Eco-Adventures 306 Collective is a joint venture between Cypress Hills Eco-Adventures Ltd. and Elk Ridge Eco-Adventures Ltd.. We provide outdoor adventures activities with a focus on sustainable and eco-friendly operations. We are also seen as a tourism operation that spends time thinking about the little details that make a big difference.
When it comes to running a business of any size, few can deny that location is critical to survival. This new monthly series highlights some of the advantages and disadvantages of operating in remote or rural communities through interviews with small businesses across the country.
Jori Kirk is the president, founder and CEO of Eco-Adventures 306 Collective based in rural Saskatchewan. The company is also a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Canada's largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.
1. Briefly describe your business, including when it was founded, what it does, where you operate and what's the population?
Eco-Adventures 306 Collective is a joint venture between Cypress Hills Eco-Adventures Ltd. and Elk Ridge Eco-Adventures Ltd.. We provide outdoor adventures activities with a focus on sustainable and eco-friendly operations. We are also seen as a tourism operation that spends time thinking about the little details that make a big difference.
We are most known for our two-hour long, guided zip line canopy tours through the lodgepole pines of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. However, we have recently expanded our operations by adding a location to the boreal forest located at Elk Ridge Resort near Waskesiu Lake and Prince Albert National Park.
Our tours are designed to blend in with their surroundings and have put smiles on the faces of thrill seekers and nature lovers. What really brings them to life is our diverse group of zip line guides who put their hearts and souls into delivering memorable experiences to ensure you get the most out of your time with us.
2. How many employees do you have?
For the past few years, I have maintained the business on my own during the months of November through April. Our season gets underway in May and runs until October. In 2015, we will have 35 employees, including myself, across both locations.
3. Location is obviously important when it comes to running a business: What challenges do you face operating in a small town or rural community?
There are a couple challenges that come to mind. First of all, having product shipped to the site in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park is nearly impossible as we do not even have a street address. Purolator is the only company that will deliver to our site and only on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer. Fedex and UPS do not even deliver to the area, which makes it very difficult, considering 95 per cent of our gear orders are shipped from the United States, and our suppliers all use those shipping companies. Secondly, the daily business activities, like making deposits and getting the mail, require a 60-kilometre round trip commute.
4. What strategies do you use to overcome these obstacles?
Planning ahead is the only thing you can do. We've luckily had another business owner in Maple Creek receive shipments for us since we do not have a shipping address at our actual site. When a deadline to ship comes up, we may have to ship the package a week to five days prior to when we normally would have to in an urban setting. Lastly, to deal with the daily business activities, we try to dedicate one morning per week when we run in to town and sort everything out, as driving back and forth daily would not be economical or feasible all the time as it takes a manager away from the site.
5. Alternately, what are some of the benefits of operating in a rural or remote location?
There are two benefits of operating in the rural setting that come to mind. One is that our experiences and activities, particularly the zip line canopy tours, are designed to be in a forested setting and by being located there, it adds that element of authenticity to our adventures. This means that, in Saskatchewan, we have to get off the beaten path (aka the Trans-Canada Highway) and play in the lodgepole pine forest in the Cypress Hills and the boreal forest near Prince Albert National Park.
The second benefit is that there is less competition in a way. In our case there may be five to 10 other tourism businesses vying for visitors and we do not have to compete with big-budget activities that are present in the urban centers. This does not mean that we compromise on the quality of our experience, but rather people tend to give us a chance to wow them more often than they might in an urban center surrounded by hundreds of options.
6. What role – if any – does the government play in addressing your specific business pain points?
The government doesn't play much of a part at all in addressing our business pain points, aside from Saskatchewan Parks included us in their promotional material from time to time. The local park employees do a good job of promoting us and directing visitors to our location during the summer months which helps.
7. Given that hiring is often difficult in smaller communities, do you have a succession plan in place or do you hope to sell your business when you retire?
We have been surprisingly fortunate when it comes to attracting university students to our locations to work for the summer. It is a massive task as we have a large staff that needs to be hired and trained each year.
At the moment, I am completely involved in the operation and I do not see that changing for a number of years. I'm only 33 years old, so there is plenty of time to consider succession plans or avenues to exit. With that said, I would really like to sell the business one day but only after I have built it up to the point where it would be a profitable venture for the next person who takes it on. Ensuring that the areas in which I operate are sustainable is very important to me, so I do not wish to set the next potential owner up for failure, that's for sure.
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