We were lucky to catch up with Patrick Letts recently and have shared our conversation below.

Patrick , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

We started in 2012 with one group of 5 kids and will now have 18 locations in 2023. In 2012 we started Crab Kickers as a part-time thing to see if it was something that could grow. The first time we put out a session to see if we could get interest and we only had 5 kids it was a little tough as we were hoping for multiple groups and lots of kids. From there we slowly grew. We tried several different marketing/promoting ideas/strategies. We spent hours putting flyers in door handles, did mailers, set-up at various events.

As we grew and added more locations and groups we had to start hiring and training coaches. Coaches are our most important aspect as they are the face that parents/kids see. We have for the most part hired great coaches, but occasionally we will hire a coach that does great in the interview, training and training sessions, but once they are on their own they struggle.

Some locations we added didn’t work out or one season we would have a lot of signups and then the next nothing. We have dropped some locations and added others.

In 2022 we have added Daycare programs and After-school programs.

What some may not realize is that it may take years for a business or business owner to make money. Any profits we made were poured back into the business.

Our goal is to have 5,000 kids through our programs in 2023.

If you need more from me please let me know.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Welcome To Crab Kickers!

We create a dynamic environment where children can develop soccer skills, social skills, coordination…, confidence and self-esteem, all while having FUN!

Crab Kickers is a one-of-a-kind soccer program developed to provide a dynamic environment where children can develop soccer skills, social skills, coordination, confidence and self-esteem built on a solid foundation of fun.

What Makes us Different:

Our programs span a broad range of ages and abilities. Many of the children have been with us since they were two.

Children in our programs not only evolve their abilities on the soccer field, but watch them grow in confidence both socially and athletically.

Our experienced staff starts with making sure kids have fun as they continue to succeed. In the end, continued participation is key, be it in soccer or anything else in life. If your child is enjoying it, they will continue to play.

We don’t use volunteer coaches, all our Coaches are trained and specialized personal experienced in running fun and exciting soccer sessions for kids.

8- Week Season

Our 8-Week Season is the most popular of our programs and it’s no wonder why. For a 1 time registration fee players receive 8 weeks of soccer on a day and time they choose fits them best. Included in the registration they also receive a Crab Kicker T-Shirt, Medal and Certificate.

This 8-week program has a Fall, Winter , Spring and Summer Season that you can pick from. Some choose to do just 1 while others elect to do multiple throughout the year, sometimes even more then 1 day a week.

Camps

Great for kids looking to have a fun, memorable experience full of exciting cool games, learning soccer and making friends. Licensed, Experienced and trained coaches on site at all times to run and conduct a fun and safe environment for all participants. Summer Camps run Monday-Friday from 9am-12pm. Other holiday related events such as the Black Friday and Christmas Break Camp have their own unique schedule. All camps include:

Multiple days of great summer fun playing soccer with kids their ages.
3-4 hours a day
Crab Kicker T-Shirt
Chances to Win Camp Prizes

Our Core Values:

Having Fun!
Social Skills
Self-Confidence/Self-Esteem
Coordination
Risk-taking
Overcoming fear of failure
Fitness
Vision-spatial awareness

At the core of Crab Kickers is fun! Fun nurtures a child’s inner growth while he/she begins to develop important skills not only in soccer, but also in life. Each class is designed to improve your child’s physical health, nurture their confidence, and self-esteem, develop their creativity and decision-making built specifically on a foundation of fun.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

When I started Crab Kickers I was a teacher. When I was in college I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I took a bunch of history classes and then my girlfriend now, wife Candace, saw that my college had a Sport Management program and said that would be perfect for me due to my passion for sports. So, I completed that major and worked for DC United of Major League Soccer for 3 years then I went to work for Crystal Palace Baltimore and they folded and I loved working for DC United, but didn’t want to go back to driving an hour for work so I entered a career changers program for teaching and while doing that program I spent a year working for the Baltimore Blast in the Professional Indoor Soccer League. I taught for 12 years and did not enjoy it. About 3 years into teaching I started Crab Kickers with the goal of leaving teaching. Going into the 2019-202o school year I dropped to a part-time teacher to see if I could financially make it work then Covid hit and I went back to full-time teaching for 2020-2021 and left teaching at the end of that year and I have been just doing Crab Kickers full-time since then.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I was running Crab Kickers for 2 years before meeting Henry Medrano. I met him when I was a coach at his High School, and he was a Senior. He started coaching for us spring of 2014 and coached here and there for a few years before coming on as a Part-time coach and administrator and now is Full-time with Crab Kickers. Pat Kelly I met when he played for me in College and he has coached for 4 years now and came on Full-time in 2022

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crabkickers.com
• Instagram: @crabkickers
• Facebook: @crabkickers
• Linkedin: @crabkickers
• Twitter: @crabkickers
• Youtube: @crabkickers

Image Credits
Hyeyoung Min