Ted Coté

Are Californians trying to change Montana?

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 19:05:15 -0800

After 5 years of thoughtful contemplation, I moved my business and my family from Seal Beach California to Bozeman Montana in March of 2016. Shortly after we moved into our home, one of my new neighbors who is also from California approached me with a simple warning "don't mention that you're from California, and you might want to hurry and get Montana plates for your two vehicles".

My experience to that point with local people was that they were welcoming and friendly. New neighbors welcomed us into the neighborhood, the local restaurants and shopkeepers were talkative and inquisitive about us - often asking us why we chose to move to Bozeman. Frequently, we were asked "have you gone through a winter yet?" indicating that surviving a winter here is a test to someone's fortitude and commitment to staying beyond summer and fall. Maybe some Californians pack up and run after a cold winter here. Interestingly enough, most of the locals we were encountering, were not native from Montana, rather most of them migrated here from cities like Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Portland and of course many cities in California. Statistically, one out of ten people in the United States lives in California, so proportionately you would expect a similar percentage of people to hail from California. Many of them had settled here for similar reasons. One common story I heard was that they had come here to go to the university, then after graduation, decided to call it home.

It wasn't until I wrote a blog about what inspired me to move my business to Montana that I experienced firsthand how some people feel about Californians moving into the Big Sky state. I boosted a post in Facebook to generate awareness about my business. Overall, I received a generally positive response. I had targeted people between 28 and 65 who live within 50 miles of Bozeman to see...Read More

Montana Sky

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 21:01:46 -0800

Been thinking about the river all day.

Waiting for this evening on the Gallatin.

The canyon calls to me as the cool of night draws near.

Rod and reel in back, I pass beside a whitetail deer.

The Montana sky lifts me higher.

The browns and rainbows don’t know I’m coming.

Up past Spanish creek, the sky purple, then fire.

Meadowlarks and tundra swans fly low along the river’s edge,

Presenting dry, a bead belly damsel dances and flies

Waiting for a strike, a loon watches me from her ledge

Silver emerges, turns and takes the disguise

Setting it firmly, readying my net, the sun glimmers off the pocket

The german brown fights fiercely, this one I won’t forget.

Casting away my cares,

Surrounded by trees, mountains, white water and grizzly bears.

My ideas for true election reform.

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 18:19:39 -0800

Imagine each candidate with their own TV channel, zero fundraising and no running mate.

This crazy election season has inspired me to think of how I think we should elect our President.

Here's six ideas.

1) Keep the standard qualifications - 35 years old and born in the U.S.

2) Every American taxpayer is Automatically eligible and registered to vote when they turn 18. Eliminates voter registration issues. Ensures largest possible voter participation.

3) Each taxpayer pays $50 per year to pay for the Campaign Budget Fund - This fund is a pool reserved for eligible Presidential candidates who get a minimum number of supportive and verified signatures (showing some basic level of support) A portion of the fund is reserved for the Top 5 candidates. The money is divided equally for them to campaign with. No other forms of fundraising is allowed. This minimizes or eliminates the advantages of rich candidates and eliminates Super-Pacs and other special interest influences. The Top 5 candidates are each given a dedicated commercial-free TV channel that can be used to communicate to prospective voters about their positions, agendas, inspirations, vision, backgrounds, etc. This minimizes the influence of the bias of the media, celebrities, party affiliations and insures balanced and fair coverage of each candidate. All debates would be neutrally moderated and the questions would always come from a pool of questions submitted by the public.

4) Election Weekend - Eliminate the traditional Tuesday election day and replace with "Election Weekend" and allow voting to occur from Friday 8:00AM to Sunday at 5:00PM. No early poll results. The Winner would be declared on Monday at Noon. Create a secure digital online method of voting privately - eliminating the high cost of elections, low turnout and reduces chance of voter fraud and human error. The...Read More

Why I relocated our startup company from California to Montana

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 17:51:07 -0800

Back in 2011, I read an article in Outside magazine about the 100 best places to work in the U.S.

Near the top of the list was a marketing agency located in Bozeman, Montana. Over the years, I had pondered and daydreamed about living and working in a beautiful natural environment and the state of Montana conjured up images of big skies, mountains and crystal clear rivers. Visions of horses, bison and fly fishing like I watched in "A river runs through it". I imagined my family living in a rustic cabin-like lodge like in the "Legends of the Fall" and as a native son from Southern California, I longed to experience the seasons.

I recall researching everything I could search for on the city of Bozeman. It consistently was listed as one of the best places to live with populations under 100,000. Bozeman is located in Western Montana, about 90 miles from Yellowstone Park. Its home to Montana State University. It is the fastest growing city in Montana. The average home costs around $250K and unemployment is 3.5%. The average age is 26.

Creating a life I didn't need a vacation from was a mission for me. As an outdoor enthusiast, photographer, the lifestyle described in the magazine article matched perfectly with what I really wanted. Montana was a place I usually would plan a trip to for a few days of hiking, fishing, rafting or a family vacation to escape the big city life. The idea of being able to live and work there was a fantasy to me.

At the time of my initial research, I was running a small strategic marketing and creative agency and making an above average income. I wrote to the president of the marketing agency in Bozeman and asked him if they could use a project manager or creative director. He requested my resume and salary requirements and based on his silence, I concluded that I was a little (a lot) over their budget. I felt discouraged and after further research I learned that the average income in Montana was drastically lower...Read More

How our startup company ended up sponsoring a NASCAR team.

Sun, 20 Nov 2016 17:41:18 -0800

Last summer while living temporarily in the Silicon Valley accelerating our startup company Green Way Labs with the 500 Startups program, we received a request from our website for samples of our eco-friendly green cleaning wipes from a racing team that was running the #95 and #59 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owned by Circle Sport/Leavine Family Racing in Concord, North Carolina. They found our company by searching on Google for high-performance green cleaning products. We eagerly fulfilled their request for samples hoping to get positive feedback from them about their performance in the shop. The advanced plant-based technology in our formulas was designed specifically to clean petroleum based substances. It is non-toxic, VOC-free and safe on skin and all surfaces. We were confident they would love the product, but we didn't know where that would lead beyond them possibly buying and using them in their own team garage.

After a couple of months, we heard back from the team that they had tested our patented product MastiClean and their reaction and results were very positive. It was important for us to know that the crew in the shop who use cleaning products everyday did not have to compromise on performance to "go green". Typically when we demonstrate the product for the first time, we do not make it known to the user that the formula is green. Why? Because our experience shows that many consumers of green products are disappointed in their performance or they are deemed too expensive. Once it is validated that MastiClean works better than legacy toxic cleaners, we point out to the testers that the product is also eco-friendly, green, safer and competitively priced compared to what they have been...Read More