A Better Way To Run a Business: How Matt Clark of Amazing.com was influenced by Let My People Go Surfing
Here Matt Clark reviews his personal journey of reading “Let My People Go Surfing” and how the book influenced him in business.
I’ve read thousands of books. Many of them relating to business and self-improvement. I usually read about 100 books a year; basically, a ton of books. Two years ago, I found a book and picked it up thinking it would be a good read because I heard great things about the brand. This book was called Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia.
The book talks a lot about the history of the company, Patagonia. It shares how it got founded and started, the principles it was built on, its mission today, and how the company operates. It is very different from your standard business book. There are a million books written about business — most of them written by academics who have never actually built a business themselves. Some of them may have built small businesses but were never very successful. Others just repeat the same stuff that everyone else is saying. It’s rare to find a book that has something truly unique to say.
For me, this book did offer something unique. In the book, Yvon is a very atypical business guy. He loved the outdoors — surfing, rock climbing, and anything else outside. He started his business selling rock climbing gear because he could never find anything in the market that he wanted. He was making the gear with some friends in their garage. When summer started, they would shut down their business to go off camping and climbing for the season. They would come back at the end of the summer and continue building their little pieces of climbing gear. The demand for the climbing gear started to outgrow what they could make in the garage.
Their business began to take off organically because they were creating high quality products that people loved. They based their company values off of this organic growth, building super high-quality products that people really want.
The title of the book, Let My People Go Surfing, is interesting because that’s what the company is known for. They have an office near the beach in California. If the waves are good, their employees are more than welcome to go out and surf for the afternoon. They aren’t stuck in their desks from nine to five. That’s not the kind of culture the company has created.
In the book they mention that when they hire people, they would rather hire someone who is super into camping, backpacking, climbing, or something else related to Patagonia’s products, than someone who just has stellar technical skills for the particular role. That’s something that has really stuck with me. Patagonia recognized that they can teach technical skills, but it’s hard to train a strong affinity for what the brand does and who the customers are.
That is an interesting outlook. A lot of the time we only hire people because they have good technical skills, even if they’re not aligned with what we’re into. They might be perfect for a different kind of business, but they’re not the kind of person who has been in our customers’ shoes and empathizes with them. We’ve seen issues with that in the past.
It’s was a big eye-opener that other companies have been built this way. Today, Patagonia is a billion plus dollar company. When I read their book, they were at $600 million. The company’s goal was never to build the company as big as they could possibly get it. From what I’ve read about the founder, he is not the guy who is trying to be on every news site and show off how wealthy he is. That’s not what he is into.
From very early on, the founder wanted to build a business that had a positive impact on its employees and the world. They decided early on that this would be the factor that would control the growth of the company. After the company reached a certain point of success, they decided to limit their growth to 6% a year. That was to intentionally avoid building something for the sake of getting bigger. They never wanted to sacrifice the employee or customer experience or the product quality. Their goal was not to build the biggest company possible. It was to build a great company that had longevity.
Patagonia has also made positively affecting the environment an integral part of their mission and how they operate. They fight alongside people trying to reduce the amount of coal-powered energy, fight for alternative energy, help the oceans, and more. That is at the very core of what they do as a company, how they operate, and what they support. It’s not them just giving money to support causes. They have built this into their entire company culture.
This is a great example of a business that was built differently than everyone else’s business. I don’t think this guy ever read a business book or anything similar. He just built something with great products and really took care of his people. Patagonia has done incredibly well, and they have a positive impact on the world. They continue to create great products. They’re still doing well financially. But, again, their number one goal isn’t how much money can they make. Their main goal is more focused around what kind of impact they have inside and outside their company.
That is the kind of company I want to build here at Amazing.com. Honestly, that’s the kind of business I want to build in any company I’m ever involved in. That model makes a lot of sense. I think it’s the right way of doing things. Reading Let My People Go Surfing was the first in-depth look I got at a company that’s been built from the heart and they’ve done incredibly well. I definitely recommend giving the book a read.
About Matt Clark and Amazing.com:
Matt Clark is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Amazing.com. He prides himself on building businesses and help others to build businesses that positively impact the world. Matt founded Amazing.com, alongside Jason Katzenback, with the goal of helping entrepreneurs find financial freedom through their own Amazon business. Amazing.com has created the Amazon seller training course Amazing Selling Machine. Amazing Selling Machine teaches entrepreneurs how to start their own business selling physical products on Amazon through an 8-week web course. Each year Amazing.com hosts SellerCon, a live event for Amazon sellers. This conference gives sellers access to the latest strategies for increasing sales, in addition to opportunities to network with successful Amazon sellers. For more information about the company, here are Amazing.com’s Facebook reviews and here is one of many Amazing.com video reviews.
