For Nino, skiing has always been part of his life. Introduced to the sport by his dad who was an instructor and coach himself, Nino started skiing when he was 3 years old “all my life involves skiing and winter sports”, he says. Today Nino has his own ski eyewear business and with the help of Maison Sport, he can manage his time with his ski teaching clients, to create time dedicated to running the eyewear business.

Nino started skiing early on in Slovenia, the place he calls home. By the time he reached high school he joined his local race club and went on to compete in Alpine Ski races, Giant Slalom, and Super G, reaching the country’s top 10. Even though he spent his childhood and teenage years in the ski racing world, Nino’s dream was to become a P.E teacher, not a ski instructor.

His Changing of Career Path  

Following his chosen path of becoming a teacher, Nino went to university and studied Sports Science. Before going to university though, Nino completed his first course to become a ski instructor, he did it just for fun, but ended up enjoying it so much he decided to get fully qualified, whilst studying to get his P.E. teaching degree. By the time he finished his studies he was also a fully certified ski instructor and coach. Even with his certification, Nino’s mind was set on becoming a P.E teacher and during his last year in university he actually found a job posting that would’ve been perfect for him, but unfortunately or fortunately looking back at it now, he was still finishing his thesis so he couldn’t apply for the position in time.

Finding himself graduated and without a job, Nino decided to use his instructor certificate and travelled to Austria where he did his first winter season as an instructor “I would say fortunately I didn’t get that job” he says happily.  One season as an instructor was all it took to change Nino’s mind about his career. Ever since then he’s been on the slopes more or less 200 days a year, in  a career to date which has seen him teach around 2,000 clients.

Managing His Business & His Lessons 

Nino has kept teaching year after year and has absolutely loved it, building lasting relationships with returning clients and meeting so many new people. In 2019 he decided to pursue another dream of his and it is then that Nino opened the first Slovenian company to produce ski and mountain bike goggles and sunglasses, Mint Sport. Many might think that running your own business means you only dedicate your time to that and have little to no time for everything else, and many times it is this way. Nino has more than halved the days he spends teaching on a yearly basis, but he still wants to continue teaching his lifelong clients, and still wants to spend a couple of weeks/months in the mountains doing what he loves “This is why I decided to work with Maison Sport and work for myself, instead of with a ski school” he told me.

The Maison Sport platform became the perfect solution for Nino as he kept building his own client list. With a company to run, it’s important for Nino to be able to choose the days and times during which he wants to teach, Maison Sport ensures Nino has total control over his own schedule. He can block out the times slots when he needs to take business calls, or days when he wants to work on Mint Sport instead of teaching, and customers can see his availability on his Maison Sport profile, making sure he won’t get a booking for a time when he is not available. Having his profile on Maison Sport also makes it easier for his returning clients to find him and book him directly instead of having to book through a ski school and run the risk of not being able to book him.

As his business continues to grow we are sure Nino will have more specific scheduling needs which he will be able to manage through Maison Sport ensuring he only gets bookings he is interested in and can complete. Many of the instructors on Maison Sport have their own business just like Nino, and by having control over their calendars, prices, and hours, they get to work on their own business and not give up the winter season but instead make it fit into their daily life.