Growing up on Lake Powell, I have always loved fishing. It has been a part of my life since as early as I can remember. I came across an article published by the Arizona Game and Fish Department about the hatcheries in Arizona. The thought came up in my head…”I wonder how these are funded?” My automatic assumption was that the fishing licenses sold in the state was nowhere near what it would cost to build and operate these facilities…so it must be covered by taxes. I was dead wrong. What I read changed my perspective about our local economy, and how we can impact it. I realized in that moment, Broken Arrow Wranglers isn’t about a typical Return on Investment that I usually put in the business cases I prepare. This opportunity…like what I saw in the article is an opportunity to CREATE something.
See article about our Arizona Fish Hatcheries HERE (read now before you read below if needed…spoiler coming)
The wake up call was this: The hatcheries don’t cost the state money, the hatcheries PRODUCE economic benefits. According to the 2013 Economic Impact of Fishing in Arizona approximately 36% of the fishing economic benefits can be attributed to hatcheries. There are more than 350,000 anglers that spend over $950 million on equipment and trip-related expenditures annually in Arizona. Sport fishing also generates 20,038 full time and/or part time jobs.
What I was beginning to realize is that when we invest into something on its own has a significant cost…there is a return in something much greater than people just “paying it back” as debt. People pay for the opportunity and experience of fishing, the outdoors, family, and all the things that come with it. I thought…how many times did I buy all the necessary gear and lures, fill up a gas tank, drive to some remote location, spend potentially days in pursuit of the fish and whether I caught something or not…many times I found what I was looking for. It may have been family time, a much needed reprieve from work, traffic and all the noise. Many times this was and is therapy for me. Reminds me of the Trace Adkins song “she thinks we’re just fishin'”
So now I had to dig deeper. How do they recover these funds?
Everything from general fund tax dollars, to grants, foundation funding and bonds are listed. The reality is that a percentage of every dollar that is spent in our economy in the pursuit of these hatchery fish is an investment by our communities. If there was an easy way to commission these sales, what an interesting way to fund the continued growth. As a fisherman, my mind runs wild with “man, if we had more of these…could we coordinate with SRP and fill up the hundreds of miles of canals around here with some fishery sections and stock trout and bass??” 🙂
Here’s my point.
Broken Arrow Wranglers costs a good amount of money in the creation of the design of the business (architecture). The systems, making them simple, the relationships and collaboration with the community. The platform, the marketing and spreading the word. The process of introducing people to a new way of getting into that inner life and finding our way through the inner wilderness to the freedom we all have on the other side of our fear. But here is one of the best parts: Once we find that freedom, almost every time we see a fire re-kindled in the heroes that are willing to search it out. Dreams, passions, talents and gifts are remembered. What was laying dormant while we pursued something the world offered…is now replaced by what we are created to do. The thing that we have absolute fulfillment in being, and in doing. We have built in tools and coaching to help cultivate this with the people who find this new life. We have created our experience platform and directory for this purpose…to showcase these new additions to our local culture and economy.
We see people seek out becoming a speaker to students at schools, we see people wanting to give back to our youth through outdoor experiences and events, we see people volunteering or work in the horse industry. We see a whole new birth of experiences being brough to life. And we help cultivate and draw the design out for these. People offer up their resources, as ranch owners, photographers, guides, coaches for sports and everything you could imagine. It gets really fun when the people in our directory start collaborating with each other to create truly unique experiences. We have grief relief retreats, 4×4 trips mixed with yoga, painting with horses, and even local marijuana clubs asking if we could do “puff and ponies” days. Gotta love the creativity!
Each of these on their own, like the baby fish that are hatched and growing in the hatchery, needs an environment to develop and grow.
Broken Arrow has a business service team, tools, consultants and a process to help these people get off the ground and into a marketing platform, inside of a non-profit so they can raise funds for those who cannot afford the experiences to still attend.
We have the accountants, the websites, the merchant services accounts, the logo design tools, the business coaches, and everything you can think of…available in our network.
Think of all us who would be consuming state funds through health care costs, crime and even our prisons…and through the adventure of the inner life restoration, we transform that into a changed life, a changed culture and a new economy that wouldn’t have existed before.
Someone run the ROI on that for me.
Maybe that’s what it means to be part of the “great commission.”
Mat 28:18-20
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