Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Outside PB: Connecting People to Exceptional Places | Mike Overton
Mike Overton, founder of Outside Brands, shares his remarkable journey from starting a windsurfing school in 1979 to building a multi-faceted outdoor recreation enterprise spanning South Carolina and Georgia. He reveals how a chance meeting with Hilton Head developer Charles Fraser taught him that success in the Lowcountry comes down to one word: tides.
• Started with six windsurfers purchased using inheritance from his grandfather
• Met visionary developer Charles Fraser who became a mentor and encouraged focus on tides
• Founded Outside Brands with a mission to connect people to exceptional places, products, and experiences
• Witnessed tourism marketing shift from "golf, tennis, beach" to "nature, history, culture"
• Trains guides as interpretive naturalists who create meaningful connections, not just point out wildlife
• Developed four distinct business divisions including recreation, retail, team development, and destination management
• Created The Outside Foundation which gets every 7th grader in Beaufort County public schools out on the water
• Built 30+ oyster reefs through recycling program that protects salt marshes from erosion
• Emphasizes that wellness comes from finding purpose and connecting to it
• Offers unique experiences like Gullah culture and cuisine tours on Daufuskie Island
To learn more about The Outside Foundation or to volunteer with their environmental initiatives, visit outsidefoundation.org
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and today I'm joined with Mike Overton, the founder, owner and chief executive officer of Outside Brands, a multifaceted enterprise that began as a windsurfing school in 1979. And since then it has expanded to offer customized group travel services, team building programs, outdoor activities and specialty retail across South Carolina and Georgia. Mike's vision for connecting people to exceptional places, experience and products has been rewarded with an invigorating and engaging operation has been rewarded with an invigorating and engaging operation. Today, we're going to learn more about outside brands and dive into how the low-country outdoor adventure industry has evolved over the last 40 years. Mike, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Good morning Morning, Jeff. It's great to be here.
Speaker 1:Great to have you over here and we met a long time ago, so I'm excited to just explore everything you're up to today. I'm excited to be you over here and we met a long time ago, so I'm excited to just explore everything you're up to today.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, let's go ahead and hear from you a bit more about your background. Anything you'd like to add to the intro?
Speaker 2:You know my background in the outdoor world, in the adventure world, really started as a child. I grew up in an urban area. I grew up in the district in Washington DC but very outdoor-oriented family. My father got us into skiing and sailing I think almost about when we could walk and then experiences through elementary school to pretty big adventures in high school to college in northern Vermont kind of started the track where we are.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. You essentially started in the outdoors and you've stayed in the outdoors.
Speaker 2:It's been a fun journey. It's been a really fun journey.
Speaker 1:What brought you to Hilton Head? How did those roots begin?
Speaker 2:You know it's kind of a funny story. I was a student. It started in 1979. At that time I was a junior in the University of Vermont. If you're not familiar with that, it's in Burlington, vermont, pretty far north, about an hour south of Montreal, and I lived in a house with another guy and two ladies and it was a February night and it was one of the coldest nights of the year, I think that it was well below zero. And one of the girls in the house had a girlfriend in town and her boyfriend came up to visit and we invited this couple over for dinner and we were sitting around the table talking and he said he was from this little island off the coast of South Carolina. It sounded really nice on that cold night. Conversation went on. He said a little construction business and it was just booming and it sounded interesting. And then he eventually said he was going to start a windsurfing school and I said, well, that's cool, I know how to windsurf. And about midnight we decided to go into business together. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:This is how all great stories began, right At midnight.
Speaker 2:A few hours later a song came on the radio. We named the business after a song. It was called Sail and Choose Windsurfing. My grandfather passed away that spring. I inherited enough money to buy six windsurfers. So school got out in May. I took my little Toyota pickup down to Cape Cod where the only windsurfer distributor in the East Coast was. There was only one company.
Speaker 1:At that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was only one company that made windsurfers at that time. It was called Windsurfer.
Speaker 2:Very creative and so I loaded these boards on my car, you know, and I visited a few friends. I drove through the night, stopped in Washington DC, had breakfast with my mother and headed south. And I'd never been south of DC in my life, when we grew up, the word south had this kind of ominous name. It was kind of scary. So I headed south and I was going to Hilton Head and those days 278 did not go to 95. She had to get off up at Cusahatchee and I remember by the time I got there it was dark and it was very dark the rest of the way and I got had to wait for the drawbridge to come on to hilton head.
Speaker 2:So it was a drawbridge at that time, bridge until I think 82 or so. Um and uh, the fellow said it's easy to find my condo. They just put the first traffic light on hilton head. So I went to his condo and turned left at the light and got there and he said hey, welcome me, hand me a beer. And he said Look, I got to tell you something. I've decided to move to Vermont to live with my girlfriend, wow. So yeah, the story goes on, but that's how I got here.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a great story and, just pausing, it's really cool to hear how you used the inheritance from your grandfather to start the business. What a way to carry on his legacy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it was encouraged by parents, so it was an interesting opportunity, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, let's dig in a bit more. We know that Outside Brands now has four distinct brand divisions and I want to get into those. You've also witnessed the low country evolve so much since 1979. I'd love to hear more about Hilton Head Island. You opened this windsurfing school. What was it like back then?
Speaker 2:You know it was interesting. Along that summer of 79, I had a challenge finding a location to operate and I eventually was introduced to Charles Frazier and people that are new to the Low Country may not know who Charles Frazier is. But in the 1940s I'm going to get on a tangent here for a second. All good, in the 1940s a general, joe Frazier, a retired general from Georgia, came and bought about a third of Hilton Head Island, the whole southern third, and his plan was to make it into a pine farm, which many people were doing in those days, to grow pine trees to sell to the pulp mills in Savannah. Okay, people were doing those days to grow pine trees to sell to the pulp mills in Savannah. He had a son, charles, who graduated in the early 50s with a land use architecture degree from Harvard. When Charles graduated he said Daddy, you think I can use that property on Hilton Head as a project? His father said sure, and Charles Fraser developed the whole southern third of Hilton Head, sea Pines.
Speaker 1:Wow, so he's the beginning founder of Sea Pines.
Speaker 2:He was the visionary with Sea Pines and by the early 60s Sea Pines was considered the most progressive land use development in the country. Many architecture schools, land use architecture, really used it as an example. He did a lot of things that had never been done before. He put land use covenants. That had never been done. Houses had to be natural color, they couldn't be above tree line, there had to be so much open space and he went on to do a lot of other developments in the Southeast and the Caribbean and most of Southern Beaufort County has been developed. The developments have been done by what are often referred to as Charlie's Angels people that worked for Frazier in the 60s and 70s. And there's Colleton River, belfair, berkeley Hall, hampton Lake all people that worked for Frazier, most notably Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 2:The vision behind Palmetto Bluff. The original development team that started here around 1999, 2000, were all former Sea Pines employees. They were Charlie's Angels. They were Charlie's Angels and you see a lot of that in the environmental concern and the open space and the natural colors and so forth.
Speaker 1:That's such, not a tangent at all. I think it's so interesting to hear about the evolution of sea pines out towards this Bluffton area and how it does all string together with the covenants it sounds like were placed on early on to keep that quality high and that essence of what he started.
Speaker 2:So I called up his office and his assistant said well, I can get you 10 minutes in two weeks. And so two weeks went by and here I am, a 19-year-old in the 70s, my hair down past my shoulders. I went in and we talked for about five minutes and he said this sounds interesting, I don't have anything to do today. Would you like to go for a ride in my car? So he took me all over Sea Pines, took me to Marsh, took me to both marinas and sea pines. At the end of the day he took me for a ride on his sailboat. And he finished. He said look, I think you have a good idea. You should go to the South Beach Marina and Sea Pines. I'm going to set you up with a card table in the back of the general store there.
Speaker 2:And he said some words that really has kind of driven our vision all along. He said look, if you really want to be successful in the recreation world in the Carolina Low Country, it's all about one word. It's all about tides, Tides, Everything here, All of our nature, All of our history, how people have moved around for centuries, All of our culture, All of our literature, Books like Forrest Gump or Prince of Tides. Everything is about tides and if you can figure out how to connect people to tides, you'll be okay.
Speaker 2:And that was kind of the beginning of the business.
Speaker 1:Wow, how inspiring to have that amount of time with him when it was just supposed to be a 10 minute meeting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, really, and he went on to really be a mentor, you know, until his death, for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Incredible.
Speaker 1:Incredible. Well, you essentially were going to begin the windsurfing school with someone else and they moved out immediately. So you met Mr Frazier and you dove right in Outside's Brands. You touched on it a little bit has a vision that I connect to a lot when I was doing research for our discussion today. The brand, as stated, is to enrich lives by connecting people to exceptional places, products and experiences. Could you tell us more about how you and your team came up with this vision and how it guides you today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, if you look at and you had asked about what are the changes in adventure or the changes in recreation in the low country? And it's really interesting if I go back forward. But I was on the board of the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce for most of the nineties and I'm using Hilton as example because really until the late nineties that was most of the development. Southern beaufort county. Yeah, and really there was three words that they were used marketing to attract people to this area. In those days it was golf, tennis, beach, and I'm on that same board again now and it's interesting to do a lot of work to market people to the low country and the. The words have changed and there's now three other words and it's nature, history, culture.
Speaker 1:Very cool.
Speaker 2:That really attracts them. Yes, you know, people love playing golf at Palmetto Bluff, but I think if you the listeners here, I imagine most of them came for the nature and the history and the culture.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. That's what's so unique about Palmetto Bluff is you do have golf, you do have tennis, you've got pickleball, you've got kind of the standards of what people were interested in 40 years ago. And yet we're on this incredible landscape of nature and history and outdoor activities is definitely more of the scene these days because people want to be healthy.
Speaker 2:And so to ask, answer your question about what was the inspiration on the mission statement the Lowcountry, as those of us who live here know, there's really nowhere that compares to it in the world of this amazing place where land meets sea and the environment and man kind of connect so much and a lot, many of it formed by the tides. And so the experiences, even, uh, with the visitors we have with our operation of pomelo bluff, which are very discretionary most of those visitors have the discretion to go anywhere in the world. They want many of them been there that, and so when they come here, that enrichment by the wow of what the Lowcountry really is, it's there. It is there Taking somebody on a sunset into the salt marsh and just stopping and being quiet and observing can be just simply over the top, but really, uh, connecting people to these places here, the experiences they have, and we offer a lot of products that complement that as well as where that came from yeah, yeah, what a great description.
Speaker 1:Tell us more about outside palmetto bluff, the types of excursions, activities that that you provide for guests and our members here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And again, our goal is to deliver that mission to enrich lives by connecting people to exceptional places, products and experiences. And we do that on a number of different divisions of our company, whether it's the products and with a really redone store at Wilson Landing, or primarily with the experiences. And while we offer some upland experiences, like guided hikes and bikes and electric bike tours and freshwater tours on the Duffies, a lot of it's in the saltwater. What we do and one the focus we have on our people. We developed a training program over the last 40 years. It really came out of training windsurfers but then really focused on training interpretive naturalists on how to make an experience meaningful to somebody.
Speaker 2:So if we're out in a boat and we see a blue heron. It's easy to point at the bird and say, oh, that's a blue heron, okay, but how is that meaningful? Why is it blue? Why is it standing where it is at this time of day? How does it connect to where somebody grew up in Detroit, michigan or wherever they came from? And what is really that connection to everything? Why is it meaningful? But really, our goal is to take people and really immerse them in the Lowcountry, whether it's going on an immersive history tour of the Fusky Island or heading out to discover prehistoric shark teeth or Native American artifacts, or simply using the recreation for fun, whether it's water sports or kayaking, paddleboarding, kayaking, yeah and so forth.
Speaker 1:So your training system? That's interesting to hear more about. I think experiences are all about the training that leaders provide and that the team creates, so it sounds like your guides go through a pretty intensive process before they take anybody out. Could you elaborate on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when we bring somebody onto the team, obviously we make experience, but we're really looking more for their personal characteristics. We actually seek people that have three strong characteristics they're humble, they're hungry and they're smart.
Speaker 1:Hey, patrick Lencioni, there you go, yeah, the ideal team player.
Speaker 2:So that really focuses it on the smart, probably the one that's not so much the book definition, more their interpersonal skills. And we find if we have that characteristic and people have the hunger, they can learn a lot. And so we started in the windsurfing years. Back in the 80s I became the person that was the oversaw the what was called the International Windsurfer Sailing Schools, which was a standardized system for teaching windsurfing throughout the world.
Speaker 1:Dang.
Speaker 2:By name, I stole the book that's authored for that.
Speaker 1:Would you travel and teach?
Speaker 2:folks, I would travel, I'd train instructors. I do quite a bit and that was modeled very much after two industries that have really focused instruction the snow ski industry and the diving industry. Very standardized Patty at SAI.
Speaker 1:Very standardized Diving.
Speaker 2:you don't want to do things incorrectly, no, but if you take a, diving class in in savannah and you take another one in paris, you're going to have the same same principles, very standard, and when we, you know, we got into kayaking in the late 80s and at the time I think we were the first company to offer guided nature tours on kayaks in the United States.
Speaker 2:Right now there's thousands. There were people doing expeditionary kayak if you wanted to do a week in Alaska or something but there wasn't really anybody taking people on nature walks on the water that we could find and there wasn't any standardized system. So we put together a training program. We took some information from the windsurfing and dive and ski industry. We brought into our faculty probably the top interpretive naturalist in the country, a guy named Todd Ballantyne. Many people who have guidebooks here probably have his book titled and treasures Uh. We brought in a fellow named Mike Taylor who was considered probably the top historian in the state, uh, working with the university of South Carolina for the faculty, and we started a really intensive program that primarily was focused on training people to be interpreters interpreters of nature, history and culture.
Speaker 1:The other three that we're now talking about today.
Speaker 2:And so that has tweaked and developed over the last 40-plus years and we just finished our March training last week with a class of 15. And that's the core and it really is kind of a boot camp and it's just simply remarkable the excitement that comes out of that and the quality of the guides I bet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I appreciate the details on that. It sounds like helping your teammates become interpreters like to what they're seeing out there while they're with people. Providing the experience just must absolutely change the game.
Speaker 2:Changes it entirely. It's become a special thing and we kept it completely internal. We have, just because of capacity. We have a lot of other outfitters in the country that have called us and said can we send people to this? But we haven't gotten to that point. Wow, very cool.
Speaker 1:So, mike, you've been in business a long time. Obviously, the brand has evolved. We talked a lot about the experiences. Could you share another corner of the brand that is maybe the newest aspect of what you and the team do, and just details around it?
Speaker 2:Sure. So we're specialty retailers Three stores Hilton Head, here at the Bluff and Savannah. We're the leisure recreation operator second division we have a very focused team and leadership development division, which is something we developed over the last really. Second division we have a very focused team and leadership development division, which is something we developed over the last really 20 years. We purchased a private chain of islands called Page Island. That's part of that. Probably our newest of our four divisions is our destination management company Interesting, tell us about that. So, destination in the hospitality industry, the acronym is a common acronym, dmc, and what a destination management company is is probably the best ambassadors of a destination. They know a destination, they have contacts, relationships, can get people into places they normally wouldn't be able to get into, and we serve three destinations Savannah, palmetto, bluff and Hilton Head. What a destination management company does is really provide traveling corporate groups with everything over and above what their hotel provides.
Speaker 2:So, that can be ground transportation from the airport to the hotel, support for parties, events, decor, entertainment activities. We contract ourselves when we can but we'll do whatever they want. If somebody wants to go race, car driving or have a cooking school, or a mixology program, or whatever a tour of Gulfstream. Whatever it is, we provide it.
Speaker 1:So y'all are the guides from start to finish, like help build the itinerary with the enjoyment aspects that they're looking for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that meeting planner can make one call, and that's good to go. You're good to go Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very cool that that's been the next evolution of outside brands. So you've been on record saying follow your passion, taste, take risks, as life is short, work hard and play hard. These are powerful phrases that we hear a lot. Right, follow your passion, take risks, as life is short. Let's key in on that. So, in the amount of time you've been in business, do you have one or two risks that you've taken that you're most proud of?
Speaker 2:Well, I think all along, I think you know as a kid, heading south from Vermont really into this unknown place and starting something, but on the other side, at 19, you typically don't have a lot to lose on that case. But I think as we've grown over the years, every time we've expanded whether it's opening a new location or investing in programs that have expanded to us, you know, from a financial side is a risk, yeah, and it takes it on. So I think that's part of a growing business and my opinion, if the business is not growing, you're in trouble, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it sounds like you're just very proud that you've stepped out there and it sounds like just if I'm reading between the lines it's always paid off, despite it being challenging at first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nothing's a straight line. There's always bumps along the road. But, yes, overall we're really happy with where we are and it's a phenomenal team and that's really what makes it work is the team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I couldn't agree more. And there are so many aspects of the Lowcountry and seeing where you're in Savannah, you're in these different outlets, I mean there's so much more that can be done here with adventure.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's endless. It really is. I mean it's. You know, the adventure is an interesting word. A lot of folks when they think of adventure, they might think of a big mountain or a deep forest, you know where it's not, usually millions of acres of salt marsh, but there's a lot of adventure out here, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Over the years there's been major shifts in the low country. You touched on this earlier. I'd be interested specific to outdoor interests. What has changed with customers? Do you find themes of what the majority of customers coming in are looking for when they visit your various locations?
Speaker 2:It's an interesting question, you know. I think back to almost the 90s, where the group travel might have been golf junkets and having a good time in the party side was a big priority. And I think, as time has moved forward maybe it's bumps with recessions or the pandemic or what have you people have gotten much more focused on relationships and how do we connect? How do we connect with each other? And the outdoors has proven such a great venue for that. If people think back to their family connections, what are those great memories when they were kids with the families? Often it's some outdoor experience or trip. And I think that focus on relationships, whether it's relationships in the workplace or relationships in family or relationships with friends, that's really, I think, been kind of a shift on the priority of the customer there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great angle.
Speaker 2:It's less about the actual experience and more about the connection and memories you get from those experiences with those people you know, we even see it in retail, where there was a time ago where it was much more material, we wanted to buy these things. And even as we get into holiday times and gifts, so many more people are now saying you know, I think we'll give an experience, that's cool.
Speaker 1:So you you've seen a difference in um basically experiences, versus just buying apparel.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people come out. Last Christmas we a lot of people buying family outings. You know we do something called the ultimate low country day, or maybe I'll give dad a fishing charter.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. So interests are changing with customers. It sounds like what's great about your world is you've got different avenues for no matter what someone's looking for. I'm interested someone who's seen trends over time change. What do you think will define the next decade of outdoor adventure, specifically in the low country?
Speaker 2:You know, I think when people look for adventure, the word that often goes with that is discovery. You know, the low country, any destination, I think, booms because it's that discovery Wow, we just found this place. It's amazing, the unexpected, the unexpected, and it's so. You know, I want to move there. It's so fantastic and I think still, discovering this area is what's going to drive the future of specific activities. I'm proud that we I think we're the first in the area for some specific activities. We're the first windsurfing school, the first rollerblade dealer on the east of the Mississippi Rollerblade dealer.
Speaker 1:It was a huge business for us in the early 90s.
Speaker 2:I think we were the first ones to really bring paddleboarding to the area.
Speaker 1:I believe so yeah.
Speaker 2:Some of these. I don't know if you call them trends, but sports and those things will come along.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're saying there's more of those to come. Oh, there's. You know. On the wind sports, it was windsurfing, there was kiteboarding and wing foiling is becoming a big, so there's wing foiling? Tell us about that. So wing foiling is a relatively new sport where, uh, you actually kind of like kiteboarding, but you hold a wing-shaped, uh, inflated sail and you're on a board that's a little bit bigger than a wakeboard and with a foil under it that creates lift and lifts the board out of the water.
Speaker 2:No way, it's a pretty if somebody is on here and they google wing foiling and look at it and it's. It's an interesting sport because it's really low impact. You're it's, you can drop the sail and sit there and so it's quite safe and you can do it on any body of water and you'll see that you're going to see that growing quite a bit Wow.
Speaker 1:I had never heard of it before this conversation today and I plan on looking it up.
Speaker 2:But I think so there'll be. I think they're going to be activities, but I think that focus on relationships. You know, and also we're finding a lot of the visitors are looking for super high end experiences that connect all those three parts of the stool the nature and the history and the culture. You know, whether it's going to Daufuskie and doing a tour of Daufuskie but also really engaging in the Gullah culture and maybe getting a Gullah meal as part of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or taking. There's quite a few super high end destination, history of the area and the experience that they're taking folks on, but then you actually get to eat the foods of the indigenous culture that was was part of it.
Speaker 2:We're got a new program on to Fusky just for that, working with one of the great Gullah foodies, Sally Ann Robinson.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And and her experience is, many people are familiar with the story of Pat Conroy teaching. She was one of his students in that 69, 70 school year but and her family has been on the fusky for generations and adds to that to her but then cooks a full meal at her house. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Wow, mike, that's quite the experience. You've got me thinking here what's the most scenic, iconic special place on property?
Speaker 2:scenic, iconic, special place on property. You know the May River, like, I think, all of the tidal estuaries or it is a tidal estuary even though we call it a river of this area, all have special spots. And again I'm going to go back to those words nature, history, culture, because you can really take the May River and blend all three of them. You know the nature of the there's millions of. Anytime you're standing there, you're sitting in a wild hunting spot. There's millions of things hunting around you, from tiny microorganisms to shrimp, to fish, to to dolphins, to other animals, whether it's gators on the side or otters or whatever.
Speaker 2:There's so much going on on the wildlife. There's so much going on on the plant life, whether it's the spartina grass or others. But then the history, whether it's the history of the Native Americans that paddled in those waters and had villages and the shell middens and the artifacts that go up and down the May River, or the history of the early planters and how it connects to the cotton and rice crops here, or the history of what happened during the Civil War and Sherman, who brought his gunboats up the river, up the May River, and burned all but seven buildings in the town of Bluffton and that and how, that history then, or the Gullah culture that came after it and the oystering business that grew out of it, and the fact that the last working oyster factory in the southeast United States is on the May River. And why is the last working?
Speaker 1:oyster factory in the Southeast United States is on the May River, and why is the last working oyster factory the last working oyster factory in the Southeast.
Speaker 2:When I got here there were, I believe, about 15 oyster factories in Southern Beaufort County alone. That was 45 years ago and the Bluffton Oyster Company is the last working oyster factory in the Southeast United States.
Speaker 1:Wow. So for you, I mean, it's not necessarily a specific special spot, it's all of these spots in history that have stemmed from the May River in some way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can take just that conversation on the oyster factory and why is it, you know, go into a whole discussion on the mariculture business and why it is the last working oyster factory and how does that affect the economy of bluffton. And there's, so it, it, it all kind of connects.
Speaker 1:There was a linear impact because of it.
Speaker 2:Oh for sure, yeah and there's the environmental side to it and and you can continue that story into you know the folks from Savannah that used Bluffton as a vacation spot in the middle part of the 20th century, and then a whole study of the modern development.
Speaker 1:Absolutely incredible. Well, mike, we're getting towards the end of our time together here. I got a couple more questions for you and we like to be pretty tactical with our conversations, just giving our listeners essentially some action steps. So you, as someone who has built these experiences over time, you've got a thriving business going on and you also have a great perspective on how to get the most out of an experience from just the little time we've spent here today. So I'm wondering if you were to give our listeners some advice the next time they're outside, they're connecting with their friends, they're doing an experience here in the Lowcountry. What advice would you give that listener?
Speaker 2:Again, there's so many different experiences. I always think getting just in touch with this environment, oftentimes just closing your eyes and being quiet, it has pretty over the top experience. But, you know, depending there's so many options of places to go and things to do, uh, you know, we, our, our company, offers on a daily basis, right from palmetto bluff, almost 50 different experience options and and it's uh, the biggest thing is to just go out there and dive in and do it get, get into the pluff mud get into the pluff mud.
Speaker 1:I like that and I think the tip about when you are out there, just close those eyes and take a pause is such great perspective, Mike. So one aspect of your operation we haven't discussed yet is the Outside Foundation, which is a nonprofit that you and your team lead. Could you tell us about the mission and everything you have going on? You know a big part of outside brands.
Speaker 2:Our company is to try to use the company as a tool for social change and you know a retail vendor or product we use has been a big mentor in that Patagonia. And in 2014, we finally got the IRS 501c3 to form a non-profit called the Outside Foundation. So, being a non-profit corporation, it's a separate operation from our four proper operations outside brands and the different outside Palmetto Bluff. And the foundation has a dual mission One to get kids outside and two local environmental preservation and protection. And it's got a wonderful executive director, dr Gene Frew, who's a retired college professor and a great board of directors and it's now 11 years old. But in the 10 years of operation it's really done some phenomenal things on delivering to that mission of getting kids outside and local environmental preservation and protection.
Speaker 2:On the getting kids outside, the most impactful program has been a program called Kids and Kayaks, kids and Kayaks program called Kids and Kayaks, kids and Kayaks, kids and Kayaks. It's now part of the Beaufort County Public School curriculum. Every seventh grade science class in Beaufort County has a full outdoor program now and the classes are taken on a daily basis or a one-day basis at least a year where they go out and it's a full day. They have spent half of it on the docks studying water quality and dock fouling and so forth. The other half they're with their science class and our guides or the we use other outfitters as well on the water, studying the water, and it's it's. Last year we were happy that every single seventh grade public school class in Beaufort County participated.
Speaker 1:That's an impact I think I've seen those seventh graders over by Wilson Marino. This is the exact Quite.
Speaker 2:a few of the schools do their operation here. We have an outfitter in northern Beaufort County that does some of those.
Speaker 1:We use them on.
Speaker 2:Hilton Head and it's just, it's been so impactful. Some of those we use them on Hilton Head and it's just, it's been so impactful and it's uh.
Speaker 2:we, the foundation, funds any child on financial aid, which is 60 percent of the children in Beaufort County, which is significant or something and it's pretty amazing because you know a a kid going to school in Beaufort County has a much less chance of getting on the water in Beaufort County than a visitor and many of these children never have. And it's such an eye-opener and we have example after example of what it's proven and the growth of these kids. So that's been a big part of getting kids outside. On the environmental side we do a lot of cleanups but the most impactful program has been a community oyster recycling program.
Speaker 1:Okay, tell us about the oyster recycling program.
Speaker 2:So we now have over 60 restaurants in Southern Beaufort County where all the oysters that are eaten, the staff is trained to separate them and they're recycled. So we have trucks that go by every day that pick up these oysters. Every restaurant at Pomelo Bluff is a part of this program. Here they're taken out by the farm where they're.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Farmer Shane's got a whole section over there. I didn't know the interrelationship with the nonprofit, so it's a cooperative work at Hilton Head.
Speaker 2:The Coastal Discovery Museum at Honeyhorn is given a spot and so they're taken there. So Nature Does it thing is cleaning them up for about a year and then there's volunteer bagging programs where the oysters are put in bags. And then we've now built over 30 reefs in Southern Beaufort County At Pomodoro Bluff. We've had two years of building reefs in South Wilson, on Stallings Landing in fact, and these reefs oystering.
Speaker 2:Many people know that oysters or filter feeders are really the linchpin on why the water quality of this area is the highest water quality really of any saltwater in North America. And they also are living reefs when you have the oysters there where the water can go through. But they protect the salt marsh quite a bit from sea level rise. And especially if you go where the bank has been eroding so much on Stalling's Landing, if you look at the impact of those reefs you'll see marsh grass growing behind them and pretty phenomenal impact. We had a study done two years ago by the Pew Charitable Trust on the impact of oyster recycling. They finished their report with a pretty powerful statement that the oyster recycling initiative is the most impactful thing in connecting and protecting the southeastern salt marsh from sea level rise dang, that's got to be so rewarding to know that you and your team are are like at the forefront of protecting this land yeah, and there's.
Speaker 2:We're happy that a lot of members at the bluff have been involved from a volunteer standpoint of this. That's the outsidefoundationorg if anybody wants to get involved on the non-profit side. But that's um, that's been a big where we see the company funding wise, but it's a separate organization and it's doing amazing to keep, uh, to keep this place what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah and well, I'm so glad we stumbled on to learning more about the non nonprofit, and I'm sure adding that aspect to your business is just inspiring for those who work with you and get to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really. It's been a really rewarding give back.
Speaker 1:Yeah Cool, all right, mike. Well, final question for you what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:You know, it's really interesting, I think, for all of us in life. We kind of go back to why are we here? What is our purpose? You know, when we leave this world, what is our legacy, what have we done? And often, you know, a lot of us spend a lot of time working, but I don't know if that's your legacy, but what does it matter with your family or your purpose and I think wellness is really a big piece of that is finding your purpose. Obviously, there's a whole side of wellness, whether it's mind, body, soul and everything. I'm sure you work on your programs every day, jeff, but I really think it's kind of connecting to that purpose and that's often finding that purpose, whether it's giving or whatever that purpose is, often connects to happiness, which I think is a big part of wellness. Yeah, yeah Well said, Mike.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for taking the time today to come on over here to Moreland and couldn't ask for a better historical background of the Lowcountry that we haven't shared yet here on Behind the Bluff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can't thank you enough, jeff. I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 1:You're very welcome Listeners. Feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get your healthy momentum for the rest of the week. Whether we like it or not, we always have our own agenda. Come on, you have one. Don't act like you don't. As imperfect human beings, we are wired to want what we want. We are wired to try and get our way and we are wired to not stop until we do. You see, each of our outlooks on life are different and we live life with different preferences. It is incredibly instinctual to take steps so that our preferences are met.
Speaker 1:I've got a funny example here. I am a super picky eater, like very picky. I avoid almost all sauces and condiments. I'm not a fan of soups, and if you serve me something that starts with cass and ends with roll, count me out. So my preference at my house is to do all the cooking. So my preference at my house is to do all the cooking. It gives me a sense of control with what I have for dinner and good news is, lindsay goes along with it. But it's just an example that I will cook every meal because it allows me to honor my preferences. And same goes for fitness. My preference is to run not walk, and I'd much rather do pull-ups not push-ups. Make it a burpee pull-up. I'm totally in.
Speaker 1:You may be thinking why does this matter? What's all this talk about wanting what we want? It's okay to want what we want, am I right? Of course it is, but improving your self-awareness of why you want what you want and understanding how your personal preferences were formed in the very first place will help you never to be ruled by them. Will help you never to be ruled by them. There's a lot of factors to this Genetic factors like taste and risk tolerance those are classically inherited and personal experiences in childhood, such as our early exposure to foods, music activities.
Speaker 1:They definitely shape our lifelong preferences. And how about your positive and negative association bias? This is an important one to stay vigilant and aware of. When we have a good experience with something, we tend to like it more. And don't discount your family and friends. We often adopt preferences based on the people closest to us. So to get some healthy momentum this week, take a pause here to recognize that we have been wired to want what we want and it is deeply ingrained. But don't forget that, while certain personal preferences may never change. Preferences are indeed dynamic. They can change over time, especially when we are open to new experiences and open to listening to the insights that we receive. So, for this week, stay flexible and let the constantly changing circumstances in your life rewire you in a different way. That's a wrap on this week's episode. We are so grateful you took the time to listen this week and remember you deserve to feel connected and actively participate in life on your terms. Take care.
