As you all know, I own a bike tourism company, Minneapolis By Bike. It's my first FULL season of the bike tours and it's been going well! Of course, I would love to have MORE business, but Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my business. It will take time for it to get more well-known and mentioned to visitors here but I've been doing my best at getting the word out. One great thing that occurred was that I was able to do a deal with the City Pages, a Minneapolis-based newspaper. I didn't sell heaps of tours, but enough to fill up at least one day, per weekend in June which just getting out and doing tours alone is great advertising!
I did a tour today and we JUST missed the hard rain at the end of the tour! We got to see an arts festival this weekend as well as visit local farmers' markets.
One of the reasons I LOVE to do this company is that it involves 2 of my passions. Firstly, it involves fitness. I get to take people around in an environmentally friendly way, that helps them to be active. I hope that people who are relocating here (as was one of the cases today) or even live here, become more inspired to use their bikes to get around when they see what a great city that Minneapolis is for biking. Secondly, it involves my passion for travel and meeting new people. I'm a talker. I love to talk and meet all kinds of new people and being an avid traveler myself, I've done tons of tours and I think I know what makes a good tour. Being able to show people around my wonderful city is a joy!
Are there things that could be improved? Yes. Is there more equipment I would love to have? Of course! However, as a new business, I have to make do. But I am loving the business thus far and it's giving me and opportunity to really grow as a person as well. Each new tour is a new learning experience! Plus, I'm so grateful to the businesses who have really helped me out. Re-Cycle Bike Shop and Recovery Bike Shop, who are giving me a space to keep my stuff and helping me with maintenance have been an awesome help!
As I mentioned, my real difficulty has been to get this business known. My friend, Kate, had a wonderful idea to stand on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, as a lot of visitors go there, and hand out flyers. I did this on Friday and I think that even if I didn't get people to sign up, I DID get the word out more. I think I'll continue to flyer on days that I don't have tours booked.
Handing out flyers on the bridge.
One thing that I am sure about is that this is a big goal and passion of mine and although business does not happen quickly, I will not be quick to give up. I've had a lot of positive feedback about the business and I know it's only a matter of time before the word gets out there so I will keep on trucking on!
So this is just a little post to remind myself, as well as the rest of you, keep on believing and chasing your goals! They will come with time. Anything worth attaining comes with a lot of hard work and the key is to not give up when things don't go as planned or as quickly as we'd like them to be. Keep on keeping on!
What are you currently trying to achieve? What have been some of your obstacles?
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