The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
By Adam Broderick
Editor’s Note: It’s not easy making ends meet in mountain communities that rely heavily on cooperative weather and seasonal tourism. In this winter series, reporter Adam Broderick explores experiences of business owners who live and work in the Gunnison Valley, yet whose work is mostly seen and sold elsewhere.
Some people just can’t shake off Crested Butte no matter how long they stay away. This place affects the soul in ways most elsewhere couldn’t imagine—the jaw-dropping landscape, the caring community, even the fact that we have to work a little harder to stay warm, visit loved ones, and make ends meet. It may not be apparent at first, but once it sets in it becomes a part of life. And it’s a life worth living. A life worth taking pride in.
This week we speak with two professionals who found creative ways to return to the place they’re most passionate about and make a living of it. As with anyone featured in this series, they live here because this is where their hearts are and they’ve chosen to deal with any issues that come as part of that package deal.
Jeff Scott, Re-Think and The Idea Launch Lab
“You’d be surprised that the guy who tunes your skis has a Ph.D. or your server at The Last Steep has a master’s degree,” says inventor-designer-tech guru and all-around fun guy Jeff Scott. And right he is. Interviewing him at his Fourth and Belleview shop in Crested Butte was like teleporting to a mini-Silicone Valley, an unusual feeling in a remote mountain town full of overeducated ski bums. I was impressed with his knowledge of ecommerce sales and search engine optimization (SEO), but his resourceful, inventive side is what really caught my attention.
Scott is the board president of the local KBUT radio station, but those airwaves don’t get as much play outside the valley as the products he’s developed. At some point you’ve probably seen dog collars, townie bikes, or flying discs glowing in vibrant colors against a night sky. Those are Scott’s doing, and they’ve become the foundation of his new creative space, The Idea Launch Lab.
It all started with some friendly competition in the dark. Scott and friends enjoyed playing Ultimate Frisbee after work, so he designed a light-up disc for their night games.
When friends suggested he bring the disc to market, he opposed the idea; it was made strictly for their night game amusement.
A few years later Scott was fired from his job in software development and was curious what to do next. He reached out to a friend in Boulder and the two joined forces to produce more light-up discs. The prototype was improved and an e-commerce website built, and soon afterwards they both refinanced their houses and started making the improved products out of Boulder. One day the owner of NiteIze (innovative LED tools, toys and accessories) walked in with a business proposal. The FlashFlight light-up disc has now been on the market for 14 years. It is made in Denver because that’s where injection-molding needs are met, but Scott lives in Crested Butte.
Scott hails from Dallas, Texas. His brother came to Crested Butte for a college ski trip decades ago and returned to tell his dad how awesome skiing was, and that skis were much more fun than motorcycles. Then in 1974, Scott learned to ski here. The next year, his dad moved the family to Aspen and that’s where he graduated from high school in 1983. “Aspen became the place where the rich went to watch the rich,” he told me from across a table piled with product plans and prototypes. “But dad raised us outside and the wilderness became our church, and I knew I wanted to provide the same for my own kids. My brother and family friends are still on the Aspen side, but the glam factor is too much for me.”
Twelve years ago, he, his wife and two children, now 19 and 21, evaluated their passions and began shopping ski towns. Everywhere they looked they compared to Crested Butte. After building a business and securing royalties from FlashFlight products, they were able to move here. They love skiing and being involved in the wide range of unique, small-town events, and the tight-knit community provides great value for his family.
Scott recently moved the Boulder warehouse to Fourth and Belleview, where 3D printers, laser engravers and other high-tech machines are going in to improve and expedite more local design and development. He built the 3D printer, and even uses it to print additional parts for the same printer. He also handles the e-commerce side of things for NiteIze, and is constantly rethinking ways to add more benefit to the community and the environment.
Scott has a lot going on, so read this next paragraph carefully. The Idea Launch Lab is a part of his company called Re-Think, which he uses to throttle up ideas he’s been sitting on. His original business partner is in the process of retiring, so now Re-Think is picking up where PlayHard, the partnership’s company that developed the FlashFlight disc, is leaving off. Now, Re-Think is essentially the design and development business that builds and pushes products. The Idea Launch Lab formed after the number of NiteIze products, combined with Scott’s other endeavors, began enticing more people to learn how he develops products and brings them to market. Scott has been consulting others for a long time, and The Idea Launch Lab is working on a process to streamline peoples’ ideas and determine if they’re short-term or have real long-term potential.
The SpokeLit, an LED bike-spoke light, was developed on Elk Avenue when Scott wanted better lights on his kids’ bikes. It, as well as the SpotLit, a light-up dog collar accessory, both saw 40 percent growth in the past five years.
He now manufactures LEDs himself, and recently put a parabolic curve in a disc called the Hole-In-One, so the removable LED at the center of the plastic disc sends light out to the edges for greater illumination.
His light-up dog ball was getting better feedback as a light-up lacrosse ball, so he remarketed it for lacrosse and saw 4,000 percent growth the last two months.
He’s currently developing a line of LED camping products for another Colorado-based outdoor products company that incorporate better function, atmosphere, and mood using Bluetooth technology that can be controlled by a smartphone.
His Fat Tire Cruiser Bike is in the works, and will soon allow riders to travel both on and off snow-covered roads.
Outdoor sports and family time take priority over work, but recreation can be considered work for Scott since so many ideas come from playing outside. He just released a new product called the GripLit, which goes on bike handlebars to create a better depth perception for oncoming cars. “I like being able to make an item that provides a safety mechanism and if it’s groovy, all the better,” he says.
Scott is a big proponent of repurposing and recycling materials. Re-Think is a B-Corp company, meaning it’s a for-profit corporation that strives to positively impact the local community and the environment. He also wants to help employ people here, and sees having The Idea Launch Lab incubator space in Crested Butte as a great way to bring new business and create jobs. The main goal is to eventually make everything in the United States, using 90 percent to 95 percent recycled materials, and to retain inventory here in the Gunnison Valley so all order fulfillment and shipping can be done from Crested Butte.
A firm believer in helping other local businesses as well as his own, Scott pushed hard to get the broadband initiative on last November’s ballot. Internet speed at this end of the valley isn’t always reliable and having more options for broadband service is seen as a necessary to many professionals who live and work here. Scott sees Internet speeds as one of, if not the largest obstacle to running a smooth business predominantly online.
“Solving product problems and pains, that’s what we’re doing. We have so much going on right now. I’m spending a lot of time raising money, and I want to improve the manufacturing business so we’re producing in a more conscious way,” Scott says. “How can I offset my carbon footprint? Can we improve by 50 percent post-consumer materials on a product? We’re trying to do everything in Crested Butte the best we can.”
Kris Murray, Child Care Marketing Solutions
Kris Murray never owned a day care or a preschool, so it’s a little unusual for her to have created a business out of something she’s never actually done. “At the end of the day it’s about adding value to the customer experience, no matter what kind of business you’re in,” she says. She saw a niche and she filled it, and doing so allowed her to move back to Crested Butte, the place she prefers to call home.
Her office at the Four-way Stop is undergoing somewhat of a makeover to clear space for a growing business, which in six years has been built into a seven-figure company. Child Care Marketing Solutions is the largest provider of coaching and business improvement services for child care centers and preschools across the world. There are only a couple of other companies or consultants that do what her company does.
Murray has five employees total, with three in Crested Butte, one in Iowa, and one in Denver. Clients are mostly in North America, with a few in Australia and the United Kingdom. Only one current client is local, and that’s Paradise Place Preschool.
Murray says the biggest benefit to basing business in Crested Butte and working remotely is the lifestyle it offers. By her working remotely, the company is not limited. “Truly any of us could live anywhere and still be a cohesive team,” she says. “For me, lifestyle-wise, I’m living my dream by being here in Crested Butte. If I wanted to move to Park City, I could. But I don’t.”
Murray spent her whole life in marketing and advertising. Prior to starting Child Care Marketing Solutions in 2009 she was working with her brother’s manufacturing business in Cleveland, Ohio, where she grew up. She ran the marketing side of his company but wanted a way to do her own thing. In 2008 she noticed that none of the child care services she was considering for her own children, ages three and five at the time, marketed themselves well. During the recession the owner of one place she was considering lost a bunch of clients, so she made a deal to help get enrollment back up in exchange for free tuition. She about doubled the business in 11 months.
Since nobody else was helping the business side of child care services, Murray thought a new service was desperately needed. She spent a lot of time in day cares and preschools, watching from both a mom’s and a businesswoman’s perspective, and understood the customer experience.
It didn’t take long for her to realize how to add more value to that experience. “I found what worked for others and basically modeled that,” she explained. “There are other people who do these types of things for other businesses; real estate, dentistry, trainers in various niches. I determined the key drivers that would help child care services versus a dentist or chiropractor. I started out with webinars and books, and the coaching came later.”
Murray’s first book, The Ultimate Child Care Marketing Guide, has sold more than 2,000 copies in the four years it’s been on shelves. The 77 Best Strategies for Growing Your Child Care Business recently joined her first book for sale on Amazon. Her company now runs what’s called the Child Care Success Academy, with a curriculum and events where people get together and share business insights. She acts as the facilitator at those meetings, offering child care providers proven methods for growing business, attracting clients, increasing profits, expanding to more locations, and improving practices with staff and leadership.
She explains that what her company teaches could apply to any small business. “Really, you could take my Ultimate Child Care Marketing Guide and cross out the words child care and put any other business in and the principles would still apply. I’ve used those same principles to grow this business.”
Murray recently expanded into the non-child care area, adding one client who runs a yoga business. She says it’s fun and fresh to start looking at other niches and also to help other businesswomen. She’s acted as a coach for a handful of local entrepreneurs here in Crested Butte. “I’m proud to add jobs to the valley,” she says. “In 2014 we had two employees and now I’m employing five, and I’m seeking to add another one or two positions in 2016. It means a lot to me to be able to add jobs to the valley.”
Murray has been a fill-in DJ at KBUT radio the past several months. She was a full-time DJ between 1992 and 1997 while also marketing for Crested Butte Mountain Resort, and one of her dreams was to come back and DJ again. Of course, she also missed the skiing, biking, and proximity to nature Crested Butte provides.
“Having lived here in the 90s I was always thinking of how to return some day. In 2008 I visited and started thinking harder about how to move back. In 2012 I made it a reality. I feel blessed to be probably one of the few who is able to live their dream lifestyle.”
Child Care Marketing Solutions is growing about 35 percent to 40 percent annually, but the company still struggles in certain ways, as any company does. Murray says Internet speed isn’t quite the issue it used to be because more options have come into the valley, but air travel in and out of Gunnison can be quite the hurdle. She is gone about one week per month on average, and when visiting important clients she needs travel to be reliable.
“Every time I fly I have to look at Gunnison, Montrose, Grand Junction, and Denver, and I drive to Denver often to catch flights. I’m happy about the Alaska Air thing because I fly to LA quarterly [Alaskan Airlines now flies direct from Gunnison to Los Angeles], but not having anything coming here from April to June [the Gunnison airport will be flightless this spring]…that’s not ideal,” she says. “I wanted to do some client visits here and bring more conferences to the valley, but because air service from Hartford, Connecticut, for example, is not reliable…I could be bringing thousands of dollars to the valley if air service were more reliable.”
Despite questionable flight service, business should continue improving. Murray has made a commitment to dedicate the rest of her professional life to helping as many child care business owners, directors, and managers as possible with enrollment, revenue, staff issues, time management, goal-setting, mindset, and more. She’s proud that her two books have helped thousands of owners and leaders become more effective. She’s also proud to live in Crested Butte, and wouldn’t let that go for…well, just about anything.
Check back next week for the final installment of Locals Making Waves in an Entrepreneurial Age. We’ll speak with more businesses in the Gunnison Valley, specifically manufacturers, about the ups and downs of exporting their expertise outside of the community they call home.
