February 28th, 2010
By Skittles
After implementing a new “look” for our booth, we were really excited to see if our design changes would pay off by bringing more people over to JTreeLife to check it out. The International Sportsmans Expo was a consumer show, and this being the case, we modified our display by switching out our standard JTree display rack that’s normally sold to shops, with inviting heaps of our products in the ultra cool TazLab Aqua Fur Bowls. And after working so many shows and getting tons of questions about what exactly did we sell, we thought we would also try to provide some informational banners to help people connect the dots. I think our design turned out great and was certainly IMO the most eye appealing booth at the show! What do you think? Leave us a comment and let us know!!
This show was also a great opportunity to market our Sportsman’s Salve and Sun Stick to all the fly fisherman and hunters looking for effective ways to protect and heal their skin. I think that once they heard that our Salve heals skin but also protects the good calluses on their hands they were sold. Lots of folks also thought the Sun Stick was cool for being such a no-mess, no-fuss application of sunscreen that is very sweat and water resistant!
The new JTreeLife booth worked out quite well and we were also glad to have Dave’s parents, Bobbi and Tom, as well as Boca and Bubbles helping us out at our booth on Saturday. We both think that Bobbi is giving Clint, aka C-Dog aka DJ Tastes Like Chicken, a run for his money for JTree Salesperson of the Month! 
In addition, Torrent would like to add that he really enjoyed this show. Though there weren’t as many other dogs walking around to play with, they had a super awesome pool at one end of the arena sponsored by Dock Dogs that were allowing dogs to jump off the dock for distance. 
If you know Torr, you know he loves the water! So we signed him up, and he was allowed to practice jump as many times as he wanted and then do one competition jump. On his very first practice jump, he went 12 feet (and that was starting about 3 feet from the end of the dock!)! However, on his competition jump, he just wanted Dave to jump in too, so did more barking than jumping! Oh well, it was still two paws up from Torr!
Tags: Joshua Tree Salve, SPF, Sun Protection, Sun Stick
Posted in Trade Shows | No Comments »
February 20th, 2010
By Skittles
By the time we left our adventures in SLC, it was hard to believe that we had spent a whole month there! As much as I had enjoyed our time playing in the mountains and bonding with our friend Clint, I was eagerly awaiting some play time in the sun. So promptly after our Sportsmans show, we “hit the road again” - headed due south. According to the directions via Google Maps in the iPhone, it had us driving thru Vegas en route to Phoenix. However, after waking up from a nap, I found we were minutes from Bryce Canyon! Ok, so maybe we weren’t going to hit Vegas after all - talk about last minute changes in direction!
It was actually quite cool to visit Bryce while there was still four feet of snow on the ground. The contrast between the white snowy ground and the shades of orange in the rock towers were beautifully amazing and the temps were perfect for a day hike thru the snow! Despite wishing we had a pair of snowshoes to trek into the untouched rolling hills leading down into the canyon, we had a great time following the packed down trail in the snow. 
Torr had a great time too bounding into the snow fields chasing snowballs.
Following our very brief visit to Bryce, we figured that since we were going to drive right past it, that we should stop at the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon, is well, … grand. Large. Expansive. Impressive. For the middle of winter, it was also pretty busy and didn’t have enough signs (or maybe we are just prone to getting lost everywhere!). Since, again, our stay was going to be brief, we decided that we would just do a short hike down into the canyon to see if the view got any more impressive. At the trailhead, I was very surprised to learn that a Boston marathoner had died on the same trail we were about to explore because she was unprepared for the heat and didn’t bring enough water. I guess we all need to be careful, no matter how many miles we can run! The hike proved to be a lot of work to be able to see the same thing we could from the parking lot, so David and I 
both decided that the only way we would want to see the Grand Canyon again is from the river below on a raft!
At this point, our travels to Phoenix were starting to feel like a whirlwind tour of Arizona! We continued south hitting up Flagstaff and Sedona on our way. After pulling into Sedona around 4:00 in the afternoon, we jumped on our bikes and did a quick bike ride around the infamous red rock towers. Our brief trail ride left us hooked and wanting more (unfortunately unbeknownst to us, it was going rain the next day). We’ve had the great luck on this trip of meeting some super friendly folks. That night was no exception! Not only did we meet a fellow biker on the trail from California who invited us to park in his driveway anytime we were coming thru town, but a super cool group of riders just getting done with their weekly group ride. We would like to holla at our friends at the Bike & Bean bike shop. Thank you so much for the beers and camaraderie and also letting us park behind your shop! If anyone is ever in Sedona to ride bikes, please stop by and support this cool shop.
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February 14th, 2010
By Skittles
Following Winter OR, events unfolded such that we ended up staying in Salt Lake City with C-Dog Batson for another two weeks. During that time, we were able to get some post show work done, as well as take the opportunity to plan out our next month all the while enjoying the company of our good friend Clint.
First up on our February itinerary, the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo back at the Salt Palace. For us, the largest difference in going to this show was that it was a consumer show, so we were selling to the general public, instead of retail buyers and it was a 100% hunter demographic attending the show. It was really really hard to schlep our Sportsman’s Salve to those hunters! We got lots of “what is that?” and “no thanks” to our offers to try a sample of the Salve. However, once they came in to check it out, and we could see the state of the dry cracked skin on their hands, they saw the potential of the product. We met lots 
of folks in construction and concrete who were impressed that the product wouldn’t mess up their good calluses - hopefully we made some in’s with those folks!
It was cool to learn a little about the hunting and outfitting industries. We found out that some of those permits for particular animals cost in the upwards of $100K’s! And that was just for the permit, and did not include the outfitter service, transportation, lodging, etc, etc. Craziness. All in all, the show was a good learning experience for our upcoming Sportsman’s Show in Phoenix.
A huge shout out to C-Dog who was the JTreeLife Salesperson of the Show! Seriously buddy, thank you for all your help schlepping the goods at the show in only a way that YOU can! Here is an email excerpt of C-Dog’s best sales effort of the show:
“While supporting the MDF at the recent expo in Salt Lake, I wandered around and came across the Joshua Tree both…or rather the booth found me. Whomever the salesman at that booth did one heck of a job getting me to stop, sample and purchase your product. He was a hoot! I spend a great deal of my time outdoors and have always had trouble with rough skin on my hands and chapped lips. I purchased your Desert Shimmers lip balm. It’s without a doubt the best product I have ever used on my lips! And believe me I’ve tried EVERYTHING! You have a customer for life.
I was given a sample of the Sportsman’s Salve. Once again, I’ve never used anything that helped my dry skin so quickly. When hunting season approaches and I’m knee deep in sagebrush, snow and the Wyoming wind you can bet I’ll be stocking up on more of your products.
Thank you for creating such an excellent product. I’m very impressed! Keep up the great work.”
Tags: Joshua Tree Desert Shimmers, Joshua Tree Lip Balm, Joshua Tree Salve
Posted in Trade Shows, Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 1st, 2010
From time to time, we will be traveling with friends who may share their unique perspectives of our adventures. This is a recount of events that went down at our good friend Clint aka C-Dog aka DJ Tastes Like Chicken in Layton, UT. Warning: this recollection is PG-13 for offensive language and may require an urbandictionary translation. Please proceed to read at your own discretion.
By C-Dog
I knew sh!t was going down in East Side Layton when I saw a pimpin’ pimpin’, stretched-out RV rollin’ up on dubs pull into the neighborhood. I’m normally not a person to judge people, but that Clint guy is one true gangster. Most neighbors know him only as the BAMF, but I had the pleasure to hear him scratching it up as DJ Tastes Like Chicken one night, but that is another story. Getting back to the sh!t going down, of course the R-Vizzle pulled right up into Clint’s driveway. I immediately sent the wife and kids inside the house, cocked the nine and prepared for some Mexican cartel BS. I learned one thing over the last year that one needed to be prepared when Clint’s homies were in town. As I read the side of the RV, I let out a sigh of relief once I realized the gangsters rolling in were the same MF’s I met last night in downtown SLC, some organic love life J-Tree crew. I had nothing to fear as long as I didn’t get between them and a hotdog served by the crazy dancing Russian.
The following morning I happened to be walking the dog down the street and some fly guy in camo boxers and a pair of cowboy boots stepped out of the RV. My few interactions with the BAMF had taught me some gangster slang so I said, “what’s up G.” I didn’t really understand what he said next, but apparently there was something called “pow pow nar nar” that was going to get shredded up that day at Powder Mountain. I nodded and continued back to the house thinking they must be up to something awesome. A few minutes later I saw the RV rolling out filled with the happy family of six gangsters. Later that day I gave a friend of mine who was ski patrol at Powder Mountain a call to inquire about this stuff called “pow pow nar nar”. He laughed and said they were talking about the fresh snow and that it must be awesome to roll up to the resort in a ride like theirs. He had seen the gangsters ripping the pow pow all day and one guy in particular was covered head to toe in white. He must have been a MF from Vegas!
The next day I watched as the RV rolled out again. I had learned that morning the crew was heading to Snowbasin to shred the nar pow. Damn I sound gangster. If I was going to pick a place to die it would have to be one of the bathroom stalls at Snowbasin because you couldn’t die anywhere else more luxurious besides maybe the St. Petersburg Cathedral. It had to be a nice day of eight inches of light and fluffy on top up the freshly groomed runs. I’m sure they found themselves lost in the clouds of strawberry not knowing what lay in front of them. Just before dusk the RV cruised back in. It must have been another family dinner around the knights of the round table by the number of grocery bags they were carrying in. I always wonder what it must be like to be sipping on magic makers with such good friends around that table. Over the next few days the gangster family got smaller as some headed back to their normal hustlin’ lives. I’m still trying to figure out why a roll of duct tape, a seat from a whitewhater couch, and a snowboard were loaded into the back of the astro van one day. 
They must have been working on some top secret snow missile program. It has been a few weeks now and I’m sure the BAMF is aware that the J-Tree RV will be setting sail in the winds across America. But he knows best, if you love something you must set it free.
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January 27th, 2010
By Skittles
Our Outdoor Retailer shows generally consist of a good mix of both business and pleasure. Like I might have mentioned before, we love coming back to SLC twice a year to see all our friends both at, and not at, the show who we call our SLC Family.
Several times during the show, David and I turned to each other and commented on how the JTree booth had seemingly become the show “hangout” for our friends at the show. And seeing a crowd around a booth, other folks would come in to check out what the “hub bub” was all about. This is a shout out to all our friends who hung at our booth - thanks for stopping by and come hang with us again this summer!
As usual, we worked super hard selling JTree product at the show so that we could afford to eat at our favorite sushi place EVER, Takashi, in downtown SLC. It has, hands down, the best sushi I have EVER eaten. Bentley and his wife Jessica, our friends from TrailFoods, Chris and Pat, Vegas climber friend John, Clint aka C-Dog from Layton, UT, friend Mike from his days in MI, David and I put down $$$ worth of sushi rolls and multiple bottles of sake. 
After three orders of the Black Magic Woman roll (our favorite) the server suggested trying the Seared Sable Fish and it was amazing. The night quickly moved on to a local bar where some poser in our group decided to start off with Jagger Bombs. (Ugh, we all know what happens to Skittles after starting with these!) Which were quickly followed by a round of Rusty Nails compliments of Chris. Chris being the proud West Virginian that he is, felt obligated to introduce us to some old time, backwoods, hillbilly whisky concoction, the Rusty Nail (fitting name for a drink that bad!). On all three attempts to try a Rusty Nail, they all tasted the same: strong and bad. There might have been some dancing involved with random bar goers at that place, though not exactly sure as things started to get fuzzy….
As our OR tradition goes, on the last day of the show, Jessica and I get our shop on when all the booths try to get rid of the samples they have to pack up by selling them at cost! We hit up the sales at IceBreaker and KAVU and both got some cute stuff. Jess even got a sweet pair of new mountain biking shades at Native! To continue with our OR tradition, we hit the slopes the next couple of days, taking advantage of our OR passes getting 50% off lift tickets at all the local SLC resorts - SAAAWWEEEEET! We spent two days after the show boarding thru knee deep powder at Snowbasin and Powder Mountain and commiserating on how miserable our lives really are! Can’t wait to shred some nar pow here again next year!
Tags: Add new tag, joshua tree
Posted in Snow, Trade Shows | No Comments »
January 24th, 2010
By Skittles
So finally, after all the hoopla leading up to it, it was finally time for Winter Outdoor Retailer 2010! We might have been grumbling the night before about our booth placement, but when the showroom doors were opened at 9:00, we couldn’t have been happier for such a great, high-traffic spot on the floor! In our new area, we were able to meet up with so many more different folks (ski, bike, paddle and hike shops) than we would have in previous years, and yet, our friends from the climbing industry still found their way over to say hi. Awesome! Be sure to look for us here in this general location again for the summer show!
As usual, David, Torrent and I had our hands full pretty much all day every day for the four days of the show. Sell, sell, sell!!! Torr did his part too by laying out in front of our booth and attracting all the traffic walking down the aisle. 
It’s amazing how many people would stop to tell us what a beautiful dog we have. (I have to agree he is pretty cute!) Although Torr was super disappointed by how few other dogs there were to play with at the show, the highlight for him was a visit on Day 3 by his “brother” Porter. For being cute and well-behaved, Torrent received his second Dog of the Day award at the show! Good job Torr!
Now that we are getting really familiar with the in’s and out’s of the show and downtown SLC, this show seemed a bit easier from a logistical perspective. We were able to park really really close to the convention center, which meant a couple more minutes of sleep in the morning, being able to walk out to the Hurricane to make lunch and being able to have “home” right there!
All in all, with sales of our Salve, Lip Balms, Desert Shimmers, Face Sticks and Herbal Tea at the show combined with new accounts signed and re-orders from our current shops we were able to pay for our booth! We also walked away from the show with several great leads for distributors, new accounts, sales reps and more to help us grow the JTree business.
Tags: joshua tree, salve, Sun Stick
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January 19th, 2010
By Skittles
After all of our on the road adventures, we finally made it to Salt Lake City. It’s funny. I feel like Salt Lake City has become our little home away from home ever since we had started to come here for the Outdoor Retailer trade show twice a year about three years ago. We look forward to coming here for both the winter and the summer shows to play in the amazing snow in the mountains, climb on fantastic rock, see all of our SLC friends and eat at our favorite restaurants!
Our OR trips usually start off with meeting up with our good friend, Bentley, who works JTree’s sales and marketing. 
After picking up B from the airport and making a few important stops (dumping holding tanks…love that smell….and hitting up the liquor store for some booth essentials…whiskey and sweet tea vodka) we headed directly to the Salt Palace for booth set up. Sign-in and badge pick up: check. Unloading the RV: check. Finding our booth #32076: what the…. Long story short, what we failed to learn until we walked out on to the showroom floor was that our booth space was directly in front of the main door that leads to the loading dock. So unless we wanted to have our booth run down by forklifts moving crates and boxes into the showroom, we were not going to be able to set up until that door was permanently shut. Now the question was: when exactly would that be? Apparently that was going to be at 8pm the night before the show. Lucky for us we pack light and move efficiently! At 9:30pm our booth was finally set up. Now it was off to get some sleep!
Tags: joshua tree
Posted in Trade Shows, Travel | No Comments »
January 19th, 2010
by Skittles
After such a great time at Shelf, we packed up the Hurricane and started up Hwy 9 en route to Vail. Vail? Yes, Vail! Turns out that our friends from Team JTree Cycling have a sick place in Vail that they are fortunate enough to visit 40 days out of the year. Rough life!!! 
Our friends the Kozole’s were gracious enough to invite David, Torrent and I up to their place as we made our way thru CO en route to UT for a day or two of play. With that offer, there was no way that we could say no, so thus began a rather trecherous drive to meet up with Rick and Deb.
Thus far into our trip, the Hurricane had mostly stuck to dry or wet roads and this was the first time that it had experienced snow! Driving Hwy 9 as we approached Breckenridge from the south started to become more and more snowy, the speed limits slower, the roads twisty-er and now snow covered. Despite conditions, the Hurricane made it thru like a champ, not slipping on the snowy roads once! Shout out to Driver David who held it down on the switch backs while I was freakin’ out in the front seat.
The next two days in Vail were straight out of a dirtbag’s dream! Deluxe accomodations: check. Lift tickets: check. Personal tour of the best trails on the mountain: check. Hot tub: check. Chillin’ with fantastic friends: check.
OMG - talk about heaven! When our short stay in Vail came to an end, we all were on Cloud 9. I can’t wait to hook up with the Kozole’s again, perhaps for some climbing at Shelf?
Tags: joshua tree
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January 18th, 2010
by Skittles
With the arrival of the CO weekend warriors, the Shelf scene on Saturday turned in the typical weekend crag social scene. Having got in some of the classics on Friday, we were satisified with climbing what ever we were able to get on. 
It was also a great opportunity to do our JTree work thing and hand out as many salve samples as we could.
By random means, we again had ourselves one epic campfire session with folks we’d met out on the rock and now were sharing campsites with. The group karma with our new found group of friends was awesome and we were really sad to leave to start heading towards the big show in Salt Lake City on Sunday. The next time we are at Shelf we really going to miss our group ‘pilates-shake-yo-booty” warm up session with Becca, Rob, Hillary and Nick all being led by the Sober Surfer!
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January 17th, 2010
by Skittles
Following a couple of days of visiting shops and hanging out with Kelli Emmett in Colorado Springs, 
we decided to head to one of Colorado’s premier climbing areas: Shelf Road. Local climbers and almost all the climbers we had met on the road thus far had mentioned Shelf Road as an epic winter climbing destination and it was as epic as everyone had said it was going to be. We ended up pulling into the empty campground late Thursday afternoon. The twisty drive up to the campground had amazing views of the limestone cliffs glowing orange as they reflected the afternoon’s sun. Both Dave and I were itching for the opportunity to get back on the rock during the day and enjoy the camraderie of fellow climbers at night. Little did we know that that was exactly what we were going to get and then some!
Friday was full of experiencing some Shelf Road’s 4 star routes. Our favorite, pictured here is an 5.11c called Lats Have Feelings Too! It took a couple of lines to get used to the rock and the style of climbing and break out of the 9’s and 10’s, but once we did, we were pleasantly surprised with the climb-ability of the harder grades. Lots of the routes felt like we were climbing bolted trad routes (which I loved). When we got back to camp we were lucky enough to befriend Becca and Rob from Colorado College. Good drink and good times around our campfire that night. With night time temps dropping to about freezing, it was so nice to have the RV to retreat to — so deluxe!!
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