How Two Friends Transformed a Bold Idea Into Aruba’s Iconic Surf Shop

Little Giant: The Story of Aruba’s Surf Shop and the Rebels Who Built It by Marcia Heath

There’s a basic tenet when it comes to surfing that any expert will tell you: You have to look where you want to go. Looking down – instead of ahead of your goal — nearly always guarantees a wipeout. I guess the same can be said for life in general.

From Law and Science to Surfboards

In Little Giant: The Story of Aruba’s Surf Shop and the Rebels Who Built It, author Marcia Heath tells the story of two dreamers, fast college buddies who never looked down when making the life-altering decision to abandon two careers in which they were poised for lifetime success and to open, of all things, a surf shop in Aruba. 

It sounds like a great feel-good movie, something cooked up in Hollywood. Well, the “feel good” is certainly there, but this story is very real.

David Putnam and Yair Lichtenstein were college friends whose lives seemed headed in the proper directions. David had a law degree, and Yair was a marine scientist. Yet something was off — their career choices didn’t feel right to them. 

So when Yair, a native of Aruba, poses to his friend the idea of opening a surf shop in Aruba’s capital city, David doesn’t so much as fall out of his chair as remain firmly planted in it. “I want to get in on that.”

The Challenges of Building a Business from Scratch

No matter that they  knew nothing about retail, except as shoppers themselves, about marketing and promotion, running a business, and probably a few other minor considerations like resettling their lives on a Caribbean island.

This was as much about jumping into uncharted territory as it was about proving the naysayers wrong.

“At first, neither of us had a clue what we were doing. We had to learn everything the hard way,” said David. 

Writes Heath,  “They showed up at the shop with sand between their toes and salt in their hair.”

Little Giant is both a loosely serving business primer and an inspirational story. There’s something romantic in taking on a project like this, further fueled by the blue waters, soft waves and perfect climate of the destination. But as anyone imagines the risks and challenges of entrepreneurship, this adventure is no different, as the partners confront all the typical growing pains associated with building a business from scratch — everything from people issues to business recessions to financial concerns.

What It Takes to Pursue Your Passion

But their drive is fueled by the knowledge that this is their own, to succeed or fail on  their own terms, and that they’ll stick together as friends regardless of the outcome.

And it’s about passion, about living a dream.

So how do you turn a passion into something tangible and fulfilling?

“Most of us,” writes Heath, “spend more time second-guessing our appliance choices than pondering what will make us happy.”

The irony of this story is that the author herself underwent a crisis that prompted her own deferred dream of writing a book: “Many of us live split-screen lives — the ones we lead and the alternate lives of our dreams … We deplete our energy obsessing over our options or chastise ourselves for dreaming … Often it takes a crisis to shake us free.”

Little Giant is about the dreamers in all of us. Through the author’s story, and the story of David and Yair, this work might help inspire anyone who’s ever dreamed about taking a bold step but never quite made it happen. The story of Little Giant is certainly inspiration enough.

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