Outdoor Adventure Business

Outdoor Adventure Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 10th, 2024

Step outside the daily grind and dive into the world of adventure with your own outdoor adventure business. This isn’t about selling products online or managing inventory. It’s about offering memorable experiences like guided hikes, rock climbing, and kayaking trips.

You'll need to scout and secure locations, attain necessary permits, and ensure all safety measures are in place. Your role will also involve marketing your services through social media and building a network of adventure enthusiasts. Word-of-mouth will be crucial, so delivering top-notch service is imperative.

From the initial trek planning to managing group dynamics on the trail, the work is hands-on and fulfilling. For those who love nature and seek to turn that passion into a profession, an outdoor adventure business offers not just financial rewards but the satisfaction of creating unforgettable experiences for others. Here, your office is the great outdoors.

In this list, you'll find real-world outdoor adventure business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a outdoor adventure business that makes money.

1. O2 Treehouse ($762K/year)

Dustin Feider, the founder of O2 Treehouse, came up with the idea when he built a geodesic sphere in a treetop for his senior capstone project in college. This unique design garnered attention and led him to realize the potential in the treehouse building industry. Today, O2 Treehouse is a well-known company with a two-year backlog of projects and has been featured in over 85 publications.

How much money it makes: $762K/year
How much did it cost to start: $12K
How many people on the team: 8

How I Started A $63K/Month Custom Built Treehouse Business And Got Featured In Over 85 Publications

Founder, Dustin Feider, shares how he started O2 Treehouse Commercial, a custom-built treehouse business generating $63K/month, which has been featured in over 85 publications and has a two-year backlog of projects waiting, along with the launch of Treewalkers, a treehouse hospitality franchise seeking to reconnect people with nature on a larger scale through a crowdfunding equity campaign via StartEngine.

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2. Stephan & Adriana ($168K/year)

Stephan and Adriana, former professional ice skaters, discovered a passion for photography during their time touring the world. When Stephan missed his deadline to apply for college, he decided to give photography a chance, and the couple started shooting houses, landscapes, and weddings. The pandemic unexpectedly revealed a high demand for smaller, outdoorsy weddings, propelling their business to new heights as they focused on elopements and intimate weddings in breathtaking locations like Yosemite National Park. Their business now brings in an average of 12-18k per month, allowing them to spend quality time with their families in both California and Brazil.

How much money it makes: $168K/year
How much did it cost to start: $30K
How many people on the team: 2

This Couple Left Their Careers & Built A $168K/Year Business

How two ice-skating world travelers built a wedding photography business with a focus on intimate, outdoor weddings, working mainly in Yosemite National Park, where they managed to attract clients almost solely through content marketing and SEO, bringing in an average of 12-18k per month.

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3. Silent Pursuit ($24K/year)

Cody, a 24-year-old entrepreneur and avid hunter, developed the idea for Silent Pursuit, his hunting moccasin business, after a disappointing hunting experience where his worn-out socks jeopardized his stalk. Unsatisfied with the existing products on the market, Cody spent 9 months designing, prototyping, and manufacturing his own hunting moccasins, which are both affordable and effective in reducing noise. With a successful launch and plans to expand into apparel and accessories, Cody's dream of making Silent Pursuit a household name in the hunting industry is well on its way to becoming a reality.

How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $14K
How many people on the team: 0

How I Created A $2K/Month Hunting Moccasins Brand

Silent Pursuit is a hunting industry startup that sells deer stalking/hunting moccasins designed to reduce noise and increase comfort while hunting, with a successful launch that brought in around $2k per month, and plans to expand their product line and improve online sales with efficient marketing on Facebook and Google.

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4. Rainier Watch ($23.8K/year)

David, a full-time Front End Developer, came up with the idea for his business, Rainier Watch, when he realized there was no online platform to track the visibility of Mount Rainier, a beloved mountain in the Greater Seattle area. He started a Twitter account to post daily updates on the mountain's visibility, which gained a following. Eventually, he decided to turn it into a business by selling stickers and expanding the product line to include shirts, hats, and more.

How much money it makes: $23.8K/year
How much did it cost to start: $300
How many people on the team: 0

How I Turned A Fun Twitter Account Into A $2K/Month Ecommerce Side Hustle

Rainier Watch is an outdoor-inspired apparel brand that grew from selling stickers to generating several thousand dollars in sales each month through its custom Woocommerce website, as a community-driven business for quality goods inspired by mountains, donating to organizations protecting and supporting the National Parks upon purchase.

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Read by 7,741 founders