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What does a ‘xxxxx’ do?

What does a ‘Head of Partnerships’ do?

A look through the eyes of URBNSURF’s James Miles

Some of you might be aware of James ‘Jimmy’ Miles from Lipped The Surfer’s Podcast. Teamed up with Cahill Bell-Warren, he analyses fantasy surfer picks, interviews high profile surfers/industry personalities, and generally discusses all things fun in boardsports. James’ day job, though, is the Head of Partnerships at URBNSURF – Australia’s first commercially active chain of wave parks. 

Initially starting in media sales for ARN and News Corp for over a decade, James started to question the values of working for a corporate empire and decided to make a shift. He worked with carry brand Bellroy for a number of years, before meeting the URBNSURF team via his podcast. The fit clicked. He soon started as Sales Manager and has taken on a bunch of projects for the group along the way, like running the first WSL QS events in a pool including a live broadcast last year on 7Plus.

But, what does a ‘Head of Partnerships’ actually do? 

We caught up with James to chat about his day-to-day, some perks of his role and clear up any misconceptions that all he does is get chlorine barrels from 9 to 5.

Jim Miles - Head of Partnerships at URBNSURF

What does a normal day look like for you at the moment?

Absolutely no such thing as a normal day in surf parks. Ideally, finding ways to add value for partners and guests – a mix of focused project work, discovery calls to look for new opportunities and collaboration with our team and partners to deliver on our brand promise.  I do try to surf when I’m onsite. In summer we are often booked out, but through winter it’s an epic way to focus on what’s important.

What is the main function of a Head of Partnerships?

I find, keep and grow partnerships across the business to drive commercial outcomes and elevate customer experience. This could be supply partners like Rip Curl & Creatures of Leisure, who provide great equipment to elevate customer experience, or brand partners like La Roche Posay or BYD who offer sunscreen samples and skin checks or EV test drives to our guests.

It also extends into broader relationship management across state and national tourism organisations, sports organisations such as Surfing NSW & Victoria, and a broad range of stakeholders.  

At the end of the day, surf parks are an emerging industry. As a business URBNSURF has really been in start up mode since opening. This means I’ve been lucky enough to be able to learn about a broad range of different parts of the business. That’s the real value in start-ups – you can get exposure to so many different things that you might not get to be involved in with a more established company.

What’s the biggest perk of your job?

I think the obvious is getting to surf at work but I also really get fulfilled seeing people that traditionally would struggle to access waves, have incredible experiences in the lagoon.  School kids from really diverse backgrounds learning to surf in the Bays, seeing people’s excitement when they nail their first wave on the Point or get their first barrel.  

We launched an event last year called Barrel Fest and offered “Learn to tube ride” lessons as part of the day.  I remember surfing with one of the guests and he was literally shaking with excitement at getting his first (and 2nd/3rd/4th and 5th) barrels.  It’s rare to work with a product that delivers such unbridled joy!

I also got to launch the initial URBNSURF Boardriders Club, as someone that has really benefited from being part of a grassroots Boardriders club (thanks TBC!). To be able to help develop that community in the north of Melbourne was hugely satisfying.

What are the biggest challenges?

Operating & commercialising one park while building a second was a challenge.  It’s amazing to be part of the first team to develop and operate two parks, but it took its toll.  The number of moving parts can be stressful in any start up but opening Sydney which was a complex civil development, combined with running Melbourne which is a complex operating attraction, both with a very new commercial model really pushes your limits.  If I’m being honest, we also have issues as an industry with misinformation – just what is and isn’t real and viable

How do you balance the different parts of your role?

Since the opening of Sydney, the business has become more structured so there is a little less daily balancing. I think if you’re looking at start ups though you need to develop the ability to quickly access the value of a project and be very measured in your focus.  I recently read a great book called “Thinking in Bets” by Annie Duke and it talks about every decision committing us to a course of action that eliminates acting on alternatives.  I’m trying to think more in the framework of what am I NOT doing if I’m answering this random but super interesting email (like an interview from NeverWork) and taking the time to deeply consider where I can actually add the most value.  

Practically, I try to get out of my inbox as much as possible and use Asana or a similar task management tool so I don’t keep on getting distracted by the newest shiny opportunity that comes through on email.

What’s the main misconception about what you do?

That I just surf all day everyday haha.  

I think a common misconception is that I must be bored of talking and thinking about wave pools or even surfing in general. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We are only scratching the surface as an industry, particularly in terms of building the new commercial playbook for surf parks in Australia across two diverse markets.  Who is the next layer of surf park customers beyond existing surfers, what’s the key messaging that’s going to attract them and how do we deliver a customer experience that suits those broader segments (rather than a surfer who is happy to walk on nails to get a wave).

Finally, if someone wanted your job, what kind of skills should they look to develop?

Shockingly in my late 40’s, URBNSURF (at just over 5 years) is the longest job I’ve stayed with.  I’ve historically shifted jobs every 3-4 years, which I think has helped broaden my skillset.

For sales, getting initial jobs that allow you to repeat the sales process over and over again on lower transaction values is a great starting point (the fitness industry as an example).  You learn that sales is just a conversation between two people to see if they can work together to add value (in any and all ways) to each other.  The skill of sales is not to hoodwink people but to find ways to solve problems for each other. It’s really about good partnerships.

I’ve also benefited in my career from using side hustles to simultaneously grow professionally and build a ‘personal brand’.  Mark Ritson talks about it as top of funnel marketing for your career.  Doing Lipped the Surfer’s Podcast directly led to me working at URBNSURF and exposed me to some amazing people in the surf industry that have been gracious with their time and allowed me to learn from them.  

Simultaneously I learnt how to build content, develop a social media strategy, commercialise a business, build a website and a million other small lessons, but all at a level where I could fail with very little risk.  Building Lipped and 8 Weapons Podcast, commentating surf and combat sports events and a bunch of random other things I’ve done (often for free).  They have all helped widen my network and, at the same time, helped me develop a broader skill base and gain confidence in my abilities in ways that could be directly applied to my day job. 

Finally, I think that marketing extends so far down most sales funnels these days that developing skills as a “smarketer” and having skills up and down the funnel is a great way to add value to your organisation and your customers.

Jim Miles - Head of Partnerships at URBNSURF