Mike Walker is 27 years old and is taking the surfboard industry by storm. Like many entrepreneurs Mike started his business as a hobby and worked out of his parent’s garage when he was 17.

“I started building boards during high school when my family was living in northern Baja. During my junior and senior years, I was home schooled and was able to surf every day. I couldn’t afford to pay retail for new boards so I bought the tools to shape my own.” He made many mistakes but through trial and error created a board that was pretty close to the ones sold in the retail stores.

After high school graduation Mike took a job with Pacific Surf Glass to learn more about the ins and outs of the industry. The company also let him use their shaping room after hours for his own business.

Mike quickly gained a reputation for producing high quality work and in 1999 produced his own line of products with his signature Walker label. Since then he has gone on to sell to some of the industry’s biggest and most well known brands and he is now looking to expand his product line by focusing on wakeboarding.

It just goes to show that if you are passionate about what you do it is possible to turn your hobby into a business success regardless of how old you are. Mike Walker started a business out of school and on the side when he was 17 and he is now producing over 30 surf boards per week for the top players in the surfing industry.

Are you the next Mike Walker?

Evan Carmichael