We recently connected with Sara Jo Royalty and have shared our conversation below.

Sara Jo, appreciate you joining us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

Yes and No. Every work trip, I try to add a day or two for actual vacation. I travel so much for work that I find it. Impossible to go on individual vacations. So I try to enjoy the spots that I have to travel for work for the most part this works out well, my biggest issue with this is going certain places like where I am from. It is hard to visit family because I am always out of town for work. It looks like I’m having a great time because I am, but I have to be where I am, I am not always choosing that destination for leisure.

Sara Jo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Pick your poison. Golf, fishing, music, or health? I think it is safe to say I get bored easily, so I keep myself entertained by constantly switching activities. The thing I do most is Caddy. I am predominantly a full-time Caddy at the world’s number one Public resort, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort. With a program that consists of over 500 caddies, many, come and go, but I have been looking for 11 years. We are independently contracted, so it is on each caddy to build his own business. But walking the same 10 miles every day gets boring. So I often travel down to palm desert in the winter at The Madison Club, The Quarry, or with the PGA a tour to caddy in their Pro-am tournaments. Carrying bags can get tiring, so I “take a break” by keeping up with my fishing sponsorship. My official role is professional flyfisherman and Fly Tyer., but I am also a fishing guide and vice president of Flyfishers International for the state of Oregon. I am under sponsorship with several companies. For Flyfishing, I Fish with TempleForkoutfitters, out of Dallas, Texas. I initially went to them for sponsorship because I was already using their rods. They had the most versatile selection, I noticed that more rod makers were willing to make rods with them than any other company, and on top of it they have low priced, high quality gear. Typically it can cost upwards of $2000 to just start Flyfishing. I believe they have cut that number to about a third. I consider the quality of the rods and reels higher than the leading, more expensive brands. I have been with TFO for seven years and plan on staying as long as they will have me.

Korkers, and Aquaz Fishing provide me with wading boots and waders. I bushwhack through blackberries on a regular basis, and these things never leak.

For Flytying, I have several sponsors. For hooks I am with Daiichi. Their standard is so high, they were willing to take 800,000 hooks off the market just because they felt they would not be at a high enough standard., and their customer service is the best I’ve ever seen by a long shot. Dr. slick, is a fly tying and streamside tool company out of Montana. They have sponsored me for many years and are some of the most down to earth people I have ever met. The impressive thing about this company is it is run by about four individuals who hand sharpen and check every single item that goes out the door. As for materials, I am sponsored bySemperfli. The quality, diameter, and strength of their thread is what first attacked me to them, but I am continually impressed by the number and quality of products they put out, and how highly respected they are by other businesses. This is an international sponsor for me, out of the UK, and they have won the highest honor attainable by a business in their country, the Queen’s award.
I am very particular about the people that I choose to work with and each company has a quality that no one else in the industry will provide.
Ask for music, I have been a musician, since I was three years old. I was a classically trained pianist, that paid for college with a vocal scholarship. This is the industry and consider myself the most behind in, as I have several albums, ready to record, and an in-home studio, but little time to block out for recording. I play occasionally at festivals and local venues, but would like to transition into more music and less caddying as the years continue. I play guitar and bass, along with a piano and vocals. I write all of my music and record all of my instruments. I play blues, rock, country, and folk, for the most part. Music has been my longest passion by far, with Fishing as a close follow.
Although I did get a music scholarship, my educational passion is biochemistry, frequency medicine, and water science. I understand on a cellular and chemical level that using pharmaceuticals as receptor blockers can be temporarily very useful a but permanently debilitating. Albert Einstein said the future of medicine is frequency medicine and I believe him to be correct. In any spare time I can find, I conduct research using food science under the pretense that we exist in a liquid state consisting mostly of water, and our external and internal environmental factory control those outcomes.. Essentially, I am looking for cures to terminal illness through food, water, and frequency.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I think this is my whole deal. I am spread too thin. I do too many things. The only way I have brand loyalty is by connecting personally with each and every person. When they meet me they are sold. Probably, concentrating on one thing would be better for me but I absolutely cannot let anything go., so maybe big picture it isn’t. I constantly turn things down so that I will not take anything more on because I know I am already taxed, but what I do somehow seems to work. It’s just the wander around do you, and TRULEY be you attitude. No matter what. If it appeals to the masses they buy in. And intent is everything. People pick up on intentions. They know when they are being scammed, they can feel it in their gut. I want people to fish for cheap. I want to make people feel with my music and get through their troubles, the same way I use music. I want people to be able to have a good time on the golf course. I want people to get healthy from their diseases eating organic food, drinking Kangen water, and getting treatments that don’t make them sicker. Make a genuine personal connection, we are all connected as humans,, and therefore family. If you see everyone that way, decisions become easier and the path seems well paved.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth. I noticed today, even in such an online world, we still have an insane amount of sponsored fisherman. They want us on the river, at the shows, talking to people, because that is what sells the most still to this day.
On the golf course, almost 50% of my income comes from referrals. Someone’s friend, coworker, family member is coming out as well and they want their friend to have a great experience just like they had,Who so you trust? you trust your friends and your family. You do not trust the people that you see on TV making the commercials; but when you know someone who has done it or used it and swears by it, it is a guaranteed sell.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sarajoflies / @looperonthefly