5 Years Anniversary
Today marks the 5 year anniversary from when I made the final decision to start up Let’s Go Skate. After months of deliberating I went ahead to register the website on 11th of October 2016 and begin formal proceedings of leaving the skate school I was currently working for. It was a tough decision to make (and something I originally had no intention to do) but the circumstances surrounding my employment led me to believe I would be better off as my own boss. I will always be grateful for Judith and Andy (I regularly taught their son) who helped give me the belief to set up on my own and go down my own path.
It’s not been a smooth ride though over the years. The first year was fresh and exciting as I begin to enjoy the freedom of being my own boss and exploring new ventures. The opportunities I was being presented with in 2017 ended up drying up though with 2018 being a year of not many lessons. It was also at this point I decided to withdraw from teaching regular after school clubs with February 2018’s Beast From The East being the final nail in the coffin. I’ll always remember this one young lad coming up to me in his PE kit (top and shorts) ready for skateboarding and me breaking the news to him that the hall was double booked and we wouldn’t be able to skate today. There wasn’t any way I was taking a bunch of children on the playground in minus temperatures. I made the call to withdraw my clubs at the schools I was teaching at and with that a lot of the revenue I had coming in was gone. The rest of 2018 was tough.
2019 I was close to packing it in. I had always had another job to provide my main source of income and this meant I never needed to rely on Let’s Go Skate being successful. This has always been spare pocket money and as it was starting to dry up I did wonder if it was even worth pursuing a career as a skateboard instructor anymore when I could look to strive elsewhere. I had just spent out hundreds of pounds to go on the Skateboard England (now SBGB) course for being a certified skateboard instructor and had little belief that it would be beneficial for me. I chose to go ahead with it though, a decision I’m very grateful for.
After getting qualified I seemed to be rejuvenated and motivated to get things going again. I had now met a bunch of other instructors too from all over the country creating a network of support which added a new sense of belief that we could be successful in this job role. Things started going well almost instantly with 2019 being more successful than any year prior. I saw an influx of new customers prepared to pay for private lessons which I had never really experience before. I began to see that giving your child a skateboard lesson was becoming a more socially accepted thing to do. I knew it wouldn’t be long until the floodgates opened so I started to double down on my efforts (social media, advertising etc) to capitalise on this growing interest.
I’m very proud to say that 2020 was an even better year than the last. I’d need to create a whole new blog post to explain the impact of covid and lockdowns but it basically saw interest surge again as skateboarding became even more popular. I was now teaching girls just as much as boys as the gender stereotypes of being a skateboarder were broken down. The demand for having skateboard lessons continued throughout winter as I recall having plenty of customers messaging me during December 2020, something I had never experienced before. 2021 has continued to see explosive growth too and I couldn’t be happier with it.
I’m now full time operating the company and am very excited for what the future holds. I’d like to thank each and every customer that has ever booked me for a lesson, you’re helping me continue to be employed in a job that pays me for being around skateboards which is a dream come true for me. I’m only getting started with what I hope to achieve with Let’s Go Skate, this rollercoaster is only getting started!
– Jason