My Journey: Adventure Guide to OBM
When I graduated from Algonquin College with my diploma in Adventure Tourism Business, I never imagined I’d go from being an Adventure Guide to OBM. Over the years, I have come to learn – I am a total nerd and love managing information!
After raft guiding, teaching skiing and ski patrolling in Alberta and Newfoundland for years, I was hired by Wild Women Expeditions. I was originally hired to lead their Newfoundland adventure trips – guiding hiking, sea kayaking and mountain biking. While completing my B.Ed, I worked part-time for Jennifer developing risk management plans, supporting client reservation management and setting up the online tools that we needed to managing EVERYTHING about the business. Fast forward seven years, I was now leading the Adventure Program team, managing the transition into online office 2.0, training new staff to oversee critical processes and discussing strategy regularly with the CEO. Wild Women Expeditions is now the world’s largest women’s-only adventure travel company.
Now with over a decade of guiding and managing adventure trips globally and almost eight years of online business management under my belt, it was time to follow my own dream. I left Wild Women Expeditions in June 2019 ready to shine my light in a new(ish) direction.
Why an Adventure Guide to OBM?
Well, I met a fellow OBM while working at WWE actually. She taught me what that role entailed. After downloading the ‘Becoming an Online Business Manager’ book and knew right away this was the direction for me. I thrive on managing a lot of tasks at once, overseeing projects, leading teams and getting sh*t done!
I feel like Marie Kondo except that I organize information in a virtual space. When I pair organizing with my experience in the adventure industry, I see this incredible opportunity to be an Online Adventure Business Manager!
What makes you qualified?
Well, like most managers, it comes down to experience and your ability to deliver results. In my case, there is an International Association of Online Business Managers. I am currently in the process of doing that training and doing my certification week projects.
Like associations the world over, the IAOBM aims to standardize the role of the OBM. They also provide training that ensures those standards are met. I feel this is helpful for me as it provides me with a framework and delivery standard for my services. It also provides assurances to my clients that I am performing in accordance with those guidelines.
In the adventure industry, anyone can learn the skills and call themselves a guide. Well, this is true in the virtual space too. Anyone can learn the online lingo and skills and call themselves an OBM. However, we know that training increases safety. Like to be a raft guide in most places, you must now hold a valid WFR & SRT cert and even a raft guide license. Well, the online space is moving in this direction too – providing certifications to standardize the role and experience delivered. People can call themselves OBM’s and perform many of the same functions, but you know you’re getting the real deal when you hire a certified OBM.
With my background as a guide in a variety of sports like rafting, sea kayaking, hiking, caving, rock climbing, and horseback riding as well as still holding valid certs like WFR, I am staying current with standards on that end of the industry. Someday, I would like to guide again and I think this can be an added bonus of hiring me as an OBM, I could eventually step in and guide too. In the OBM world, they talk about our role being able to cover for almost any position in the business, so I come ready to do that in the adventure space.
What are some of the benefits of working as an OBM?
For me, there are lots of benefits.
- I get to run my own business while helping adventure businesses thrive.
- Being a freelancer/consultant style worker allows me to work with more than one business and share my knowledge and skills with more people.
- I also get to choose who I do work for – and conversely – the adventure business gets to choose me or another OBM. We get to decide if we are a good fit or not with no drawn-out probationary period or employee agreements.
- Remote work is very important to my lifestyle. I want to be able to log in and do work regardless of where I am in the world or the time of day. Being able to fit in outdoor adventures as a way of life works better when I work online.
- The future is digital and I want to be a guide to adventure businesses in this virtual world. Technology is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up with so if I can keep a finger on the tech pulse, my clients don’t have to. They can focus on what they do best – deliver amazing adventure experiences.
I love learning about adventure businesses and am always willing to share ideas and make suggestions. From Adventure Guide to OBM, it’s in my DNA to help others learn and grow. Whether you want to talk to me about new trip development ideas, issues you’re having with tech, or just connect for the sake of connecting – I am here for you!
Join the Conversation
We would love for you to join our Business of Adventure Facebook group. This is a collaborative space for business owners or freelancers in the adventure travel and tourism space. The focus here is to share best practices and tips about online presence and digital marketing (front end) and online systems (backend) so you can establish a rock-solid foundation for your adventure business. If this is something you could benefit from, please join!