Meet Spencer MacRae

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Spencer MacRae. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Spencer below.

Spencer, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?

In short, my Father. I think the generosity gene fell very close to the tree. Children are sponges absorbing everything they see and I saw just that in my father when I was growing up. He is the most generous person I know even when he has little to none he wants to share it with the world.

My outlook on life is the same, I want to share all that I can with whomever I can. One of the benefits of working in a field you love is you feel like you never work a day in your life. When I am on the water, sailing guests along our beautiful towns waterfront I am sharing the joy I feel everyday when I come to work. That feeling I believe everyone deserves to experience and my hope is that I will in some part brighten someones day; expose them to something new that brings them joy; and with luck they will take that little seed of relaxation and bliss with them when they leave our yacht.

If I can give back to my family, friends, and the world by sharing joy that is a success.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I own and operate SunSwept Sailing, a sailing charter business in Santa Barbara, CA aboard Kelpie, a beautifully restored 50 year old sailing yacht. We operate year-round offering charters from one to four hours sailing along the beautiful American Riviera ®.

The following blurb is from the Visit Santa Barbara micro-site and completely encapsulates what we are all about:

SunSwept Sailing is Santa Barbara’s most exclusive private charter, aboard the classic sailing yacht, Kelpie. Sailing in Santa Barbara has never looked so good.

Private Charters Aboard Sailing Yacht Kelpie
Your party of up to six passengers will enjoy an exhilarating private sailboat charter along the Santa Barbara coastline with magnificent ocean and mountain views. You’ll have the time of your life aboard the classic yacht, Kelpie, with her exquisite wooden features and smooth sailing style. Sit back, relax and delight in occasional wildlife sightings such as harbor seals, sea lions, bottlenose dolphins and much more. Choose from one of their specially curated cruises or customize your own private sailing adventure.

One very exciting offering we have is our Sound Bath Sail where we sail with a local sound practitioner playing healing bowls, chimes, and other instruments for a profound sound journey at sea. We partner with Music of the Spheres Wellness Center in Santa Barbara for this creative collaboration that is a crowd pleaser.
We also donate a year-long series to the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation so children and their families can have a unique experience and bring some joy to them during their treatment.

When sailing, you never get the same day twice. We are lucky in Santa Barbara to have yearlong sunshine and settled weather allowing us to provide a near perfect experience every time. Whether aboard for a harbor cruise, coastal adventure, sunset sail, whale watching, or romantic proposal guests are sure to walk away with joyful memories and huge smiles.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Know your self worth:

Being let go after 20 years was a complete capsize in my reality and sense of self. I felt worthless and confused as to what I would do to support my family. How could I have let this happen? Was it something I did? These were all questions I would ask myself and would keep me up at night. After a few months of embarassing self pity I realized it’s about how many times you get back up and so I pulled myself upright and decided I wouldn’t let my perception of how I felt other people in my industry saw me (as the black sheep that got let go) and live the existence I wanted into reality.

Working for oneself is tricky to manage. You must have a lot of self control and determination and willingness to keep on keeping on even when the going is tough. So I forced myself to remember my positive attributes and why my track record was perfect and realized it wasn’t about where I was working because the asset was ME. That is when I realized the company I was with lost an invaluable asset.

With the new realization of my self worth I was able to renew my confidence and as soon as I believed in myself again the opportunities started falling in my lap. My independent business was starting to gain traction, my side hustles were keeping me so busy I was doing better financially than when I was on salary!

During a vocational class I took in college I learned the most valuable piece of advice in business – “charge what your worth” if you don’t feel you are worth anything you won’t make any money so gaining that self confidence and holding yourself in high regard is the key to success. If you aren’t comfortable charging what you are worth you will only set yourself back again and again.

2. Fake it till you make it

You won’t start out knowing everything and it will feel overwhelming. This is a good sign! You will realize that you must put on your game face, show the customer that you, YOU have what it takes to deliver them the experience or product you are selling. If you believe in yourself and live the dream you imagine, the reality will take hold in that image.
No successful company became successful on day one, most not in year 1, it takes time, patience, and a lot of courage to put yourself out there to become successful. Number one rule == don’t show the customer that you are struggling behind the scenes, if they see success that will become your reality.

3. Family time

Don’t forget the family and YOU time. A successful person in business has to have an outlet. For me that outlet is spending time with my family. As I continue to grow my business I remember to make time for them and myself. A day off here and there feels like it will set you back months but the reward from spending quality time off (yes that means no emails, calls or texts) will help you stay alert, on it, and keep the drive to move ahead strong.
Family time helps remind you why you are doing this extremely hard task of starting or running a business.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

Simple answer here. My parents believed in me, and let me do what I wanted to do, without projecting their wants for my life onto me. This freedom of creativity and expression has bloomed into my ability to adapt to varied situations and embrace the challenges life as an entrepreneur throws my way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sunsweptsailing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunsweptsailing/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-macrae-26555b38
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sunswept-sailing-santa-barbara
• Other: https://santabarbaraca.com/businesses/sunswept-sailing/

Image Credits

Austin MacRae Photo, SunSwept Sailing

The two away shots (file name “Hero” and “Liquid Luxury” are Credit Austin MacRae Photo
All photos credit SunSwept Sailing