After spending a few seasons exploring, trail running, and swimming throughout the raw, rugged landscapes of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, Katie quickly realized her future would be forever changed.
I think it's important that I highlight this first, because it has absolutely nothing to do with what we're going to talk about today. I actually have a college degree, like many, but I have it in music. So I was actually a music educator for a very long time, and I do every so often teach music lessons. I have a couple of students that I've been teaching since they were like four … and I play piano. So, I come from a music education background technically in schooling, but I've done all kinds of stuff.
I don’t like being told I can’t do it, or “you shouldn't do this because you don’t have a degree in it.” Blah, blah, blah. If I did that… If I took that advice, I would have made $0. It’s not like I’m hiding [this background]. It’s more just that it’s part of my personal life versus professional life at this point. I have a piano in my house, and I sing, and write
Katie wearing one of her beanie designs
My brand, Aldri Sur, is absolutely inspired by my other part of my life, which is my athletic career. I was a triathlete for a really long time. People ask me, “how did you get into doing Triathlons? Were you always athletic?” I was not really athletic. Growing up, I was not on the track team. My parents didn't put me in swimming lessons, although we had a pool so I learned to swim from infancy. They threw me in with some floaties. I really love being outside.
My family went camping all the time. I'm from a semi-rural part of Northern California in Sonoma County, so outdoor stuff was always really fun. And, the brand that I've built is for that. It is for people who just want to get outside. They don't have to be athletes like I was or am, but just definitely stuff that's meant for you to be outside versus inside.
What do I want to have manufactured? That happened a year and a half ago, so today I don’t make most of my stuff by hand.
So that's the crazy inception story of the brand. The branding Aldri Sur is a separate story. It's actually Norwegian. It's a Norwegian phrase, “Ut på tur, aldri sur!”. It’s a rhyme, and it means when you're outside you can't have a bad day. It literally means “out on a hike, never sour, Aldri Sur.” So that's the feeling. Getting outside, having a good time.
I needed to do something. I'm so lucky that no one in my family has died of COVID-19. We weren't harmed in that way. But as an athlete who spent all my time outside - like hours and hours and hours needing to be outside on a trail or in the ocean to accomplish my training -, when the pandemic first happened in Los Angeles, we weren't even allowed to go on the trail. They shut them down for a few months, and we weren't allowed to go to the beach. I absolutely needed to do something creative inside.
Before I chose the branding Aldri Sur, I had come up with the name Aldri Sur just to give it a name. I had to get a domain to sell the stuff online. So one of my other sub companies I have has the word Tri Life in it (going back to my Triathlon career). So Tri Life is something I use a lot on social media, so I called them Tri Life Tubes, the neck gaiters. So the difficulties were absolutely just getting people aware that these were for sale.
I think probably most companies’ problem is getting traffic. I had a little bit of an easier time because I already have a social media following that's pretty active. So those people have been awesome in helping me get things off the ground. But it's still a huge struggle. How do you get people to know that you're making amazing things or how do you teach someone what Aldri Sur means if they're not Norwegian? Just getting the message out to the masses was the number one problem.
You can read in a book or take a marketing class. I definitely did rely a lot on researching what other people had done versus looking at a textbook or something. So I went to competitors or what I assumed would be brand competitors or brands that I thought were similar that I'd like to be like, and I would spend hours and hours and hours just looking through their website, looking through their blogs and social media, looking at ambassadors that they have for their brand, noticing how they did their product descriptions, where do they ship to, what are their materials made out of and just becoming an expert about their things and then looking at that and making a choice for me.
Do I want to have an ambassador team? Do I want to do email marketing the way I'm noticing this brand is doing. And I've learned you can write down what you want and what you think is going to go well, but you have to test it. So I'm a huge believer in actually using my social media following. A lot of them are my friends and fellow athletes, and I just directly ask them, "do you like this? Would you respond well to this? Is this something you want or don't want?" And I just take their direct feedback and I put it into action because for now, this is my first marketing pool, my first customer base, so the products do need to fit their wants.
I do have a lot of mentors and friends who've given me tons of advice about my business in general and ways to handle money. But for this particular route of going into manufacturing and retail, I'm just doing it. I was actually on my computer last night, way too late at a coffee shop, trying to plan something minor - like getting some Facebook Ads up for different photos and testing which ones I want -, and I kind of just shut my laptop at some point because it was getting too late and I was very burned out from having to make creative decisions.
But then again it's a test. I’m asking: does this ad work? I don't know if it's going to work. So I thought, “I don't even know if this is going to work. I'm going to go to bed.” I shut the laptop and just slept on it. So for now, I'm a small business. I'm kind of a one woman show, and I am still very much figuring it out. But, it's good. It's a journey.
Peaks Trucker Hat
Branding: So from conception of the branding, I actually spent a really, really long time on purpose in development of the idea behind the logo and actually picking the name Aldri Sur. I knew I wanted something that was Scandinavian, because I'm ethnically part Scandinavian. I have spent a lot of time in Sweden doing races, and the culture wants to be outside. So I knew that I had to do something that involves this sentiment. I'd write down all these names. I’d ask, “Do I want it to be in English or another language,” and I would ask friends to read the word out loud just to see if they could even pronounce it. And that took months. Then I also wanted to consider it for trademark purposes. I wanted to pick something that was pretty sound, so that also went through another round of approvals.
Logo: The logo. Oh, my gosh, the logo took forever, too, because I knew I wanted my logo to be very memorable. I wanted it to be something people really wanted to actually have on their clothing, and not just think it’s a cool thing. I want them to think, “I know that brand.” I wanted them to see the logo and say, “I want to wear that on myself.” That's a huge endeavor. So I'm really pleased with it. There are a lot of Norwegian roots in the countryside. There are these rustic plants, moss and such (they grow on the top, and they are just full of character.) They're really hardy. They withstand snow storms and rain and sun.
Product: When that was done, designing natural products felt super easy because I had done all the work. I picked all the branding colors. I had picked the feelings. I wanted the product to give people the messaging of fun, outdoors, and positive vibes. So now fast forward to making a product. We just launched a very small collection of hats, and I wanted the hats to fit my audience. A lot of the people that currently are supporting me are athletic in some way, so we did a performance space hat where you needed to have holes for air flow and moisture. It needed to be comfortable and adjustable, because I do have about half and half male female customers at the moment. So I learned the hard way back in the days of neck gaiters that men have bigger heads and necks usually. And so a lot of the stuff I would make wouldn't fit them because I'm making it to fit me. So that's also tangible feedback.
Production: Another little secret is my current full time work that I also do, in addition to this company, is sort of lightly involved in manufacturing. So I actually help launch brands for other people, such as influencers, celebrities, and others of the like. I work with a company that does that. I'm very lucky that I had some manufacturing connections through them, but it was still the process of vetting, because there's a lot of manufacturers in the world, especially who can make a hat, and I needed to ask: are they the ones that can give me the best price? Are they the ones that can give you good quality that you're looking for? What do you have to negotiate? What are you going to settle on? And something I think for anyone that's looking to manufacture something at the beginning and you don't have a lot of capital. It is a big negotiation. In theory, the factories want you to make as much as possible because that's a lot of money for them, but you might not have $500,000 to drop on your first line. I don't have great advice about how to find a good manufacturing connection, but I do think just research and talking to people, even maybe reaching out to someone who has made something you want to make already and just asking them if they would be willing to give you a phone number and email and start from there.
I have asked myself that as well. I end up doing this thing in life, which is I want to do something new and fun. I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to jump in and do it and then I'm doing it. And then it's like, “Do I want to be doing this?” I ask myself that question. So I did that the other day. I went, alright, you're doing it. You're selling stuff. You designed this. You built a brand. I do want to keep doing it, especially because I just love the brand itself, the meaning behind it.
I am someone who thinks maybe I shouldn't be saying this is someone that's manufacturing products, but we maybe have a little too much stuff in the world at the moment. There's a lot of stuff being made and used and maybe not recycled or it's going to a landfill. I had to make some compromises with my first launch. I really, really wanted everything to be made from recycled materials or to be super sought out where it could last for 50 years and you never have to buy another one. That unfortunately takes a lot of money. Some of my hats are made from 100% recycled polyester. I use compostable bags when I was able to financially afford that. My whole goal moving forward is any money that's being made is going straight back into the business to figure out how to be more carbon neutral. I want to work with carbon neutral factories and make sure that all the materials are recycled or some.
To give a shout out to a brand that I cannot compete with at the moment: Patagonia. They have programs where you can return Patagonia items and then somebody else can buy your Patagonia jacket that was lightly used. So you're not producing another jacket into the world. I would love to get to a place where my company does that also. So that's the goal for the future.
It's part of my work. I'm up at 04:45 a.m.. 05:00 a.m.. To do training. So this morning I did an ocean swim and then I did a run and then I went straight home, showered, and then I'm into work calls with this manufacturing job. 09:30 a.m.. And I work until like seven or 08:00 p.m.. And because a lot of manufacturing is done in Asia, the time zone difference for me is really drastic. So I'll have to be in meetings on calls at 09:00 p.m. Though, I said I'm an athlete, so I can't do that. So hopefully the work is done at ten and then marketing, branding, photo shoots, replying to social media stuff. All of that has to happen in the middle of the day. So I have to get the training done in the morning or it doesn't happen.
I'm fortunate that I've woven my passions of training and being outside into literally the essence of the job. So in theory, if I don't go train and take that time for myself, my brand fails because then I'm an imposter sort of. But I know most people that's not the case, and they could not go for their run and it won't matter to their work. I think if you start to feel like you hate everything... like you're tired and you don't want to do literally anything on your list that day...you probably have to make a change.
I don't like being told what to do. I am told what to do about half the day in a really nice way. But being an entrepreneur, even though you're left out to drive, your making the choices and if they go well or don't go well it's on you. At least I get to tell myself to do it. So that's a huge benefit.
It is a little lonely now that it is compounded with work from home. The pandemic is bittersweet, but I can get a lot of stuff done on a phone call or from my home office via email. So in a way, I wish I could be an entrepreneur with other entrepreneurs in an office, which is basically what a co-working space is. So maybe that will change. Maybe I'll get to collaborate more with other people that are in a similar space and have more lunches, go to conventions, things like that.
Biggest piece of advice is you do need to have a connection to the brand beyond wanting to make money, because I think at some point, even if you're making money, it can get really hard and frustrating if you don't have any other reason to be doing what you're doing. I could easily see people getting burned out and that’s what they say about investment bankers. Congrats you're making a lot of money and you also hate what you're doing each day. So kind of what's the point? You don't need to take the long branding process that I did. And hey, maybe even my branding process is short. I'm sure companies take years sometimes to develop their brands, but I think really thinking about what you want your brand to be and enjoying that is important.
It's part of my work. I'm up at 04:45 a.m.. 05:00 a.m.. To do training. So this morning I did an ocean swim and then I did a run and then I went straight home, showered, and then I'm into work calls with this manufacturing job. 09:30 a.m.. And I work until like seven or 08:00 p.m.. And because a lot of manufacturing is done in Asia, the time zone difference for me is really drastic. So I'll have to be in meetings on calls at 09:00 p.m. Though, I said I'm an athlete, so I can't do that. So hopefully the work is done at ten and then marketing, branding, photo shoots, replying to social media stuff. All of that has to happen in the middle of the day. So I have to get the training done in the morning or it doesn't happen.
I'm fortunate that I've woven my passions of training and being outside into literally the essence of the job. So in theory, if I don't go train and take that time for myself, my brand fails because then I'm an imposter sort of. But I know most people that's not the case, and they could not go for their run and it won't matter to their work. I think if you start to feel like you hate everything... like you're tired and you don't want to do literally anything on your list that day...you probably have to make a change.
I don't like being told what to do. I am told what to do about half the day in a really nice way. But being an entrepreneur, even though you're left out to drive, your making the choices and if they go well or don't go well it's on you. At least I get to tell myself to do it. So that's a huge benefit.
It is a little lonely now that it is compounded with work from home. The pandemic is bittersweet, but I can get a lot of stuff done on a phone call or from my home office via email. So in a way, I wish I could be an entrepreneur with other entrepreneurs in an office, which is basically what a co-working space is. So maybe that will change. Maybe I'll get to collaborate more with other people that are in a similar space and have more lunches, go to conventions, things like that.
Biggest piece of advice is you do need to have a connection to the brand beyond wanting to make money, because I think at some point, even if you're making money, it can get really hard and frustrating if you don't have any other reason to be doing what you're doing. I could easily see people getting burned out and that’s what they say about investment bankers. Congrats you're making a lot of money and you also hate what you're doing each day. So kind of what's the point? You don't need to take the long branding process that I did. And hey, maybe even my branding process is short. I'm sure companies take years sometimes to develop their brands, but I think really thinking about what you want your brand to be and enjoying that is important.