It can be a tough job this Boatshed lark and March is no exception. One of the challenges of being involved in the Boatshed organisation is that in order to offer the local service that we pride ourselves on, we actually have to be in the territories where we sell boats and this means that each of our licensed businesses lives the Boatshed business day in, day out, selling boats at their particular international location.

HQ’s job is to maintain the consistency and communication within the Boatshed organisation and whilst technology is great at this, we do lots of stuff on Skype and hold Google hang-outs and are constantly in touch via technology, there is no better alternative to mark one eyeball and that’s why, as an organisation, we are always striving to not only communicate better, but try to get together as often as possible. At the London Boat Show this year, for instance, we held our European conference, when approximately 30 members of the Boatshed team came along to London and spent time together, working on new ideas and concepts.

As part of our continuing mission to improve the communication in our organisation, founders Neil and Mandy Chapman try to visit offices as often as they can. Now, this does sound like a difficult detail, having to trek all around the world to various exotic locations and visit Boatsheds. As you can imagine, there is a considerable amount of teasing and joke-making when it’s suggested that these Boatshed tours happen on a regular basis. It does, however, help galvanise the organisation and sometimes isn’t quite as exotic as it seems. This month, Neil and Mandy Chapman are doing a 5,000 mile Boatshed tour around France, Spain, the Balearics and Portugal on a whistle-stop tour of Boatshed offices. We caught up with them on the leg in the south of Spain, driving the 1,000 miles from Boatsheds in Costa Brava and Barcelona to the Boatshed Office down in Gibraltar.

Editor... “Is it all five star treatment and executive jets then?”

Neil and Mandy.... “No, not at all, most of the time it’s in the car with computers going, phones going and running the business as normal whilst travelling on the motorway,” says Neil. “We tend to stay in a mix of hotels and B & Bs, but we also pack a tent with us. This week has seen us on a campsite near the beach at Valencia for example. Nothing like fighting off the winter blues in Spain with 20 degrees working on your laptop. The Technology means we can work anywhere and this is how we built the business” says Neil "Selling boats is hard work but that does not mean you cannot design the systems to help you enjoy it!"
Neil and Mandy also commented on a number of ports that do not have Boatshed Coverage yet.
“It's really frustrating as there seems to be an awful lot of boats here for sale However in order to sell these boats, we need Boatshed coverage on the ground in these areas.”
If you’re looking for a Boatshed business and fancy joining the team, check out Boatshedbusiness.com