- The industry was different then.
If there was a boat ad and there was a woman in it,
she was in a bikini, laying on the front of the boat.
It made me angry.
As our organization grew,
I saw how many great anglers
and how much money they were spending
and what a big piece of the industry they were,
but I did feel like they were being left behind.
I would look at all these companies
and there would be no women involved.
No women on their pro staffs.
No women associated with any of their marketing materials.
All these women are buying their products.
Where are they being represented?
That kind of fueled me in a different regard.
All of a sudden
it was my responsibility to change some of that stuff too
because I was the leader of this group
and I could speak for them.
And I could do something to change it
for them and their daughters.
Not only were they making them pink,
they were making them poor quality and pink.
Like the warmth of a layer of a man's boot
compared to a woman's boot would be totally different.
And women's feet got colder
but they weren't built to the same standard
as a man's boot was.
I'm one of their ice team pros.
One of their top pros there are
and now I can do seminars around the ice belt.
So I'm able to reach way more women than I have been before
in my southern Wisconsin.
Now it's the 75% growth rate in the industry is women.
So they re all in.
You create opportunities and products
they can use to be successful, they are 100% all in.
- It was easy. [chuckles]