In 2014, Josh Luciano was one of my apprentices. He started to tell me about a guy named Chris Do who was teaching on the internet very similar stuff as I was teaching privately in my program. Josh suggested that I should do what Chris was doing. The problem was I didn’t know what Chris was doing. At that time, I probably had never even seen a YouTube video. Instagram was just a place I infrequently posted family photos. Few people referred to themselves as “influencers” or “content creators.”

Fast forward to today, Chris runs a major empire in The Futur, drawing an ambitious line in the sand of teaching 1 billion people how to making a living doing what they love. With millions of followers and subscribers across platforms, I’d say he and his team are well on the way to achieving that goal. I greatly admire what Chris has built and even find myself envious and even a bit remorseful that I didn’t start building my own audience and empire when Chris did.

So when I saw him post about the annual salmon fishing trip he’s taken and invited others to come along, the combination of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure and the chance to spend some time with Chris to learn from him was irresistible to me.

I blocked the dates off on my calendar, paid my deposit, and thought little of it until a few weeks before the trip.

Arrived

I arrived in Vancouver at midnight, 3 hours late due to thunderstorms at my connecting flight airport. I checked into my budget hotel bleary-eyed, knowing that I only had a few hours before heading back to the airport in the morning to board a puddle jumper for 1½-hour to then board a water taxi for a 1½-hour trip to the fishing lodge. I quickly repacked a fraction of my suitcase contents into a smaller duffel bag I brought—we each got a weight limit for luggage due to the smaller plane restrictions—and caught a few hours of sleep.

The next morning, I met up with Josh Loh—the only person on the trip I previously knew from my epic battles in the Relume Design League—graciously offered to let me stash my bags at his house since he was local, and we rideshared off to the airport. Most everyone else had gotten in the night before and met up for dinner, so I was feeling a bit like the odd man out arriving at the airport and not knowing anyone. I quietly introduced myself to Eric Moore and Phil Ellering standing next to me in line, and we quickly connected over being introverts who need frequent energy battery recharging as we boarded the plane.

I picked an empty row and took out a book I planned on reading, partially to the avoid the awkwardness of not knowing who to talk to. Chris boarded and sat kitty corner from me, saying that he hadn’t gotten to talk to me yet and would like to. He asked me what was up in my personal and professional life, and I started to respond. Quickly though, the rumble of the plane’s engine made it hard to hear each other, and Chris asked if he could take the seat next to me to make it easier to have a conversation.

For 90 minutes, Chris kindly let me bend his ear about my challenges and fears with business, from small things like YouTube thumbnail design to large things like positioning and investment capital and audience value. One of the primary things I shared was about generally feeling behind as a content creator. I could have started consciously building an audience ten years when he did. I see where he is now and I have regrets and even some disdain for what it could have been like for me to have started earlier.

Chris quickly stopped me in my whining and provided a powerful reframe. “Dan, how old are you?”

“Just turned 40.”

“I’m 52,” Chris said. ”I started 10 years ago, when I was 42. Even if you started today—which you’re not—you’d still be starting 2 years earlier than I did.”

Wow.

“Dan, when did you start speaking at conferences? How old were you?”

“2007. I was 23.”

“I started 6 years ago when I was 46. Double your age.”

Oh.

“You’re not behind. You’re way ahead.”

Suddenly, I had a whole new perspective.

This trip wasn’t cheap, but this 90-minute conversation made every penny worth it. We hadn’t even arrived yet.

Snorefest

After deplaning, taking a small bus to the dock, and a 90-minute water taxi, we finally saw the dock of Ole’s coming into view. We disembarked and met the staff, who were all lined up on the dock to greet us individually.

We ate lunch and entered the next most uncomfortable part of the trip for me: getting our room assignments and meeting our roommates.

Ole’s has 12 double occupancy rooms so they can accommodate 24 people on one trip. I’m a 40-year old grown man who’s been married for the last 16 years. I haven’t had a roommate that’s not my wife since my sophomore year of college in 2007.

I snore, loud. My wife wears earplugs and we have multiple white noise machines so she can sleep in the same bed, bless her amazing heart and soul. Who knows what other weird sleep habits I’ve picked up over the last two decades that I don’t even know about?

My roommate would soon know, that’s who. We looked at the board with room assignments, and I found Tahe Governor, a marketing consultant from Louisiana.

I introduced myself. “Hey, I’m Dan. I think we’re roommates. I apologize in advance, but I snore pretty loudly. Sorry that you got stuck with me.”

Tahe smiled. “It’s all good man.”

We settled in and unpacked our stuff quickly, chuckling to each other about the “coincidence” of how the two darker-skinned guys on the trip got paired together.

Time for fishing school.

Fishing School

We all went out to the dock to learn how to fish. That Chris had done this trip for years and he’s an excellent teacher meant he was showing all of us what to do. He taught us how to cut bait; bait the hook; manage tension on the line; drive a boat and maneuver inside it with another person; reel in a fish, net it, humanely end its life, and properly bleed it; put on our gear; tie knots; prepare a rod; and so much more. We learned about the different species of fish we might encounter and the fishing regulations and limits for each to consider the sustainability of what we were all doing.

Finally, we were ready to go out and try to catch some fish. One last thing before we went out: Chris asked if anyone wanted to start a friendly wager to see who could catch the biggest fish on this trip. We each decided to chip in $10 towards a $200 jackpot for the winner.

Our initial pairings started with our roommates, so Tahe and I geared up for our first expedition. Since neither of us had any boating or fishing experience, Keith (the co-owner of the lodge) went out with us to help us get our bearings. I put on my gear, grabbed my stuff, Dramamine’d up (since I get motion sickness very easily), and we got going. We got to know each other, got comfortable with the boats and rods, and caught nothing. After about 3 hours out on the water, Tahe drove us back in for dinner. As the other boats started returning, we saw that others had already caught some. Chris and Eric brought in three, each weighing over 6 pounds with Eric’s biggest at 9½ pounds. The bar was set.

We woke up at 5am the next day for an early breakfast in order to get on the water again at first light a little after 6am. Tahe and I geared up again, and this time, Eric went out to join us. The idea was that Eric got a crash course by going out with Chris, so he could show us—who caught nothing the previous day—what he learned and also others could have a chance to go out with Chris. The other change we decided to make as a group was to all go out together to relatively the same location and stay in constant communication with each other. Fish usually swim together, so, if someone even gets some bites they could radio the others to congregate around there.

Our entire group of 20 set out together to a region called Bayly Point that was known to have fish at that time of morning. We baited our hooks, cast our lines, and waited. Since Eric caught 2 salmon the day before, he graciously offered to drive the boat and prioritized Tahe and I to catch. Fog rolled in so quickly and heavily that we couldn’t see anything farther out than a 30-ft. radius from the boat. Luckily, we could still very faintly make out the shoreline, so we at least and some orientation. (Also, we had all been advised to download the Garmin Navionics app, a boating app that could help us navigate without a cellular signal, so we were prepared for the fact that navigating visually might be unavailable depending on weather.)

While we waited, we had a wonderful conversation. The other boats slowly floating by us noticed our raucous laughter and jovial spirits. We teased the other boats on the radio. We played music. I don’t remember if we gave ourselves the “party boat” moniker or if it was granted to us later, but it fit and it stuck.

After about an hour, we noticed a tug on Tahe’s line. We all popped up, put the boat in neutral, and Tahe started to reel in. Eric was ready with the net to bring it. As the hook got closer to the boat, we saw what Tahe was reeling in. It was… my line! Ugh, we were snagged. Deflated, we leaned over to grab the lines to untangle them and realized there was actually a fish on the hook! We were tangled and reeling one in! What do we do? Tahe and I coordinated our rods to be able to bring the fish in, but, at the last minute, the fish got away, breaking the line this time. Deflated again, we reeled in and Tahe spent the next 20 minutes redoing his line.

A short time later, I noticed a small tug on my line. With absolutely no fight at all, I reeled in the smallest rockfish in the history of fishing. Too ignorant to know I should throw it back and too stubborn that if I don’t catch anything else on this trip at least I got this lil guy, I went through the motions to learn how to bonk it and bleed it. That was our entire boat’s bounty for the morning before going in for lunch. I felt awful about it.

We went out again in the afternoon with strengthened resolves to catch something. We got the practice run out of the way and now we were out for gills. We talked movies, books, family, business. We played the “what would you do if someone invested $500k in your business today” game. We briefly interrupted our riveting conversation when my line zipped, and reeled in an 8½-pound coho with the physical and emotional support of my boatmates! I was pumped; they were pumped. As the adrenaline subsided, we returned to our regularly scheduled conversations, enjoying a beautiful, clear, sunny afternoon on the water. As excited as I was about catching my first fish ever, I was more excited about the new friendships and connections I just made.

That night over dinner, we mutually agreed to disband the party boat the next day. Not that we didn’t love it, but we decided to share the love with others too—and have a chance to get to know others on the trip. That was a shared sentiment among most of the others on the trip too. Phil and Josh had gone out together all day, so I asked them if I could join their boat the next day. They agreed but later each had conversations with others who wanted to get to know them as well. It was getting late, so we all decided we’d figure it out in the morning.

The next morning, there was a bit of a mixup about groups. Several people had gone out as early as possible to maximize fishing time, and I was part of the group of 4 last stragglers. We divided up 2 and 2: I hopped in a boat with brand strategist Anneli Hansson while Phil paired up with executive career strategist Loren Greiff. Anneli and I were both a bit hesitant and uncomfortable around both driving and fishing, though she had caught 2 big salmon the day before. While on the water, we got separated from the larger group while trying to reel in some bites that turned out to be nothing, and we spent a good bit of time driving around trying to find where everyone was as we couldn’t find it on the map. We talked book publishing experiences while on the water, and Anneli unlocked a few things for me about some recent fears and lack of confidence I’ve been experiencing around newer parts of my business.

After lunch, I went back out fishing again, this time with Phil. We traded life stories and graphic novel recommendations. Phil also expertly reeled in a monster, which I netted into the boat. This one ended up being a 10-pounder that ultimately won Phil the jackpot!

The next morning, most of the group opted to go halibut fishing instead of salmon fishing. Halibut swim much deeper and are found farther out into the ocean, which meant rougher water and bigger swells. You also need different equipment and technique to fish for them. The increased risk of motion sickness combined with the fact that I don’t really like eating halibut made it an easy decision for me to opt out of that adventure.

Instead, I figured I’d take one more crack at salmon fishing. I went out early that morning with Eric and Loren, and we caught a gorgeous sunrise on the water.

Even close to Ole’s, the water was pretty choppy. It made me realize just how lucky we had been with glass-like water the previous few days. I said a quick prayer for calm water for our halibut-seeking friends. We didn’t last long at this first location before we decided to head to an inlet where we anticipated the waters might be more calm, and the choice paid off as we were greeted by just about a glass surface and a beautifully sunny day. We cast our lines and waited. Both Loren and Eric mentioned an uneasiness about some pricing of some of their services, so I offered that we might roleplay some sales conversions, which they gladly took me up on. We critiqued each other’s conversations in between getting lots of bites, but alas, none of us were able to reel anything in. As lunchtime approached, we slowly made our way back to the lodge as we had to navigate back again through choppy water. I started to feel a bit queasy as we docked. The halibut folks returned empty-handed and reported pretty massive swells during their trip, and Paul Hoke collapsed in relief on the dock after reportedly donating his previously digested breakfast to the water on the way back. I still felt bad after lunch, so I opted for a long afternoon nap and a very hot shower while everyone went out for one last chance at salmon. I woke up feeling much better; all alone on the barge aside from the staff, I called my family as I had been feeling homesick for the past few days and then spent about an hour on the deck in the sun with my thoughts and a notebook before everyone returned for dinner.

“Fishing“ School

Maybe if only to ensure that we all could file this trip as a business write-off, Chris did a fair bit of business teaching and coaching after our meals and between fishing.

After our fishing try, Chris taught a whiteboard session called “Fishing 101 AKA Marketing & Sales.” It was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good! He talked about the importance of bait—a good offer—as some entrepreneurs just “fish” with a hook and no bait and then are surprised that they’re not catching anything!

In another session, Chris talked about the hero’s journey, using my fishing experience as an example! He poked fun at me catching my tiny fish as my version of “crossing the first threshold.” Eventually, I went through my tests, enemies, and ordeals to finally catch my 8½ pounder 🤣🤣🤣

At the start of day two, Chris gently scolded a few in our group who tried to fish separately from the larger group. As beginners, why do some of us go off to fish in locations where no fish have been reported as opposed to areas where everyone else seems to be getting bites? Similarly, in business, yes, differentiation is important, but what makes you think that you’ll land clients or customers in a completely unique area? Drop your line where clients and customers are already biting!

Another night, Eric and I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning as he taught me about the Prosci ADKAR model for change management.

All throughout this trip, I learned a ton of lessons about fishing, through fishing, and aside from fishing that I’ll be taking back into my work and business.

Extracurriculars

Even though a lot of the trip was fishing, there was also a good bit of time for other things too. I recorded a podcast episode with Josh. Warren Tingen came prepared as a dungeon master and a few of us played in our first ever Dungeons & Dragons adventure! One night, Eric took about 15 minutes to read a “bedtime story” to all of us that he wrote about our time together so far. During and around the meals, many people shared some very vulnerable thoughts and reflections about themselves and their lives.

Fireside Chat with Chris Do

The final act of the trip was flying back to Vancouver and attending a fireside chat that Chris was headlining that night at The University of British Columbia. I’ve done my fair share of events, and it was awesome to witness firsthand just how someone like Chris does these.

There were a few specific things that struck me.

First up, Chris doesn’t let anyone get away with softballs. A few times, the host unintentionally asked an unclear question and some audience members asked some pretty ill-considered questions. Chris called them to task on it, not in an egotistical way, but in a way that called them up to respect his time and expertise as well as their own. I respect and admire that. When I’ve been in that situation in the past, I’ve often tried to make something out of nothing at the expense of myself and my own boundaries. Watching Chris handle this helped me to realize that I’d like to do a better job of this.

In the chat, Chris voiced a frustration of his that I share. He commented on his bewilderment when people seek out a mentor and ask for council and yet fail to do what the mentor suggests. I have countless stories of spending too much time with people who ask for my help and guidance and yet don’t do what I advise. Isn’t that just a waste of time for both of us? I’m not very cognizant of that and end up getting taken advantage of a lot in that area. I can see how Chris’ boundaries there may help him prevent that.

Last one: Chris really packed this auditorium on very short notice. Not surprisingly, the line to talk to him and take a photo with him was super long as soon as the talk ended. But surprisingly, there was also a small line of folks wanting to talk to and take photos with me! I’m sure that was bolstered by Chris giving me a small shout-out during the talk, but what a boost to my confidence that I could go to a new city without anyone knowing I’d be there and draw my own crowd, no matter how tiny.

Reel Friendships

I’ve already written almost 4,000 words here and I still feel like there’s so much more to tell. That may have to be for another time. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed the time with my new friends Chris Do, Josh Loh, Darren Barber, Phillip Ellering,Loren Greiff, Anneli Hansson, Paul Hoke, Tim Minzer, Eric Moore, Warren Tingen, Bartek Goldyn, Kary Goldyn, Matthew Byrd, Melanie Whitney, Sergey Pantileev, and Tahe Governor. Missing y’all already, and can’t wait for the next adventure.

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