Customize Your Life (and Your Chalk Bag!)
Erin O'Toole, Oterra Designs
I'm coming at you today with an interesting case study in risk taking, or should I say, the perception of risk taking.
My guest this week is Erin O’Toole. Erin’s an avid rock climber, as well as an entrepreneur; and not just some kind of internet digital entrepreneur, she actually founded and runs a small manufacturing company called Oterra Designs.
Now, I’m not sure which would scare me more, hanging from a granite rock face, or saying sayonara to my stable 9-to-5 to start a product company right before a global pandemic shutdown; both sound pretty terrifying to me. But as you’ll hear, Erin is taking it all in stride, and is enhancing the outdoor pursuits she loves with beautiful, functional and meaningful products.
One person’s risk is another person’s affirmation of life, after all. Every new challenge you undertake and persist through will leave you with a story to tell.
Little known fact, my second job out of college was with a small manufacturer of custom cheerleading uniforms and award jackets, so I was geeking out all over during this one! I hope we manage to get a few more people interested in learning more about the design and production process by talking about it - if you’re intrigued, now’s the time to get into Oterra Designs on the ground floor so you can be in the right place at the right time when they get acquired by Black Diamond or whatever, right? When you check out Oterra’s bags, you’ll know why I’m so bullish on Erin and Oterra!
Check out Oterra online at Oterradesigns.com, and @Oterra.designs on Instagram and Facebook.
Looking for more inspiration? Check out my convos with climbing rock stars Laurie Watt and Wendy Eliot, or creative rock star like Mischa Ostberg.
A few links from my conversation with Erin: