Rolling up our Sleeves & Diving into our Work

Long-Term Sustainability Report

Dear Friends, Family & Fellow River Rats:

First of all, Happy Canoe Year from us Mighty Quapaws!

This is a business health report, following up on everything we suffered -- and rose above -- in the last year.  Seems like a good day to do this.  Today we celebrate two national holidays, Martin Luther King Day and Inauguration Day.  Like all Americans, we are full of hopes & fears, and dreams & aspirations -- for bringing out the best, and doing the best we can do.  

Let it be known, we Mighty Quapaws are rolling up our sleeves and ready to dive into the work we do best: as canoe carvers and guides into the wild interior of America, along the floodplain of the Mighty Mississippi.  Our goal is long-term health of all of creation.  The need for clean air and clean water unite us all.

You helped us survive last year.  We will never forget that!  We Mighty Quapaws are entering 2025 intent on survival and creating a long-term sustainable plan.  You will see from below that we have not been idle, but actively engaged to make it work!

Re-Cap:
For years (for decades really) I have been plowing everything I make back into the Quapaw Canoe Company (QCC), and not been very good at taking care of personal needs like healthcare and providing for my daughter.  I have not a had a vacation since pandemic year 2019.

Over the decades, QCC has been the ground-breaking pioneer in providing guiding & outfitting services on the Lower Mississippi River, our range is approximately 1,000 miles of free-flowing big river meandering through the Mid and Deep South.  We nurtured outposts in Helena, Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis.  We inspired others including Big Muddy Adventures (St. Louis), Bayou Teche Experience, Red River Canoe Company, and soon to open Iberville Landing (all in Louisiana).

I have been looking for a business partner to take over administration of company.  That has not happened yet, but is an open door if that right person responds to our search.  Another option is employee-owned business.  My team is willing for either option.  Whichever works, and whichever makes most sense.  

Over the last year we have raised $15,560 via gofundme, with a $25K goal (this is ongoing).  My family and many friends sent additional donations in the mail.  Thanks to you all, we were able to survive financial crisis, and were afforded breathing room to think clearly, and make thoughtful plans for the future.  

Tree Trimming:
In our success, we have grown like a big tree, but maybe with too many branches for the trunk to sustain.  So I look at this as a tree-trimming project.  Quapaw has been successful model for decades, since 1998.  Most businesses do not survive year 1.  85% don't make it to year 5.  2025 is our 27th year!  We were named 2024 Mississippi Business of the Year by the SBA.  That doesn't make anything any easier, but it does give us all the more reason to create a plan for long-term sustainability! 

Who Are We?
In 2024 our Clarksdale team consisted of 5 river guides, 6 on-call guides, and 3 shuttle drivers. I am "chief of many hats."  Our chief shuttle driver Ellis Coleman is longest running employee (2008), and chief guide Mark River is longest running river guide (2011).  We have been meeting regularly throughout 2024 for problem-solving and strategizing.  We will continue to do so in 2025.

Standing in front of the Mirror:
One thing I heard in SBA workshops last year was if your business is struggling, you need to look at yourself.  You need to stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself "why aren't things working the way you would like them to work?"  So that is what we are now doing!  All of my Clarksdale team is 100% on board to figure this thing out.  (this alone has given me the courage to continue forward.  I am very emotional writing this).  Note for clarification: Vicksburg and Memphis are completely separate and did not suffer same crisis.  

Catalpa House For Sale:
As part of our belt-tightening plan, I have decided to sell my house, and intend to consolidate everything at the Sunflower Building, our downtown Clarksdale headquarters on the banks of the Sunflower River.  It is becoming physically impossible for me to take care of two large buildings.

I have already moved studio there, and sometimes sleep there on a hammock in the old cave location.  Some renovation will be necessary, but the building is solid as a church (literally 3-foot thick concrete walls at base, with buttressing support structure.  Bricks and steel I-beam construction above that.  Some wood on top floor).

The house (110 Catalpa) is now on the market for $195K through Fiser Realty.  It is a unique place: historic Clarksdale Boarding House with Tennessee Williams connection (Glass Menagerie metaphor).  On banks of Sunflower River opposite downtown Clarksdale.  Sits on 3 city lots.  There are 10 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and 2 kitchens.  Separate rear apartment.  Great potential for enterprising individual or organization.  At 5450 square feet it is the best buy currently on the market in Clarksdale.

Sell 3 suburbans:
Also, Mark River and I have picked out the 3 best suburbans out of 6, and are selling the others.  One has already gone.  (Mark River is my long-time soul brother & chief guide, joined me in 2011).

New On Land QCC Staff Person:
One big challenge for us is keeping the company going while we are on the river, doing our work.  Approx 75% of our income comes from guiding & outfitting on the Mississippi River.  We can’t answer phone on river.  On the other hand, we don’t get trips when we don’t answer phone (or texts or emails).

So, at the top of 2025 priorities is hiring a a new staff person to keep doors open, to meet &  greet visitors off the street, to answer emails and phone calls. 

New Website:
Looking into the New Year 2025, we are tree-trimming and tightening our belts wherever we can.  As part of that efficiency we are going in house with web design & maintenance (as well as many other aspects of administration — changing world, I am a dinosaur in that respect!).   "Mayfly" Ceili Hale is going to take over administration.  British self-help guru, adventurer, and business leader, Dave Cornthwaite is creating a new up to date website.  We will soon replace island63.com with a new website and new address (quapawcanoecompany.com). 

Also, my dysfunctional john@island63.com address will be replaced with a new one on gmail — at driftwoodjohnnie@gmail.com

Newsletter:
As subscribers, you already know, I have been writing this newsletter we call “River Time” or “The Lower Mississippi River Dispatch” for decades.  You are reading issue #954.  This started out in 1999 as emails to interested friends & family.  Now it is delivered via the Substack platform to over 7,000 subscribers.  I have done this as a volunteer thing, to help spread the river gospel.  Always free-of-charge.

We are going to bifurcate here, and create 2 newsletters: 1) one for Quapaw business, and 2) one for creative writing, photos and artwork.  

The one dedicated to Quapaw Canoe Company business will remain free.  The new one will be offered through a paid subscriber platform, and will be completely dedicated to sharing the great wild beauty of the Lower Mississippi River through narrative, music & poetry mixed with photos & art.  More on that in upcoming issues as we develop it.

Personal Transportation:
One of my issues has been personal transportation, for escorting Emma to school functions, and picking her up for visits to Clarksdale (Mississippi School of Arts is 4 hours away).  And for everything else like healthcare, and running to business related functions, and enjoying art museums in Memphis or Jackson.  Or going on a vacation to visit family — something I haven't been able to do since pandemic year 2019.  For decades I have been relying on others for getting around when I needed to.  Another symptom of not taking care of my own needs.  Solution: take care of them! (enough said).

2024 Fundraiser:
Even though we are still 1/3 short of our $25k goal, we feel like our 2024 fundraising has been successful, and is now allowing us the breathing room in 2025 to make some fundamental changes for survival into the future.  We have one year to figure it out.  I am confident we will.   Note: QCC operates at around $15K/month expenses (not including staff).  Annual income in the past 10 years averages around 200K.  Pandemic year income 140K.  This includes all my income, regardless of source, QCC, artwork, or otherwise. 

However, if we are not able to make necessary changes, I will fall back on the "sell it all" plan, and dissolve Quapaw, and all my holdings, and if I have any lingering debts with anyone, those will be paid off the top.

Artwork:
Personally, by Jan, 2026, one year from now, I would like to be spending one-third of my time managing and guiding for Quapaw Canoe Company and two-thirds creating artwork, writing and music, and doing whatever is necessary to support my daughter Emma in her next steps in life (entering college).  I am in the middle of a $10k commission painting.  I also need to convert the one million word online Rivergator.org into a single volume hard copy book.  I have another CD of river songs that is begging to be brought to life.

Summary:
We Mighty Quapaws have self-imposed a one-year deadline on this.  Figure it out -- or else!  We have trips on our calendar through the end of the year.  October is 75% booked.  I hope this has been an informative and helpful health report!  Let me know if you have any questions.  Quapaw Canoe Company needs to survive.  
But so do I, and my family.  Seems like there are some viable ways to make that happen.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart in being there for me in my time of need!

With great love & appreciation on Martin Luther King and Inauguration Day 2025,

-John

PS: I would not be who I am today, and would not have been able to survive so far in Clarksdale up to now without the friends and family net of knowledge, compassion, support.  I can’t begin to express my appreciation for that!  I am endlessly thankful, and every day feel this in everything I do, gratitude and happiness for my community.

Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 954
"Voice of the Lower Mississippi River" 
 Vicksburg, MS ~ Memphis, TN ~ Clarksdale, MS ~ Wilson, AR
Quapaw Canoe Company ~ Celebrating 27 Years of Service ~
~Winner of the SBA 2024 Small Business of the Year Award~