Profound Business Lessons From A Master Fly Fisherman

by Tom Ruwitch

I spent a day fly-fishing with my 20-year-old son in Colorado last year.
Jacob caught 37 trout. I caught two.

Yep, I said two, as in, “I’ll have two scoops of vanilla with my humble pie.”
I used to be the top-dog fisherman in the family. I was Dad — the guy who taught the kid what I know.

So much for that.

Months later, after working through the seven stages of grief, I reflect on that fishing trip with awe and pride. And I wonder how Mini-Me caught 37 fish in one day.

“What’s your secret?” I ask.

Jacob’s answer is as profound as it is simple, and it reveals valuable lessons for small-business people.

“I put my fly on the water,” he says.

At first I don’t get it. I expect more — a lecture about fish feeding habits or insect hatches or reading stream flow. But “fly on the water” is all he gives me.
Then I see it. Jacob is all action when fishing.

While I spend too much time analyzing the water, determining which insects are buzzing, flipping through a box for just the right fly, admiring the scenery, retying knots, pausing for a snack — I don’t catch fish.

Jacob spends some time doing those other things — but not too much.
He spends most of his time in the stream, casting, putting his fly on the water, where fish will eat it.

More time with his fly on the water equals more chances to catch fish.
Jacob is a master fisherman. He knows all he must about feeding habits, insect hatches and stream flow. But he doesn’t get stuck on that stuff.
Mastery matters when fishing. But it doesn’t matter as much as action.
So it goes with marketing and life.

We spend countless hours pursuing mastery. We research and plan and draft and tweak and adjust and redo and ponder and analyze.

We should spend some of our time on that — but not too much. No one succeeds with analysis paralysis.

I say this from experience. Like so many businesspeople, I have struggled with this. Right now I’m sitting on a pile of marketing tips videos I shot many weeks ago. I haven’t released them because I’m still tweaking them. I have to get past that. They’re good enough to go.

At some point we have to act. We have to publish those videos or launch that website or send the emails or post to social or make that phone call.
We have to put our fly on the water.

Tom Ruwitch is the president and founder of MarketVolt, an interactive marketing firm. For more business-building marketing resources by Tom Ruwitch, go to MarketVolt.com/resources.