Happy New Year, Crusaders!

So, here goes my final blog post for this cycle...As many of you know, my wife Jen is a new flight attendant. The upside is we can fly for free, but one of the downsides is that when we do, we're always on standby and never 100% sure if we will get on the flight. This means that you never check your luggage because if you don't make the flight your luggage will get there and have a great vacation somewhere without you.

In the past, we have definitely been one of those families lugging what seems to be half their home with them through the airports. Before every trip I had to constantly go through everyone's bags questioning everything in a futile attempt to lessen the load and inevitably, when we got to wherever we were going we didn't end up using most of it. So, now the new skill has been how to fit everything you may need into your carry on. This entails a lot more upfront work and decisions, as everything you bring has to serve multiple purposes and coordinate.

Jen was flying for New Years this year, so at the last minute I decided to hop on the plane and fly with her down to Santa Barbara so we could be together as 2017 rang in. We were sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for her first flight when this family of four trudged past us dragging what easily looked like every piece of clothing they owned and looking miserable. I watched her as she observed this and then she looked down at our two little bags and smiled. She looked up and saw me grinning at her and she had to say those three little words she hates the most, "you were right!".

You're probably thinking now, neat Marc but what in the heck does this have to do with belts or life?! The answer is of course, Carry Less and Adventure More! When we focus less on having too many things to go out and experience something, it's inevitable that we're able to enjoy the experience more. It's so easy to fill our lives with clutter, both physical and mental. Carefully choose quality and versatile items and you'll need less of them and you'll have them longer and appreciate them more. I mean, what if your belt had a knife, could start a fire, open your beverage, light your way in the dark and maybe even call for help if you got lost...how awesome would that be?

So, instead of an Amazon review I'm going to tell you something cool I heard over the break from a customer. Just before leaving, we had a mystery return show up. It was a Mission Belt, but the RMA label was for us. I called the number on the label and left a message for the client. She called me back last week and cleared up the mystery. Apparently she ordered one of ours and a Mission Belt from the Grommet for her husband. He has diabetes and muscular atrophy, resulting in limited mobility in his hands, making it difficult to work traditional belts. She told me the Mission Belt was a disaster, he literally got stuck in it and couldn't get it off with its difficult mechanism. On the flip side, he absolutely loves ours and hasn't stopped wearing it! She was trying to return the Mission Belt and accidentally used our return label. Never forget how incredible our product is and what a difference it can make for people, especially in situations like this.

Cheers to a phenomenal 2017!!!!!!!

After this extra long, super generous Christmas/New Years break, I hope you all are feeling rested, energized and ready to start another huge year for SlideBelts (and personally, as well, of course).

The work-life balance that we're afforded here at SlideBelts is awesome. I've worked for companies in the past where we were expected to work the day after Thanksgiving; where I'd work a full 8+ hour day and then have to get home and eat dinner at my computer while I continued to work for another 3 or 4 hours; where I felt I had no time to myself to do anything outside of work...besides do work more. That was miserable. Even still, friends at Nike will send me Snapchats of themselves leaving campus at 10pm during certain times of the year. Now that I know the flip side - that's crazy.

I think this long week off was a great opportunity to remember - and appreciate - the importance of a work/life balance that we're incredibly lucky to have here. I think it says a lot about the culture and the type of people that we have, that we just had the kind of record year we did - with 35 hour work weeks, hour-long lunches and an unlimited paid vacation policy. We packed more wins and more productivity into our shortened weeks than some companies will do in a month - and that's something to be hugely proud of.

For the companies and CEOs who think more work is the answer to underwhelming results, hopefully companies like ours can be an example of the huge things that can be achieved with motivated employees who are treated well and given the opportunities to live life outside of work - to go on vacations, to have dedicated time with their kids every evening, to not have to spend family time tied to a computer. The resulting joy and happiness that comes from living a full life outside of work shows when those fulfilled employees come into work every morning ready to work hard, knowing that they'll get to play hard, too.

We are a prime example of this principle working to perfection, and we'll prove it again in 2017. Let's get it!

Happy Friday!

With the Christmas Holiday upon us and 2016 coming to a close, a big THANK YOU to everyone for all your valuable contributions and dedicated efforts this year. Now it's time to celebrate. Have a wonderful break and enjoy this time with your family and friends. 2017 will be another big year. Looking forward to seeing you all in the New Year! Have fun, be safe!