Creating a portfolio of surf businesses with Thomas Zielinski from Get Wet Soon
In today’s episode of Surfpreneurs podcast, we have the pleasure of talking to Thomas Zielinski of Get Wet Soon, which is a website, podcast, and a blog. Thomas recently launched in new surf lodge in Morocco and we also talked about the Surfing Worldwide Map.
To find out more, you can listen to the full podcast here:
Link will follow soon…
The very beginnings
Thomas didn’t jump straight into running a surf-related project. At the beginning of 2016, he quit his job in advertising, where he worked for big companies in Hamburg.
He did some yoga and some surfing but he really wanted to slow down with his job and get some space for himself. He went to Morocco to a friend of his and thought about starting a blog, to capture the moments with the people he met.
This was the unofficial beginning of Get Wet Soon – it was just a blog and an Instagram channel.
Monetizing the blog
In the very beginning, Thomas did some editorials but there was no money to be made from the blog. He had an idea – to create maps with locations where he could surf, print them out and sell them. He created Surfing Worldwide Maps, which are still being sold to this day.
Creating the maps was fairly easy – he got together with someone who was doing a different kind of maps and it all clicked. Before the product was made, they had a crowdfunding campaign with the goal to reach 9,000 Euros. Within the first night, they reached 15,000 Euros and the campaign kicked off with a success.
Retreats as a product
This was the only physical product that Thomas created. However, he wanted to do something more, so he thought about the idea of retreats. Since he’s a yoga teacher, he wanted to combine this passion with surfing and to this day, he organized 9 retreats, with the next one being in Morocco in December.
As Thomas says, the most difficult part about retreats is getting the cooperation right with the host – the owner of the house. Since he already has the customers (the readers of his blog and podcast listeners), all he really needs is a house.
His arrangement is simple: the host “blocks” the house for two months before the retreat. Until that time, they take Thomas’ guests only. If there is a gap, they take on people from the outside. It’s a fair deal for both parties since there is no risk involved.
Why Morocco?
The reason why Morocco is Thomas’ destination of choice is that it’s completely accidental. He initially wanted to go to Sri Lanka, but a friend of his had a house in Morocco and offered it to him. It’s not luxurious by any means, but it’s the right location for his future retreats.
As Thomas says, his next retreat will officially launch in November. He states that he is not afraid of the competition, even though there are other businesses doing something similar in the area. “It’s just about the mindset – there is enough stuff for everyone” – says Thomas.
To find out more about how Thomas launched his business, what his plans for the future are and how he will grow his future business, make sure to listen to the full podcast!
Surfpreneurs podcast is hosted by Peter Fabor, the founder of Surf Office.
Surf Office helps surf houses, hotels and villas boost their group bookings by hosting retreats with tech companies searching for productive team building experiences.
Learn more about how to become a property partner of Surf Office.
