Alumni advice from Alaska entrepreneurs

What does it take to grow your personal passion into a viable business? Two alumni share how they took a good idea and built uniquely Alaska-focused businesses in fishing, fashion and farming last year.

Making waves in fishing fashion

Linda Leary, M.S. '04, is making a splash on the fishing scene. Her new women's clothing company, Fishewear, provides a much-needed dash of personality to a world of mud-brown waders and drab olive bucket hats.

Clothing design may seem like a departure for someone who made her career in transportation and logistics but, in Alaska, it's easy to connect the dots. As former president and owner at Carlile Transportation Systems, she often brought clients on fishing excursions to show off the beauty of business in Alaska. She's also simply hooked as a personal hobby. "I love to fish," she says, laughing. But whether with clients or friends, she left the river each time with the same question; in an industry with $48 billion in annual sales, where was all the women's gear?

"I decided I wanted to do this and get it off the ground before I regretted not ever doing it," she said of founding Fishewear. A lot of it came down to timing; she took advantage of a break between roles in early 2015, about the same time the outdoor industry finally woke up and realized women want more than loose unisex adventure gear. Despite the developments in cycling and skiing, Linda still noticed a gap in her primary hobby. "It's one of those untapped niches that is very underserved," she said. "A big part of this for me is to have women go out and fish and have fun."

So she set out to reach her goals. The first step was devising a comprehensive company name (note the word she tucked away inside Fishewear). She next built a website that catered to her audience-professional businesswomen, outdoor enthusiasts-and worked with local artists to design functional, eye-catching products. At the peak of summer, Fishewear launched a series of fun, fishy leggings, which became a crossover hit with runners, skiiers and the yoga crowd. Fishewear has since debuted jackets and neckwear and more new concepts are in the works.

But in 2015, Linda also stepped into a new role as president of Fairweather LLC, which offers support services to the natural resource industry. Fear not, Fishewear fanatics; Linda hired part-time folks to build the brand while she focuses on her new role. "[We'll] continue to build the line in a very planned fashion," she said.

It was a big year, but it all tied together. "For me, it was really about going after something I was passionate about," she reflected. "When you're able to do something that's fun, it's not like work at all. And I would say the same for my new role [at Fairweather], which has a real family atmosphere and they're real innovators. I have to have something that's creative and innovative, and both roles fill that for me."

Fishewear may be a departure, but Linda has plenty of experience building a company-in her 28 years at Carlile, the staff grew from eight to 800. She has worthy advice for any other alumni with big ideas.

"I'm curious by nature," she said. "Learning a whole new industry has been really fun, [but] I would say be realistic about your plans and what you want to do. Have a timeline and line out all the pieces of what what it takes to run a business.

"It's not going to happen overnight."

Homegrown, healthful and rooted in Alaska

Alaska Natural Organics is in the same crowd as fellow game-changers Amazon, Apple and Google. All four companies started in a garage.

Like many Alaskans, Jason Smith, B.S. '10, M.B.A. '15, plants homegrown garden greens all summer long. In winter, though, he came across the unfortunate issue of losing his whole plant yield at the hands of punishing darkness and crippling cold. So he went the extra mile with hydroponics, a method of indoor gardening where plants grow in mineral-rich liquids without the need for soil. His garage quickly became an elaborate system of lights, shelves, liquid chutes and even a koi pond to harvest nutrient-rich fish droppings.

2015 was indeed a big year for Jason. Not only did he earn an M.B.A., he also expanded his hobby into a 5,000-square-foot, 20,000 plants-per-month business. With a four-person staff and a glowing vertical garden complex in the former Mat-Maid Building, Jason can now sell fresh local greens to Alaska's restaurateurs, wholesalers and caterers. In a city 50 hours driving from Seattle, that's an incredible alternative to the expensive and frequently wilted winter produce Alaskans are used to.

But it's not always easy turning a good idea or a personal passion (or, in this case, both) into a profitable company. After leaving his surveying job, Jason and his wife were down to one income as he started grad school. At UAA, he credits Professor Frank Jeffries for his "life-changing" negotiations class (before the semester even ended, Jason was bartering with international distributors over the phone).

His business goals have expanded significantly since pairing his interest in growing indoor produce with his goal-oriented drive to create a successful business. Once he recognized that his "labor of love" project could become more than a small business, he shifted his focus statewide. He's already in talks with Alaska Native corporations, with hopes to build hydroponic farms in rural communities where even mushy tomatoes command top dollar. "There's a possibility that this kind of a business could affect a whole city, or even a whole state," Jason commented, adding that his goals have shifted towards making a positive change for an entire population. Ten years down the road, he hopes Alaska Natural Organics is a household name, and hydroponics is commonplace. "Oh yeah, organic produce in the middle of winter, grown indoors, they've been doing that for years," he laughs.

It hasn't been easy, but it's certainly been interesting. "I've had a lot of amazing learning experiences, and unfortunately some of them were a little more painful than others," Jason said of his first year in operation. His advice to alumni looking to make a big change in 2016-whether that's returning to school, or building a business-is to be wary of free advice, and help thy neighbors.

"Whenever you have an opportunity to support a growing business and make new relationships, always do it. You can never have too many friends."

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