Waterpolo as a Lifestyle

Hello everybody. Today we will have a guest that we have hosted once before. Last time we have spoken about many topics but mainly about his summer business, Water polo Cruise, which our guest and his business partner/friend have started. Since then our guest has ventured into another, a non water polo related, business. The real estate business. So I decided to invite again mr. Ivan Vranješ. To catch up with him and ask him some questions. Questions about his Water polo Cruise and about the real estate value of a pool.

Hello Ivan. Thank you for doing an interview with me again. How are you? I see that you are in Croatia already. How are the organizations for this year’s Water polo cruise going?

               Thank you for your invitation for an interview. Yes, I am already here in Croatia preparing everything for our guests to arrive. We are fully booked for this summer and almost to a pre covid capacity. It is not an easy task to organize these tours and coordinate all of the moving parts. Before water polo our guests are our priority. We are trying to accommodate them in any way possible before they get on the cruise; from air travel, ground transportation, hotel stay and even meals. Whatever they need we usually step in to help them. It is our goal to create a once in a lifetime experience for these families.

At this point in time this is not your first rodeo with the Water polo cruise. Neither is the second, or the third. This project of yours seems like it could be sticking around for a while. Whats your take on it? Are you still doing it on a summer by summer basis and do you see yourself, in a few years time, making real long term plans and projections with this water polo experience?

               It is not our first rodeo. We are blessed to be doing this for 9 years. As I mentioned before, there are many moving parts when organizing something like this and you have to be coordinated and on the same page with everyone involved. I have to say that I am lucky to have a partner like Mateo that understands this and we have been working well together from the beginning. The nature of our cruise is revolving around families. Water polo families to be more precise. Unlike other camps and trips, for us water polo is the reason but not in the first plan. Being an athlete in any sport is so much more than learning about the technical or tactical parts of the game. Well rounded person will always give you more in the pool. We are trying to focus on this. I think that was our recipe for success all of these years. Parents certainly appreciate it and without the strong support from home it is hard to become successful in sports. Another goal that we have when working with these athletes and families is to rekindle that water polo fire in them. Create that intrinsic motivation that is important if you want to be a successful athlete. After many years working with different age group athletes I have realized that coaches can only do so much, or so little, and most of the work of creating a successful athlete is within the athlete. If there’s is no self motivation then there will be no results. It is impossible to make someone do something that they don’t want to do.   Our cruise is designed to motivate everyone to do more. It is not a coincidence that most of the teams that come on the cruise come back to their schools and clubs and have the best season ever. Since our cruise is based on the off season team travel we are basically constrained within that timeline. If you think of it, world operates in the manner that revolves around the school schedule. Most families plan their trips once the school is over. We do too. Our cruises start mid to end of June and go to mid August. After that most people go back to their daily grind. We help them to recharge their batteries.

The inflatable pool that you have on your cruise ships, I have seen a very similar model on some facebook pictures. I understood it in our last interview that you yourself have designed the inflatable water polo field. Did you patent your design by any chance?

               I have seen people copying the design of the field. We were the first ones using the field because it serves the purpose for us. It fits perfectly for what we are doing. It is portable and easy to carry on our yacht. That way we can play whenever we want. And we have played in some very cool places. When I have designed this I’ve never wanted to go in the business of making inflatable water polo fields. I have designed it to make it easier to play water polo. Our goal was always to promote our sport and to inspire as many people as we can. I didn’t patent that design and I don’t have any plans on doing it. I hope that more people will follow our footsteps and play water polo anywhere they can. I don’t think that water polo should be played only in pools. Who needs a pool anyway.

And now I want to ask you some stuff about your new business. How did you got into real estate selling and why? Besides living in the South California, what else motivated you to start playing this type of business?

               I have to correct you on this one. I am not buying or selling real estate, I am in real estate financing. This industry was always of interest to me. It’s very dynamic and fast paced. You have to talk to and meet a lot of people. It is interesting. It certainly has ups and downs just like any other industry and you have to be vigilant and move with the market. I think that it’s very similar to coaching or playing sports. You always have to figure out what moves the market. You can’t be complacent. I am curious by nature and I like to learn so it’s very satisfying for me. Also, you help people realize their goals and dreams. That is always rewarding.

So how much do you reinvest from what you earn and do you invest any of the profits from the water polo cruise business into the real estate business and vice versa?

Water polo cruise is a partnership. As I mentioned before I am in this with Mateo. We are constantly talking about how to make our experience better and what else we can add. We use our profits to grow the overall experience of our cruise. We both get payed and we use those proceeds in different ways. Mateo have used some of his earnings to invest in the boating business. He just ended up building on of a kind catamaran for daily trips around Split. If you want to have one day experience on the surrounding islands you definitely want to get in touch with him. You can check what he is doing at https://splitbluecave.com

Is the trend of remote working going to heavily affect the value of the real estate that a company owns and how is the effect of just that workplace shift going to affect the value of the whole company? From my limited understanding, just like the people, the companies too, either use their real estate to leverage a better loan, or vice versa. Right?

Remote work helps in many ways. Technology has gone far that some jobs you can do from anywhere in the world. That is great for many people. It is possible for people to tackle multiple jobs. I think that this is great for water polo since it’s a small sport and many people involved in it can’t be supported by only water polo. Today you have to have multiple streams of revenue. Our company doesn’t own any real estate. We as individuals do. It is always possible to use leverage and reinvest it in business. However, using leverage to start new business or expand the existing is only recommended if it’s a sound investment that will give you a good return on the investment. Currently, during the inflation period, real estate is the best hedge against the inflation. Right now it would be good to invest in real estate.

In your opinion. Does a swimming pool have any real real estate value? Is it worth a certain company to build a pool to increase its liquidity, or is the hassle of running a pool simply not worth it?

Of course that swimming pool has real estate value. You need land to build the pool, the structure itself has a value. However, the questions is what is the operating cost of the pool. Just like with any other business there needs to be calculated feasibility to make sure that business will be profitable. It just needs to make sense. Now, is that pool going to be just used for water polo and be profitable? That is the real question. I always like to think positive and I believe that it can be done in certain places. One of those places would be in Southern California for sure. Another thing to consider is that sometimes profits are not only thing that drives a business. Many successful businesses have started by being unprofitable. One of my favorite quotes is from Henry Ford: “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”  Create something more and profits will follow.