This is the candid and insightful story of how Kevin Warren turned his passions for travel into substantial earnings, fun, and adventure.
In August 1970, Warren brothers Kevin, Steve, and Tim moved their family from Chicago, Illinois to San Diego, California. As teenagers, they grew up surfing, riding dirt bikes, camping, flying hang gliders and ultralight planes, traveling to the countryside and near Baja, Mexico.
It’s true.
They were all energetic “slightly challenged youth.”
One of the schools they attended was the Athenian School in Northern California; a co-ed college preparatory boarding school with an emphasis on academics and the outdoors. His early rafting trips, snow camping, backpacking trips and cross-country ski trips, as well as extreme skating, building a bamboo hang glider out of bamboo, secret experiments making beer under the bed and many other adventures, everything happened in Athenian. .
Part of his graduation requirements was 28-day outdoor skills and survival training in the high Sierra Nevada mountains.
It was fantastic!
And yes, between adventures, they also studied.
It was clear. They loved the outdoors, flying, adventure, and new business ventures…
Fortunately, none of them died, he was not expelled, and they eventually graduated from Athena.
Back in San Diego, adventurous, young and enterprising, Kevin started a business towing aerial billboards at low speeds along the north San Diego County beaches with our ultralight aircraft around 1978.
I was getting $175 for 1/2 hour to pay for our hobby. How cool that she got paid for what she loved to do!
In the early ’80s, Kevin’s passion for flying continued. He wanted to fly for the airlines and began flying with his companions to remote areas of Baja, Mexico to surf, increase his flight hours, and share the cost. He started getting calls from people he never met with questions like this,
“My friend Jeff flew down to Baja and went surfing with you. Sounds great! How can I go too?”
Kevin thought, “Could I get paid to do some of the things I love the most: surfing, flying, and traveling?”
———The answer was a big YES ———
What started as a hobby turned into a life-changing touring career with the launch of Baja AirVentures in 1985. Kevin’s early travels centered on 4-day airborne surf expeditions to remote strips of land in the isolated Pacific coast of Baja California. Perfect empty waves, pristine nature, tended camps: just what most professional men who loved to surf wanted.
Kevin’s Baja surf tour company grew into a diversified and profitable multi-sport Eco-Adventure Baja tour company by asking guests what they wanted on their active vacation,
Many tourism professionals that Kevin has known over the past 15 years, or those wanting to get into tourism, are also looking to combine their passion for travel, sports, adventure, the outdoors and also earning a lot of money.
Does this ring a bell?
Or something you’re dreaming about…?
Kevin’s tourism business and income has earned him two eco-adventure resorts in Baja, Mexico, a large new 5-bedroom home in San Diego, 4 planes, a lovely wife, and three beautiful daughters.
Kevin’s material success is only a small part of the most valuable rewards of: appreciating life, living your dreams and experiencing daily joy in your tourism profession.
Success and quality of life, however you define it, is what you can have as a tourism professional if you take the right steps.
Follow this link to read the second part of this real-life hotel marketing and tourism business case study, and listen to a Interview series “The secret of his success”, plus best practices and resources that have absolutely increased the results and quality of life for Kevin and so many tourism projects around the world.
The travel business has been good to Kevin and sharing these articles and tips is one way to give back to the industry.
Starting, promoting and managing any type of business or tourist destination requires a lot of time and work. Therefore, all articles, tips, resources and news will be in short “readers digest” versions.
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