We are making CHANGES to our small business for 2023. Worth a full read. Most small business owners will relate!
There is nothing like a life changing event to bring about a needed perspective on what is truly important in life. We have decided to focus more on the LIFE PART of the “work/life balance” of owning a small business! We will be making some significant changes to how we operate our business in 2023. We started 12 years ago in Concord, NC as Thrifty Adventures and have morphed into NC Outdoor Adventures. We were at one time able to manage the business ourselves and still balance our life, friendships and hobbies. While we are so grateful for our growth, we have outgrown what we can manage alone.
At the start of our 2022 season, with a sold-out Spider Lily calendar, Scott suffered a stroke as a result of an accident on the farm. Thanks to a skeleton crew of staff and family we got through the start of the busy season successfully. As many other businesses can relate, we have been fighting for adequate staffing since 2020. Post Covid staffing has become exceptionally and increasingly difficult across the board!
Scott has recovered almost fully which is a miracle and a blessing. This experience helped us see things more clearly. As small business owners no one will care for your business as much as you do. That’s just a fact! Inadequate staffing will eventually lead to decreased or poor customer service in one way or another over time. Our adventure company is dedicated to superb, above and beyond customer service and if we cannot provide that to our guests then we as a business are failing and changes must be made! We want to maintain our 5 star rating. To do this we are restructuring our offerings so that Scott and I can better manage our trips, as well as ourselves. We will have limited staff made up of long term employees and highly certified, educated and experienced guides!
We will be streamlining our routine trips and adventures in order to best serve our groups through all seasons. In 2023 guests will enjoy the following trips, unchanged from previous years:
- Spider Lily Paddle Trips
- River Tubing
- Flat-Water Kayaking
- Waterfall Rappelling (Sundays)
- Leaf and Waterfall Tours
- Winter Wonderland Hikes
- Climbing Education/Instructional Programs
All other adventures will be moved to a new section of the website under A La Carte, a special place built to “feed your hunger for adventure”! These options will be advanced, private bookings only- not routinely offered excursions moving forward. These custom-built packages will allow us to focus on guest experience catered by our expertise with many unique add-on options such as provided meals, treats, special occasion set ups, photos and multi-adventure packages and more.
We will be putting up the new calendar for winter 2022 and 2023 soon. We will be making significant changes to our website. If you have something you would like to book and do not see updated information please call us at (828) 260-4505 (make sure to leave a message) or email inquiries to ncoadventures@gmail.com. You can also as always reach us through the contact button on our website too.
