Happiness Through Shared Experiences

Cody Sudmeier is the CEO and founder of Spur Experiences, a business focused on changing people’s relationship to their buyer experience–starting with wedding registries. Cody’s background has shown him how happiness may be something that money can buy, but only if the purchase helps a person live life to the fullest. Speaking of living life to the fullest, check out my LinkedIn post about living life in technicolor–my most recent installment on my own journey to a fulfilled life.

From Bronco to Business

At first, Cody wanted to be a quarterback for the Denver Broncos–but he settled for business consulting in college after acknowledging his natural gift for math and entrepreneurship. One story he shared detailed how his 13-year-old self would chase down mail order catalogs (can you tell this is a pre-internet story?) and bulk order items, and sell them at a mark-up to his peers.

Out of college he went to work for one of the big five consulting firms. Four years into this career and reeling from being passed up for a promotion, he had a Jerry Maquire moment: Cody walked into the office and said, “I’m out of here. Who’s coming with me?” Luckily, one other manager walked out with him, and both he and Cody left that company to co-found Agility Solutions where Cody worked for the next decade.

He found that he loved the entrepreneurial side of the business, especially the people side of things. But what would end up being the end of his time at Agility Solutions, he found he was staring at cubicle walls feeling a deep lack of connection. Six years ago, Cody sold 50% ownership to his co-founder and launched his current business, Spur Experiences.

A New Kind of Buyer Experience

Cody has spent the last six years thinking about the human element behind the buying experience. As cringe-y as it sounds, Cody disagrees with the phrase, “money can’t buy happiness” because, well, it can–when you’re buying the right thing.

Studies have shown that when people spend money on experiences with loved ones, they feel much more prolonged happiness than they would buying the next iPhone. So Spur Experiences has worked to become a resource people can turn to when they don’t want to just give someone another “item”, but would rather give an experience.

They first came out as a wedding registry where guests could purchase wine tastings, couple massages, skydiving lessons, the list goes on. They’ve since been reaching for a larger vision where anyone can buy an experience and gift it to someone for whatever reason–it doesn’t have to be restricted to weddings. People can also go on and purchase experiences for themselves.

The Importance of Relationships

Cody has heard entrepreneurs say that it takes 10 years to be an overnight success–and in his experience that’s 100% true. When first starting out, Cody accepted that the beginning would be a humbling experience, and he found that starting out with a fundamental layer of the right people helped endlessly. Cody has been working with his co-founder, Jamie, for years–he’s the vision side, and she’s the operational side. That’s the only way to really build something that’s big.

Relationships, especially in consulting which is a people-based business, are everything and Cody has ensured that his business stays deeply connected with the human element of Spur Experiences. He’s set up his core commitments to include putting people first, putting your ego aside, honoring the individual, prioritizing experiences, and always communicating directly.

Check out his site https://spurexperiences.com/ today and look through over 2,000 activities you can purchase for a friend, loved one, or–better yet–yourself.