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NICO NOLAN

WHY DID YOU START THE LEVITATION PROJECT?

It was a simple decision. Snowboarding is the most important thing in my life! Over the years I had noticed some lame changes in the industry that I grew up with, and you can either sit back and complain about shit or you can get off your ass and do something about it! Once companies that have roots in football start to capitalize on snowboarding, and when the Marine Corps is running ads in the mags, something has seriously gone wrong! Too many companies that are too interested in money and not interested in snowboarding are taking over, and it has to stop and go back to the roots of what made snowboarding such an amazing passion and lifestyle.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been critiquing products and gear and trying to think of ways to make them better. I always listened to friends with various different riding-styles complain about this product or that, and say things like “they should make it this way, or try this!” It’s crazy that companies don’t listen to their riders more. Basically, the opportunity came up to start a movement involving some really talented people and we went for it.

HOW HARD IS IT TO START YOUR OWN COMPANY?

Insanely hard!!! If you don’t love what you do and don’t have a passion about it, then its just work and who wants to work 80-100 hours a week? It has been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but I love it so it works. The fact that you can make a living out of your lifestyle is amazing! When your job is your dream, you can work harder than you ever have. If the reward and bonus of your job is to travel and snowboard all year round, you can work really hard.

I don’t sleep much at times. I usually film all day, which is hardly a job because you’re in the mountains but it is physically demanding to start hiking at 3 and 4 am, shoot all day and then do office work all night. The emails, phone calls and just managing everything is tough but when it’s storming and blowing sideways I don’t do anything except head to the Bird and get as many trams in, until my legs can’t hang anymore. So there is a lot of riding involved but it is still very demanding. Starting your own business is very difficult and takes every ounce of energy you have, but it’s the best thing in the world. It has been greatest time of my life!!!

WHAT SORT OF TRAINING OR EDUCATION DID YOU HAVE TO START A BUSINESS?

None really as far as education goes. I dropped out of high school to snowboard more. I quit or was fired from every job I have ever had because of snowboarding. I grew up in Utah in the 90’s and was surrounded by some of the most talented people that helped pioneer snowboarding and brought to what it is today. So in that regard, I had some of the best mentors ever.

When the dream of trying to make a living snowboarding was finally over, I tried to go back to college a few times and worked in health care for 6 years. I worked nights in a emergency room as a medic for 6 years and took science and emergency medical classes during those 6 years. But again and again, I was missing work for good days and I was surrounded by a lot of annoying people that just didn’t get it. A lot of the people I was surrounded by were really miserable and a lot of them could care less about helping people.

It was that work thing again. If you don’t love what you do, its just work and there is no soul to it. While a select few were awesome, I just got really bummed on so many of the doctors and nurses I worked with. Only a small percentage of them were there to really help. Not the majority though. Money and social status was a huge thing and insecure egos(similar to the same things that are lame in the shred industry). I really did love helping people and had a passion for it. It was a great experience to be able to help people at night and go snowboard every day. After 6 years I realized I didn’t need to just help people during traumatic moments in their life or the final moments of their life. I realized I could help people during the best times of their life.

So I guess minimal education and just a lot of passion is where my training came from. I read snowboard mags for almost 20 years and studied what made brands successful and studied the brands that didn’t change for the worst after the money started rolling in. I just studied snowboard mags like there was a test after each issue, and started researching everything I could for almost a year before I said anything to anyone about starting a company. After major support from my wife who believed in me and encouraged me to follow my dreams, I started the LEVITATION PROJECT. So, I guess my major preparation was that I grew up in Utah and shredded Brighton in the 90’s!

WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN UTAH DURING THAT TIME?

So sick! I am so lucky that I had that opportunity. It was awesome and it helped me in many ways. I was a total bum and just snowboarded every day. Riding Brighton was unreal; there was never anyone there. And the people that were there were making history every day they strapped in. It was just cool to participate and witness such a new growing lifestyle. Being able to ride with a crew and not have anyone else around was awesome. Being able to ride with guys like Zack Watkins, Adam Compton, Casey Buxton, Tim Ostler, Tonino Copene and Brandon Ruff was pretty fucking awesome!

I wasn’t exactly a good kid, but snowboarding kept me from making some huge mistakes with my life. I was always in trouble and going to jail for not paying tickets but I stayed out of any real trouble. I could never really hold a job because I would just go ride every time it snowed. I was able to get gear and go on a few trips here and there, so if I did get a job it was usually a restaurant so I could eat and feed my friends. I would just rob the walk-ins blind and feed whichever household I lived in. I would ring up 10 people for 1.00 at every job. There were days that I walked out of work in the middle of my shift to go ride. After a few years I just quit working and crashed on every couch from one side of the valley to the next. I did what I had to in order to get by. I ended up figuring out about solid jobs like fishing in Alaska and fire fighting in the summers that took the total bum aspect out of it. At that time it was what you did though. I never thought I was a bum. I was a dude that got to shred more than you.

So in many ways, if I didn’t have snowboarding as an outlet, I probably would have found my way into some really big trouble. Riding in Utah before the whole planet moved here was amazing, and I owe everything to it. All of my friends and life experiences are indirectly related to snowboarding.

WHAT DOES SNOWBOARDING MEAN TO YOU?

EVERYTHING!!! 24 YEARS!!! It’s where all my best memories have been made. My greatest friendships have been made because of the board. I still ride with some of the same friends I rode with 20 years ago. I indirectly met my wife because of riding. I have had my passport stamped searching for snow. I have sacrificed my body to the point that it doesn’t work that well. I have had 4 knee surgeries, multiple concussions, have broken 7 ribs, dislocated shoulders, had shoulder surgery, destroyed my lower back, fractured my skull, shattered my elbow. I was even told I was paralyzed once, but the doctors were stupid! (don’t listen to doctors at a resort medical clinic) I have had hundreds of stitches….not trying to say I am bad ass, I just snowboard a lot and injuries are part of the deal.

Every priority in my life revolves around the snow. Being able to work with and help younger riders is a new way for me to stay involved. Snowboarding is all I want to do with my life, and I can’t wait to pass it on to my kids some day. It’s funny; as you get older your riding changes, but the passion is still the same. I only really ride pow now, so it makes me work harder to travel or hike to go find new lines. Pretty sure the word ‘Arthritis’ will have significant meaning in my life in the years to come, but fuck it…I am not going to be some soulless clown in a business suit....EVER!!!

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH ALL THE HATE AND NEGATIVE THINGS THAT PEOPLE SAY WHEN YOU FIRST START A BRAND?

Damn, the first few years were horrible. People were just hating like it was going out of style. It is really hard when you’re putting everything you have into something and people are always telling you how lame it is and that it will never work! That just takes time and patience and again, a ton of passion. You just have to believe what you’re doing is right, and pretty soon you ignore what people are saying.

Eventually it dawned on me that everyone that was talking shit didn’t own their own company. They were not taking second mortgages out on their home to pay for their team. Then you realize that riders get old and spit out by their sponsors, team managers get replaced every other season, and basically no one has the right to say anything. Most of the time people just get used by the brands they work for, and then have shit to show for all of their years of hard work…Fuck them! It’s funny now people don’t have as much shit to say. A lot of ‘em don’t even have jobs or sponsors anymore and those that do are not that stoked on their jobs.

We were starting something that was built on a solid foundation, and we take great care of our staff and team. So the first two years were tough, but once I realized we were doing it the right way, it didn’t matter what other people thought. As long as you know deep down that you have what it takes to make shit happen and your intentions are solid, then who cares what everyone else thinks!

Those negative days are a thing of the past now. We have some solid support from some of the industries gnarliest leaders. People can talk all the shit they want I think it’s funny now. The most miserable people talk the lamest shit! We are all stoked over here!

HOW MANY YEARS HAS IT BEEN SINCE THE LEVITATION PROJECT STARTED?

Well, it started in the spring of 2005, but the foundation was in the works since 2004. I blew my knee out again (4th time) and was really burned out on working at the hospital, so my wife got me a ton of “how to start a business” and “Small Business for Dummies” books…and I was a huge dummy….so I had a lot to figure out before we fully dropped in, but it was the spring of 2005.

I wrote my ideas down in a notebook because I didn’t have a computer at the time. I contacted WILL WISSMAN who I heard was one of the best up and coming photographers in Utah. Will and I had never met before and we have been really really good friends since the day I went over to his basement with my notebook of scattered thoughts and drawings. I later contacted an old shred homie NELG, who is an amazing artist, and we paid him to make a few drawings and the logo was created. It was on a sheet of fucked up paper with about 30 other drawings and it just stood out and really connected with the name….so we had some ideas and a solid logo in the spring of 2005. Then the sticker campaign started!

HOW MANY STICKERS HAVE YOU MADE?

Not enough!!! We are just getting warmed up!!!

WHY HAS IT TAKEN SO LONG TO SELL PRODUCTS TO THE PUBLIC IF IT'S BEEN AROUND SINCE 2005?

Because there is nothing lamer than bussing tables, washing dishes, or working construction, or any other shit job, and taking what little money you have to buy some gear and have it fall apart or suck. Our staff is small, and 9 out of 10 times I was the only one going to factories to research materials and working on making samples, and that takes time. We had a lot of help from people that would jump in and set up the meetings with factories but it was always a side project for everyone. I was the only full time employee.

We are not just here to try and get rich off this. We are here to make products that we believe in, that last and don’t fall apart. It took 2 years and a few hundred thousand frequent flyer miles and 10-12 trips to South America working in the factories to get it just right. We had our team test out our baselayer for 2 years straight, before we got it perfect and felt good about what we were going to sell. We will have limited items for sale in small numbers on our site this season, with our full launch in the fall of 2010.

SO YOU HAVE BASELAYER, WHAT OTHER PRODUCTS DO YOU HAVE IN THE WORKS?

Well, our baselayer is as good as it gets. I am not sure if we can make it any better. We are just working on our art and design for the line now. We have one of the sickest artists around, SHANNA DUNCAN, and she is going to be adding her art work to our new line, so now that we have that dialed we are moving on to backcountry gear and apparel. Over the next year you can expect Packs, Shovels, Probes, Luggage, Gloves and Wax. It is the same thing as the base layer, it takes time to make products you believe in, but our staff has grown and we have a lot of talented people coming aboard to help send this. We will really put a lot of time into our backcountry gear, and our glove line is going to be amazing! 20 years of ideas and 20 people’s input are about to push our factories limits of what they are capable of.

IS THE LEVITATION PROJECT A GREEN COMPANY?

I hate that label!! Claiming you’re a green company is so lame. It’s a trend people are trying to cash in on. We use recycled products and are doing a ton of research on renewable products so our line will be as earth friendly as we can make it, but we are not claiming the Green thing. Basically, if you work in snowboarding or skiing and you’re not making earth friendly products or are not concerned about what you’re using to make them, you’re blowing it! That is so fucked to just make products for shredding and have no knowledge about what is going into them. If you’re profiting off of shredding and not helping the current situation of our planet, you’re fucked!

We are not a “green company”, we are just trying to do it the right way. Our goal for 2010 is to have a line that is 75% made from renewable and recycled products. If you are claiming a green company, you better be using Solar Power and Wind Power to run your factories, and sail boats to ship everything. You should just do it the right way because you’re a responsible human and not try to claim and capitalize on shit. We all pretty much have to use trucks, sleds, helicopters and jets to travel in this industry, so the least we can do is monitor what goes into what we are making.

WHAT SACRIFICES HAVE YOU MADE TO MAKE SHIT HAPPEN?

Everything!!! It’s not just me either…my wife is the unsung hero on this one. Our whole team and staff owe her a few high fives for her sacrifices. We have made too many to count, but off the top of my head….we never went on a honeymoon and used the money to pay for stickers and tees for the team during our first year. We have sold real estate, cars, computers, cameras and anything else a pawn shop would take. We have taken out loans, 2nd mortgages and both of our families have helped a ton. I have worked for 5 years with no salary, and I usually work a minimum of 65 hours a week, although 100 hours is no big deal now.

I spend up to 100-150 days on the road, if not more. My wife and I have wanted to start a family for a number of years but LP takes up every penny and every second of time, so that is one of the biggest sacrifices. LP is our family that we have to take care of, but as we grow and get more help, we should be able to focus more on our own family in the next year or two.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH EMPLOYEES AND TEAM RIDERS WHEN THINGS AREN'T WORKING OUT?

That’s a tough one, and I have become much better at that over the years. Basically, if it is your dream and you are making the sacrifices to make shit happen for people, and they don’t see the big picture, it’s time to part ways. I am learning how to part ways a little better nowadays, but it’s tough. You will not find people that care more than you when it comes to bringing your dreams to life. You just need to communicate with people as much as possible to let them know what you are doing and how much you’re giving up. When you’re 500 thousand in the hole and you don’t get paid for what your doing and you’re paying others before yourself and are giving everybody the shirt off your back, if your not getting the respect you deserve, then people need to move on.

Owning a business is tough. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing. I have come a long way from the first couple of years, and can always get better. I take this shit serious as hell! When you take your money from a honeymoon to make stickers or tees and riders aren’t repping your shit, it’s time for them to get the fuck out. Simple!! When my wife is working extra shifts at the hospital to help support our team and staff, I don’t put up with any shit!

WHAT MAKES YOUR TEAM SO UNIQUE?

Simple, they are all friends. We really don’t have anyone on the team that is not part of the crew. Everyone is an individual for sure, but they are all homies and shred together, travel together, and party together….again, we are all friends. We work really hard to help bring riders up. We focus on years down the road and not the current success of a rider. We look at the potential of who they are going to become, not where they are now.

WHAT DOES BEING A TEAM MANGER MEAN?

Making shit happen for your team!!! I film our riders year round, help them travel, sponsor other film projects, and make sure to take input from them on products. I try to keep lines of communication open at all times. I make sure they shred in the summer and winter. I help them travel the world! I have pay hospital bills! I put the team first, as long as they respect what we are doing.

It goes both ways though, you will have riders that bend over backwards and put their lives on the line for what you are doing, and then you will have some that don’t really give it their all. I give everyone a chance to perform, and end up supporting the riders that rise to the occasion. I try to be very fair!! I try to travel and film the team as much as possible… it’s important so I know what’s going on and am in touch with their riding. I am always surprised when Tm’s don’t film or shoot photos. It is a really important aspect of the job.

The biggest problem right now is that brands don’t really realize what the riders are doing for them. They are disposable heroes and are easily replaced. I treat our riders with respect and respect what they do. I try to make sure we are working with riders that we will support for years and years. Ideally we can help employ riders within in the company in the years to come. This is a family!!! It’s a fucked up dysfunctional family but it’s still a family.

HOW MANY JOB TITLES DO YOU HAVE?

TOO MANY!!!! Right now I hold the titles of CEO, TEAM MANAGER, BRAND MANAGER, MARKETING DIRECTOR, FILMER, BLOG MANAGER, PRODUCT MANAGER, SALES MANAGER and all that other bullshit like running errands, answering calls, shipping boxes and just tons of other mindless crap. We are going to be hiring a staff soon though, so I will hopefully drop out of a few of those roles.

WHAT ROLES WILL YOU DROP OUT OF?

Well, I will definitely manage our international team. We are adding a few names from around the globe to our roster, so I will work with the team, but a smaller number of athletes. I have spent 5 years helping bring riders up and have a good grasp of what it takes now, so I will be working with our top riders that have more needs and require more time. This will help our program greatly and benefit our younger riders. COREY MCDONALD, will be a new addition to our staff and will assist me with a number of roles.

I will still film a portion of the year. I never really had a desire to film, but I knew we needed to have a staff filmer, so I just figured I could learn how to do it, and as the years have gone by I really love filming. I feel like I am learning more now than I ever have, and if I have more time to dedicate to it I can only learn more. I didn’t even know how to turn on a camera the first year we started, so that is one thing I will continue for sure.

I will oversee the daily operations of the company and still manage the brand, but we will have some more qualified people handle our production and factories. We are hiring my brother in law to handle the financial aspects and my other brother in law to handle our legal issues. I will stay heavily involved with everything just so I know what’s going on, but not try to do 10 jobs all at once. Out of basic necessity and survival, I have been thrown into the mix of so many jobs. I have learned a lot and have been able to sample which roles I enjoy and which ones I excel at.

So, I will manage our top riders, film, and run the branding of the company. It has been a wild undertaking and I am glad that help is on the way. We’ve crushed it though for what little we have had. For the most part, it’s been essentially run off of one laptop and one iPhone for the past few years, so we have done a great job all things considered.

WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF THE GREATEST SUCCESSES SO FAR?

So many!!! We have accomplished so much in a short period of time. First thing that comes to mind is seeing BODE get what he deserves. He was one of our first team riders and has been working with us since day one. He was told by other sponsors that we / I were ruining his career and his life, but he stuck with us for 4 years, even when damn near everyone told him to bail. Hearing that he might get ender in the ABSINTHE movie, before it came out, was huge!! Being able to help him make shit happen was awesome. Then, to be sitting next to him at the premier and realizing that he did get the ender was so sick. Bode and I spent years together working towards this and it was mutual commitment. He gave us his humble attitude and amazing gift on a board and I gave him every hour of the day and every penny we could afford to make it happen. He was 18 when we started out so it was like having a little brother that ripped then, and now it’s just a mutual friendship. That was a huge success!!!!

There have been so many successes though. Our team is awesome and our ever-growing staff is just proof that it’s working. We have been really lucky to work with the photographers that we have. Working with ADAM CLARK and WILL WISSMAN has always been awesome!!! Those two guys bring so much to the table and have helped me more than anyone since day one. Just being able to build a foundation around such a strong media group has been great.

JEREMY JENSEN has been helpful with editing over the years and we have had hundreds of thousands of people see our team in our edits. Our web presence thanks to CHRIS KELLEY has been a huge success and is only about to get better. Having SHANNA DUNCAN come on and bring her style of art to the program has been amazing as well! Traveling has been pretty sweet too!! Just knowing that people all over the world know who we are is awesome.

WHERE HAVE YOU TRAVELED BECAUSE OF LEVITATION?

Damn!!! So many sick places. Sledding and riding in Heli’s. All over the US, just watching the radar and taking off to every zone that is getting hammered. Canada has been crazy every time we’ve been there. South America for the summers, or Mt Hood. Alaska....one of the sickest drives / trips ever!! Peru, too many times to count now. Austria, Gemany, France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Italy all in one trip. Traveling is the most important part to all of this. We are our own marketing team and need to travel to tell the world what we are doing. The goal is not to get rich off of this, but to become wealthy with memories and experiences with some awesome people.

SO FOR BEING A SNOWBOARD BRANDED COMPANY, WHY DO YOU WORK WITH SKIERS?

We don’t just work with any skiers. ADAM and WILL are two of the finest photographers in the world and we do have a ski team that is ridiculously good. We are making backcountry gear, so we need people that know what’s up in the backcountry. We only sponsor a handful of skiers that are as gnarly as they come. If you can’t respect what those guys and girls are doing in AK, you’re fucked because it’s totally sick. BIG UPS to JAMEY PARKS, CODY TOWNSEND, RACHAEL BURKS, ELYSE SAUGSTAD and DAN TREADWAY.

Do you want backcountry gear designed by people that have never dealt with sluff management, and slides, and the gnarliest terrain in the world? We work with a small crew that know what’s up! I don’t really care what people think about that shit. I now have some amazing friends that have taught me so much over the years. I could care less how they get down the hill.

You learn more when you start dealing with the backcountry and guides and avalanche forecasters. When people are just really knowledgeable and have a lot to offer you don’t see the KOOK aspect that you do at a resort. I have learned more about photography, filming , terrain, avalanche awareness and just basic backcountry travel from skiers than I did in 15 years of snowboarding.

However, the ski industry is 100% fucked and so retarded!!! The companies and the people running them are clueless. The more I learn and the more I deal with them, I get even more fired up about it. There are a handful... a very very small handful of people doing it right and we are lucky to have three of them on our staff and 5 of them on our team. It would be cool to get the remaining few on our crew as well. There are not too many out there, so it should be easy to add a few more team riders and staff members. We don’t just work with any idiots we work with the best!!!!

WHAT'S NEW FOR THIS UPCOMING SEASON?

So many sick things. We have a growing staff and just added two new photographers MITCH ALLEN and ANDREW MILLER, who will be shooting for our snowboard blog. MARK DANGLER is another addition to our film and editing staff. Our team has access to a full film & photo staff anytime they need, which has been a dream for 4 years to provide that for our team.

We will be releasing a few names in the months to come of some solid riders from around the globe. We are going to be working with Absinthe-films again this season, so that is amazing for sure! We are also sponsoring Burtner’s new THINK THANK film. We have a lot of good things going on and we will be releasing some amazing products next fall. So yes, we are finally going to start selling some products, which has been a long process, but is finally going down.

HOW WILL YOU BE SELLING GEAR?

ONLINE!!!! We will work with no more than 5 shops in key locations but not focus on retail, just the web. It’s important to work with a few shops in select areas but not rely on retail. I would rather do everything online so people only have to deal with us when they buy gear, no middle-man. We can promote and explain our products the way they are supposed to be. I would rather not use reps and instead employ more filmers and more photographers and take better care of our team. We can tell our story the right way and not have some other retailer try to interpret it how they want to or sell our gear any way they see fit.

We will be testing out our online store this year and are gearing up for our full shop next year. I respect a number of shops and want to support a few that carry all the right products, but it just sucks to work so hard on branding your company and your team, and the next you thing you know your next to the dumbest shit ever in a shop. We really want to maintain what we have worked so hard to brand and make sure we control that aspect of it.

WHAT ARE THE GREATEST STRENGTHS WITHIN THE BRAND?

The people and the location. We are the real deal, our company is based in Utah, the majority of our staff, team and crew live to shred the Cottonwood Canyons and the Wasatch. We all live for the snow. We are not based near the beach, we are not named after the difficulty of a resort run, we are not some stupid football company like Under Armour and we are not from Hood River.

We care about our team and don’t just use them. We are a family!! This is real, not some fake cookie cutter bullshit trying to make a buck off someone else’s passion and dreams. This is who we are.

WHAT ARE YOUR LONG TERM GOALS?

Chill and travel with my wife and slash pow with my friends. I just want to raise a family and shred pow every day. Once my knees can’t hang anymore, I’ll head to the ocean. I just want to do it the right way, with the right people….and live life!!!

ANYONE YOU WANT TO SAY THANKS TO?

Every person who has seen this vision and helped along the way. MY WIFE!!!! MY FAMILY!!!! MY FRIENDS!!!! Bode Merrill, Adam Clark, Will Wissman, Zack Watkins, Chris Kelley, Shanna Duncan, Jeremy Jensen, Mitch Allen, Austen Granger, Jamey Parks, Dan Treadway, Rachael Burks, Elyse Saugstad, Cody Townsend, Chris Coulter, Jason Prigge, Corey McDonald, Matty Mo, Bob Merrill, Travis Beauchesne, Andrew Miller, Mark Dangler, Justin Hostynek, Brusti, Shane Charlebois, Pat Bridges, Justin White, Aaron Ward, Bridger Nielson, Tyler Anderson, Ted Borland, B, Phil Damiankes, Nelg, Bob Plumb, Parker Duke, Chris Brewster, Snowbird, Brighton, Alyeska, BILLY POOLE!!! and ALL the homies that dedicate their lives to this shit!!

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