Get_Out_There_and_Paddle

This is my first ever blog, I will be honest I am a bit nervous to be writing my thoughts down on-line, I guess these are the normal fears all bloggers face. Will the Grammar Police be cross...? Will people read? Will they agree? Will they respond? If they do respond, what will they say... etc... etc... Never one to be beaten by a fear I decided to just write away, what's the worse that could happen? Realising that I have no idea about what the worst is.

So, my first blog is about how and why Get_Out_There_and_Paddle got started. The reason for the blog? I thought people might want to know because this little business has had so much interest, more interest than was expected to be honest. Definitely more interest than we could handle! Apologies for the 346 unanswered emails, texts, instagram messages and so on! However we have now taken out 68 people and have another 27 people booked in, so we are feeling pleased but know we have more to do. If you were one of those we never responded too, we truly are trying our best, we will respond I promise.

This little enterprise became a reality when we took our first paying customer on a lesson. The one and only @SwedishPTGirl at 5am 20th June 2020. However the idea was started towards the end of last year by Elliot and I as we contemplated ways of spending more of our time doing the thing we take pleasure in. We talked and discussed and then moved on with our very busy, very normal and respectable jobs.

Then a few things changed around February time. Firstly I left my normal well paid job, secondly the Coronavirus-19 pandemic made us all go mad for pasta and toilet roll. With a bit of time on my hands to clearly think and stuff and missing the water, I realised how important the water is to me, more importantly how much I enjoyed teaching and coaching my little Grommets (Surf slang for Kids).. Thats when I decided that if I wanted something to happen, I had to make it happen. The amazing thing that really made this happen, was this opportunity to think! To think clearly without all the limitations and pressure of the day to day grind. Something 'normal life' tends to strip from us!

So my words to Elliot in March were, "it's now or never bud.. I now have time to get our idea off the ground and I have been thinking". His reply was 'Lets do it", followed by a tentertive "what have you been thinking". That was it, a business was started or at least the journey began.

I now know why a company states the year they were founded not the date. Its because it impossible to stamp a date when your business started! There are so many false summits. Do you declare you have a business when you register with Companies House, when you get your insurance that allows you to operate, when you are qualified, when you get your boards, or is it when you book your first lesson? We will go with when I taught @SwedishPTGirl how the J stroke worked at 05:34 in the morning.

Get_Out_There_and_Paddle has never been about the money or about not liking our jobs but about us enjoying what we do, about sharing that feeling and enjoyment with other people. The key motivation for both of us is giving people an experience that will give them the same Buzz that we feel when we are out on the water challenging ourselves. The beauty is everyone has a different Buzz point. I have seen it come from perfecting a buoy turn, just paddling straight, someone challenging that fear of water or from just having fun on a sunny day.

Elliot and I have been blessed with some thinking and delivery time in lock down while others have really suffered and this isn't lost on us. This drove us in part to use this time wisely, as this period brought home to us and the nation how quick time can run out.

We are also blessed by some amazing supporters, Family, The Swedish one, The Style Mum, the Yogi_Tribe, SevenoaksMums, Trudie at Averycreative and Chipstead sailing club being the main ones. We have already made some great friends, memories and close relationships with other companies, both big and small. This is really helping us make our dream a reality. To get people out there.

Remember its your experience we are there to help make it happen. We look forward to seeing you all out on the water.