Ross Milton worked at Mars for more than a decade, but has since found what he calls the sweet spot in his career — running a trampoline park. The Australian, a Dubai resident, 41, left his executive position at the confectioners o pursue something even more high-flying, as the managing director and owner of Bounce Middle East. The indoor trampoline centre, operated under licence from its Australian brand owner, opened in Al Quoz in Dubai last June, and features interconnected trampolines, basketball hoops and even a Hollywood-grade stunt airbag. As chief bouncer — his alternative job title — Mr Milton is working on launching other branches across the Arabian Gulf and beyond.
6am
In the corporate world, I was sometimes up at 3am or 4am, so getting up at 6am feels like a lie-in now. We’ve got two little girls, a four-year-old and a seven-year-old. We have breakfast with them, and then I shoot off to Bounce.
7.30am
I’m a fairly hands-on sort of guy, so I will walk around the venue checking it from a safety perspective, making sure it looks good, and that the guys are maintaining it the way it should be. I’ll crawl underneath trampolines to check the springs and look to make sure the air conditioning is working.
9.30am
We’ve got 51 staff covering a seven-days-a-week operation with two daily shifts. When the team starts in the morning we get them all together and we have a conversation about what’s on for the day. It could be that we have a number of school groups coming in, or we have a birthday party or corporate group.
10am
We open the doors and then I get into topics such as sales and marketing. This is where we’ll be reviewing the digital side of the business — what we’re doing on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. We have kids flying in from Qatar and Saudi Arabia to have a bounce at Bounce. And when we ask them how they heard about us, it’s through Facebook and social media.
11am
A large chunk of my day — at least two to three hours — is filled with developing Bounce across the region. I’ll actively be working with partners, all the way from dealing with architects to construction companies. We’re looking at all the GCC countries. We’re under way in Africa as well, and my business partner in Australia is working on Europe, Scandinavia and Asia. We expect to open another six parks in the next 12 months.
2pm
I’ll go down and jump around on the trampolines with some of the customers. I’ll jump around with them, ask them how they heard about Bounce and what they do and don’t like so we can constantly improve. I like to hear from the customers directly. And it gives me a chance to have a workout as well. Being Australian, growing up, the trampoline was a big feature of most kids’ back yards. Here in the Middle East, I’ve been amazed to see people come in to the venue who have never stood on a trampoline before.
4.30pm
Today I was on the phone talking to a couple of corporates about coming in and having a team event here. I was also on the phone about our locker systems and upgrading some of our equipment. We’ll meet our coach and go through the course outlines.
6pm
I’ll probably spend half an hour to an hour on emails — there is always a clutter of those things. I’ll be responding to requests from people who want to open up a franchise in India or other locations. We’re probably getting at least five franchise requests a week.
6.30pm
I’ll do a final check-in with the team members, walk the venue and make sure everything is running smoothly. I typically try to finish at about 7pm and be home by 7.30pm. But I’m always on call — each week I’ll spend a couple of nights here with the team.
7.30pm
As soon as I get home the first priority is to have dinner with the kids, if they haven’t finished it, and take them for their baths and read them bedtime stories. And once they’re asleep I’ll catch up with my wife for an hour or so. And then usually I’ll spend an hour doing some emails, communicating with Australia or the United States.
10.30pm
I’ll read either an online newspaper or one of my favourite business magazines — BusinessWeek out of the US. And then I’ll hit the sack.
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