Former PSL star Shaun Haschick is enjoying the unusual feel-good life after football with a growing business profile that now employs six people in East London.
Usually, ex-players have sad rags-to-riches and then back-to-rags tales to tell with some living in shame or hiding about how they have fallen, but Haschick has built a clothing and coffee shop business from scratch post his playing days.
"I have always been interested in business and have always been an entrepreneur at heart. I didn't only think about business because I had stopped playing," Haschick tells snl24.com/kickoff.
The former Moroka Swallows and Bush Bucks forward runs the Silver Stallion clothing online and Ignite Espresso Bar at Beacon Bay Crossing in East London.
"The clothing business led to the café which continues to grow despite the Covid-19 challenges. We are looking at doing special events and eventually getting a liquor licence and trading in that direction as well. It has been good and treating me very busy, so much that I haven't even had time to play social football. I am still based in Beacon Bay and I just moved into a bigger space across the road from where I was.
"I have just brought on some new people. Before the Covid-19 it was me and one barrister and we have now opened a kitchen, and we are growing so much that I now have a staff of six. During the hardest period we have managed not just to survive, but thrive. A lot of businesses have been hit hard through this period, but we have learned to do the best through the pandemic," says Haschick.
Check out pictures of Haschick's businesses in the gallery above
Just how did he get into business considering the challenges faced by many footballers past their playing days?
"I suppose it is down to culture and family because my mother wouldn't let me play professional football unless I studied. Before Bush Bucks moved to East London from Mthatha they wanted me to come there but my mother refused. I only then joined Bush Bucks when they moved to East London and I would study in the morning and then train in the afternoon. So, I have always had a thing for business," he explains.
"The money that you save from football cannot last you for long so I got into the business when my contract in football expired, and this will be my tenth year since I got into the business. When I started this business, I had not completely given up on football but then I ran this business on a month-to-month hustle.
"If you go to the National Youth Development Agency with a business plan and registration they can help you up to R100 000, so I was able to get an equipment grant from them to start screen printing, so that is when I started my clothing business."
Now 38, Haschick last played for Swallows and had a stint in Cyprus.