Q&A SERIES // Ruby Events
Jamie Norman (left) and Eddie Spearing of Ruby Events
This week we caught up with Eddie Spearing, co-founder of Ruby Events. The Wanaka based business hosts a swim event around Ruby Island, in Lake Wanaka. There are seven swim distances ranging from 200m up to 10km. As a byproduct of this, Eddie and co-founder Jamie Norman also launched a wetsuit and swim accessory brand, specifically designed for fresh water swimming called ‘Ruby Fresh’.
How did Ruby Events come about?
Initially, co-founder Jamie Norman and I used to meet up in the afternoons for a swim in the lake, and, following our swims sitting at the picnic bench on the lake edge, sink a couple of beers and discuss very important things. One of those things was creating a swim event around Ruby Island (because we were looking at it) and that’s exactly what happened in 2015. Then, towards the end of 2017 I decided the wetsuit I was using was missing some attributes I’d like to see and could not find in other brands. From there we started developing a wetsuit specifically designed for fresh water swimming with enhanced buoyancy, warmth and visibility. So now we have two things going on - the event and the products.
As an entrepreneur, what are the biggest lessons you’ve learnt so far?
The event really came down to a good idea at the right time and grasping the opportunity before someone else did. So, seize the day/moment. But there are two main lessons. The first is simply just sticking with it. It’s very easy to let an idea drift away from you when things don’t go quite to plan (the first year of the event was cancelled due to gale force winds) or take longer than you had initially imagined. It’s often a hard and lonely path. You hear that as an entrepreneur all the time, but it’s true! The second is money. Currently the wetsuits are in the ‘valley of no investment’. If I had investment I could scale quickly and globally. But I need to build the brand a little more to become ‘investment friendly’, and that has to be done organically, on sales, which is actually very personally frustrating (a new batch of suits arrive at the end of October). It’s a bit Catch-22, another common thing I read and also true!
What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?
None. I’m a very bad procrastinator. I can honestly say I’ve learnt nothing that helps me. But procrastination is another term for ‘extensive research’. I’m a social person so I hate working from home. I learn things when I’m out meeting and talking to people and that doesn’t happen at home. Having a mentor or someone to push and bounce things around with is a definite help and I benefit from this.
What part of the Queenstown Lakes do you live in?
Wanaka.
What do you love about this region?
Same as everybody else who lives here. The lake, the trails for biking, the mountains for snowboarding, the rocks for climbing. The people that are here because of those things.
What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs to invest their time in?
To make sure and fully ascertain if there is a market for your ‘thing’. Is it a real need or gap to be filled, not a false one created in your mind. Working that out early is well worth the effort.
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Go for coffee at Hammer & Nail cafe in Wanaka. After scraping the ice off the windscreen.
Can you share with us your company’s current big/or small goal?
Our event goal we feel we have achieved, and that is to create an event that's not too big nor too small (we cap numbers at 500), where everyone can be challenged in their swim goal but feel safe in the watery environment. Provide a professional level event but still trying to maintain a smaller community feel. I think we have done that and the challenge for us will be to maintain all of that. As far as the wetsuit brand goes, being able to produce wetsuits (and other swim products) regularly over a consistent delivery timeframe is the immediate goal. But the ‘big hairy audacious goal’ is to create a widely recognised brand synonymous with freshwater open water swimming, producing 1000 wetsuits a year. To claim that design space as our own.
Who has been your greatest inspiration?
I don’t know if I can name a single person. That's a tough question. Anyone capable of writing a book... Capable of making music... Of creating artistic works… Those who are makers/doers of great things… Those who have overcome hardship… I don’t know if there has been any one single person. Everyone dammit!!
How has Covid-19 effected your business?
I am unclear if Covid has made any difference to The Ruby Swim event business, purely because of the timeframe within which it has occurred. The last event happened in Jan 2020 and is on track again for Jan 2021 so we have been lucky so far. Entries are about on track. By December we’ll know if entries are down or not.
What is the single best piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey?
If you have no easy access to money, play the long game, build one step at a time, but keep building no matter how small the steps. Don’t give up. If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. And of course believe in your product.
Favourite meeting space in the Queenstown Lakes?
Kai Whakapai cafe bar, Wanaka.
7 quickfire questions
Q: Name the last film you watched?
A: Star Trek
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world for 24 hours where would you go?
A: Maryhill Loops Road, Washington USA. DH longboard skate mecca
Q: Cats or dogs?
A: None. OK, Cats
Q: Name a food you could eat for a week straight?
A: Chicken and Mushroom Balti
Typing or pen and paper?
A: All and every
Q: If you could have dinner with anyone who ever walked the earth, who would it be?
A: My Dad. He died before I knew him.
Q: Being an entrepreneur is….
A: to me, a way of life. It's how I live, a mindset. I have no absolute certainty, no consistency (unfortunately) and as much as it can be scary, it is also expansive. It’s difficult, the human condition arises all the time as a test but as I am probably unemployable now, it’s what I have and what I am.
