We were lucky to catch up with Darlynne Menkin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Darlynne, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Darlynne’s family roots are from Hawaii so because of that, we do everything with an “Aloha Spirit” mindset. Whether a corporate group is experiencing our Team Olympics, a Charity Bike Build or a Sushi Showdown, we always want our guests to feel welcomed. In fact, it’s our hope that when guests are with us, at some point in the adventure, they will say to themselves “I’m exactly Where I Want To Be” which is the name of our parent company. Our mission statement spells out the word A-L-O-H-A which we are adamant with our staff, to always keep this type of attitude top of mind. The A stands for Abundance; L stands for Laughter; O is for Open Mindedness; H is for Having Fun and A stands for Amazing Adventures. A lot of thought and heart, goes into planning these team building experiences and our goal is that our guests will truly feel the Aloha Spirit when they’re with us. We also practice this same uplifting, positive attitude with our staff. For us, they’re more than employees, they’re our family and pouring into them & encouraging them to “live their best life” is also important to us.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Prior to launching “Where You Want To Be Tours,” Darlynne was a TV News Anchor/Reporter and Marc was in Sales for the Mailing & Printing industry. We both enjoyed our chosen career paths, but it was Marc who expressed an interest in wanting to do something more creative. Over the years, Marc would often take our friends & families on tours to “secret San Diego” spots. He was quite good at it and people would always comment how he should be a tour guide! It was in 2002, when Marc shared that he wanted to start a business specializing in walking & biking tours. When we started Where You Want To Be Tours in 2003, I was a full-time TV News Reporter but I would always make time, on the weekends, to help Marc lead the tours. The more we did it, the more we realized we loved showing off our city to visitors. Eventually, we left our jobs to run our business full-time and in 2015, an opportunity came up to acquire another team building company called “Out of the Ordinary,” which specializes in competitive games such as Team Olympics, Survivor, Minute to Win It, Cooking Competitions and so much more. This year, we also launched a new “Health & Wellness Speaker Series” which came about because many of our clients expressed how stressed their employees felt. The interactive Speaker Series is moderated by Darlynne and offers a wide variety of topics and features a panel of Wellness experts. Between our two companies, there isn’t anything we don’t offer, and we love that! We feel incredibly blessed in that we get to create unique adventures that bring people together. Often, they are people who may not talk to each other because they’re in different departments OR maybe, they’re based in different cities, but our activities get them talking, laughing and working together in a fun environment and that’s something we’re very proud of. For us, the biggest compliment is when someone comes up to us after the event and says “I thought this might be boring but this was the best time ever!” That actually has happened to us a lot and it always puts a smile on our faces. But one thing we want clients to know is: We get it. We understand that planning a team building activity can be stressful… and perhaps overwhelming but for us, it’s an honor when someone picks us so once that happens, we go above and beyond to ensure our guests receive an unforgettable experience. Our goal is to make things easy for the client!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Like many businesses, COVID was a major disruptor. It literally brought the Meetings & Tourism industry to a grinding halt. Conferences and in-person meetings weren’t happening so suddenly, our business was in limbo. We had to think and pivot quickly. We had worked so hard to build this business so we didn’t want to give it up but we also didn’t know how long the pandemic would last. We thought long and hard… and started to think about our talents & skills, both as a couple and individually. What were the unique skills we had, and how could we use them in these unique times? Because people weren’t able to meet “in person,” we started noticing that “online” communication methods were now being used. Fortunately, because of Darlynne’s TV News background, being on-camera and producing videos was second nature to her, so we created online Team building activities, using Zoom and Teams. And, because of our resources and connections, we were able to hire professionals in the TV industry who knew what they were doing. We even turned one of our rooms in our home into a full-on studio, complete with a large green screen, audio and lighting. Although Covid was stressful in so many ways, we learned a lot and we evolved. It was also a creative time as we came up with so many fresh, new programming ideas. During Covid, we launched our “Live Your Dream” business segment which airs on LinkedIN, as well as “This is our Town” which is a lifestyle travel video series showcasing Secret San Diego spots. We could have easily disappeared during Covid but we didn’t. We stayed relevant and increased our online presence which helped us tremendously because when in-person events returned, our clients remembered us.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

To put it simply: We make things easy for our clients. We learned early on that clients want to have peace of mind, and they want to do business with people who know what they’re doing; will do what they say they’ll do; and will execute it in a fun way. Consistency is also key. When we’re at a program, we always share with our team: Be present. Be observant. Be attentive to the client’s needs. We believe if you can do these things, on a consistent basis, people will remember that and they’ll keep coming back. We also don’t believe in a “one size, fits all” mentality. We listen to every client and always ask ourselves “what can we do differently for this client? What can we do to make the event unique?” We’re not afraid to try new ideas and think outside the box. After all, our company’s name is “Out of the Ordinary” so we strive to live up to that name! One other thing that sets us apart: Our people. We’re pretty picky when it comes to hiring people. We look for people who have good hearts, who genuinely care about others and have a “can do” spirit. We’re blessed in that we have an outstanding team! And finally, both owners are activity engaged and involved in the business. While we have a great team in place who know how to execute, we’re always available and involved, so clients get a lot of love and attention from us!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.groupadventures.com and www.wheretours.com
• Instagram: unique_sandiego and funteamexperiences
• Facebook: Where You Want To Be Tours and Out of the Ordinary Group & Team Adventures
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlynnereyesmenkin/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcmenkin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WhereYouWantToBeTv and https://www.youtube.com/@outoftheordinaryteambuildi9720
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/where-you-want-to-be-tours-san-diego and https://www.yelp.com/biz/out-of-the-ordinary-group-and-team-adventures-san-diego

Image Credits

Where You Want To Be Tours, Inc.