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Chris Kameen: I started sailing when I was about 11, 11 or 12 I think… I got into it properly when I was about 13. I do remember the first time that I went on my own, and it was like, “This is cool. I am in charge of something where you can’t see what is driving it,” and I was just off.
Growing up around Liverpool, everyone was shocking at it. So, sailing gave me an opportunity to excel in a sport competitively and that passion had stayed with me all the way through.
So, I’m Chris. I’ve got a sailing school, Sydney Sailing School… This is my fourth business. I’m not very good at working for other people, I don’t think. Sailing is, you know, it’s kind of a bit of a bums, right…Beach bums lifestyle. It’s like saying you want to be a professional surfer maybe. I went to university and I’ve got a degree, I could be working in the city. This is what you do. But I think deep down always, I’ve always just wanted to be out there.
Having had my own business before I realized, I understood that you’re going to go a long time without money. When I first started I was quite, what’s the right word… maybe lacked a little bit of self-confidence. I’ve gone from 1 to 8, to 20 or 30 boats, I can’t remember! I am actually recruiting so I’ll have maybe ten or twelve instructors starting end of September.
Before joining Clever Bunch, my business was slow. I knew that the marketing was an important part of my business and I needed to do a lot of work in that area…. But I wasn’t really sure how to do it. Having had my own business before and knowing that sales and marketing is where I’ve fallen down before, I said “I have to invest in this. I’ve got to do something. If I do what I did last time I’m going to end up working for someone else again.”
And having been in Clever Bunch, it’s having my eyes open to what’s possible with decent marketing and working within a group, you see other people do stuff and you think, “Jeez, I need to do that.”
Since being in Clever Bunch the future of Sydney Sailing School is massive. I really do, I’ve got this vision of it being one of the biggest sailing schools certainly in Sydney; in Australia. There’s a massive opportunity. Marketing is something that you have to do and at some point you have to take the plunge to invest the money. But without a plan, you‘re going to struggle. But if you invest some of that money to start with, with Basic Bananas, then you can get there, do a lot of stuff for free, and then start spending the money, to make it go gangbusters. You know this is what they say, “If you do something you love then you’ll never work another day”… That’s essentially it I think, or something like that.