Joe Reynolds had completed adventure travels in over 40 countries before deciding to turn his love for outdoor exploration into a full-time job. To do this, Joe Reynolds launched an unprecedented event called the Great Urban Race, which cost just $5,000 to start. The Great Urban Race is an urban adventure race where competing teams complete a series of mental and physical challenges based on various clues, all while seeing their city in a whole new light.
Over the past five years, Reynolds has worked closely with partner Ryan Kunkel to successfully grow the initial investment in Red Frog Events. Headquartered in Chicago, Red Frog Events employs 60 full-time staff and owns three distinctive extreme sports events, along with a loyal fan base.
The Warrior Dash is the company’s most popular event—a 5-kilometer obstacle course featuring barriers such as log-filled ponds, rock walls, flame tunnels, and mud pits. In 2011, it was held in 35 U.S. cities with 600,000 participants. This year, the company is taking the event to Ireland and the UK for its second international competition. In 2007, the event generated $50,000 in revenue, and it is projected to reach $85 million in 2012.
Reynolds said, “In the past four and a half years, we’ve had a very successful start, but we’re even more excited about what’s to come. When you’re passionate about what you do, you can uncover many amazing opportunities.”
Prior to this, Reynolds ran a house painting business, but he admits he didn’t know how to compete in the market. What he did know was that he loved participating in competitive and fun activities and wanted to share that passion with the public. Reynolds is dedicating his hard work and persistence to the career he loves.
If you want to follow in Reynolds’ footsteps and turn your passion into a career, you can start with these six tips.
1. Don’t Rely Solely on Passion
While passion is a great starting point for a business, it’s not enough to sustain a company in the long run. Before starting a venture, examine reality and ensure you have other essential elements for success, such as the willingness to work hard and a market for your company’s services or products.
John Torrens, a entrepreneurship professor at Syracuse University who has founded multiple companies, believes that “sometimes passion can blind entrepreneurs to potential flaws in their ideas. Any sustainable, successful business must address a problem for a specific customer segment in a way that is clearly better than alternatives. Understand potential customer feedback as thoroughly as possible. No matter how great an entrepreneur’s idea is, market demand still needs to be considered.”
Doug White, an entrepreneurship consultant and co-author of the book Let Go to Grow: Why Some Businesses Thrive and Others Fail to Reach Their Potential, believes that a lack of passion can lead to business failure. White advises aspiring entrepreneurs looking to turn hobbies into careers to keep the following in mind:
Choose a field you’re good at. “If the main work of your business aligns with your interests, that’s great,” says White. “But we’ve seen many people buy franchises or start businesses only to discover they don’t enjoy or excel at the core tasks.”
Pay attention to details. Running a successful business requires handling plenty of daily tasks—ordering inventory, paying bills, invoicing, accounting, sweeping floors, marketing, and selling products. “You need a plan to get these things done,” White explains. “If you have a passion or skill for these tasks, you can do them yourself. If your cash flow allows, you can outsource them or bring in partners to handle parts of the work.”
Delegate responsibilities. As the business grows, entrepreneurs must decide: either delegate core tasks to others or hand off management operations so they can stay focused on the main business.
2. Hire Passionate Employees
Most new employees at Red Frog Events are hired through the company’s internship program, with nearly 150 applicants for each internship. “If you make it through our application process and internship, we know you’re passionate about the work, the company, and life,” Reynolds says.
When employees and entrepreneurs share the same enthusiasm for the business, it contributes to the company’s success. For example, during the 2010 Warrior Dash Louisiana, a tornado destroyed all the event setups. “We had to pause the event—it was chaos,” Kunkel recalls. But the storm didn’t stop the race. Though Reynolds and Kunkel weren’t in Louisiana, the team managing the event stayed up all night repairing the site, resetting obstacles, allowing unfinished racers to complete the course the next day.
By hiring employees who share the entrepreneur’s passion, the business owner can delegate tasks as the company grows without having to do everything themselves.
3. Share Your Hobby Passion
Katie Weber says if you’re interested in an activity, chances are others are too—and may want to learn more. Sharing your knowledge could be a great way to start a business. In 2001, Katie Weber quit her job to turn her passion for feng shui into a consulting career. She began with a newsletter called Red Lotus Letter: Feng Shui for Wealth, which helped establish her presence in the field.
Weber said, “People forwarded my emails, which brought me new subscribers. At parties, I offered free content to anyone I met.” Her e-newsletter had just 22 subscribers when it launched in September 2001, but by last year it had over 15,000 subscribers and earned her $200,000.
4. Maintain Entrepreneurial Passion
Once a business gets going, entrepreneurs can get caught up in daily operations, and the original passion may fade. Alan Hall, founder of DooBizz, which provides free online resources for entrepreneurs, explains: “Entrepreneurs should engage in the aspects of their business they enjoy most to maintain their passion. Spending too much time on repetitive tasks that could be delegated will eventually wear down that passion. From the start, remember what you love most—whether it’s product design, development, or acquiring new customers—and consciously work on those tasks. Otherwise, your job becomes a chore and may kill your original passion.”
Reynolds and Kunkel say they continue to participate in races to keep their love for running and entertainment alive. The passion that started the company also helps entrepreneurs relieve work stress. Reynolds and Kunkel let employees develop their own solutions rather than micromanaging every detail. The company holds three all-staff events each year, encouraging employees to list their “bottlenecks” or issues that prevent them from performing at their best. After these events, Reynolds and Kunkel made 40 changes based on the feedback, such as revising customer service policies and providing their own printers for employee use.
5. Increase Work Enjoyment
Syracuse University’s Torrens believes that while people who start businesses based on their passions naturally find enjoyment, maintaining that passion requires effort. He says, “Companies led by truly passionate entrepreneurs are vastly different from those that use passion and fun as marketing or recruitment gimmicks. Truly passionate companies develop all their traits—people, policies, brand, and community relationships—out of that passion. You can’t fake enthusiasm for a hobby, but you can create an environment that fosters it. Entrepreneurs need to focus on their company’s mission and stay on course.”
At Red Frog Events, Reynolds and Kunkel strive to foster a positive company culture. Perks include unlimited vacation; full medical, vision, health, and dental insurance; free food and drinks (including beer) on tap; and a camp-themed office with treehouses, tents, and hammocks.
Reynolds said, “Three times a year, we suddenly decide to close the office after lunch and take employees on field trips. We play broom ball or go boating on Lake Michigan. Taking a break from work now and then helps us bond with employees and truly enjoy our shared passion—that’s really important.”
Besides keeping work fun for employees, it’s even more crucial to be as upbeat a boss as possible. Reynolds and Kunkel get excited about new ideas and product launches, and they’re happy to listen to innovative suggestions from staff. The company holds three internal business plan competitions each year. “Through these, we’ve gotten tons of new ideas for future offerings, and it’s fun for employees too—because their reward is a month of free lunch,” Kunkel says.
6. Breaking Through Original Passion
When starting a business based on personal interests, it’s easy to assume that the enterprise must always stay aligned with the founder’s original path. But successful entrepreneurs understand that change or innovation can be more beneficial for the business, and that founders can achieve their original goals in other ways.
Reynolds founded Red Frog Events because he wanted to combine his passion for adventure travel with running. But over the past five years, Reynolds and Quincel have realized they’re more passionate about planning entertainment events, not just running races. This year, they plan to enter the music festival industry, starting with the “Firefly Music Festival,” and hope to scale it to become a leader in the field. Quincel said, “Every decision we make isn’t for this week or next week or next year, but for 20 years from now. Building a sustainable company requires constant innovation and growth.”
Reynolds and Quincel have achieved a very successful start to their venture, and they say they’re even more excited about what lies ahead. Reynolds’ team is always opening up new lines of thinking and seeing many development opportunities across different fields: “Entrepreneurs must break through the original model and extend and develop their thinking and imagination.”
