The difference between a host and a guide, a primer (Part 1)

There are those who bring people together in outdoor spaces. Let's call them "hosts".

And there are those who instruct on specific skills related to outdoor activities. Let's call those "guides".

Let's start with guides.

Most of us are aware that in order to guide - to be an expert - you'd need pricey training or deep experience. You might need a license or a certification that certifies you know a thing. No one will debate the value you add to an experience if you're showing them a new skill or getting them out of something alive.

What does a host do?

Bringing people together requires marketing. Managing that marketing requires work.

The logistics and details - aka operations - involved in getting those people to a place to do a thing is work.

Guiding or finding and hiring a 3rd party guide is work.

So before a host even meets their first guest at the trailhead, they've already invested a ton of time in marketing and operations. Not unlike a guide who invests a ton of time in training and qualifications.

Next, once a guide is certified, his or her next most likely step is to find a job with a tour operator who can hire them.

Their career path will consist of chasing tour operators wherever they're hiring. Especially if your qualifications are in a weather-dependent activity, like ski instructor or kayaking guide or sail boat captain.

But if you intend to be a host in the outdoor industry, your most likely next step is to figure out your "business plan". Huh? Yeah.

And your business plan is going to go one of two ways:

You're either going to invest money to develop an infrastructure (i.e. purchase and develop property, acquire a permit to operate somewhere, purchase gear and equipment) and become a tour operator.

As a tour operator, your job is to enable your visitors to have an amazing experience.

Or, if you don't have those kinds of funds (and most of us don't) you're going to get into the one type of outdoor business that does not require any infrastructure: hosting hikes.

And this is where your business plans take a seriously different approach.

We’ll tackle what that difference is in Part 2 of this primer.