Monkey Mountaineering
In this episode, we talk to Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude.
We discuss how to pivot and find unexpected income streams during those difficult early years, how communicating your values can be a USP in its own right, and why the personal touch is vital when the market throws unexpected challenges at a business.
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00:00:01
Hi.
00:00:02 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I'm Chris, founder, senior brand, designer and growth marketing strategist at House of hiatus brand Growth Studio, who wants to document innovative and disruptive ideas from successful small to medium sized enterprises to help startups to get strong market position as quick as possible. In this episode, we talk to Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering.
00:00:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
A values driven company helping others fulfil bucket list ventures at high altitude.
00:00:27 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
We discuss how to pivot and find unexpected income stream and during those difficult early years, how communicating your values can be USP in its own right or whether personal touch is vital when the market throws unexpected challenges as a business.
00:00:56 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
It's great when.
00:00:56 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You have you know how this podcast where? How's it going into the UK?
00:01:00 Speaker 3
Yeah, it's all.
00:01:01 Speaker 3
Good only a little bit of downtime from the mountains at.
00:01:03 Speaker 3
The moment. So yeah.
00:01:06 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Effect, right? That's that's a say. I'm gonna wish I could probably share at the moment as well.
00:01:11 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Right now I.
00:01:13 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Was hugely into mountaineering up until a few years ago with a a terrible accident in the Matterhorn, but my my passion and my interest is still very much kind of in the mountains, but more, more so on a mountain bike.
00:01:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
These days they're actually crampons and ice axes and.
00:01:29 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And ropes and and caribbeans and stuff. But but anyway, a a bird just detract too much from Monkey Mountain near anyway, because I've I've been following the progress and the evolution of monkey mountaineering for the last few years, and obviously we've done some collaboration work on that, like kind of adding a poppy to the logo and helping to kind of.
00:01:50 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like develop the brand a little bit more. So it's it's really good to actually have you on the podcast finally, because I feel like we've kind of been passing.
00:01:56 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like.
00:01:56 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Ships in the night.
00:01:57 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
For like the last four or five years, I think in the veteran owned business group. So I guess that further, Duke, can you tell me a little bit more about monkey mountaineering like?
00:02:07 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Where, where, where they come from and kind of what's it all about? Like, what is, what is monkey mountaineering in the world?
00:02:15 Speaker 3
OK. Sure. I guess like most service personnel, I I didn't really know what I wanted to do and I left and 28 years is a long time to serve. Yeah, so I I got a normal job like like most people do. And I was, I was, I was an OPS manager for BAE Systems and and I and I spent my life walking to work in the dark.
00:02:35 Speaker 3
I work in an office with no windows.
00:02:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:02:37 Speaker 3
And I'm walking home in the dark and.
00:02:40 Speaker 3
If I if I reflected back on my service life, I'd been outdoors. I'd been with people and I've been really fortunate that I'd done a lot of mountaineering while serving and and also a lot of travelling. You know, you know.
00:02:44 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:02:52 Speaker 3
Yourself.
00:02:52 Speaker 3
That yeah, you get to go places. Maybe you don't necessarily want to go there to them places, but you know, it's all experience.
00:02:56
Yes.
00:02:58 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:59 Speaker 3
And.
00:03:00 Speaker 3
So so during that 12 months of, you know, not seeing the daylight I.
00:03:06 Speaker 3
I had a good long look at myself and decided what I wanted to do and it it it wasn't. No, it was live to live rather than live, to earn money and and be in an office with no windows.
00:03:16 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. Yeah, that that whole the whole live to work, work to live conundrum is something that I've got huge empathy for. Cause I had the same thing working the BBC in central London when I first left the Marines, you know in 20/20/16 and went into.
00:03:28 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The corporate world in in the centre of London, you know, the BBC had the same thing, but I I think I might. I lasted probably about six months before. I just I, you know, I had to wrap and then say right I've gotta find a better way of doing this so.
00:03:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like, yeah, you're.
00:03:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You're a a person. After my own heart as well, so I can get that.
00:03:44 Speaker 3
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's a it's a tough call going, going, self-employed, but.
00:03:50 Speaker 3
You know, I had to look at myself and decide what I wanted for the future, and it wasn't working in some someone else's, you know, framework. It wasn't running to someone else's agenda.
00:04:01 Speaker 3
And and you know, if I looked at my own skill sets, what what could I do sort of background in aviation but also a strong heritage of mountaineering having been a climber from around about age 15. So I decided I'd give the sort of adventure, travel, mountaineering.
00:04:18 Speaker 3
Sector a try seven years in. And are we doing good? So your your question about monkey man? To do what is it? Where did it come from? So that's its origin. The name actually came from my wife. We were living somewhere. We were. We were driving somewhere.
00:04:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Joseph yeah.
00:04:33 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
OK.
00:04:37 Speaker 3
And I said, look, if I'm going to be self-employed and I'm going to run a company, I need a name for it.
00:04:42 Speaker 3
And she's like, well, well, what kind of name? And I'm like, I don't know, really. You know, you have all these ideas, but I I couldn't pin a name. And she goes, what about monkey out in there? And I'm like, no, I I I just dismissed that. I dismissed it out of hand about half an hour later. I'm like, what did you say? Yeah, that's actually not a bad name. And and and sort of I can.
00:05:03 Speaker 3
Fit it into. You know I like.
00:05:07 Speaker 3
I work with small groups.
00:05:09 Speaker 3
And you know, I try to make it friendly and and I think it has.
00:05:12 Speaker 3
To be fun, yes. Yeah.
00:05:14 Speaker 3
Yeah. So I think the monkey, the monkey, and monkeying around, having a bit of fun, but then the mountain is a serious aspect, you know? Do like to, you know, improve people's mountaineering and teach skills and.
00:05:27 Speaker 3
Just facilitate great experts, so it's sort of, yeah, looking at and sort of.
00:05:32 Speaker 3
That's how it was born. Really. That's how the that's where the name came from. And then and then the logo. So and you you might get this being a designer in in 2004, I was on a a try service expedition to to Macau. It's the fifth highest mountain in the world. And we tried to climb the sophist Ridge but it didn't go well.
00:05:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes.
00:05:53 Speaker 3
But for lots and lots of reasons, but that that's for another story.
00:05:58 Speaker 3
But whilst I was.
00:05:59 Speaker 3
Aware my mom painted an oil pan.
00:06:02 Speaker 3
Painting. So it's just black on white canvas of what she imagined Makuta look like. And then if you can see there on the on the.
00:06:08 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Uh.
00:06:10 Speaker 3
Logo so this. Yeah.
00:06:11 Speaker 3
The the mountainous part of the logo is an extract from my mum's oil painting. Ohh wow. So it's got that family connection there. So yeah, that's that's sort of.
00:06:16
Oh.
00:06:22 Speaker 3
Where it came from really.
00:06:24 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Brilliant. But I love it. It's that there's a whole lot of things to to kind of unpack there from, like branding and kind of heritage and stuff. Because, like, think, things like, I think a lot of a lot of companies suffer with is getting that character into a company name because you call yourself and there's a real trend within kind of, you know, us better owned companies where it's easier just to.
00:06:44 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Calling it an acronym, you know, because we're so used to three letter acronyms in the military we just call.
00:06:48 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That I don't know. You know, AARP limited or, you know, something something equally as as abstract and the the problem is is it means something to us, but it doesn't mean anything to other people. Abstract names or companies would like very abstract names. So what actually what we we recommend to a lot of companies actually is like is try and think of something that makes you memorable.
00:07:10 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, even if it's even if it's completely out there and it sounds like a real challenge and and sleep on it for a while and see and try it on later on like a, you know like.
00:07:18 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
A jacket and see if it fits because yeah, your first your first.
00:07:22 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Thoughts. When it comes to logos and branding and stuff, is that actually the things that are more out there and and cause a bit of confusion are actually the ones which stick in mind for the longest and that's that's better because when it comes to marketing the company, you want to stick in people's minds because you're more memorable.
00:07:37 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
If you're if you're.
00:07:39 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know an acronym named Company? It's very hard to kind of attach an acronym.
00:07:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
An idea, whereas obviously if you're like monkey mountaineering, you can attach this idea of this concept.
00:07:48 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Of you know, monkeys and and and mountains for example, like I I I went to the cinema on Friday and watched the New Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes film for example. You know, I saw them climbing it and I was like ohh, we've got a podcast for Sam on Monday that I definitely want to bring that out because it's like, you know, all this. And I was like, I couldn't get my meds in my head after watching them. You know, they, you know, during the film they climb.
00:08:08 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know all all sorts of things. I was like, young kids are actually really natural climbers. Well, did did some make mean for this to kind of come through in the in the months, months nearing complete? Because there's obviously that mountaineering, the the montering companies that I've worked with tend to play it very safe. So it's.
00:08:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, it's like like elite mountaineering or, you know, kind of very, very similar concepts with the mountain companies. Whereas actually, I think Monkey Mountain gives it more personality than what, you know, what other monitoring companies would would actually trial. So.
00:08:45 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, just to say I I think the concept's great Monkey man to doing actually is is something which sticks. I think far better than anyone.
00:08:53 Speaker 3
Yes.
00:08:54 Speaker 3
Thank you very much.
00:08:57 Speaker 3
You. You said something interesting there, though, about about other companies with their their names and like like say like you say elite to engineering and I think there is an element of elitism within the mountaineering, but there shouldn't be because it's for everybody there. Doors are for everybody and yeah, yeah, you know we we try to encourage a whole cross spectrum of people.
00:09:15 Speaker 3
Get involved with stuff so you know we we are happy operating at the basic level as well as at the higher level because I think it it should be for everybody. But we've we've got a temper what we.
00:09:24 Speaker 3
Do with I guess you you mentioned that safety business. So we we have that golden thread of safety that runs through everything but then tailor activities to people's abilities so that they can get something out of the mountains that they'll which I think is really important.
00:09:39 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah. You kind of reminded me something that interviewed Mark Cherry at Mad Dog Adventures and and yeah, you know, he he he kind of brought out a very a very similar thing is that you're not necessarily necessarily there to kind of lead people on the the adventure itself. You're also there to build an experience. You know, that people. Yeah. People want to come and.
00:09:59 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, dip their toe in the, you know, in in like a new community or new interest or a new hobby. And so actually the the thing that you're providing isn't just the, you know, will lead you up the mountain. Cause like you see any, you know, any sherpas, you know, you know, can we'll we'll carry a wealthy person up a mountain, whereas actually it's it's about the whole.
00:10:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Life cycle of their expedition? Isn't it like getting to getting together? They're sharing the ups and downs, that cohesiveness, that bonding.
00:10:26 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That making those memories to, you know, to to last your lifetime, for for you know, for those people who will go back to inevitably working in that, you know, a nine to five job, you know, going going to.
00:10:27 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes.
00:10:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Work in the coming home in the.
00:10:39 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Park and then living off the memories of the months nearing expedition, which is kind of what? What? Where? When I'm doing steps in so.
00:10:48 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:10:49 Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's interesting. And so we, we offer obviously expeditions to Nepal and to Kilimanjaro and and and you know those those bucket list things that people dream of doing. But we underpinned that with a whole raft of skills training and and I've been I have been told.
00:11:00 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:11:08 Speaker 3
And I and I don't. I don't agree with it, but I have been told.
00:11:10 Speaker 3
That my business.
00:11:11 Speaker 3
Model is flawed because what I try to do is I try to give my customers and clients the mountaineering skills they need.
00:11:20 Speaker 3
Need.
00:11:20 Speaker 3
So they can go off and have adventures on their own.
00:11:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You.
00:11:25 Speaker 3
My my my outlook is they don't need me third Wheeling along on their on their journeys and their their, their their exhibitions and adventures. They they want the skills to do it themselves.
00:11:35 Speaker 3
And you know, I I find that OK, I understand why people say it's flawed because I'm not keeping my clients. But what I do is I give them skills for a specific objective. They go and achieve that objective. They have a great time on their own.
00:11:50 Speaker 3
They then think of another object. If they see something else that they want to climb, they realise they don't have the skills they.
00:11:55 Speaker 3
Come back to learn.
00:11:56 Speaker 3
More. Yeah. Yeah. So it it. It's a cycle that that works. And you know, nobody's ever complete as a Mountaineer because techniques and the environment is constantly changing. And you have to keep yourself updated with.
00:12:07 Speaker 3
That so you know.
00:12:09 Speaker 3
We, we I started people climbing on single pitch.
00:12:13 Speaker 3
Trad climbing. They've come back to me to learn multi pitch. They've come back to me to learn winter skills and equally they've come back to me to do things in the greater ranges. So those sceptics that say my my business model is doesn't work well it it does. We've we've got clients that are proof.
00:12:16
Yeah.
00:12:31 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
100% as I'd like I think.
00:12:33 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And just tell him to jump in there. But I was. I was like, I I get the same kind of not criticism. But, you know, kind of feedback sometimes when it comes to my work as well, but.
00:12:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I'm I'm in the mindset well, actually is if you give somebody a really great experience, you know, like if you're designing a logo or you're designing there a marketing strategy or your or your build them a podcast or something like that, they they should be able to go off like you say and do it on their own like they shouldn't you they should be kind of tied to me and and in the same way, you know like like you saying tied to you, but if you can give them such a good experience and this is.
00:13:06 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
This is referred to as like customer experience like CX or user experience UX in digital terms is that they they'll come back to you because you've got the trust you've had their they've associated you with the the knowledge and the good experience.
00:13:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And though you know it's naturally the the next part of the puzzle is that you go and say you go and tackle Penny fan. For example, for somebody who's never done mountaineering and all of a sudden they're like, hey, I can, I could do this. I didn't think I could do this. And we'll come back to you and say, well, can we can we do? Can we do that? Snowden, you're like, yeah, cool. Look, we need some. You need apps, can you? Here's here's some, you know, some walk with an ice axe. There's some.
00:13:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, possibly some, you know, working with the ropes and stuff. And then from there they start to think of.
00:13:46 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Not maybe straight to Everest then, but you know, you know, probably probably like Montblanc or, you know, somewhere in the Alps and. And so you know. So. So I I completely agree with like what you're saying there is it's you should never think of it in terms of like one project. It's always a case of somebody's you know trying the company on for size then saying well actually I can do this and I can do this.
00:14:06 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And I can do this. I can do this and it's you're thinking of, like, the whole journey as opposed to just the one, the one off project. So I'm. I'm entirely with you on that strategy of.
00:14:17 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
A great experience and people will come back and you know and.
00:14:20 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know biomorphs, you engage with you and that's that's what keeps brands going, you know, for for decades more than just, you know, like a few seasons.
00:14:28 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:14:29 Speaker 3
Yeah. And I I think it it comes from I mean.
00:14:33 Speaker 3
Of course I'm a business owner and I run a business and so I need.
00:14:35 Speaker 3
To generate, generate an income but.
00:14:38 Speaker 3
That's sort of like that's a result of rather than a driving force. I I think I think for.
00:14:44 Speaker 3
Me it it comes from that sense of satisfaction I have seeing somebody achieve something they could achieve. When I care, I care. I care passionately about that. So I ran a recent trip to Morocco this winter with a a men's mental health group, actually, or men's walking group from from South Wales and and all.
00:14:52
Yeah, yeah.
00:14:57
Oh.
00:15:04 Speaker 3
15 clients achieved the.
00:15:06 Speaker 3
Summit.
00:15:07 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Brilliant.
00:15:10 Speaker 3
Because they had to understand how to be of altitude and for a lot of people, that doesn't.
00:15:16 Speaker 3
Come easily, yeah.
00:15:18 Speaker 3
You you can't understand why you need to walk so slowly or why you need to be so sedating what you're doing, but to see all 15 reach the summit, you know that was the price for me. That was the payment.
00:15:28 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Fantastic.
00:15:29 Speaker 3
It's not the income that's generated, you know. So you know my my motivation is whilst I am a business owner and I do run.
00:15:35 Speaker 3
Business and I and I have to live. My motivation is that satisfaction that my clients get and to give them that experience. And I I want them.
00:15:42 Speaker 3
All to be.
00:15:42 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Successful. Yeah. No 100% and I think I think it's it's, it's not something mountaineering is, it's it can't. It's not something you can just kind of like make up is it like it takes such a long time to and and so many exposures to.
00:15:57 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Failure or almost failure to you know to to that limit, you know, to where like, OK. Right. That's definitely why I should be using a rope. That's why I should be using.
00:16:05 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:16:11 Speaker 3
Your point about.
00:16:11 Speaker 3
Your point about failure is really good because they say that to be a good engineer, you have to make judgments and you have to make good judgments and you make your judgments on your experience and your experience comes from bad judgments. And there's your failure. You know you've learned from that and and if you haven't been through that sort of, I guess, baptism.
00:16:19 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes, yes.
00:16:31 Speaker 3
Mountaineering failures.
00:16:33 Speaker 3
You're not gonna be able to make those good judgments in the future. You're not able to look after people because you're making poor judgements. Yeah, it's really.
00:16:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Important that is, yeah. And and it's also it's not something you can just kind of walk into you know it's like it's not something you can just walk into as a you know as a A1 year or two year experienced month to year and then say.
00:16:50 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
About saying months, your company and it takes.
00:16:53 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Decades and all manner of experiences, you know.
00:16:56 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, like right, I should have done it this way or should have done this way. It's like it's like a a long series of feedback loops from what I am, you know, from what I can see, you know is that you need somebody who's who's been, you know, either you know or fail or something like I did on the Matterhorn or you come so close to it. Again. Like, that was way too close.
00:17:16 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I've I need to change if I do things and need a root cause analysis and you come back and say right how did how would this allow this to happen? And that's something really I've seen with, you know, like a few decades of experience rather than just like one or two loan expedition. So that's why I'm why I'm.
00:17:32 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think like Monkey might do is like the perfect.
00:17:34 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Thing for you.
00:17:35 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Know leading a men's mental health expedition up, you know? Is it too, too Callum guessing in in?
00:17:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Looking.
00:17:41 Speaker 3
Yeah, we did 2.
00:17:42 Speaker 3
Two call with them in February.
00:17:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. And that that's where. That's where I see. You know, there's also, like, a number of other offshoots that that could lead on to as well is that, that men's group then may kind of start off their own Strava running club or their own, you know, own activity group, you know, hiking, hiking, club or or, like, camping.
00:18:03 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Club and then they'll associate you with that. That great feeling of achievement.
00:18:07 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So I think in terms of like marketing strategies, actually it's a it's a far better one than a lot of companies do, which is they go for this persuasion marketing of here's my thing. But you know, buy my thing they they only ever use kind of.
00:18:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like.
00:18:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Persuasion. All like kind of communication style, whereas actually yours is more Invitational. You know you associate yourself as something good and people.
00:18:27 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Come back to you because they associate you with that good thing.
00:18:31 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And so.
00:18:31 Speaker 3
Yeah. Well, that's that's, that's where it's.
00:18:34 Speaker 3
Wearing and much, much more academic, aren't you? Yeah.
00:18:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's.
00:18:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Really for myself, because I've I've had a big a big interest in kind of psychology and neuroscience in the last sort of 10 years and so now it it helps me to to kind of understand it from a more kind of scientific angle angle rather than just kind of like guesswork so.
00:18:54 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. No, it was. It was like to these, these, these podcasts are much more as much educational for me as it is for, you know, for kind of the listeners who are interested in in kind of.
00:19:01 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like growing brands and stuff.
00:19:02 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So right, it doesn't mean leave me on to my next question. So how do your customers and people usually find monkey mountaineering like you're on? I know you're on social media.
00:19:14 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
But is it doing something by word of mouth or website or social media or all the above?
00:19:20 Speaker 3
So yeah, we have a website. I don't think it's too bad. It's a.
00:19:25 Speaker 3
It's a good.
00:19:25 Speaker 3
Website and we're on social media channels and and we.
00:19:28 Speaker 3
Use them I think.
00:19:29 Speaker 3
That my my social media fluctuates between, you know, consistent to absent I I guess it depends I guess I'm not a creative. So I do find it quite tough.
00:19:36 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That's just.
00:19:40 Speaker 3
To to, to to personal social media from time to time I I generate lots of material. You know I'm in the mountains, got images and and videos.
00:19:43
Mm-hmm.
00:19:51
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:53 Speaker 3
But I tend to find.
00:19:55 Speaker 3
That most of our customers come.
00:19:57 Speaker 3
Through word of mouth.
00:19:58 Speaker 3
We have actually, which is actually great and it makes me question why do I need a website? Why do I need to?
00:20:04 Speaker 3
Be on social media, but then.
00:20:07 Speaker 3
You have to be because the savvy customers, once they've heard about it once somebody recommends you.
00:20:13 Speaker 3
They then go and look you up and so you have to have that presence. Yeah. So it's a double edged sword, really. You don't. I don't find I get much business from social media or or from my website.
00:20:15 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
100 channel yes.
00:20:23 Speaker 3
But if I didn't have those things.
00:20:26 Speaker 3
I I would probably struggle because the savvy customer wouldn't wouldn't be able to do their research. You know they would be able to do.
00:20:32 Speaker 3
Their due diligence and seek me out.
00:20:34 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
100% it's it's. I'm. I'm. I'm glad you said that actually because this is something that I made on about to you know kind of like some of our longer term clients and stuff and I say.
00:20:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That they they should should never attribute direct sales to having social media or to having the websites. But you know the the website actually arguably is is a is a most likely place of conversion as in people people will like press the contact US button and they'll say yeah can can we join you for a typical expedition in 2026 for example but.
00:21:03 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like like he's like you just have identified there as well, is that the savvy customer will hear it in a pub, in a conversation, you know from, you know, some guy sat around there saying I climbed 2 car with monkey mountaineering this last week and it was absolutely epic.
00:21:18 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And, you know, had the best time ever. And all these photos where she she the the phone and like ohh I'd look at that and then then then then my look on your website and then follow on Instagram and then the the social media posts that you do are like oh I know a few days later say like two or three days later it comes up on their feed and they're like Oh yeah monkey mountaineering.
00:21:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And they go in your they go in your account, they go into your website from your account as in the.
00:21:42 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The.
00:21:42 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Link in the bio path and actually the again, psychology says that the more people engage with your brand, the more they'll actually it increases that trust when they say, well, this is a legitimate entity because I've seen it so many times and the the thinking for this comes back to.
00:21:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Actually kind of like when we were Cavemen and you know if if you if you saw something twice, it meant it hadn't killed you, killed you the first time.
00:22:04 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Which means actually.
00:22:05 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's quite just I was like, I was like, wow, that was later psychology in the in, in this stuff. So yeah. So I believe I'm not actually kind of like the the the amount of and I call it band exposures. So the amount of times that people can.
00:22:17 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Be exposed to your brand means that they can trust you more because obviously see more and therefore they're more likely to trust you enough to to, you know, to buy something from you, which is obviously the, you know, the the the expedition and and obviously with something like mountaineering, it's gonna have a long sales journey. So they're probably going to.
00:22:35 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To see your brand several times, you know, interact with the the social media with the website and then say right, OK, I'm gonna book it or I'm gonna reach out and I'm gonna inquire for an expedition to Snowden next year. Or or topical or Everest or something like that. So yeah. No, there's there's a lot of them. I'm. I'm glad other people bring it out now.
00:22:55 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Because this this is the one thing I've I've kind of had to.
00:22:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Be quite vocal about is it is it not attributing direct sales numbers to things in your marketing funnel? So like the social media or the website or the OR the really the bland, what's referred to as the trust signals you know you you trust signals or things where you look at company and say this is this is not a scam because.
00:23:16 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
They've got a social media, they've got a load.
00:23:18 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
They've got a website, they've got a yeah. You know, there's a real they've got a Bartos page with a real person on it who's got a real, you know, a real name and a.
00:23:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Real.
00:23:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Social media. So that's that's kind of how it works in the in like the the grand scheme of things. But it's nice to nice.
00:23:31 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To hear from somebody else for.
00:23:32 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Once, yeah, something that.
00:23:35 Speaker 3
It's something that I've thought about quite a lot and and I guess that's that's why my social media ebbs and flows a little bit sometimes I'm really keen and I'm on it and others I've got this well, do you know what I don't get no business from it so.
00:23:49 Speaker 3
Yeah, but I I know that I I need to be consistent. I need.
00:23:51 Speaker 3
To be better.
00:23:52 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
At it. So not necessarily all the time. So I've I've felt like I've taken play devil advocate here. So if you're if you're on social media, say every single day. So if you post on Instagram every single.
00:24:04 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Way there is a bit of business behind this that suggests that if if you're posting on Instagram every single day, Instagram doesn't really need to show your your posts to as many people because it says you're doing this consistently. You're posting on Instagram. So therefore we don't need to try and tempt you back, right? So if you leave at three or four days between each.
00:24:22 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Post.
00:24:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And then post again, you'll see that.
00:24:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The posts actually get a lot more likes and they got a lot more reach because Instagram and the other social media platforms are like, well, we need to keep this person coming to us and not going to our competitors like TikTok or or YouTube or.
00:24:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I say Snapchat. I think the Snapchat's really a thing anymore and and so actually there's there's kind of a theory is that not not necessarily posting every single day but post regularly. So like every three days and then maybe four days and then a couple in quick succession and then you know do it a bit more spaced out because actually the algorithm is there saying like we want this person to be more consistent.
00:24:59 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Using our channel because that generates more ad revenue for us, so.
00:25:04 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
By by kind of I guess I'm trying.
00:25:06 Speaker 3
Subliminal that I'm achieving that.
00:25:06 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
To OK basically I.
00:25:11 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Think we're not planning it, so you're probably taking like a much better social media strategy that a lot of people would suggest because you know when you're consistent than the algorithm says, right, we've got them hold on to them. Right. You know, don't share his stuff so that he posts.
00:25:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
More stuff and then that makes him, you know, add more content into our platform. So yeah, that there's a, you know.
00:25:31 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Actually get better more than that.
00:25:31
Well, I.
00:25:34 Speaker 3
Maybe I'll stick with my.
00:25:45 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
How has monkey mountaineering had to adapt to the changing marketplace like have you found moving, say, social media from Facebook to Instagram a thing? Or have you? How have you kind of adapted to the changes over the last few years?
00:26:01 Speaker 3
I I think the biggest impact for us has been COVID.
00:26:05 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes. Yeah.
00:26:09 Speaker 3
And again not by design, but by by sheer look, we found ourselves fairly resilient through that period where some big travel companies lost a lot of money and lost a lot of customers. We we lost next to nothing. I had five cancellations in that period.
00:26:28 Speaker 3
And it was. It was due to the railway offer, financial protection. So I don't know. We're gonna go into a little bit of a a geeky way.
00:26:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:26:35 Speaker 3
I suppose, but we must comply with the package travel.
00:26:38 Speaker 3
Questions, you know, all all people offering trips abroad or or trips in the UK need to comply with it. And and part of that compliance is providing financial protection to your customers. So, so.
00:26:51
Yes.
00:26:52 Speaker 3
The way we.
00:26:53 Speaker 3
Do it and the way we found that made us resilient during during lockdown.
00:26:58 Speaker 3
Was through a trust account. Now trust accounts weren't very popular prior to.
00:27:01 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:27:03 Speaker 3
All of it. But what it meant for us was we didn't have our customers funds, so we didn't spend that money on other things, whereas bigger companies using a bond or or an insurance system, they had their customers made, they spent it on staff wages, they spent it on whatever they need to spend it on to get through COVID. And then when customers asked for refunds.
00:27:15 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:27:23 Speaker 3
Well, they didn't have the money.
00:27:24
Yeah, yeah.
00:27:24 Speaker 3
In.
00:27:24 Speaker 3
The bank, so it created a problem for them.
00:27:27 Speaker 3
UM, so having our customer funds in a trust account.
00:27:33 Speaker 3
Murders unexpectedly resilient, so again, not by plan or design, just by by by good luck. Really.
00:27:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:27:43 Speaker 3
But that I mean, I dealt with COVID from a business perspective on a very personal level. I spoke to all of the customers who had bookings with us. You know, we had a conversation we we knew that we couldn't achieve their trip because of the lockdown.
00:27:50 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Hmm.
00:27:59
Yeah.
00:28:00 Speaker 3
Yes.
00:28:01 Speaker 3
And we came up with a mutually beneficial plan. When can we achieve your trip? What would you like to do? And for those we had a small number of of customers. I think it was 5 if I remember.
00:28:07 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:28:12 Speaker 3
Rightly.
00:28:13 Speaker 3
Who required a refund, but everybody else stayed with us and we facilitated their trips.
00:28:14
Yeah.
00:28:20 Speaker 3
After lockdowns were lifted, you know, in some cases, I mean, it took us a while to get through the backlog or two years, you know, to to, to, to cope with all of the the COVID rescheduling. But we we kept customers really, so.
00:28:29
Yeah.
00:28:35 Speaker 3
I guess I don't know if I'm answering your question.
00:28:38
No, I think.
00:28:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think it is. I think it is.
00:28:41 Speaker 3
The the the other thing that we did that that I did from a business perspective during lockdown was well, they've called it pivoting, but I.
00:28:51 Speaker 3
I just added some new services so you know I already had experience of doing annual safety inspections for climbing walls. You know, working on a freelance basis with another provider and so that helped to get us through lockdown because that was an essential service that still needed to.
00:29:02 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:29:10 Speaker 3
And then after lockdown, when that other provider stops trading, I'm like, well, there's nothing to stop me from offering that service through my business. And so I guess, I guess that, UM.
00:29:18 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:29:23 Speaker 3
You know the adventure travel market has a has a core barrel of them, you know, it's like, yeah, it's very, very seasonal and and so.
00:29:26 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes, yeah, 100%.
00:29:32 Speaker 3
Adding technical advice services, adding climbing wall inspection services to our portfolio, as it were, mean that we can sort of smooth that by rhythm as it.
00:29:42
Yeah.
00:29:42 Speaker 3
Were, so we have.
00:29:43 Speaker 3
A more regular income on a monthly basis so you know that helped us to.
00:29:49 Speaker 3
I guess survive. Really. Yeah. And I guess strengthen is, you know, not not. We don't just offer mentoring skills, training or adventure. Adventure travel to mountainous regions of the world. We use our skills and knowledge. And coupled with my engineering background.
00:30:07 Speaker 3
To offer, you know quite a specific technical service.
00:30:11 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:30:12 Speaker 3
You know, so that that's also working.
00:30:13 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Quite well, yeah, I think that's brilliant because I think like you say, like, there's a lot of businesses that would have gone under during the, during the pandemic for.
00:30:13 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
No.
00:30:20 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Through the the the the big break in income, you know it's it's not not hard to not hard to imagine that for two years we're in that lockdowns and travel was just you know either stopped entirely or or it came back in fits and spurts and there was never really dependable enough to say right. We're definitely gonna make it out to the pool for this state.
00:30:25 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:30:40 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, if somebody tests positive on their way out from the UK, it's like the whole.
00:30:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The whole 2 weeks is just, you know, thrown into a spin, isn't it? So I think, yeah, I think one one of the one of the indicators of like a strong brand actually is is first of all your customers having the faith in you and you know obviously you you from the back to say that this is where we are with it. When you know we like we like.
00:31:01 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To.
00:31:02 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And, you know, organise your organise your expedition.
00:31:05 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That's all this is over, you know? That's that's that signals trust in my mind of, you know, trusting the company and but also.
00:31:11 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So in in some ways it's like a bit the success story from the pandemic isn't there because you've found unexpectedly a new income stream in the technical advisory services, which which undoubtedly there's gonna be another thing, like a pandemic or another unexpected unanticipated, you know, event which disrupts business.
00:31:19
Yeah, yeah.
00:31:21
Yes.
00:31:32 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Of some sort. So I think actually once you've been once you've made it through something like the pandemic you're like, like, OK, I'm not gonna put all of my eggs into one basket. I'm gonna gonna gonna save some.
00:31:41 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, put.
00:31:41 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Some savings aside, I'm gonna, you know, make sure there's a a stream for learning new skills or trying new ideas or trying.
00:31:49 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Skip.
00:31:49 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Look, looking for new income streams to to to fortify the business a bit more, but I think I think it's it's also indicative of like you know you know strong leadership and like a good a good sort of business plan and like a you know a strong brand and cause people, they're trusting the you know trusting the business and you've you've kind of grown it in the.
00:32:09 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The most difficult circumstances, so I I think there's there's a huge amount of things there to be proud of as a business owner that it's not just, you know, it's not just something which was a side hustle. It's like there's actually, you know, some some real dependability to the to the company. So yeah, fantastic stuff.
00:32:26 Speaker 3
It's.
00:32:27 Speaker 3
It it's good and it and it and it and it builds you up. And the challenge now that I have is to.
00:32:32 Speaker 3
Is.
00:32:32 Speaker 3
To grow that side.
00:32:33 Speaker 3
Of it. But to keep the balance.
00:32:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes.
00:32:37 Speaker 3
So then it doesn't become all consuming and I and I don't you know, I still continue to get out on the hill and and meet with my clients who you know that's cause that's sowing the seed for them bigger expeditions. You know, skills training in the UK sowing the seed for bigger and better. I I see it as you know.
00:32:54 Speaker 3
People look at rock climbing and go ohh, that's bonkers. I could never.
00:32:57 Speaker 3
Do that but.
00:32:58 Speaker 3
Given the right instruction, given the right nurturing environment.
00:33:03 Speaker 3
They can do it, and what that does is is it opens a door, it opens a door.
00:33:07 Speaker 3
To a whole.
00:33:08 Speaker 3
World of adventure that perhaps had been ruled out for them because they thought, erroneously, that they couldn't do.
00:33:14 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:33:16 Speaker 3
Yeah, I sometimes use Kilimanjaro as a good example for that. How many people have you heard say? Oh, I couldn't climb Kilimanjaro.
00:33:22 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, well.
00:33:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
All the time.
00:33:25 Speaker 3
And and you said, well, what do you think?
00:33:29 Speaker 3
Oh, I'm not fit enough. But you know the longest the the longest distance you have to walk, excluding the Summit Day is five months.
00:33:38 Speaker 3
Yeah. And you have to walk in the daytime and you don't have to carry your luggage because we have a team to do that for you. You know, you've got to carry a waterproof jacket and and some water, you know.
00:33:48 Speaker 3
You send you and.
00:33:50 Speaker 3
It's it's not hard work it, but there's some sort of barrier there that people get. They build up into their mind. Who could?
00:33:56 Speaker 3
To do that.
00:33:57 Speaker 3
And don't get me wrong. You know, Summit Day is really hard. It it's a tough day, but with the right approach, you know the right guidance.
00:34:06 Speaker 3
Most people can get through it and enjoy it. And so yeah, I think it's a it's an approach that you have to have rather than a.
00:34:08
Yeah.
00:34:09 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I'm I'm.
00:34:14 Speaker 3
I think some people.
00:34:18 Speaker 3
They, they, they, they have this ambition.
00:34:21 Speaker 3
And I like. I like. I'm gonna use a little analogy. Now, maybe I invented it. I don't know. I might have heard it elsewhere, but but for me, you have an ambition.
00:34:33 Speaker 3
And to get there.
00:34:34 Speaker 3
You've got to build.
00:34:34 Speaker 3
A bridge and and the bridge that gets you there is discipline. So for me, you know, discipline is the bridge that joins ambition to achieve.
00:34:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes.
00:34:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:34:43
Yeah.
00:34:44 Speaker 3
And and I think people missed that part of the.
00:34:47 Speaker 3
Journey, you know.
00:34:48 Speaker 3
They have this ambition or I'm going to trek to have a space camp.
00:34:52 Speaker 3
But, but they don't understand the component parts.
00:34:56 Speaker 3
That will help them to get there and and they go and then they walk too quickly and then they get altitude sickness and they don't have the right kit with them. They haven't sought the right advice.
00:34:57 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:35:07 Speaker 3
And they have a terrible time. And and I think that that's really sad because these are bucket list life changing trips that people.
00:35:14 Speaker 3
Dream of doing?
00:35:15 Speaker 3
And yet they haven't invested in the underlying preparation. But but that's that's the service ioffer on a personal level is to, you know, if you come on a trip with me.
00:35:26 Speaker 3
You, I mean, I can't guarantee it. I'd be. I'd be arrogant to guarantee it, but you have a very high chance of being successful because of the approach that we take and and and it's.
00:35:32
Yeah.
00:35:37 Speaker 3
I think that one of your questions you're gonna ask me is about how do we stand out in the market.
00:35:40 Speaker 3
It and and it's really difficult because the market is full of competitors and a.
00:35:42 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
They have different.
00:35:48 Speaker 3
Lot of people.
00:35:49 Speaker 3
Will will buy travel based on price.
00:35:51 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes, Sir.
00:35:53 Speaker 3
But you have to, from my perspective, you have to look at it and and I'll I'll go back to sort of, I guess my military routes here and perhaps a bit of project management. But but there's three components of a successful trick, a a successful trip.
00:36:08 Speaker 3
One of them is cost. One of them is time and the other is is a preparation. And if if you squeeze any of those things, the outcome is.
00:36:12 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:36:17 Speaker 3
Going to be different.
00:36:17 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:19 Speaker 3
So if any trip to altitude.
00:36:22 Speaker 3
If you cut cost, you will invariably cut time, and if you cut time you will cut your ability to acclimatise.
00:36:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:36:30
Here.
00:36:31 Speaker 3
And therefore your success rate, your chances of success are going in. So it's it's all linked, but trying to get people to understand that, hey, look, booking this cheap itinerary.
00:36:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:36:43 Speaker 3
Which is 3 days shorter than the normal itinerary.
00:36:47 Speaker 3
It is not a good move because you're not your your chance to be successful or a lot more smaller. Yeah, very diminished.
00:36:51 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Less. Yeah. And it's it's a bigger, bigger loss as well, isn't it? Like, like ultimately if you kind of if they get, you know kind of think would you rather pay extra to to have a higher chance of success, it then means that the the entire cost of the expedition isn't, you know isn't lost cause you know, I I myself have done. I attempted matter home three times.
00:37:12 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And you know, not not getting to the summit on the third attempt, you know we we got as far as a corelle Hut, you know just.
00:37:18 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like, ah damn it, this, this again. You know, the the not the summit summit, you know shot that you want to add to your friends and family and stuff inevitably I think is what kind of led to might the the the climbing accent a bit on the further down the foothills because you know it it's you you you squeeze one part of it and.
00:37:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The outcome it affects the probability the outcome in other parts.
00:37:42 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Of it, but.
00:37:45 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think kind of like.
00:37:47 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
This this concept about you mentioned earlier about kind of.
00:37:50 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Giving like bucket list, opportunity, bucket list adventures or bucket list.
00:37:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Experiences to people. I think that that's a really strong concept to, you know, right, rather than just being referred to as like a mum to their own.
00:38:04 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Company is actually.
00:38:05 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Is what what I've been referring to as actually is is guides to help you achieve bucket list. You know your bucket list activities or your bucket listed dreams or something like there's there's there's a real.
00:38:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Interesting concept in there there of of you know how you position the you know Monkey Mountain in the future. So that's yeah, that's really cool.
00:38:28 Speaker 3
Yeah, that's that's good. Good food for thought. You're right. But I mean, I it. It comes from the number of times I've been on Kilimanjaro or or on the Everest base camp track. And and you chat to people on the journey and they're not successful.
00:38:41 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:38:42 Speaker 3
And and there's simple things that could have been.
00:38:45 Speaker 3
Done.
00:38:46 Speaker 3
To help them be successful, you know it's and it's heart wrenching when somebody's made it all the way to logger and has to.
00:38:46 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:38:51 Speaker 3
Be.
00:38:51 Speaker 3
Helicoptered out, you know, they've got one more day, and they're gonna be and go at sharpen at every space camp. But but their journeys just not been right and and.
00:39:00 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:39:01 Speaker 3
You know it's.
00:39:03 Speaker 3
I think people people just need to.
00:39:06 Speaker 3
Consider why they're doing something and and and then work out how they can best be successful. And there's a lot of like, misinformation out there on the Internet. And so yeah, I guess, I guess that's the service I ioffer there is that you know.
00:39:13 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:39:19 Speaker 3
That increased successfully.
00:39:20 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, the depth of knowledge. Yeah. And I just, I was just about to kind of add.
00:39:24 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Them as well is.
00:39:24 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That the thing with the thing with acclimatisation to altitude is it's not something that's necessarily you can you obviously can train for it with a hypoxic tent or something like that.
00:39:35 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That that, as far as I understand, they're they're, you know, fitness versus ability to acclimatise aren't actually connected, are they? So you can have two people, one super fit and one super, you know unfit. And actually if they, if they're both racing to get to altitude, they're both going to become unwell through.
00:39:55 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Through hate or hate or something like that. So actually, you know, planning, planning.
00:40:00 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
An expedition with the anticipation of like we need to go at this speed because we need we need to acclimatise to the to the lowering amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere and the the load that will put on your red blood cell counts to increase the, you know, spreading the oxygen around. Yeah, you know it's it's not. It's not something that you you can't pay to go up there faster you know unless you want to carry the oxygen of.
00:40:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah. And that there.
00:40:25 Speaker 3
There are some some poor things that people can do to increase their chances of of success, but.
00:40:31 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
But.
00:40:32 Speaker 3
It appears that people find those simple things hard to achieve.
00:40:35
Yeah.
00:40:37 Speaker 3
You know and and the the.
00:40:39 Speaker 3
Big one is just walking slowly, you know I.
00:40:40 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yes, I'm the rest of that.
00:40:41 Speaker 3
Can't emphasise that.
00:40:43 Speaker 3
Enough and and.
00:40:44 Speaker 3
Yeah. So and and you know, I think I I went for.
00:40:48 Speaker 3
A baptism of fire as a young soldier, I.
00:40:50 Speaker 3
Went to the.
00:40:50 Speaker 3
Himalayas. They got terrible. It was altitude sickness.
00:40:54 Speaker 3
Well, you know, I was younger. I was fit.
00:40:56 Speaker 3
I thought I was.
00:40:57 Speaker 3
Invincible and why are?
00:40:57 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes.
00:40:58 Speaker 3
All the older people not suffering. What? Why is it those young fit men that are suffering? But it's because you.
00:41:04 Speaker 3
Take your ego with you and you.
00:41:05 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, yeah.
00:41:06 Speaker 3
If you learn to to remove that ego and learn to walk slowly and just, you know, stop and look at the view and.
00:41:13 Speaker 3
Take it easier. Then you allow time for your body. 2 kilometres.
00:41:16 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You actually make it like this. This concept of slow travel actually is one that I'm really, really loving at the moment because it's.
00:41:18 Speaker 3
So yeah.
00:41:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, it's got me out. All the camping gear out and like strapped to the mountain bike or a gravel bike and then just going out for, you know, multiple days Sept in to new places. So I'm I'm actually I I turned 40 last year and I and I was like why didn't I long slow travel, you know before before I turn 40 there how's how's it taken like a mount a mountain accident before.
00:41:43 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That figured actually, that the more enjoyable expeditions are the long, long ones and slower ones, rather than just trying to race to a summit or race to a a finish line or race to summer.
00:41:52 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. So I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
00:41:54 Speaker 3
Yeah, I've I've I've seen.
00:41:56 Speaker 3
I've seen some of the social media.
00:42:00 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
These days it's more like sleeping in abandoned houses like puppies. You know, all the puppies around there, kind of Scotland and Northumberland and stuff where you have been absolutely fantastic. So yeah, but I guess to keep them to keep on with our.
00:42:07
Yeah.
00:42:08 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yep.
00:42:14 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
With our questions and we talk about this kind of privacy interview, but do do you see the business launching any new products or services that you can tell us about, obviously no pressure if if you're like?
00:42:25 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
You know, we've got something in the background, but it's it's not public.
00:42:27 Speaker 3
Here. Yeah. So, you know, yeah, there there's got and you've just touched on there with the with the slow.
00:42:32 Speaker 3
Travel. So you.
00:42:33 Speaker 3
Know I think people are becoming more.
00:42:36 Speaker 3
More concerned or interested in carbon footprint these days. And so you know what? What can we do to minimise that? I I'm going through a process at the moment of trying to call them label all our trips, which is it's easier, easier said than done and it and it's it's it's time consuming. We won't go into it here but I'm getting there you know it's.
00:42:39 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes. Yeah.
00:42:48 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Hello.
00:42:50
For mentioned there.
00:42:56 Speaker 3
Slow progress. We're making progress.
00:42:59 Speaker 3
But I'd like to be able to offer trips, you know, like. So let's focus on our space camp.
00:43:04 Speaker 3
For just a.
00:43:04 Speaker 3
Minute.
00:43:06 Speaker 3
It's really popular it it's a bucket list trip, but look at the carbon that it consumed. You know, I've not finished. I'm nearly to the end of my calculations on that trip, and I'll have a label for it soon. And and other companies do put.
00:43:07 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:43:18 Speaker 3
Hello, Elena.
00:43:20 Speaker 3
But everybody flies long haul from the UK to Kathmandu. I don't really think there's a way around that, that that's got to be done, but they then fly from Kathmandu or or ram chap equal into Luther.
00:43:23 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:43:32 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:43:34 Speaker 3
But you could do a word.
00:43:35 Speaker 3
Journey, yeah.
00:43:37 Speaker 3
You know you could do a word journey and you could walk into the club or even you could bypass the club by walking underneath it and still have that same journey. And and it goes back to that cost time success thing.
00:43:49 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:43:51 Speaker 3
So if you increase the time that you're going to take on that journey to reach every space.
00:43:57 Speaker 3
Obviously it's gonna increase the cost, but it it may well reduce.
00:44:00 Speaker 3
It by cutting out air travel.
00:44:04 Speaker 3
But it will definitely increase your chances of of success, because your journey to altitude is going to be more.
00:44:09 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, yeah.
00:44:09 Speaker 3
Gradual.
00:44:11 Speaker 3
And you know, so I think there's some merit in in adding some slow travel.
00:44:18 Speaker 3
Options to those big bucket list trips, so that's something I'm looking at and and then the other thing I'm looking at is, is adding in more high altitude mountaineering object objectives, and one in particular. So this is born out of I guess.
00:44:18 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:44:36 Speaker 3
You have. This is really popular. People want to climb to the summit of Everest, but it is only accessible to really wealthy people. You know, you, you you have £70,000 to spare and you can book onto a trip and.
00:44:50 Speaker 3
You know very capable Napoli shop guide will guide you to the summit Everest and you you needn't have any previous experience. You don't need to use an ice axe. You don't need to know to put crampons on you. You can.
00:44:59 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:45:01 Speaker 3
All be managed on that trip.
00:45:03 Speaker 3
And but but over the last few years, there's been a number of tragedies, and I was just reading yesterday about the number of deaths this season on Everest. And I think it stands at 7:00.
00:45:12 Speaker 3
This year.
00:45:14 Speaker 3
Which is significantly less than what it was last year. But interestingly enough, the Nepalese Government are thinking about introducing prerequisites for people who want an Everest permit, which to me makes total sense if you've not climbed a mountain at 6000.
00:45:16 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah, yeah.
00:45:30 Speaker 3
Metres.
00:45:30 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
That's gonna say.
00:45:31 Speaker 3
You know, how are you?
00:45:33 Speaker 3
Climb in the world, the world's biggest mountain.
00:45:35 Speaker 3
Really you need to have some experience. You need to have to know how to manage.
00:45:38 Speaker 3
Yourself in that.
00:45:39
Yeah.
00:45:39 Speaker 3
Environment to to be able to be a little bit self-sufficient. So I think it's a really good thing.
00:45:44 Speaker 3
So.
00:45:45 Speaker 3
Lots of other mountaineering companies do offer bigger peaks, but this will be a sort of new direction for us really.
00:45:52 Speaker 3
And I'm going to start by offering him lung him on next uh, next autumn. So autumn 25. Him, him and Himmel is.
00:46:03 Speaker 3
It's not hugely technical, but it's a 7000 metre peak and it's seen as excellent preparation for the bigger peaks.
00:46:06
Yeah.
00:46:12 Speaker 3
So I'm gonna offer it on a supported expedition basis rather than a guided expedition so people come in will need to have some skills, you know, they'll need need to be able to manage themselves on fixed ropes, manage themselves at altitude. They won't be guided as such, but they'll be supported. And so yeah, that's. That's the sort of direction.
00:46:15
Yes.
00:46:29 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:46:32 Speaker 3
Well, that's the new things that are, yeah. And and plus to expand our portfolio in the pool of the of of of the TRIPS.
00:46:40 Speaker 3
Sometimes.
00:46:42 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Literally thinking, then about all the things in the poll once, and that was after the 2015 earthquake, and it was in, it was in the the region where the earthquake, the epicentre of the earthquake started.
00:46:55 Speaker 3
So on to the Lang tank. Yeah, that must have been the Lang tank. Yeah.
00:46:57 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
It.
00:46:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It was then I I forgot the the actual region of the top of my head, but it was, yeah, it was like a, you know, like a few days travel out of out of commando and, you know, up into the mountains.
00:47:08 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
And to the epicentre. But I was thinking actually the the that, that road trip was more interesting actually than you know than than taking a flight out to look, look, cause look close the the highest world's highest runway from from what I understand obviously it's the the springboard into Everest. But I was actually thinking do the actual road trip.
00:47:26 Speaker 3
Yes, let's bring one into it.
00:47:28 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
She was was mega insightful because the scenery is beautiful there. You know, you've actually got you got more stories that come out of the the rota, but I would say, you know, in part than their you know.
00:47:37 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The the the.
00:47:38 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Actual, you know, then the actual summit, you know queue. So I I agree, I agree with them.
00:47:44 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think they definitely be more interested in taking the the road trip there. Can you get more exposure to the culture which I think actually is the, you know, it's not just the the summit, it's actually the the journey to use.
00:47:53 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That.
00:47:53 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
That often misquoted saying. But yeah, I think I think I like the idea of doing doing the road.
00:47:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Trip.
00:47:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Part of it too, you know, to.
00:48:00 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The start line and then yeah.
00:48:03 Speaker 3
Yeah, I think it. I think it's sort of, I think it's important and it and it and it harks back to our ethos as a company really.
00:48:11 Speaker 3
I don't want to denigrate any of the big companies, but but a lot of the big companies are all about making profit for shareholders.
00:48:18 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:48:20 Speaker 3
Was and and that sort of leaves the regions that are visited by their customers.
00:48:28 Speaker 3
No better off for their visit and and so every fuses that we use that local support we use local services and that so that too.
00:48:29
Yeah.
00:48:38 Speaker 3
First, revenue goes into local economies or a destination economies which which I think is really important and by taking you know by.
00:48:41
But it yeah.
00:48:47 Speaker 3
You know, cutting out air flights, internal flights and using Rd journeys, you're investing in local, local guest houses, local restaurants, local transport companies.
00:48:56 Speaker 3
Local guides and and that's that's that's tourism benefit in the destination, which I think is in the long term is much more sustainable.
00:49:03 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, Andrew, Andrew agree. And it does get you into the the.
00:49:07 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The second to last question.
00:49:09 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
What do you see? The main challenges are for startups trying to grow and and stand out in the current let's, let's call it the chilly kind of global economy right now, because obviously things have things have changed since COVID and you know, the conflict in Ukraine and and AI. So how do you what do you see the kind of the main challenges?
00:49:34 Speaker 3
Yeah, I think that.
00:49:41 Speaker 3
Well, to stand out, you know.
00:49:46
I think you.
00:49:48 Speaker 3
Well, let let. Let's go from my perspective. From my perspective, I I guess I've got a set of values or or you know business a business ethos.
00:49:58 Speaker 3
And and that ethos is centred around I do, I guess it goes back to my military trainer, you know I'm going to places that perhaps I I didn't want to go to but seeing seeing how you know the people who have the least seem to be the happiest.
00:50:06
Yeah, yeah.
00:50:18 Speaker 3
And I think that.
00:50:21 Speaker 3
You know we we.
00:50:22 Speaker 3
We are privileged to be able to travel to these places and we should try to leave them in a better state than we found them in, you know, and that may well be from an economic perspective as well. So if we if we go and visit places, we should try to invest in those places. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, if you.
00:50:41 Speaker 3
If if you want to start a business you you need to have some principles and you need to stick by those principles.
00:50:48 Speaker 3
Because that's what will make your business stand out. Now, I I I'm not sure that we stand out as a business for.
00:50:50
Yeah.
00:50:56 Speaker 3
For that aspect but, but that's where I want to go. That's where I want to be. And right from the sort of founding days of monkey mountaineering, those have been my principles is to, you know, help people visit places but leave those places that we visit in a better way.
00:51:08
Yeah, yeah.
00:51:11 Speaker 3
So.
00:51:13 Speaker 3
To be sustainable, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You know to be sustainable, but I guess it depends what type of business you're going to start. You know, if you're going to start a business, you know manufacturing and and selling packaging material.
00:51:27 Speaker 3
Then you know you your principles will be different. You might want to ethically source your your, your, your materials, you know. But I think it all comes back to principles. You you need a set of principles. You need to have some strong.
00:51:29 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:51:40 Speaker 3
Use and then you need to stick by them. They need to guide you in your business decisions.
00:51:45 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
100 and you mentioned earlier about some about kind of when you're entering a market, we've got lots of competitors and that that's I think that's very something.
00:51:53 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Which?
00:51:54 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
We both felt the the challenge of over the last you know we we kind of started like 2016 time and and but yourself over the last seven years if you're kind of going into if you're trying to start and like.
00:52:05 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Really busy busy market for example, like kind of what? How how would you kind of like advise them to, you know to to, to stand out or gain or gain a gain a traction, get a get a foothold in there.
00:52:20 Speaker 3
I think I think I'll go. I'll go back to those values. Again, stick to your values and and talk about your values your.
00:52:22
Yeah.
00:52:27
Hmm.
00:52:30 Speaker 3
Talk about how you do things. I I I don't think I'm very good at this, but I have the intent. I just don't think I've got the creativity to to make it work for me. But but it's there. You know that that I I still I stick by my values, the trips that the trips that we sort of run. I've been on them all. I I see how they work.
00:52:51 Speaker 3
I know that we're investing. We're using local suppliers, we're using local providers, so there's that. Tourist money is going into.
00:52:59 Speaker 3
The the destination we know we operate on that leave no trace principle, so take nothing but photographs. Leave nothing but footprints. So we we we're small groups as well so.
00:53:02
Yeah.
00:53:10 Speaker 3
You know, I I.
00:53:11 Speaker 3
Do get business from customers who have been with the bigger expedition careers and they've been out to climb mountains.
00:53:15
Yes.
00:53:19 Speaker 3
In Nepal and they've been on like a team of 20 and they haven't found. It's worked for them and and so all our trips are small groups, you know, they'll run with two people. Our our groups are rarely bigger than sort of eights, only in exceptional circumstances. And I think that works a lot better. And I think it's more sustainable.
00:53:24
To.
00:53:32
Yeah.
00:53:38 Speaker 3
Yeah, I don't know where the limit of sustainability is for group size, but I think it's definitely smaller than most companies are operating at the moment. You know, even even 12 is a I think, an unwieldy size.
00:53:46 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:53:50 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, definitely.
00:53:51 Speaker 3
You you think about going to remote villages in Nepal where there's limited limited accommodation, limited food, no transport. Everything's brought in by, you know, on by by.
00:53:56 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:54:02 Speaker 3
But the bigger the group, the more that logistical burden impacts on that, that community, I.
00:54:07 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, 100%, yeah, I think.
00:54:10 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
I think.
00:54:11 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, I'm gonna draw out something. You did say there. I think it is very important. You wouldn't realise you're saying it is communicating your your values actually can be a really strong USP. So as a unique service proposition.
00:54:22 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
So if you're, if you're, say, a coffee company, for example, and you're veteran owned or you're sustainable or you believe in you know.
00:54:34 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It it being it paying back a larger percentage back to the employees, that's more like a kind of a cooperative model that's that can be a a USB and it can be like of of like a really strong USB, especially in busy markets where you've got a lot of look alike companies who are doing something broadly similar and essentially they're it's a it's a race to the bottom to try and find the cheapest way of doing it.
00:54:54 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
But ultimately, the the race to the bottom leads to poor customer experience, and so the customers like you, say the customers.
00:55:01 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Like are like I'm not doing this.
00:55:03 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
This is.
00:55:04 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Rubbish, you know, so good fund fund, the company that actually, you know, the one that is like value you know values driven and and and communicates that in its marketing and its messaging and its brand positioning actually is the one that you know can be the one that you know everyone goes to when it's like. Well actually I want I want someone like this kind of campaign because they've got you know they've got their their their things sorted out so.
00:55:07 Speaker 3
Yeah, no.
00:55:24 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
There definitely was a piece of nice in there I think.
00:55:26 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
We just have to kind of, you know you.
00:55:30 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Construct and chip away a bit, but yeah, brilliant. Well, I guess not to put too much pressure for any any final words of advice for for for those those starting off in business from your, from your angle.
00:55:43 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:55:43 Speaker 3
I suppose two, I suppose 2 Wheeler is.
00:55:48 Speaker 3
It's all too easy to to think it's too difficult. You know, it's easy to think it's too hard and it's easy to quit.
00:55:50 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah.
00:55:55 Speaker 3
Don't quit. Yeah, keep going. You know, if you're staying in business.
00:56:00 Speaker 3
There's already something about it. You know. You you've made that step to step away from the salary, you know, keep going. It is tough and.
00:56:04 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:56:09 Speaker 3
But but keep going. But in in that keeping going.
00:56:13 Speaker 3
Be open minded and keep flexible. You know what? What do they say in the military? No plan.
00:56:17 Speaker 3
Survives contact with.
00:56:17 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:56:18 Speaker 3
You and I, I guess it's it's it's, it's analysing who or what your enemy is.
00:56:23 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:56:25 Speaker 3
Because if you don't know that, you know you can't plan your contingencies.
00:56:30 Speaker 3
So yeah, just don't give up. Keep going, be open minded and and and and stay flexible. You've got to be flexible but business changes all the time. It doesn't.
00:56:35 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:56:39 Speaker 3
Cheap and and you've got to react to to the environment you're operating. It's no different if you're a veteran. It's no different to being in the military. Get them seven questions done.
00:56:50 Speaker 3
Yeah, my my trips are planned. You know the framework I use for my trips to plan my trips is an up order because it includes everything. And in in that up order, I've integrated the package travel regulations.
00:56:56 Sam Marshall, a former military officer and founder of Monkey Mountaineering, a values-driven company helping others fulfil bucket-list adventures at high altitude
Yeah.
00:57:03 Speaker 3
And the British standard for overseas expeditions, you know, so they all slot in there and it and it's like a well, I guess it's bringing in from the military to the civilian environment. A good way of planning things. Yeah. Anyone who's a veteran, it should be able to do this.
00:57:14 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah. OK.
00:57:18 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yes, I mean, she has a real nerd right now. Is that, is that British Standard 884, right by the chance? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it is. And and. And do you remember that because it was lots of fun that worked and contributed to it. So. And, you know, they tell me this story. And I was like that's that's really quite cool. So I feel.
00:57:36 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
Yeah, I have to. They gotta highlight it from December, mate. Thank you so much for, for for joining us for like those those absolute epic pearls of wisdom. It's been fascinating and there's a tonne of there's total lessons of value in there from like kind of like when to pivot when to persevere, when to, you know, do like your second questions do your.
00:57:58 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
To our borders are communicating clearly, staying true to your values and also putting them front and centre of the brand is there's loads of stuff which it's gonna take me ages to write the.
00:58:06 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
The The the podcast description after this. Anyway, I'll leave you to it and the rest of your day, yeah.
00:58:15 Speaker 3
Thank you. Thanks, Chris. It's been a pleasure to.
00:58:17 Speaker 3
Chat to you.
00:58:19 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's really great chatting with salmon, hearing how he took his passion and made a company out of it. If you want to know more about monkey mountaineering, you can find the links to the website in the show.
00:58:27 00:00:01 Chris Shirley, Website Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist and Brand Designer at Haus of Hiatus, website and brand design studio
It's below and I'll see you next time.
