As a child I used to pole vault using an old rake in the garden to jump over a bar. Once I'd mastered it, I was hooked. There were no landing areas, just Mother Earth (and no coaches either) but my parents eventually bought me a proper bamboo pole. I wasn't an outstanding athlete, although the logistics of transporting a 12-foot pole around the countryside when you were too young to drive was enough of a disincentive to all but a handful of Scotland's youth.
I chose to study at the University of Edinburgh, as it provided opportunities for pole vaulting as well as continuing my education. My wife Alix and I were both fortunate enough to represent Britain at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and I competed for Scotland at the 1962, 1966, and 1970 Commonwealth Games.
The lessons from my pole vaulting experience are simple—if you wish to stand out from the crowd, don't be part of it. If you wish to be successful in any sphere, look for a niche where competition is minimal.
In business, I do the same. When I opened the Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 1970, many woollen mills had factory shops selling "mistakes" to tourists, but had no real retail presence.
My hometown, Langholm in southern Scotland, was too far away for Edinburgh tourists to visit. As a result, we took the initiative and opened a shop in Randolph Place in Edinburgh. This was just four months before the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh started, and we were invited to design the tartan that the Scottish athletes wore.
£1,500 was invested in the share capital—all that was ever invested as equity. The Edinburgh Woollen Mill brand took off quickly and we used it to buy shares in my family's business, Langholm Dyeing Company, eventually consolidating under one holding company.
Our strategy was to target the typical Marks and Spencer customer, identifying the most economical way of sourcing products, and market the products through our own shops in tourist towns.
By 1996, we had almost 200 stores and the business had changed a lot from its early days. After considering floating the Edinburgh Woollen Mill brand, we ultimately decided to sell privately to Grampian Holdings.
In the tourist towns we targeted, properties were often not available to rent so over the years, we ended up owning around 30% of our shops which we retained after the sale. We continue to hold property investments and have invested in other retailers including Schuh and Dobbies.
As a result, we changed the name of the original Edinburgh Woollen Mill Ltd company to Ashleybank Investments Ltd to reflect the changed make-up of our portfolio.
More recently I was honoured to be a baton-bearer ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Nowadays, my main activity is focused on supporting local community projects in Langholm through our family charity to help others in the community reach new heights.