I am Elaine, a language instructor and teach English, French and Spanish here in Manila. I love doing it but I always felt like I needed to do something more and earn money from something else that I love: surfing and travelling. I’ve been surfing and travelling for 10 years and I’ve always stayed at the San Juan Surf Resort in La Union.

Because of that I’ve become close to Brian Landrigan (owner of San Juan Surf Resort and one of the pioneer surfers of the Philippines) and Luke Landrigan (Filipino pro surfer sponsored by Billabong and owner of San Juan Surf School). They’ve seen me spread the word about surfing and bring my friends and friends of friends on surf trips. Last year when we went to Thailand, they encouraged me and told me that I could always do surfing for fun or as a hobby but that it’s also something I can do as my own business. They know that I have the resources, support, and talent so I thought about it and realized that they were right! I could be an entrepreneur. So with help from the Landrigans, friends, family, Jeff Cua (took one of his entrepreneurial courses =), and support from sponsors, Surfista Travels was born and is getting a lot of positive feedback. I never thought I would be an entrepreneur but I am learning a lot every single day and I love what I am doing.

The best part about owning my  business is getting to share what I love and being able to help people. With Surfista Travels, I can help bring business to different surf spots (resorts, schools, locals) AND bring surfing to different people. I love being part of people first experience of surfing or riding their own waves. Whenever my clients or participants say to me, “If it weren’t for your Surfista, I wouldn’t have learned to surf or had the courage to just go travel and try surfing,” I feel super proud and know that all the hard work is worth it.

Elaine Abonal  is the owner of SURFISTA TRAVELS (Follow Surfista Travels in Twitter  for tours this September 22& 23 to La Union & upcoming months! )

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The 4 things Elaine did to achieve success.

by Jeff Cua

• She knew her passion. Knowing your passion is important in doing business. If you do what you love and love what you do you remain enthusiastic with what you are doing.

• She researched and enrolled herself to know how to turn her passion to profit. Passion is part of success, another part of it is knowledge. Enrolling herself gave her enough knowledge and confidence to get up and start her dream business.

• She hooked up with her friends to help her. Network is key in doing business. Find friends and people who can help you in finding funds, market and connection to make start up easier.

• She sold the idea to her market. Finally, you have to market and sell your business idea to the right people and group. In marketing what you need to do is to know your product, understand what the market wants and try to make them fit.

Learn more about entrepreneurship