HATTIE: Here's Wing doing his thing; he gives tons of food away at events such as this. The U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. Held every year just spitting distance from a Wahoo's. Wahoo's customers, the boarding tribe, flock to this where we see young men compete and the legends of surfing gather.
HATTIE: How did you then move out to create, what I would call this wonderful marketing machine that you have around this culture of surfing and snowboarding and skateboarding?
WING: When they opened the very first rock climbing gym in Costa Mesa, I was there with those guys and said, "Hey, we need to do a really cool event here to promote your business and I'm willing to help you." They looked at me and goes "Really?" And I said, "Yeah. I have nothing to do with rock climbing other than every once and a while I like to come and play, but I would be willing to come out here once a year and help you promote your business." And thus promoting their business, we benefited because all of the rock climbers go, "Hey this guy is okay; he is one of us."
HATTIE: What do you say, "If we do this event, I'll bring all the food?"
WING: Pretty much! You say,"I'm willing to give you a day of my life to help you guys promote your business." And as they grow, I grow. You don't do it because you want something; you do it because you can make a difference.
HATTIE: Okay. But, the small business owner is looking at this and saying, "But where am I going to get the time? Where am I going to get the money? Where am I going to get the product to give away to this cause?"
WING: The alternative side would be to try to go out and market your company which is a lot more expensive. If you go out there and they sample your product; that's the cheapest way. Because once they taste it, they see it, they smell it, they touch it, and they connect it to you. Everybody wants to support a local businessman as opposed to a big corporate entity that they are not attached to. So as they see you being a part of the community, they want to interact with you. They want to support you back because you are supporting the community. So, the giving comes back ten fold.
ED: I said, "You know Wing can't tie his shoes, he can't barely get his hair combed out or anything; he is disorganized, but he is a great marketing man." The one thing that he does, he does better than any one alive.