Ep. 18 | Fire One. Save Thirty.

What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what you're doing wrong, but how many things you're trying to do right?In the early days of Vortex Optics, we were selling everything from birdwatching binoculars and collegiate sports optics to tripods and opera glasses. We thought every brand had the potential to take off. But spreading our efforts across so many different directions was limiting our impact.Then a frustrating dinner in Salt Lake City helped change the trajectory of our company.In this episode of Create A Rare Experience, Vortex CEO Joe Hamilton shares the story behind one of the most important decisions in the company's history: narrowing our focus to make a much bigger impact.And this goes well beyond business. Whether you're building a company, raising a family, or pursuing personal goals, your time and energy are limited. Every choice you make is compounding into something.Joe explores the power of compound interest, the CARE principle of Simplify, Magnify, and why some of the hardest decisions involve walking away from good things to make room for what matters most.Because sometimes the greatest opportunities for growth come from what you're willing to stop doing.Select. Compound. Repeat.Subscribe for more stories, principles, and practical ideas on building a brand people believe in and want to belong to. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

Vortex Optics CEO Joe Hamilton sits down with Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erickson, co-authors of The Science of Scaling, to explore why extraordinary growth requires a completely different way of thinking.They discuss the psychology of impossible goals, the 80/20 principle, Parkinson's Law, and the difference between linear growth and exponential scaling. Through real-world examples, they explore how thinking bigger can actually simplify your business, sharpen your focus, and reveal opportunities you might otherwise miss.But Joe raises a question that often gets overlooked in conversations about growth. Can you pursue ambitious growth without compromising your values, your culture, or the people who helped build your business?As Joe shares through stories from Vortex, scaling a business can actually create more opportunities to serve the people who make it successful. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

Penn State Wrestling has won 13 of the last 15 national championships, building one of the most dominant programs in college sports. But the story behind that success goes far beyond wrestling.In this episode, Joe sits down with Clay Steadman, General Manager of Penn State Wrestling and a former wrestler who experienced the arrival of legendary coach Cael Sanderson firsthand.Clay shares how Sanderson transformed the program's culture, why that experience changed the direction of his own life, and what makes Penn State such a special place for the athletes and coaches who are part of it.They get into:•    Why Sanderson was willing to lose some of his best wrestlers to establish a new standard•    How Penn State replaced wrestling's traditional "embrace the suck" mentality with fun, gratitude, and excellence•    Why the coaching staff has stayed together despite opportunities to lead other programs•    How Penn State continues to attract top athletes in an era increasingly driven by NIL moneyPenn State's success speaks for itself, but what really stands out is the impact this program has on the people who are part of it. It's a powerful example of what it means to Create A Rare Experience, and how that impact can last long after the wins and championships.  The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

A kids’ binocular was never supposed to be a big product for Vortex. It started with two employees paying attention to something our customers cared deeply about: their kids. In this episode, Joe breaks down the story behind the Vortex Bantam and how a simple idea to create meaningful gifts for customers grew into something much bigger. Less than three years later, Vortex has given away roughly 4,000 Bantams to create rare experiences and sold more than 110,000. But the numbers aren’t really the point. The story illustrates a principle anyone can use: make what’s important to the people you serve important to you. Joe gets into: • How two Vortex employees turned customer relationships into a product idea • Why the best ideas often come from the people closest to the customer • How specificity can make someone feel genuinely seen • Why creating a rare experience doesn’t have to start with an ROI calculation • What a binocular-shaped dog toy can teach us about paying attention The Bantam started as a way to create a memorable moment for a customer and their kid. What followed is a pretty good example of what can happen when you stop focusing on what matters to you and start paying attention to what matters to them. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

Most companies say they put the customer first. The real test is how easy they make it for that customer to actually do business with them.In this episode, Joe shares the story behind About You, Vortex’s first core value, and how a lesson from his dad helped shape the way Vortex approaches the customer experience to this day. The idea is simple: understand what life looks like from the customer’s side and work backwards from there.That thinking shows up everywhere, from answering the phone with a real person and removing unnecessary hoops from the VIP Warranty to designing complicated products that are easy to use. Sometimes it even means taking an order written on a napkin because asking the customer to fill out another form only makes their life harder.Joe gets into:• Why most “customer-first” companies aren’t actually customer-first• How friction quietly drives customers away• What it means to build your business backwards from the customer• Why making things easier can become a real competitive advantage• What Vortex learned from Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Tesla, Pink’s and AppleVortex entered the optics industry about 100 years late. Joe shares why he believes making it easy to do business with us is a big part of how we caught up and eventually became the market leader. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

Brandon Downer and Carter Smith had the jobs they thought they were supposed to want. Then they got laid off, started cleaning windows, and began questioning a lot of what they had been taught about work, success, and service. Today, Pink’s Window Services is growing across the country by doing things that sound almost too simple: show up on time, do what you say you’re going to do, answer the phone, and treat people like they matter. In this episode, Brandon and Carter join Joe to talk about how Pink’s got started and why building the business forced them to get over themselves and rethink what meaningful work actually looks like. They get into: • Why some of the most important jobs are the ones we’ve been taught to look down on • What happened when they stopped being embarrassed to call themselves window cleaners • Why the customer’s preference should trump your process • Hiring for hospitality instead of experience • Why humility and “self-forgetfulness” are a competitive advantage •  How putting service first became the engine behind Pink’s growth This one is funny, honest, and full of simple ideas that apply whether you’re cleaning windows, leading a team, or building a business. Because the work doesn’t have to look impressive to matter. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

The Milwaukee Brewers™ are the smallest market in baseball. They do not have the highest payroll yet they keep winning. In this episode, Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger joins Joe to talk about what’s behind that success and why it goes far beyond what happens on the field. Rick shares how the Brewers have built a team-first culture where egos get checked at the door, talented people are expected to make everyone around them better, and no player is good enough to justify becoming a poisonous influence on the clubhouse. They also get into: Why Rick believes there are two kinds of cultures: fear and love Why making mistakes is necessary for a healthy organization Hiring people who are better than you—and not being threatened by it How the Brewers earn fan loyalty even when they can’t promise a win What allows the smallest market team in baseball to consistently compete with teams that have far more resources It’s a conversation about baseball, but even more about what happens when talented people put the team ahead of themselves. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

The NEW podcast studio is in full effect.  In this special listener Q&A, the Vortex Nation and CARE podcast teams join forces to answer your best hunting, shooting, CARE, and just-for-fun questions. A .308 SUPER update to the best beef jerky flavor and more, the guys tackle your hard-hitting questions and have fun doing it!   The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

In this episode, Joe explores Return on Rare, the final stop on the CARE flywheel. From Vortex’s preschool and growing product lineup to its campus in Wisconsin, many of the things people see today are the result of something much less visible: years of serving customers, dealers, and teammates one interaction at a time. Joe shares why growth, profit, and new opportunities are rarely the starting point. More often, they’re the result of creating rare experiences and a commitment to serving others over the long haul. Growth wasn’t the goal. It followed years of showing up for people, one interaction at a time. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram

Most leaders think their biggest job is finding and developing great people. Joe argues there's something even harder—and often more important. In this episode, he shares one of the most uncomfortable leadership lessons behind the culture at Vortex: why protecting your team sometimes means making the decision you've been avoiding. Along the way, you'll learn: Why great cultures are built by managing environments, not people. The fish story that completely changed Joe's view of leadership. Why hiring for shared beliefs beats hiring for skill alone. The hidden cost of giving the wrong person "just one more chance." How one difficult decision can restore trust for everyone else on the team. If you're responsible for people, culture, or leadership, this conversation will challenge the way you think about protecting your team. The CARE Movement is a roadmap for leaders who believe human connection is the brand.This is your invitation to think differently and lead with heart.Subscribe to the CARE Movement - where connection creates momentum.Follow Joe on LinkedIn and Instagram