Russ Fye

For a long time, most of what I’ve shared online has lived somewhere else.

Videos on YouTube. Posts on Facebook and Instagram. Business projects on their own websites. Paintings in another corner of the internet.

I decided it was time to build a place of my own.

That’s what RussFye.com is.

I’ve been involved in business and working for myself for a large part of my life. Over the years, I’ve tried things that worked, things that didn’t, changed directions more than once, and learned a lot along the way.

Today, the majority of my entrepreneurial focus is on building Maine Island Soap with my wife, Tina. My mother is also a partner in the company, while Tina and I handle the day-to-day work of building and operating the business.

Maine Island Soap has been around since 1984, long before we became part of its story. We’re now working to take that small Maine company and build something much larger from it.

I find the process fascinating.

There are the obvious parts: making products, finding customers and generating sales. But there’s also everything happening behind the scenes. Decisions about money. Marketing. Wholesale accounts. Inventory. Branding. What to pursue. What to ignore. When to take a risk and when to stay focused.

Building a business gives you something new to figure out almost every day.

But business isn’t my only interest.

More Than Business

I paint.

I read constantly and have recently started building a collection of signed first-edition books from entrepreneurs, founders and business leaders.

I make videos.

I’m interested in creativity, entrepreneurship, history, ideas and the people who have managed to build extraordinary things.

And I live in Maine, a place that has shaped a lot of how I think about work and life.

For years, these interests have existed separately online.

I don’t think they need to.

They’re all parts of the same life.

A Place to Document the Journey

That’s really what I want RussFye.com to become.

Not a polished story written after everything worked out.

A record of what happens while I’m still building it.

I’ll write about business and entrepreneurship. I’ll share lessons I’m learning while building Maine Island Soap. There will be books I’m reading and collecting, videos I’m making, paintings I’m creating and probably the occasional glimpse into life here in Maine.

Some things will work.

Others probably won’t.

That’s part of what makes documenting the process interesting.

There is no finish line I’m waiting to reach before I start writing about it.

Building as I Go

One thing I’ve become increasingly convinced of is that focus matters.

There will always be another opportunity, another idea and another direction you could take.

The difficult part isn’t finding things to do.

It’s deciding what deserves your time.

Right now, I know what deserves most of mine: building Maine Island Soap, continuing to learn, creating things that matter to me and building a life I’m proud of.

RussFye.com is where I’m going to document some of that.

I’ve spent more than two decades doing business online, but in some ways this website feels like starting over.

A blank page.

I like that.

I don’t know exactly what this site will look like five or ten years from now.

That’s part of the point.

I’m still building.

— Russ Fye