As he walked down the stairs on Christmas Day 2009, James Cole had one thing on his mind, whisky.
At the time he was fighting to keep his startup Cruise118 afloat as the business approached the crucial January trading period.
“I started Cruise118 back in 2008 with Mal Barritt and we sold our first cruise 10 weeks before Lehman Brothers went under,” recalled Cole.
“We’d raised £1m in investment from various sources, including putting our own redundancy cheques in. We were right up against it.
“Houses could be repossessed, all of that sort of stuff if the business went under. Within six months, we were literally faced with the prospect of running out of money. It was a very, very tough environment, as you can imagine.
“I think it was the second Christmas. I had two young kids at the time. January is the peak trading period in travel, the ‘wave season’, as we call it in the cruise industry.
“Everything happens around January. If you can step up then hopefully the year is going to be pretty good for you.
“We had to step up into the year for the business to survive. I was just so anxious and I had so much pressure on me.
“I just felt absolutely terrified about what was or what wasn’t going to come. It (drinking) seemed like the only option at the time, to be honest.”
Those days are firmly behind him. Cole stopped drinking alcohol on New Year’s Eve in 2018 and hasn’t looked back.
Today he’s at the helm of Chorley-based Panache Cruises, which he founded in 2020 and has already hit £50m in annual turnover.
The company has a team of over 100, with a presence in the UK, US and now Australia.
Reflecting on life as a first-time founder, he told The Naked Founder podcast: “It’s really hard. I think you go into it a little bit blasé. When I founded my first business, I was 32 years old and probably thought I knew everything.
“It turned out working for a corporate business for 10 years, I knew virtually nothing about running my own business.
“It was a steep, steep learning curve. I’m certainly glad I didn’t know how hard it was going to be.”
After a tough start, Cruise118 grew into a £100m turnover business and Cole said he experienced a number of adverse challenges.
He said: “We were having to find six-figure amounts literally overnight, thinking that we were going to go bust in the next couple of weeks multiple times over the first few years.”
“It was all surviving, working long hours, trying to do it all ourselves. I was drinking to cope with it. It’s completely the opposite of the way we’re doing it at Panache Cruises.
“I’m not the type of person that can just go out for a Sunday roast and have one glass of wine a week. I’m either in it or I’m not in it.
“And it was the same with drinking for me. I was either drinking each night, you know, or I wasn’t drinking at all. That was it. I could do dry January. But apart from that, I was drinking most days.
“I didn’t know what was needed to be an entrepreneur. Whereas moving into Panache, I had that experience of what skills you need. I had the bad experience of the business nearly going under several times.
“I could see quite clearly what was needed at Panache, which was building a business that focused on its colleagues, that focused on its customers, and focused on its long-term relationships with cruise lines.
“Our mission is straightforward. Colleagues, customers, cruise lines, nothing is too much trouble. And that was the foundation of the business right in the early days.”
Cole said being a two-time founder had changed his philosophy.
Deep in thought: James Cole, CEO of Panache Cruises, with Sir Richard Branson
“Let’s think about the entrepreneur’s playbook,” he said. “When you start a new business, what does it say? It says you have to work 25 hours a day. It says you have to work eight days a week. It says you can’t go on holiday for the first three to five years. It’s all bollocks.
“How should you start? You should start by drinking two or three litres of water a day. You should start by making sure you get eight hours of sleep a day, eating reasonably healthy and making sure you go to the gym three or four times a week. That’s how you should start. Build your business on great personal foundations.
“The number one foundation for me is looking after yourself because then you can look after other people.”
Cole loves a challenge. He launched Cruise118 a few weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and launched Panache during Covid.
“I do seem to thrive in those situations and I probably do get the best out of me,” he said.
At Panache Cruises, customers are allocated their own cruise connoisseur.
The move has created loyalty, evidenced by the fact that the company’s top 40 UK customers have booked more than 500 cruises and spent more than £8m with them.
Cole also took the decision to partner with husband-and-wife influencers Richard and Helen Chalu, who have contributed more than £2m of sales for Panache Cruises.
He also gives his own contact details to his customers.
“If a customer’s got an issue, why can’t they have my mobile phone number and just give me a call or send me a message or send me an email?” he said.
“It opens up our business as being more personable and more approachable.”
When he launched Panache Cruises, Cole also resolved it wouldn’t be at the expense of his wife Heather, their daughter Lilli and the rest of his family.
A team from Panache Cruises climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Reuben’s Retreat
“I’m not a big fan of the phrase ‘work-life balance’,” he said. “I’m a fan of ‘life balance’ and just trying to get your life as balanced as you possibly can.
“I don’t think you ever get it right. What I try and do is if I’m in the UK, I’m focused on work during the week and then I focus on family at weekends.
“I’m just trying to balance my life as best I possibly can. Am I perfect? Heather will tell you I’m not. But will she tell you that I try my hardest? Yes, most of the time I absolutely do.”
Last year Panache secured a £2.75m refinance deal with HSBC UK to fuel the firm’s international expansion plan.
After opening a US office in 2024, Panache now has a presence in Australia, with plans to expand into Canada.
Last year, Cole also spent a week in the company of his hero Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island.
“Somebody said to me before I went that you shouldn’t meet your heroes,” he said. “Well, that turns out to be another load of bollocks. The guy is just a remarkable individual.”
You can listen to the latest episode of The Naked Founder podcast here.