Entrepreneur Friday: Adventure Life
WHO: Brian Morgan
WHAT: Adventure Life
WHERE: Missoula, Montana
WHEN: 1999
HOW: A Montana native, Brian Morgan knew that his full-time job at a software company wasn’t the career path he had in mind. “It was just a filler so I could eat and pay rent,” he says. His real passion stemmed from a 10-month trip he’d taken to South America before starting his day job. “After getting my Masters in Economics, I moved to Ecuador for eight months,” says Morgan, “and traveled around Bolivia and Peru for another two.” Upon his return to the U.S., he started looking for work – and while he waited for interview calls, he started to dream up a business.
“I wanted to find a way to live here, and I wanted to find an interesting job,” says Morgan – but he also wanted to return to Ecuador. “I thought that maybe I could put a group of people together and they’d help me pay my way back to Ecuador in exchange for me showing them around.” Never having dreamed of launching his own business, he started small by printing some tri-fold brochures and putting them in local shops. The result? “Not a single person called me!” he says. However, he decided to persevere – investing about $5,000, he 
purchased a computer and cell phone, set up a home office, and started researching his options.
The turning point came slowly. “I told myself I’d invest everything I had for three years,” says Morgan, “and that when I reached that point, I’d pause to see if it was something I wanted to keep up.” Though he struggled for the first two years – averaging only 90 passengers annually –he turned a profit in the third, and after studying the books, decided to continue with the business.
Today, Adventure Life hosts nearly 2,000 travelers each year. Customers can choose between custom tours in South and Central America, as well as Antarctica, and worldwide expedition cruises everywhere from Africa to the Mediterranean. On average, the tours last 
about 9 days, and cost approximately $3,500 per person. Future plans include launching tours within the U.S., including Rocky Mountain excursions, as well as tours of Adventure Life’s birthplace – Montana.
HIS ADVICE: “Focus,” says Morgan. “Learn every aspect of your business from emptying the garbage to bookkeeping to how to hire and motivate every person in your organization. Once you’ve got all these details down, you can start to let go, step back and continue growing the business while rewarding responsibility of your top employees.”
