Every cottage gear founder had a moment when they walked away from a conventional career. In "Quit Your Day Job," we hear four of those stories. Whitney "Allgood" LaRuffa spent 17 years as a commodity broker before his body and mind told him he wasn't going to survive another year in that chair. Luke "Bus" Piersall bounced from Hawaii film sets to Hollywood to South American tour guiding to commercial photography before getting fired on the day he thought he was being promoted to VP; he then gambled everything on Trail Goods Company. Brice Sokolowski quit a lucrative IT consulting career because he could see 30 miserable years stretching out ahead of him, and started doodling backpack ventilation systems on a whiteboard while struggling to pay his credit card bill. And Sarah "Mellow" Berkeley, an art professor who hiked the Long Trail with a six-pound sleeping bag from the 90s, got hooked on thru-hiking despite a miserable first experience and built Symbiosis Gear to make packs that actually fit women's bodies. None of them had a plan that made financial sense. All of them followed the thing they couldn't stop thinking about.

Show Notes

The Cottage — Episode 2: "Quit Your Day Job"


Four people walked away from careers that paid their bills to chase something that kept them awake at three in the morning. A commodity broker who was dying at his desk. A photographer who got fired on the day he expected a promotion. An IT consultant who could see thirty years of misery ahead. An art professor whose first thru-hike was a disaster — and who couldn't stop thinking about it afterward. In this second episode of The Cottage, we hear the stories behind the leap, and what it costs to bet everything on a sewing machine, a whiteboard, and a freeze dryer.


Featured Voices


Whitney LaRuffa (Allgood) — Former commodity broker. Former VP, Six Moon Designs. Now Chief Revenue Officer, FarOut.


Luke Piersall (Bus) — Photographer, filmmaker, South America guide. Founder, Trail Goods Company.


Brice Sokolowski — Former IT consultant. President, Voclu's Backpack Ventilation Gear.


Sarah Berkeley (Mellow) — Former art professor. Owner and Founder, Symbiosis Gear.


Links & Resources


Trail Goods Company — trailgoods.co


Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear — voclusegear.com


Symbiosis Gear — symbiosisgear.com


Six Moon Designs — sixmoondesigns.com


FarOut — faroutguides.com


Connect with Hiker Trash Radio


Email: hikertashradio@gmail.com


Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Comments & Upvotes

Listen On

Also In Season 12