An honest story on how ditching big plans can work wonders

Running a small business is big work. As exciting and stressful as running any business, I suppose. Somehow, some external force seems to push you to move forward, expand and strive for bigger success. But that’s not necessarily what brings happiness and fulfilment. Here’s an honest story about why we decided to ditch grand plans, then changed course and found more joy.

Words by Alexandra Gossink.
Picture by Lily Plume.

“What seemed to be a paved road to success but turned out to be a bumpy backtrack full of potholes.”

We were never a large company. Au contraire. Our core team was just the three of us, then recently we became just two. Our extended Seaside family consists of freelancers; some so loyal and unmissable they feel as much part of the core team (hello beloved wordy bird Gail Bennie!).

Having staff to do stuff is a plus in big companies. A small team, however, doesn’t have a board or managing directors to answer to. What? Yep! We ARE the board and the managing directors to boot! The doers, the makers, and the PR and HR and admins and directors of finances too, come to think of it. A small team, like us, make plans over coffee, and stick to them for as long as they work. Or better yet: work for them.

And that is exactly what happened here at I Love the Seaside. Plans with months of work and thought gone into them, working towards what seemed to be a paved road to success but turned out to be a bumpy backtrack full of potholes.

Let me take you back for a minute, to how we started. A writer, a designer, and a logistics manager: ocean lovers at heart, travellers by nature, surfers by choice. We were all so excited by the idea of making a book we would want to read, as travelling surfers.

Carving out a way to connect locals and visiting ocean lovers. Starting a soft revolution in travel books and surfing books. Not too hardcore surf-wise, with no wish to expose secret or lesser-known spots; just highlighting heart-run projects, hearty people and places, and the uniqueness of each area’s backyard. Sharing our own travel experiences along with local knowledge, with the locals’ approval to do so. Independent, using design, art, stories and photography to inspire people to go and explore beyond the shore, with curiosity and respect. And that’s not the PR person talking, that’s me the writer giving an honest snapshot of who we are and what we stand for. (I am the PR person too, by the way, underpaid for sure and without any college certificate to prove it, but still…)

DID WE SUCCEED?

After 10 years of creating and publishing I Love the Seaside books and building our beloved brand, we ask ourselves the question. Our answer? Well, that’s not for us to decide, but for you: our dear readers, our loyal stockists, our treasured seaside locals, surfers and artists featured in the books, and all our contacts who made it possible to do what we so loved to do. But especially, for the local people whose places, towns, shops, hostels, cafes and restaurants we’ve highlighted in our guides, just because we believe they’re loveable.

For us, the makers, yes, we feel we did succeed! We self published a series of travel guides, and this allowed us to live a certain lifestyle, simple yet rich in experiences and encounters. We made the crazy long work hours count, created beautiful books: five English and five Dutch editions, with numerous updates. Most importantly, we believe we succeeded in our mission to connect travelling surfers with local people and their heart-run businesses, and we sure did share our love for the surroundings.

Tourism though

Yeah. Tourism. Times have changed, as they do, and so have we since we began our Seaside adventure. So has tourism in general, and surf tourism specifically, for sure.

Tourism can be a blessing. It can bring joy, a good source of income and in the best case, an exchange of culture and knowledge. The downside… well, don’t we all know the downside. Crowds. And the changes they can bring for the worse. Having been a tour guide, a teacher in hospitality training and writing travel stories, I’ve worked in tourism to some extent for decades. I do believe tourism is a positive movement – as long as it doesn’t move in too large numbers.

Despite our best intentions, we too inspired people to go to places that may have changed due to the number of visitors. We added, albeit in a modest way, to an influx of larger numbers than some places can handle. Not singlehandedly, gosh no! We would have filled our pockets to bursting if we’d sold that many books! But every person involved in tourism – whether they run a hotel, campsite, surf school, shop, or write travel articles and books – is as much part of the movement as the visitors themselves.

From Niche to Next Best Thing

Surfing used to be so niche! Especially in Northern Europe. When I was a freelance writer for mags and newspapers in Holland, I couldn’t get a story sold when I pitched an idea about surfing. The answer was usually along the lines of: “Sorry, we just had a special on beach sports, try next summer.”

Nowadays we can publish books about surfing, and articles are written about the books! Surfing is an Olympic sport. Surfing is something commercialism doesn’t shy away from, for all the obvious reasons. We all have such great bodies, don’t we!

Nah, kidding. So, without going all ‘Everything was so much better back in the day’ or ‘I was here first and blah blah’ on you.. the growing popularity of surfing, the increasing number of people visiting places that can’t handle so many, and the changes that aren’t always for the better started to become a concern for us. Despite our best intentions, that worry’s been gnawing at our consciences like a teeny-weeny mouse; first almost silently, then louder and clearer. It made us question if we were still on the right track – a very healthy question for any creator or business!

Go big or…

But, while we were still figuring out how and what to change, it took a more personal reason to make us lose the appetite for work we’ve been doing passionately for ten years. Let me try and explain.

Once we’d written about the surf coasts of Europe and Morocco – the areas we’ve travelled extensively. The logical, if bold, step was to go overseas. To places we didn’t know so well, or didn’t know at all. To be thorough and fair and make the right and conscientious choices regarding the surf spots, the people and the addresses in new overseas books, it was of essence to work with local surfers, writers and photographers. The idea came to life when local peeps contacted us – first New Zealand, then Chile. While we started the talks and the first drafts were sent, we reached out to talents for a book we most anticipated: California.

“When you’re a born maker, don’t become a manager.”

Ah, to go from the idea to the actual making… With our small team, all jobs involving running a business must be done by us. Like I mentioned before, the admin, sales, etc. Even if you know no-nothing about it, and they’re not your cup of tea, they need to be done. The one good thing that keeps you afloat amid chaos and endless to-do lists is you can still do your own thing. In my case, writing is my thing.

The supposedly paved road first started showing bumps and holes for me when I found I was busy editing words and sentences formed by others. I was fact-checking people I’d never met, places I’d never been. I felt like I’d landed a job I just wasn’t made for and didn’t know how to handle. All the other stuff that came naturally to us, as a team, changed. The contacts, the flow, and without going too deep into the details, all felt different. Not the adventurous, unknown and exciting, but frustratingly different.

The work that was at the core of our fulfilment – creating something from zero, meeting new people, seeing different perspectives, hearing stories first-hand and being on the road with a purpose – it all changed drastically. What seemed to be simple: having other people research and explore would save us tons of time, they’d have the knowledge and contacts we didn’t. Et cetera.

But here’s the thing. The biggest lesson learned. If you’re a born maker, don’t become a manager. The stress from your own work is like a side dish that’s part of the diet, not too tasty but doable. Trying to mould work from others into your idea of perfection is hard work and an ache in the face for all parties involved in the process.

Although it took much longer than anticipated, we did do it. And it resulted in an amazingly beautiful surf and travel book of Chile! Because, if you don’t try you don’t know, right?

But now we know. We pulled the plug on the New Zealand and California projects, even though there were already months of work in them.

“Slowly harvested, rich in flavour.”

We realise now that the gold that we have to share is in all the people we’ve met on the way. It’s the deepest well of knowledge. Uplifting, life-changing, story-worthy stuff. We must do what we love and what we do best. We must stay as close to what we make, share and publish as possible. It is growth seen from a different perspective. Slowly harvested, rich in flavour, and all that. So that’s what we will be doing. A new project is in the works, not just one, but a whole series of it! Without giving too much away too soon, it involves collections of the best stories heard, places seen and new insights – the stuff that’ll enrich, enlighten and inspire.

We sincerely hope you join in, stay connected and keep sharing your adventures and insights too. We promise we will be all in and keep creating beautiful books and more.