Tags: Brainerd, Brothers Motorsports, Dry Floatation, Facebook, Live, Minnesota, Motorcycle, Parts Unlimited, Roho, Scott USA, TheRealCraigJ, Video, Wild Ass, Wild Ass Motorcycle videos
In this episode of Wild Ass Wednesday, you actually get to hear my story. This is my short story of the path I took to get here. To the world of Wild Ass!
“Here we are, another Wild Ass Wednesday, and I’m just gonna tell you about myself this week while I’m headed down to the Minneapolis Airport to pick up my business partner Scott! He is flying in from Italy, and will be here for the day just to hang out with me and see what we do here in the States. I’ll be sure to shoot a video with him while he’s here, that way you guys can get to know Scott in the weeks to come!
So to tell you about myself, I started off the industry like most people, as a dirt bike rider, enthusiast, race guy, that was going to make a living racing and then eventually had to admit that that probably wasn’t gonna happen! So, upon admitting that, it was decided that I should make a living with my motorcycle instead of on it. So I was fortunate enough to do that! One of the places I got to ride frequently as a kid, was at the place of a lady named Jana, who got to, who was actually working for Parts Unlimited at the time, and let me know that there was a position open at Parts Unlimited, and that I should come and apply because she thought I would be a good fit! Well as it turns out, I was shot down because I didn’t have any shop experience!
So I went to my main sponsor, Brothers Motorsports in Brainerd Minnesota at the time. And said “Hey yeah, I kind of need a job!” They said “Well we don’t really have much.” So ended, up I started out cleaning used equipment. Motorcycles, ATVs snowmobiles, and kind of got in that way until a spot at Parts Unlimited opened up. Then another spot opened up at Parts Unlimited. And the hiring person there, Bonnie, one of my favorite bosses of all time, had said “You know that’s not really the shop experience we were looking for.” But being the salesman that I am, sold her on the fact that she said shop experience, so I went out and got shop experience. So that got me into Parts Unlimited where I spent the first five years actually working in the industry. Longest job I had held actually, up to that point.
After I left parts Unlimited, I became a road rep for a small regional distributor, and I traveled the northern half of Minnesota. So, I took care of motorcycle shops in northern Minnesota. Got to learn, kind of, that side of business and how things went from another perspective. So that was a pretty cool job!
After that, I happen to get a phone call from a buddy of mine, and said “Hey I need you to check your fax machine!” And as it turned out, it was a job offer from a company that I had wanted to work for for a number of years. And that was Scott USA! So I went to work for Scott, and I was the goggle guy! I took care of everything, you know from, you know, supplying dealers with product to helping with product. Helping reps sell the product. And work events everywhere in North Central part of the United States. That was, that was a pretty cool gig! And actually I’m still good friends, and keep in touch with both of the bosses I had back then! So that was working with Scott.
And that job kind of ended because I had opened up a KTM dealership in Brainerd, Minnesota at a Friday night motocross track. So I did that for a few years. Had a lot of fun with that. Learned way more, at probably, about the price of college. So when I got out of that, then that left me a whole nother chapter to begin!
So that led me into my next job, which was working for the inventor of dry flotation technology. And actually doing kind of what I’m doing now. Which is floating medical patients on a cushion of air. The company I worked for was called Roho. My actual boss was Steve Peyton, who now, in line, has become probably the best boss that I’ve had. I always describe him as ‘The guy that gave me enough rope to hang myself, but never let me do it!’ So I learned a lot working for Steve and that was a great deal, but unfortunately Roho sold off to another company. Which then left me ‘Victim of the sale.’ And during my time of employment with Roho, I was able to meet up with my now partner Scott Parman, who I’m on the way to pick up. And we got to know each other pretty well, and both of us ended up losing our jobs at the same time. And that led us into what we got going on now. Dry flotation. Keeping people on cushions of air riding their motorcycles all day, being comfortable as can be!
So that’s what we do now! Here we are as Wild Ass! Business is well! Things are going good! And you know, really, I owe all of you a ‘Thank you’ for that, as I’m going to wrap this one up because I’m getting into the airport area and I’m gonna need to shut this thing down and pay attention to look for him at the arrivals area of the Minneapolis Airport! So that’s where I’m at!
Happy Wild Ass Wednesday! If you have any questions, comments, or you’d like to see something specific, either shoot us a message or just post it right on this video!
We’ll see you next week! Happy Wild Ass Wednesday!”
-C