Here’s How Much Money I Made in My First Year
Chris Stephens spent several years as a data engineer, working in everything from municipal government to Silicon Valley startups. Like many in the industry, Stephens got burned out over the pandemic. However, Stephens had always dreamed of starting his own company to make money, and many friends and family told Stephens he would make a good tour guide.
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Stephens loved Boston and was “obsessed with maps — more than half of my wall decorations are some form of map, history, and interesting stories,” so he decided to give it a try and founded Boston Hidden Gems in July 2022. Here’s what his first year looked like.
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Launching a Unique Tour Company
Stephens spent several months doing research, reading books, poring over maps and trying to design unique tours.
“I didn’t want to be a standard historical tour that just shows the famous tourist traps of the area and recites the same 15 important dates from history. There are plenty of those available in Boston already. I wanted to do something new — I wanted to show off our hidden gems,” he said.
For example, “very few — outside of dentists! — know that Boston was home to the first successful demonstration of anesthesia, and there is a monument to its discovery in the Public Garden. No one besides our firemen are aware that Boston had the world’s first telegraph-based fire alarm system. Very few locals know the full story behind JM Curley, our four-time mayor and the infamous ‘Rascal King.’ These are the types of stories I wanted to tell,” Stephens explained.
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Turning a Passion Into Profit
It turns out that people wanted to hear those stories. The hardest part for Stephens was finding the right platform to sell his tours.
“I started a website, but it’s hard to get ranked quickly on Google, Yahoo, etc. I posted to Viator and TripAdvisor, but ran into the same issue. I did find some success on ToursByLocals, and got enough business through that to make the company self-sustaining, even if I certainly wasn’t making my Silicon Valley salary!”
By June 2023, Stephens’ first 12 months in business, he had made about $9,000. But business really picked up in the second half of 2023, and in the calendar year 2023, Stephens turned just over $26,000 in profit.
“The quietest months in Boston are December through March, and despite that, I have already seen $8,000 in profit in 2024 alone. I am even in the final stages of hiring my first outside guides to expand further!” Stephens said.
Tips for Aspiring Small-Business Owners
For other aspiring founders and owners, Stephens has a few tips:
1. Be prepared. “Not just the obvious industry, legal, financial, regulatory and other hurdles to overcome. I also mean be prepared for the fact that your business, for at least a year or two, is going to become your baby. It will take 60-100 hours of your time each week. It will stress you out, it will be difficult, and there will be times where you just want to quit and go back to the 9-5 grind. But, if you do it well, it does get better.”
2. Get help with the legal and accounting side of things if possible. “They are among the most complicated parts of running a business if you don’t have training — or even if you do! I have a degree in accounting and I still struggle with some of the details.”
3. Expect the unexpected. “Expect some things to go poorly that you thought would go well, and some things to go well that you didn’t even think about. We have struggled to get good returns on our direct advertising, but have gotten more business than we ever expected from Viator and TripAdvisor once we got reviews and rankings rolling in. I was out giving tours on 27 days in October last year — that’s more than a full-time job!”
4. Have fun with it! “Although the hours can be grueling, if you’re doing something you enjoy, there’s a lot of fun to be had. I have gotten to take groups on private summer boat rides around Boston Harbor, go to shows with school groups, received many a free lunch from groups that just wanted to keep talking, and been paid for all of it! It’s been a lot, but seeing where the business is now, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I Own a Small Business: Here’s How Much Money I Made in My First Year
