Profits from Paradise: Start and Grow a Successful Business in a Tourism Economy

Start and Grow a Successful Business in a Tourism

Blanche D Greaux

• Publisher: Only Greatness Ahead Publishing
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780578737164
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Entrepreneurship
• Index: Business

Profits from Paradise: Start and Grow a Successful Business in a Tourism Economy provides readers with the tools to go from idea to implementation. Written for the new entrepreneur, the book focuses on helping readers to master an entrepreneurial mindset by overcoming their limiting beliefs. Readers will learn how to identify and eliminate their cultural biases, how to discover the ideal business to start, how to price for profitability, and how to start service-based and digital businesses that require minimal initial investments. For readers in island economies, the book offers advice on leveraging the sun, sand, sea and culture to create viable businesses. Whether you want a side hustle, or to transition from a job into entrepreneurship, this book will help you to use the skills and assets you have to create the life that you want.

Pathways to Entrepreneurship

Convenience Entrepreneurship

Convenience-Based Business Examples:

Grocery and personal shopper for a client-- this involves consulting with the client on their needs and learning their personal preferences. You add value by acting as a concierge/personal valet who learns their habits and preferences, and not only shops but delivers and organizes the purchased items in a way that is easy for the client to access and keep track of.

A hair stylist that braids hair and offers natural hair care solutions. Using their expertise, they offer style and product recommendations to the client, in addition to the braiding and styling of the hair. The stylist can add value by establishing a schedule with the client, as well as sourcing the products and selling them to the client, either at a profit or as part of a haircare package.

Food Entrepreneurship

Food Based Business Examples:

Baking: Full scale bakery, wholesale desserts to existing businesses, sell desserts at various businesses, sell desserts at functions and events, such as fairs and concerts.

Restaurant: Food truck, specialty food that can be sold wholesale or retail; recipes that are potentially suitable for export (i.e., specialty sauce, liqueur, or candy).

Catering: Private events at client’s location, local cuisine, experience-based catering that incorporates a cooking demonstration as part of an authentic cultural experience.

Retail Sales: If you have a unique recipe, such as a hot pepper sauce, local drinks such as passion fruit juice or sorrel, or dessert such as tarts, cakes, or candies, consider producing it in batches and contracting with established vendors to sell in their retail stores. Re-invest the profits into production, with the goal of getting access to a commercial kitchen to be able to scale and grow the business.

Cultural Entrepreneurship

Cultural Business Examples:

Historian: Find people who know the history and have lived through different time periods of the development of the place where you live. Interview them and record their experiences, both in written and audio recordings. Turn the interview material into a book or audiobook.

Artist: If you have drawing, painting, or sculpting ability, create artwork based on things that are culturally unique to your island. It could be flowers, scenery, portraits, or anything that is readily identifiable with your destination.

Photographer: Take photographs of events such as carnivals or festivals and sell the images to media outlets, or on stock photography sites such as Shutterstock, Shutterfly, Getty Images, or iStock.

Musician: Play or learn to play a musical instrument and play in a band that represents the musical genre of your destination. I.e., steel pan, calypso, soca, or reggae.

Destination Entrepreneurship

Destination Business Examples:

Create and market tour packages centered on the local attractions of your destination. Establish your reputation as a local expert by researching the history of the places you’ll be taking clients to tour.

Establish your credibility and visibility by blogging or writing articles about interesting places that you have discovered. Don’t limit yourself to marketing just to tourists. Market your tours to locals who might want to learn more about your finds or have friends and family visiting that they want to take of tours.

Consider partnering with hotel operators and have them refer clients to you in exchange for a pre-determined percentage. Factor that cost into what you charge. Identify travel trade shows that you can attend to promote your tour business, and inquire to your local tourism board if they would be willing to split the cost of travel and attendance in exchange for you working at their booth and sharing your knowledge of the destination.

Sports Entrepreneurship

Sports entrepreneurship offers the aspiring entrepreneur the opportunity to leverage free resources such as the sun, sand, and especially the sea into a viable business. Activities such as swimming, snorkeling, volleyball that can be conducted on the beach with limited equipment that offers the opportunity to either conduct tours, create tournaments, or to teach for a fee (i.e., offer swimming lessons or conduct snorkeling tours.)

Another opportunity in sports entrepreneurship exists in creating tournaments and events. In this scenario, you could identify a location such as a basketball court, hiking trail, or beach, and create an event. Steps for doing this would involve calculating expenses, determining the desired profit that you want to generate from the event, creating attendance projections, and finding businesses to sponsor the event in exchange for advertising space on t-shirts.

Product Entrepreneurship

If you decide that you want to focus on selling a product or products, there are many ways that you can go about sourcing and selling products.

Note: In many cases, you will need to have a business license in order to be able to prove to manufacturers and wholesalers that you are a legitimate business entity that intends to re-sell. If you cannot establish your credibility, many vendors will be reluctant to offer you the lowest prices, or might even refuse to do business with you.

First, you have to decide what product or products you want to sell. Think of your business as the solution to a problem; what problem is your business going to solve?

For example, if you live in a place where it rains frequently, you could create a line of custom umbrellas and raincoats, branded with your company name. Or you could sell umbrellas that do not have your name or logo on them, but might promote tourism. The important thing is that people know that you sell high quality umbrellas that are wind resistant.

Notice that I did not talk about the price. When you focus on providing quality, exceptional service, and value, and the price becomes less of a factor in the buying decision, your clients will trust you. Your dream client is concerned with you solving...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Steps to Starting Your Business
• Considerations for Starting Your Business
• Finding Your Dream Client
• Mastering Your Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Developing Your Skillset
• Eliminating Your Limiting Beliefs
• Things I Wish I Knew Sooner
• Specialist or Generalist: Understanding the Deference
• Finding Your Passion: What’s Your S.A.U.C.E.?
• Pricing Your Services
• A Story About Trust
• Pathways to Entrepreneurship
• About Teaching Online
• About Ebooks
• Connect With Me
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author