#4 That Time I Buried Treasure and Nobody Looked For It.
#4
I get a lot of questions about how difficult it is to start a business, so I’ll answer in this week's newsletter.
It's incredibly hard.
Here's an example.
About two years ago I decided that I would start burying treasure in Day Owl backpacks.
I'll let that doozy sink in for a bit. I thought it was brilliant. I want to make clear that our lawyers, most of my team, and a good deal of my friends (you know who you are) did not agree with me. You're all suckers, but I digress.
It all started with a minor obsession over an actual treasure buried by an actual guy named Forrest Fenn. An incredible author named Peter Frick-Wright wrote an Outside Magazine article about this a while ago. Read it, but here's the quick of it: Forrest Fenn was this guy that wanted people to get outside again. He buried millions of dollars of treasure somewhere out west, then wrote a poem that left the clues where to find it. A bunch of people tried to find it. It was controversial because in 2024 everybody gets mad at anything having to do with fun. Then, a guy named Jack Stuef found it in the middle of the pandemic and the whole thing was AWESOME to me.
I figured, now I'LL bury some treasure Forrest-Fenn-style and people will write articles about ME and my plucky little upstart company.
So... on some random Monday, while some of my friends wrote legal briefs, and others sold important pieces of software, and still others performed surgery on human beings, I wrote a poem with clues to a hidden treasure somewhere in the US. Then I HID THE TREASURE. It was a moment where I both questioned my life choices AND felt very much like a Goonie, so we all make trade offs.
As my grandma would have said, "it all went over like a 300-pound pole vaulter."
With the exception of two people who clearly thought exactly like me, nobody paid attention. Crickets.
I can't tell if the mistake was not listening to everybody, not explaining it to them well enough, or making the clues too hard, but it's probably something I should work out in therapy.
Do you ever feel like somedays you absolutely run the world and others it feels like you will die penniless and alone without access to regular healthcare? Because I do. But that Monday, writing and hiding that treasure, 12-year old me would have been very happy to meet adult me.
What more treasure do you really need?
It's for the birds,
Ian
PS-Each week I look at the mistakes I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned at Day Owl so hopefully, you don't have to. I also do an Instagram reel to go with this note @hellodayowls. This is all rather embarrassing for me and hopefully entertaining for you. We’re calling it all "For the Birds", and this is installment # 4. PLEASE comment (it makes it so much more fun), ask whatever you want, and if this reminds you of something YOU want to share, text me...724.312.1012.
