Yes, I can!
The Entrepreneurs Motto
Flying around the world to deliver workshops and
collaborate on projects is a pretty awesome way to live
and Linzi Wilson is living the dream.
She helps people to get ‘super stoked’. Works location independent. And has helped building a stand-up-paddle school in Australia. Meet Linzi, who used to be a surf teacher, and now helps people build their businesses from all around the world.
But why on earth would you give up being a surf teacher?
Linzi grew up being a geek. Until she discovered surfing at the age of 14. She muddled through the rest of her schools years and was encouraged to head to university to study Marine Leisure. She lasted a week. On her return home she went back to her job of surf coaching, the job she had been doing for years already but that her lecturers told her the degree would make her fit for. She worked hard, undertook a personal training qualification, saved up, and then headed off to travel for eight months to follow the waves around the world. This was Linzi’s life for the next few years until she was asked to manage one of the surf schools. Here she first learnt her talent for business and grew the school by 100%.
Being thrown into the role of being the boss meant she had to take her friend/colleague hat off but Linzi admits she was very lucky with her team who had arrived from all over the world that first year. They gelled really well, there were no arguments or issues in the first year so when they arose in future summers she felt more confident in dealing with them — even having to fire members of staff and be the bad guy. She realised that she had to be responsible and professional — that meant not always joining in on the beers after work.
It was also at the surf school that she started organising events. With no training she was making it up as she went along and created an event that had a footfall of ten thousand by its third year. It was run to generate money for SurfAid and through this Linzi learnt a lot about working with non-profits. However, it became obvious that the event needed to be sustainable in order to grow and develop, and that meant treating it as a business rather than just a side project.
.gov
After a year in Biarritz a job working for the environment department, in environmental education and awareness, brought Linzi back to the UK — she thought this was her dream job and would enable her to change the world. For two years she tried to get through the red tape but realised she wasn’t going to be able to make the impact she had hoped for. Being at a desk is not ideal for a free spirited soul, neither is the 9–5 lifestyle, so it wasn’t long before Linzi’s feet got seriously itchy.
On a whim she decided to organise a beach concert with one of her dad’s favourite musicians, Xavier Rudd. She suddenly had to find £15,000 to pay for this artist plus raise funds for all the event costs- which she did by working hard to gain sponsorship & releasing early bird tickets. The event grew to the point that she could leave her government job and run the music festival full-time with her husband. It went on to win two Greener Festival Awards and a Chartered Institute for Marketing award for their PR. In true entrepreneurial spirit of not knowing what they were doing and having no budget to do it with they managed to put together a successful strategy by employing digital media and creative thinking.
All in all things were going pretty well with their Jersey festival but 4 years in, they found themselves in difficult situation. One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs and small businesses can make is to grow too fast, and this is exactly what happened to Linzi’s festival.
Too Much, Too Soon
With investors becoming interested they decided to run a second festival in France with the support of an industry guru that they had hired. Running two festivals at the same time was a challenge but they put their faith into their team in France. But cash flow was putting massive pressure on the logistics and they made one of the biggest mistakes you can make, not listening to your gut instincts. A month before the festival in France the money ran out.
They were getting into more and more debt and decided to take the drastic action of cancelling the event. The next few months were a horrendous round of dealing with lawyers and investors who had lost their money — this included family and friends. They also lost the Jersey festival and eventually their home in Australia, where they relocated in an attempt to start anew. With a year of extreme stress, badly informed media attention, flights to and from the UK to manage the situation, Linzi started suffering panic attacks and a desire to become completely anonymous grew.
This was rock bottom.
Moving Forward
Going back to basics with surf coaching was Linzi’s answer and it brought joy back into her life. With help from a friend, who was a career transition coach, she eventually realised that the world of coaching might be her way forward. With experience in business, both good and bad, she wanted to help people avoid the mistakes she had made. She trained as a coach and then a few months later undertook Marie Forleo’s B-School which propelled her business forward.
She realised that finding a niche was important and started with entrepreneurs before deciding to focus on branding. To a lot of people branding means a logo — it is so much more than that. It is every interaction your business has with a client, how they think about you, how they feel you, and it can be incredibly complex. Linzi now runs a 6-week programme (Super Stoked) through her coaching business (Hello Glow) to help people build their brand and get focused on their business.
This business style enables Linzi to be completely location independent. She’s also worked on some incredible freelance projects, one of which led to the building of a stand-up-paddle school in Australia. The school connected with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and is now delivering water safety and environmental educational programmes to indigenous children.
Balance
Finding a balance between the roots of home and the independence of travel is not always easy. With two groups of friends — those who are settled and often married with children, and those who are living the adventurous & entrepreneurial life all over the world — it can be tough to have a real sense of belonging. However, more recently she has realised that Jersey is home and somewhere to travel from, rather than it being just somewhere to come back to in-between travels. Keeping in touch with friends and family is one of the trickiest points of long-term travel and she misses the possibility of spontaneous chats — although Skype and social media makes this much easier.
For many the naivety that Linzi had when she first started working on her projects and events would have been a bonus, not knowing what you were getting into meant there were less things to be scared of. Linzi believes that it was, and still is, her entrepreneurial spirit that made her take on the challenges and see them through — if anyone told her she couldn’t do it then it made her even more determined to succeed.
Branding Tips from Linzi @ Hello Glow
Linzi works with start ups, entrepreneurs & non-profits to define & develop brand strategy.
Branding defines who you are, what you do & why you do it. It enables you to deliver your message clearly, connect with your audience in an authentic way, position yourself in the market and stand out from the crowd.
Brand strategy is entrepreneurship, your way. Because not only is life easier when you are unashamedly you — but that’s also when your core genius shows up for you.
Oh, and she thinks the smartest businesses make space to have fun: she loves to surf, travel, practice yoga, cook super delicious food, SUP and hang out with the people she loves.
Lorna Morris is the editor of Hatch Journal and a freelance graphic designer. Branding is the essence of any business — get it right and it will make your journey a lot easier!
