IT WAS THE eve of launching his new business in Omagh, and Tyrone footballer Richard Donnelly was looking up at the ceiling, contemplating a major problem, before nodding off to sleep.
‘I actually don’t know how to turn on this coffee machine,’ he thought to himself. In a few hours, his new enterprise would be up and running about a year on from its inception. He wanted to open a café where wellness, creativity and social interaction were the themes. And now he had it.
Many hands made the work involved lighter. His mother and sister assisted with a lot it, and other local businesses offered a hand to help Donnelly keep within a tight budget. The early phases of the project crossed over with Covid, and a time when Donnelly was on the dole. He had little more than a vision for what would eventually be a successful venture.
Now, he was opening the doors.
“It was like jumping off a cliff without a parachute,” he tells The 42 about the precarious nature of setting up a business. ”I’ve jumped now so I’m just going to go with it and land here to see where it goes.”
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The Covid lockdown was Cavan footballer and AFLW player Aishling Sheridan’s time to first starting pondering the notion of becoming her own boss. As the virus took hold all around the world, she acted quickly and moved home from Australia where she plays with Collingwood.
A graduate of Athletic Training and Therapy in DCU, she began delivering fitness classes on Zoom. It was one or two a week, just for her clubmates in Mullahoran. She was also posting workout plans on Instagram, and as her presence on the various social media channels grew, the requests started to pour in.
“I was posting a lot more and it kind of became popular and I started offering two or three hiit classes per week. And then I started offering more one-on-one training plans.”
A job in this area was always on Sheridan’s radar. Her college course brought her towards the physiotherapy route where she worked with football teams on a freelance basis. Additionally, she completed a personal training course while also becoming a Pilates instructor to expand her knowledge base. She now identifies as an online coach, serving clients remotely in Ireland, Australia and America.
There’s an obvious flexibility involved in being your master. Sheridan can tailor her weekly schedule around matchdays and training, and the functional nature of her job means she doesn’t have to suffer stiffness from an office chair. She has variety of clients on her books, both amateur and elite, who all have different goals they’re working towards. Sheridan also works with the rally academy in Motorsport Ireland.
But for all the benefits that come with being self-employed, there’s some tightrope walking involved too. Are you standing on a goldmine or a trap door?
“There’s definitely an element of fear and I wouldn’t be afraid to say that,” she says.
“I sometimes second guess, especially during that time in Covid: I was so afraid of failing. If I set up classes and no-one wanted to do them or set up a business and no-one wants it. But I had my family supporting me and my partner. They were like, ‘Just give it a go and it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t work out.’ I’m always that sort of person who needs that little push to not be afraid to fail.
“You’re your own boss so it’s about trying to find the fine line between doing too much and not doing enough.”
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Donnelly handed in his notice as a sales rep on 27 February 2020, ready to switch lanes and establish his own business. The Covid lockdown was announced just a few weeks later, and the 2021 All-Ireland winner found the door was shut when he tried to get his job back to avail of furlough payments.
“Bad timing,” he says. But there was no turning back.
He moved in with his parents, took in the weekly £90 from the dole, and tried to figure a way out. And then came a lifeline from the Government. Payments were being provided to start-ups who had no trading done yet, or had any returns. Donnelly — who is currently on a break from inter-county football — was one of the rare critters who found a benefit in being in the middle of a pandemic.
“I was hoping Covid wouldn’t stop. I was able to nearly train full-time and generate all this money. But I was disciplined with it and used it out the other side of Covid to open the full facility.”
From there, his days consisted of doing his own training in the morning before heading off to Omagh to put the grind into bringing his idea to fruition. He spent three-and-a-half months painting the interior and exterior of the building, all the big and small bricks that eventually became the home of Natur&Co.
The café accounts for about 70% of the business, Donnelly says, but there’s also hot yoga, Pilates, and conditioning class in infrared heating which is the equivalent of training at altitude. There’s also a spiritualist element to the place that speaks to Donnelly’s philosophy for life.
“It’s one of our beliefs within myself and what I wanted to create in the business. The brand of Natur&Co spelled without the e. The tree in the logo is relating back to nature and the simple things where your health, wellness and being grounded and spiritually aware.”
It was while doing an ice bath session that Donnelly that an idea for a business first occurred to him. He had just bought a sauna for £5,500. He couldn’t afford it but he was determined to have it.
“I didn’t care about money or finance, if it helps my performance, I’m buying it,” he says.
Back to the facility where the ice baths were located. Donnelly looked around, and as he did, a picture started forming in his head.
“Why the hell is there not a café in here?” he asked himself, seeing the potential for a place where exercise and wellness could coexist.
“I saw other wee nooks and crannies where I could put the sauna.”
They were just flashes of inspiration at the time. The concrete plans would follow later.
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No two days are the same for Aishling Sheridan. Monday through Thursdays are days dedicated to her existing and new clients. An early rise starts her off and then it’s either straight into a workout or out the door for a walk at 7am. Client check-ins and getting new clients set up in her system take up the rest of her day. There might be another block of hours where she unfolds the laptop, depending on how her schedule is shaping up.
In the middle of all that, there’s a balance to strike between work, rest and her commitments as an athlete. She’s still trying to tease that out but now that she’s embraced the fear of becoming an entrepreneur, she wants to stay in charge of her own ship.
“I do think I’d like to keep working for myself and try to expand myself. I’d like to open up something at home, whether it’s a gym or a studio for Pilates. Especially with travelling as well, once I have internet, I can keep working away.”
Sheridan and Donnelly aren’t the only ones taking this road. Many other GAA players have identified the advantages of working for themselves. Gyms and cafés appear to be the most popular choices for putting their name above the door. They prefer the idea of having total ownership of how they earn a crust.
Donnelly, who has figured out to work the coffee machine, sums up the new world that GAA players are exploring.
“A lot of athletes are brands themselves; they can really elevate something they’re associated with. I think a lot of companies will take advantage of that and I don’t feel that it’s fairly remunerated. What athletes put in to get their status is 10 times more than what they actually see back. I think people are saying, ‘Hold on a minute, I can actually do my own thing here and get more rewards by doing something I’m actually passionate about.’
“The other side of it is that high performance athletes are quite driven. They’ll have a passion or flair for something and they can put energy into something they can put their name over. Business can be a vehicle to put all those values and characteristics into and create something for themselves.”
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