18 months ago I sat at my dining table, paper and markers in hand, brainstorming what direction to take Edgewalkers in.
My plans to expand our International adventures in Mongolia and Russia and to explore new possibilities in Panama and Georgia (country) were suddenly halted; the international and interstate client base that we had been building over the previous 4 years was gone and it was looking like we would not have much work to the new staff member I was planning to hire: i.e. the amazing Kirra Diconza.
(pictured above at yoga weekend)
The word 'pivot' was everywhere. At first, I thought it was some netball or basketball-related business analogy. I soon learnt that as a business model, ‘pivoting’ is a business strategy (used a lot by start-ups) that allows the business to drop one aspect of the business and refocus on another, usually letting go of the previous direction.
The point is to allow the enterprise to change course and discard anything it no longer needs, this could be its partners, its key client base, its activities, its revenue streams; its resources. Basically, change whatever allows it to adapt as the climate changes around it.
Well, we pivoted.
Working with Kirra is total joy!
We created the 2-day Cape to Cape Quickie & the 3-day Walking & Yoga Weekend. We dropped our margin and priced them so that our local WA market would find them appealing. We got to hire Kirra and keep our small team working the whole time.
Walking & Yoga Weekend - Margaret River
We built on the success of our Walking with Wildflowers and offered more dates. We adventured further north in WA and trialed an outback adventure featuring the Murchison Gorge in Kalbarri.
Walking with Wildflowers - Fitzgerald Biosphere
We continued to have success with The Creativity Retreat and the Women's Walking & Writing Retreat and decided to try a few others. We added a Leadership Retreat (so, so 😐) a Mother-Daughter Retreat (no go 😞) and then a Walking, Yoga, and Plant-Based Cooking Retreat (oh yeah baby 😁). We cut costs by buying our own van, having my partner John join the company, and working our little butts off.
2021 has been all about trial and error, adaptation, flexibility, patience, and continuing to walk our talk by providing wholehearted and high-quality experiences that leave people feeling fulfilled and reset.
Edgewalkers is not out of the woods yet, but 2021, despite the refunds, the impending lock-downs, the tight-shut WA borders, and the shortage of staff, has been a WILD and STUNNING year!
Bring on 2022 and our seventh year bringing people close to nature and to their most creative possibilities. 😁