Red Squirrel Outdoors
Red Squirrel Outdoors has been part of Mike's life as long as technology has. The focus required to read a river at dawn is the same focus that builds a clean implementation. They come from the same place, and for HWGT clients, they occasionally happen in the same week.
Where Mike Spends His Time
Mike is a licensed fly fishing guide in the State of Alaska. Reading water, managing variables you can't control, and staying patient when nothing is happening — it trains a different kind of attention than a conference room does.
Flatwater and moving water both. The kind of activity that demands you read what's coming before it arrives and commit to a line without overthinking it. Useful practice for anyone running a business.
Trail riding across varying terrain and conditions. When you're on a technical descent there is no room in your head for anything except what is immediately in front of you. That kind of focus is worth cultivating.
Multi-day routes in the backcountry. Real logistics, real consequences, no shortcuts. The mountain doesn't care about your revenue target, which is exactly the point.
Road and gravel. Long miles, sustained effort, and a lot of time to think. Some of the clearest business thinking happens at mile 40 when there's nothing else to do but pedal and process.
Client Experiences
Mike takes clients into the field. Not as a packaged retreat or a scheduled program — as a natural extension of the working relationship. A day on the water or a morning on the trail creates the kind of unstructured conversation that a video call never does. Distance from the business gives you perspective on it.
These experiences are reserved for active clients. They are not a separate offering, not something you can book independently, and not something that appears on an invoice. They are part of how Mike works with people he is already working with.
What it looks like in practice: a fishing run in Alaska, a half-day kayak trip, a bike ride through terrain that requires enough attention to quiet the noise. Real activity, real conversation, and a different angle on whatever problem you brought into the engagement.
The Gear Philosophy
Mike has invested in a complete kit of validated outdoor equipment — rods, kayaks, bikes, packs, layering systems. The same way he vets a software platform before recommending it to a client, he has tested and confirmed every piece of gear he puts in a client's hands.
Nobody shows up to a trip and gets handed something that has never been used. The equipment works, it fits the activity, and it has been selected for people who may not have done this before. Clients who have never fly fished or kayaked are fully equipped from the moment they arrive.
Red Squirrel Outdoors has been woven into the HWGT brand intentionally because it is honest. The same discipline that gets Mike up before light for a river run is what he brings to every client engagement. They are not separate things — they are the same approach applied to different terrain.