Shoutout Colorado - Meet Jeremy Dougherty (Founder Maroon Bell Outdoor)

Our founder, Jeremy Dougherty, recently shared what it took to launch and grow Maroon Bell Outdoor in a Shout Out Colorado article. Despite numerous challenges, he never gave up and considers Maroon Bell Outdoor his most rewarding business adventure. Check out our brief summary of the article below, but we highly encourage you to read the full piece on Shout Out Colorado. 

What is Shout Out Colorado? 

Shout Out Colorado is a community-focused publication that asks local entrepreneurs questions designed to spark meaningful conversations about life, work, love, parenting, finances, and more. According to Shout Out Colorado’s website:

“Our mission is to help change the way people spend money. We want people to spend more of their money with mom-and-pops, small businesses, independent artists and creatives. We think one of the most powerful ways to do that is by putting small business owners and creatives at the center of discussions designed to spark conversation within the community.”

Maroon Bell Outdoor and Shout Out Colorado share similar values as we believe in working with as many US-based companies as possible. We first search for vendors in Denver because it is our home before looking to other states and finally other countries.

The Power of Visualization

At the beginning of Jeremy’s career, he was working as an analyst in Washington, DC but also always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Jeremy knew he needed to understand the basics of business before starting his own company which led him to read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill in 2009, a book that changed his life.

It was through “Think and Grow Rich” that Jeremy came to understand the practice of visualization and how to apply it in his life. Over the last 11 years, Jeremy has used visualization every day to build up Maroon Bell Outdoor, despite the obstacles that would have driven other people to quit.

Never Giving Up

Maroon Bell Outdoor has been in impossible spots countless times, but not once did Jeremy ever think about giving up. An example of this is in our first year when our entire line of flannels never showed up for Christmas. We had to return most of the backorder funds and made almost no money during the holidays.

Despite the devastating hit, Jeremy was resilient and even considered it a lucky break because it’ll be “a great story to tell Good Morning America when we are the next Patagonia.” While others would give up, he gave it another shot by designing and creating the Buffalo Leather Glove, which is our bestselling product.

Read More on Shout Out Colorado

Launching and growing a successful company doesn’t happen overnight and it takes a special kind of person to do it. By visualizing the future he wants and never quitting, Jeremy was able to turn his dream of owning his own business into a reality. Read Jeremy’s full interview on Shout Out Colorado for more nuggets of wisdom about entrepreneurship and life. He even shares some of his favorite local Denver spots so make sure to check that out too!