Payment Solutions for Small Businesses

Woodin Surfboards

Kurtis Woodin has steady hands. He’s been using them to shape boards that skim the rolling waters of the world. His biggest influence was a local one — the Pacific waves outside his Carlsbad home. He admits to being a product of his environment. With Woodin Surfboards, he’s also become its greatest champion.

Shaping kaleidescopic surfboards by hand.

“Nature’s out there just waiting for us,” Kurtis says. Growing up 600 feet from the ocean planted the shaper squarely in the world of surfing. “At 14, I had to learn the way of hustling to sell a board,” he shares about his beginnings. Apprenticeships followed. Buddying up to shapers in his California hometown, he learned to design boards and make them by hand.

15 years ago, he took the plunge and starting shaping boards in his backyard. “I was just persistent and the business kept growing and growing,” Kurtis said. Eventually he was able to buy a 40-foot shipping container and put it below a bowling alley in Oceanside. He worked out of that space for seven years.

It made things go faster.

He began searching for a payment processor to help take card payments. “No one wants to carry a wad of cash around. Knowing that we all have credit cards or debit cards, I needed a card reader to take payments quickly,” Kurtis said.

He landed on the Square Reader. In between hours of shaping, he could sell a board, tap a card, and send customers on their way. “It made things go faster,” he shared.

Hear how Kurtis benefited from Square Payments

“Square has definitely helped my business grow, making it smooth and easy for customers.”

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It’s just convenient.

A few years ago, Woodin Surfboards moved to its own showroom. Kurtis hired an employee and started seeing customers by appointment. By then, his fan base had grown beyond the shores of Southern California.

“In Japan, there are groups that meet up with my boards and share photos with me. On the East Coast, I get messages all the time. There’s a sense of community,” he said.

Sometimes, international customers need to make a payment over the phone. With the Square Point of Sale app on his phone, Kurtis just manually keys-in the card info and completes the transaction. “It’s just convenient,” he shared.

It’s nice to see money in the bank.

Being a Square seller also helped Kurtis manage cash flow. Square Instant Transfers moves the money he makes to his external bank account the very same day. “Now the money is just instantly transferred to my account.”

By putting his trust in technology, Kurtis has kept his eye on the prize — spending time out in the ocean. Now he has a small family joining him. “My wife and I met in the ocean,” he shared. “That’s the main thing I want to pass on to our kid — enjoy nature,”