Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jack Ventura, founder of Faro Board Bags, located in San Diego, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is Faro Surfboard Bags, and our customers are us! We are our own target audience - surfers, minimalists, explores, craftsmen, and protectors of our lands and oceans. We create timeless styled surfboard bags and apparel from sustainable materials. The belief in putting people and the planet ahead of profit and creating simply styled gear that works as well as it looks is why we are in business. Surf gear, and all of your gear, should be with you for a long time. A timeless styled product that won't go out of style can solve a lot of problems of overconsumption in our current consumer society.

Tell us about yourself

Over the years, I always knew I wanted to start my own business in a space that I was passionate about. Growing up, I thought I would be in the skateboarding industry, then I found surfing, and everything stopped. Even the dreams of starting a business kinda stopped. All I wanted to do was surf, get better at surfing, and use surfing as a vehicle to travel around the world. To learn about new cultures and waves. This time in my life, spent traveling and living out of a board bag and small backpack, showed me the importance of having quality gear you trust. Traveling also opened my eyes to the world of overconsumption and the problems it is causing to places and waves around the world that myself and many others have grown to love. I knew I had to do something to help solve this problem and inspire others to do the same... & Faro Board Bags was born with the very first line being our mission statement "create simple, sustainable, timeless products for the mindful and adventurous. Putting people and the planet ahead of profit."

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

My biggest accomplishment, I still think, is starting. Taking steps to launch a brand and then actually launching it. That carries over into a lot of stuff I do within the brand. Chasing perfection is easy to do but hard to execute. I have learned to do my best, send it out into the world, and fix the issues that arise or continue with what's working.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The hardest thing for me is staying motivated in the learning phase of things and seeing things out until the end. Being so consumed by the business, my mind is always working and moving. Often I come up with an idea, launch it, and think it isn't working, so I move on instead of giving it time to marinate and grow into what it could be. Finding comfort in time and further loving the process is always something I try to think about.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Choose something you are passionate about. Marketing to yourself as the target customer is WAY easier than marketing to someone else you do not know.
  2. Come up with a product first, and an easy way to create and distribute that product then build the brand around it.
  3. Send it. Come up with an idea, weigh the options and then just go all in!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I just want to say that starting my own business has been hard, but as someone who always felt creative but had no real tools to express that creativity ( I am not great at drawing, design, art, stuff like that), building a brand has given me an escape to be creative in so many different ways. It's been really awesome, and I am excited to continue using my creativity and the creativity of everyone within the Faro Community to continue growing a great, responsible brand.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://faroboardbags.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farosurfboardbags/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faro_boardbags/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.