Hiking Guide Business

Hiking Guide Business Success Stories [2024]

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

Want to turn your passion for the great outdoors into a business? A hiking guide business might be your calling. In essence, it involves organizing and leading guided hikes for enthusiasts and beginners alike.

Leading hikes not only allows you to share your knowledge of local trails and environmental stewardship but also provides a healthy and adventurous way to make a living. It's a hands-on business where your office is the great outdoors and your clients are looking for memorable experiences.

Start with familiarizing yourself with local trails and obtaining any necessary certifications. Marketing your services can be as simple as word-of-mouth or leveraging social media to reach a broader audience. The personal touch you bring to each hike can make a significant difference in customer retention and word-of-mouth referrals.

If you have a knack for organization and love being in nature, guiding hikes can be a fulfilling and profitable venture.

In this list, you'll find real-world hiking guide business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a hiking guide business that makes money.

1. Arara Tour ($132K/year)

Nune Tatunts, the founder of Arara Tour, started her travel company in Armenia in 2014. Through hard work and dedication, Arara Tour has become one of the leading tour operators in Armenia, with branch offices in Georgia and Uzbekistan. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020, the company was on track to double its revenue from the previous year, showcasing their success in the tourism industry.

How much money it makes: $132K/year
How much did it cost to start: $7K
How many people on the team: 8

How We Started A $22K/Month Travel Company Selling Tours Around Armenia, Caucasus And Central Asia

Araratour, led by Nune Tatunts, experienced impressive revenue growth, doubling its 2018 revenue to bring in $13,000 a month in 2019, offering combined tours around the Caucasus and Central Asia, and now has an office in three countries.

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2. Silent Pursuit ($24K/year)

Cody, a 24-year-old entrepreneur and avid hunter, developed the idea for Silent Pursuit, his hunting moccasin business, after a disappointing hunting experience where his worn-out socks jeopardized his stalk. Unsatisfied with the existing products on the market, Cody spent 9 months designing, prototyping, and manufacturing his own hunting moccasins, which are both affordable and effective in reducing noise. With a successful launch and plans to expand into apparel and accessories, Cody's dream of making Silent Pursuit a household name in the hunting industry is well on its way to becoming a reality.

How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $14K
How many people on the team: 0

How I Created A $2K/Month Hunting Moccasins Brand

Silent Pursuit is a hunting industry startup that sells deer stalking/hunting moccasins designed to reduce noise and increase comfort while hunting, with a successful launch that brought in around $2k per month, and plans to expand their product line and improve online sales with efficient marketing on Facebook and Google.

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3. Rainier Watch ($23.8K/year)

David, a full-time Front End Developer, came up with the idea for his business, Rainier Watch, when he realized there was no online platform to track the visibility of Mount Rainier, a beloved mountain in the Greater Seattle area. He started a Twitter account to post daily updates on the mountain's visibility, which gained a following. Eventually, he decided to turn it into a business by selling stickers and expanding the product line to include shirts, hats, and more.

How much money it makes: $23.8K/year
How much did it cost to start: $300
How many people on the team: 0

How I Turned A Fun Twitter Account Into A $2K/Month Ecommerce Side Hustle

Rainier Watch is an outdoor-inspired apparel brand that grew from selling stickers to generating several thousand dollars in sales each month through its custom Woocommerce website, as a community-driven business for quality goods inspired by mountains, donating to organizations protecting and supporting the National Parks upon purchase.

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