We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Nutting a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

Los Angeles tourism is a highly competitive market, and most companies are ruled by reviews. That is why I am so proud of Handlebar Bike Tours’ reviews. Guests are rhapsodic about our guides, and DTLA. I think the secret to our success is we don’t make speeches at guests, we engage guests in a conversation/experience of downtown Los Angeles. We keep our groups small, and help visitors see themselves woven into the fabric of Los Angeles and California history. Let me explain.

Our home at Grand Central Market exposes me to a lot of tours coming through, and the formula seems to be the same. Herd a group to the same spot and shout the same speech at them, at the same time every day. First of all we don’t shout, but have a small speaker for guides to speak in a conversational tone, and be heard over the din of downtown LA. Handlebar Bike Tours has a planned route, and well researched facts, but we also ask questions of our guests, find out what they’re interested in, and tailor the tour accordingly.

Yesterday we had a visitor from Mexico City, and were able to show him famed Mexican chef Enrique Olvera’s Los Angeles restaurant, and a Calendario Azteca. Another guest from Peru, learned about the Peruvian street artist Sef’s work in the Arts District. A local in the entertainment business enjoyed finding out why the Los Angeles Theater closed after its first year in business, and how that is connected to Apple’s purchase and restoration of the Tower Theater on Broadway. While we can not perform this magic for everyone, our aim is to make each guest feel they have a friend showing them around Los Angeles.

That guest centric experience extends to our equipment too. Handlebar Bike Tours updates bikes and helmets regularly, and has a 10 point inspection before each tour. We even put gears and pedals in exact positions for maximum ease of guests first hopping on the bikes, and we are clean freaks.

This is the level of guest focussed experience that sets us apart from the industry standard.

Jennifer, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I founded Handlebar Bike Tours in 2017. My background is high school teacher and bar/restaurant service. Both careers allowed me to travel the world by bike on self supported trips. Drawing on these experiences I am able to teach, entertain and connect with people from all over the world. I’ve always guided friends on urban adventures by bike and felt downtown is the heart of Los Angeles. Many visitors to LA are looking for the history, and real story of this city, which is told through the streets of downtown. Experiencing any city by bike will give you a deeper connection than driving by, walled off in a car or tour bus.

We’re based out of Grand Central Market, downtown Los Angeles’ number one tourist destination. There are several tours to choose from, but our formula is the same, 2.5 hours, roundtrip, with an off-bike break in the middle. Our bike tours are designed for casual bike riders, you do not need to be a spandex warrior cyclist, to enjoy the 6-8 mile tours. Our routes are full of stops, picture taking opportunities, and most guests are surprised when they find out the mileage we covered. We provide bikes helmets and a guide. Tours feature history, architecture, cultural events, art, nightlife, shopping, and the secret locals only spots. I genuinely enjoy meeting people and riding bikes.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

In 2015 I had a near fatal car accident. In the split second before it happened, what Chuck Palahniuk calls a near-life experience in Fight Club, I thought of all the regrets I had before what I thought was the end. One of them was I never got to start my own business. After a six month recovery, I got a small payout for the car of $7000 and used it all to found Handlebar Bike Tours.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

I’ve tried a lot of marketing strategies, Yelp and Google Ads, paid advertorial, third party vendors, promotional tours, videographers, but by far the best results came when I started learning to do my own SEO, search engine optimization.

At first I paid for SEO work, and saw results immediately, but it is expensive so I set my mind to learning SEO. I recommend any entrepreneur who has direct online customer sales to learn a little bit about SEO, even if you hire someone else to do it. It’s given me a whole new view on the internet and marketing. There are lots of free tutorials online.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://handlebarbiketours.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handlebarbiketours/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_LV2IwPqaSXDXeNLF83CeA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/handlebar-bike-tours-los-angeles

Image Credits
Sydney Gonzales