Jim Lutz is the Founder and President of Vaya Adventures, a company specializing in tailor-made travel experiences to destinations around the world. After starting his career as a lawyer, Jim transitioned into entrepreneurship, combining his passion for travel and deep knowledge of Latin America to build a thriving business. Since its founding in 2004, Vaya Adventures has expanded to offer custom itineraries across South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and beyond, focusing on creating meaningful and personalized journeys for travelers.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:07] Jim Lutz talks about his background and his younger years
- [8:39] What led Jim to leave his law career behind and pursue entrepreneurship in the travel industry
- [14:08] The story behind the founding of Vaya Adventures and its early challenges
- [19:00] Balancing the tension between customization and scalability
- [20:41] The profound impact of the pandemic on the travel industry and how Jim adapted
- [26:41] Strategies for mitigating risks in a volatile and unpredictable industry
- [28:01] Jim shares his expansion and future plans for Vaya Adventures
In this episode…
Building a business around your passion may sound like a dream, but the journey is often filled with challenges and unexpected detours. Is it possible to turn your passion into a thriving global enterprise while navigating obstacles like economic downturns and a pandemic?
According to Jim Lutz, a passionate traveler turned entrepreneur, success is possible, and it starts with a genuine connection to your vision. He explains that leveraging his own travel experiences and knowledge of Latin America helped him identify a niche and create personalized, high-quality trips that resonate with clients. By staying true to his passion while learning to adapt to market changes during uncertain times, he grew his business steadily. Jim emphasizes that building a thriving enterprise also requires surrounding yourself with the right team and remaining focused on the value you provide to customers.
In this episode, John Corcoran is joined by Jim Lutz, Founder and President of Vaya Adventures, to discuss his journey from practicing law to becoming a travel industry entrepreneur. Jim shares how he transformed his love for travel into a successful global business, the role adaptability played in overcoming challenges, and the strategies he used to expand into international markets.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- EO San Francisco
- EO Accelerator
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Jim Lutz on LinkedIn
- Vaya Adventures
- Death Row Records
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Quotable Moments
- “I realized at some point flying out of Rio de Janeiro, I’ve been down here enough, I could start a travel company.”
- “I spent one entire day with Snoop Dogg in a small courtroom related to a lawsuit brought by Suge Knight.”
- “You don’t have all the answers at your fingertips, but you can do the research and you can figure out most of it.”
- “Some of the things they did traveling will be some of the most meaningful things they ever did.”
- “You don’t know. And you live with that in this industry, I think, which is the nature of it.”
Action Steps
- Embrace diverse experiences: By traveling and exposing yourself to different cultures and environments, you can gain new perspectives that enhance your ability to lead with empathy and understanding.
- Develop resilience through change: Like Jim Lutz, who transitioned from law to entrepreneurship, embracing career shifts can teach valuable lessons in resilience and adaptability.
- Cultivate a growth mindset: Pursuing continuous learning and education enables leaders to stay ahead in their field and innovate.
- Build a strong network: Cultivating a robust network helps leaders overcome isolation by surrounding themselves with like-minded individuals who can offer guidance and new opportunities.
- Focus on team building: Hiring and developing a skilled team is crucial for scaling operations while maintaining quality.
Sponsor for this episode…
EO San Francisco
This episode is brought to you by EO San Francisco.
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 14,000+ influential business owners with 198 chapters in 61 countries.
If you are the founder, co-founder, owner, or controlling shareholder of a company generating over $1 million a year in revenues, and want to connect with other like-minded successful entrepreneurs, EO is for you.
The EO San Francisco chapter enables leading entrepreneurs in the Bay area to learn, grow, and achieve greater success.
The EOSF chapter was founded in 1991, and today we have over 100 members in industries ranging from marketing to agriculture to tech and professional services.
To learn how it works, or to come do a test drive come join us at www.eonetwork.org/sanfrancisco/.
This episode is also brought to you by my company, Pacific Crest Group.
Pacific Crest Group provides outsourced CFO, Controller, and bookkeeping services. You can learn more about us at https://www.pcg-services.com/
Rise25
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.
We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.
What do you need to start a podcast?
When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk.
The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate.
We make distribution easy.
We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.
Co-founders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, FreshBooks, and many more.
The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.
Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.
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Contact us now at support@rise25.com or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall.
Rise25 Co-founders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.