Jon Thralow - eCommerce Entrepreneur
Ask super-entrepreneur Jon Thralow what he had for breakfast any given work day, and his response won’t be “sludgy office coffee and a crusty danish.”
Nope.
This guy’s office isn’t a stuffy white-walled box, and his breakfast is as DuSu as they come:
“Homemade pancakes with fresh eggs from our chickens, topped with maple syrup gathered from the trees that I can see out the kitchen window. Fresh grated potatoes for hash browns, venison links from the deer harvested last fall, homemade yogurt and granola topped with a mixture of blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries picked that morning from the bushes growing by our trail.”
Stop salivating. You’re going to wreck your company-issued keyboard.
Thralow is one of the region’s great success stories. An eCommerce whiz. A local boy who made good. So how did he do it?
“After high school, I went into the military so that I wouldn’t have to take out loans to pay for college…I was able to work for almost nothing with my brother on his eCommerce business (that term hadn’t even been invented yet).
Early adopters of technology, Thralow and his brother Dan built and sold their online business, “Peepers.com”, an online sunglass retailer, before Google had become a household name.
“I can remember asking Dan if he thought the Internet would even be around next year. He said ‘yes, I think it will be.’ So I continued plugging away"
After selling Peepers to Eyecity, Jon and Dan started Thralow Inc., a conglomerate of niche eCommerce sites.
“We recently sold the businesses to Netshops of Omaha Nebraska, and now I work independently, but try to stay connected with my brother… I spend most of my days consulting businesses on the topics of internet marketing and technology.”
Thralow’s days aren’t the stuff of corporate structure and staunch routine.
“Today my basement is the office. Sometimes it’s a call during my little girl's soccer practice or an e-mail at a stop light, but I prefer quiet times at a nice coffee shop like the Red Mug in Superior. I picked this career for that reason. I wanted to have a job that was office independent. I enjoy being able to do my job from any location and at any second of the day.”
Sound good? Maybe like the kind of work life you could enjoy. Jon’s prescription for creating a successful business is simple and centers around:
“Never trying to hit that "one hit wonder", but focusing on the mundane and boring details that help drive sales.… Make sure you are doing something that you enjoy, so the mundane does not seem so mundane stay dedicated to your dream and keep the costs low.”
A life-long resident of the area, Thralow grew up on a farm in central Minnesota. During college, he entertained aspirations of moving elsewhere, but his successful business initially lured him into staying. He remains for a number of reasons, including:
“Family and a good school system. I can also grab my bow and arrow and shoot huge bucks just outside my door.”
Sometimes people look a little overwhelmed when I ask what opportunities for growth they perceive for our area. Jon, on the other hand, has plenty to say in response.
“There are some very successful hidden businesses here and some great technology. From new companies like Joe Warner's OutCom Consulting, to mainstays like Geckobyte, wrapping up with the meat-and-potatoes programming of Saturn Systems.
“I see many new jobs showing up here to help revitalize our community. I even see the technology jobs that were shipped out to India coming to places like Duluth…the quality is simply better when programmed by North shore minds.”
Asked to channel his inner medium, Thralow predicts a changing work dynamic in the next decade.
“As we become a culture freed from the shackles of office life, I see more people moving to regions that they find pleasant. Lake Superior calls out to a lot of outdoor types and I think we will see a reverse in the slumping population.”
Sounds good to me! All that leaves is a response to the requisite question about what advice Jon would offer any adventurous young adults who are considering a move to Duluth
The Lowdown
The Lowdown: Jon Thralow
Age: 34
Occupation: Internet Marketing Consultant
Education: Graduated Cum Laude in Engineering from St. Cloud State.
Family: One wife and three children—two little misses and one little mister.
Best single piece of advice for his children: “Nothing happens without hard work.”
The worst advice he's ever been given: Jon’s college professor once told him that the internet was a "flash in the pan" and he was throwing away a good education.
Favorite nightlife spot: After three children, Jon’s favorite spot is “curled up under my covers."
How he recreates: Spending time with his family and with childhood friends, fishing and hunting.
Where is his absolute favorite place to eat? What does he reliably order? Why does he love it? “The best food I have ever had is my wife's cooking. Hands down her cooking is the best. I especially enjoy her breakfast - I know she will kill me and say, ‘What about the bla bla bla Italian-sounding thing that take 3 hours to cook?’, but it is her breakfasts, they are to die for.”
How do you make the most of – or at the very least, survive - our lengthy winter?
“My wife purchased a snowmobile a few years ago and my kids love being pulled behind the sled…I have taken on the challenge of rebuilding broken jet skis, 4-wheelers, and snowmobiles to keep them out of the junkyards and landfills and to relax and work with my hands. My kids seem to enjoy riding the stuff and I like repairing it so we have a good match. I ended up getting www.redneckdad.com as it is my alter ego.”
Shovel or snowblower: Neither! This guy is hard core!
“I use a Bobcat to move the snow from my driveway. To keep a record of the steps for doing routine maintenance on my Bobcat, I put up an instructional video on Youtube, and it’s been viewed over 2000 times! It was meant to be a document for me to use when I needed to remember how to service it.”
Gas mower or reel/rotary mower: “Gas mower. I have one that I repaired from my father-in-law and then another that was left behind at a house I purchased almost 10 years ago. It was left behind because it was almost junk but after a few repairs it runs great I would even be willing to place a bet that says I can go outside and get it to start up on the very first pull.”
Any takers on that wager?
His favorite secret honey hole: Thirsty Pagan Brewery in Superior. "About 10 years ago I was living in the Emerson Co-op and my roommate took me to this place called the Twin Ports brewery to try the 'Derailed Ale'-- an India-style pale ale with lots of hops. It was the best beer I had ever tasted. The name of the place has changed, but that beer is still as good as ever."
At this moment, the number of mosquito bites he has on his person: In an almost inconceivable twist, Jon doesn’t get the oh-so-familiar skeeter bites.
“I had so many as a child I guess I became immune to them. My wife and children, on the other hand, swell up pretty bad - I purchased 2 skeeter vacs this spring and those machines are amazing; I must have about a gallon of dead mosquitoes that I feed to our chickens."
What’s growing in his garden this summer: Thralow and his wife tend a large garden which is fertilized organically by their chickens. “We give the most attention to our tomatoes, but we grow a wide variety-- from grapes to potatoes to pumpkins. My favorite garden is the one in the woods, where we harvest lots of foods-- wild onions, fiddle head ferns, tons of berries, and [on the carnivorous end] grouse and venison.”
