The Outdoors Crowd, plan for 2025

As 24 becomes 25, I’d first like to wish you and your families a prosperous, and above all a healthy new year.

We started the Outdoors Crowd newsletter in 2024 as something of a community build, and a collection of ‘musings’ on outdoors brands. And the response has been astounding. So much so that we’re looking for ways to expand it in 2025. And here is what we’ve committed to.

• On Tuesdays our regular newsletter will go out as normal. This will consist of a case study of a business or person related to our industry. Limited to 1,500 words, by request!

  The Tuesday newsletter will also give a snippet of what is coming that Thursday.

• On Thursdays, we will start a subscription newsletter. This will consist of a more detailed email, which will focus on one aspect of the outdoors ‘business’ per month.

  • January will focus on financials, and building a sustainable business model in our industry, with examples.

  • February will be finding product/market fit.

  • March will focus on the supply chain and the pros and cons of different solutions (with figures).

  • April is sales and marketing (online). Then we’ll review and get feedback.

• This new Thursday newsletter will include insights from our own experience with CRUA, as well as others in the industry. So it’s based in fact, not waffle. We’ll purchase reports and research as required - that’s included. Price is $39 / month. Now, before you throw the computer or phone out the window, please read on…

  • From our 10 years plus in the industry, I assure you the above is what I wish I had. And I would have paid a lot more - but we want to make this accessible to everyone. The subscription cost is so we can put together proper value-add content, with curated resources, and real data.

  • There will also be a community on Circle included, where all members can interact and discuss different topics, and one monthly, one-hour webinar for all Thursday subscribers, to discuss the topic of the month.

  • You can cancel at any time, and we’ll issue a full refund to anyone who feels it wasn’t worth the $39 - once we know a reason why (we want to make sure there is a definite value add and get feedback on how it can improve), and so this can be kept sponsor free

• We will also build & supply tools as we go - for example, we’re building a business modeling tool which will be available for anyone that might be interested, by the end of January. Same with a product / market fit tool, etc.

• The Thursday email is very definitely a problem/solution focus, with actionable ideas. Our own business is also in a transition phase which I’ll get into in more detail. A ‘behind the curtain look,’ if you will.

• It’s absolutely not for everyone, but for anyone who wants to build or scale an online business in sports and outdoors, we want it to become an invaluable resource. That’s it. And if you’re not happy, well I said above what I’ll do.

• I’m committing to this for Q1. If there is no appetite to continue after that, we’ll discontinue. Hence only month by month subs for now.

The first ‘Thursday’ newsletter will be next week, Jan 9th, and will be free to everyone so you can get a feeling for what I mean.

Now - the important bit. As part of the Outdoor Crowd community, our feedback please:

Here’s to nailing it in 2025, together, as a community people trying to make a living in the outdoor industry. Because, alone, it’s very hard.

May the New Year bless you with health, wealth, and happiness.

Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh.

Derek.