The 6 Mistakes most outdoor business owners make
Having interviewed and researched 100s of outdoor businesses, we have picked out six common mistakes that outdoor business owners are making in 2021. Maybe you’re making one of these mistakes. But, perhaps this could be the difference you’re looking for in your business.
So, six mistakes. Let’s jump in and get cracking.
- Selling to the wrong people.
How do you know who the right people are? What leads you to believe you’re selling to the wrong people? It helps that they have some money to spend with you. Often, we find outdoor businesses going after people who are broke or have very, very little disposable income. So you’ve got to find a group of people who can actually afford your product, and you need a large enough volume of them as well. You probably need 200 times more people to sell to than you actually think!
We work on a conversion ratio of 1%. So we look for 100 times more people than we actually believe we’re going to sell to, and that serves us very, very well.
Are you selling to people who currently get into the outdoors or those who haven’t yet experienced the outdoors? There are a lot more people who currently don’t go outdoors than do. So if you are looking to tap into a market that doesn’t even know you exist, give them something that gets them excited to come into the outdoors.
We are big believers in getting new people outdoors, getting them hooked, and keeping them with us for their entire outdoor journey.
2. Wasting money
Rob wasted more money than he wants to admit in his first outdoor business. There’s a temptation when you set up an outdoor business to spend money on what everybody else spends money on. New gear, branded clothing, cars, branded cars, shiny stuff. None of that is essential. It is only crucial when you’ve actually got customers. We find that most outdoor businesses are spending at least 50 to 80% too much on the wrong stuff. As a result, they’re not putting money in where it matters, which is effective marketing.
3. Wasting money on chasing the wrong thing on Social media
Social media can feel like lifting the toilet seat up and flushing it down. It is like buying a lottery ticket, and knowing whether you win or not is pure luck! But social media doesn’t have to feel like this!
We built We Get Outdoors to have a page following of 58,000 and a tribe of nearly 20,000 on the back of the world’s worst website and a logo we spent about $50 on. (Now we have reached a key money milestone we are investing in a new website!!) We did not waste start-up capital on the finest website money could buy.
The problem is, and we had it, you get so many emails and phone calls from web designers and graphic designers all telling you that you need a fancy website. That you should pay someone to grow your social media presence, and you get bullied into spending lots of money on the wrong things!
The only person who benefits from this is the web designer building something you don’t need and making it look like nothing your customers want.
Do you need that stuff? Yes, but don’t spend lots of money on it until you make enough money to pay for it. Most businesses have a certain amount of cash to get their business up and running — the trick is to not spend all that cash up front. This leaves you with nothing to invest in your business as it grows. Instead, use your money to double it in the shortest possible time. Then, take that money you’ve doubled and put it back into your business to double it again. Then, when you’ve got 3, 6, even 12 months worth of surplus operating money, do you allow yourself to start looking at shiny stuff.
4. No plan and no patience
No, we are not talking about a 40-page business plan that covers every eventuality and outcome. Some of the best plans start as one page! Your business plan also needs to be realistic. We rarely see a plan that shows a loss, and it is even rarer to look back after 12 months and see the business outdoing the plan.
So why is this important to you? Whatever you plan will take twice as long. How many houses get built on schedule! So don’t dial down your dreams or aspirations but be realistic when you plan.
How can you be realistic when you plan? Make it incredibly practical and broken down into small chunks focused on the key inputs that will help you achieve your dreams. For example, within 3 months, I want 100 customers with an average payment of $100. You can now focus on getting those 100 customers and a product that gives you the money you need to survive the first few months.
Being realistic also means not giving up when the going gets tough. Not moving on to a new thing before you’ve really tested what it is you are doing. Be patient as the result may be just around the corner. Patience is something that we had to have in buckets at the start of We Get Outdoors. When we started building the page, we got 1 or 2 new followers a day, and our target seemed miles away. By the end of the second week, we were up to 5 a day. By the end of the first month, we were at 10 a day, and now we have a following of 58,000! We didn’t get it in one day, but by being patient with the plan, we had built.
The plan is the thing that clearly states, ‘how am I going to do it and what am I going to do every day to achieve it?’ Rob once had a mentor who asked, ‘how many customers do you need in the next six months?’ Rob responded with 260. The mentor then said, ‘brilliant, so you need to go and find 2600 people!’ You are going to have 10 conversations to test the sales conversations with, and when you find the one that really works, that’s the one to stick with!’ That’s the sort of plan you need to have to stay on track to what you want to achieve and then be patient that success will not happen overnight.
There is no such thing as an overnight success!!
5. Employing the wrong people
Most business owners hire people we like or, as we start out, family members. There is nothing wrong with this, but you do need to know some of the risks! We surround ourselves with people we get on with or people we know won’t let us down. One big happy family!
Unfortunately, by employing people like us, they will probably have all our strengths AND weaknesses. If you don’t recognise this — a recipe for disaster!
You need to hire people who are the opposite of you. So, for example, if you’re an engineer, you need to hire some ‘arty’ people to compensate for what you’re not naturally gifted at. And if you’re an ‘arty type person, you need an engineering type person to balance you out.
This is how We Get Outdoors work — Rob is more creative and arty, the visionary and Mark is more about bringing things to life — the builder. Of course, we both can transfer backwards and forwards, but this usually is our default position. And it works.
We annoy each other and argue but bring two sides to everything we try to do for the business’s good. It brings balance and means where one struggles, the other compensates. We still love hanging out away from work and going to the pub, but we appreciate and acknowledge our differences.
If you only work with people like you, your business will fail. So stop, look at your business and ask yourself, ‘which part of my business am I struggling in’? I am 100% convinced the bit that you’re struggling with is the bit that you avoid, and so is the bit that you need to get the most support in.
6. Having the wrong mentors
We believe the traditional outdoor industry business model is broken and hasn’t changed over 25 years. What is causing this? Well, we copy outdoor businesses that have been around for 25 years and speak to industry ‘experts’ and blindly follow their advice. We find mentors in the outdoor industry and then end up having what they have. Often isn’t a lifestyle that we want, or the ‘mentors’ have got there by pure luck. When you break it down and ask them how they achieved what they did — they cannot show you the steps they took; you can then apply them to your business.
So what does a mentor do? Well, they will listen to what you want to do. Guide you on the right path. Help you avoid the mistakes they made and give you the patience to stick on the right path. They will be able to provide you with testimonials, business expertise, track record and show a lifestyle that aligns with your goals!
The fastest way to get where you want to get is to have somebody who’s already got there come and show you the way.
That’s why we have mountain guides to guide people up the mountain. They know
- How to mountaineer
- What routes to take
- How to navigate
- How to look after your safety
- How to ensure you get there more safely and faster than if you were just to try and climb the mountain on your own.
It is always an interesting conversation with outdoor business owners around ‘what’s their job? They say they sell coaching and guiding, and this is their expertise. We talk about business expertise, and they confess to not having much, but when asked if they want support, they say ‘no, they will figure it out on their own.’ Imagine if all their clients said the same thing — they would have no need to exist as every person climbing would ‘figure it out on their own!’
So 6 common mistakes that we see in a lot of outdoor businesses. You might not have any or one, but all these mistakes can be avoided and, more importantly, help you achieve the lifestyle you want to live. Remember, your business is purely the vehicle you have chosen to live the life you want. So let it be the most effective and efficient vehicle you have ever owned.
We Get Outdoors is passionate about getting people into the outdoors and helping businesses give them an experience that keeps them coming back.
If you want to jump on a call with the We Get Outdoors co-founders and see how you can take your outdoor and adventure business to the next level then book a FREE consultation HERE
If you’d like to promote your outdoor business in front of around 80,000 outdoor enthusiasts, across 30 different podcast platforms and social media, then we would love to have you on our podcast — Outdoor Business Promo Series. Simply click HERE to book an interview slot.
