An Edinburgh man has spoken of how he overcame his battle with depression to open his dream store selling equipment to fighters in the capital.
Ross Koppel, 38, from Restalrig, launched Seconds Out Fight Store eight years ago, and celebrated the shop’s and his own birthday on Monday September 19. But the Edinburgh lad has had to overcome multiple obstacles in order to get to where he is today.
The entrepreneur was one of the most successful sales people within Mars UK when he first started out working but one year after being crowned best salesman in Britain, he was overcome by a feeling of depression. But after seeking guidance from his old boss, and now business mentor, David Cotton, he was able to address what was causing his unhappiness in life.
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Ross underwent treatment with a professional psychiatrist and whilst signed off from work he decided to pursue his dream of opening a fight store in Edinburgh. He had trained in Muay Thai for about a decade and always felt that there was a gap in the market for his idea.
After several months of hard work and support from friends and family, he managed to come up with enough funding to finally open the store which was unveiled by a young Josh Taylor who had recently won gold in the Glasgow Commonwealth games.
On his journey opening the store, he said: “I worked for eight years in the corporate world and was relatively successful. I had just won top sales person across the UK for Mars but a year later I started to feel dead low.
“At the time no one was really talking about depression but luckily my boss David recognised the signs. For the life of me I could not figure out what was wrong as I had a great career, family and job but I just didn’t want to be here.
“For about two years I travelled in a downward spiral that I would not wish upon anyone. But I was really helped by a psychiatrist that put me on a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy course.
“I found that the root cause all stemmed from me not truly being happy in my job. This led to me looking for new opportunities but with each application failure my self esteem took a real battering, I began questioning my own abilities and doubting myself.
“It was around this time that I thought why don’t I open a fight store, I had always wondered why Edinburgh did not have one. From the minute I started putting the vision together my life began to turn around.
“I was excited about life again and was spending more time with friends and family after shutting myself off. I recognised that I had illness and that the depression was not a true representation of myself.
“I opened the store on my 30th birthday after planning everything down to the smallest detail. I’m so grateful to my family and friends who helped me get set-up, whether it was my gran ironing tops, my dad laying the flooring, friends helping with painting or my old boss mentoring me with regards to how to run a business.
“It is funny to think that I would not have my store if I had not suffered from depression.”
The launch however was not all plain sailing. Ross says that he was expecting fighters from across the capital to flock to the store but on opening night he only sold some Thai oil to one of his pals.
But after some difficult opening days and weeks, the punters began to arrive. The business soon took off and Ross began to set up partnerships with Boxing Scotland, supporting amateur fighters and competitions through his business - a strong relationship that continues to exist today.
Although the store has faced challenges, from the pandemic to slow summers, the budding businessman never gave up, working morning, noon and night, always fighting to ensure that his dream career would become a success.
Ross also recalls the support that he received from Josh Taylor, a champion that he describes as fiercely loyal and down to earth. Not only did Josh open the store for him but he also allowed Ross to sponsor his rise to undisputed champion.
When Taylor became world champ and then undisputed - Seconds Out Fight Store’s logo could be seen on his shorts and the shop owner says that the fighters success has always been well deserved. Unfortunately a major deal with Everlast has put an end to this but Ross says that Taylor continues to support him in whatever way he can.
But Taylor is not the only undisputed champion with a link to the Montrose Terrace shop. Ross shares an intimate memory of when Ken Buchanan popped in for an afternoon.
He said: “Some of my friends knew Ken and brought him into the shop. It was a huge honour for me as in my opinion he is the greatest boxer in British history.
“One afternoon we decided to pop on one of his fights on the tele in the store. It was amazing how sharp he was, he could tell you what was about to happen in the fight before it happened. Baring in mind we just picked a random bout and it happened decades ago.
“We catch up from time to time but the support I have received from both Josh and him has been amazing. They’re two really down to earth guys.”
Ross has worked his socks off to be a store stocking the highest quality of fighting products. He has secured exclusive deals with the likes of Nike and also offers a wide range of fighting equipment from other major brands.
His advice to anyone setting up their own store is: “Anybody can do it. I’m not the most intelligent person and have no university degree, so if I can do it so can you.
“For me the reason that most businesses fail in their first year is how difficult it gets and you question yourself and give up. But the businesses that do survive and make a big name are the ones where an owner doesn’t give up and keeps fighting.
“I find it is the same with depression. The dark times don't last forever and the clouds lift with the good times following.”
You can visit his stores website here. And their Instagram here.
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