May 9, 1997
Isle of Wight to Newquay
I started surfing the backwaters of the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom at age nine. While the Isle of Wight is a lovely place to surf, it was the infamous surfing town of Newquay that called my name. The calling became insistent shouting, and so I spent all winter saving enough money to purchase a one-way train ticket to Newquay, 6 hours west of my hometown. The shouting stopped the moment my feet felt the sand, and in my heart, I felt peace. This marks the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey… one that has led me to many beaches and businesses around the world.
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July 12, 2015
Surf Bum To Surf-epreneur
From age 16 to 24, I worked for a local surf school, moving my way up the ranks as a RLSA Beach Lifeguard and ISA Surf Coach. I became aware of an untapped market in private surf coaching (which didn't exist at the time), so I created 121 Surf Coach. Instead of teaching 40 people for $40 an hour, I was now teaching 1 person for $300 per hour. I quickly adopted the work smarter, not harder mentality, and my life as a true business owner had begun. The bond I created with my students allowed me to develop a secondary business; this time in surf travel. By the age of 24, I had traveled to and surfed in over 36 different countries (all trips were self-funded), and each summer I would return to the UK. My 121 Surf Coach clients would ask where they should go surfing during the winter. Since I had been there, done that, I put my knowledge of the world’s best surf spots to good use, and created Errant Surf Travel. Over the next seven years, Errant Surf would go on to become a seven-figure travel agency: the largest travel company specializing in surfing vacations.
July 31, 2012
When Things Went South (Or West to Canada!)
I was riding the biggest and best wave of my life alongside my incredible partner, Theresa. The saying, “behind every man, there’s a great woman,” certainly rings true for me! We operated a surf camp, surf school, bar and hotel in Spain, a surf school in the UK, and the world's largest surf travel company. Dylan was four years old and Theresa had just given birth to our twins, Summer and Joel. In the Spring of 2012, out of nowhere, Theresa was told she had Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. We were young parents and we were about to lose everything. I was Errant Surf, and Errant Surf was me. Despite huge sales and a massive global reach, the moment I had to step out of the picture to look after my young family, things went south, and they went south really, really quickly. We decided the best thing to do was to move to Canada to allow Theresa to heal with her family and friends close by.
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December 6, 2012
Marwick Marketing Is Born
Arriving in the suburbs of Vancouver, I knew one thing: my slate had been wiped clean. Starting fresh in the world of business, not knowing anyone was kind of weird, yet quite liberating, so I set out to build a business that would grow without me. In year one, we were a team of two people, in year three we were a team of five people, and in year five we were a team of 19 dedicated, digital marketing lovers. Marwick Marketing is the highest-rated agency in Canada (based on Google reviews) and is the fastest-growing Premier Google Partner Agency in Western Canada. In the last two years, I have been to the office four times, which has allowed me to pursue my true passion, surfing. In 2019 Marwick placed in the TOP 20 FASTEST-GROWING companies in British Columbia in the Business In Vancouver polls.
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February 12, 2014
CIMC - Canada's Largest Marketing Conference (side hustle 101)
In 2014, I moved our Marwick office to Squamish to gain a better work/life balance. How was I going to make an impact with growing a digital marketing agency in a former logging town and generate Canada’s largest marketing conference in Squamish? From 2014 to 2017, our conference grew to over 1,500 attendees, all gathered to watch and network with speakers from Google, Bing, Disney, Visa, Pixar, RBC and so many more. In the end, it grew so big, we sold it to allow us to focus on our agencies.
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June 1, 2019
Taking Time Out To Surf In The World Championships
The benefit of building your dream business is "living life" on your terms. I qualified to represent Canada (by winning the National Championships in 2018) at the I.S.A. World Longboard Championships held in Biarritz, France. I surfed against the world's current number one and placed in the top half of the field with surfers from over 34 countries. Having a strong business behind me allowed me to travel in the months leading up to the event, and totally tune out during the contest month. Thanks team Marwick!
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October 5, 2018
Hitting The Seven-Figure Agency Goal
In 2018, we surpassed the seven-figure marketing agency goal I set out to smash in 2012. We launched a secondary agency called The LiT Agency to focus specifically on the fast-growing marijuana sector. I created christianthomson.com to help business owners, and we sold most of our belongings and moved to Costa Rica. Living in Costa Rica allowed me to work on my terms, delivering the highest quality business growth tools while fine-tuning our family’s lifestyle each and every day.
January 19, 2021
Back In The UK
In Spring 2020 when COVID hit we decided to return from Costa Rica to Canada to support the Marwick Marketing team. During this time I was excited to bring in my new business partner Angie Dosanjh, former marketing manager at Business Development Bank of Canada, to strengthen Marwick Marketing. In the Summer of 2020 we launched Marwick Marketing into the UK and in 2021 we are expanding Marwick Marketing into the USA. Since the start of 2021, I am back in the United Kingdom and as well as supporting Marwick Marketing in the role of CEO, I am consulting for UK-based companies looking to increase their revenue with digital marketing.