Passion to Profits. Alice LaPlante

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      In the end, founding Surf Diva, one of the world’s most successful surf schools for women—and one of the few women-owned businesses in the male-dominated surf industry—turned out to be the most natural decision in the world.

      Having grown up by the ocean in San Diego, both women gravitated toward the outdoors and sports in general and the beach and surfing in particular. Izzy was a championship surfer who put herself through college at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), teaching others how to surf. Coco, after earning her degree in communications, also at UCSD, was employee No. 4 at Reef Sandals, a local startup that made surfers’ shoes which is now a globally recognized entrepreneurial success story. And it was a warm May evening in 1996 when the sisters sat down to have a glass of wine and found themselves talking about their dreams. “Izzy said she wanted more girlfriends to surf with. I said I wanted to design clothes and do business development,” recalls Coco. “We thought we saw an unmet need in the local surfing industry. We got all fired up and said, ‘Let’s give it a try!’”

      The fact that Izzy only had $324 to her name to begin with didn’t deter her one iota. They were determined from the beginning to be self-sustaining and not take outside money, and today they still plow all excess cash back into the business. “We both worked other jobs for almost three years before we were able to quit and do Surf Diva full time,” says Coco. “We felt it was very important not to go into debt.”

      With their comp any still privately held, the women don’t divulge their annual revenues, but at last count they had between 50 and 70 employees—more in the summer, due to the seasonal nature of the sport. The Surf Diva Costa Rica Surf Adventure, which the sisters founded in 2004, takes women and families on a high-end all-inclusive surfing vacation in Costa Rica, and has become one of the most popular women’s adventure destinations in the country. In 2007 they acquired the La Jolla Surf Camp for Kids, in La Jolla, Calif., and the Australian Surf Academy, a co-ed surfing school for teenagers. “We believe in always trying new things,” says Coco. “That’s part of the fun of having your own business.”

      Both women urge would-be entrepreneurs to follow their dreams—but also to not be shy about paying their dues in more traditional ways. “We didn’t jump into this when we were 19 years old,” says Coco. “We did our internships when we were students, got our degrees, worked for other people, and climbed the business ladder before we felt the time was right.” Agrees Izzy, “you should never think of a job as just a job. Think of it as an education that comes with a paycheck. There’s so much you can learn from others, even when you’re just making the coffee.”

       Sooner or Later, Everyone Is an Entrepreneur

      Entrepreneurial endeavors are nothing new. Yet we seem to be entering a golden age of entrepreneurship. Although much attention is paid to technology-based startups—particularly those related to the Internet—you can find entrepreneurial behavior throughout all industries and geographic locations around the world. There are a variety of reasons for this:

      ■ No more “company men” (or women). The days when people assumed they would be working for one company all their lives are long gone. The reasons for this are many. For starters, a large number of businesses today run extraordinarily “lean.” Rather than hiring full-time permanent employees, many businesses are opting for part-time personnel or temporary or contract workers. And those that do hire full-time workers find that the average tenure of an employee is much shorter than it used to be. This is likely exacerbated by the fact that lifelong full employment is no longer a given. The average person born in the later years of the Baby Boom has held 10.5 jobs from age 18 to age 40, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Indeed, many people have two or even three “careers” over the course of their lifetimes as their interests change and evolve.

      Technology is also dramatically accelerating the rate at which markets—and therefore new businesses—are created or evolve. First of all, businesses that once required a huge upfront investment in infrastructure, equipment, and staff can now do a lot more for less. What can’t be automated in house can easily be outsourced to partners who are seamlessly connected electronically so that they become part of the “virtual” team. And then there are the businesses that have sprung up to provide technology solutions to entrepreneurs. Web design firms, search marketing specialists, third-party IT services providers, and all sorts of consultants represent just a few of the new types of business opportunities that have emerged.

      ■ Lifestyle drives career choices. Increasingly, surveys asking about job satisfaction bump up against the same fact: people are willing to forgo larger salaries to meet their ideal lifestyle goals. These generally involve more flexibility in work hours, less time spent commuting, and more time for family, hobbies, exercise, or interests other than those that actually generate income. Indeed, possessing a dream of a lifestyle that couldn’t be satisfied by a traditional job is one of the key reasons that people choose the entrepreneurial path.

      ■ Financial considerations. Many people simply don’t feel they can meet their financial goals by working for an hourly wage—or even a professional-level salary. The publicity given to young multi-millionaire founders and early employees of high-tech startups has fueled many people’s dreams. No surprise that a lot of people feel that they can achieve their financial goals more fully and easily if they’re self-employed—or employ others.

       business BUZZ

      words

       “entrepreneur”

       According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, an entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. In his book Venture Capital Investor, David Gladstone says that one of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur is a desire for independence and autonomy. Furthermore, entrepreneurs would rather manage than be managed. Entrepreneurship, therefore, has much to do with a need for personal, as well as professional, control.

       Does Failure Mean You’ve Failed?

       One of the key defining factors for successful entrepreneurs is the ability—or rather, determination—to not view failure as failure. Rather than taking setbacks personally or becoming discouraged by them, successful entrepreneurs seize them as an opportunity to learn—and to apply that lesson to their next attempt. Indeed, many venture capitalists and other investors in entrepreneurial ventures won’t provide funds to anyone who hasn’t had at least one failed business.

       There are any number of people who eventually made it big who tried and failed first. More than a decade before releasing its iPhone to huge success, Apple introduced an early personal digital assistant (PDA), the Newton, which died a quick death. The founder of FedEx, Frederick W. Smith, got a “C” on a business paper outlining his idea when he submitted it to a professor at Yale. The now-ubiquitous Post-its failed all the market tests that 3M routinely uses to determine whether to release a product to market. Scratch the surface of most successful entrepreneurs, and you’ll find at least one significant “failure” that they’ve used to gain valuable experience.

       The Advantages of Entrepreneurship

      As many books and motivational speakers will tell you, there are numerous advantages to the entrepreneurial life. These advantages fall into three general СКАЧАТЬ