At evo, we believe that you're supposed to work with friends. It's been that way from the beginning and it remains that way 11 years later. Like all friendships, there are rocky moments and it might not be for everyone, but for us, it's been core to how we've built the team and has been an integral part of our success. It'll be the foundation that holds us together as we look to accomplish huge goals in the years to come.
The concept of living in "professional" and "personal" silos has always been a foreign concept and even beyond evo, it seems to be more an idea rather than reality. The fact is what you do for work is very personal. It's where you spend many of your waking hours and the relationships with those you work with day in, day out are far too important to be cordoned off from personal life.
Over the years, friends, families, traveling and mountain partners, dinner eating and beer drinking buddies, and motorcycle gangs have all formed at evo. We've drawn near when a close friend has been faced with a challenging time and have celebrated together when our once roommates-turned office mates-turned responsible parents have started cranking out little ones.
When talking about a strained relationship that I was trying to navigate a couple years back, a wise friend once told me, "Life is too short and it's also too long." Life is too short but when you think about it, it can feel too long when you're not working with people that you love and respect and who love and respect you.
This October we passed another major milestone in the company's history having opened our new flagship store, setting the stage for many to come. We must remember that working with friends is a key ingredient that got us here and will be as important if not more important as we look to the future with such big goals and aspirations. Here's to working with friends.
Cheers,
Bryce Phillips