The inspiration behind the idea
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 3:18 am
Eddie Ray, founder of Progressive Sports, has loved sports since he was young. As a child, he never enjoyed the academic side of school, but physical education classes were his favourites.
Soon he began playing sports outside of school, going on to study it at college.
“Throughout the college course, I got involved in coaching kids, and I was like, yeah I like this. And the rest was history.”
We spoke to Eddie about his business journey, the challenges he faced along the way and how he maintains his original company vision.
College was a pivotal time in Eddie’s life and poland rcs data helped him realise sports coaching was what he wanted to explore.
“I suppose I got a bit of inspiration from my employer at the time. I learnt what I wouldn’t do and what I would do differently.”
That wasn’t the only inspiration Eddie had. Growing up, he was surrounded by business-minded individuals.
In fact, Eddie’s father and uncle both had their own businesses. Although a little smaller in nature, Eddie learned a lot.
“In the back of my head, I knew I would run a business one day and I married the two together.”
Taking the plunge
Fast forward a bit and the time had come to set up his own business. Still working for his employer, Eddie knew he could do things better and decided to give it a try himself. In 2006, Progressive Sports was founded.
“There was no grand plan. We certainly do a lot more planning nowadays. But I think that in those early days, there was ignorance and naivety. But sometimes that is a good thing in business.”
Hitting a crossroads
In 2009, Progressive Sports was thriving. Only being three years into the business, they were achieving double the turnover year on year. That’s when Eddie knew he was onto something.
Soon he began playing sports outside of school, going on to study it at college.
“Throughout the college course, I got involved in coaching kids, and I was like, yeah I like this. And the rest was history.”
We spoke to Eddie about his business journey, the challenges he faced along the way and how he maintains his original company vision.
College was a pivotal time in Eddie’s life and poland rcs data helped him realise sports coaching was what he wanted to explore.
“I suppose I got a bit of inspiration from my employer at the time. I learnt what I wouldn’t do and what I would do differently.”
That wasn’t the only inspiration Eddie had. Growing up, he was surrounded by business-minded individuals.
In fact, Eddie’s father and uncle both had their own businesses. Although a little smaller in nature, Eddie learned a lot.
“In the back of my head, I knew I would run a business one day and I married the two together.”
Taking the plunge
Fast forward a bit and the time had come to set up his own business. Still working for his employer, Eddie knew he could do things better and decided to give it a try himself. In 2006, Progressive Sports was founded.
“There was no grand plan. We certainly do a lot more planning nowadays. But I think that in those early days, there was ignorance and naivety. But sometimes that is a good thing in business.”
Hitting a crossroads
In 2009, Progressive Sports was thriving. Only being three years into the business, they were achieving double the turnover year on year. That’s when Eddie knew he was onto something.