Page 80 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

Pivoting to a more desirable market, Kris created a new division of products
and services targeted to multilocation center owners. These owners had a much
larger investment in their businesses and could afford to pay more for marketing
help. The change made a huge difference on the bottom line. Kris went from
“doing OK” to making more than $20,000 a month. In the early days, she tried to
sell something that her clients weren’t ready for. She fixed the problem by
changing two things: what she offered and to whom she offered it.

Disaster and Recovery:

CULTURE SHOCK EDITION

Ridlon Kiphart, AKA Sharkman, has one of those jobs everyone envies—he’s a
self-titled CAO, or chief adventure officer, of a small company called Live
Adventurously. After previous career stints as a trapeze artist, divemaster,
charity founder, and “watersports dude” on a cruise ship, he now runs his own
show, hosting trips to exotic locations. I asked Sharkman about his greatest
challenge in the new business, and here’s how he tells the story of a
misadventure in the South Pacific.

The best and worst days were the same day. We had finished the first half of
the first trip in Fiji, and the guests were raving. We returned from a day
spent diving turquoise waters to find a long white linen-draped dinner table
sitting on the sand at water’s edge. It was surrounded by tiki torches and set
beautifully. With the sun setting and island music playing in the warm air,
we gathered with our friends for one of the most spectacular dinners in
history … right up until the phone call came in.

The experience was like listening to a beautiful song and then abruptly
hearing the needle from the record player rip across the album. The news
was that the paramount chief from the neighboring island we had planned
to visit the next day had died, and the mourning ritual required that
everything be shut down for the next 100 (!) nights. We had nine exultant
guests and nowhere to go.

This was when doing our research earlier and really knowing the area
paid off. We managed to extend our stay where we were by one night and
spent the time feverishly cobbling together plans. We chartered an aircraft
(dubbed the flying coffin for self-explanatory reasons); contacted numerous
hotels, resorts, and dive operators; got recommendations; did some more
research; and booked the group into a newly opened property on a remote
island. The transition went smoothly, the entire rest of the trip came off