We were lucky to catch up with Laura Bradley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laura thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risks that I’ve taken relates to starting my running tours business, 5 years ago, this September. I had been working in corporate finance since 2007 and was more than burned out at the lifestyle, especially as I was working in private equity at the time which gives you zero time to have any life outside of work.

I was doing a bit of soul-searching late one evening, and as I was thinking about what it was that I truly loved I realized it was running (obviously) and exploring the world through it. I started looking into what it would take to start tours via running here locally in Tampa and I quickly found Go! Running Tours (a global franchise out of Copenhagen) and I got myself signed up and started as the local city manager here. Where the risk came in is that I simultaneously quit my fairly well-paying job at a time where I was in no position financially to be quitting my job – especially with a mortgage. And by quit, I’ll be clear in saying that I flipped out and basically said the things that (some) people wish they could say to their boss, some days. So there was no going back to that job.

Fast forward 5 years and yes I do work in Finance again, but I went into consulting the second time around so that I could still manage and grow my company (we’re now all over Florida), while not worrying as much from a financial standpoint. I definitely have zero regrets about the stand I took for myself and my happiness, 5 years ago, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Laura, 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?

As you know, my name is Laura Bradley, and I currently manage and guide running tours in Tampa and all over Florida with Go! Running Tours Florida, which is a franchise of Go! Running Tours in Copenhagen. I got into this industry simply because I was looking to make a change in my life and redirect my focus to something I actually had a passion for, which was running and exploring a city through it – something I’d been doing in my personal life for the past decade before I started this 5 years ago.

What Go! Runnings Tours Florida and I provide is something that no one else in Florida can offer, still 5 years later. Our base ‘product line’ is a series of running tours ranging from 5k to 21k (a half marathon). If you’re unfamiliar with running tours, this is where you go on a guided tour of a city via a run (at your pace, that includes stops unless you request continuous running) and can range from a standard history tour to a brewery tour, mural tour, haunted tour, etc. There’s really no limit as to what we can come up with which is what makes us so unique and lets us provide something that no one else can.

Some good examples of this are through a local running club, RunFit in Lutz, Florida. We’ve hosted 3 tours for them and they’ve ranged from our St. Pete Brewery run (9 breweries + murals + history) and then 2 custom tours that I designed here in Tampa, which were incredibly fun! The first was a Haunted Pub Run (4 miles, 10 ghost stories/stops, 4 pubs) and the second was a Murals, Miles & Mimosas Tour (4 miles, pre-run mimosas, 9 history stops, murals, brunch at the end). That’s honestly my favorite thing about this business, so if anyone out there is looking for something specific, let me know and I’ll make it happen for you!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This would be less of a specific story and more a general thing that I ran into and still run into, and that’s people who doubt or question why I put so much time into a business that still requires me to have a day job to get by.

The short answer to this is that while I get frustrated plenty that I’m not as busy as I’d like to be, when I do host a tour, still 5 years later there’s no feeling that can replace the happiness and satisfaction that it brings me. But I’ve had people ranging from strangers, to friends and even to parents / family members asking me when I’m going to let this thing go. The reality is that I hope to still do it when I’m in my retirement years, so while at times my feelings were hurt by their doubt I never had any thoughts of letting my business go. You just have to remember that their opinions have nothing to do with why you started this and the rest is easy from there.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

This is an easy one. My reputation is 100% built off the experiences runners have had on my tours and often the continued friendship that comes from it. In addition, anyone who ever interviewed me or who has followed my journey the past 5 years, sees how much time and honestly, love, that I put into every tour that I design and host. And while this is very much a business that I am working to grow all of the time, it is still very fair to say that I ‘don’t do this for the money’ – and people can tell, and that in itself makes all the difference. I’ve spent extra miles on a tour if there’s something someone wants to see, outside of the normal route, and I’ve spent countless hours designing and constantly changing/improving all of my tours because I want people to get the most that they can out of the experience – and people know that from my posts and the experience they have when they run with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gorunningtours.com/p/usa/tampa/
• Instagram: @FloridaRunningTours
• Facebook: Go! Running Tours Florida
• Linkedin: Laura Bradley

Image Credits
PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE PHOTOS I AM HAVING ISSUES WITH MY EMAIL I WILL SEND THE PHOTOS TO USE- JUST ADDED THESE SO I DIDN’T LOSE ALL OF MY WORK. THANK YOU!