Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Felipe Correa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Felipe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with important influences in our lives. Is there a historical figure you look up to?

John Muir – Scottish immigrant of very humble beginnings. He was destined to be a farmer or shepherd, a carpenter, maybe even a fundamentalist calvinist preacher. A walk in nature saved his life. He fell in love, as he put it, and that love generated a devotion and reverence for the natural world so strong that we now have a national park system because of him.
Most influential historical figure in my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I got into photography out of necessity. I simply needed some images to promote my sightseeing tour business, and I simply started shooting. I noticed the photos were pretty good, and then I started getting attention from them beyond their tour promotional purposes.
I won my first photo contest in 2012 with an image I took while conducting a Key West tour, it was of a section of the old Seven Mile Bridge, and it was picked as the winner during the 100th anniversary of “Flagler’s Railway That Goes to Sea.”
That was the nudge that helped direct my eyes towards the light. I have been passionately immersed in the world of wildlife and nature photography ever since.
I was picked as a “Keys Artist” by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts in 2018, and have won finalist and runner-up prizes in the prestigious Key West Photography Festival.
My work has been published several times in newspapers and magazines, it is used to promote the Florida Keys worldwide. I am particularly proud of one of my alligator images displayed on a billboard along the historic US 41.
The great Berenice Abbott said: “Photography helps people to see”. I consider that statement a mission; let my work help people to see the beauty of the wild world in my beloved Florida.

Have you ever had to pivot?

COVID!

I had been running a very busy and successful sightseeing tour operation in South Florida, with the Everglades, Miami, and the Florida Keys and Key West as my destinations. After nearly 20 years of intense Florida travel, over 40,000 tour miles per year and well-over 100,000 clients, my body and my patience started rebelling, I needed to “pivot”, but I could find no way to pause and adjust, my clients and my lifestyle depend on my continued labor.

Then COVID came.

I conducted my last Key West tour on March 11th, 2020, I knew then that it would be the last one, at least for a while. The shutdowns, social distancing measures, mask mandates, etc., made it impossible to return to any kind of profitable operation at any time in 2020. Then 2021 begins with the Delta variant and an insurrection.

That sealed the deal. I knew then that I would have to reinvent myself radically in order to find firm ground in this new reality. 2021 was a very difficult and formative year. I had to depend on a great deal of resilience and humility to find my new place in the family of things.

I am now back in the Hospitality industry as the director of sales for Tropical Sailing. After a challenging time out of my element, I get to return to touring South Florida, not on a motor coach but on beautiful sail catamarans. I now get to sail the fresh air :)

Working on this segment of the Hospitality industry has really helped to polish my artistic eye. I have now different subjects and destinations to help me see more of the beauty I love. My art has benefited immensely from this transition.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

My first serious job right out of college was at a financial services firm, I started my professional life selling life insurance and mutual funds!

I was a young 24 year-old, full of hope and fierceness, working on a “commission-only” job without a lot of resources.

It was the toughest job I’ve had yet. Particularly tough for a sweet-faced boy trying to bring my clients an opportunity for a higher rate of return.

I had to do lots of cold-calling, at least 500 calls everyday, 1000 on Fridays. Needless to say, it was very difficult, let alone negative and depressing.

It was one of those Fridays in the late afternoon, after many calls an uncountable hang ups, when despair really starts to set in, that I was finally able to set up an appointment.

That appointment helped me get my biggest client at the time, $500,000 worth of safe and profitable investment for my client and a decent commission for myself.

My tenure at this job was short, but the experience lives with me forever. I learned the necessity and vitality of consistency and persistency, something I apply everyday to my labor and my art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tourstoyou.net
• Instagram: @tourstoyou
• Facebook: www.fb.com/felipe.correa.503
• Twitter: @tourstoyou

Image Credits
Felipe Correa