. |
| 1:09.0 | Although, you know, quitting your job and pursuing your passion full-time is not for everybody, |
| 1:11.8 | it is fascinating to hear from the people who do it, who take it on. You know, it's a challenge, obviously. It's tough. In today's story with |
| 1:17.4 | Tony Smith, he left a very stable career to pursue something not so stable, but, you know, |
| 1:23.3 | he puts it in perspective, you know, as far as how risky is it to do something like that in this country or in this world when, you know, really we do have a lot of safety nets. |
| 1:33.7 | But you're going to really enjoy this episode. |
| 1:35.8 | If you have an idea or something you want to do full time or even part time, he shares a lot of good advice with transitioning away from something stable into a career in the |
| 1:44.7 | outdoors of something, you know, maybe you want to try little by little and see if it builds. |
| 1:51.7 | So, yeah, today's story, well, it's just awesome. I really enjoyed it. And check out his, |
| 1:58.1 | check out jarvis boards.com. They're just incredible, incredibly beautiful pieces of artwork, in my opinion, as you'll hear me say, a lot of times in the show. |
| 2:08.4 | Also, you know, good luck to all our listeners out there who are attempting the tour divide starting today. |
... |
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