We were lucky to catch up with Briana Gallo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Briana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
“Courage is the Power to let go of the familiar” is the mission behind Driftwood Adventure Treks. Starting business is scary on it’s own, one has to take that big step or leap to start a business. The idea to start Driftwood Adventure Treks came from our summer camp in NH – Driftwood Ranch Camp. In 2000 my husband and I took a leap and started our own summer camp. It was coed, 2 three week sessions focusing on social and emotional learning and leadership through high adventure and horses. In 2008 we had to close camp due to the economic crash, we were devastated. We took a few years to really step out of the familiar and create a social and emotional (SEL) curriculum to bring into schools. Fast forward 8 years we have our SEL curriculum in schools but I really missed camp and working with people. We took yet another leap and started camp back up this time only girls for one 3 week session and I ran my first travel program with adults to Nepal. How did I end up leading a trip to Nepal? During our break from camp I got back into my passion for photography. In 2010 I let go of the familiar and started free lance work in Honduras, Cuba and Nepal. A dear friend said to me, “I wish I could travel and take photos like you but I’m too scared”. This really hit home. In my mind I thought, if I can run camp I can take adults on an adventure, hence my first trip of many trips to Nepal. I encourage people to have the power to step out of the familiar with cultural immersion small group travel treks.
Briana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
The name Driftwood symbolizes “go where life takes you”. I feel like my business embodies that. There are many parts to Driftwood, which makes it actually very hard to brand. I am an international photographer as well as a pilates instructor and summer camp director, those are a lot of different hats! My mission is “courage is the power to let go of the familiar”, which is why there are so many different aspects of Driftwood Adventure Treks. Life is an adventure. Whether you are stepping out of your comfort zone to try a Pilates class here locally in San Diego or you are booking a trip abroad with me you will find yourself challenged in a way that you grow as a person because you chose to take a step out of your familiar and try something new. I pride myself on making connections with my clients. I enjoy getting to know them so I can help them grow. My travel programs are small boutique trips that allow you to immerse yourself in different cultures with like minded people. My local pilates clients feel seen and empowered as they push themselves through my guidance – this allows them grow physically and mentally.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have had to pivot many times within my business. Change comes with a sense of fear, sometimes failure. As business owners we sometimes can’t see past our “business plan”. There have been many times where I have had to completely deviate from what I thought was a good business plan or in my case a good travel destination. In the moment its scary and I honestly felt like I failed, but having to rethink, having to change can open up new doors and new opportunities. The biggest change for me was back in 2008 we were running a summer camp for teens, 2 three week programs. This camp, Driftwood Ranch Camp was our dream. It was something we built from scratch and never thought there would be a day when we couldn’t run camp. We had to close camp due to lack on enrollment, it was the darkest hardest summer, but come fall my husband and I looked at each other and decided to look at all the years we ran camps for teens and create a social and emotional learning curriculum for schools. This curriculum opened up so many doors for us than we ever could have imagined. It also gave me time to get back into an old passion of mine, photography. A few years later I combined my love for photography with my love for camp and working with groups of people to create Driftwood Adventure Treks. So thinking back, if we had not had to shut down camp would I be running Driftwood Adventure Treks today?? Driftwood – allowing yourself to go where life takes you…. it’s always good to have a plan, a goal but always be open to change and whatever path that may take you. You may be surprised!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of mouth is by far my best source for new clients. I do all the social media marketing, try to keep my website where it needs to be with google and SEO’s and send out tons of mailings, but honestly the best advertising for me has always been word of mouth. When you have a business that revolves are clients – locally pilates and internationally culture immersion trips – its so important you clients feel supported, seen and heard. Someone once asked me if I have ever had a bad review, since most of my clients come from word of mouth you can imagine a bad review would be devastating. I have had a bad review, it was a trip where the weather wasn’t what it was supposed to be which made everyone a little short and impatient and the lodging was a bit over crowded. But because I handled the situation with grace and respect the review was about circumstances that could not be controlled, not about the trip itself or me as a trip leader. Word of mouth is gold!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.driftwoodadventuretreks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/driftwoodadventuretreksi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/driftwoodtreks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briana-gallo-26007755/