With plenty of business already experience under his belt, teenage entrepreneur Clay Bertram has goals to grow his burgeoning operation.
When Clay Bertram does not have his head in the books he is tirelessly running a successful sandboard business that has attracted plenty of attention across Eyre Peninsula and beyond.
For Clay it all started in 2020, when at the tender age of 10 he decided to get busy making boards, with the aim of earning money for guitars a big motivation.
These days you will find Squids Boards stocked in a variety of locations, including at Port Lincoln Boat Supplies, Port Lincoln Gourmet Box Co, Spot On Fishing Tackle and Outdoors Port Lincoln, Xtreme Kites and Paddle, Coffin Bay Post Office and Gifts, Country Living Camping Fishing in Ceduna, Birdsville Roadhouse and Intersport Mildura.
All the while, Clay is continuing a family tradition.
Back in the 1990s, his grandfather John, along with his father Michael and uncle Shane, established themselves in the pioneering sandboard building business.
Determined to reignite the family operation, each of Clay’s boards are given a unique production number to add a touch of authenticity to the craft.
“I wanted to buy a guitar and Dad said, ‘I’m not paying for it’ and I said, ‘how am I going to get money for it’, so I decided to start up Squid Boards,” Clay said.
“The business was started right in the middle of Covid and I thought, why not try to start a business up – even though a lot of people said businesses were struggling.”
Clay said while he does not often use the boards he makes he enjoyed the process of creating them.
That enjoyment has led to more than 550 sandboards being made since 2020.
Their creation did not pose many challenges for Clay, who said he now found it quite easy to put them together.
The name of the business stemmed from a nickname Clay has had from a young age.
“Squid is my nickname because when I was in the water I would always run away from the squids as I didn’t like getting squirted by the ink,” he said.
“The nickname just stuck so I decided to call my business Squids Boards.”
Through his business the Port Lincoln teen said he enjoyed being able to make money off the back of his hard work, as well as put money into the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
“I like to donate to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, that’s a really good cause and I’ve raised probably nearly $35,000 for the RFDS,” he said.
“Last year, in one month I raised $10,000 and the year before that I raised $12,000 in one month.”
RFDS holds a particularly strong meaning for Clay, due to a family member’s personal experiences with the service.
“About 30 years ago my uncle Max had his life saved in Rockhampton and I think he had a heart attack and got flown to Brisbane,” he said.
“He always used to donate to the RFDS and two years ago he sadly passed away and I thought I would continue on with the support he gave.
“In the future I would love to raise heaps of money and sponsor a plane – that’s a lot of money, but I’ll get there one day.”
Clay said he was proud of the amount of success he had achieved with his business and pleased to have donated so much money to such a great cause.
The teenager has ambitions for what Squid Boards can achieve.
Looking ahead, Clay would love to expand the business and increase staffing capacity.
“At the moment I’m a bit limited because I’m only 14 and it will be good when I’m 18 and I can have a tax number and those sorts of details,” he said.
“In the future I would love to have a big workshop and a big shed and other people making the boards, so I can be there and just oversee the making of the boards.”
In his time running the business Clay said he had received support from his family and friends.
“Dad helps me with all the big machinery as some of the machinery is a bit too powerful for me,” he noted.
“I’m getting closer to being able to use the machinery, but it’s just a bit too powerful and I could lose a finger or something could go wrong.
“Most of the stuff that I can do, I do and then Pop always sits in the shed and watches us, because it’s his shed that we work in and he’s a cabinet maker and knows all about wood.”
The process of making a board can be quite extensive, with a few steps needed to be undertaken.
“The mould process is 12 hours and we leave the boards overnight and get them out in the morning,” Clay said.
“If it’s a hot day we could put one in the morning and then get it out in the afternoon and we could get four done in a day, but at the moment I do two in a day.
“It takes two hours to do the whole cutting of the boards and put the laminate on and then an hour for paint drying, so probably three hours for making every 10 boards.”
Clay can be found at events such as music festivals selling his boards, but he also has to balance business with school.
Education, Clay said, was important to help reach his long-term goals.
During his time running the business, Clay said his biggest challenge had been a timber shortage.
“There was a timber shortage throughout Australia, so we basically got a lot of plywood that was left in Australia and meanwhile Bunnings were looking for it,” he stated.
“Every time they get about 40 sheets of plywood they ring us up first and we say, ‘yes we would love to have that, thanks’, but over Covid it was a struggle to source plywood.”
Clay said while he sold a lot of boards within Eyre Peninsula he also had interstate buyers snapping up his products.
“I sell boards in every state – mainly Queensland and New South Wales – and [also] people in Victoria have a lot of my boards.”
For others thinking of starting a business – even if still in school – Clay said to go for it.
“They should just have a crack and don’t think that they’re too young, because you’re not too young,” he said.
“My friends like my boards and they get all of the merchandise I sell, with lots of jumpers, hats and a lot of my classmates have Squids Board stickers on their laptops.”
