So many ambitious people spend their lives staring at the horizon, focused on where they are not yet instead of recognizing how far they’ve already come.
This conversation with Christian Rawles puts words to something a lot of people feel but struggle to explain, especially founders, athletes, and high performers who are constantly chasing the next thing. The “gap vs. gain” idea completely reframes progress in a way that feels a lot healthier and honestly a lot more sustainable long term.
Full episode is live on Long Run Labs.
Most brands talk about performance like their product is going to completely change your life.
What stood out in this conversation with Doug Waters was how honest his approach was. He’s not trying to convince people that a shirt magically solves heat, fatigue, or bad decision making. He’s building products around the idea that small improvements actually matter when you’re spending long hours outside in difficult conditions.
A few degrees cooler. A little more comfortable. A little safer. That’s the goal.
Full episode is live on Long Run Labs.
A lot of performance marketing in the outdoor industry centers around pushing bigger claims, bigger innovation stories, and bigger promises. What makes this conversation with Doug Waters interesting is the opposite approach.
Doug is building Terlingua Threads around the reality that hotter conditions are becoming unavoidable for runners, hikers, and outdoor athletes, but he’s also realistic about what a product can actually do. No fabric replaces good decision making, hydration, pacing, or awareness in extreme environments. The goal is to improve comfort and safety at the margins, not sell the illusion of invincibility.
It’s a thoughtful conversation about product development, climate adaptation, bootstrapping a consumer brand, and why there’s still room for smaller companies with a clear point of view to build something meaningful in the outdoor industry.
Full episode is live on Long Run Labs.
When was the last time you thought back to how much progress you’ve made in the last five years… instead of thinking about what you haven’t done yet?
A recent @longrunlabs chat with @christianrawles that turned into a live coaching call led me to reading a book called The Gap and the Gain talking through how we spend so much time focused on the gap between the person we are today and who we want to become vs the gain we’ve already made to get to where we are today, and there’s so much power in reversing the focus.
So… what’s your answer to that initial question? 👇✍️
A lot of people are trying to grow audiences in running and the outdoor space.
Fewer are thinking about how to build something people actually trust.
Seth LaReau shares what it looks like to build a media brand by focusing on curiosity, consistency, and real value for the audience.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
It’s easy to define success as something out in the distance. A number, a milestone, a version of life you think you’re supposed to reach.
But if getting there means sacrificing your health, your relationships, or the things that actually make your life feel full, it’s worth asking what you’re really chasing.
This conversation with Christian Rawles reframes success in a way that feels a lot more sustainable, and honestly a lot more human.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
There’s this assumption that you need a massive audience to build anything meaningful, but a lot of what’s working right now in running and the outdoor space is the opposite.
Smaller, more specific audiences that actually trust the person they’re following tend to drive more impact than broad reach ever could. When the content feels real and the recommendation actually means something, it carries further.
Hannah Sedgwick Shin on why niche audiences can scale and why that’s shaping how brands think about partnerships.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
Nick Dibos is building Greenville Uptempo Sports by focusing on something most brands overlook.
Instead of starting with product or scale, he’s focused on people, experience, and the small details that make someone feel connected to what they’re wearing.
That’s what turns a brand into something people actually care about.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
It’s easy to talk about scale, efficiency, and growth, but most people skip over the small things that actually make a brand feel different.
Nick Dibos of Greenville UpTempo Sports (GUTS) writes a handwritten note with every single order. Not because it’s efficient, but because it’s intentional. Because when someone opens that package, it feels like it came from a real person, not just a company.
Those are the kinds of decisions that don’t show up in a spreadsheet but end up defining everything.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
The best content rarely comes from having everything figured out. It usually starts with a question you cannot stop thinking about and the willingness to explore it without knowing exactly where it will lead.
That shift changes the tone completely. Instead of trying to prove something or position yourself as the expert, you are inviting people into the process with you, sharing what you are learning, and opening the door for a real conversation.
Seth LaReau on how curiosity shapes the way he creates.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
Most people think about monetization as a question of how much they can get from their audience, but the better question is whether the audience is actually getting anything meaningful in return.
If that exchange is not clear, it starts to erode trust over time, even if things look successful on the surface.
Seth LaReau explains how he approaches partnerships and monetization in a way that keeps the audience first.
Listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
Brand marketing gets thrown around a lot but most people don’t actually know what it means in practice. It’s not just campaigns or content, it’s how someone experiences your brand wherever they find you and making sure that experience actually feels consistent.
Different entry points, same brand.
Erin Cooper shares what brand marketing really looks like inside a global company, listen to the full episode on Long Run Labs.
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#brandmarketingcommunication
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