Background Story
Beautiful British Columbia (the license plate tag for BC)
Vancouver Island is an idyllic destination thanks to its incredibly diverse landscape. Sam spent most of his childhood here, growing up against the backdrop of the rugged Pacific coastline, temperate rainforest, picturesque sandy beaches.
Small Beginnings…
While the outdoors would be most people’s dream, Sam’s home life was less than ideal. He lacked much useful parental guidance and had to quickly learn how to navigate the world along with his brothers and as well as on his own.
Learning to work…
At age 12, Sam and his brother John began playing hockey, something that would grow into a lifelong passion. In order to be able to play, Sam had to work to pay for it. He cut grass and did yard work, saving up every penny to buy used hockey equipment, pay for lessons and league fees as well as gas to drive 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on where the games were.
When Sam turned 18, he began working as a guide at a local fishing resort–a job he was good at and happened to love. But, after six years as a guide and a few jobs later, he was ready for a new adventure. He enrolled at university.
With his first year under his belt, Sam came up with an innovative (albeit “crazy”) way to pay for school and possibly have even enough money to buy his very own fishing boat. He was going to start his own sport fishing business!
Well things didn’t work out quite as planned his first summer in business. The company Sam was hoping to do most of his business with ended up not having any work for him.
Learning to work…
By 13 he started working a restaurant and a seafood store. at seafood plant working for $2 per hour which some might think is a terrible wage. But even though it was far below minimum wage it was a job that taught Sam about sticking with things. At 18 he worked 3 jobs. The favorite job was guiding for a fishing resort close by his house even though it only paid $10 per hour. He worked at a grocery story full time and then worked part time for his dad roofing. In all he was working 70-80 hours a week.
Starting University
After guiding for 6 years and working misc jobs, at age 24 he decided on University. No one in his family had graduated University, but it was something he decided would be a good stepping stone to getting a career. He wouldn’t have guessed it wasn’t university that was going to set him up for success.
Starting his first business
In early May after completing his first year, he came up with a crazy idea of starting his own sport fishing business as a way to pay for school and also have a boat at the end of school. Things didn’t work out as planned his first summer. Sam set about letting everyone know in the towns close by he was in business. One lady told him people don’t start fishing businesses to make money–fishing businesses were only to support a fishing habit! Ouch! (it was mostly true)
The company Sam was hoping to get some work from didn’t have enough business to give out. For that summer, Sam helped manage his dad’s small roofing crew while doing a few scattered fishing trips. Roofing is hard work and work that he actually enjoyed, but this summer the weather was much hotter than normal—making it a summer Sam will never forget!
Starting to grow the business
There was one very good thing that happened that summer. Sam’s neighbor Bruce worked for a digital advertising agency—one of the most well known online at the time—and Sam’s neighbor was one of the biggest pieces in the business. He told Sam he needed a website—and this was before most businesses had websites. Well, Bruce built a one-page temporary website and that was the start of Salmon Eye Charters online as well as many other websites Sam would start.
During University Sam worked hard on growing his sport fishing business and establishing himself as the #1 fishing website in BC. He had intended on becoming a financial planner but during his last couple years at University he was working about 30 hours a week growing his business. By the time University ended he had 3 boats. This kind of growth in the sport fishing business was not normal. New incoming clients often remarked how young Sam was to be running a charter fishing company with multiple boats. (The average charter owner was about 20 years older.)
Upon graduating Sam decided the business was on track to pay as much as a starting position as a financial planner. The business continued to grow and Sam added more boats. During the summer he was working 80 hours a week making sure it went well. During the winter he traveled and worked on summer bookings. Most people said he had the ideal life and in many ways he did. But being a serial entrepreneur isn’t always the best use of time!
Starting new businesses….
Within 5 years of graduation, Sam started getting other businesses going that were congruent with tourism and the web. While all seemed like good ideas, there was a lot of extra time spent working that could have been avoided.
Investments with the wrong people…
Along the way there were some very big missed investment opportunities and some poor advice on what to invest in and what to spend time working on. One of Sam’s trusted mentors advised him on an investment that ended up turning out very badly financially and there was also a whole lot of emotional pain. There were warning signs of course, but when people are close to us we often ignore them if we don’t have the right training.
Also, Sam learned the hard way about not figuring out why and what goals were important. He grew up quite religious and didn’t realize that how we motivate ourselves and others is by taking personal responsibility for outcome our lives. Waiting for something to happen outside of our control–that we can accomplish–doesn’t make much sense. While it helps to know the right people, what we do with that is up to us. And if we don’t know the right people, that is also up to us.
Sam found the biggest way for positive change was setting goals, forming new habits and daily reading. He also spent more time listening to people who would help him attain an upgraded life and take 100% responsibility for his daily decisions. After going through the ups and downs of life, Sam wants to share the good things that he discovered that got him on a better track.
Now he feels much better about where he is and he wants to share what worked for him.
Giving back…
Sam is giving this away in blog posts, videos and weekly tips, so sign up here if you would like to receive weekly tips. If you are lucky you might just get some stock tips as he has been doing well in the stock market since he started investing. If you are into traveling a lot, you may pass Sam on his way to his next adventure!
Current Businesses
Below are a list of companies and websites Sam is involved in.
“Atomic Digital” – AI and Online Marketing
Digital Marketing company started in 2023 with an educational library of actionable steps needed for online marketing well. This includes SEO, Social Media, and using Chat GPT, Midjourney, Dalle, Pictory, and Jasper for media content creation.
Sport fishing for salmon and halibut from the west coast of Vancouver Island BC Canada. Salmon Eye mostly does 2-4 day fishing packages for people that fly in from all over the world.
“Active Atoms Nutrition supplements”
1st Supplement is Tuermeric. We have the best formula in the market in our opinion as we have the most curcumin per capsule of any Turmeric supplement out there. Curcumin is the part of Turmeric with all the benefits studied for reducing inflammation and helping fight cancer and some auto immune diseases.
We always recommend talking to a doctor if you have a diagnosed disease before taking as our turmeric is the most potent formula sold.
Arc Trips – Best Salmon and halibut fishing in British Columbia
Do you want to go to the best possible place to get your big Chinook salmon (Tyee), Halibut and catch northern Coho? Or maybe you want to go for a day trip around Tofino or Ucluelet. We have you covered where ever you want to fish.
Insiders guide for Vancouver Island and includes Victoria, Nanaimo, Qualicum, Parksville, Telegraph Cove, Tofino and Ucluelet. This is a guide to the best nature of Vancouver Island and includes kayaking, fishing, surfing hiking, mountain biking, and kitesurfing. There is more info about all the good things to do than most locals would know.
Tourism website for Victoria BC. The best Victoria website to plan your vacation if going to Victoria BC.
“Vancouver Island Vacation Rentals”
Luxury ocean view 1600 square foot 2 bedroom condos in Ucluelet BC. These are the nicest condos on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
“Tofino Info – Guide for best Tofino things to do”
Insiders Guide for Tofino BC. Includes info on beaches and trails in the Pacific Rim National Park, fishing, kayaking, hot springs, surfing, zip lining ect.
“Ucluelet Info: Guide of best Ucluelet things to do”
Insiders Guide for Ucluelet BC. Includes info on beaches and trails in and out of the Pacific Rim National Park including the Wild Pacific Trail. Ucluelet has some of the most spectacular fishing, kayaking, and surfing for Canada.
Salmon information website about conservation of salmon and different salmon fishing techniques for around the world. We talk about conservation and biology of Chinook, Coho, Sockeye, Pinks and Chum.
Guide to finding the best activities in BC. We are building up this website though it currently has some good info about visiting BC Canada.
Tourism website for Vancouver Island with a little different twist than DiscoverVancouver Island.com. Includes content for Ucluelet, Tofino, Qualicum Beach, Parksville Beach, Courtenay and Port Hardy.
“Evercore Fitness and online courses”
Health Fitness Company specializing in getting people from restricted movements to optimal fitness health. Marc Robinson is Sam’s business partner and CEO of this company.