Our Hawaiian neckties just got featured on television! Learning that the Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball team would be celebrating its Hawaiian Week promotion, we had a crazy idea: Why not send some of our Hawaiian style neckties and scarves to the Fox Sports West TV and Angels radio broadcasting teams?
That’s just what we did.
We figured the odds of our shameless little dream coming true would be pretty darned long. But we’re little guys, and little guys often tilt at windmills. On the big day, we drove to the Angels’ offices at Anaheim stadium and delivered our carefully gift wrapped (in our Hawaiian wrapping paper, of course) boxes of Hawaiian style neckties and scarves. Then, we nervously waited.
José Mota and Patrick O’Neal of Fox Sports West tweeted to us that they got their ties, and would wear them on their show. Needless to say, Rita literally had to be peeled from the ceiling. Then, on the first game of the week, Angels TV broadcasters (and all-around cool guys) Victor Rojas and former all-star pitcher Mark Gubicza opened their show thanking us for our ties, and proudly showed them off to over 150,000 TV viewers.
We were speechless.
Angels’ TV broadcasters Mark Gubicza and Victor Rojas looked sharp in our Hawaiian neckties. Mark wore our Napili Bay tie, and Victor thrilled us by proudly wearing our Malia Hibiscus Pareau Print tie.
Suddenly, weeks of preparation, late nights and worried thoughts of “Why in the Hell are we insane enough to think of doing this?!!?” paid off. Victor and Mark could not be more gracious. And we couldn’t be more thrilled.
The following day, the Fox broadcast team of Patrick O’Neal (son of actor Ryan O’Neal), José Mota and former Angels great Tim Salmon opened their pre-game show thanking us and proudly showing off their ties. Let’s just say it was a big moment.
We're big fans of Angels' broadcaster (and all-time great Angels player) Tim Salmon. Yes, we're biased, but we think our Hanalei Hibiscus Hawaiian necktie gave him a little extra aloha.
Seeing the ever-gracious Angels' broadcaster José Mota in our Cliff Hanger Monstera Leaf Hawaiian necktie was an out-of-the-park home run.
Small businesses like ours are fueled by hopes and dreams. What we lack in resources, we make up for in imagination, spontaneity and hard work. Time will tell if the energy and financial outlay for this will pay off for www.hawaiian-ties.com. We’ve learned that dreams don’t come true overnight, and that it can take a long time before luck suddenly lands in your lap. But luck is where opportunity meets preparation.
Would we do it all over again? Yes. To see our Hawaiian style neckties on TV made all our our efforts real. Sometimes, taking crazy chances is what can transform the fortunes of a small business. And in the end, it was too much fun to see our work celebrated by our favorite baseball broadcasters. Mahalo nui loa, guys!