Growth Shows

Greg & Kevin share their favorite moments from the watersport conference.

Kevin & Greg welcome Jared Broach of Eat, Drink, Scare Tours. Jared owns and operators a multi-location tour business in destinations all across the US. He offers everything from historical walking tours, wine tours, and late night ghost hunts. This is obviously not watersports, but nonetheless it's a great story of how a successful tour business operates and grows!

Kevin and Greg discuss what networking has done for their careers, and why watersport operators need to get out there. Also, the watersport forum is now LIVE for pre-registration. get signed up today. The event will take place October 18th in Orlando!

Kevin and Greg chat with Kai Kaapro, CEO and founder of TourScale out of Raleigh, NC. Tourscale is a franchise of two concepts including Paddle Pub. Kai talks about how he built the company, and what it took to scale his franchise to several locations nationwide. For more info on the Watersport & Boat Tour Operator Conference, visit the official event page for more info.

Ian & Haley Blaise with Cruisin Tikis [Destin, FL] come on the show to tell their story of how they got into watersports, and why they decided to start a Cruisin Tiki franchise. The watersports forum is now LIVE. For more information and to register, please go to https://arival.travel/event/arival-360-orlando-the-watersports-forum/.

Greg and Kevin discuss what it takes to be a successful watersport entrepreneur. Get a glimpse of what they went through to build their businesses, and what type of qualities they needed to thrive.

Donny Kirkpatrick, GM of Sunset Watersports joins the show to discuss watersports in Key West, and his experience as a veteran operator for 25+ years. Sunset Watersports is one of the largest watersport operators in the country with 6 locations in and around Key West, FL. Donny inspired Kevin to become a parasail captain, and considers him one of his mentors.

Kevin and Greg discuss budgeting and forecasting for watersport operators. Discover some different approaches on budgeting as Greg breaks down key fundamentals. Greg also discusses what KPI's (key performance indicators) your business should be tracking, and why operators need to start doing this now.

Back in 2019, Kevin's "Day of Play" tour was booming, but after citizen complaints, the county acted swiftly to shut it down. This episode goes into detail about his experience, how he pivoted, and discusses ways operators can work with their local government and community leaders to create a sustainable watersport business.

Eva Ramos, CEO and Founder of Pure Aloha Adventures joins the show to share her history of how she left her thriving watersport business in Hawaii, and got a fresh start in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Eva talks about how she leveraged her brand in Hawaii to create passive income as a reseller, and what tools she used to build her business organically.

In this episode, Kevin and Greg talk with Natasha Baker of Sup Pup and Rachel Dickey of TripShock about the importance of diversity in watersports. Natasha and Rachel share insights and stories of their experience of working in an industry that is predominantly male owned/operated. They provide some great ideas on how we can develop female employees to one day run successful companies.

On this episode, Justin Buzzi, CEO and founder of Get Up And Go Kayaking joins the show to talk about how he built a successful kayak tour franchise in Florida. Justin not only shares how he did it, but does a deep dive into the economics of his operation, and the challenges he faces.

Kevin & Greg welcome Douglas Quinby, Co-founder and CEO of Arival to share the latest traveler trends and insights, and give some updates on what's new with Arival. Arival is the only industry conference that brings together many sectors of tours and activities, but also provides education and curated news at arival.travel. In this episode, you'll hear about... Traveler trends and forecasts. Updates on the Arival 2021 conference. Why it's the right time bring together the industry. ...

The AWG "Mentoured" Series provides an opportunity for new operators to come on the show to share their startup story, ask questions, and get advice on all aspect of running a watersport business. This episode features Shawn Walsh from Jet Ski Texas, a new jet ski rental company out of League City, TX (jetskitx.com). Kevin and Greg share advice on getting eye balls to his website and rentals, insurance, a new location, and much more.

Kevin and Greg talk about the surge in bookings and what they recommend operators should be doing to get the most out of it. They also discuss what the think the future might bring for the industry in a post-covid era.

Christian Watts, CEO from Magpie Travel joins the show to talk about what operators need to know about reselling your tours and rentals. Some great takeaways from the show Never let a single reseller be more than 20% of your business. Work with resellers that bring something to the table that you can't otherwise do yourself. Companies that are serious about growth use resellers.

Are you looking to buy a business? Or maybe you have an opportunity to buyout a local competitor? Kevin and Greg are joined by Tim Murphy, CEO of Boomers Parks to talk about what you should be looking for before and after an acquisition. In this episode you'll learn about... What to look for when buying a business. How to obtain financing (and what not do to). What you should do with the existing brand. How to know whether it's a good deal.

Kevin and Greg discuss some unique ways to increase your profit margins by using both tangible and intangible upsells. Some of the ideas you'll hear about are... Cancellation Protection Damage Protection Affiliate Programs Photos & GoPro Rentals Boat upgrades Life preserver upgrades

Have you ever wondered what else you could do with all of the knowledge you've acquired by being an operator or watersport professional? Or maybe you have thousands of photos from your guides that are just taking up space in the cloud. Tune in for this episode as Kevin and Greg share their thoughts and ideas of how to make the most of it.

Chris Woodruff gets Awkward as he discusses the growing pains of acquiring Vero Beach Bait & Tackle, and how he plans to integrate with his existing business, Paddles By The Sea.