let’s take a trip down memory lane

Growing up in Wales in the UK, I had a fairly ‘normal’ upbringing. The youngest of three boys, I was the inevitably spoiled younger sibling (according to my brothers, anyway).

We were all into playing sports, but during my teenage years in the early 90’s my friends and I became hooked on bmx, skateboarding, and surfing.

This has shaped much of my adult life, with almost all major decisions being influenced by extreme sports in some way.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

My dad inherited a brick-and-mortar store from his father, early on in his adult life. I think he felt it was his duty to take on the family business and quit his well-paid job in the local bank. As a child, I saw the long hours he had to put in and I obviously missed his attendance on weekends when he had to work.

But, I was also bitten by the bug of SELLING

I would make stuff at home to sell, we would buy old beaten-up bmx bikes, clean them up, and sell them on. The buzz of making a little bit of cash from buying and selling was way more fun than grafting away at a job.

I guess my path was already paved, but in my early twenties, I found myself working in the sales team for an action sports company. I had a tonne of fun, we had to travel quite a bit, and always had seasonal sales meetings where we could surf – the perfect job maybe?

and yet, I still had this itch that needed to be scratched – working for myself

And so, as life often hands you an opportunity when you are least expecting it, an opening appeared for me to start my own surf and skate shop – With our first baby on the way and a recent purchase of a fixer-upper property we went all in on the shop putting in hours of blood sweat and tears to get it off the ground.

FAIL FAST AND MOVE ON

As with a lot of businesses, seasonality plays a big role. After a few seasons of only walk-in business, which was growing albeit gradually, we started to sell on eBay as well as our own website. It quickly became apparent that this was so much more efficient from a time perspective. Days spent waiting for customers to show up became a thing of the past – having a store on the web, and trading 24/7 was so much more appealing as a new father.

We moved premises to an out of town warehouse, with more space and lower rent. It was about this time we discovered Amazon FBA, where you could sell stuff on Amazon and they would fulfill the orders for you. Say whaaaaaaat?

this was the lightbulb moment!

After hours and hours spent consuming content from guys like Mike and Dave of the Ecomcrew, and Scott Voelker the Amazing Seller, we pivoted again and started full-time selling on Amazon. Suddenly within a couple of years, I went from being employed (and stuck, from a geographical standpoint) to having a location-independent business!

Every surfers’ dream!

It allowed our family to move to a new country and start a completely new life in which we live on our own terms. My business is continuing to grow and starting this blog is my latest venture.

BUT why is this important to you?

I am just a normal guy, and I realize that there are people out there, maybe you, who would love to be in the position I’m now in.

Location-independent, time to go surfing and no boss breathing down my neck!

This blog is intended to be a place for me to offer my expertise from surfing, business and travel – I’m here to help you achieve your life goals too.

And yes, I was in a job on that hamster wheel not all that long ago.

If I can do it, you can too!