1. Christines product offering will require ongoing testing in the market to remain relevant. Critically discuss the types of activities which Christine could undertake to understand changes in her market over time.

Growing up an hour from the South Coast, Christine Johnston excelled at sports and wanted to be a professional athlete. Her dad got her into windsurfing, and she quickly got hooked pestering him to drive her to competitions across the South Coast. During an impressive pro career, Christine won eight national titles, represented Great Britain at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and most impressively, won the World Windsurfing Championships in 2003.

Spotting a business opportunity

When she finished her professional windsurfing career in 2008, she worked in an office for five years but it didnt satisfy her adventurous and ambitious nature. She saw kitesurfing develop as a sport and decided she wanted to get involved, so she took lessons and then an instructors course with British Kitesports, the national governing body for kitesurfing and taught for several seasons in Brighton, Australia and South Africa gaining experience in a variety of different conditions. With many hours of teaching under her belt, Christine spotted a business opportunity; Im quite an ambitious person so the next logical step for me was to be able to put my stamp on teaching by opening my own school.

In February 2014, she opened The KiTE, SURF & SUP Co in Worthing, West Sussex.

Growth & expansion

The school went from strength to strength under Christines leadership, and after two years of steady growth she was ready to expand. One of the biggest costs in kitesurfing is the equipment; its important to have up-to-date equipment so you have the best equipment for a range of wind conditions, for your pupils body weight and their experience levels.

A business loan enabled Christine to fund more equipment and instructors, and she now offers kitesurfing lessons, Stand Up Paddle lessons and a range of kites, kitesurfing, and stand up paddle equipment in her online store.

If I hadnt had a loan from Funding Circle I would have struggled with stock levels and equipment for the school. Christine Johnston, founder The KiTE SURF & SUP Co.

Developing a new passion

Christine still loves to kitesurf, but she has developed a new passion teaching others. As the reviews from satisfied pupils testify, Christine is an excellent teacher while keeping an all-important focus on safety but she admits that when your business is growing, it is all too easy to lose sight of the thing you loved in the first place. For Christine, her new passion is teaching and a big learning for her in expanding the business has been the need to continue to find time to do what she loves and not get tied up with the day-to-day of running the school. When youre running a business it can be difficult to maintain a work/life balance but the quality of your work suffers if youre on call 24/7 and always responding, she says.

Christine tries to take one day a week where she switches off from the business by doing yoga or playing touch rugby, but she admits it isnt easy when you are the only person responsible for your business. Her trick is to prioritize the tasks that need a fast response the gold dust as she calls them such as booking requests, which really impact her business. She responds to these immediately, fitting other tasks in around responding to customers.

The power of visualization

With a degree and a Masters in Sports Psychology, Christine sees parallels between the mental resilience that an athlete needs to win, and the drive necessary for a small business owner to succeed. Her top tip for business owners struggling with confidence is a psychology technique used by athletes called acting as if. You act as if youre already where you want to be she says. When I was windsurfing, I used to imagine I was already a top 10 competitor and this trained my muscles and my brain to get me there. In business, she imagines the bigger business she aspires to run and behaves as if shes already there. This technique has helped her take on roles that arent her natural strong suit; when youre running a business alone, you suddenly have to become the Recruitment Director, the Marketing Manager things youve never had experience in before. For anyone struggling with Imposter Syndrome, this technique can be a game changer.

Time spent planning can have a big impact on your bottom line

One of the biggest leaps forward for Christines business has been going through a Profit Improvement Plan which is forecast to improve net profitability an impressive 600% by year end. So how did she do it? Together with her dad who is a management consultant, she looked at the profitability of every part of her business and was able to make a series of small changes which have all added up. From focusing on the brands which give her the best profit margins, to negotiating better prices with suppliers, the impact of these small changes has really impacted her profits.

For example, this exercise showed Christine that the most profitable part of her business is giving lessons, so she has developed alternative teaching plans for when wind conditions arent favourable on her normal beach and shes much more focused with her own time so now shes able to teach 20% more lessons, directly improving her bottom line. Its all simple stuff, she says, but looking at it in black and white was essential to help me see how I could improve my profits.

Taking the time to think strategically about your business this way is essential to achieve growth, she says.

Its easy to firefight all day you get straight into answering emails, taking bookings but its critical to give yourself permission to plan for your business. Time spent thinking about strategy is not time wasted.

Whats next for The KiTE SURF & SUP Co?

Christine has just invested in new equipment which she hopes will open up a new revenue stream for her, and shes focused on finding premises to enable her to expand the business and offer more lessons. I was always brought up to believe I could achieve anything she says, and with such a winning mindset, we dont doubt for a minute that shell succeed.