Notes from Chris

Episode 1088

Heath Porter has been a sommelier and a food and beverage professional for more than twenty-five years. It was his passion for food and wine that led to the birth of his then-hustle, now-full time work at Heathen Wine Tours.

What inspired his love of wine? Well, Heath grew up in a dry county in North Alabama, where alcohol was not allowed. From his late teen years onward, he moved around to work at wine bars and holiday resorts in Hawaii, West Virginia, and Miami.

Traveling, meeting and tasting with winemakers was simply part of his job… a part that Heath very much enjoyed. He acquired a great deal of experience—so much so that guests, who were impressed by his tastings and classes, began to ask about the possibility of tagging along on his next wine adventure.

Heath didn’t think much about it at first. But finally, one day he simply said he would book a group trip if they would give him a credit card number. To his surprise, his regulars did so. This wasn’t cheap: at around $2,000 per person, Heath booked a trip to wine country Santa Barbara, California for his party of ten.

With tremendous positive feedback from his guests—and some of them remarking that he should charge more than he did—he organized another trip to Italy. As the guests returned to request yet another trip, he found himself visiting Spain and France … and then Chile. All of this took place from 2014 to 2018, while he was still working full-time at his last wine bar.

His first thought was to plan trips to places where he knew the most winemakers and owners. The idea was to be able to bring his guests to cellars and vineyards where they could eat and drink like family. This obviously required some degree of familiarity and comfort with others – something which Heath had cultivated over many years in his career.

Soon, friends of friends were booking tours. Those that attended enjoyed the experience so much that for the first five years about 80% of Heath’s business was from repeat customers.

In 2018, he realized that he likely had enough trips booked to look at doing this full-time. While his first trip had made him just a couple of thousand dollars after expenses, he had viewed it mostly as a fun experience he did apart from his real job. Now, he looked at what it would take to make the tours more of a steady gig.

As with other luxury products and experiences, it wasn’t easy for Heath to price his products. He did so by making comparisons with similar tours and then making sure that he could offer better value—typically by offering more while charging less. This he says, is what has allowed his business to take off. In fact, a tour he organized to essentially serve as an advertisement ended up netting him over $10,000.

On average, Heath is able to make a 40% profit margin on most tours. At the end of each one, he raises a glass or two in celebration … and then he gets ready for the next trip.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Heathen Wine Tours: Want to go on your own wine tour? Learn more about Heath and his business at his website.

SEE ALSO:

• London Chocolate Tours Lead to Sweet Success: Banking on a universal love of chocolate, a former temp worker creates a unique side hustle leading guided tours that allow tourists to eat their way through London’s chocolate shops.
• Bucket List Becomes Swashbuckling Adventure Tour Company: A small-town Oregonian grows a travel blog into a multiple six-figure business.
• Food and Travel Writer Creates Food Tours in Marrakech, Earns $60k Annually: In the North African city of Marrakech, an American expat starts a project that she hopes will earn $200/month in spending money. It ends up earning more than $5,000 a month.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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