Meet Jimmy Olmes | Business owner, product development

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jimmy Olmes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jimmy, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started my frist business at age 9 cutting lawns during the summer… I hired my older brother and generated well over 1000.00 during the summer. Keep in mind this was back in 1961. I have always enjoyed working and wanted to be sure my ideas and efforts were rewarded. My frist real job was when I was 18 year old.. starting working at premier Ski shop in Southern California.. within three years I was made a partner. Since that time I have either been a partner or business owner.. not sure I could work for someone else.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
in the early 80’s I joined a company by the name of Freestyle.. at the time we were know for making velcro wallets, shortly after joining Freestyle, we developed a surf oriented watch called the Shark Watch that became the second best selling watch in the US in the mid 80’s to early 90’s.. I was the one that was responsible for the development, naming, marketing and sales of this amazing product. WE developed many sport oriented products around the Shark watch and become highly successful. I became a partner in the early mid 80’s. We sold the company in 2000 to an investment group that combined three watch companies… my partners retired, I stayed on to run Freestyle and reported to the VC group. Unfortunately Freestyle was the only brand under the VC watch umbrella that was sport oriented and that had a California lifestyle.. The NY based VC group started changing the quality of the product, warranty, etc etc… in the middle of 2002 we decided to part ways, they continue to pay my contract as I started to develop a new, higher end watch line, named REACTOR. REACTOR was designed from scratch to be a premier sport performance brand that would directly compete with far more expensive Swiss watches… we launched our first watch in early 2004. By 2010 we have over 500 points of distribution across the US and had a very strong following with sport oriented customers.. both men and women. We developed and patented special dial technology that performed better in low light conditions than any other watch brand on the market. WE became a go to watch for the military and law enforcement. As smart phone and smart watches gained popularity the market for traditional watches imploded and we lost distribution and sales. The cost of marketing became so high we could not generate a reasonable return on our investment so we started winding down REACTOR in early 2021 and started focusing on a new venture… High end kitchen gadgets. I love fresh ground pepper and had bought and discarded well over 20 pepper mills over the years.. so I decided to make the very best… simply took my 40+ years of watch development and applied them to making the very best pepper mill on the market.. we launched Black Rain in the middle of 2022 and followed up with White Rain, the salt version of Black Rain. The next project was Grater Rain.. the one and only one button cheese and chocolate grater on the market.. we launched through Kickstarter in June of 2024 and raised over 200,000. Greater Rain started shipping the middle of October and we will be complete on order on November 20th.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am fortunate to have a beautiful wife of 48 years that is far better at entertaining than I am.. so most of local tour would be decided by her. With that being said, after a couple of days in Agoura Hills we would head to our home in Palm desert and I would take over, We have a home in a beautiful country club on the 7th fairway of two amazing Arnold Palmer courses… we would play golf each morning follow by some lunch, then some pickle ball, some drinks and a BBQ dinner at our home…
We have many friends that would join in the festivities.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have two mentors, my father who passed away 25 years ago and my first real employer at the ski shop that just passed away 3 weeks ago. My father taught me my business and work ethics, and has served as my inspiration since a very early age. Bergy, my first real employer taught me about the real world, how to deal with people, how to enjoy the benefit of hard work and what owning a business was really all about.

Website: blackrainpepper.com, Graterrain.com, reactorwatch..com

Facebook: https://blackrainpepper.com

Youtube: blackrianpepper