A few weeks off of school, some time off my job and some hard work to get ahead with snowmaking has given me a little free time. Today I went snowboarding, as I have hundreds of times before. There was a little bit of fresh snow and as the day went on the crowds grew and grew. Imagine, thousands of people on wooden planks sliding down a slippery hill in near zero temperatures.
Everytime I stop and think about snowboarding I am blown away that it is a billion dollar industry. It’s winter, nobody dares drive to the store during a snow storm, but thousands of people drive up steep canyons during blizzards to get fresh tracks. Why? All you are doing is sliding down a hill on a piece of wood. When you think about what snowboarding is, it doesn’t make any sense, but when you think about the emotion involved…it does.
Snowboarding, and many businesses are not based on a logical experience but an emotional experience. Many people wonder why I can sell so many snowmakers each winter…snowmaking is not a logical experience, its an emotional one. The feelings of watching snow fall, feeling it crunch under your shoes, and slowly watching the grass turn from brown to green. Its about having a white Christmas, not just dreaming about one.
I guess the lesson I learned from all of this, is that if I want to truly understand why people do things…I probably need to give it a try myself. Thinking logically about things usually doesn’t give me the answers I am looking for.
