Entrepreneurs on Wheels
“Learn as many things as you can; you just may need it.” – Eric Snow
What’s it like to be Entrepreneurs?
We are entrepreneurs and we love it. My husband, Mark, and I have lived without collecting paychecks for nearly four decades. Mark parted company with the status of “employee” back in 1981, and we officially became a team of entrepreneurs in 1994.
It was a completely scary time, as I was the manager of a union office that represented social workers and had climbed the ladder rewarded with a good salary and great benefits, including healthcare, dental care, and vision, not to mention a pension and a SEP-IRA. Leaving this job would be like turning off a money faucet.
Starting Out
We were building Mark’s fledgling video business, Crystal Pyramid Productions, and the money I earned at Local 535 was the major funder. I rode my bike seven miles to work every day, then rode back home uphill. And then I worked at home until two in the morning on video production and distribution.
Since Mark and I were so passionate about mountain biking, we had produced several videos on the sport, and were selling them around the world. That meant I needed to type up invoices, package orders, and get VHS videos ready for mailing. I was also writing up press releases and sending them out to publications and potential distributors. It was a lot of work. And that is what entrepreneurship is all about. But it really paid off in ways I will tell you about, further in the story.
Dick Crow on Steadicam videotaping Ot Pi Isern, World Trials Champ, Athens, Greece
A Mountain Biking Travel-Adventure Documentary
In 1993, we embarked on our biggest project yet, an around-the-world mountain-bike travel adventure to nine different countries. Union business, as my old boss, Larry, used to refer to it, is a “trouble business” meaning that every time the phone rang, it would be an irate member complaining about huge caseloads, problems with insurance coverage, and workplace problems. After fielding the “trouble” calls, cranking out newsletters and meeting notices on a printing machine for hundreds of members, keeping the office organized and supporting all the Union reps, then riding seven miles uphill to get home, I then needed to work another eight hours at home, preparing letters and proposals for tourism offices and potential sponsors.
Where in the World?
We “narrowed” the countries we planned to visit down to nine including the USA. We ended up traveling to Canada, Costa Rica, Greece, Switzerland, Wales, Australia, Tahiti and India. It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? It really was, except for all the work that had to along with it.
Most of the time there were three of us entrepreneurs traveling; Mark, me and the cameraman. There was no “grip”. We were the grips. We ran through three different cameramen, as each one eventually burned out from all the heavy lifting and moving and running and jumping and lifting and heaving… Well, you get the picture. We traveled with 900 pounds of luggage, including video equipment, bicycles, clothing and other gear.
Patty Mooney, Ralph Chaney and 900 Pounds of Gear, Vancouver, Canada
I remember when we arrived in Athens, we needed two different taxis to carry the three of us and all our stuff to the hotel. Then when we got to the hotel, we had to drag everything up to our rooms in a teeny elevator which required four trips. And THEN, after getting off on the top floor, we had to trudge the equipment up a final floor with two sets of stairs.
The Endless Summer
Our documentary was an “Endless Summer With Mountain Bikes” and we were a couple of entrepreneurs searching for the world’s most awesome trails. We found some fantastic people who showed us their favorite trails in each country, and riding was a blast. It was the “Take Two’s!” and “Take Three’s!” and “Take Four’s!” that started to take their toll, especially if the scene involved any technical uphill riding. These additional takes usually turned out to be my fault, as Mark could ride just about any challenging piece of trail, but I tended to falter on certain terrain. (In fact, I edited a video highlighting a few of my little crashes in India. I’ll post it here, but only because I win in the end!)
Entrepreneurship
It’s the type of working lifestyle to which many aspire.
And yet they will never have the guts to take that necessary leap of faith to achieve that dream.
I was in the sort of maelstrom that many people around the world are feeling right now – insecure about where the next paycheck is coming from but knowing that I would have to move fast to generate funds, as we were tapped out after having traveled to nine different countries to shoot our our mountain biking adventure-documentary, “Full Cycle: A World Odyssey.”
Generating Business
To generate business, we worked on publicizing our documentary, and it earned a lot of press and won over a dozen international awards. Despite that, it didn’t fit into any niche, meaning that it was never broadcast on television. Both the Travel Channel and Discovery were interested in the concept before we left on the odyssey and sent letters of interest. But when the show was in the can, they had both changed their format and were no longer interested.
I believe this was the first reality show ever produced, because it starred normal everyday Mark and me. My feeling remains that “Full Cycle” was way ahead of its time. Anyway, when sales of our “red-headed stepchild” proved less than stellar, Mark and I decided to take another tack.
Strategizing
Sometimes when one strategy doesn’t work, you have to abandon it and embrace another. But you don’t want to just jump into something without testing, researching, asking questions of experts, and reaching an informed decision.
A new tack presented itself to us. We recognized it and exploited the opportunity. A company called us one day searching for stock footage of mountain bikers. That gave us an idea. We started selling our stock footage from around the world, and eventually added to the collection by gathering footage in other countries, from other producers, and built a library.
Recognize the Opportunity
At this time we continued producing video, only not for ourselves anymore, but clients who needed our video production services.
Thus, after the years of struggle, we created a niche for ourselves in which we could use all our talents, follow our passions and be together.
Wear Lots of Hats
We learned how to “wear many hats” within the video industry. Mark is best as a camera operator and Director of Photography. He also runs the business and is an ace at marketing. He attends lots of networking events and volunteers as President of a local industry group. I have become an editor, shooter, sound technician, web maven, voice over, and sometimes actor. It is beneficial to know as many roles as possible, as it increases the odds on getting work.
Highlights of our career include producing segments for Extra, Oprah and Discovery Channel, as well as an award-winning documentary about homeless combat veterans entitled The Invisible Ones.
“Overnight” Success?
Our success did not happen overnight. It took many years of concerted effort of working for ourselves from the time we each stopped working for someone else.
As I see it, with all the megalithic corporations falling to their knees like those big mechanical creatures on Star Wars, an opportunity arises for those who are savvy and courageous enough to take it. We can create a whole new and unique economy based on bartering time, skills and products that are handmade or hand grown.
It’s time for our communities to come together and work toward that new economy. So “follow your bliss” and start honing your skills. We have ingenuity and creativity going for us. And each other.
On the Move
We would go off to a country or countries for several weeks at a time, then return home where I could earn more money at the union office to finance our next trip. Sponsors did come through, but a major portion of sponsorship came in the form of hard goods – bicycles, clothing, gloves, watches, etc. The union was kind enough to allow me such leeway to travel because I was a great office manager and they did not want to lose me, although I think they sensed I was on the edge of departure.
Steve Langius, Tiria, Mark Schulze and Patty Mooney climb Belvedere, Moorea, Tahiti
So we were constantly on the move, working, traveling, mountain biking, video producing one of the first “reality” shows ever done. It was exhausting.I knew I would not be able to continue in this manner for very much longer. In 1994, as we were finishing production of our documentary, “Full Cycle: A World Oddyssey.” I quit my job at the union and officially turned off the money faucet.
And of course there were nights I would stay awake worrying about how we would make ends meet.
But as time went on, I would discover how taking that leap of faith into entrepreneurship was one of the best life decisions I ever made.
