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Aaron McConnell - Building a Career Around Your Passion

Released Wednesday, 29th November 2023

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Aaron McConnell - Building a Career Around Your Passion

Wednesday, 29th November 2023

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In this episode of the "Sweet on Leadership" podcast, host Tim Sweet engages in a captivating conversation with Aaron McConnell, president of TransRockies Race Series. They explore Aaron's journey from a childhood fascination with mountain biking to becoming a trailblazer in organizing multi-day running and biking events. The discussion delves into the challenges, triumphs, and the essence of creating a career around one's passion.

Aaron McConnell shares insights into his early experiences with mountain biking, from discovering the sport as a child to organizing races and publishing newsletters. The conversation touches on pivotal moments, such as winning the bid to host a mountain bike World Cup, the challenges faced during the pandemic, and the strategic thinking behind sustaining TransRockies Race Series for over two decades. Aaron emphasizes the dual nature of the event-organizing industry, balancing the glamour of on-site experiences with the behind-the-scenes grind of logistics, budgeting, and team management.

About Aaron McConnell

Aaron McConnell, the president of TransRockies Race Series, has built a remarkable career around his passion for mountain biking and event organization. Starting with a childhood interest, Aaron evolved into a key figure in the industry, organizing races, publishing newsletters, and contributing significantly to the endurance sports community. With over two decades of experience, Aaron's leadership has not only shaped TransRockies but also inspired enthusiasts to pursue their love for outdoor adventure.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Contact Tim Sweet | Team Work Excellence:

Contact Aaron McConnell | TransRockies:

TransRockies Race Series Events

Transcript:

Aaron 00:00

You need to follow our strengths really, figure out where we can bring value to the organization, value to our participants, and work hard to really ensure that we are creating sustainable performance and being able to be in a position to provide these great experiences and have that icing on the cake, which is part of the year that we get to spend with our participants and in really cool places.

Tim 00:28

I'd like to ask you some questions. Do you consider yourself the kind of person that gets things done? Are you able to take a vision and transform that into action? Are you able to align others towards that vision and get them moving to create something truly remarkable? If any of these describe you, then you my friend, are a leader, and this show is all about and all for you. Welcome to the Sweet on Leadership Podcast, episode 21.

Tim 01:03

Welcome back to Sweet on Leadership. Today, I am going to welcome one of my best friends in the world. This is Aaron McConnell. I've known Aaron since I was just a wee tike. I mean, we started in what? Grade one, pre-school?

Aaron 01:18

I don't know if it was kindergarten, or grade one. But yeah, I think we lived a few blocks away from each other. And yeah, we were friends all through grade school.

Tim 01:29

Yeah and then I mean, since we've also been working, well we've done professional things together, things have just progressed in such a neat way. But today, I'm excited to let people in on your story, because, to me, it represents this move of taking your passion and creating a career around it. And when you and I were kicking around the idea for this podcast, the phrase that kept coming up in my mind was, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. And I think as we go through this conversation, I want us to challenge that because I'm not sure that's entirely true. I think both of us have the advantage of doing what we love. But I'm not sure about the second part. So, anyway, Aaron, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself so that they can they can develop a picture.

Aaron 02:21

Sure, I'm president of TransRockies Race Series. And so we're an event production company, we primarily organize races. So, like running races, and bike races. And we do a lot of multi-day events, multi-day trail running, multi-day mountain biking, gravel cycling, road cycling, and they’re mass participation events. So, for the most part, they're not for professional athletes, they are more for, as you would say, enthusiastic amateurs, weekend warriors, and people who love to stay fit outdoors.

Tim 03:01

Absolutely, but they still are serious races. And they are where people test themselves. And then where people really can achieve something that may have been in their bucket list for years and years. And so I know that the reputation around Calgary in the Rocky Mountains is quite high when people think of your brand. So, I'm certainly excited to be involved. It's just something that I love to see every year, year on year, how much better it gets and how much stronger the team gets. So, I'd also like you to just take us back. And when I think about us hanging out at your house, or we'd be in your kitchen, I remember your dad had that den that was off the family room. And there was that, you know, first-gen Macintosh that was in there. And I'd love you to tell us how did you first discover mountain biking, and then take us up to the point where you began a newsletter which I remember as a kid, I thought that was just the coolest thing ever.

Aaron 04:00

Well, how I discovered mountain biking was my family was into hiking when I was a kid. And yeah, I don't know that I always enjoyed hiking that much as a little kid. Yeah, you're in these beautiful places and exploring but it's also kind of long grueling hikes. And my mom would feed me lifesavers, as a five-year-old to try to motivate me to keep going. I remember we were hiking one time and these people came ripping by on bikes. And I have this kind of vivid memory of how exciting that looked. And, you know, I think I spoke to my parents. I said I’d like a mountain bike. And they said, well start saving your money and I think within a few years I had the best Canadian Tire mountain bike that money could buy when mountain bikes were still pretty new in the early 80s.

Tim 04:56

Yeah. And then this didn't just happen, It wasn't just a one-and-done for you though it wasn't just start writing and be excited about things, you got into all aspects of the sport and what it meant.

Aaron 05:08

Yeah, for sure, I did my first race when I was 12. I did one race that year. That would have been 1987 and I was probably the youngest person in that race. And it was just outside of Calgary, organized by Release Cycle. And I did that race for many, many years. Yeah, so that was my first encounter. And then with racing, and then I got more involved with racing over time, as the scene developed. And there were more mountain bike races around Calgary and Canmore. And around the world. And then I guess, to get to your question about the newsletter, as you alluded to, as in the early days of the Macintosh computers, and home desktop publishing started to become a thing. And so we had this computer at home. My dad was an art professor at the University of Calgary and computers are starting to become part of that. And I don't know what made me think of it. But I started publishing my own little newsletter about the local scene. So, I do it on the computer at home, and then I'd have these high-quality masters outputted and then copied into newsletters. And so it just sort of gave a little report from all the different events and results. And I distributed them to the local bike shops. I think they sold for a quarter. It just sort of helped to build the mountain biking community at that time.

Tim 06:35

Yeah. And how old would you have been at that point?

Aaron 06:38

Well, I guess I would have probably been closer to 15, I'm guessing. Yeah, cuz I've been racing for a few years when I started to put those together between 12 and 15.

Tim 06:48

And they ran for how long?

Aaron 06:51

I think we did it for a couple of years, or I did it for a year or two on my own. And then the Alberta Bicycle Association, which had become the sanctioning body for mountain biking, officially, I could do it as part of their newsletter. So, it became a subsection of the Alberta Bicycle Association newsletter, which then led to me becoming more involved in the Alberta Bicycle Association as well.

Tim 07:14

So a columnist by 17.

Aaron 07:17

Yes, something like that. Yeah.

Tim 07:19

All right. So, this happened and I remember around that time you started working, you were sponsored by a couple of different shops and manufacturers. You were on a team. I remember you were on Chugs team. And that was a big deal because he was designing and building his own bikes west of the city. And then it became more and more of a profession. So, you were working at bike shops, I bought bicycles off you, I remember that?. Tell us a little bit about how it became part of your career, then how did that open up? Like how did it become your initial working experience?

Tim 07:56

So, I rode for Ridley’s Cycle in Calgary. It was the first team I was involved with. And I think that was just because I was hanging out at the shop so much, they wanted to organize something, so that I wouldn't be asking them questions all the time, or something like that. And then I was on The Cycle Tech team that was a local distributor that had their own branded bikes for a couple of years. And then Jeff Shugg, with Cog frameworks, he was a custom frame builder out in Springbank. And I was working for him and started kind of organizing his racing team, which was like a, it was not really a pro-team, but like a semi-pro team to promote his bikes. So, it's kind of in the Calgary area, but also beyond. And so we were racing Canada Cup circuit a little bit into the US National Championships, that sort of thing. And so I was working in a shop, helping with the frame building a little bit and mechanical work and then organizing the team, organizing sponsors. And then we started organizing some races, really just to support the team as a fundraiser and profile builder. We did weeknight racing life at Blackfoot Motorcycle Park in Calgary for a while, and that led into more opportunities with organizing bigger races or organizing Canada cups for a few years. And that led to World Cups. And, you know, by that time, I guess you can say I was organizing events full-time by my early 20s, I suppose.

Tim 09:36

Yeah, and at the same time, you're going through and doing your degree in kinesiology. And that's all happening, but this is all happening at the same time. And it's funny, you know, I'll be around traveling around the world. I'll be in, in Southeast Asia. I'll meet up with Canadians and if it happens that they are from Western Canada, and happen part of the mountain bike scene. Last, you know, Aaron McConnell and they always say, oh, Aaron was the guy that ran that newsletter, or Aaron was the guy that was running the events, and you had such an impact on that community. I don't think you'd ever set out to develop a brand for yourself. But that happened, right? And that really became part of it. So by 20, you're running full-time events. And that's when you started getting heavily involved in that life. Right? And so the early part of your career, what was the event seen? Or what was the event roles that you would be part of?

Aaron 10:36

Yeah, well, I think when we won the bid to host, a mountain bike World Cup was a pivotal one. And I think that was what set me off on the path of being sort of a full-time professional event organizer more or less since then. And I was early 20s, just finished my bachelor's degree. And we've done a few Canada Cups and kind of on a whim, put in an application to host a World Cup. And we were actually really surprised when we got a three-year sanction to host a World Cup in Canmore. So, that was a World Cup cross-country race. And, you know, the people that were part of the scene at that time, I think, still talk about it, because all of the top pros were there. And big crowds at the Canmore Nordic Centre. I think, on some of those years, they were some of the biggest crowds that anyone had seen, you know, since the Olympics at the Canmore Nordic Centre. That was really key. You know, there was definitely some challenging times to that, as well as, you know, lots of excitement. And I was honestly pretty inexperienced and pretty green to be taking on something of that scale. But I built a great team around me, I had a good business partner, who helped a lot with the business side of things. And, you know, we did that for three years. But then the World Cup was going in a different direction, the venue was no longer really suitable for what they wanted to do. And so there was a change. And I did a few other things over the years, but kind of kept coming back to that management. So, I worked for 24 hours of adrenaline doing their 24-hour mountain bike races for a few years, I worked for Alberta Alpine Ski Association, which was a little bit more peripheral on the event side, and then had an opportunity to join TransRockies, in 2004, when the company was just a couple of years old.

Tim 12:34

Sure, and at that point, it wasn't run by you, it had been started by another gentleman, right?

Aaron 12:40

Well, a couple of people. My current business partner, Hiney, who's in Munich, and another gentleman, Chester, who came from Germany, but was based in the US, and then Ken Reid, who was one of the crazy Canuck famous Canadian alpine skier was, was one of the partners at that time. And the owner of the bike shop at that time in Calgary, Kevin McNaughton was also one of the partners.

Tim 13:06

So, leading up to that point, here's a question for you. Was there an instance where you knew that this was going to be your profession by that time? You’d run the newsletter that had a lifespan on it, you had worked part-time for others and supported others as employees, that had a lifespan on it. You picked up the rights to hold the World Cup for three years that had a shelf date on it because of the menu and their direction. So, in this entire build-up of your career, and all of these different roles that you had, and these different events that you run, and these different ventures that you that you embarked on? What was the moment that you realized that I was gonna go all in on this?

Aaron 13:49

Yeah, I think it was somewhere between finishing the World Cups in 2000. And starting with TransRockies, in 2004. The other thing that happened in that time period was I started working on my MBA in 2001, I started and I guess when I started working on my MBA, I didn't know that I would want to continue as a small business entrepreneur, and I guess a field that maybe seemed like it might have questionable viability from a business perspective. And it wasn't really until I started with TransrRockies, that it seemed like, this is probably going to be something that I really pursue. I'd had that vision since before we started on World Cups in the late 90s. But I didn't know if it was something that would kind of work out. Or, you know, there'd be other opportunities that would be more attractive down the road.

Tim 14:52

And I know that there's always periods where different opportunities are presented to us and we look at them and there's those questioning periods where we say, would I jump to do this or try something else? And then there's that question of, you know, do I keep going? And I go through those. I mean, I go through those in my own in my own career and with my own company. But when we compare, say, my line of work as a consultant to your line of work, as a guy organizing these amazing events, there's something too that I think, is really interesting. And that is, every once in a while, okay, from my perspective, I'll be facilitating a session, I'll be having a lot of fun doing it. And then I'll get people coming up afterward and saying, you know, I look like you're having a lot of fun there. And this would be pretty interesting. And I wonder if I could be a consultant or I could be a facilitator, or I could be a coach? And you present yourself in a way that they think this looks funner than my day job? Man, I really like to do this, this must be you must be just having a-rockin' good time. Yours is even more extreme. I mean, you're out. I love, TransRockies, for those of you who haven't yet looked at it, you need to go to TransRockies, transrockies.com, show notes in the link, link in the show notes, sorry. These are great events, you often talk about them as if they are summer camp for adults, right? And so people are out there and they are having a blast. And they're doing what they love. And they're out in the sun. And they're out in nature. And they're sweating in all the right ways and good food, good drink, good friends, campfires, the whole nine yards. And they must look at you and say, Wow, what a job to be able to do this for your entire career. Right? Become this adult, camp counselor, camp manager? How much fun could this be? But what's the behind-the-scenes of all that, Aaron? What are your experiences with people having questions and assuming certain things? And then what's the reality?

Aaron 17:03

Well, there's definitely two sides to it. So, we live double lives, I guess. And in this industry, because there is the times when we're in the field, basically. So, when we're at an event, we're working on an event, and we're with the athletes. And for the most part that's really positive. You know, unless we're dealing with some kind of crisis that comes up, which does happen sometimes as well. But that's what we live for at events, or even when we're on a scouting trip, or doing route planning, or something out in the field. And that's where the glamorous side of the event promoter lifestyle is maybe a little bit true. I mean, yeah, sometimes we're trying to figure out where to put the porta potties or something, but, you know, still, you know, being creative and hanging out with great people in really cool places. And then the other side is making it all work on the back end. So, you know, we're on our Twitter, we're on the phone, we're, you know, booking the toilets, we're working on budgets, and having to do all that behind-the-scenes work to make sure, A. everything works logistically for the event, we're meeting our sales targets, we're spending within budgets, and really being like a grown-up organization. And the interesting thing about, I guess, race organizing is that a lot of people that organize races, do it as a sideline. They might be professionals in their real lives, but they kind of organize races as a hobby. And they don't necessarily have to take a salary or that sort of thing, they put on sometimes some really awesome events, but they don't necessarily have the ability to scale or the ability to stick with it over a long period of time, that sort of thing. Because they're only doing one event, we're doing 35 event days a year, over many years with a business that's intended to outlive its current employees and shareholders. So, we have to kind of run it to a different standard and think differently about risk and profit and all that sort of thing.

Tim 19:13

For everybody's information, you've just completed which season now?

Aaron 19:16

21st, I guess, yeah. 21st season of operation.

Tim 19:22

And that 20th season was happening the year before this one was happening right at the sort of tail end of the big of COVID and the pandemic. And that pandemic, I mean, having been there with you through that, that put into sharp relief, you know, where the business required support and adulting or whatever you want to call it. That was a rough year for many events or a rough few years for many events. And a lot of event companies didn't survive. You know, a lot of companies just had to shutter but you saw it through, and you had put levers in place and supports in place so that you could make that through. When you think back on that time as really a massive milestone in all of this, how did you conceptualize your journey, at that point, thinking back 20 years when it all started? And did you draw on that, in order to make it through? Did you have to draw on the passion in order to make it through the real, tactically risky portions of those few years?

Aaron 20:35

Yeah, absolutely, we had been through some challenging times, just with trying to make the events profitable and survive as a company and grow. And we had actually, a few years before the pandemic, we'd taken on a new group of investors, which just helped us with some financial strategy and some advice. And, you know, it really helped us during that pandemic, to be able to get together and talk about things and strategize, you know, I'd also been working with you for a few years, which was another great source of support. And it was definitely the biggest crisis we'd seen. But it wasn't like we hadn't seen crisis before. So, on one side that helped. It also, I think, helped that, you know, there were a lot of signs that kind of reassured people in the endurance sports industry, that there was demand, and that demand would come back. It took longer to get back to events than anyone thought, especially in the beginning. We thought we'd be back to events, you know, later in 2020. But it was really late 2021, in the US, and 2022, in Canada, when we got back to a semi-normal season, that accumulated a lot of rollover liabilities from people that didn't get to go to the event that they had signed up for. And we promised them that they could get their entry later on. And meanwhile, we kept all our employees during that time. So–

Tim 22:11

Added employees during that time.

Aaron 22:12

Yeah. Yeah and then we also did look at it as an opportunity. We took the bandwidth, it opened up and created a few new events, which we operated for the first time in the last couple of years. It actually allowed us to scale our business, that was still a big time of an investment. But I feel like we've got something to show for it, coming out of it. You know, the way that it transformed all industries in terms of how we looked at remote work, and how we operate as a team also transformed us.

Tim 22:45

So, the big picture that I've got in my mind after talking today, and watching you for these many years, and then working with you since what 2016, is exactly what you said there, there are people that can come on, and they can run these events once. But to sustain them and to keep them fresh and to make them economic and to have them be a place that can employ people and really make it into a standalone venture that isn't simply a one-off. It really is an achievement. And I think to Richard Young, who we both know who's been on the show before, and he talks about, we have to get out of our talk around just high performance, but it's sustainable high performance. Anybody can podium once, can they podium again and again and again, can they perform over and over? And really that's what you're demonstrating. And that becomes the behind-the-scenes that people probably don't really appreciate. What's that saying? You know, you're an overnight success that happened to take 20 years to create kind of thing, right? So, when we look at this, and we round around to some of our initial questions and thoughts here. So, this rounds us around to the question of the day, after seeing you go through all of this over the years, and being there for a lot of it with you, which has been an absolute joy. It's been one of the highlights of my work. Can we say that there's any truth to that statement? That if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life? Is that statement incomplete?

Aaron 24:19

It goes back to what I said before about living two lives. There probably are some people in certain industries that can come a lot closer to that, where they can really follow their passion. But we get a piece of that when, as I said when we're in the field, which is a good chunk of the year, but you know, there's lots of other parts of the year where we are grinding, for sure. And I think in that part of the time, you need to follow our strengths, really, and figure out where we can bring value to the organization, value to our participants, and work hard to really ensure that we are creating sustainable performance and being able to be in a position to provide these great experiences and have the icing on the cake, which is part of the year that we get to spend with our participants in really cool places.

Tim 25:20

I know for you, between the two of us, we've had, you know, a little metric off to the side, which is how much time can Aaron spend in the saddle or as a participant, right? And that's really important. And I love the point that you made about, we have to play to our strengths or realize our strengths. It's also about surrounding ourselves with people that enjoy the things that we might find a grind, right? So, that we can really make sure that we maintain that love and that excitement that ultimately is going to carry through to the experience that the customers have, because you can't you can't give away what you don't have. Right? So, you have to be living that joy. But there's very real work in behind that that goes into it. So, it's not always roses, but we have to keep the capacity open for the enjoyment of it, as well. And have you found that that has to be a conscious decision to make sure that you are maintaining that time for yourself?

Aaron 26:21

Yeah, absolutely. We've made more of an effort in recent years to go to other events, people's events that we don't produce, and try to participate in other events, both as individuals and sometimes as a group as well. Which can be, you know, a bit of a team building thing, but it's fun for us and we all sort of buy into the lifestyle, and yeah, that's why we're here. But it also kind of gives us legitimacy as event organizers, when, you know, we know what the experience is, like on the other side of the fences. We know what it means to suffer out on the trail and celebrate with a beer afterward, you know?

Tim 27:05

Yeah, well, I mean, the energy from these events is palpable. And, again, anybody who's listening, I would really encourage you to go and check out Aaron, check out Aaron on social, check out TransRockies on Instagram, and you'll get a feel for what the energy on these transient race track campuses are from event to event. And it's really something. So, with that in mind, what's got you excited about TransRockies, adventure sports in general? You know, what really do you feel is going to be the next step for you and the company?

Aaron 27:42

We’re kind of at an interesting point now, where our season is very full. For the number of employees that we have, there's basically six of us that are either full-time or between half and full-time. And, boy, we're busy with the number of events that we have. And so on the one hand, we're looking at optimizing, you know, which events make sense to continue, which ones might not, where does it make sense to grow? Can we grow with our current structure? You know, because we're sort of mostly in a place now where we can only be in one place at one time as an organization. And how do we make that step to being in multiple places at once? You know, does it even make sense to make that step? Or are we better just to focus on doing fewer, or the current number of things that we're doing now? How do we avoid burnout in our core crew? If we're growing the organization, what's going to be most viable and sustainable for us as a group? So, that's kind of exciting. Right now we've got certain aspects of our business that are doing really well. And so we're looking at opportunities to grow in those areas. And, you know, others we’re maybe struggling a little bit and trying to change our format up and make it more attractive to people and more accessible, which is all, you know, really interesting, kind of creative, strategic thinking, work that is keeping us engaged.

Tim 29:11

And it's all around if we go way, way back to the Macintosh sitting in your dad's den. It goes back to the fact that there is a community that needs to be served, right? You've done it all the way along your career. And there are technical challenges, there are organizational challenges, those have gotten bigger and gnarlier. And, you know, regulatory and everything has gotten tighter. But you're still holding that at the core. Right? And that excitement around bringing that to people and seeing them light up and when you get Junior riders coming out and seeing them experience it for the first time. Maybe not on a Canadian Tire special, but you know, in their own ways. So, that's just got to be full of it. Well, Aaron, I want to say thank you for joining me today. I think your story is one that people will really be able to empathize with in their own ways. In that way, I hope that people find what they love within their career.

Aaron 30:09

Well, thanks for having me on giving me the opportunity. And also thanks for all your help and support and coaching and so forth over over quite a few years now. Great to have you as part of the TransRockies team.

Tim 30:22

Yeah, it's always been my pleasure and I love getting into it. And I love spending that time with you and the crew. All right, let's also not miss this opportunity to tell people if they want to get involved, if they are avid in running or cycling, and would like to check these events out. What's the best way that they can get in touch with TransRockies? Or you?

Aaron 30:42

Yeah, absolutely, for TransRockies, it's transrockies.com. The main social handles are @transrockies and @transrockiesrunning. And then myself, it's @aaronMcConnell on socials.

Tim 31:00

Well, we're gonna put a link to that in the show notes, we're also going to put a link to each of the different events because you've got the Fondos, you've got the runs, you've got all of the marquee events that you put out over the years. And really, there's something there, for everybody and for every skill level. And it's a great way to get involved. And I know it still attracts some of the hardcore competitors too. So, it's not like they're absent from this. It's just such a great opportunity to get out and enjoy things and what a milestone for people. So, really encourage you to go check it out. It is so much fun.

Tim 31:43

Thank you so much for listening to Sweet on Leadership. If you found today's podcast valuable, consider visiting our website and signing up for the companion newsletter. You can find the link in the show notes. If like us, you think it's important to bring new ideas and skills into the practice of leadership. Please give us a positive rating and review on Apple podcasts. This helps us spread the word to other committed leaders. And you can spread the word too, by sharing this with your friends, teams, and colleagues. Thanks again for listening. And be sure to tune in in two weeks' time for another episode of Sweet on Leadership. In the meantime, I'm your host, Tim Sweet, encouraging you, to keep on leading.

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