TALES OF A FOURTH GENERATION TEXTILE EXECUTIVE: JACKSON HOLE-E COW “I AM CURED”

Tales Of A Fourth Generation Textile Executive: Jackson Hole-e Cow “I Am Cured”

Notes from Day 2.

My Jackson euphoria has faded away fast, but the memories remain ingrained. Now I am back to the real world. With that, it is 5:30 a.m. and my daddy duties were in full effect last night. Poor Ace got sick just as my wife and I fell asleep. We spent the next hour in the laundry room gagging from the stench and stuff. It was kind of funny. I hate to gross you out, but it shows that there is more to life than just selling fabric and working.

Family is so important and I love my two boys (the 5^th Generation)and my wife.

It was hard to fall back asleep after the excitement of the night, so I took a 5:43 a.m. train into Manhattan. When I arrived, it was dark, but the air was fresh like in Jackson Hole. Speaking of Jackson, day 2 was full of adventure. At 9 a.m. Thad, the guide, picked me up to go fly fishing. You know what they say, when in Jackson, you have to go fly fishing. We first got a mandatory fishing license and then drove to a takeoff spot. On the way, I saw a coyote which was neat. It was now just me, Thad, our boat, oars, the river, my life vest, the cold air, wildlife, fishing poles and lures. Thad taught me all the basics of fly fishing and before I knew it, I was catching fish. He knew his stuff and I learned a lot from him, not only about fishing, but about wildlife, Wyoming politics, life and more. In all, I caught 5 fish….Whitties and Cutthroats. 5 miles and 5 hours later, we were done. In a word, awesome!

I was so tired after the fishing that I took a 2 hour nap….NOT! Life is too short to nap…especially in Jackson Hole. I showered up and got dolled up for the rest of the day’s events. I wore grey pants, a clean white button down and my lucky blue sport coat. I always say, if you want to be important, you need to look important. I headed over to “Stitch ‘n Time” and hung out for a bit. It was hopping at the shop as classes had just let out. A lot of people were chatting with me as everyone knew who I was. At around 5:15, I gave Kim, the shop owner, the sign that it was time to go for dinner. It was me and 5 lovely guild members. I forget the name of the restaurant that we went to, but they had a wicked good lamb chop. After dinner, we went to the Teton Valley Fair Building for the big event.

The big event was the Evening Social. It was a big event for me because it was my first real speaking debut. As my blog followers know, I am not fond of public speaking (recall glossophobia), but I have to do it because it is a fact of my life and it is important to help me grow as a businessperson. To be honest, it is so much easier to just write a blog and take the easy way out. After a warm introduction from Janet, a guild leader, I was handed the microphone. At that moment, I had a bad flashback to my Bar-Mitzvah, December 7, 1986. Like that day, I felt queasy, nervous and sweaty, until I uttered my first word. That was all it took for me to calm down…..one single word. Imagine that? In all, I spoke for about one and a half hours with some breaks.

Since I came with minimal prepared comments, the “speech” took a life of its own. It was amazing to see nearly 100 people watching and listening to me so intently. I covered so many different topics and as time went on and became more and more comfortable speaking. Believe it or not, I think I might have cured my glossophobia in Jackson Hole. Who would have thunk? It only took 40 years and the perfect audience to overcome my fear.

The truth is that I don’t remember everything that I spoke about, as it was kind of like an out of body experience for me, but here are some things I do remember. Many of the topics were things that I have covered in my blogs.

The Peppered Cotton Challenge!
Work travels to the south, India and throughout the U.S.
The roots of the family business.
How lines are created and developed.
Licensing.
Selling.
Different fabrics.
All the countries where we buy our fabrics and the difference in quality and pricing.
I showed old photos from my grandfather’s scrapbook of our offices in the 1930’s.
How we owned plants in the past, but not anymore.
How goods are double and rolled.
My life and how I got to where I am today.

That is the gist of it, so if you want to know more, you will have to come and see me the next time I have another speaking engagement. Looking forward to receiving more invites to speak in front of guilds…bring it on and keep on quilting. Don’t forget that Studioe customers are the best! Make sure to come and visit me at booth #328 at the quilt market in Houston. The secret password to get my attention is “Let’s Go Fly-Fishing”

Stay tuned for Day 3 in Jackson Hole.

Sayonara,

Dadde Scott (as my son calls me)