5 Things Surfing Can Teach You About Business
Maybe it should be the other way around (what business can teach you about surfing), since I learned to entrepreneur before I learned to surf. Either way, I came across a couple of blog posts this morning about surfing lessons for entrepreneurs and felt as both an entrepreneur and surfer, I should also blog about this subject. Here are 5 things about entrepreneurship that I learned from surfing (or vice-versa).
1) Patience – It takes a long time to learn to surf, it’s hard and one should not expect to be ripping waves their first day out. Same with building a business. It’s an exercise in patience. If you think you’ll be successful overnight, you’re sadly mistaken my friend. You will fall a lot at first but the more you do it the better you will get.
2) Thinking fast – No two waves are exactly alike. Every way breaks differently and when you’re riding a wave you always need to be making split second decisions. This is a skill that’s required in business too. You can’t predict exactly how the wave of your business will break so be ready to make decisions and adapt on the fly.
3) Positioning – This is pretty much what the other two articles I referenced above talk about. With surfing, you’re relying on so many elements to come together to make a surfable wave. When then do, you need to be positioned correctly to catch that wave. The same thing with business. Lots of waves will come your way, be in position and be ready to ride the good waves.
4) Wave selection – Being in the right position to catch a wave is one thing. Catching the right wave is another thing. As a surfer, you learn to read the shape of the waves as they’re coming in. If you pick the wrong wave it might close out on you and there will be no where to go. Like I mentioned in the point above, pick the good waves to ride. In business you need to learn to recognize and pick the right waves that you can ride to success. Get on the wrong wave and you might put your business in a position that it has no where to go.
5) Competition – There are a lot of surfers competing for the same waves as you, just like there are a lot of entrepreneurs competing in the same marketplace as you. If you don’t get aggressive while surfing and take waves, there are a hundred other surfers in the lineup who will paddle right around you and do so. In business, if you don’t jump on the opportunities presented to you, there are a hundred other people waiting who will. I love surfing next to the candy-ass surfers who aren’t aggressive, that way I can take all the waves I want. I also love competing in marketplaces where candy-ass entrepreneurs don’t leverage the opportunities that come their way, that way I can and I will.
If you’re a surfer, I’d love to hear some of things surfing has taught you about business.
[...] to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!I caught an awesome post by Cameron Olthuis that talked about what surfing has taught him about business. Now, I’m no surfer, in fact the last highly-rigorous physical routine I was a part of was [...]
Those are some fantastic points. Positioning is one that I especially feel relates to the business world. You never know when opportunities(waves) are going to arise. The key is placing yourself in the right place at the right time.
Smooth post for sure!
Cameron – Really enjoyed your post. Not sure if mine on positioning inspired you but great work.
I’d love to meet sometime. I’ll be in SD from 12/24 – 1/6…hopefully we can make it happen as we have very similar interests it would seem.
Talk to you soon.
@ryangraves on twitter
Cheers.
Cameron – Well done, I enjoyed your article.
If I had to add a point it would be . . . you have to have some balls to go big and be great! It takes a lot of courage to swim in the ocean, let alone ride the big waves that nobody else will touch.
See ya towards the end of Neptune!
Just realized there was a link in there! Thanks man.
Sorry for the flood of comments, but just thought of another lesson: Preparation.
In surfing, when you first start out, just paddling to get to the outside might be tough for you. The correlation here is the difficult preparation it takes to set up your business, develop the right model, and grow your customer base. However, as your business grows and you have a success and ride a business wave in you’ll have to get back down and paddle your way back into the line-up.
This preparation will become easier but without the right preparation for each wave of success you’ll never have a chance to compete in the line-up.
@Ryan – yep, I was definitely inspired by your post. Awesome addition too!!
@Steve – haha, yes, they definitely both take balls! i’ll be out there just as soon as the rain stops.
Cam,
Great post, never thought of that many correlations with biz and surf but they totally work. On #4 it is good to know when to pull out of the wave too. Once you realize the wave is going to close out you need to pull out or you get sucked over the falls, I think the same goes for business, once you realize what you are focusing on isn’t going to work, pull out before you get sucked over the falls and lose more money and more importantly time.
Chris – good addition brotha.
How about a willingness to deal with catastrophic events? Especially on bigger days, sometimes you are going to take a beating no matter what you do. You need to be mentally prepared for that ahead of time and also have a backup plan already worked out.
In surfing it may be knowing that you could take an entire set on the head and get pushed down the beach or loose your board. That sucks, but if you already have thought that through and know how and where to either paddle back out or swim in you’ll likely be fine. Several ways to apply that to the online world as well.
great addition Jaime… heaven knows I’ve taken several beatings in both the water and in business
I like this list, and it’s a great metaphor for life and business, even though I’m not a surfer (well, I’m a web surfer
).
I usually don’t like “what X can teach you about Y” posts cause they often seem like a stretch, but this was really spot on.
A few things I’ve learned from surfing:
1. The first days are the hardest days. Prepare to get pounded, and have to strengthen up… grow some new muscles and balance skills
2. Patience. There are ups and down cycles. Some days it’s totally flat (broke). Other days are too high or closed out. Hang in there, enjoy the beach… keep coming back and you’ll get rewarded with perfect conditions for your skills – a bit of paradise.
3. It’s usually worth it to find untapped opportunities – even if it’s a long or lonely road to get there. Crowded breaks (niches) are harder and you have to hustle . Rippin’ local dudes like Cameron will snag your waves.
4. Sometimes it’s better not to think about it too much. Surfing and snowboarding are very clean, very non-linear-thinking activities where I feel very present – I can turn of my mind and just move – and then my best thoughts come to me afterwards. Be in the present moment, keep moving and doing your thing – and you’ll eventually get the insight ya need.
It’s presidents day weekend here in south florida… today the surf is as flat as Kansas… hoping for some nice, clean, not-too-choppy or windy swell!
@Brett– love the additions! when are you coming to san diego so we can catch a few together?
I was thinking exactly the same thing and stumbled across your blog so much so I am developing surfingentrepreneurs.com . So please allow me to refer to your blog as it explains quite simply how surfing relates to business. Yet the site name itself refers to online entrepreneurs who wish to make money whilst being mobile. Thanks!!
i love the metaphor and the comparisons here. here’s another one inspired by all these others:
sometimes, there are days when the candy-asses are making you look like a candy-ass padawon learner. in other words, you just can’t surf. nothing’s working, it’s like your throwing a baseball with your left hand (if you’re a rightie, of course.) to get over plateaus, whether in business or in surfing it’s a good idea to mix it up. go for a swim. do some ding repair. hit the skate park. get out of the water and step out of the proverbial box. surfing and biz only work when you want it and you’re hungry for the rewards. it also helps when there are photographers and hot chicks on the beach.