They’re fun. They’re colorful. They’re dedicated to creating the best products possible. Yep, that’s what I gathered after spending an entertaining morning with the team at Vapor Trail.

The VT team prides itself on having a good time while working. Grand View Outdoors Group Publisher Jared Pfeifer and I hadn’t been in the office five minutes when the jokes and horseplay started. Truthfully, it’s been a good while since I laughed as hard as I did. The crew of Steve Fondie, Jerrod “Ears” Meyer and Rick Brule took turns making jokes at one another’s expense. All the while, Ears was answering phone calls, Rick was building strings and Steve was answering emails. They didn’t miss a beat. It was just a fun atmosphere to be in – the type of atmosphere that sucks you in and makes you feel like part of the team, the type of atmosphere where your allotted time expires much quicker than you’d like.

Aside from answering phone calls, Ears was pacing around the shop waiting on parts. He was going to be spending the night in the shop (literally) assembling 300 rests to fill an order. The cool thing: He wasn’t upset about it in the slightest. In fact, he seemed happy about it. Rick, who mentioned it wasn’t uncommon to be at the shop for long hours building strings and cables, didn’t seem to mind either.

“Our strings and cables are becoming increasingly popular,” said Rick. “We want to keep up with our excellent customer service. We want to keep our edge. If we have to stay late and work extra hours, then we have to stay late and work extra hours. We want our products to be the best, and we never want to fall behind.”

“Ears and I were just talking about this the other day,” Steve added. “You have to believe in the products you sell. You have to believe that you are giving people the best they can possibly get. If you don’t, you’re lying to yourself and them. We don’t want to do that.”

It was clear, from the time I spent with the team in the office, that these guys practice what they preach. Orders were coming in on the phone like crazy, mostly from guys and gals wanting their own set of custom-colored strings and cables. The guys were busy, joking and laughing and nipping at each other as they went. They were having fun. They were enjoying what they were doing. Heck, Rick stopped to build me a custom set of strings and cables. I was like a kid in a candy store picking out my colors and watching him assemble my strings and cables right before my eyes.

I left the Vapor Trail office with a smile spread across my face and some renewed energy. It was awesome to see a group of people – a group of people who treated each other like family – having fun making a living in the archery industry. It was obvious that not a single person on the team took what they got to do for a living for granted, and that was refreshing.

For more information about Vapor Trail Archery, visit www.vaportrailarchery.com or call (763) 862-8870.