Riding The Wave Of Success From Beach To Bank
The Age
Saturday November 25, 2006
A teacher turned her love for surfing into a successful business, writes Debi Taylor.
ELEVEN years ago, devoted surfer Brenda Miley turned her passion into her livelihood. With no business experience, the physical education teacher started a surfing school at Bondi Beach from the back of her van. Three years later she launched an affiliated surf store."I started surf lessons out of the back of a van in a car park in Bondi Beach with a couple of surfboards," says Ms Miley, 42. "Then, in 1998, my husband and I created a surf school retail concept store. We say we take people from zero to surfer. So we teach lessons and we can provide people with equipment - wetsuits, rash vests, surfboards - all the stuff that you need." Although business is booming, with Let's Go Surfing employing 30 staff and teaching about 15,000 people to surf each year, Ms Miley says the business side of things wasn't so easy in the beginning. "I was terrible at it. When I had to pay bills - I'd opened a retail store so I had all sorts of suppliers to pay and the rent and staff - I realised that I was struggling."One year after opening the surf store, she approached the Australian Businesswomen's Network for guidance."I looked to other women first. That's why I joined the Australian Businesswomen's Network, because I thought maybe they'd know and I'd be able to get inspiration from other women. I felt very alone too. Even though I was doing it with my husband, I felt like I didn't know too many women who ran businesses . . ."Ms Miley participated in a six-month ABN mentor program, which involved developing business plans, fortnightly seminars and 20 hours with an experienced business mentor. "You had communication with people and you felt supported because you could see that there were other people in the same boat as you," she says. "You realise that this is normal, instead of thinking that it's really terrible, and you learn skills along the way - things that you can put into practice."I was a surfer and I was a PE teacher, and basically I put my two passions together. So I didn't really think of it in a structured way like a real business. I just thought that it would be a good thing to do, a bit of a hobby, and then I realised I could make a living out of it. It was when I went into the shop that the real business started because I had to borrow money and both my husband and I left our jobs."Keen to give something back, Ms Miley has been an ABN mentor for three years. She is involved with the ABN's new national mentoring program MentorNet, which focuses on young female entrepreneurs. Starting in January, the six-month program will use the internet and digital technology, with online classrooms, blogs, pod casts, a web community and virtual meetings delivering mentoring, networking, education and information. MentorNet is open to women who have been in business for six months, and male and female mentors who have operated their own business for at least five years."I think any program that supports people, women in particular, starting out in business is really great because it helps both parties," Ms Miley says. "It helps the mentoree get started . . . but it also helps you as a mentor because when you're giving other people advice you remind yourself, and you're giving that advice to yourself sometimes as well. And you learn from other people. The more people you deal with, the more you learn, whether you're a mentor or a mentoree. Being able to access advice and guidance when starting out in any business is such a valuable thing and I think women are quite good at asking and giving help."When I've mentored, I remember back to when I started and how I felt and I feel like I've been able to help other people. I've mentored three women and it's all the same, feeling alone . . . They feel like they've got an idea of where they want to go, but they're not really sure how to get there. When I started out, what I was good at was looking at the big picture and having a vision. But what I wasn't good at were all the details behind it. I started this business without having a business plan. I was prepared to work hard but I needed the back-end stuff."Ms Miley says new business owners need to be passionate and prepared to work hard. "Start with a vision and surround yourself with people who know more than you about things you don't know about and ask for help. The way you improve is you just keep doing it and getting good advice."
© 2006 The Age