When things don't go to plan...

Hey guys,

Things don't always go to plan. We all know that.

They don't necessarily go wrong all the time, but they often take a new direction that well, we didn't plan for.

So in the spirit of things not going to plan, I thought I'd dedicate this founder update to things that have not gone to plan recently at some of our events 😂

You're not going to get that from the big international brands, are ya'!

EVENTS

I have a love hate relationship with events. Mind you, it's 90% love, 10% hate. The things I love are exactly what you'd expect - soaking in the atmosphere, chatting to customers, chatting to runners, chatting to other retailers, cheering on someone who has worked so hard to get to the finish line and building amazing connections.

It's that sip of warm coffee at 6.15am as you stand in your marquee activation with your products on display, watching runners go by as they hustle to get to the start line.

But I can tell you what I hate. Pack down & bump outs. Managing the logistics of a lot of equipment and displays, doing maintenance checks & finding somewhere to store it all.

At an event last year we rocked up and it was unusually muggy and sweaty, which for Victoria is pretty rare at 5am in the morning. This caused a swarm of flies like you've never seen. It's someone's worst nightmare, I'm sure. Head to toe covered in flies.

On top that, the wind was insane. As luck would have it where we were expo-ing was not on grass, and I only had pegs to lock the tent down.

Finally, we were positioned on a decline that I can only describe as a small mountain. I was ready to pack it in and go home. Honestly, I was ready.

Aside from the flies which were a natural phenomenon, the wind was going to make our tent take flight to Tassie.

It was a morning that did not go to plan. There was no relaxing sip of coffee as you watch runners hustle by. No. It was more like an aggressive gag because you just swallowed another fly, as you pan across to the car park to see everyone sitting in their cars to avoid the flies, and horrendous wind.

As we stood there, each aggressively holding down a leg of the marquee so as to not blow away, something happened.

The wind changed. In an instant. And in what I can only describe as a modern miracle, the flies decided that they too, would change direction and follow the wind.

It ended up being one of my favourites events of the entire year.

As is the nature of events, things not going to plan is the plan. That's what happens.

At another recent event, it rained, no it poured from 5am until close of expo. We were drenched, a lot of our gear got ruined, I had to throw out one of our displays within hours of opening, and we packed up in torrential rain, painfully carrying each bit of gear one by one, across the muddy grass to the car parked 200m away.

It's fair to say, it was an event that did not go to plan. We drove home with waterlogged equipment, one less display, some gear that wouldn't make it and some personal trauma to unravel.

These are the kinds of thing I'm hoping to capture more of in my upcoming YouTube vlog series (hopefully not too much though, right?). The first video is launching next week, and you can subscribe to the channel now to be the first to see it: YouTube Channel.

If you feel like easing my trauma from these events, we've extended our RunFrenzy sale until midnight Sunday.

30% off with code RUNFRENZY
Shop here.

Run well,
Robbie

P.S big announcement coming next Tuesday 👀