RamblingBiz Opp Mini-Blueprint: Walking-Related Business Opportunities

If you’re looking for a part time biz opp. that’s different, serves a massive market and at the same time will keep you fit then take a look at the potential for biz opps in the booming walking ‘industry’.

You might not realise it, but walking is an absolutely massive hobby. According to the Ramblers Charity, 9.1 million people in England alone do some kind of regular ‘recreational’ walking. As a demand to exploit that offers fantastic potential, yet it’s an area that’s not already over-served by existing businesses.

So let’s have a look at the different ways in which you could exploit this area:

Organised rambling and hiking. Do a bit of searching and you’ll find there’s quite a cottage industry springing up here. Lots of people like to go rambling/hiking but like to have their route and everything else laid on for them.

Your rambles/hikes could last for a full day or even several days. As well as planning a route make your package really comprehensive and professional by including a guide, accommodation en route, meals, entry fees, luggage forwarding and transport back to the starting point at the end of the walk.

There are a few walking magazines and websites you could use for advertising. Like Walk at www.walkmag.co.uk and Country Walking at www.livefortheoutdoors.com.

This is an opportunity you can run at home or even abroad. Organised walking packages are often priced in the region of £200 to £1,000 for a few days walking. So there could be a lot more money in this than you might think.

Organised guided tours. This could be ideal if you like history and culture, but are not quite so keen on walking that far. Many cities – London, Edinburgh, York etc. – already offer guided walking talks. So how about translating this idea to your local city or town. It would be ideal if your location attracts lots of tourists or visitors and especially in the summer. But at say £5 to £12 per customer you don’t actually need many customers to make a profit on each walk – especially as they cost virtually nothing to organise and run.

To make your guided tours more interesting choose some themes for your walk or walks. Ghost tours are very popular, especially in the autumn. Some other ideas are to base your tours around a famous local resident, industrial history, literature or local legends for example.

Ask local tourist offices, hotels and shops to promote your walks.

Publish walking guides. Keen walkers are always looking for interesting new walking routes. And now self-publishing is easy and inexpensive almost anyone can get involved with publishing guides to their favourite walks.

First come up with a format. I’d suggest you come up with a number of walks of different lengths in a particular area. This way your book will appeal to walkers of different abilities and enjoy a wider market – a selection from 2 miles to 15 miles is probably best. Next compile your book. The good thing here is that it’s not writing as such so you don’t need to be a writer. Clear, accurate directions will do. You can also illustrate your book with hand drawn sketch maps and your own photos.

Now to publishing. You can do a paper guide, but why not go ebook? Amazon Kindle publishing would be perfect for this kind of book. Or you could also do an audio book – sell it as an MP3 download so walkers can listen as they walk.

Selling walking products and supplies. This is a really simple way of exploiting this opportunity …. especially in the peak walking seasons in spring and summer. You don’t need to like walking, or even leave home. It would be great if you just want to sell online – ideal for eBay for example. Or you could run a stall or attend a fair in popular walking locations.

Here are just a few ideas for things to sell: Footwear. Clothing. Rucksacks. Survival and safety gear. Navigation equipment, including GPS. And related product areas like camping equipment, rock climbing/mountaineering or caving. Consider the opportunities in used goods as well as new.

Selling used maps and books. Specialised walking maps and books are pretty expensive new. Yet look at any charity shop or jumble sale and you’ll find they’re often sold off for a pound or two, or even pence in some cases.

This is the interesting thing however. Unlike road maps walking maps and books just don’t go out of date that quickly …. it’s rare for a new footpath to be built for example. So maps and books you can source for next to nothing can still have good value if sold in the right places.

This would be ideal if you want to sell on Amazon as well as eBay.