CEDARBURG — A local business’s brand inspires people to go out and live life to the fullest.
Get Busy Liv’n was founded in 2018 by Andy Siefkes of Cedarburg and Ken Otte of Kohler.
The ideas behind the business were inspired after Siefkes had a change in his career and when he had to take care of his parents due to medical reasons.
“Certain life events happen that kind of make you put life into perspective,” Siefkes said. “It made me grateful for the life that I’ve got and the outlets that I have to get out there and enjoy the life that I have.”
The name of the business came from one of Siefkes’ favorite movies, “The Shawshank Redemption,” when the main character Andy Dufresne says, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
“It’s such a powerful message and it’s true,” Siefkes said.
The way that Siefkes gets busy living is going out west to the Rocky Mountains on a “Get Busy Living Trip” with a group of friends.
Lately, in the midst of the pandemic, Siefkes likes to go up to northern Wisconsin with his family to be outside. He has gotten into dirt biking and blacksmithing with his son.
Get Busy Liv’n sells products such as clothes, hats, drinkware, Grin’r guards and more.
Customers may notice that some of the products feature airplanes, which has a deeper meaning to Get Busy Liv’n. Siefkes said they want people to put life on airplane mode.
“It forces you to not be on (social) media and not be on your phone, not be on your laptop, not be on your iPad,” he said. “Putting life in airplane mode is what we’re all about.”
For Siefkes, his airplane mode with his friends are fly fishing, camping, fourwheeling and flying airplanes.
“Now airplane mode for somebody else could be reading a book, it could be going for a walk. It could be taking a day off from work,” he said.
He added, “That’s why the airplane exists, to put life in airplane mode, not to be grounded in life, to give a different perspective or look at the world from a different angle. There’s so many things that go back to that airplane mode.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Get Busy Liv’n did well in 2020.
“We exceeded our 2019 revenue back in September of this year,” Siefkes said.
Get Busy Liv’n was supposed to be the theme of Summer Sounds in 2020 but that changed when the pandemic hit and Summer Sounds had to be cancelled.
This new year brings new things for the business. Get Busy Liv’n has a GIV’N BACK program where 5% of the business’s top-line revenue is donated to environmental or humanitarian organizations each quarter. Get Busy Liv’n will be presenting a check this month to its recent GIV’N BACK partner for its fourth quarter, the Ozaukee Nonprofit Center.
Siefkes will also be travelling to Pinedale, Wyo. this month because Get Busy Liv’n is sponsoring the Fat Bike World Championships.
In the spring, Get Busy Liv’n hopes to host a river clean-up event in partnership with Milwaukee Riverkeeper. The business owns a portion of a river in Cedarburg as part of a adopt-ariver program that Milwaukee Riverkeeper has.
Siefkes encourages people to live life without regret and to try to get outside.
“With everything that we’re all going through … the brand has that much more meaning to people now because we’ve had a lot of time to think about life and put life in perspective,” he said. “In one way or another, this pandemic has affected us personally, professionally. It makes you realize how fragile and how precious life is and that we need to embrace it and get busy living it.”
For more information and to purchase online, visit www.getbusylivn.com. Get Busy Liv’n products can also be found at The Cottage at Cedarburg, Locally Inspired in Port Washington and sometimes at Fyndig Salon. Get Busy Liv’n also has a retail presence in Wyoming and Colorado.
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