Ep. 024 - Emerald Water Anglers - Dave McCoy

Explicit content warning

11/23/16 • 42 min

THE SEA-TOWN PODCAST: Interviewing Seattle's Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs

This week’s guest is Dave McCoy, owner of Emerald Water Anglers. Headquartered out of their premier fly-fishing retail shop in West Seattle, Dave and his staff offer high-quality and knowledgable fly-fishing guides, are passionate about fishing, preservation and they really know the water and fishing around the Northwest. Topics & Ideas Discussed in This Episode:

Dave is involved in many aspects of the fly-fishing industry - He is a true entrepreneur: with a photography business, writer, traveler, fishing guide, social media manager for his shop and Patagonia Fly Fish (as well as a "Patagonia Ambassador"), and helps develop products for companies he believes in.
Seattle is a pretty small city for being a big city.
The fly-fishing community is pretty tight - Dave's friend (and my dad) Tim Harris' fly-fishing site
Their biggest challenge when first starting business - moving from CO, to WA and being new to the area... he had to go from just knowing trout in one mt. lake to having to know so many different fish species and hundreds of bodies of water.
Their biggest challenge now - local retail spaces having to compete with online retailers | resource management pressures in WA State | Getting in front of a lot of fly-anglers, who are older and not necessarily online and so have never heard of their store.
Steelhead (the WA State fish) are endangered in a lot of the local rivers, creating closures of some great rivers.
Just launched new woman's fly-fishing guide program - Welcome Karli Roland (official announcement on Facebook)
What set's them apart from other in their industry - Super selective in hiring... leading to unbeatable customer service, superior staff with extensive knowledge and experience.
Their greatest strength - "great salesman"... focuses on the relationship and what the customer needs and what's best for them vs. pushing for "closing the sale".
They wish they had the habit of... - not always saying what comes to his mind; having a better filter.
They are passionate about - educating fellow fly-fishers about the current state of the states fishers and resources and incoming them on what they can do to be good steward of our fisheries.
The best advice they have ever received - "Jump in with both feet and give 100% of yourself to it, unconditionally"
A personal habit that contribute to their success - A sense of humor
Parting Guidance from our guest - "If you make a lot of money and your unhappy, change it". Figure out something you really want to do and through yourself at it... you only have one life to live, so life it!

Episode Links & Resources:

www.emeraldwateranglers.com
Business Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EmeraldWaterAnglers
Business Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/EmrldWtrAnglers
Get involved in local organizations that work to preserve our fisheries and be a good steward of the resources.
- www.pugetsoundkeeper.org - Working to keep Puget Sound waters clean & watchdog for superfund sites.
- www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org - Working specifically on policy for managing our state fish, the wild Steelhead.
- www.wildfishconservancy.org - Help facilitate courts making judgments in favor of good and sustainable policies as well as do a good deal of science to backup why they take the stances they do in court.
- www.tu.org - Does great work on habitat restoration in entire region.
- www.wildsalmon.org - Working hard in regaining Salmon populations.
Jim Collins book - Good To G...

Dave is involved in many aspects of the fly-fishing industry - He is a true entrepreneur: with a photography business, writer, traveler, fishing guide, social media manager for his shop and Patagonia Fly Fish (as well as a "Patagonia Ambassador"), and helps develop products for companies he believes in.
Seattle is a pretty small city for being a big city.
The fly-fishing community is pretty tight - Dave's friend (and my dad) Tim Harris' fly-fishing site
Their biggest challenge when first starting business - moving from CO, to WA and being new to the area... he had to go from just knowing trout in one mt. lake to having to know so many different fish species and hundreds of bodies of water.
Their biggest challenge now - local retail spaces having to compete with online retailers | resource management pressures in WA State | Getting in front of a lot of fly-anglers, who are older and not necessarily online and so have never heard of their store.
Steelhead (the WA State fish) are endangered in a lot of the local rivers, creating closures of some great rivers.
Just launched new woman's fly-fishing guide program - Welcome Karli Roland (official announcement on Facebook)
What set's them apart from other in their industry - Super selective in hiring... leading to unbeatable customer service, superior staff with extensive knowledge and experience.
Their greatest strength - "great salesman"... focuses on the relationship and what the customer needs and what's best for them vs. pushing for "closing the sale".
They wish they had the habit of... - not always saying what comes to his mind; having a better filter.
They are passionate about - educating fellow fly-fishers about the current state of the states fishers and resources and incoming them on what they can do to be good steward of our fisheries.
The best advice they have ever received - "Jump in with both feet and give 100% of yourself to it, unconditionally"
A personal habit that contribute to their success - A sense of humor
Parting Guidance from our guest - "If you make a lot of money and your unhappy, change it". Figure out something you really want to do and through yourself at it... you only have one life to live, so life it!

Episode Links & Resources:

www.emeraldwateranglers.com
Business Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EmeraldWaterAnglers
Business Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/EmrldWtrAnglers
Get involved in local organizations that work to preserve our fisheries and be a good steward of the resources.
- www.pugetsoundkeeper.org - Working to keep Puget Sound waters clean & watchdog for superfund sites.
- www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org - Working specifically on policy for managing our state fish, the wild Steelhead.
- www.wildfishconservancy.org - Help facilitate courts making judgments in favor of good and sustainable policies as well as do a good deal of science to backup why they take the stances they do in court.
- www.tu.org - Does great work on habitat restoration in entire region.
- www.wildsalmon.org - Working hard in regaining Salmon populations.
Jim Collins book - Good To G...

Previous Episode

Ep. 023 - Cami MacDonald of West Side Music Academy - The Sea-Town Podcast

This week’s guest is Cami MacDonald, Co-owner of West Side Music Academy along with her husband Chris. This long-time West Seattle small business has been serving West Seattle for 17 years, passionately teaching a wide variety of musical instruments and styles to both kids and adults alike. Topics & Ideas Discussed in This Episode:

Started off teaching piano lessons out of her house but eventually grew into teaching all types of instruments in a studio space.
Focuses on teaching classical style and jazz but also teach guitar lessons for pop and rock styles as well.
Teach both kid and adult music lessons but they do teach more kids than adults.
Loves teaching music and sharing that passion with their students and being part of their "ahha moments" when it all comes together for the student.
The calm atmosphere is important to facilitating a students creativity.
Favorite quote - "The harder I work, the luckier I get".
Book recommendation - "The Artist's Way" by Julian Cameron
Parting Guidance from our guest - "Follow Your Passion".

Episode Links & Resources:

www.WestSideMusicAcademy.com or call 206-937-2343 Weekdays from 3-7pm.
Facebook Page
Learn more about Christian, other projects he's working on and his business at: www.Sea-Town.com

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Next Episode

Ep. 025 - WestSide Baby - Nancy Woodland

This week’s guest is Nancy Woodland, the Executive Director for the non-profit WestSide Baby in White Center. WestSide Baby serves all of Western King County and partners with the community to collect and distribute essential items for local kids (ages birth-12 years old). Topics & Ideas Discussed in This Episode:

W.S. Baby works directly with 127 local social service agencies to get essential items to children.
The more efficient their systems and organization is, the more kids they can serve.
The process: Social workers place their order for their families, the 50+ regular weekly volunteers fill the orders and then W.S. Baby distribute the filled-orders back to the families
W.S. Baby has been around for 16 years, having been founded by Donna Pierce.
Nancy has been there for 10 years.
- She has a law degree from Loyola University as part of their first Child Advocacy program and practiced law in WA State doing child neglect and abuse cases for 4 years.
  - In that, she saw that in a lot of cases, it's not that the parents don't want to care for their children... it's that they can't because they don't have the simple tools to take care of their kid (like diapers).
  - Joined the W.S. Baby board of directors in 2005.
  - in 2006, she took over the role of Executive Director, from the founder and visionary of W.S. Baby, Donna Pierce.
Biggest changes in the last 10 years:
- Grown their staff, grown their regular volunteers (from 6 to over 50 each week), expanded their spaces and expertise and scaled to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
- Being open to opportunities that open them to be able to serve more kids.
W.S. Baby serves 500+ children per week & 35,000 kids across King County... and is only possible because of the communities support.
W.S. Baby is entirely supported by their fund-raising efforts - 77% of funding is from regular individuals in the community and the rest is by generous corporate and foundation support.
Community Partnerships: Trinity West Seattle has recently partnered with WestSide Baby as a "Mission Partner" - sending regular volunteer groups, help with financial support & act as a collection site for needed children goods.
For the first time, W.S. Baby is going to have Billboard advertising (4 billboards next week
- Located in Ballard on 15th, Capital Hill on Madison, Rainier Valley & West Seattle on Delridge.
The biggest challenges at W.S. Baby -
- Not having enough: They can't fill all the needs
  - They can only fill 47% of the request for car seats and while they give out 1.25 million, yet, if they diapered all the kids in King Co. living below the federal poverty line that are of diapering age... that number is 22 million.
- Having too much of one thing or having unusable items "donated", that they then have to get rid of (like a moldy stroller or worn out clothes).
- Keeping the staff and volunteers from burning out - Sometimes the best we can do is enough.
If we want to help those in need, start with listening to them, asking what they need and then providing that... as opposed to what we think they need.
Their greatest strength - Nancy want's to hear how they can do better and is willing to try new things if it means they can serve more families.
W.S. Baby's growth goals are always related to serving more kids: They want to raise awareness around King Co, because that is who they serve & to be able to open a couple more branches to collect donations, be sorted and sent out (meeting their volunteers and clients where they are).
The best advice they have ever received - "Sometimes the best we can do is enough" and be open to learning all the time.
W.S. Baby has two major fund-raisers every year:
- March 12th Benefit Tea (1/3rd of budget comes from this event)
- Fall evening cocktail party event (more casual).

How you can make a difference:

Financial donations - "Donate Now" button on their site - During the month of December (through Christmas day), all financial donations of $250 or more will be matched by a donor.
- Volunteer - "Get Involved" button on their site.
- Have your own donation drive - Already having a holiday party, ask everyone coming to bring a pack of diapers and then drop them off at a WestSide Baby collection center.
Most regularly needed items:
- car seats, portable cribs, clothes (particularly boys size 5-12), new underwear, socks and pajamas...