What do you/your organisation do?
I own and run Blue Coast Surf & Paddle. We offer surfing, paddleboarding, and coasteering from Cullen Beach and Portknockie in the North East of Scotland.
How long have you been an AIM Member? And what do you see as the benefits of being part of the Mutual.
I’ve only recently joined the mutual having found it through another surf school operating in Scotland. I’ll be honest – I did shop around and requested a few other quotes from other insurers, but I found that not only was the AIM quote very competitive, but there was also a greater deal of understanding of the activity industry in the application process and when talking to AIM staff over the phone. It’s only after joining that I’m also seeing other benefits such as the community discussions with other business owners in the industry, and content created specifically for our industry – so it seems I’ve landed on my feet!
What’s the best part of your job?
As an owner-operator activity business, I find I have two main functions. 1- Actually delivering the activities, and 2- Marketing and growing the business. I enjoy both equally so the job suits me down to a T. The most rewarding part of my job is seeing people relax and enjoy the moment when taking part in our activities. At Blue Coast, we try to focus on highlighting the wellbeing benefits of the experiences we are offering in the sea, and it’s amazing to see real-life results when introducing people to new activities in the water.
What issues do you think the industry faces this year?
From a local perspective, I’ve had varying feedback from local accommodation providers this year but the underlying trend seems to be that they have taken a lower number of advanced accommodation bookings for the summer period. This could be due to the pandemic seeming to be pretty far in the rear-view by now and people feeling more comfortable to travel abroad? But time will tell on whether this impacts the local activity sector that is heavily reliant on the busy tourist season and whether we will see a return to the baseline instead of the increased custom we’ve experienced in the last couple years!
What exciting projects do you have lined up for the future?
At Blue Coast we’ve been primarily focused on capturing tourism demand up until now, but we’re in the process of obtaining our AALA License and then we will look to develop specific products for School & Youth Groups. We’ve been working with a local school to develop a surfing programme for their students and it will be exciting to be able to offer coasteering and paddleboarding as well.
As a personal side project, I’ve also recently launched a podcast The Business of Adventure. It is intended as a resource for people in my position – running a business can be difficult by yourself and the nature of it means you don’t often get the opportunity to talk shop with and learn from people in the same boat. There is no other podcast specifically for the business side of the adventure activity industry so I’m happy to jump on the opportunity and make one, and have some exciting guests planned for the first episodes. The first episode is currently available for listen on all podcast platforms and at adventureindustrypodcast.com – where I talk about my experience working as a freelance surf & paddleboard instructor in Scotland & Spain before starting my own business. I had a couple of a few failed endeavours before Blue Coast and plenty of lessons learned along the way!
What’s your favourite activity and is there anything on your bucket list for 2023?
I love to surf, and this year I’m headed down under for the first time to visit Western Australia in our winter. I’m very excited to sample some of the surf on offer there, but a little nervous about the summer heat and what it will feel like to return to Scotland in March!
With huge thanks to Adam – Owner & Instructor of Blue Coast Surf & Paddle and AIM Member for this great interview.
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