Roots & Reinvention: Building What Fills You Up

Allison was on the podcast a year and a half ago and said something I still think about: who's to say you're supposed to do one thing forever?

She's back. And she's living that out loud.

Since we last talked, she moved from northern Michigan to Kalamazoo, transitioned out of the independent rep world into a corporate role, and is now launching her own consulting business. And this conversation turned into exactly what I hoped it would — two people who've taken every weird, winding turn the outdoor industry has to offer, finally making sense of all of it.

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The Gap Nobody Was Filling

Allison kept watching the same thing happen. A small emerging brand, full of passion and purpose, tries to get into wholesale. They find a rep agency, but they're not ready, and neither is the rep, really, because the brand doesn't have what they need to actually sell it.

So she built something for that in-between space.

AD Outdoor Consulting is designed to help small, purpose-led brands figure out the stuff they didn't know they needed to know. Margins. Line sheets. How to pitch a buyer. Which trade shows actually make sense for where they are. What sell-through looks like and why it matters. How to get into doors — and stay in them.

It's about the steps small brands don’t even know are missing.

Every Role Was Research

One of my favorite parts of this conversation was talking about what it actually means to have a non-linear career.

On paper, it can look like you don't know what you want. But when you've worked floor sales, buying, sales management, your own rep agency, and a corporate account role, you're not scattered. You're seeing the whole picture in a way most people never get to.

That's what Allison brings. And honestly, it's what I feel like I bring too, even when it's been hard to explain. The through line isn't always obvious to other people. But it's there. And eventually, you stop trying to make it fit a traditional resume and start building something that actually uses all of it.

Building the Slow Burn

What really stuck with me was how she's approaching the launch of this thing.

Not trying to blow it up. Not anxious about the timeline. She's done the work, she's put it out there, and she's letting it settle — in her own head and in the world. Her words: I've done the work. I don't need to be doing more right now.

I needed to hear that one as much as anything else we talked about.

We also got into burnout, balance, what it looks like to add different kinds of work to your life without burning out, and why sometimes filling multiple cups is actually sustainable if the cups are different enough from each other.

Connect with Allison

If you're a small outdoor brand trying to figure out wholesale, or an independent band trying to build a strategic plan — she means it when she says she'll meet you where you're at.

• Website: adoutdoorconsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Allison Deschaine

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