{"id":784,"date":"2019-10-28T09:39:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T09:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devourtours.com\/?p=784"},"modified":"2022-08-08T15:12:03","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T15:12:03","slug":"james-blick-growing-devour-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devourtours.com\/blog\/james-blick-growing-devour-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Lessons Cofounder James Blick Learned While Growing Devour Tours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In less than a week I\u2019m heading to Orlando, Florida for the Arival Conference. It\u2019s the largest conference in the world dedicated to the tours & activities industry.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And if you work in this business, it\u2019s a fantastic opportunity to be inspired by leading voices, catch up on the latest trends and, well, have a few glasses of wine with friends who run or work in other tour companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The conference is taking place at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center<\/a>, which, for a kid from New Zealand, looks out of this world. There appears to be a jungle in the lobby. I suggest you Google image it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, there\u2019s another reason I\u2019m going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conference organizer Douglas Quinby asked me to come and speak about the twists and turns of growing Devour Tours from a small food tour company in Madrid to a not-quite-so-small food tour company with tours across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing my presentation was a fascinating opportunity to look back over the last 7 years and think about the lessons that I (and my co-founding partners Lauren and Alejandro) have learned throughout this incredible journey of starting a company from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are five of those lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"James<\/figure>\n\n\n

Lesson 1: Core values are your most powerful tool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lots of companies have core values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see them on websites and hiring pages all the time. But it\u2019s so easy for core values to simply become something fluffy and feel-good that you roll out in interviews, but never use in the day to day of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago we surveyed everyone who works with Devour to figure out what everyone thought our core values were (because like it or not, you already have core values in your company!). It was a fascinating process, and the five we decided on were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Be curious; keep learning<\/li>
  2. Make the right choice<\/li>
  3. Go above and beyond<\/li>
  4. Live with passion and purpose<\/li>
  5. Get involved<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    And I\u2019ve learned over the last few years these core values\u2014if harnessed\u2014are such a powerful tool:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • They help you know who to hire\u2014all our interviews have questions that inquire about the candidate\u2019s curiosity.<\/li>
    • They help you figure out ways to compensate your team\u2014each team member has an amount of money that they can spend each year on professional development and learning.<\/li>
    • They help you celebrate\u2014we have Culture Awards every year at our annual Team Summit where we nominate each other to see who will win the award for each core value.<\/li>
    • They help you in a tough spot\u2014several times we\u2019ve debated what the \u201cright choice\u201d is in a difficult situation and let that guide our decision.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      So figure out your core values. Enshrine them. And find practical ways to use them on a daily basis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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