Here are a couple of counties I am considering, with brief population stats. More business relevant statistics to come...
Los Angeles County:
Population, 2008 estimate 9,862,049 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 - 25.8% are under 18
Mendocino County:
Population, 2008 estimate 86,221 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 22.1% under 18
Orange County:
Population, 2008 estimate 3,010,759 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 25.4% under 18
San Diego County:
Population, 2008 estimate 3,001,072 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 24.8% under 18
San Luis Obispo County:
Population, 2008 estimate 265,297 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 18.6% under 18
San Mateo County:
Population, 2008 estimate 712,690 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 22.5% under 18
Santa Barbara County:
Population, 2008 estimate 405,396 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 23.6% under 18
Santa Cruz County:
Population, 2008 estimate 253,137 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 21.5% under 18
Ventura County:
Population, 2008 estimate 797,740 OF TOTAL, 36,756,666 – 25.9% under 18
I included the 18 and under bracket because this is a decent chunk of our target audience and some counties have a lot more young hoodlums than others.
Haven’t seen as many posts on here as you expected? That is because I have decided to shut up and research. Boyguna is no simple undertaking – starting a small business is a carefully cultivated process with many parts. The dream was fun; coming with all kinds of things that will make us unique was barely a scratch of the surface of this massive sandbar.
Below you will find the 10 steps, or considerations, when starting a small business in California according to Business.gov:
Research and plan your business: creating a business plan
Get business training and expert advice: management and financial planning from experts in SBA (small business administration)
Select a location: where do you want to be that is customer-friendly?
Finance your business: dollar dollar bills y’all!
Select a business name: a name different from that of the owner(s)
Select the legal structure of your business: sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation, S corporation etc.
Get an employer identification number (federal tax ID): allows your earnings to count for something
Register for state taxes: self-explanatory
Obtain business licenses and permits: allows you to do business and others to do business with you
Employer Responsibilities: management
I am in the process of learning the importance of each of the above considerations and will issue one (or as many as needed) post per issue except for the first two. The business plan is underway and the format is far too large for this blog. The second issue, advice, will be addressed after some council has been sought. So for example, the next post will discuss the desired geographic location(s) of Boyguna.
In spirit of the four-year anniversary of the Clark Foam collapse of o’five, I thought I would take a minute to address some material concerns. Every surf shop has to take an ethical stance on foreign dependence on parts. We may not care as much about where the rubber soles of our cold-water surf booties are made, but the country of origin of a surfboard, or blank, is a different story.
When the worlds largest polyurethane-foam blank producer, Gordon Clark, closed shop out of the blue on that fateful December day in 2005, the Asians went wild. Clark Foam was the only entity that was keeping the mass producing of pop-out boards at bay. The foam giant out of Laguna Niguel, California was helping to keep dollars in shaper's pockets and quality boards under our feet by way of the highest quality American-made foam blanks. But when the pressures of strict environmental standards started pushing Grubby, he decided not to push back; can you blame him? He felt that because his creations were so unique, that he was an industry “standard” which apparently also makes you a virtual limitless liability. This dethroned the foam king, and opened the flood gates for cheapo plastic Asian-made pancakes.
As much as I can appreciate the things Clark did for surfing, especially here in the states, I can’t help but be frustrated with how he handled his exit. Calling to his manufacturing facilities to destroy the concrete master blank molds and using powerful saws and torches to rip through the machines required to create the best foam blanks in the world; it just brings alligator tears. It wasn’t like there was some new technology here never before seen, it was just the way it was implemented. He was making things happen with regular techniques, but in a fashion that resulted in gold. I feel that he could have passed his trade and creations on to someone he trusted that would in-turn, find a more efficient and environmentally sound process of production. But alas, he is gone and the Surf Tech plastics are the rage.
Without a Delorean and Mr Fusion™, I can’t tell what Boyguna will value more, economically prudent pop-outs or individually glassed sticks? While we may sell more epoxy-glassed Surf Tech-style boards, I think we will want to push for the handcrafted past. My goal is to have a shaper (craftsman that refines a blank into a surfboard) on retainer for the shop. We will have to be sure the money is in the budget to afford to pay this person well enough to rightfully appreciate his or her creativity and skill. The business of being an independent shaper has declined significantly since the Clark Foam collapse and we want to thwart that AMAP (as much as possible, my own little thing). The shaping bay will be located either within the square footage of the shop, or as a detached building on the property. If it comes to pass that we are restricted in terms of shop space and/or property space/regulations, the shaping bay will be nearby and the rental fees for the studio will be covered by Boyguna. These fees will not be placed as a financial burden on our shaper.
The emotional connection involved in the purchase of a surfboard should never be overlooked. So much time and planning goes into this quick swipe of a credit card that, after things are all said and done, we will want feedback from our customers whenever possible. In many of the cases where our shaper will either be selling his/her wares, or building a custom spec board, we will want to follow-up with the customer regarding the boards’ performance. This information can be published as testament to the quality of our product and can help us make decisions down the road on what to stock as well as what to offer. What I mean by offer is: girl comes into the shop and is looking for an off-the-rack board. She doesn’t need a custom job, money is an issue, but she wants quality. She wants to rip on something that she can depend on and lists off a couple well known brands. CI, Rusty, Webber, Xanadu…you know them. I would think in this situation we want to go straight to our shapers quiver. Pushing these boards gets the shaper on the scene and promotes some brand loyalty with BSS. Depending on her reaction, we may then cruise over the glistening rack of performance short boards and pull off a KStep-Up and be good. Either way, we want to know what she thinks of the ride.
After the point of sale, we will give her a little coupon-looking deal. The coupon will have a link to our website where, when she enters the promotional code from her board purchase, she will be taken to a survey screen. Once the survey is completed, a printable in-store coupon will be displayed to her with a special number on it. We will keep track of that number to make sure the coup is only used once and not Xeroxed at Kinko’s and dumped out of a helicopter. Now we have valuable customer feedback as well as a repeat customer as she will want to redeem that coupon.
My hope is to be so close to the beach that riders of our shapers boards will stop by and let us know how the boards work for them. This will be the casual banter that goes around surf shops that provides fantastic information as to what is going on in the lineup and what is being deemed “kook status”. From a purely business standpoint, we will want to be up on both. While kooky gear may not appeal to the hardcore, localized surf crowd, it does pull in big dollars from tourists and weekend warriors. And we are in business to make money. But we want to keep a firm grasp on the soul aspect of surfing – that is where the kids come in. When I say kids, I mean hiring local high-school and college aged talent to work in the shop. This is crucial to developing that word-of-mouth advertising as well as getting some good surfing knowledge on staff. But that is talk for another blog.
Hopefully my next article will be put together a little more, I was just excited and wanted to get some text out there on my foamy thoughts.
The wind picked up in the distance and we could see Lake Okoboji begin to ripple. An eerie presence came over the small resort-town in Iowa while strange energy pulsed first in the air, and then in our souls. The talk of a retail shop, dedicated to the needs of both surfers and tourists began to take shape. Where to put it and what to call it; these were the difficult questions being presented at what felt like such an early stage. The next few seconds happened at such speed and with such elegance that I can only describe it like this, “Why don’t you call it Boyguna?”
The name stuck to the dream like fireflies to my windshield. A glowing reminder of the dream we made that August day. Shortly after, it was discussed and agreed upon that Boyguna Surf Shop needed to be more that a shop, but rather, a complex. The first of its kind, Boyguna would offer the standard retail merchandise, the surfing equipment, the opportunity to rent said equipment, and the services of a full-time repair shop for that gear. But we don’t stop things there – not only will we sell surfing, but we will be surfing. By way of a music venue, bar and grill and seafood counter, Boyguna will stand for all that can be achieved by way of a board, long or short, and the liquid freedom it requires.
The inspiration and hope took place in 2005 and four years later, solid stepping stones are being laid. After entering the business world, I have come to realize that a dream is nothing without drive. The determination to actualize something as profoundly new and nearly impossible as Boyguna must spring from soul. It must be fueled by the heart, the mind and the physical drive within two relatively young men. The business plan/model is to be created over the 2010 (pronounced twenty-ten) year and will be reviewed by a field professional. Starting small is inevitable if we are not able to solicit investors, yet it seems that if the goals of the operation are presented in that perfect manner, the curious will come. They will come in suits and they will leave with one less check in their book.
You have been introduced to Boyguna and now know a little about the mission. Let it settle in and get used to the name Boyguna. Please pronounce it correctly, “boy-goo-nuh”. Think, “boy” and then “Laguna” without the “La”. You got it! Your word-of-mouth is important to our popularity in these early planning stages. If you are interested in starting your own surf shop some day, follow this blog. It is a real-time log of what it takes to create a shop. Look at that optimism, friends! I am already assuming it will work; I have been assuming such for four years and a couple of months. Stand by as I will update constantly on what I am doing to make this happen. As a Co-CEO, I will be getting advice and council from my partner in surf, Brian Boyer. Together we will share our strife, struggles and eventual victory every step of the way.
My name is Kyle Anderson, and when I jump in the water, I don’t get wet. The water gets Kyle Anderson’d.
