Beyond the Bags with Mike Norris of Sure Shot and Norris Splats

Mike Norris is a really down to earth family man, he transitioned from player, to 3rd party bag designer, to full blown bag maker with style and some southern charm. Let's ask him a few questions:

Can we start by hearing a bit of background from you?

I probably started like most every other cornhole player, I started in the backyard,BBQ's, crawfish boils, and I was a backyard king! I thought I was really good and one of my good friends, Bryan Bentancourt, told me they were having a Greater New Orleans regional, and I agreed to play. This was when they were first starting out, 3 or 4 years ago, and there were probably 20 to 30 people max there, very very different than what it is now. I showed up late and I missed singles, but I got there and I shook everybody's hand, and I saw that everyone was still playing. I was waiting for the blind draw and I started looking around and watching people and I was like, " Oh my goodness, what did I get myself into!?" I saw everyone playing and realized I was not up to their par. So I told myself, "If I wouldn't have shook everybody's hand, I probably would have snuck out of here." So obviously I played and I threw horrible, with my competitive nature, I was hooked. I wanted to play better and I wanted to get into it! So I started throwing more regularly and I started doing a little bit of custom stuff for myself, and I was working with Reynolds, and that's how I started making Norris Splats and how I started making my way into the business side of cornhole. I did that for 1 or 2 years, and everybody knows it as paint Splatter. What i haven't told a lot of people, when i originally did it, it was white and red, and it was supposed to be like a blood splatter.I can't remember exactly who it was, but somebody messaged me, and asked for a yellow and purple color scheme, and of course me being a LSU fan, it sounded great, and it blew up from there. Somebody called it Norris Splats and it stuck, it went from being blood splatter, to paint splatter, and I ran with it for years. I had the idea of trying to take it to the next level by making my own bags, and I put it off for a while, thinking I didn't have the time. I was working another full time job that I couldn't take time away from, and I put it off another year. Finally I took the leap and went all in, and started making my own bags

It seems like your bags are currently gaining a lot of traction.....

Yea, doing the whole Norris Splats thing for a while, I kind of had somewhat of a reputation so people, they saw a new bag manufacturer show up, and they saw it was me, and I think they had a little more trust, and were willing to give it a shot. Which I truly appreciate and that helped a good bit.

Before we go any further, can you tell us what your adult beverage of choice is!?

I am a craft beer guy! I usually stick with a double IPA, that's my go to. A lot of the local breweries around here are what I go to. I like a good hazy IPA. If I switch over to the harder stuff it's normally whiskey or tequila. But if i could do it every day, i would be sticking with that IPA.

 I would too, but I feel like I add a pound of weight with everyone I drink. 

Yes! So I have a kegerator, and I keep craft beer on it. And it got to a point where it was hot outside, or you know, me and my better half would be sitting together at home and I'd look at her and be like "hey you know, we got cold beer, you want a beer?" she would reply  " yea, why not!" and like you said, that thing is dangerous, you just sit around drinking beer and putting on weight all the time. 

Because you had the Norris Splats company, you had a lot of access to other companies' bags. So when you started making your own bags, did you catch any backlash from these companies? 

Not directly or that I am aware of.  So I worked with Reyolds a lot, Bg, Lucky Bags, Allcornhole, Killshots, so I kind of saw the in and outs from all of them, and I have a lot of respect for all of them. I reached out to Jeff Reynolds, I reached out to Rich from BG, Austin with Killshots, ect and I threw the idea out there of what I planned on doing. Strictly out of respect, because I didn't want them to think, I was trying to go behind their backs, or whatever. So I wanted to give them that respect and not let them be blindsided. Also I still wanted to keep the Norris Splats companyt going, so I wanted to keep a good relationship with the bag manufacturers. So personally, maybe not to my face, I don't think I had any backlash from any of them. All the ones that I did reach out to personally, they gave me their support. They said if I needed anything or if I had any questions about the business, they were pretty open with it. That definitely gave me a good feeling, and working with them, I've seen a lot of the troubles and the success that they had to go through, and that helped me mold my business, and how I wanted to run everything. They went through the shortages, and the time when it was just really hard to keep up. So I kind of had to learn that way, so that really helped me and I appreciate that from all of them.

So It sounds like the tight nit cornhole family and community doesn't just stop with the players, it keeps going straight up to the bag manufacturers 

Most definitely, there are a lot of manufacturers, and I get it, it's a business and customers don't get to see all the things the bag companies do.They do a lot, they help out communities and get together and help people. I can't speak for everybody, but I have never seen any bad blood between any bag maker, when they need to come together, no one has ever been hesitant. So the cornhole community does run deeper than just the players. 

For sure, as an example you just recently were selling Autism Awareness bags and putting proceeds toward charity, correct?

Yes, actually, maybe Novemberish, a local guy reached out to me, we were playing and he was like "hey look, my little boy has Autism and i'd really like to get some bags made for him." So we did a design for him, and i told him, "that's one of my favorite designs." Because it means something. So once Autism awareness month came around, i reached out to him and said i would like to and would be honored to use that

design, and let him pick a foundation of his choice that we could donate a percent of all the sales too. So the original person we did the design for, his son goes to an all special needs school, and so that is where we decided to donate the money to. 

That helps to show the character of you and your business and we all appreciate that.

Yea, I get it, I'm still one of the smaller companies, but as bag manufacturers, we aren't big celebrities, but we do have a platform, so if we can use that to do better, I feel like we need to take that opportunity to help others. If I was  down, or needed help, I feel like the cornhole community would be there to help me. So if I can give it back, I gladly will.

We really hope that through these interviews people realize that bag makers like you, are just good people, and we need to remember that, and not treat them like they are huge conglomerate companies. 

I appreciate that and I think that does happen. And look, coming up through the years, I've probably had the same views at certain times, and like you said, you get stuck thinking its a large company, but in reality, I guarantee everybody, started as a cornhole player and as a part of the cornhole community.

I can admit guilt of the same thing, last year I ordered a set of Norris Splats, they seemed to take an unusually long time to come and I got frustrated, come to find out, you had a very large hurricane come through your part of the country and shut everything down. (outside of New Orleans)

Stuff like that happens. I want to say that it was the end of August, beginning of September, and that was the beginning of the new season. So like you said, I had that issue, I was stuck, I couldn't get anything to me. I couldn't get anything out. I didn't have power for over a week. So i wasn't able to access my normal business stuff, I was on hold. I took a hit, and I get it, not everybody knows the situation, not everybody knows where I am based out of. People order stuff, and they want it. That even hurt me with Sure Shot. We had just done our first release, and sold out fast. Then I couldn't get any more materials. There was no way to even get down the street. There was like a month that I didn't even sell a bag because I didn't want to, sell people something that i didn't have access to make at the time. So I took a hit. But we were able to push through and get things up and running again.

I heard that you are very meticulous and put a lot of time into naming your bags, is that true?

Yes! I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it is! I thought a lot of this would be a lot easier. Jumping into everything, I had seen it, I had been around it,I thought I could do it fairly easily. Well you get smacked in your face a little bit and it makes you take a step back. But yes naming, i took a lot longer and i asked a lot of people. I had a list of 15-20 names and I asked everybody's opinion.  I wanted the perfect name, I wanted something that's aggressive, you know? I said I want something crazy, something "Loco," or destroyer, i wanted something that was going to be aggressive, when you are throwing Sure Shot, I want you to be the aggressor.  And I want you winning the game. So it took a lot of time. Also there are so many bag manufacturers out right now, you have to have a different name than everyone else. I actually had to change one of my bag names because another bag maker had already submitted it. So the loco was not originally the loco, i had to change it to that.  It's a lot more than you think, and once you go with it, you have to stick with it, so it took me a lot longer than I expected to come up with a name. I feel good about my names, but I also can't take all the credit, I had other people help. 

Is it the same way when you are coming up with a new set of bags?

It takes even more time! It's tough right now, there are a lot of bag manufacturers out here, so a lot of us are using similar or the same materials, whether or not it's matched with something else. But I  like to try different stuff, like the Diablo or the Dynamic, you have to put in time testing to see how the bag reacts to different stuff. And that becomes a factor when you have to meet certain deadlines. You have to have prior knowledge of different materials as well. Two of my bags had different materials on them originally, but I was on a 6 month wait period for those fabrics, so I couldn't sell those bags. I ended up changing the carpet side on the Raids and Destroyers, which I am happy with. Little things like that throw you a little curve in your making. 

Other bag manufacturers have had to switch fills through the season due to shortages, has that been a problem for you too?

I have not had any problems getting resin, luckily. The supplier I use has been consistent, I am very thankful for that. I use the same resin for all my bags. I know other makers use several different resins and that makes it hard to keep up with the supply of all of those. It's a crazy time right now where you can't get a hold of everything all the time, it can put a hinder on sales and supplies and make you stuck. A lot of people don't get to see the impact of shortages like this, from fabric to resin.

All of your bags are ACL stamped correct?

Yes I told myself from the beginning, I was going to do this, I'm going all in, I wanted everything Pro stamped. If a pro likes my bag, I want them to be able to throw it. So i went all in. 

That's a great segway, let's talk about your team, we all know you have Cody Johnson and Kyle Malone, who came out this year in a big way.

Yes they came out strong, they came out really good that first National, so i was really honored.  When I originally talked to them prior to the season, we couldn't come to an agreement at first.  Then something came up and we were able to, I told myself, I want them on my team. I used to do a deal with Splats, so I had dealt with Kyle Malone when he was with Killshots. So I talked to him here and there. I was excited to get them on the team and I still am! They have been great!

I know Kyle was with a different bag maker prior to the start of the season and it doesn't appear that he was happy there, but he seems to have found what he likes with Sure Shot. 

I think we got a little something that fits both of them very well. And we have the same goals and ideas, so it's been working out very well. 

Do you have anyone else on team sure shot?

As pros, it's just the two of them. We have reps throughout the country that are definitely helping out. So as a team, we do have a big image. But it's not going to be seen on TV all the time.  

Do you have plans to sponsor more players or take on an advanced team?

For the remainder of the season, those two will be the only paid players. I do have a couple other players I have my eye on, they are up and coming and doing well this season, so we could possibly be bringing them on next season. We also sponsor people with bags and merch, so there are a couple other people in my sights. Next season I am expecting to grow the company, grow the team, and get bigger.

Are you working towards getting your brand to a more national platform? 

Of course! That's why around mid season or so I brought a lot of sales reps on, and they are doing a great job. That's what I wanted to spread out and be recognized all over. I want to put these bags in hands and have people fall in love with them. That's why with the sales rep program we have, I want to say, 15 sales reps and they are all in different states. That's the goal to have sales reps all over and get people to try out the bags. I feel like it's catching on. It's tough right now, the market is saturated, tons of bags out there. A lot of people get a bag that they are set on. But we want to get bags in people's hands so they can see what they have been missing.  Even if it is just they are playing against somebody else, and they grab a bag out of the hole, they might feel it, and think it feels great. The more people feel them the more they will like them.  

Are you planning on expanding the bag line next season?

The bags from my current line up, we may come out with a version 2.0 of a couple, but be on the look out, there will be some new stuff as well. I don’t want to go into details but we are expanding the line next season. A lot of us bag makers use the same materials, so I have been trying to go a different route and find something unique.  We want something to stand out, so there are some things we've been working on. We just have to make sure they play the way we want them to, and they last and hold up. It's tough because right now we have a speed for every condition and every thrower.  So sneaking another series in here and there, is basically going off of a feel, or a feel of a material. I have all different speed materials, a lot of different options, but I want to find that right one. I did go all in this season, I wanted to have a bag or series for everybody to throw.

What is the plan for the future, you have a full time job, but long term, Sure Shot and Norris Splats is your main gig? Is that your intention?

Yea, so right now I am kind of at a tough point, I'm not to that point to go full time. The job I have right now, it pays well and has great benefits, and it's hard to give that up, I have kids. Insurance is hard to walk away from. But luckily I work shift work. So I may work three days a week, or I work nights, So sometime I come home in the morning, I get to sleep for a couple hours and then it's time for Sure Shot, so I have that flexibility for now. But it's tough, it's a lot, I'm not going to lie. I have a little girl I have to spend time with, I have 2 boys, I coach baseball for them. On top of doing that I try to spend time with my girlfriend and juggle it all. But yes, if it got to the point where I could make it a full time thing, yes that would be a goal of mine.

I get it, life is complicated and it's hard to dedicate time to your family and work commitments, traveling for your bag company, and let alone actually playing the game we love.

I got to play this last open in Ft. Worth, but i guarantee you that before that I haven't even played a local blind draw for 2-3 months. I coach baseball 3 days a week, I have to spend time at home with family, I don't get to play as much as I would like. I'm trying to balance the juggling act. And so far I feel like I have done a good job. Sometimes I wish I had more time to travel, I love meeting the people and getting out there. That's in my plan to do more traveling, and bring the family, and let everybody meet them. I definitely have plans to put more into it. It's tough, I have to give props to my girlfriend for putting up with it. She puts up with me working full time, and juggling all this, all the bags and everything, materials and all that, in the garage. I have to give props to her, I wouldn't be able to keep this going without her.

That is perfect to make our way into the last question, is there anybody you want to shout out or give thanks too?

Yes, my family is my biggest supporters, my little boys don't realize they are, my little girl is a little young to even notice it. But they think daddy is the biggest thing in cornhole. For sure my team, everybody that surrounds me, Cody and Kyle, having them on the team, them trusting me, ya know to do the right thing, keep the right bags in their hands and keep this thing going. It means a lot to me, just as much as I trust them, they have to trust me as well. A big shout out to my sales reps. And a big shout out to all the fans, you know it's really humbling whenever you get these messages from people and i love to hear it. Or you see the same person order multiple times. Or people sending in their podium pictures, it hits home, people are backing you up and supporting you. 

Thank you Mike for taking time out of your busy schedule and giving us your wonderful story! We can't wait to see what great things you do as a company and for people in general!

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Nick