Romain Laulhe, 6 times surf champion, started his entrepreneurial career after saying goodbye to the competition.
Today he presents us Power Surf Center, a surf school like no other. Between fitness classes, yoga classes, and surf trips abroad, this is what a surf school runs by an ex-champion looks like.
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Hey Romain! You launched Power Surf Center in 2017. This center is a combination of different practices to progress in surfing. How did you get the idea of this new concept of personalizing surf lessons and go further?
For me, it was very important to give the best of surfing to the clients that I could give. You can’t really be focused on too many people during a surf lesson. And then when the surfers become a bit better, you can’t do much in the water so I wondered how we could help to improve those beginners but also intermediate surfers and pro surfers. It became natural for me to create a surf center where everyone could learn something to beginner to expert surfers.
I surfed since I’m 5 years old, I kept all the good things that it could help surfers to improve! The videos help a lot. We also have a physical trainer who helps us to improve on postural and physical problems. We also have yoga lessons to keep calm and stretch. Surf is a sport with different kinds of techniques.
With more than 2000 subscribers on Instagram and an active Facebook page, you are very active on the social networks, is this digital strategy what makes your business grow?
No (laugh), we are not that good with social media and honestly we are not the best at it! I don’t have much time to do it, we try to posts a few things a week but it’s though to give surf lessons and at the same time managing social media.
People that come from the viral communication they talked to each other and say that they were pretty happy with the surf lessons they had with us and their friends come and then talk around and this is the best communication you can do. It means this is not a fake communication, when you give quality to your surf lessons, people will talk about it. This viral communication is important at any surfing level and when you do a good job it pays off at the end.
You have partners such as Rip Curl and Softech among others, are the indispensable supports for the opening of a center like yours?
Those sponsors are historical. That’s the sponsors I had for myself when I was a professional surfer. But it is not a huge help in terms of money. We don’t get anything free, we have to pay for it. We have some discounts, they help us by giving few wetsuits to the coaches and the staff but it’s also important to give our clients the best wetsuits, the best wax, in terms of quality we want to push on that. This is the main criteria in our surf school. Same for the cars. We try to be the best in terms of quality.
There are a lot of surf schools on the west coast of France and you are a bit more expensive than the others ones. How do you deal with it? Does having a championship title somehow help?
It was not a problem because we are not on the same offer. They teach 8 or 10 people at the same time, We are completely different because we do private surf lessons or we have very little group sessions. It helps to be an ex-surf champion but it’s also about respect: if you do everything right, you will not have a big problem.
The surf lesson is a bit more expensive than a normal surf school but we didn’t want to be the most expensive nor a low-cost surf school. We don’t want to overprice people. I can understand that people are a bit scared to put more money for a surf lesson but at the end of the lesson, I can tell you they’re all super happy and they know why it’s a bit more expensive. It takes more time because we talk a lot, we are not in a hurry and we have quality products, a nice camera, computers to analyze the surf sessions and send videos by mails and keep contact with the clients afterward.
You also organize surf trips abroad, can you tell us a little more about it?
This idea came naturally because during winter it’s cold here and we cant coach. Power Surf center is open all year long but then when it’s starting to be though with the rain, the big waves, it’s not always funny to coach so we propose surf camps outside of France, we went to Morocco, Central America, Indonesia, we try to bring them to knew places we know by heart and where it’s not crowded and where there’re good waves during our winter times. It helps to surf warm water and it’s always a pleasure to help them improve their level and at the same time give them an amazing souvenir. For the future, our main goal is to propose several destinations and more and more every year.
You had to close the center because of the Covid-19 pandemic. How did you cope with this crisis and how did you bounce back when the center reopened a few weeks ago?
We reopened on the 2nd of June. During the lockdown, it was really stressful concerning our financial situation but we tried to prepare the reopening with the sanitary rules. The problem was that those kind of products we needed were not on the market yet for the surf industry. We had to find on internet new business to deal with to find the good products to disinfect surfboards, wetsuits, and the cars as well. It was trouble but we did it on time and we were ready to give a clean board and wetsuit for each client.
What are your priorities for development in the future?
We are still at the very beginning; we need to change something by the end of the year. Let’s see if we get a lot bigger or if we do change a few things. It’s really positive. The only thing we don’t want to change is the concept, we don’t want to become a huge machine dealing with quantity.
What essential advice would you give to yourself 4 years ago when you started this adventure? A piece of advice you would have liked to have before starting Power Surf Center.
Well, that’s tough! Maybe take more time for me. But you know, when you create a company, you need to work a lot and face the hard times. I would tell myself to enjoy a few sessions by myself, more time but apart that, I would change nothing!
Check out Power Surf Center on Instagram: @powersurfcenter
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Podcast and interview by Solene
Addictive traveler who gives a voice to the entrepreneurs who inspire us in the surfing world, Solene is collaborating with Surfpreneurs Club as an intern.
