Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA · Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA Guide School How to Start and Grow a...
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Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Guide School
How to Start and Grow a Profitable Guide Service Without
Business or Guiding Experience By Scott Dawson of GuideHunting LLC
This book was designed for all of the passionate outdoor enthusiasts who want to spread the joy of
the outdoors with others as a guide.
Ebook disclaimer by SEQ Legal (1) Introduction This disclaimer governs the use of this ebook. By using this ebook, you accept this disclaimer in full. (2) Credit This disclaimer was created using an SEQ Legal template. (3) No advice The ebook contains information about guides. The information is not advice, and should not be treated as such. You must not rely on the information in the ebook as an alternative to legal / medical / financial / taxation / accountancy /guide advice from an appropriately qualified professional. If you have any specific questions about any legal / medical / financial / taxation / accountancy / guiding matter you should consult an appropriately qualified professional. You should never delay seeking legal advice, disregard legal advice, or commence or discontinue any legal action because of information in the ebook. (4) No representations or warranties To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and subject to section 6 below, we exclude all representations, warranties, undertakings and guarantees relating to the ebook. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, we do not represent, warrant, undertake or guarantee:
that the information in the ebook is correct, accurate, complete or non-misleading;
that the use of the guidance in the ebook will lead to any particular outcome or result; or
in particular, that by using the guidance in the ebook you will become a guide. (5) Limitations and exclusions of liability The limitations and exclusions of liability set out in this section and elsewhere in this disclaimer: are subject to section 6 below; and govern all liabilities arising under the disclaimer or in relation to the ebook, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty. We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control. We will not be liable to you in respect of any business losses, including without limitation loss of or damage to profits, income, revenue, use, production, anticipated savings, business, contracts, commercial opportunities or goodwill. We will not be liable to you in respect of any loss or corruption of any data, database or software. We will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage. (6) Exceptions Nothing in this disclaimer shall: limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence; limit or exclude our liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; limit any of our liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or exclude any of our liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law. (7) Severability If a section of this disclaimer is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other sections of this disclaimer continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable section would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the section will continue in effect. (8) Law and jurisdiction This disclaimer will be governed by and construed in accordance with United States law, and any disputes relating to this disclaimer will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the United States. (9) Our details In this disclaimer, "we" means (and "us" and "our" refer to) GuideHunting LLC, a partnership established under Minnesota law having its principal place of business at 2530 43rd Ave South, St. Cloud, MN 56301
Copyright © 2014 by GuideHunting LLC. All rights reserved.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Table of Contents (Clickable)
What is a career like as a hunting guide or fishing guide?.........................................→ 1
Starting your guide service, an overview………………………………………………..→ 3
The $100 business startup…………………………………………...............................→ 4
How to get your first customer fast using the top 5 FREE marketing methods.........→ 5
The #1 way to grow and build a profitable guide service……………………………...→ 8
Power of customer tracking with the #1 free tool………………………………………→ 10
The $2,000 mistake many guides make………………………………………………..→ 12
Pricing your services for success………………………………………………………..→ 15
Legal, licensing and insurance for your business……………………………………...→ 17
Final words for starting your profitable guide service………………………………….→19
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 1
What is a Career Like
as a Hunting Guide or
Fishing Guide?
Careers in guiding can be
very rewarding. Becoming a fishing or hunting guide allows
outdoor enthusiasts to earn a living while
doing what they enjoy. Here are a few of
the benefits of owning a guide service:
Control your own
schedule
Earn a living
doing what you
love
Excellent
earning potential
Meet other
outdoor
enthusiasts
Job stability
Satisfaction of
owning a
business
Owning a guiding service can be an
excellent way to break your dependency on
working for others where you have little or
no control of your job stability. In addition,
it can be very satisfying earning a living by
doing something that you love.
Earning Potential for Guides Since owning a guide service is a business,
the earning
potential will vary
greatly based on
several factors.
These include type
of game you offer
trips for (i.e. fish,
deer, waterfowl
etc.), the seasonality of your game, and
how much you market your business. Here
are a few figures to consider:
Fees received can range from about $100
to several thousand dollars per trip per
person
Tips can often be 10%-20% of the trip
value
Guide Lifestyle One of the greatest benefits of becoming a
guide is the lifestyle that it provides for the
owner. It allows the owner to control their
own schedule. The owner can schedule
guide trips when they are willing to work.
Keep in mind that more availability typically
increases guide earning potential.
The work environment is another benefit for
the owner as they get to do what they love
and teach others how to enjoy the
outdoors. Day jobs can be an excellent
way of earning a living for many people but
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if you are like me and enjoy the outdoors,
sitting behind a cubicle for 40+ hours a
week can be challenging. If it is than a
career as a guide might be right for you.
Full and Part time Options Another benefit of guiding is the flexibility to
do the profession either full or part time.
Many guides get into guiding on a part time
basis while continuing to work their day job.
This allow the benefit of learning the
industry and building clientele while
continuing to have a guaranteed income.
Some guides continue to guide part time as
a way to earn extra income and some
guides transition into a full time service
after they build their clientele base.
Industry Outlook Every three years the U.S Fish and Wildlife
Service
conducts a
survey on
outdoor
related
activities.
The 2011
survey states
that $9.6
billion is spent
annually on guide fees, pack trips or
package fees. Visit the US Fish and Wildlife
website to see how much is spent in the
guide trips in your area.
Fishing (Guide Fees, Land Use,
Equipment Rental) United States
Number of spenders 25 million
Number of guide services-
estimated**
12,500
Average amount per spender $236
Total amount spent $7.8 billion
Hunting (Guide Fees, Land
Use, Equipment Rental) United States
Number of spenders 4.5 million
Number of guide services-
estimated**
6,000
Average amount per spender $130
Total amount spent $1.8 billion
**This data is estimated based on market research done by
GuideHunting
Education and Skills The license requirements for hunting and
fishing guides vary greatly by state. Some
states require a guide license while others
have no additional requirements.
To ensue you have the proper
requirements contact your states wildlife
office.
There are some guide schools that teach
techniques on how to become a guide.
Some key skills for hunting guides include:
Good communication skills
Well organized
Ability to work with clients
Willingness to teach others effective
hunting and fishing techniques
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 3
Starting Your Guide
Service- An Overview
Are you worried that getting
your guide service up and
running will be difficult? Starting your guide service may seem like a
lot of work but don’t worry, our goal is to
help you get started with a profitable guide
service even if you have no guiding or
business experience.
Here is what you will learn in this book:
How to start your business for $100
Proven methods for finding and retaining
customers
The #1 costly mistake to avoid
Pricing your services
Legal, licensing and insurance aspects of
your guide service.
Funding Your Business Often times one of the most challenging
pieces of starting a business is figuring out
how to fund your new adventure.
The types of expenses you could expect to
incur when starting your business include
business cards, website, marketing, legal
fees and licenses.
Also, you will need equipment for providing
your guided trips. This could be anything
from hunting blinds, decoys, boats, ATVs,
fishing rods and even land. Based on the
amount of money you need to get started
there are several ways to fund your
business:
Personal funds
Business loans
Personal or business credit card
Loans from friends or family
Shared investment from a business
partner
Business Formation Type We will discuss business formation types
with resources to help you determine what
is best for your unique situation.
Finding Customers We will show you 5 proven methods to find
and retain customers. We will also show
you the #1 tool to organize and track
customer information.
Setting Your Pricing You will learn several pricing strategies and
the pros and cons of each option. Which
pricing strategy will you choose?
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
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The $100 Business
Startup
Have you been held back on
starting your business due
to cost? We will show you
how to start for $100. A challenge many guides have when
getting started is funding their business.
In this section we outline the basic costs,
later you will learn the in depth details
behind these items. We encourage you to
get started minimally and expand as your
business grows.
Minimum Startup Costs Let’s look at the minimum costs associated
with starting your business. We are
assuming you already have the necessary
hunting and fishing supplies, computer, cell
phone and internet access.
Basic Startup Costs:
Business Insurance-$30/month
Business registration-$40
Website/Hosting-$10/month
Logo design from Fiverr-$5
Business card design from Fiverr-$5
Business card printing Vistaprint-$10
What is Fiverr? Fiverr.com is a great website that can help
you get many things you need for your
business for $5.
Here are some examples of what you can
get for $5.
Business cards
Logo design
Brochures
Market research
Many other business services/products
Next Step Costs Once you are up and running here are
some of the next costs you may consider.
LLC or other legal entity formation costs
Accountant fees
Paid advertising
Chamber of Commerce Membership
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
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How to Get your First
Customer Fast using
the top 5 FREE
Marketing Methods
Your first paying customer is
the most important, focus
your time on these methods
to get that customer. The number of ways you can market your
guide service is staggering, some are time
consuming and many are expensive so we
are going to focus you on 5 proven
methods to get your first customer without
spending even $1.
Here are the top 5 FREE marketing
methods:
Craigslist
YouTube
Referrals
Repeat Business
Facebook Even though there have been significant
changes to Facebook over the last few
years it is still one of the best free ways to
promote your guide service.
Top Facebook tips:
Schedule your posts
Invite clients as soon as they book a trip
Invite past clients to your page
Post 2-4 times per week
Post when you have 1 spot left
Craigslist This is one marketing channel that many
guides forget about but it is a very popular
method to reach potential customers
completely free.
Top Craigslist tips:
Target multiple cities
Refresh your posts every other day to
move to the top of the list
Post ads for every service you offer
(example: 1 post for ducks, 1 for geese etc)
Craigslist is the 10th most visited site on the Internet,
according to Alexa.com.
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YouTube Video marketing is one of the fastest ways
to grow businesses and YouTube is the top
format for vide marketing. Additionally,
posting videos is completely free.
Here is an example of the amount of
success you can have on YouTube. I
made a video on how to paint goose
decoys and in 3 months it has over 1,500
views.
Top YouTube tips:
Record and post trip highlights/also post
them to Facebook
Make “How To” videos. Example “How to
Ice Fish” and link the videos to your
website
Use the description field when posting the
video to drive viewers to your business.
Include your business name, phone
number, email address and website
Some guides continue to guide part time as
a way to earn extra income and some
guides transition into a full time service
after they build their clientele base.
Referrals How likely are you to use a service or
product if a friend recommended it to you?
Top referral tips:
When someone books a trip ask them if
they know of anyone else who could come
with. Offer a gift card if they refer
someone. This will help fill your open
spots.
Provide incredible customer service on
the trip. If you do a great job people will
refer others to you. Give them 3 business
cards at the end of the trip and ask them to
give them to 3 friends in the next week
Refer people to back to your clients.
Example: One of your clients is a dentist.
Refer your other customers to that dentist.
In return, that dentist will want to refer
people back to you.
Add “Referrals Appreciated” to your email
signature and other marketing collateral
such as your business cards.
Research shows that people are 71% more likely
to purchase a product or service when it is
referred to them by a friend or family member.
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Repeat Business All too often we find guides and business
owners focusing so much on gaining new
business that they forget to spend time
working on repeat business.
Remember that if you have provided
excellent experiences and built solid
relationships people will want to go on trips
with you again in the future.
Ensure you spend time focusing on
referrals as it is completely free.
Top repeat business tips:
Offer clients first booking rights for the
next year. Example, email them a month
after they went on a trip and ask them if
they want to
reserve the
same days
for next
year. Tell
them you
will hold the
date for 1
month but if they don’t book by then you
will have to open it up to others.
Track the reason why people went on the
trip. Example is an anniversary. If a couple
came with you this year be sure to contact
them next year to come again.
Build personal relationships while they
are on your tip. The more they know and
trust you the more likely they will come
back.
Create a monthly or quarterly newsletter
to send to your customers. This could
include hunting or
fishing tips and
contain
information on
upcoming hunting
and fishing
seasons.
Do what you do so well that they will want to see
it again and bring their friends.- Walt Disney
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The #1 Way to Grow
and Build a Profitable
Guide Service
Excellent Customer Service
Will Result in More New and
Repeat Business Regardless of the industry you operate a
business in the #1 way to get and retain
clients is excellent customer service. The
hunting and fishing guide industry is no
exception to this rule.
You need to pay attention to customer
service in all parts of your interaction with
your clients:
Communication Prior
to the Trip
Experience
During the Trip
Follow Up After
the Trip
By following our
system you will
WOW your customers at each of these
steps and it will set you apart from the
competition allowing you to build a
profitable guide business.
Experience Prior to the Trip The first impression you make your
customers must be outstanding. Just think
about it. If your customers hear excitement
in your voice when you speak to them on
the phone they will be eager to book a trip
with you.
What to do prior to the trip:
Show excitement when speaking to
clients
Ask if the trip is for a special
event (birthday, anniversary,
corporate outing)
Ask them if they know others who might
want to come with
Confirm the booking via email
Follow up via phone 1 week prior to the
trip
Follow up 2-3 days prior with final list of
what to bring and expect
Ask them how they found out about you
Experience During the Trip In order to gain repeat business your
clients must have an incredible time while
they are on the trip.
I remember back to 2010 when I went on a
two day guided fishing trip with some
friends. It was a walleye fishing trip but one
of my friends who came with was not an
experienced fisherman.
The fishing guide handed everyone their
rods and showed us where the bait was
and told us to get started. However, he did
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
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not take any time to explain what bait he
would recommend or provide any fishing
tips.
The friend with little fishing experience went
the entire first day without catching a fish
and even those of us who had some
experience didn’t do well because he did
not tell us what bait to use or provide any
guidance.
Just think how simple it would have been
for him to spend 15 minutes providing our
group some effective walleye fishing
techniques and explaining to us what bait
we should use that day which would have
greatly improved our success and
satisfaction.
What to do during the trip:
Show excitement when your clients arrive
Teach successful techniques
Ask your clients what their goal is for the
day and what they would consider a
successful trip
Ask if are enjoying the trip several times
and if they want to change anything
Keep personal conversations going
during the day
Provide an overview of what to expect for
the day and what the days plan is
Experience After the Trip After you have taken your clients on their
trip your work is not complete if you want
clients to return next year and provide
referrals. However, your competition will
consider their work done and lose out on
repeat business and referrals.
What to do after the trip:
Send
your
customers
a thank
you note
Include
pictures
from the
trip
Ask for
referrals
Contact clients again next year before the
special event (example: birthday again next
year)
Ask for testimonials
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 10
Power of Customer
Tracking with the #1
Free Tool
Profitable guide services use
tools to track and retain
customers. These tools will
help you earn and retain
customers with less time. When you had your most recent birthday
did you receive an email or letter from a
company that you bought products or
services from?
The answer is most likely yes and even
though it was something small it felt nice
and brought that business back into your
mind.
Knowing about your customers is the
most important piece of information for
profitable guide services
We are going to show you the benefit of
automated tools and show you several
tools that do this well and are available to
you as a guide service.
Customer Relationship
Management Tools (CRM) A CRM is a tool that organizes and stores
customer information.
What type of information do CRMs store?
Customer names, addresses, email
addresses, phone numbers etc…
Logs phone and email interactions
Set follow up reminders with customers
Tracks purchase history
Why use Customer Relationship
Management Tools? Customers are the most important part of
running a profitable guide service so
tracking who you have taken on a guide
trip, who has booked
an upcoming trip
and who inquired
about a trip but has
not yet booked is
important
information to track.
Why use a CRM?
Improve customer service.
Access customer information from
anywhere that has an internet connection.
Know each customers purchase history
such as how many trips booked.
In this section we will show you the #1 FREE
Customer relationship management (CRM) tool
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All employees can see the same
information. Example, if you and your
spouse run your guide business both of you
can enter, view and share information.
Follow up on important dates. Example: If
someone booked a guide trip with you last
year for a birthday you can set a reminder
to call or email them before their birthday
this year and invite them back.
Track status of customers. Example, if a
potential client contacted you about a
specific date but never booked you have
the information to follow up with them and
attempt to get them to book.
Save time with email templates.
Example, you can make a booking
confirmation email that you send to
customers with important reminders on
what to bring on their trip.
The #1 FREE CRM There are many CRM tools in the
marketplace. These include Salesforce,
Insightly ZOHO and many more.
However, as a small business owner most
CRMs on the marketplace are expensive or
too large for what you need.
My personal recommendation is ZOHO and
they offer a completely FREE Version that
works very
well for guide
businesses.
Free Version:
Up to 3 users
2 email templates
Store customer information
Standard reports
The free version of ZOHO is plenty to get
you started and for many guide services is
all that you ever need.
Here are a few of the extras you can get
with the paid versions:
Paid Versions:
More email templates
Add more than 3 users
Mass email your customers
Learn More About ZOHO CRM Click here for a brief video by Zoho on their
services and how they help guide services.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 12
The $2,000 Mistake
Many Guides Make
Websites is one area many
business owners overspend In today’s online world it is important for all
businesses, regardless of size, to have a
website to connect with customers.
Here are just a few reasons to have a
website for your Guide Service:
Effective source of advertising
Legitimizes your business
Share information with your customers
You get a customized company email
address
Option to collect payments online
Showcase your guiding expertise
However, I want you to be aware that it is
not uncommon for business owners to get
caught up in wanting to have a website and
spending way too much money with web
development companies to get more than
what is necessary.
As a new business owner your goal should
be to get started for as little money as
possible and build your client base
It is entirely possible to build a good looking
website on your own and save the massive
amounts of money that a web company
may charge to build you a website.
Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons
of building a website yourself or hiring a
web company.
Hiring a Web Company Hiring a web company is not a bad thing.
In fact, there are many
benefits of hiring a
company to build your
guide website but there
are also disadvantages
that need to be
considered.
Pros of Hiring a Web Company:
Professional design
They do the work, not you
They are the experts and all of the tricks
Cons of Hiring a Web Company:
Cost can be $2,000 or more
Difficult to know company reputation
May have long timelines and no
guaranteed completion date
Before you hire a web company
research them first: If you are strongly considering having your
website built by a web company make sure
you research them first.
Review 3 or more websites they built for
other clients
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Contact 3 clients they did business with in
and ask if they are satisfied
Check pricing with other 3 web
companies
If everything checks out with the references
and you are satisfied with their past work
you may decide to use them. However,
please consider if investing that amount of
money into your website as you start is the
best use of your money.
Building a Website Yourself Now let’s take a minute to review the pros
and cons of building the website yourself.
Pros of Building the Website Yourself:
Total cost is less than $100
You control the completion date
Ability to update the pictures, text and
other content on your own without cost
Cons of Building the Website Yourself:
Time to complete the work
Learning a new online system
Images cost money
Building a Website Yourself- Even
if You Never Built a Website As a new business owner funds can be
tight and building a website on your own
can be one great way to market your
business as well as saving you a significant
amount of money.
The good news is that YouTube is an
excellent source on how to build a website
yourself. Here is a video that I have used
many times to build
websites.
It is also good to ask
others for help with
your website. Perhaps
you have a spouse,
relative, friend or child who would be willing
to help you make your website.
We are not saying that hiring a company to
make your website is a bad decision.
However, we are recommending you
strongly consider if $2,000 or more is the
best use of your limited resources as you
start.
What are the costs to build a
website? 1. Domain Name- This is the web address
of your business. For example,
www.guidehunting.com. You can buy a
domain name for around $10 per year.
2. Hosting- This is a service that provides
a place on the internet for your website
to be stored and viewed.
3. Content Management System (CMS)-
This is the online program where you
build your website. The CMS that I use
is called WordPress and it is a free
service.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 14
Who is Visiting Your Website? It is very useful to know who is visiting your
website, how often they are visiting it and
how clients are interacting with your
website.
Google Analytics is a resource that allows
you access to this information.
Now you may think this is too advanced for
you but in reality it is pretty easy to setup
and ultimately understanding more about
the people visiting your website the better
you will be able to market to those
customers.
If you are using WordPress to build your
website you can easily setup this reporting
with the google analytics plugin.
If you are having someone else build your
webpage ensure that you ask them to
setup Google Analytics. There is no cost to
the reporting and it will only take them a
few extra minutes to install it.
Here is a 2 minute video that outlines the
benefits of Google Analytics.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 15
Pricing Your Services
for Success
Choose the right pricing
strategy for success As you get started with your guide service
one decision that you will need to make is
how to price your services. There are
several strategies that you can use to
compete against other guide services:
Low cost leader
High cost leader
Market rate pricing
Each of these strategies has its pros and
cons. In this section we will explain each of
these pricing options so that you can make
the best pricing decision for your unique
situation.
Market Research Conducting research on other guides who
offer similar services is the first step you
will need to take before you can determine
your pricing structure.
You should do your research in your local
area but you should also research
statewide and nationally. This will help you
know how you compare to the rest of the
market as well as understand your
customers point of view if they are visiting
from outstate.
Here are a few ways to research your
competitors pricing:
Visit competitor
websites
Review ads in local
grocery stores and
gas stations
Call your
competition and ask
Regardless of the method you choose you
must do this research in able to make an
informed decision on your own pricing
strategy.
Low Cost Leader With this strategy you will price your
services lower than most, if not all, of your
of competition.
Pros:
Enticing to clients who are price shopping
Potential for higher booking volume
Take business from higher price
competitors
Cons:
May create an image of low quality
Clientele attracted by low prices may not
tip
Less profit per client
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
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High Cost Leader Pricing your services at the top of the range
of other guide services is another strategy
to consider. Here are some considerations
with this type of pricing.
Pros:
Higher profit per client
Creates image of high quality
Attracts quality customers
Cons:
Lose out on price shopping clients
Hard to take market share from
competitors
Difficult strategy without a positive
reputation built
Market Rate Pricing With this strategy you will price your
services similar to other guides or the
“average” price.
Pros:
You will not be overpriced
Customers used to similar prices
Simple to set pricing
Cons:
Will not stand out competition
Challenging to take away customers
What Pricing Strategy is Best? Although there is no perfect pricing strategy
it should become clearer to you on the
direction you want to take after reviewing
what other guides in your area are doing.
Other Differentiators Regardless of the pricing structure you
choose you can also use other factors to
differentiate your services from the
competition. Here are just a few examples
you could try:
Offer longer trip length than other guides.
Example: If other guides offer a 4 hour
fishing trip for $300 you could offer a 6 hour
trip for $300.
Include free bonuses. Example: If other
guides charge extra for shore lunch you
could offer it for
free. Lunch is
likely low cost
to you but it
may be just
enough for
clients to
choose you
over other guides.
Provide take home training information.
Example: If you are a walleye fishing guide
you could make a brochure with some
walleye fishing tips for your clients to use
on their own. This will give goodwill and is a
great marketing tool that has your contact
information for repeat business.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 17
Legal, Licensing and
Insurance for your
Business
Business Basics Plus the #1
FREE Resource to Start Your
Guide Business When starting a guide service the amount
of steps to forming your business can feel
daunting but we assure you with some
work you can accomplish your goal.
We are here to help highlight the items that
not every guide owner thinks about as they
begin:
Business Formation Type
Licensing
Insurance
Although these items are not the most fun
part of starting a guide service they are
some of the most important things you can
do for proper personal protection.
Business Formation Type As we have discussed, guide services are
businesses and as a business owner you
need to determine how you want to be
viewed in the government’s eyes with legal
and financial matters. There are several
types of business formation to choose from:
Sole Proprietorship- This is the most
common and basic type of business where
you alone own the company and are
responsible for the companies liabilities and
assets. If you have already started
operating your guide service without going
through a legal formation process you are
currently operating a sole proprietor.
Limited Liability Corporations- Also
known as an LLC, this is a relatively
common business type for businesses.
This is a great option for guide services as
the structure remains simple, but it gives
you some financial and legal protection.
Partnership- This can be used if you go
into guiding with another person in shared
ownership. There are
several types of
partnership agreements
that can be formed.
Corporation- This formation type is
typically more complex and for larger
businesses that have multiple employees.
Cooperative- A cooperative is a business
or organization owned by and operated for
the benefit of those using its services
S-Corporation- An S corporation is
similar to a C corporation but you are taxed
only on the personal level. This is probably
more complex for what you will need as
you get your guide service started.
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 18
Licensing The license requirements for hunting and
fishing guides vary greatly by state. Some
states require a guide license while others
have no additional requirements.
To ensue you have the proper licenses
contact your states wildlife office.
Insurance Business insurance is an area that many
guides and small business owners
overlook. However, having proper
insurance for your company is important to
ensure you and your clients are protected.
The guiding industry presents many
situations that could be dangerous.
Obviously, we hope there is never an
accident but the reality is that if you are in
business there is a chance that some type
of situation could happen where you would
be at risk without the business insurance.
Business insurance can be very
affordable typically ranging from $200-
$1,200 per year but could save you
hundreds of thousands if there was an
accident.
Most insurance companies will allow
flexible payment options from annual
payments, quarterly payments and
sometimes monthly payments.
Make sure reach out to at least 3 insurance
companies for quotes. This will help you
see various pricing as well as seeing what
companies provide the best level of
customer service.
Small Business Administration The #1 free resource available for you is
The Small
Business
Administration
or SBA. The
SBA is a
governmental agency that provides FREE
guidance and advice to businesses and
entrepreneurs.
I would recommend visiting the SBA
website to see their resources and also
reaching out to them to set up an in person
meeting. Most large cities have an SBA
office. If there is not one in your area it
would be well worth your time to make a
trip to meet with them in person. Business
guidance is typically very expensive so
having this free opportunity is well worth
utilizing.
“Business insurance could save you hundreds of
thousands if there was an accident.”
Guide School-Scott Dawson MBA
Page 19
Final Words for Starting
Your Profitable Guide
Service
Congratulations! You have
taken your first step in
starting and growing a
profitable guide service.
Here are a few final thoughts
as we wrap up.
Your Success is in Your Hands If you have made it this far it is clear that
you are passionate about the outdoors and
sharing your passion with others.
Remember that guiding is a business and
being a successful business owner requires
hard work. If you work hard your results
will show and you will succeed.
Just Get Started Sometimes getting started is the hardest
part of starting a business. You may have
been thinking about guiding for some time
so now is the time to get started. What will
you do today to make progress towards
your goal?
Make Progress Every Day At times getting your guide service up and
running can feel like a lot of work. I
encourage you to make some type of
progress towards your dream each day.
Six months from now and you will be
surprised how far you have made it by
spending time on your business each day.
Use Resources for Help I encourage you to use resources to help
you get started such as the Small Business
Administration. There are many people
willing to help you out, including myself.
Let your friends and family know you what
you are doing and that you would
appreciate them sending referrals your
way, you will be surprised about power
word of mouth advertising.
Thank you!
I hope that you found the information
contained in this book useful as you work
towards your guiding goals.
My passion for the outdoors led me to create
this book and it is my hope that more people
get into the guiding industry from this
information.
If you have any questions or comments please
reach out to me at [email protected]
and connect with our facebook page , you can
also visit our website at
www.guidehunting.com.
Scott Dawson