Liv was a late starter in surfing, but from the get go, she was immediately hooked. Surfing quickly became an obsession and most of her time off was spent trekking to the closest surf spot or whizzing to Hawaii. This inevitably lead to investing in real estate in her closest surf spot : Tofino, British Colombia.
Liv is also an accomplished marketing jedi: she operated a popular blog for many years, and is still a freelance marketer, but things changed radically as soon as she became a mum. A complicated pregnancy and the arrival of twins forced her to review her priorities and set herself up for living life a little differently.
In this conversation we talk about Liv’s story, she shares some really cool tips for freelancers, we discover what the term “dream making” means, passive houses, and of course, the inception of her new business venture : Noorish Tofino
Liv shares her freelancing tips:
“Get good clientele, good projects that you’ve done that you can really sell your assets on. And networking, I think is huge. I mean, that’s where a lot of the work comes in, is referrals or people that are past clients or somebody mentioned something to somebody. And I mean I’m still a big believer in that. When I was building up my own business and everything that you can always learn something from someone you just never know down the road you know how someone might pop up in your life again or how you might help them. It all just kind of comes together so networking is definitely a big part of it.
“Sometimes it’s feast or famine”
“In terms of managing finances and managing your client load, that’s a tricky one because ideally you want to space everything out so that it’s steady. But that never happens so you just have to deal with it sometimes it’s feast or famine and I guess having the foresight to look ahead and project timelines and see OK maybe down the road I’m gonna to need something else so I’d better start making some connections now and then. Obviously using some kind of software for billing and making sure you’re tracking time and being kind of diligent about that and not being really afraid to follow up on invoices or having to make a phone call if you need to. Because at the end of the day it is business and you just have to go about it.”
Liv shares her first experience surfing
“I was terrified actually. I mean I don’t know what got over me. I was trembling when I put on the wetsuit because it’s cold water and I’m thinking I’m just going to freeze this looks miserable. It was filled filled with self-doubt which is horrible. And we get out there and we had this wonderful instructor. I still remember her. The surf shop is called Lost in the 60s. Her name was Daisy. She was an older lady I mean she must have been at least her 60s. And you know she was amazing with a positive energy. She’s like “you can do this!”. Of course you put me on this big blue foam board and I think the first push she gave me I pretty much nearly stood up and then I just was standing up. But, I mean since then it’s grown really into a passion of ours."
“And we just really got hooked on that lifestyle.”
Fast forward to today, Liv has created with a couple of associates from Dryft Watersports and Papaya Wellness, a new adventure experience: Noorish Tofino. Noorish proposes surf, yoga and adventure experiences for women in the beautiful Canadian rainforest and also around the world in idyllic places such as Morocco and Central America.
“Our whole philosophy is we’re encouraging. We are welcoming to people of all different backgrounds cultures experience levels. You know you don’t have to know how to surf or have done yoga or have traveled alone you know to come to these things because that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to encourage you and to help you you know find that. And that was at the core of what I wanted Noorish to b,e was just to have a space where women could come and feel welcome and to be encouraged to try different things so that they come away with a weekend where they feel empowered or they feel rested or they feel just ready to come back to their own lives.”
To get in touch with liv at Noorish Tofino, skip to www.noorishtofino.com, or their Instagram account @noorishtofino. Don’t miss out on their photography retreat with Bryanna Bradley in September 2019.
Thank you ever so much for listening. Next week, we’re going to be having a cosmic experience with my next guest.
Until next week, take care, have fun and enjoy the waves.
Ciao!
Imi
This week, I got to sit down for a chat with Lilly Woodbury who is and environmentalist and a media specialist making waves within the non profit organisation Surfrider in Tofino, which is off the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Canada.
Today I got to sit down for a chat with Belinda Bradford. Belinda is Australian and has been surfing for over 20 years now. Despite the fact she utterly rips in the lineup, she has worked in extremely demanding jobs most of her life: from senior managerial positions at Qantas and Time-Warner she has also created a bunch of successful startups.
In terms of dream jobs, you could say Belinda has had them all as she always been an extremely driven person so it’s interesting to talk to someone who has had a life filled with demanding jobs and the perks they come with. What is also interesting is to find out why and how Belinda ran away from the corporate world for… surfing?
Today my guest is Scott Martin. Scott is an ambitiously lazy marketing guru from Canada. He shares his incredible story about growing up in a freaking cold country. He tells how he replaced going to college with real life experience in Hawaii, and how he still travels the world in search of waves and warmth. The story of his epiphany that changed his career path when he got stranded in Miami airport with only $80 in his pocket is well worth a listen.
Donations will be used to pay for equipment, podcast editor and promotion of the podcast on social networks. The Oceanriders Podcast is a member of One Percent for The Planet, 1% of your proceeds will be donated to Surfrider Europe.
