How many people in the climbing industry can say they got started climbing at an early age? Either by attending a birthday party, or getting sent on a camping trip to shape up bad behavior, or some other way that teens find themselves in the woods or at a climbing facility, so many climbers will tell you they started young. So will my amazing guest today, Chris Warner.
Chris Warner is one of the most prolific entrepreneurs in the outdoor active lifestyle markets. He’s the owner of Earth Treks, a collection of climbing gyms in North America, a sponsored athlete, an entrepreneur, a leadership educator and a kickass motivational speaker.
On this week’s Intrepid Entrepreneur Podcast, Chris is talking with me about how he, a “terrible kid” got into climbing at the age of 15, and how this led him to start his own business.
Chris was leading climbing trips when he got stuck in a snowstorm with a big client. When they ran out of books to read, Chris and his client started talking about the gym he dreamed of owning one day. By the end of the storm they had a preliminary business plan worked out on a piece of toilet paper. When they got back, Chris got to work.
Today, Earth Treks is preparing to open their 5th facility and has over 300 employees. Chris is talking with me about how a business so large can stay entrepreneurial, and his secret is surprising: It’s not about him! It’s about hiring employees who are passionate about the company’s core values, and about climbing.
Chris is telling me more about getting started in climbing, keeping employees motivated, taking the skills he learned climbing to the professional industries, and changes in the climbing industry in this episode. He’s truly a one of a kind, doing some amazing work.
Bravery in business Quote
“We took the idea that we could learn something about ourselves through adventure and we could apply it to other aspects of our lives.” -Chris Warner
(Click to Tweet)
Cliff-Notes
- Chris Warner, owner of Earth Treks, a collection of climbing gyms in NA. Chris is also sponsored athlete, an entrepreneur, and a leadership educator. He's a motivational speaker, here today to talk about being a multifaceted outdoor industry entrepreneur.
- Grew up in NJ right outside of NYC. Got sent his sophomore year of high school on a five day trip to the woods and loved it. Started to work for the same program when he as 17, then Outward Bound, which led him to start his own company.
- Helped start Outward Bound in Baltimore in 1986. A great experience working with kids, traveled to Asia in 1989, came back from expeditions fired up to start earth treks 1990.
- Started as an outdoor climbing school, talking people to South America, Denali, etc. Got stuck in a snowstorm with a developer client and ran out of books to read. Chris started telling him about the gym he wanted to own, and the client offered to help. Made projections for company on toilet paper w/sharpie. Got home an started Earth Treks.
- Leadership Education: taking the leadership learned at high altitudes back to the audiences
- Approached in the ‘90s by defense intelligence agencies to train spies to work outdoors with minimal equipment. After training realized they had taught leadership and team building skills to them also.
- Approached by Wharton Business School to train in leadership. Took to Kilimanjaro. No one had experience or a lot of training so they only way to be successful was by changing their behaviors. Now does the same thing in a conference center.
- Have to be great at being able to put the mission of the organization ahead of personal desires. In mountaineering a lot of times it's more important for people to get to the summit than for the team to get to the summit. And that generally results in death in mountaineering.
- Climbing partnerships based in trust and caring and passion for the sport.
- Just got land to build their 5th gym, in DC, will serve about a million customers this year, growing by 20% a year, 300 + employees
- In a company that big, it can’t be about personality because he just doesn’t have time to know everyone. It’s about the company, and employees are passionate about core values
- Climbing gyms on the rise b/c industry is moving indoors (from outdoor climbs).
“We're in the opportunity business, not the strategy business.” -Chris Warner
(Click to Tweet)
Resources
Earth Treks: EarthTreksClimbing.com
Speaking Website: http://ChrisBWarner.com/
Book: High Altitude Leadership: http://HighAltitudeLeadership.com/