It's commonly well known that people with "founder" or "entrepreneur spirit" are already crazy to begin with. Who in their right mind would take money out of their own pocket or max out a credit card to start a business with some hair brained idea? I am that person who usually bites off more than he can chew and I purposely throw myself into difficult situations just to see what I can learn from it.
Recently, I've been learning about project management and agile methodology. Being agile means you iterate over your business model and your products over and over and over again while constantly making changes. These changes are hopefully improvements.
I started out enthusiastically wanting to include a philanthropic arm and give back to environmental and conservation efforts. My realization is that I'm making the fledgling business too complicated and maybe accidentally too political. I sincerely hope a future iteration of Dry Peaks can include a charitable foundation or service projects, like, volunteering to maintain or repair some of the trails we dearly love. Meanwhile, staying true to my word, I have donated a modest amount to the USA National Forest Foundation, which was a little more than 10% of profits since September 2022.
Moving deeper into product development I have my hands full searching for partners who utilize sustainable manufacturing processes and recycled materials. Climbing mountains while creating social media that inspires and uplifts also takes energy. This will be our refined focus and our mission going forward. ~Clark 🙌🏻