Ben Saunders
Ben has spent the last six years leading polar expeditions and in October 2007 he's embarking on the SOUTH expedition - the first return journey to the South Pole on foot and the longest unsupported polar journey of all time. Here he answers our questions about how he got where he is today.
What's the story behind your enterprise?
I’ve spent the last six years of my life leading polar expeditions (I’m the youngest to ski solo to the North Pole and hold the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton) and this October I’m setting out from the coast of Antarctica to make the first return journey to the South Pole on foot. It will be the longest unsupported polar journey of all time.
My first major expedition was with Pen Hadow, back in 2001. We tried to ski unsupported from Russia to the North Pole, but didn’t quite make it. Pen was an amazing mentor, and that expedition was a huge learning curve. There was a shorter solo training expedition in 2003, then a major expedition in spring 2004 (solo to the North Pole from Russia – just over 1,000km in 72 days and described by Reinhold Messner as “ten times as dangerous as climbing Everest”).
The funding comes almost exclusively from corporate sponsorship, although I’m now at a stage where I can reinvest money I earn from public speaking back into my expeditions.
My expedition to Antarctica this year is called SOUTH and we have big media partnerships with Yahoo! and the Discovery Channel.
What's your education background?
I went to five schools in all, from a tiny village primary school to a boarding school for a bit, to a grammar school, to a comprehensive with 1,800 pupils. I left school after A-Levels ( I got a C and two Ds).
Do you think there are enough role models of young people who have set up their own businesses? Who if anyone has inspired you?
In the expedition world, I was inspired by a few big names (Ranulph Fiennes, Chris Bonnington) as well as lesser-known pioneers like Pen Hadow and the Norwegian Borge Ousland. In the business world, I’m inspired by people who aren't afraid to take on multinational companies with inventions they’ve made in their garden sheds - people like James Dyson and Will King of King of Shaves toiletries.
How did you get your first break?
Getting the chance to go on an expedition with Pen Hadow, back in 2001. I was 23 at the time, and Pen was a great mentor.
It scared the hell out of me at the time, and in many ways it was the biggest failure of my entire life (we didn’t get to the Pole and it left me in debt that took years to pay off) but it was the first real stepping stone to where I am now.
Who is the one person who has been most influential in your success?
Aside from Pen Hadow, John Ridgway was another amazing mentor and inspiration. He was the first person to row the Atlantic (along with Chay Blythe) back in 1966 and I worked for John for a year when I was 19.
Have you ever been a part of a network which has helped your business?
I was on MySpace for a bit, but ended up taking my page down. I’m on LinkedIn but don’t use it much. I use a great travel site called Dopplr, my photos are on Flickr and I’m on a couple of networking sites called aSmallWorld and Qube.
How did your idea become a reality? Was it a passion which turned into a business idea?
It was absolutely a passion. I followed that, first and foremost, with no idea of where it would take me. For the first couple of years I was just ploughing further into debt and I never imagined I’d be where I am now. The crucial thing is figuring out what your passion is, and then following it with everything you got. If you do what you love, to the best of your ability, the money will follow eventually.
How did you get access to finance?
Purely through corporate sponsorship, which has been a big challenge. I’ve never had any formal training in sales / marketing / fundraising, so it’s taken a lot of trial and error to figure it out! I’m still learning now…
Have you ever worked for someone else? Do you think employers allow young people to be creative in the workplace?
Yes! I’ve had loads of jobs, starting from a paper round at 14, to part-time jobs when I was at school, mostly in shops (either bike shops or selling outdoor gear). On the whole, the experience was great, but the pay was rubbish!
I was allowed to be pretty creative at times – I remember helping to create window displays when I was 15 or 16, and you certainly had to think on your toes when trying to sell things (and especially dealing with complaining customers!) Working in shops as a teenager also taught me a huge amount about communication and negotiation – the kind of things you’d never learn at school.
What would your advice be to someone thinking about setting up their own business? How would you encourage someone to ‘take the plunge’ and overcome a fear of failure?
The biggest lesson for me has been that 'failure' doesn’t really mean much at all. My first expedition, back in 2001, was in many ways the biggest failure of my entire life, but I wouldn’t be where I am now if I hadn’t actually got off my backside and had a go. The only real failure in life is not even trying in the first place.
I’d also advise thinking about small steps – sometimes my expedition goals seem so overwhelming (raising £500,000 before September this year, then skiing 68 back-to-back marathons in Antarctica) that I can only deal with it by working back to the small steps I can make today, like is there a phone call I need to make, or an email I need to write?
The internet is a great tool. If you’re doing something cool, you should be blogging about it!