Good Life Project - The Surfer’s Guide to Entrepreneurship

Episode Date: April 22, 2016

I'm not a big surfer, but I grew up on the water and around the water.Over the years, I've noticed a number of powerful parallels between surfing and entrepreneurship. And, sitting at the beach one day, I started to think about what surfing might teach you about launching and growing a venture.I distilled these ideas into a short essay, which I'm sharing as spoken word in today's short and sweet Good Life Project Riff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's Good Life Project riff is called The Surfer's Guide to Entrepreneurship. So I spent a good amount of time on some vacations looking out over the ocean from vacation houses. A couple years back, we actually rented a house down in the Outer Banks in the Carolinas, North Carolina. And I remember just literally looking out and reconnecting with the water and the sun and the sand. But I never really expected a set of pretty much killer livelihood and business and entrepreneurial marketing lessons to surfing. But as I watched, it became really clear that surfing is this astonishing metaphor for entrepreneurship. And these sort of eight quick principles kind of channeled through me that I thought I'd share with you. So number one is go where the waves are. So if you love to surf, but you live by the bay, you don't just walk out and ask for waves

on demand. You've got to actually go where the waves are. And that's in the ocean, not the bay. And in fact, many surfers travel the world just to find the best waves. The same thing applies when you're trying to start a business or even a career. You don't just decide you like building surfboards, then open up a surf shop in downtown Chicago and expect people to start swarming it. You go to the waves, the places that your customers are hanging out online and go to those places and build relationships and serve their needs in the communities they already participate in. So it's really given you the ability to go to the waves without ever leaving your backyard. Number two, survey the sets.

So before you paddle out, spend some time just sitting on the beach and watching how the waves are breaking. So do your research to find the location of the best swells and the easiest openings to paddle out without getting crushed. And similarly, in business, passion is not enough. You've got to do your research. You've got to look at the waves and see where their sets are coming in. You've got to understand the nature and the nuances of a market

and a community and a need, the easiest points of entry and the places where the greatest opportunities lie. So those are the same things, lessons from the wave, but it's the exact same thing in the world of entrepreneurship, the world of business, and even building a living or career. Number three, wait for your wave. So once you've actually made it off the beach, rather than jumping off the first wave that comes along, you're often better off sitting and observing from your new vantage point, being in the waves before choosing the best one to ride it's pretty much the same thing in business the landscape often looks and feels very different from the inside looking out so you've got to take the time

to understand how your observations and assumptions have changed and re-examine the players and the culture and observe from the perspective of somebody who's in the mix before deciding which wave, person, project, vendor, or initiative to attach yourself to. But, and this is where we move into item number four, do not wait forever. So if you keep letting solid waves pass you by because you're waiting for that one epic swell, you may well end up losing out on a lifetime of wonderful waves.

And that one epic swell, there's a decent chance it's actually never going to come. So at some point, you've got to just take action on what's in front of you rather than sitting around all day and hoping something better is going to come along. Wait a while, do what you can to prepare, look as far out as you can to see if you can really get a beat on the quality of the sets that might be rolling in. And the truth is, the longer that you're actually engaged in the activity, the more time you spend out in the waves, the better you get at

understanding the subtle nuances and energies and shifts and predicting where the beautiful ones are going to come in. But after a while, if nothing comes along, take the wave that's right before you. Even if it's the wrong one, even if it causes you to miss the epic wave of the day, the reason is because, number five, as long as you stay in the water, there's going to be another day. So there are few true once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Opportunities are all around us all the time.

If we're willing to stay in the game long enough and keep working for the big hit after days, months, or even years of satisfying, but not those, you know, quote, epic opportunities. The moment you pull yourself out of the mix, the minute you stop repeatedly trying and exploring, you eliminate the opportunity to be in the game when circumstances converge to create that magic you've sought for so, so long. I can't tell you how many people I've seen bail when things didn't happen immediately. And literally the day after is when it would have

all come together. And I know this on a very personal level because I've been the one that's bailed many times in my life. And I try and catch myself as much as I can before I do it again, which brings us to element number six, and that is size matters. If the wave is very small, you'll never be able to actually gain the momentum to have any fun. It just won't support your ability to ride it or to balance. And if it's too big, for all but a few storm surf riders and big wave surfers. The risk of death is just too great.

Then there's the middle area, those four to 12 footers, the ones that seem to roll along the shelf for miles before they hit the shore. They may not be the fodder for the great stories of a lifetime or the big lifetime rides, but they're often the source of just sustained ear to ear smiles and full body happiness. It's the same thing when you're starting a business or a career or private practice, if you're going that direction. Skip the small waves, even if it looks like, well, they're just easy fodder. Find a big and hungry enough market or community, group of people that you can serve so that you can support them and that there's enough to actually keep you going.

And then when you hit critical mass, you turn a Jones into a source of income and momentum. So instead of going for the massive grand slam home run or trying to just grab even the smallest little ripples, breathe a little bit of time into it. Let the teeny, teeny, teeny little ripples pass you by. Don't be deluded and just chasing after the massive, massive, massive things. And actually take those beautiful four to foot rollers, four to 12 foot rollers that keep coming in on a pretty regular basis and build on that. That said, takes us to number seven, start with the long, slow rollers and use a big board. So no doubt the big waves, the epic rides always require the most skill and the greatest risk.

And played well, they can lead to massive success and crazy fun. But played poorly or too aggressively, you end up going with, quote, over the falls. And that can be catastrophic. If you've ever actually seen that happen, by the way, as a surfer, or if you've ever actually done that, it's basically when you ride too high on a wave that's too big, and you get caught up in the water that's starting to cup over the top. And essentially, it slams you all the way up and over, very often upside down with your board on top of you, almost into a wall of water, like you're hitting a brick wall. And the bigger the wave is, the more painful and the more dangerous it becomes. So find the long, slow, three, four, five,

10 footers, and use a big stable board to learn to craft or to learn the craft and to master that level. And then move slowly into bigger surf and shorter boards. Pay your dues. Take your time to build your knowledge, your skills, your abilities, your relationships with the water and with other surfers. Master that current level. Then when you're competent, take it to the next level and don't look to others to know when the time to make the jump is. We all go at our own, often radically different paces.

So just honor that. Look more to your own capabilities and that voice, that intuitive thing inside of you that says, yeah, I'm ready, or not quite yet. Which brings us to the final element, the final piece of entrepreneurial and career-building advice that comes out of my exploration of surfing, and that is be ready when the big one takes you by surprise. So no matter how much you try to read what's coming in, there will be times where you blink and find yourself seconds away from that absolutely epic tube. Don't ask why you never saw it coming. Just get on your feet and ride.

Same thing in business. Plan well, but don't allow your plan to become your master. Opportunities come along, often out of nowhere. You can sit there and analyze why you never saw it coming. You can say, but this doesn't fit with our original plan and projections. Or you can get on the damn board and ride into the sunset. So I hope you had a little bit of fun with this. I know I had a lot of fun just sort of making the analogies and the metaphors and really powerful how much you can learn about life and business from surfing.

I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. Hey, thanks so much for listening. from surfing. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. rate and review the podcast. It really helps us get the word out. You can actually do that now right from the podcast app on your phone. If you have an iPhone, you just click on the reviews tab and take a few seconds and jam over there. And if you haven't yet subscribed while you're there, then make sure you hit the subscribe button while you're at it. And then you'll be sure to never miss out on any of our incredible guests or conversations or riffs. And for those of you, our awesome community who are on other platforms, any love that you might be able to offer sharing our message would just be so appreciated. Until next time, this is Jonathan Fields signing off for Good Life Project.