Hey! Who are you, and what are you working on?
Hi, my name is Kim; I grew up in Switzerland and discovered my passion for travelling and surfing in my early twenties. I’m a certified Life Coach and Sport Mental Trainer and had my own practice for six years in Zurich.
About a year ago, I switched to remote surf mental coaching for women. I’m also doing training retreats in Portugal and Indonesia, the first one happened in 2019 in Peniche, followed by two retreats in Lombok, the next one is coming up in June if the pandemic allows it.
The retreats are my favourite project. I absolutely totally love working together with a small group of dedicated surfers, seeing them having fun and progressing so much in only one week.
This is Kim, passionate and fearless surfer from Switzerland
What motivated you to get started with Fearless Surfer?
During my many surf trips, I realized how women - especially from land-locked countries and beginner/intermediate level - have so much fear and low self confidence in the line-up that they rather sit around on the shoulder than charging for waves. I want to change that. I want to help these women to unlock their full surfing potential. Isn’t it all about a good strategy, the right mindset and having a hell lot of fun out there?
How is your procedure to locate and get in touch with future clients?
I attend events who are surf related and talk to people there about what I’m doing. I met many interesting people this way, got interviews and articles on podcasts and Swiss and German surf magazines. The last article was published on Red Bull Blog a few days ago (in German).
Travelling is also essential. During my surf trips, I meet many surfers who have fear and mindset issues. Then I work together with a surf camp in Lombok. Surfpreneurs is a good place to network as well! I regularly publish content on Instagram. I did some paid advertising in relevant Facebook-Groups, that actually filled up my surf retreats.
During Kim’s retreats, there is surf practice & theory as well as specialized mental coaching
What were the challenges and obstacles in growing your business?
When I started out, I only knew about coaching and administrative organisation, but not about all the other aspects of a business like - in the first place - how to build and grow a business. I lacked knowledge about the technical aspects for my content creation too. I spent hours on youtube and google, which helped a lot but was very time-consuming and also I didn’t know what was good and what was not useful content.
At the end, i decided to do an online business-building/online marketing course and it was a great investment.
What has been helpful to grow your business?
To connect with people who are also building a business or who have built a business. I love to hear about their stories, their challenges, their success, their know-how. It inspires me and teaches me a lot. To regularly talk to my mentor who helps me focus on the important. Also, collabs are great. Giving workshops. Organising my own Surftraining-Retreats. Once surfers experienced the benefit of the mental coaching, word spread and my business started growing. I’m not big yet, but I’m happy with how it goes.
Surfing in Azores - one of Kim’s favorite surf destinations!
Can you remember where and when you fell in love with the ocean?
Oh yes! I’ve always liked the ocean, but the first time I set foot on Bali in 2005 and had a surfboard under my feet, I was so hooked. Couldn’t get enough of beaches, the ocean and surfing ever since.
Which is the most underrated surf destination?
Your own mind. You can create your own inner surf destination and practice all the stuff you really want to practice through mental imagery and other techniques from mental training! Otherwise, I’m not thinking about a certain surf destination, but the waves no one takes because surfers tend to flock together and focus on the main peak, desiring to get the best waves. But I don’t want to fight for the best waves with 20-50 really good surfers, so I always look for some side-peaks. I’ve surfed many spots where you just had to search around a bit to find your own little wave to surf and have fun.
What’s your advice for surfpreneurs who are just starting out?
I can only talk about my own experience with a coaching business. Use your network. Don’t be afraid to get the word out and ask other people for collabs and help. Once I started reaching out to people, so many cool new projects started. You can learn from others, they can learn from you. You get seen. And the cool thing about it, once people see and hear more about you, they start reaching out to you. It becomes an upward spiral.
Focus on the important. Don’t get lost in details (shout out to all perfectionists). Don’t procrastinate important tasks that you don’t like to do just because you don’t like them.
Find a business mentor that helps you to stay on track.
Where can we learn more about you?
On my website www.surfmentaltraining.com or through my Instagram @fearless_surfer.
