Apr 9, 2019
Tobias Parkhurst is the president of Oakes & Parkhurst Glass and a co-owner of Cushnoc Brewing Company in Augusta. He earned his B.A. from the University of Hartford and for 10 years he traveled the world as a professional skateboarder. Tobias returned to Maine in 2008, and in 2009 he bought and refurbished five Water Street historical buildings in Augusta, Maine, and enticed two successful restaurants into the downtown area. He helped open the Cushnoc Brewing Company in late 2017, which has brought a lot of life to downtown Augusta. Tobias currently serves on the Augusta Board of Trade, the Colonial Theater Board, the Harold Alfond Institute for Business Innovation Advisory Council and the Augusta Parking District committee. Tobias still likes riding his skateboard and he goes on motorcycle trips with his friends. His past motorcycle destinations have included Peru, Vietnam, Spain and Morocco. He lives in Augusta with his wife, Jennifer, and his two little boys, Xavier and Julian.
In this episode:
4:30 – How Tobias’s skateboarding injury led him to a career with his father’s glass company.
5:23 – Tobias talks about doubling business at Oakes & Parkhurst and asking his sister to join the family business.
6:00 – Tobias talks about being lucky to enter his second career in his 30s.
7:31 – How life is like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book and Tobias wishes sometimes he had his children sooner.
8:31 – How hard work is more important than success.
8:55 – How Tobias has realized that life is more than just about work.
10:27 – The success of Cushnoc Brewing Company happened almost by mistake.
11:07 – What impact social media had on Cushnoc at the very beginning.
12:50 – How Tobias has had to learn better time management to be the best dad, husband and business leader.
16:16 – Cushnoc Brewery grew 4.5 times faster than the business plan called for and how Tobias and his partners handled such rapid growth.
19:44 – How Tobias measures success and how being authentic is key.
22:30 – How hard work and a mediocre ability is fine with the right people around you.
23:00 – How everyone at Cushnoc has a valuable role in the business’s success.
24:32 – Finding the right place for everyone in your company means they can do their best work.
25:45 – How skateboarding has been the best business training for Tobias.
27:00 – Tobias talks about how Malcolm Gladwell and Robert Green’s The 48 Laws of Power have influenced him.
31:00 – How you have the ability to make an alliance when you meet someone and why you should treat everyone the same.
37:00 – Hear about the sturgeon jumping in the Kennebec River by Cushnoc Brewing Company and the upcoming beer garden that is opening by the river.
On building your network: “I think a good, hard-work ethic and a mediocre ability is fine but it can really be propped up if you have awesome people around you.” – Tobias Parkhurst, co-owner of Cushnoc Brewing Company and President of Oakes & Parkhurst.
Links:
Traction by Gino Wickman
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Looking to connect?
Email: tobias@cushnocbrewing.com and tobias@opglass.com
Websites
opglass.com
cushnocbrewing.com