- By : celestiagrand
- Date: 11-04-2017
- Views : 939
- [Fakakakai, Tonga]
Your own apartment in a vibrant local, a co-working space with reliable internet and great waves within walking distance. To any surfer with wanderlust this is a wish list dreams are made of. For Amy Schwartz and John Furness, it’s the dream-come-true at the heart of their business. Just days ago they launched a travel company called Unleash that is dedicated to making it easy to surf the world while working remotely. From January to June 2018, they’ll be travelling with a group of 10-12 surfers to Chile, Peru and Ecuador — and arranging everything required to be productive, comfortable and surf-happy along the way.
Tapping into an unmet need
“Unleash adventures are an opportunity for surfers who can work remotely to go to off-the-beaten path surf destinations and have everything they need to transition to a travel-working lifestyle,” explains Schwartz, co-founder and chief experience officer. Thoughtful details like yoga and Spanish classes, bi-weekly surf trips around the region, 24-hour wifi and a commitment to sustainable living are all part of the inclusive package that Unleash offers.
Experienced remote-working surfers themselves, Schwartz and Furness have made wave-riding and travelling to amazing places part of their lifestyle — not an easy feat, logistically speaking.
“We really are the first remote-working company to focus on an activity or shared interest and lifestyle,” said Schwartz. “Not just anyone could set this up. You really need to understand surfing for travel. It takes a special combination of skills to pull something like this together and truly make it a quality experience. In the places we’re going there is a local culture and lifestyle that’s been existing there for hundreds or thousands of years and surfing happens to be what most people there do. You really do live like a local.”
The Unleash business model is designed to meet the needs of surfers from around the world who are eager to experience a soul-filling adventure, but would rather have support and planning taken care of by someone who is experienced in this type of travel.
“We’re giving people an opportunity to live the daily surf lifestyle, but the opportunity for a group connection is appealing too,” said Furness, co-founder and chief surf-work officer. “We’ll have 12 people working in the same space, which means there’s a whole group to support you and help you problem solve and bounce ideas off of.” As someone who works alone a lot, he knows first-hand how valuable it can be share space with other independent professionals.
A significant target market will be women, who are currently under-served by any company who might be considered a competitor. Unleash taps into their desire for safety, camaraderie and fun waves.
Getting the idea off the ground
The idea for Unleash first planted itself in the minds of Schwartz and Furness while they were living, surfing and working remotely from Peru last year.
Their focus on creating an experience that isn’t being offered by any other travel company made it easy to solicit feedback and input.
“Our first four months of genesis we had a lot of travellers around to test the idea with,” said Schwartz. “I’ve lived and travelled all over the world and have met really interesting people . . . I scoured my contacts to find real gems of people who have started their own adventure businesses, or find friends who can give insight into what life is like for surfers in their community.”
Insight from potential customers helped to inform their positioning, marketing plans and pricing, a learning that Schwartz and Furness agree was especially valuable.
“We can compare Unleash to other nomad experiences but it doesn’t quite fit, so we were on our own when putting our pricing together, ” said Furness.
“My advice to other people in the early stages of developing their idea would be to shop pricing around. Ask people within your target market, do you think this is worth it? It doesn’t have to be this big secret; pricing should be another transparent part of your business.”
