Archive for beach

Shibumi Shade- Dane and Scott Barnes

Dane and Scott Barnes are brothers who grew up in Emerald Isle, North Carolina and loved family vacations to the beach. One thing they noticed they did not love was flimsy beach umbrellas and heavy tents that were difficult to set up, and did not provide enough shade. This was especially annoying to the brothers because every year on vacation, they were the ones in charge of setting up their spot on the beach for their parents and other family. They came up with their first prototype with PVC pipe and a sheet. People would come up to them on the beach and ask where they bought the tent. This led them to think of ways to create a more lightweight, effective shade area that works with the wind, and market it.

The material consists of a two-tone blue material for shade and a long pole that goes throught the long end. This is all packed into a small black bag connected to the sheet so that when you have everything out, you put sand in the bag and that anchors the whole mechanism. The sheet then is able to freely flow in the wind and provide shade.

Alex Slater, another friend of theirs joined the brothers in creating the Shibumi. Now, the Shibumi is being sold on all 7 continents and providing shade all around the world. The three young entrepreneurs went to Chapel Hill, in North Carolina where they came up with the idea for the name of company. They said this was the hardest part, and decided on using the name of the apartment building they lived in, which was Shibumi.

How Saving the Fishies Saved Sand Cloud

An Instagram search of the hashtag #savethefishies results in nearly 126,000 public posts, most featuring azure oceans, sea creatures, and people enjoying the beach. The road to this level of success was much less leisurely for Bruno Aschidamini, Steven Ford, and Brandon Liebel, but their love for the ocean and the atmosphere of a self-made entrepreneurial career eventually brought them there.

“The blind faith that we had to pursue freedom and become an entrepreneur—we never questioned it once,” says Aschidamini of Sand Cloud, the environmental-friendly beach towel brand now grossing over $7 million in annual revenue. Back when the business began in 2013 there was no way the three young Californian entrepreneurs could have known the challenges and alterations they’d have to face before their entrepreneurial endeavor, then known as “Cloud Nine,” would finally become the widespread popular business is today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmPCYASA-Do/?hl=en&taken-by=sand_cloud

Their initial product concept was a towel with an attached pillow, designed for taking naps on the beach; however, they weren’t selling nearly enough at the time to account for all the other expenses attached to a startup—a warehouse, trademarks, and the irreconcilable cost of buying the towels in bulk. The three compartmentalized their lives into a tiny apartment on a strict budget with the intention of investing everything into the business. At a surf expo in 2015, they were attempting unsuccessfully to market the pillow towel, when they discovered that the public was much more interested in a mandala-design towel without an attached pillow. Accepting that their original idea was not catching on and that for the sake of business they’d have to substitute it with something they saw as less innovative was a struggle.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BleDdlgBLwK/?hl=en&taken-by=sand_cloud

However, adjustment of their original idea turned out to be a game changer. Sales soared on the new product, a lightweight, sand-free towel crafted from Turkish cotton and sold in a variety of designs, and Sand Cloud has since added accessories, T-shirts, water bottles, and jewelry to their market. In 2016, Ford, Liebel, and Aschidamini appeared on Shark Tank, which generated even more publicity and gained them an investment. Furthermore, their newly revamped business is now focused around a mission, which they fulfill by donating a percentage of their profits to various marine conservation organizations. I myself, along with others, have had the opportunity to promote them as a social media ambassador. Choosing to invest their resources in a cause important to them has bred immense loyalty with Sand Cloud’s customers, and their willingness to adapt to their market has been instrumental in granting them success.

Shop their website: https://www.sandcloud.com/

Learn More: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/how-sand-cloud-got-on-shark-tank-and-made-millions.html