The times they are a changin’ with Shane Buster from Occasions.
“Some jobs are hard. Some are easy. But if you’re passionate, you’ll do it without any complaints,” says Shane, fingers on his chin, as he considers his words. “Catering is really difficult.”
The catering company he operates, Occasions, was in fact, his boss’s. During his time at Ricoh as part of the change management team, he heard about how much difficulty his boss was having with his catering business. It was then that he volunteered to help operate, as a challenge to himself.
“When you’re required to run a catering event for a thousand people, you really feel the pressure. You’ll find staff not showing up at the last minute, food not cooked properly, and untrained part timers finding it difficult to manage the crowd. It’s crazy.” He stares into the distance, as the recollection plays out in his mind. “The expectation is always 110%. All the time.”
As if that’s not enough pressure, he goes on to tell me about his other business, Kingly, which is an experimental e-commerce startup he’s working on, that sells office supplies. It’s a smart niche that he’s gone into — few companies operate in this area — that arose out of his experience being bogged down by sourcing for things like toners, printers, and point-of-sale equipment.
“It’s definitely a learning experience. It’s not something I’m totally familiar with, but it’s really fun,” he says. “I guess the larger goal with Kingly is to help companies leverage technology to reduce cost. The way I see it, it’s about empowering people and giving them flexibility. When you can align their needs, you get a sense of achievement that cannot be replicated.”
I quiz him on where all this is going, and if there’s an ideal lifestyle or end goal that he’s looking for. Shane shrugs, and calmly leans forward to consider the question.
“People like Elon Musk, Obama. They’ve brought about a lot of good change. But it’s not easy. You must be very assertive. You’ve got to know what you want,” he says. “For me, I’d like to be both free from work but involved at the same time. Like, say, working from the beach or anywhere else in the world. Having freedom, but being able to run my own business. Does that make sense?”
He laughs, knowing how unrealistic a situation like that is.
“Ah well, as long as business is going good, I have time to react to problems, and customers are happy. I’ll be satisfied.” Shane sits back in his chair, and sips his coffee. “Oh, and completing Final Fantasy XV on my PS4.”
We catch up on everything else we’re involved in — he’s busy connecting the gadgets in his bedroom to the cloud — and laugh over how different life is now, since leaving our corporate jobs. It’s clearly been the right decision for Shane.
