How to start a walking business
Starting a hiking or walking tour business can be quite easy and offers many advantages for business owners. You don’t have to live near a national park or tourist attraction for this business to work. In fact, there may be numerous hiking or walking business location options right under your nose – and there may be virtually no competition!
There are other benefits that a walking or hiking business provides, such as exercise, weight loss, social activity, animal watching or just an escape from everyday life. If any or all of these activities interest you, this may be the perfect career for you.
At first glance, it may seem that a walk-in business has few options with a small customer base. But think again. In the travel business, you have opportunities to lead different types of day trips and even expand to week-long travel adventures to remote locations. Also, there isn’t just one target market. You can center your business around a specific level of hiker, from beginner to advanced. Also, while some people enjoy occasional hiking trips, other hiking enthusiasts want to join a regular hiking club that meets weekly or several times a week.
Another factor to consider when starting your business is location. The sky is almost the limit. You can choose to hike or tour in one area, or you can add variety to your work schedule by exploring new areas. You can lead sightseeing or walking tours in cities, states or even countries. You may even want to package the hikes or walks as organized group tours – with travel and accommodation included.
As expected, the ideal person to run a hiking or walking business enjoys the company of others, meeting new people, spending time outdoors, and exercising regularly. When working with groups of people from different backgrounds, patience and flexibility will make the job easier. If you enjoy teaching, that’s an added bonus.
Don’t forget your competition. Are there other businesses in your area offering the same or a similar service? Ideally, you want to lead hiking or walking tours where you don’t have to worry about several other companies competing for the same customers. Less competition makes finding customers much easier.
If there is significant competition with other hiking or walking groups nearby, consider differentiating your hikes or tours. Sometimes you can reduce or even eliminate your competition simply by focusing on a different market such as seniors, families with young children, or people looking to lose weight.
When it comes to promoting your walks or hikes, you’ll use different marketing strategies depending on whether your potential customers are local or out of town. Start by printing information brochures and tourism schedules. Leave some at your city or county visitor center, chamber of commerce or parks and recreation office. City libraries, coffee shops, and community colleges sometimes allow the display of brochures and flyers, and they usually attract many people on a regular basis. Since you’ll be spending your advertising dollars on brochures or printed materials, not ads, make sure you take the time to create something interesting and intriguing enough for someone to pick up your marketing materials and read them.
My best advice? Get advice from a walking or hiking expert. I mean people who have owned group tour or hiking companies. Even meeting someone who leads tours or group activities as a business can be helpful.
You can get a lot of insider tips from experienced professionals – and they can often save you a lot of time and effort when starting your own business. If you don’t know anyone in the field, check your local library or bookstore for startup guides, usually written by someone who has previously run a hiking or hiking business.
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