The Woman's Comfort Book

The Woman's Comfort Book by Jennifer Louden is another great read if you are offering Retreats, Outings and Adventurers to women. There are loads of ideas for exercises and reflection activities.

Find Your Adventure

Where in the world would you like to go on your next Adventure?

What Adventure activities interest you?

Who do you want to Adventure with? Who do you not want on your Adventure?

AdventureFinder can help.
"Don't just vacation. Have an adventure."

Having Two or More Fees for Your Outing

Having more than one fee for your outing can get tricky. You'll need to remember who gets what fee. And you need to be conscious of your participants and their feelings about what they had to pay compared to another.

When considering multiple fees for our Adventure Retreats, we have found fees based on who the participant is does not work. Examples include:

• Fees based on what a participant is able to pay. This can get incredibly complicated. Note: This is different than asking your participants to pay at the end of your offering, privately, for the value they received. We have seen that sometimes work successfully.
• A discounted fee for locals. Sometimes the venue you are using for your offering will ask to advertise your adventure to local residents at a discounted rate. This often happens when your offering is in a high tourist area where locals are living on service industry wages.
• A discount for seniors. If you are using a venue that also provides Elderhostel programs, the venue will sometimes ask if they can advertise your offering at a discounted rate to seniors on their mailing list.

Discounts we have found do work are:

• Fees based on early registration. An early-bird discount is quite appropriate and can be very helpful when you need to secure early deposits in order to fund preparation for your offering.
• Fees based on bringing a partner. We call this a "buddy" discount. Just be very clear that you are offering the discount for two people who are registering at the same time or if someone who has already registered later refers a friend to your offering. This discount is not for people who have registered alone and do not know each other to be partnered by you in order to receive the discount. Yes, I've had people ask for that.
• A referral discount. This is giving someone a discount on an upcoming retreat because they have referred a new customer to you. Just be sure the new customer has already signed up and paid for something you have offered. A referral discount can be awkward if you give the discount before the referred person engages you and then later backs out.

What else has worked for you? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

The E-Myth Revisited

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber is an excellent book for any small business entrepreneur, including those of us who are offering Adventure Retreats.

Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.

Patt's Playground

One of Patt's favorite Adventure Retreat spots is the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Check it out at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance and then zip Patt and email at patt@adventurecoach.verizon.net. You might want to join her on one of her Pine Barrens offerings next year and/or she can help you get started on your own offering is this amazing natural environment.