From freelancing to running a charity challenge events business
Meet Sky Blue Adventure's Paul Reeve
We recently met one of the Business of Adventurers subscribers, Paul Reeve of Sky Blue Adventures. He’s got a lot to share with anyone wanting to know more about earning a living in the adventure world, so we were really glad when he agreed to talk to us for a forthcoming podcast.
For those of you who like reading as well as listening, here’s a little preview of some of the things you can learn more about from Paul’s experiences.
Three key insights covered in the podcast:
Moving from freelancer to business owner: are you a base-jumper or a paraglider?
Evolving your “Positioning” (what you are known for)
Bringing work in: be more detective
Background
It’s hard to say how old Sky Blue Adventures is. Is it over 11 years old? That’s certainly when Paul set it up as a vehicle for the mountain leading activities he was doing while working for the West Midlands Police. Or is it only 1 year old? That’d be the full year since Paul has been working on the business full time after retiring from the day job. (Covert policing, organised crime and counter-terrorism, as it happens, although Paul tries to convince us that’s not as much like a TV drama as it sounds!)
But that’s almost the key point here. Earning a living in the world of adventure doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing. It is particularly suited to moving from a passion, to something you earn from as a side-line, to a fully-fledged, making-a-difference-to-the-world business.
In Paul’s case Sky Blue Adventures now specialises in helping charities organise challenge events. Do check out their website to see the full range in the UK and around the world. With his background, he’s now moving it to doing increasing work in the Blue Lights sector (the emergency services), with a focus on those raising awareness for the mental health issues facing those in the emergency services.
Starting the business
You’ll have to listen to the podcast to get the reference to two different ways of starting a business (like a base-jumper or a paraglider). But however you do it, starting is “scary because it's that real journey into the unknown”. And Paul acknowledges that it’s not for everyone and it’s quite OK to not want the responsibility and the hassle of all the admin.
Paul has now moved on from the day 1 excitement and anxiety and now the feeling in the business is good. As he says,
“it's very rewarding because I'm building something and I'm bringing other people on that journey with me to help me move this forward”
Positioning
The reward seems to stem from having clarified what the business is all about. Organising charity challenge events. That’s what we call “Positioning” in business-speak or “what you want to be known for” in plainer English. He’s open that he’s motivated more by the purpose of the business than the profit, but we suspect things are going well on the latter front anyway. Already this year they have more than 100 events they are supporting. Sky Blue Adventures is also competitive on pricing, but has enough confidence in what it is doing and what it wants to be known for that it won’t join the race to the bottom. After all, as Paul says,
“how can we still be helpful to charities if we’re not a sustainable business and not here in 5-10 years’ time?”
Bringing work in
We talked quite a bit about how Paul has bought work in to Sky Blue Adventures. He’s tried many of the direct marketing, “numbers game” techniques that “how to” sales experts can suggest are the only thing to do. But eventually he discovered that what really works for him is building real relationships and respecting the people he was trying to contact.
“I reformed the the narrative and said ‘Look, I'm not phoning you to sell you an event or sell you my services. I'm here to start the conversation to create an awareness about what I do.’ “
and
“Because it is a leap of faith for these charities to work with people they don’t know. Because there are the horror stories out there where the companies have let people down, both on events in the UK and abroad. That’s when I realised it was all about honesty.”
And that also included doing what he was good at. Being a detective. Paul is an advocate of doing your research and finding the right person to talk to and the issues they are likely to be facing.
In summary:
Get prepared for what it feels like starting out - and how that can change over time
No need to rush it, but let your Positioning - what you want to be known for - evolve as you learn more
Don’t do what everyone tells you to do to sell. Do what it takes to start honest conversations. And be more detective!
Finally, many thanks to Paul for taking the time to share his experiences with us.
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