Well, not exactly; but maybe next year! AArrow Sign Spinners CFO Josh Notes, has made it his highest golf goal for the past 10 years to compete in qualifying for the US Open as an Amateur. This year on May 7th, like every other year, he fell a little short. But it didn’t matter. It was merely a warm-up, as Notes and his golfing partner Andrew Rice, who met in college at the University of Maryland, had qualified last October to compete on May 25-29th as 1 of the 128 best two-man teams in the world at The 2019 USGA Amateur Fourball Championship at Bandon Dunes, Oregon. Spoiler alert: they didn’t win, but did shoot 68-73 (even par). Making his first USGA Amateur Championship had been Josh’s Big Rock golf goals in life, so kudos for chasing the dream through 20+ years of near misses and even getting that close in a lifelong sport’s championship, its a sign.
Sign Spinning CFO, Josh Notes, playing golf at the US Open Qualifier.
All the way back in middle school, the main thing driving Josh was his pursuit to be a professional golfer. In his mind, like many young athletes, school and college were just stepping stones for him because he was GOING to be a pro, and thus life’s daily school assignments didn’t really matter. Josh would stay on this track until a 9th grade English paper of particularly poor quality and a talk from his teacher. She was a former Olympic hockey player and did a great job of bursting his bubble with the harsh reality of professional sports. After abruptly sharing the unlikely statistics with Notes, she suggested that he have a backup plan in case Pro Golf didn’t quite work out. This would push Josh towards pursuing a future in finance and entrepreneurship, and ultimately AArrow. Thanks teach!
After college, Josh wanted to use his finance and entrepreneurship powers for good and save the world, a very notable cause. He would seek out to reduce the environmental impact of buildings by founding the energy efficiency business, greeNEWit. He would then take his idea on the road to a franchise expo to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs and grow greeNEWit, but instead of his franchising plan launching, this is where he would be first introduced to sign spinning by none other than the spinventor himself, Max Durovic. Max was strategically positioned in the center of the expo floor (and the center of attention), throwing the signs up to the ceiling, having it flip down, and draw attention as he smoothly caught it. This indeed would catch Josh’s eye as it reminded him of his skateboarding past; they would instantly become best business buddies. Josh had no idea, but he was about to become the 3rd AArrow franchise owner and oversee AArrow’s operations in Baltimore.
AArrow Baltimore was born in 2009 and would see almost a decade of success! Josh was able to personally help create hundreds of sign spinning jobs and millions of dollars in revenue. He even helped mentor a young aspiring Ray Rivera who would then go on to win the 2010 World Sign Spinning Championships! But not every business story ends up being a successful one, and after years of operations, greeNEWit would run into financial trouble in late 2016. This would jeopardize the closely tied AArrow Baltimore franchise and ultimately both businesses would close up shop.
This financial setback did not signal the entrepreneurial end for Josh Notes, as determined in life as he has shown on the course, his game has reappeared in both and is back sharper than ever! Josh now serves as our Chief Financial Officer of AArrow Sign Spinners, has partnered to own a renewable energy development business and is determined to not let any other AArrow market face the financial difficulties he did without a guiding financial mentor. In addition, he spends a bucket of his AArrow time creating financial literacy programs to bolster the financial health of our franchisees, as well as 1-on-1 with spinners and managers in the AArrow family. They work to build sustainable personal financial plans, that are in place for the rough patches in life, while still being aimed at achieving their biggest self-identified dreams.
The next thing on Josh’s golfing plate that isn’t sign spinning, is to become a USGA Amateur Golf Champion, which he will continue attempting to compete for by qualifying for this years USGA’s 2019 Amateur, Mid-Amateur and the 2020 Fourball Championships over the next 3 months.
Tip from Josh:
Whether you are spinning a sign, starting a business, or competing in a national championship; things are bound to go differently than you expected. Keep it simple: focus your energy on the main goal and taking deep, slow breaths. With those tools in place, the road that you take to get there will be worth the travel.
“When life gives you a sign, spin it in the direction of your dreams!” – Josh Notes, Chief Financial Officer, AArrow Sign Spinners
#USOpen #USOpen2019 #USOpengolf #PebbleBeach
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