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

Katrina, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Awestruck Family Outfitters began with nothing more than a love of travel and a friendship that, at the time, was still pretty new. Neither of us had formal experience in the travel industry, but we shared a sense that travel could be more than just a getaway—it could shape families, build connections, and leave a mark on hearts for a lifetime. Starting a business together was a big risk. We were stepping into uncharted territory, both professionally and personally, but we knew that if we kept family, adventure, and relationship-building at the center, we could create something meaningful.

Jen is a creator at heart, someone who loves all things beautiful. She is married with three children, and her love of travel started with childhood beach trips. But, it was a family trip to the Grand Canyon that changed everything—seeing her children explore that vast landscape opened her eyes to a deeper kind of travel, one that sparks curiosity and awe.

Katrina has always had a deep desire to be inspired and is unafraid to try new things. Also married with three children, she grew up traveling often with her family—spending time in the western United States and abroad. She saw firsthand how landscapes, culture, and adventure could shape your heart and mind, and she wanted her own children to experience that same kind of transformation.

Together, we took the risk of building Awestruck Family Outfitters not just as a business, but as a way to help families discover that travel, when done with intention, can inspire, connect, and stay with you forever.

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.

We started as mutual acquaintances and found out early on that we shared a love for adventure and outdoor travel. In our area we were really the only families doing this kind of travel and so we found ourselves exchanging pictures and commenting on one another’s adventures. Katrina grew up traveling this way with her family. She spent a lot of time in the Western United States and abroad and found herself carrying on the tradition with her family. Jen grew up traveling to the beach and loved the connective time spent with her family. On a business trip to Arizona she and her husband decided to check out the grand canyon and from that point on she was hooked, wanting to see all the things! They began traveling to many national parks with their family and could not get enough. After a summer spent out west Katrina approached Jen with an idea to help other families navigate their fears and travel to places that posed new adventures and experiences. Jen and Katrina together agreed that they wanted families to feel a sense of Awe when the traveled and believed that travel is more then a vacation. Three years later we’ve sent families, and couples all over the world via our completely customized services. No trip is the same. We take careful time to craft an individualized trip, covering every detail and creating completely unique itineraries to make each day lived to the fullest. We are lovers of good food, great people, inspiring places, and unforgettable moments. And, we want those that choose to travel with us to be changed by their experiences. We are most proud of the messages and the pictures we get from our clients telling us how beautiful a place is. One client described crying God-tears as they felt so impacted by their surroundings. That’s the kind of impact we want our clients to feel, and to get the opportunity to place a part in that will never get old.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We had to unlearn what we knew to be true about vacation planning. Vacation planning traditionally is very cookie cutter and does not often veer into a personalized space. It meets your needs, but it generally doesn’t cater to what you enjoy most or what would uniquely enhance your experience. We had to lean into our love for serving others and ignore the pressure to get to efficient to quickly and risk loosing our authenticity. Understanding that we wanted to create beautiful experiences and not just vacations we stayed rooted in our mission to help families become Awestruck with the world around. Building a customized business in a world full of efficiency was tricky though. It’s not that we don’t want to make sure our processes are efficient, but we don’t want that to be the focus over our client experience. As servant hearted people though it was also hard to add a financial component to something we both just loved and wanted to share with others It took us some time to find our identity and feel we were worth something in the travel industry. We knew we were adding value, but we didn’t know our own.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Traveling ourselves! Letting others see us experiencing it with our families gives our clients inspiration and a sense of security that they can do it too! We have been able to show our clients that just because you have children doesn’t mean you have to miss out. Our kids have endured long car rides and plane rides, been on every type of transit, experienced both guided tours in historical locations, as well as unbounded space hiking miles on a mountainside or throwing rocks on the riverbanks. They love it all, and so do we! And, so have our clients. We can tell them first hand how to navigate the hard parts of any trip because we’ve done it. We haven’t just traveled to these places. We’ve had to navigate disrupted schedules, picky eaters, sleep deprivation, and meltdowns. But we’ve also gotten to see the smiles, the sparkle of excitement, their interactions with world in the most beautiful way, and the opportunity to experience it together. We have proved that it’s worth it because we’ve done it!

Contact Info:

• Facebook: Awestruck Family Outfitters
• Other: Instagram; Awestruck Family Outfitter