We’re about to spill the secret sauce.

In this blog post, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get YOUR adventure travel company off the ground. Start rearranging your furniture to make room for all the heaps of cash you’re about make! And clear your social calendar because you’re about to be the toast of the town!

There’s really nothing to adventure travel. Come up with something fun to do, invite people to join you, and charge them for the privilege. Cha-ching!

What are you waiting for?

Let’s get that bag!

Step One: Self Assessment

Do you enjoy adventure travel? Do you like to be outside? Do you enjoy the physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual challenges you’ll encounter in an austere environment? Do you like problem-solving and real-time improvisation?

Do you enjoy taking responsibility for the experiences of people who have no idea what they’re actually getting into and who further ignore your efforts to prepare them adequately for what might be expected? Do you enjoy communicating with search and rescue as they attempt to find your lost hiker who decided to ignore the buddy system that you made sure everyone agreed to upfront?

Do you revel in the criticism of others who condemn you for exploiting the community in order to turn a profit? Are you excited to hear about all the ways you could do things better, and then never hearing from those who made the suggestions after you took the time to implement them?

Are you ready to be nickle-and-dimed by customers and organizations who can’t understand why you would expect anything more than gas money since you’re obviously perfectly fine sleeping in the dirt?

If you answered yes to all of that, you, sir or madam, are ready for the big time!

Step Two: Planning

Adventure travel requires two things: adventure and travel.

But you already knew that because you’re BRILLIANT. All you need to do now is figure out what the adventure is and where you need to be to have it.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to play buzkashi. Good for you, because it’s a BLAST and there’s really only one place to play. Mark your calendar and book your flight to Kabul, a town where goats are just as much fun dead or alive.

As enjoyable as buzkashi is, you’re not trying to pay for this trip! You need to convince the masses that THEY ALSO love buzkashi and that they NEED to come with you to Kabul! They’re also the ones who should pay AND cover your expenses because that’s how business works.

You’ve got a round-trip flight to Kabul. You’ll need a place to stay and food to eat. You’ll need to rent a horse. Will you need a new sim card while you’re over there?

There are other expenses! What about your marketing? Facebook and IG ads are pretty lame. A better idea is to send some goat cheese to your local Afghan cultural center with an invite that says something like, “Isn’t this cheese great? You know what else is great? BUZKASHI!!”

That will cost money.

As will your web-hosting and optimization services. Also your liability insurance (if you choose to carry it). You’ll need to set aside money for your annual LLC filing and any tax liabilities carried over from previous years. You’ll need a mailbox as a business address unless you want to go all out and splurge on an office. Maybe wait and see how the adventure in Kabul plays out before taking that dive.

Will you need any certifications? First aid? Equine handling? Better budget for that.

What about ongoing training and professional networking with a trade organization? That stuff costs money. Put it into the budget!

People are going to want their buzkashi merch, for sure. You’ll need to get all that stuff designed, manufactured, and shipped before the event.

Things are starting to add up and you still need to consider the expenses of transporting, housing, feeding, and outfitting your participants, all at a price they will LOVE!

Of course, the budget is one piece of the plan.

What about safety? People aren’t usually immediately comfortable around Afghan warlords and headless animals. How about an emergency contact list? A fitness test? COVID protection? How is the healthcare and emergency response infrastructure in Kabul?

What about cultural considerations? What is your education plan to make sure that everyone observes the expected code of conduct, and what are the consequences if ignored?

You’ll need to research the weather and have contingency plans. Buzkashi in the rain might be a bit much for newbies. Maybe plan a caving trip in the mountains as a back-up. Just verify they are unoccupied before going that route.

Step Three: Execution

You did it! You sold out, due in large part to the FABULOUS idea you had of hosting an outdoor screening of Buzkashi Boys and getting everyone super pumped to spend mad money for the thrill of tossing around dead goats.

Kudos.

Now the big day has arrived. You’re at the Kabul airport. You’re starting to meet some of your participants at the baggage carousel, but not everyone was on your flight.

Other flights are delayed.

You promised a personal escort to their hotel, and you learned just enough Pashto to get the job done. But now you’re not so sure you can manage getting this first, rather anxious looking bunch to their rooms and still make it back to the airport in time for the late arrivals. You’re exhausted as it is. You knew it would be a lot of work, but expenses were piling up and you made the decision to take your chances and forgo any paid help to maximize profits.

Hell ya, boss!

You find the chai-wala and tank up on that sweet, sweet caffeine. You set your jaw, grab your bags, and lead your flock out of the airport, your confidant determination acting like an irresistible magnet to pull them along.

Until one of your guests rolls an ankle stepping off the curb.

No biggie. You’ve got an ACE wrap in your bag and you watched a YouTube video. Once that’s sorted, you’re on your way!

Three trips and several hours later, everyone is tucked in. You did everything but sing them a lullaby.

No sleep for you, though. You’ve got to spend your time validating confirmations and making sure that everything is ready to go by 8 am.

Three hours from now.

That’s when the screaming starts. Rolled-ankle can’t feel his foot.

You fly into his room like the superhero you are, and see that his toes are swollen, cold, and blue. You’re not sure, but you may have wrapped that bad boy a little tight.

You loosen the dressing, but our man is freaked. He wants to go to the hospital. NOW.

And he won’t go alone. He needs your help.

Buzkashi will have to wait.

Step Four: Damage Control

You’re back home. Everybody wants a refund. Your reputation is trashed.

This could be the end.

Is it?

Everything in this post (and more!) has happened in the more than 10 years that Dust and Tribe has been around. Lost hikers, injuries, disappointment, frustration, refunds (lots), two frivolous lawsuits, and even the trashed reputation. Obviously this was a fictional, tongue-in-cheek scenario, but our reality is certainly embedded in every paragraph.

Not once in 10 years have we ever broken even. We’ve never pulled a salary. The work is subsidized by our day jobs and likely will be for a long time.

Because Dust and Tribe is not a business.

It’s an ethos. It’s an intention to reassert the centrality of wilderness in the lives of Muslims, for all of the refreshment and perspective that a relationship with wildness brings.

Progressio quolibet veniet. Progress through whatever comes. With every adventure, we learn. With every failure, we grow. With every person we meet, we expand.

That’s a big part of the inspiration behind this post. The solution to the long-term sustainability of the Dust and Tribe ethos requires expansion.

Most of the work we do does not generate revenue. Check out our Campfire page. We read great works of fiction together. We study sacred manuscripts together. We gather to look for the new moon. We share pictures of our gardens and goats in Grow, our homesteading chat. We provide free, ongoing peer support for men and women affected by divorce. We promote wellness through weight-loss competitions. This is daily engagement with people all over the country and even around the world!

And nobody has to spend a dime.

But there is so much more to do, and our adventures are the economic engine behind the ethos. There are only a couple of us here that can run trips, and we hope you got a sense of how complicated, time-consuming, and costly these adventure can be. Even so, more trips equates to more revenue, and more opportunity to expand our community of feral Muslims, insha Allah.

We have an idea.

We will continue to do all the dirty work you read about above. And you also read just how important it is to have help in the field. We all need someone around to watch our back.

We’re looking for a few digital nomads who crave adventure and would thrill to the prospect of getting gnarly with some occasional field work. Work on your time. Show us your initiative by getting wilderness first aid certified. Pitch us a trip idea.

We’ll work with you to make it happen, insha Allah. We’ll split any profits and make new friends in the process.

We provide the platform, guidance, and support. You provide some elbow grease. Participants invest with their fees, and, with God’s Help and Permission, we all grow this thing.

If you’re interested, please reach out through our Contact Page. We’re looking forward to hearing from you, insha Allah.

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