You might think that this time of year is when I relax and rest up following a Bassmaster Elite season, but that’s not the case. Summertime is when I’m hard at work preparing things for next season.
I come home and unwrap my whole truck front to back, the topper, the whole thing. It’s time to get in a new truck, so I’m getting this one ready to sell.
I also recently unwrapped my boat, got it all cleaned up and took it to Shipps Marine to get the maintenance necessary to get it ready to sell. I’ll get pictures of the boat and start the process of selling it soon.
After that, it won’t be long until I have my 2025 boat arriving, so I’ll be starting the process all over again. I’m lining up all my Minn Kota and Humminbird gear and getting ready to plug and play so I can start filming for my sponsors.
The off season is when we get a lot of our content creation done, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there in a new rig and working with the people that support me.
One thing that has to be considered is that there’s a lot of change with various companies in the industry and the non-endemics. There are changes in budgets and changes with people, so I’m spending a lot of time on the phone with multiple sponsors.
It’s a very involved process of securing contracts for next year, seeking better contracts for my own brand for next year and, at the same time, you may have companies reaching out to you to discuss changing your contract with them — sometimes for the good, sometimes not.
I’ll have a mostly stable lineup of sponsors for 2025, but I’ll have some new brands and some that won’t be with me next year. That’s part of the business — you do your best and seek to maintain these relationships, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
While all this is going on, you’re trying to spend time with family and get hunting stuff ready to go. I do a lot with Mossy Oak and HUK on the hinting side, so I’m trying to get land prepared and trips prepared for all that, while I’m selling my truck and boat and fixing stuff that broke.
When I step back and look at it all, this is probably the busiest time of year for me business-wise. You don’t think it starts until we get closer to the new season, but I always try to get ahead of it.
With all these companies I partner with, I’m trying to secure the best financial picture for my future, while doing my best to help them accomplish their marketing objectives. It’s definitely a two-way street and doing well in the industry requires a lot of work.
Some of this is handled through phone calls, but whenever possible, I prefer face-to-face meetings, so I don’t mind driving several hours to visit with new and existing sponsors. At the end of the day, it’s about relationships and that’s something I work hard at strengthening this time of year.
