Meet Will Adams | Owner & Lead Surf Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Will Adams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Will, what do you attribute your success to?
I think the most important factor for us is we put a strong emphasis on connection with our clients. When I worked for another surf school, ownership didn’t care about it’s clients unless their clients left them bad reviews or demanded refunds. That attitude permeated everything they did, and the end result was a tourist trap of an operation. For us, we intentionally keep our classes small so we can get to know each client individually. We teach to a system that has been refined over the course of the last 5 years and is meant to act as a springboard for improvement. Our students in lessons 2-3 are usually further ahead than if they took 7-10 classes elsewhere. We have more repeat business and regulars than our competitors and it all comes back to the connection we have with our clients. We adapt our system to different limitations and strengths of each individual, we figure out how they like to learn, and then meet them where they’re at.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In its simplest form we are a surf school. While yes, we run surf lessons, as is true in other contexts not all schools are equal. I believe you are what you emphasize, I’ve seen schools emphasize things like marketing, social identities, squeezing every dime possible out of your clients and employees, having students stand up on day 1 at all costs, are some examples that come to mind. The product reflects their emphasis. Our emphasis has always been substance over sizzle. We want our students to understand the “why” of every technique they learn, how the techniques connect, we want the things you learn on day 1 to still be applicable in year 5. Many of our clients have taken classes elsewhere in LA or other places globally and are blown away by the level of detail and improvement they find with us. We treat each client like surfing is going to be their new thing and if there’s any technique that would need to be unlearned down the road, it doesn’t belong in our program. As surfing gets more popular and the lineups in the water get progressively more crowded, I want to feel confident sitting next to someone who learned from us that they aren’t going to be a danger to me, themselves, or others. As instructors, we are introducing new surfers to the water every day, we should feel a sense of responsibility to keep surfing sustainable and workable so when they leave our schools, we’re not making this sport worse.

In terms of getting to this point it was not easy. I spent 7 months getting all of my ducks in a row to be able to operate legally and pivot my semi-defunct product development business to a surf school. I leveraged everything I had to buy equipment and pay for permits to really get started in January 2020, 3-months later the dream was put on hold, I worked construction to keep the lights on. As the world started to slowly come back, we slowly built with it. We started with an emphasis on using airbnb experiences as a lead generator. The school I had worked for previously had gotten most of their business from there. As we gained steam my previous employer paid for people to leave us bad ratings. We overcame it, and now we are the highest rated surf school on Airbnb in Los Angeles (4.99). We’ve had a seemingly interminable battle getting google verified and despite not having a real google profile we’ve found ways to adapt and grow. Last year I reached a point where I had multiple stretches of working 21-days in a row all day in the sun I was having to turn down private lessons or cancel group lessons to accommodate privates. I was too deep in the weeds to train someone properly and I refuse to sacrifice the quality of what we do. I left a lot of money on the table and got a little burned out. It became abundantly clear that this year I really needed to sharpen my weakest tool which was delegating. I developed a training program to onboard new instructors into our system, and now we have some really wonderful people working for us who share our passion and our value system. We spent 4 years of building a substantive foundation and with hiring and training we’ve felt ready to level-up on marketing and branding. This summer we really invested in generating cool content on social media, and have hired a marketing firm to revamp our website and help with other mediums of marketing.

Looking forward, we have an international surf retreat in the fall appropriate for beginners to intermediates that we are super excited about. We are looking to expand our marketing and reach while still maintaining the intimate feel that is core to who we are. We have some unannounced bigger plans that we need to keep close to the vest that we’re working towards in the next few years

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So obviously we’re going to spend some time at the beach, but I think eating and drinking your way through this city is a really great way to experience it. So starting on the westside lets have a michelada at Hinano then take some e-bikes down to the Win-Dow to have a burger, do the omakase deal at Cobi’s. If it’s a weekday we might go to Tangaroa fish market for their happy hour Oysters. If they’re looking for a hidden-gem thats a little romantic we’ll go to Locanda Positano.

Outside of the westside bubble I have a bit of a love affair with K-Town; Wi BBQ is always a crowd pleaser with its all you can eat/drink special. Taylor’s is a tremendous value and ambiance for the price. The Prince or HMS Bounty for drinks.

Seeing a show in one of LA’s amazing music venue’s is a must. My preferences are generally the Palladium, the Fonda, or the Greek. Summertime at the Hollywood Bowl has its own magic too.

A dodger game with a pregame at the Shortstop is a great time.

If they arent tired from all of that we could do a little drive up the coast and finish with a meal at Neptunes Net.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My girlfriend, Christie Lindog, absolutely deserves this shoutout. When I quit my previous job, she was the one who told me I needed to start my own surf school, I knew it already, but I needed the push and she gave me that push at the exact time I needed it. In the time between then and now she’s managed our social media, designed really amazing merch, and has been a helping hand when I’ve needed it on her days off. There’s a lot of things about running a public-facing business that I wasn’t super comfortable with initially and she’s helped me come out of my shell to do the things the business needed to maximize. In general, running a small business especially in Southern California, can feel like you’re white-knuckling through turbulent waters. Its expensive, highly-competitive, and the winter months can be painfully slow. I’m still human, self-doubt can creep in at times, Christie has supported and believed in me and the business continues to grow because of it.

Website: https://www.venicebeachsurf.club

Instagram: @vbsclub