Big W Engineering Values - Community and Commitment at the Beach

Taking a vacation to the beach 3 months after starting a business is probably not something you'll find in any entrepreneurial self-help book. The best entrepreneurs, however, will remind you to never lose focus on your true north star.

Admittedly spending a week and a half on a 2600 mile road trip had its costs when I was right in the midst of fleshing out my services and trying to land my first deals, but the mental disconnect brought real clarity that I didn't realize I needed. The memories we made are an even stronger reminder of why I made the choice to take the risk of going on my own.

Community

The truth is that we had planned this trip about a year earlier, before I had even fully decided what this path would look like. It was also a very special trip. My grandmother passed about a year before then, and we talked about how I'd always wanted to take her on one last trip to Colorado to visit her sister, but just never got around to it. Meghan and I noted that our parents aren't getting any younger either, so we should really make the most of the time we have. At Big W we believe that community exists in many layers, with the closest layer being the family.

Meghan's dad grew up in Florida, and always had good stories about his time at the beach. When he made a comment around the holidays last year that he just wanted to see the beach one more time, Meghan and I talked. We had some extra vacation points, and as it turns out we were able to book a 3 bedroom suite that was big enough to get all 3 generations out to Hilton Head Island, SC. We were blessed with unseasonably warm weather, with highs near 80 on the first couple days, so overall it turned out even better than we had hoped.

A bonding moment with grandad

Commitment

The harsh reality however is that as a new business owner we were on an immensely tight budget. The good news is that we all came from humble backgrounds and didn't need a lot of money to have a good time. We knew our suite came with a full kitchen, and when you have small children, cooking in your suite is actually less work than taking them out to a restaurant. So instead of restaurant bills, we just bought groceries and cooked in the room for most meals.

Meghan's mom loves to cook as well, so this turned out to be another way to bond as a family. We hit up the farmer's market, cooked some amazing pot roast and finished off with a low-country boil. My favorite part of the cooking travel set is the 1930s vintage Never-Break cowboy skillet I've inherited from my grandmother, and have carefully maintained in a state of constant season with plenty of bacon and eggs.

Nothing beats breakfast on the Never-Break cowboy skillet that my grandmother most likely bought during the Great Depression

Naturally one is not prone to packing a cowboy skillet when flying, and 5 plane tickets are also pretty expensive. We were able to make this trip a financial reality by driving. This is normally how we travel, with the intent that our kids be able to really experience what most others would consider flyover country.

Our 21 and 16 year old daughters were watching Grease after their younger sisters went to bed, and we got to talking about how old this movie was. We took bets on its age, turns out it was filmed in 1978. I noted that a 1957 Chevy would have been a twenty year old car then; what's a 20 year old car now? Naturally, our 2006 Pathfinder fits the bill on this.

The R51 Pathfinder, a machine nearly unmatched in economically hauling a family cross-country

Its modifications are a bit different than you would find on Greased Lightning, including Air Lift rear helper springs and KYB Gas-A-Just heavy duty shocks for when we're making use of the third row seating, a Grom Bluetooth adapter for the factory Bose stereo (with Spongebob feeding me GPS directions on Waze), a Dorman OE-Fix aluminum heater hose assembly to replace the brittle factory plastic, and of course a light bar to help avoid deer on a dark Kansas night.

Confidently traveling with your family on a 2600 mile road trip in a 20 year old SUV with nearly a quarter million miles on it requires even greater commitment. My service and maintenance spreadsheet would likely put most fleets to shame, and I validate the condition of the engine and oil change interval by having Blackstone Labs test the oil. I know this vehicle inside-out because I've done all the work on it in the last 6 years and nearly 75,000 miles, and at this point a newer vehicle would be a downgrade in consideration of the work required to bring it to a comparable mechanical state.

I've also intentionally selected the R51 Pathfinder over a minivan or crossover as it is a body-on-frame construction based on the '05-'19 Frontier pickup, and shares a surprising amount of hardware with the NV3500 one ton 15 passenger van. I've got a thing for operating margins, and this pushes those buttons hard.

A trip worth repeating

Having Meghan's parents on this trip ended up being more awesome than I imagined. We got to genuinely relax and explore together, and they got to spend more significant time with their grandkids than they really ever have. It was such a good trip that we've already booked our next family vacation with my parents, where we'll be spending a week in the Colorado Rockies. If you can make it happen, this is something I recommend for anyone.

Community and Commitment are the first of six values that Big W Engineering Solutions has chosen to showcase the driving principles that define how we do business. Stay tuned for future installments!