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Exploring Life & Business with Mike Jost of HangLoose at Lake Carlos Marina

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Jost.

Hi Mike, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Morris, MN, and my family moved to the Alexandria area in 1988 when I was 14. I stopped playing traditional school sports and picked up snowboarding since we found ourselves living close to a ski hill. At that time, I also got into skateboarding, and a new sport called wakeboarding. After several seasons at Andy’s Tower Hills, I got pretty good at snowboarding and scored my first sponsorship right out of high school. That sponsorship took me to Hood River, Oregon, for the summer. I had always dreamt of riding the glaciers in the Cascades – it was magical. I lived and boarded professionally in Whistler B.C., Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, and Mammoth Lakes, CA.- The road that waves for over five years. When I came home for a summer in 1999, I fell in love and picked back up my love of wakeboarding. It’s hard not to do that in a little lake town paradise like Alexandria, MN.

I had hoped to take over my dad’s glass business in Alexandria one day. I worked there for about a year, and the eventual takeover looked promising. Life has many different routes, and I decided to take a detour through the snowboarding scene again. I briefly went back into the snowboarding world as the head coach of an Olympic Development Program based in Minneapolis. I bounced around the country, attending contests and training some of Minnesota’s most talented youngsters. It was super rewarding but not ideal for raising kids, and I ended up moving back home, getting a “real job,” and deciding to plant roots in Alexandria. Those hopes to one day take over my dad’s business were at the top of my list, but while I was away coaching, he had decided to sell the entire thing to someone else. I was devastated, but it made me look deeper into what I was truly passionate about, and I ended up having more freedom and income than I would have had running the shop. It didn’t take long to realize the best outcome for us.

I became a financial planner for a big investment company. I pushed a lot of papers and traveled to a lot of places. That job lasted 12 years! I was able to coach a local snowboarding and wakeboarding program and spent lots of time with family and friends. I also focused on my wakeboarding skills and ended up on the Hyperlite International roster. I didn’t end up traveling for them but got good gear deals and dipped my toe in the boating industry. LOL. I broke many bones and had a lot of fun doing it! Pushing that sport can be punishing.

The Financial Planning job was good, but all that paperwork was not my cup of tea, so in 2011 I changed lanes and invested all my money and hopes in a trailer full of paddleboards, a wake boat, and my dreams. Both categories were so new at the time – they created this rush and excitement around what was possible. Paddleboarding hadn’t been seen by more than a few around Alexandria at the time, and neither had wake surfing. I was busy, but not at first. Paddleboarding was good. It cast a wider net, but wake surfing took a while for people to catch on. A few years in the wake, surfing took off, and my summers have been jam-packed with appointments. I’ve helped nearly 15,000 people create experiences and memories that I hope they’ll never forget. I’ve traveled the entire country sharing HangLooseMN and even internationally to share the stoke.

When I saw Lake Carlos Marina for sale in 2016, I knew it had to be my new “Base Camp.” The consistent rise in appointments led to the growth of HangLooseMN and the company needing to be on the water full-time. The Marina has been a huge undertaking, but it’s well worth the work, and the way it jives with HangLoose is perfect. Now we focus on more than just paddle boarding and wake surfing. We are deep into pontoon rentals, gas sales, boat maintenance, boat storage, bait, kayaks, river tours, e-foiling, regular foiling, slip rentals, pizzas, ice cream, slushies, beer, live music. Whatever else we can do to stay relevant and provide most of what anyone would need on the chain of lakes. We are right next to Lake Carlos State Park, the second busiest state park in Minnesota, as well as hundreds of VRBOs, hotels, resorts, golf courses, the Long Prairie River, and many awesome Alexandria locals. This lake’s area and amazing community help make HangLooseMN and Lake Carlos Marina what they are today.

I’ll take being near my family, making memories on the water, and sharing what I love over pushing papers any day of the week!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been easy, that is for sure. It is a ton of work. I find myself unable to sleep sometimes. I want to get up early, move, and ensure everything is accurate, finished, and firing on all cylinders. I’m often up late checking messages, checking my calendar, cleaning or fixing, and there is little downtime in the summer. That is what winter is for. Everyone is different in season and can affect how the Marina and Hang Loose perform. Late spring, cold, rainy, or windy days can wreck a profitable weekend or even an entire summer. It’s weird; if the forecast is great, people arrive, call, and are excited to get on the water. If the forecast is bad, they make other plans, and even if it turns out to be nice, they already made those plans, so it doesn’t help much. The economy and gas prices affect us too. The high prices stop people from driving here from far away and certainly influence people on when, where, and how often people fill up their boats with gas. We have many irons in the fire at the same time here. It takes many moving parts and coordination to have the Marina and HangLooseMN performing as well as they can be for our very short and fast summer season. I do have a manager here now tho. Danny Sieve is the new kid on the block and provides a huge relief. Danny helps me with everything marina based and has taken on a lot of responsibility. He’s great with our crew, and I greatly rely on them. It’s great to know we have good people in place. It makes me, and most importantly, our customers, happy.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about HangLoose MN at Lake Carlos Marina?
People come to us for experiences, whether a day out on a Marina pontoon with family and friends or learning to Wakesurf, e-foil or paddleboard with HangLooseMN. People come to us for something to remember. We’re kind of “a feeling,” too. I think we have that small town “ma & pa” shop vibe with loads of nostalgia. From all the neighborhood kids that walk down daily to get candy and ice cream to the old timers that I hear have been stopping by since the early 50s for bait, Lake Carlos Marina has something special. It’s a feeling that’s hard to find, but we got it, and I am very grateful for that.

What matters most to you? Why?
I was making memories. Making memories on the water is why my passion for this business stays strong. My memories of being with my parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and extended family on the lake still matter to me. They helped build me into who I am today, and I still often fall back on them. If I can be a platform for others to grow together and make memories together, that is the greatest gift I can give.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Chase Nielson took the drone shot. I have his permission to use it I couldn’t find a personal pic. I’ll send one of those and some more marina/hangloosemn ones via email

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