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S06.E10: Smithlfly Designs


Whimsy
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The owner of a fly-fishing boat and apparel company designs a unique floating tent, but his defensive nature prevents him from taking feedback to improve his brand. Marcus encourages the owner to open up to new ideas. 

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It almost seems novel to have a more traditional episode.

Interesting to see a similar problem to Jackie's Cookies with this desire for a facility way bigger than required. Fortunately it doesn't seem like this guy had the resources to get himself that deep into trouble and is maybe a bit less deluded.

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I'm not outdoorsy AT ALL, but I can see the appeal of the floating tent.  It would be cool to put it out on the water (anchored or tied to a dock or boat) and toss sleeping bags in there for a unique camping sleepover.  My kids would love that. However, it was a half-baked idea.  He definitely needed to have  an pump, anchors and paddles as part of the package.  Or at least have them as add-ons at POS.   Can people stand up in that tent?  Can a blow up chair with cup holders be added?  Or do the tent occupants just sit/lay on the bottom of it?  

The color options were a good idea too.  Definitely camo for the audience he's going for, but hunter's safety orange, and other colors would appeal to more people too.

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I am so sick of business owners who are in trouble and ask for help (not just this show but other similar ones too) who fight every single recommendation and act like they're product is the MOST AMAZING ever and they don't need to take any criticism.  They're business is failing.  They need to just shut up and listen.   Ugh.  This guy was so passive aggressive.  He would always agree with Marcus face-to-face and then backpedal later.  I like the products well enough (I hate camping or any outdoorsy activities that don't involve relaxing in a hammock with a nice cocktail). I'm glad the owner came around.  

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Oh come on, Marcus! You're letting me down!

OutdoorSmith!

It's the perfect name. It invokes the "Smithy" idea even better than SmithFly does. And it covers all of the product lines.

I should head to the Trademark office now so I can sell it to him.

Anyway, good classic Profit episode, and a much needed one at that. No one was hateable, and the business actually has the potential for big growth. They pitched the business 3 times (not counting the pitch to Marcus) which was interesting.  

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5 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

Can people stand up in that tent?  Can a blow up chair with cup holders be added?  Or do the tent occupants just sit/lay on the bottom of it?  

They said that you can stand in the tent, and we saw one person stepping into it upright (okay, hunched over), but he immediately sat down. So it seems you could stand in it but I'm not sure if it's something you'll do often.

Don't see a reason why inflatable chairs couldn't be added, that'd be my first addition.

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Going to be interesting sleeping in that tent if you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

Unlike a lot of products we see on this show, Marcus controls a major retail network for this via Camping World and Gander Outdoors. They're pretty much guaranteed a decent success if they don't go bankrupt on contaminated real estate plays.

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Good to see two people working together that don't fight and hate each other.

I got annoyed with the name change thing.  Especially since Marcus didn't think Queork was a bad name.

Edited by stormy
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I don't think the owner (who was very open to Marcus' help and advice) was going behind Marcus' back about the name change thing.  After he and his assistant (I forget her name) showed Marcus the list of different names for the different categories (SmithCamp, SmithHike,SmithFly, etc. - very cool idea IMO) I think they were still working out the name of the overall company itself.  They were merely asking the people they were pitching to if SmithFly would work as the overall company name, despite the use of the all the category names.  That was my take, anyway.

I don't do a lot of outdoor activities, but the products this guy came up with were really cool and I can see a big future for Smith***.  Unlike the fashion industry, this business is a perfect fit for Marcus, due to his ownership of Camping World and Gander Outdoor.  I'll bet this becomes one of Marcus' biggest wins.

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This guy's products are top flight, so I was surprised of his reluctance to embrace other types of fishing equipment. 

And yes, this is an obvious play for Marcus to put Smith### in Camping World or Gander Mtn. 

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On 3/16/2019 at 1:32 PM, KHenry14 said:

This guy's products are top flight, so I was surprised of his reluctance to embrace other types of fishing equipment. 

And yes, this is an obvious play for Marcus to put Smith### in Camping World or Gander Mtn. 

Hooking up with Marcus should be a goldmine for this guy.

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