"In our experience, feeling a sense of belonging, purpose and a passion for the work we do keeps our employees happy."
Meet Tim Geisler, Founder and lead instructor of Nautilus Sailing, an international sailing school that provides intensive courses in exotic destinations worldwide.
With a background in education, Tim combines his passion for sailing with his expertise in teaching to help people learn to sail and achieve their dreams of exploring the oceans.
He has a wealth of global sailing experience and has sailed extensively in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Mexico, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Tim Geisler: Hello! My name is Tim Geisler and I am the founder and lead instructor for Nautilus Sailing. Nautilus Sailing is an international sailing school that helps people learn to sail on intensive week-long live-aboard courses in exotic destinations around the world.
Most of our clients are dreaming about purchasing a sailing yacht and setting off to explore the oceans of the world, and we love being able to give them the skills, knowledge, and confidence to successfully follow their dreams…
I worked for many years in education as a classroom teacher, then helped train new teachers, and worked on the design and implementation of an experimental education program.
After a 5 year stint as the VP of Sales and Marketing for an international non-profit working with high net-worth entrepreneurs, I had the amazing opportunity to combine my experience in education with my passions in life, and Nautilus Sailing was born in 2010.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffet, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Tim Geisler: Our company helps people embark on their sailing dreams! We are different from most coastal sailing schools, in that we take our clients to some of the most spectacular sailing destinations on the planet and teach on the newest boats in production, to give them a life-changing experience.
Our biggest strength are our award-winning instructors that are not just great sailors but talented educators and are flown in for each Nautilus trip!
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, are an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle keeping talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are adapting to the current shift we see?
Tim Geisler: In our experience, feeling a sense of belonging, purpose and a passion for the work we do keeps our employees happy. We are incredibly selective about the people we hire; first and foremost, we are looking for people that are excited and will love the role they will be in.
We don’t want staff that just want “a job”! We give our staff lots of autonomy, try to provide variety in their work, and most importantly, want them to know that they are an integral part of our Nautilus team.
Here is a two fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Tim Geisler: There are two books that have been instrumental in our business! The first was “E-Myth” by Michael Gerber, which really helped us understand how to best set up, organize and create systems to ensure our business’ success.
This is a fabulous book that helped Nautilus avoid many of the common pitfalls that plague brand-new businesses. The other huge life lesson we learned was from a book titled “Blue Ocean Strategy.”
The premise of this book is that most businesses start in a crowded market space (a bloody, cutthroat red ocean where everyone is fighting for an ever-diminishing market share) whereas businesses that can start with a unique offering in a blue ocean, with uncontested market space, will be far more successful!
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Tim Geisler: One of the biggest challenges we’ve had is that the courses we sell are more of a luxury item, and so as economies and financial markets fluctuate, we are very aware that expensive trips are usually the first items to be cut from people’s expenditures in a downturn.
Right now, the challenge for us is, how do we continue to craft and offer products that will help give our business stability in the midst of market fluctuations.
2020, 2021, 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Tim Geisler: Yes, the past few years with the global pandemic have been an insane roller coaster ride for our business! The lessons we have learned are firstly that we need to have the savings and liquidity to survive at least 6-12 months with no income.
When the entire world locked down and we couldn’t run any courses and had no new bookings, this was critical. The second lesson we learned that should serve us well as we enter 2023, is that you need to be lean, nimble, and ready to explore new opportunities.
For us, that means constantly monitoring expenses to make sure we are religiously pursuing profitability and exploring new online teaching opportunities and other products we can offer people.
What does “success” in the year to come mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Tim Geisler: I think I aspire to a greater sense of balance between work and personal life! We are emerging from a challenging season for our business with the pandemic, one where I had to be extremely involved in the business at the cost of my personal life.
I want to have a season where I can spend more time with my wife and kids, and achieve a healthier work/family balance.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Tim Geisler for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Tim Geisler or his company, you can do it through his – Instagram
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