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What is the Tahoe Lifestyle?
Keeping it real is the first thing that comes mind! We are all people that came to Tahoe or stayed in Tahoe because of its magnificent nature and the myriad of activities it has to offer. If you were born here and stayed here, it was for the same reasons.
We love to bike, ski, sail, climb, hike, kayak, kite-board, windsurf, paddleboard and more. For many of us, including me, all of the above. We want to live a full life while running a business. This means working in order to support our families while sustaining our active lifestyles. There's nothing wrong with this combination, but it's not always easy! When you believe in something so deeply, you must make sacrifices. One must sacrifice fancy cars, fancy vacations and fancy furniture in order to ride the latest bike model or have several pairs of skis. There are no short-cuts, no pretending, no sugar coating in our business model. You get what you see, take it or leave it! I love it that way and you always know where you stand, for better or for worse!
I look around at the people I know and spend time with every day. They are business people and parents of my kid’s friends. They are people I see at the store or post office or farmer's market. But they are more then just people I pass by on the street. I ride with them, I ski with them and I would trust my life on a climbing rope to many of them. They are my friends and my family. We stand by each other when tragedies occur and also during positive times. In a community like Tahoe, people truly come together and help each other out.
When we do business, we want to believe that what someone says to us is honest and from the heart and not just about the money. Oh so naïve, you say, so old-school! I, however, still believe we can seal the deal with a shake of the hand. We have integrity, we have dreams, we believe in what we do and we want to do things well and do them right. It all might sound provincial, old-fashioned, but this country and the world wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now if basic honest principles of life applied to high level corporate businesses. When more then 50% of Harvard graduates don’t want to sign honest business practice pledges, we have a problem!
For twenty years I worked for a great couple, Len and Anna Shemin. They run a clothing company called Nomadic Traders in Berkeley, California. Their company was built on trust, friendship, integrity, loyalty, good product, superb service and plenty of hugs. They taught me great things and I will forever be grateful to them. They were my family and they showed me what a successful business looks like.
We don’t just want to ski a perfect powder run. We also want to run a perfect business with true passion. That’s where it all originates. We are passionate about things and we refrain from compromise; we trust, we love, we believe, we are! We are not just low-life locals, we are real people you can depend on!
