“The worst days in the arena are better than the best days in the stands.”

here are the topics for today’s newsletter:

• speaking at SXSW

• hanging out with your Pickleball friends outside of Pickleball

• tip against opponents stacking

• my embarrassing guilty pleasure

• current paddle

• entrepreneurial encouragement

• highlight reel of Austin’s first indoor Pickleball facility

• February recap video

• song recommendation

SXSW

South by Southwest, an annual film, music, and media festival held in Austin, TX. Past speakers include Jon Favreau (Elf, Ironman series), Ryan Gosling, Matthew McConaughey, Tilda Swinton, the list goes on. Performances by John Mayer, Tyler the Creator, Dolly Barton, etc.

Speeches and sessions by Barack Obama, Edward Snowden, Keanu Reeves. And big companies hold ‘activation’ events. Four years ago, I attended my first SXSW, saw a couple DJ’s like A-Trak and Getter, and the band Flora Cash (you’re somebody else).

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t imagine myself one day being up on the stage, I just didn’t know it would be through Pickleball. If you’re in town and want to swing by (free), register here: https://ranchers.eq.tickets/

Also, Texas Ranchers’ first custom paddle:

HANGING WITH FRIENDS OUTSIDE OF PICKLEBALL

For the longest time the only time I ever saw my PB friends was during PB. Recently, one of my friends held a small birthday gathering and we ended up combining it with a game night and thought I’d share some of the games we played:
- 6 or more players: 7 Wonders Architects, Uno (the game never finished), and a recent favorite, Codenames.
- 2-5 players: Monopoly Deal.
- 4 players: Blokus.

TIP AGAINST STACKED OPPONENTS

I was re-watching the Johns brothers against Pat Smith & DJ Young and noticed Ben would repeatedly serve to the side where the opponent’s partner was stacked to, in other words, serve to the side of the player opposite the direction they’re going to run to after they hit their return. If Ben was serving to Pat (and Pat is supposed to go left after the serve), he would serve to his backhand. Make your opponents run longer and cause a slight delay.

MY EMBARRASSING GUILTY PLEASURE

Romance books (and movies). It’s bad (but also good?). When I was younger I had zero interest in school books so I would try to find something more enjoyable to read and somehow landed on Nicholas Sparks. Granted, it started with ‘Three Weeks With My Brother’ so less romance but after finishing that book I couldn’t get enough of his writing style and had to try out the rest and admittedly, I have not stopped since. Since then, here are some notable mentions:
- Ask Again, Yes
- Archer’s Voice
- Things We Never Got Over
- Nicholas Sparks: Dreamland, The Return

Movies:
- Garden State
- Silver Linings Playbook
- A Fault in Our Stars

If you’re into Sci-Fi novels, check out the author Blake Crouch.

Don’t even get me started on my music playlists… Let’s just say someone gave me the aux during a game and Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License came on. I’ll save that for another post. If you have any recommendations send them over.

CURRENT PADDLE

Been using this paddle for the past month and a half-ish.

Switching over from the Six Zero Infinity Black Diamond was a great move for me. First time playing with a wider body shape but this has been my favorite paddle so far. The control is a stand out feature for me and then the large sweet spot on a paddle of this shape. I added tungsten just recently to help with the twist weight. The owner sent me a few of the paddles as well as a care package with some Hawaiian treats so he kinda won me over in that department. They also just released some Kevlar paddles. If you decide to give them a try, feel free to use code BRIANLIM for 10% off.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ENCOURAGEMENT

Don’t be attached to the idea that you need to get it on the first try.

Every failure is just another attempt. Each failure should be an opportunity to dive deeper or see it from a different angle. Each failure gives us actionable information. Hardly anyone gets it right on the first try. And if they do, it gets to their head and can sometimes do more harm than good. The reward is in the doing, in the work. There is no ‘end’ in entrepreneurship, it’s continuous growth.

HIGHLIGHT REEL

Austin’s first indoor Pickleball club:

Recapping February:

SONG RECOMMENDATION

As of right now, we’re at 3,910 subscribers on YouTube and 2,712 followers on Instagram. Appreciate everyone’s support up to now.

thanks for reading,

brian

Spreadsheet with discounts: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZFFJmAZSB2CYwHtlr1rw5Dm0zWfVHMwcMoQtboFK9wY/edit#gid=0