Imi Barneaud: Yeah. It really interesting what you were saying about the most challenging and having to focus on the things that maybe you don’t like doing the most, but you just need to get pushed things along and actually get things done. Yeah, that’s really interesting. And what have you found the most enjoyable in the process?

Laura Day: So I’ve done a lot of pop-up shop, I’ve done a lot of in-person shops. Funny enough, maybe, never thought that I would say that this is the most enjoyable, but the sales portion of it, I think I would say is the most enjoyable because it’s the most challenging for me, and it’s so much based on creating a relationship with your customer, and I think it’s very, I don’t want to say dynamic, so the sales in-person with my customers, when I do pop-up shop, I love because I get feedback right away on the product. I love to get feedback on that product, and I love to meet the women that I am actually serving. I think that’s really important, and so a lot of that gives you ideas on where you should go with the business, what people want, gives you that faith is validating that, Hey, you made the stuff and somebody wants it. And then wholesaling is something that I’ve been working on recently, which I would say yet, maybe not as much. I think mentally, it’s challenging to really get yourself in that head space. But what it is, it’s a long process of building a relationship and building trust with a store or retailer for them to want to carry your stuff. But recently being, I’m pre-booked for a couple major stores here in San Diego, so I’m really, really so, but like I always say, like I don’t believe anything until the cash is in the bank, so we won’t celebrate, the whole building that relationship and seeing results from that process has been rewarding, and I felt a lot of growth from that.

Imi Barneaud: Yeah, that’s fantastic. It must be so encouraging to actually go from doing the pop-up shop and then actually getting a [inaudible] customer and things like that, it’s really rewarding. Would you have any bootstrapping advice, things that really help you out. Start with when the funds were low?

Laura Day: I have realized that each of you are in a space where you can share resources with somebody or do a trade with somebody that makes sense, it can be a great way to go that way. I think always questioning what you’re spending and if you could be spending less, or if you could be getting it for free is a good practice. So one of the examples that I would have is, a couple of years ago we did a photo shoot in Sayulita, and the girl that shot the photos, she was amazing, and at the time she was just building her portfolio, and that was okay for me because my budget was small. We actually hire a couple of models to shoot with us, and we got the pictures and it was great. But I think that, I realized like, Hey, I could have just found other women who owned businesses around surfing and created a trade in this environment where we’re helping each other out because they might actually need the photos as opposed to a model that’s kinda like, ah, I gotta be here. What really got me thinking on this was, when one of the models asked me to pay the PayPal transaction fee for paying her, and I was like, wait, I’m not paying you to be in business, I have to pay my own businesses too. But I think it was so minimal that it was like, Oh, I know the principles is not right, but I just didn’t even want to go over that. But anyways, finding somebody that might have that common goal, that might have been like, Hey, like I really need the pictures for my business, and Hey, well, I really need to take pictures of someone. So I think I could have networked a little bit and found people that were more excited to be there, to just bring more to the table. So that’s always something that is good to think about, but not to get lost in. Because sometimes, collaborations don’t, and I think you have to make a few, not bad decisions, but make a few decisions that you regret to understand like, okay, well what is a good collaboration? What questions do I ask? What do I say that I need out of this to make it worthwhile for myself? Because I’ve definitely had girls reach out to me like, Hey, I have this following, I have that, and I’m going to take pictures of your product and put it on. And I’m like, Oh, that’s awesome. And you send a product and you never see.

Imi Barneaud: Yeah.

Laura Day: But that taught me, what is it that I need from a collaboration that we’re fulfilling for each other that makes sense. So bootstrapping, yeah, I think seeing where you can collaborate, I think is a good idea, and just being very clear about what you need.

Imi Barneaud: Yeah, that’s really good advice. Thank you very much for sharing that with us. So what are the goals for Iaera Surf next year?

Laura Day: Yeah, so next year my goals when I talk in numbers with the next year, my goal is to do is to get into 20 or have 20 wholesale accounts. So that’s something I’m really working on, and I’m learning, the rule of numbers, right? So if my average is every 20 stores I approach, I get one, then I got to talk to 400 stores. It’s really nice to have that idea in mind, like, okay, this is why I’m reaching my goal or why I’m not reaching my goal, and be unemotional about it. It’s not me, I’m doing my best to learn along the way, but it’s the numbers, it’s just sales. Then we are starting a podcast.

Imi Barneaud: Yeah.

Laura Day: And that’s, I’m so glad to be here with you today. And the podcast is called Confessions of a Surf Lady. And yeah, it’s really about extending the conversation beyond the products that we create for the women who surf into platform where we can have a dialogue. So the way it works is, we have questions that are specific to women’s surfing that we post for women to anonymously respond to. And the reason why it’s anonymous is, I feel like women have responded thing that, Oh, cool, like, I can say whatever I want. And that’s the idea, I don’t want them to feel like this is a Facebook thread where somebody is going to get offended because you said something and they just didn’t connect with it. We want to see a pool of opinions and stories that are a true reflection of the female surfer as opposed to this, life’s a beach, everything’s great, no worries surf is here. I mean, those are cute things, but they’re not real life. I’ve never met a woman that surf that is just, has not lived a life that is not just life’s a beach. A real life that comes with real struggle and real things.

Imi Barneaud: So what kind of questions have you had the most responses from?

Laura Day: Yeah. So one of the reasons, or the inspirations for this podcast was, when I was doing market research for my business, I was actually applying to the practice of really pitching your business. I was applying to different programs and stuff, and one of the questions that I asked for my market research in a very similar fashion, it wasn’t exactly anonymous but similar fashion was, how do you feel about the way women are represented in the surf industry? Because you know, what I was standing on as a business was that women are not happy with the way that we’re represented. Women are not happy with the products that are offered. So in this pitch presentation, I collected these responses to support that idea, and I got 50 to 60 responses at that time, and maybe a handful of women. Another option was, Hey, if you’re willing, can I interview you for 10 minutes and just ask you some questions. So I got on the phone with about 15 women at the time, I had questions, but I let the conversation go wherever it was, and I got a consensus of unhappiness.

Imi Barneaud: Really.

Laura Day: Yeah. The way that, I mean, things that stick in my head because it was up in an interview that I just did as well. The way women were treated when they would go into a surf shop, they just didn’t feel comfortable, because they felt like no one wanted to help them, because I dunno, I don’t understand, because being in a business you’re like, well, aside from just helping somebody, I’m also here to sell and have a business that I don’t really understand why you would have discrimination. Yeah. Any guy out there owns a surf shop and you’re not doing well, maybe you should start marketing, and maybe you should start selling to your female customers, because last I checked, we spend more money. So that was a question I think I asked a year or two ago, and almost exactly a year ago, and when this podcast was coming together, or this idea of this form was coming together, I wanted to ask that question again. So I posted that question again, I got about 75 responses, and a lot of it, it’s still similar responses, some responses that are thinking like, Hey, or expressing that, I think things are getting better, but we have a long way to go. But I felt really inspired by just seeing two sets of responses one year apart. And I thought that there is just so much more of a conversation there. So yeah, that’s one question that I’m sure every woman that has an opinion about, and should have an opinion about. Some of the other questions, what makes you feel excluded in surf culture?

Imi Barneaud: Interesting.

Laura Day: Yeah, that’s the one that I discussed with, launching on January 15. When we launched a podcast on episode 4, I discussed that with Brianna Ortega. So she had some great things to add too. And then another one that we’re working on right now is gathering submissions from women who have either almost drowned or felt really unsafe in the water. So we’ve gotten a handful of voice submissions of women telling their stories about that.

Imi Barneaud: Excellent.

Laura Day: Different things like that. And my hope is also that, I’ve got a backlog of topics that I want to ask and discuss. So my hope is that people do, on the website, come on and tell us what they want to talk about. Because the conversation, and something that we say in the podcast: “The conversation would not be complete without you.” So please join us. Please tell us what you want to talk about. Please give your opinion and don’t feel like you’re going to offend anybody because you should have your opinion heard. I mean, I know, as a female surfer, when you don’t feel represented, it’s not great when this is your favorite, your most beloved passion. So part of our goals for next year is to really take that on, and hopefully get a lot of women on board, getting into conversation and dialogue with us.

Imi Barneaud: Fabulous. That’s so cool because it’s quite difficult to engage with an audience and actually get them to come back, or reply, or respond, or whatever. So do people leave voicemail messages, or what kind of format do you use for the podcast?

Laura Day: For the podcast, I’ve come up with two pop formats, and also this is still in the work, so it’ll evolve, but Google forms has been just the easiest to be able to put a question out there and receive responses anonymously. And then there is a software called SpeakPipe, and it’s a little voicemail software, right? That someone can just call in and leave you a message, they can leave their name if they want, but they don’t have to.

Imi Barneaud: Right.

Laura Day: Those are the two things I’ve been using to collect responses and create conversation.

Imi Barneaud: Yeah, yeah. What’s in surfing makes you feel excluded? What are your conclusions?

Laura Day: Yes. It’s interesting. There are definitely responses that differ, that have differed in that conversation, and in the episode too, we talk about these different responses, but you know, Brianna brought up a scenario about how she worked in a surf shop and how customer guy’s, like didn’t maybe see her as authoritative figure as she was a woman and wouldn’t talk to her, wouldn’t choose to talk to her even if she tried to help them. We got other responses such as I don’t feel excluded in surf culture. Yeah, and I love, there’s a great one, one surf lady submitted that just said, she doesn’t feel excluded, but she did work hard to create that space for herself to not make her feel excluded. And you can see just these differing opinions, these differing life views that are all valid, I think that are all valid. And there’s women that feel like their age makes them feel excluded, or their weight, or the way they look, or one person said Stab Magazine, coverage of women was something that came up a couple times, and I’ve never followed them, it’s something that me and Brianna talk about on the episode too. But yeah, there’s a lot of responses out there, and it’s great, I think we can learn from each other. And then I hope that you’ll go and join us in the conversation at   because there, you’ll get to contribute your confessions for different topics or even let us know what topics you want to talk about.

Imi Barneaud: Lovely. Fantastic. Well, this has been so interesting and what a lovely way to actually engage with your audience and with your clients. It’s a really good idea actually to have that podcast to follow up. That’s fantastic. I guess we’re arriving at the end of this lovely interview and it’s been really, really lovely conversation. I just wondered if you had the time to answer a few questions, which are basically sentences that I ask my guests to finish. Sometimes you come up with some good answers. So the first sentence to finish is I LOVE.

Laura Day: I love the opportunity that we have here in this space and this kind of internet and online space to really create something where we can create a dialogue and create success for ourselves with business. Yeah, I love that opportunity and that we have that, it really is a gift.

Imi Barneaud: Absolutely. I MISS.

Laura Day: Okay, well, I miss the waves in Australia. You can come out and surf here and maybe get 10 seconds standing up on a wave, but if you’re out in Australia, you can be on a wave for a few minutes. So i miss the waves in Australia.

Imi Barneaud: I WISH.

Laura Day: I wish that the female surf community will come together and join me on Confessions of a Surf Lady, really helped me tell our authentic story,

Imi Barneaud: Lovely. And I WANT.

Laura Day: I want to have a successful career and a successful business that allows me to create a positive impact on my community and the people around me.

Imi Barneaud: Fantastic. And just a side question, since you started the business, how often do you actually get out surfing?

Laura Day: A lot less often. Yeah, a lot less often. I would say on average once or twice a week, and I have to confess, I guess would be the word, that surfing is not my one and only true love. I love my work, I love the business building, so if there is something that I am excited to do, I will ditch surfing. But I also, fortunately enough, right now at the moment, we have a place down in Baja Norte, there are a couple breaks there that are really uncrowded and great waves. So sometimes I’ll go down there, get my weekend fix, and then I have a week to focus on my business, and focus on the things that I want to do.

Imi Barneaud: Beautiful. That’s great. Last question, do you have any books, or podcasts, or films, or TV series shows, whatever that have inspired you and that would inspire our listeners to continue?

Laura Day: So not that it’s, I think it’s a good thing, a good book to consider Trevor Noah’s book Born a Crime has in my mind, and I did it as the audio book has in my mind, stuck with me as one of the best books that I’ve engaged with, or listen to, or read quote unquote because I did it with an audio book, and even if it’s not directly about entrepreneurship, but he really talks about coming from very little and becoming who he is. And his storytelling is really, really just engaging and amazing. And he tells his life story in a way that makes you consider, I don’t know, just unfairness against different races and makes you consider what’s going on beyond your world. And it’s just really impactful. If I needed to recommend a book any day of the week, it’d be that one all the time.

Imi Barneaud: Okay. Okay. So we’ll repeat the name, Trevor Noah?

Laura Day: Yeah, Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime.

Imi Barneaud: Born a Crime, okay. We’ll put that in the show notes too. And how can we get a hold of you and your beautiful products.

Laura Day: So you can visit us at www.iaerasurf.com, and that’s I-A-E-R-A-S-U-R-F.C-O-M, Always gotta spell it. Or you can follow us on Instagram, same handle, Iaera Surf. Same thing with Facebook. And then Confessions of a Surf Lady would be, and then the same thing with Instagram and Facebook.

Imi Barneaud: Fantastic. Well thank you Laura for being a wonderful guest, and this energy that you have is just so contagious, it’s beautiful. I really, really enjoyed talking to you. So I just wish you all the best for the next few months and years, and just come back on the podcast if you want to share any new stories or whatever.

Laura Day: Definitely. And you’ll have to be on our podcast too.

Imi Barneaud: That would be my pleasure. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, take care, Laura and see you soon.

Laura Day: Bye.

Imi Barneaud: I loved this exchange. I can’t believe how savvy Laura is in sales. I certainly learned a lot and I find that her advice of just picking up the phone or talking to her prospective clients is such a wise move. As an introvert, I know dread being face to face with the customer, but at the end of the day, that’s what makes businesses tick. I also love the fact that thanks to her extrovert personality, Laura has sought advice from the best in practice and hasn’t hesitated to confront her ideas with mentors and customers. And last but not least, I love the way Laura is constantly building a relationship with her customers and wholesalers. There’s definitely some excellent bootstrapping and goal setting info in this episode.

So to connect with Laura, you can skip over to her Instagram and online shop iaerasurf.com and at Iaera Surf on Instagram. You will also be able to listen to her podcast Confessions of a Surf Lady on Apple podcasts this week, so check out the links in the show notes to find out more.

All the information mentioned in this podcast is available on my website and in the show notes of this episode (just check them out on your podcast app). On theoceanriderspodcast.com you’ll also find some great info and photos of my guest so, please don’t hesitate to have a look. Links to it are in the show notes.

If you enjoy this podcast, please share the love. You can tell your friends, family, strangers in the lineup about this podcast but if you want to do more to support me, you can too. I have created an online merch shop, called the oceanriders shop. It has a collection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, greetings cards and wall art for all types of budgets, so be sure to check them out on theoceanriderssshop.com. Links to it are in the show notes. All profits will go to paying for my awesome podcast editor Leng, and 1% of the sales will be automatically donated to 1% for the planet certified non profits. This year, they all my 1% proceeds are going to WIRES Australia, a wildlife rescue organisation that is doing its best to save as many wild animals as possible in the heartbreaking Australian bushfires.

That said, I wish you all an excellent week. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks time with another awesome surfer, and in the meantime, take care, have fun, and enjoy the waves. Ciao.