Rick Parry, managing director of One.Three.Five and a former professional ice hockey player.
Rick Parry, managing director of One.Three.Five and a former professional ice hockey player.
This week, Small Business editor Caitlin Sykes talks athletes turned business owners.
Rick Parry is a former professional ice hockey player and now managing director of ergonomic upright furniture company One.Three.Five, which was founded last year.
Can you tell me about your sporting background?
When I was about 10 I told my dad I wanted to play ice hockey professionally.We lived about three hours' drive from an ice rink so it was a pretty random thing for Dad to hear. I had a paper run and wanted to do it faster so I invested in roller blades, then one day I saw inline, or roller hockey being played, so I saved up my pocket money and invested in a stick and basic protective gear and started playing inline hockey. Our team didn't have a goalie and because I'd played that position in soccer before, I put my hand up and haven't looked back. When I moved to Auckland for high school I was closer to the ice rinks and one of my best friends played ice hockey and suggested I give it a go. I took up ice hockey and within my first year had made the Auckland under-19 team.
When I was about to finish high school I knew if I wanted to follow my dream I'd have to go to where the best ice hockey players are. So at 18 I moved by myself to Toronto. I paired up with a goalie coach who took me under his wing; I coached younger goalies in return for his tuition and worked two other jobs with support from my parents to make ends meet. I learned a lot about the mental game of elite sport, the importance of nutrition and sleep as well as the technical side of the game from my 18 months in Canada.
Rick Parry, managing director of One.Three.Five and a former professional ice hockey player.
In 2007 I was picked for the New Zealand national men's team, which was, and always is a huge honour. The 2009 World Championships for our division were held in Dunedin, where I was studying at Otago University, and throughout my time in Dunedin I was responsible for recruiting import players from other countries. Through these contacts I met a coach from the French club Cergy Pontoise, who offered me a professional contract, so two weeks after graduating I was on my way there. Later I moved to Adelaide to play in the Australian National League, which is semi-professional.
To date I've played for the Ice Blacks at six World Championships, winning one gold and three silver medals. I don't plan on retiring any time soon, but my priorities have definitely changed now we have this business. Ice hockey in New Zealand is privately funded, with every player having to pay their way, even to represent our country, which makes things difficult for future planning.
What prompted you to set up your business?
I always knew elite athletes had a limited window, even if you make it to a professional status, so I worked really hard and took all the opportunities I had in sport. But as I've gotten older my priorities have changed, and now I'm at the stage where I'm focused on creating a future after sport. Running my own business has always appealed to me. Even from a young age I was quite entrepreneurial, and I actually did a commerce degree at university, majoring in marketing and management.
Did your sporting background influence the kind of business you set up?
I think it did. I've always been an active person, and I remember when I was studying spending hours in lectures and at the library then feeling the effects of that on my body when going to trainings at night. At first I saw this upright furniture concept as a way to address an issue for athletes transitioning to the workplace, but then I realised it was an opportunity to provide a healthier way for all office bound workers to spend their days.
What skills and experiences have you been able to transfer from the sporting arena into running your own business?
I'm still learning but there are definitely a lot of lessons. There's the importance of having a great team around you, because any team is only as good as its collective best. Then there's the ability to stay calm under pressure. Hockey has taught me there will always be things that happen, so it's a matter of dealing with issues quickly and learning fast. I'm a hard worker by nature, which I've always applied to sport, but I'm constantly looking for ways to improve myself in work as well, whether that's by reading or doing to better understand how things work.
What have been some of the challenges you've encountered as a small business owner that your sporting experience hadn't prepared you for?
One challenge is it's up to you to make things happen. Yes there's more freedom being your own boss, but if you have an underperforming period, you only have yourself to blame. Also, wearing 'many hats' is hard, and still remembering that sales are the blood of a business. I'm constantly asking myself 'does this help my bottom line?' Then there are the perennial issues like maintaining enough inventory while fighting currency, cashflow and remembering to account for GST.
