Enlightening The Five Senses Through Small Group Travel with Kaylee Boyle: An EOFire Classic from 2021

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Marketing Against the Grain. Today, we're pulling a timeless EO Fire episode from the archives, so the giveaway may not be active. And we'll be breaking down and lightening the five senses through small group travel. To drop these value bombs, I brought Kaylee Boyle into EO Fire Studios. Kaylee is the founder of Gusto Mexico, a travel company that focuses on lighting up the senses through different cultural activities and captivating Pueblos in Mexico.

0:38And today for our nation, we will talk about making sure you always show up, how you have to be passionate about what you're doing. You have to have the drive to keep on going and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Kaylee and our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

1:12Kaylee, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something interesting about yourself that most people don't know. Hello, Fire Nation. And hello, John. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast today. I would have to say that one thing interesting about myself that not many people know, is that I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the, I know, and if I may brag for a second, it is the highest freestanding mountain in the world. And most people, if they know me, or if they look at my business, they think, oh, this girl is a total beach girl. All she does is sit on the beach and relax and has to be by the ocean.

1:53So not only was a huge thing that I overcame and was a huge challenge for me, but that's something that pretty much 1 % of people know about me. Yeah, that's a massive, massive accomplishment for a lot of reasons. I mean, I can tell you, having gone to the base camp of Annapurna myself in the Himalayas, which isn't even to the level that Kilimanjaro is, that was crazy enough. We spent the night at about 14 ,900 feet, which is high, but it's not Kilimanjaro high because we were at the base camp. And I've actually, I just finished a book by this entrepreneur called Bannantine. He's one of the Dragon Den guys from over in England.

2:32Great entrepreneur. And he actually really went over him hiking Kilimanjaro and he almost didn't make it. I mean, he was really having a brutal time and, you know, to kind of close this conversation down, not on two salt river notes, but just the realities. You know, I lost a close friend of mine back in 2015. He was on Kilimanjaro, just a loose rock, just at the wrong time, wrong place. And those kinds of things can happen. So definitely a big accomplishment. Absolutely. And, you know, I just want to say fire nation getting out and having just these kind of real world experiences. I mean, I look back to my 12 day Himalayan trek all the time and I'm like, that was such an amazing experience.

3:13And, you know, in the moment, let's be honest, I was cold and I was wet at times and I was this and having L2 sickness. But what do we remember, Kaylee, we remember the good times. Absolutely. That's where I discovered cosmic energy in myself. I don't remember my hands being frostbitten at the time. So I completely agree. I love it. And that's kind of what our focus is going to be on today because Fire Nation, you work hard. You work really, really hard and you're going to build a business, hopefully, that allows you to start taking vacations and then start taking longer vacations. And Kate and myself, we are absolutely committed every year to take a minimum 75 day straight trip.

3:51And we've done that now for three years in a row and we've loved it. 75 days at a minimum, one actually year we did a 90 day trek, which was amazing. And it was just a lot of fun. But the thing is, is you need Fire Nation to not just go sit on a beach. Like I mentioned in the intro, you need to experience it and experience life. And that's why we're going to be talking about enlightening the five senses through small group travel. And there's no one better to talk about this with than Kaylee because she is the founder of Gusto Mexico. So talk to us about this, Kaylee. What is Gusto Mexico? So Gusto Mexico is small group experiential travel.

4:31And as you mentioned, we do like to focus on highlighting the five senses. This is because a lot of people, even throughout their daily lives, they go through the motions and they have their routine. And it's hard for people to break through their routine or to try something new or to go to a new place. And so me offering these small group trips and the small group travel really allows people to break out of their comfort zone. So allowing them to break out of their comfort zone, they're with people that are like minded, people that are trying something new, people that are wanting to experience something that they haven't experienced before.

5:08And by enlightening the five senses through this, This means that we are tasting local cuisine. We're visiting inspiring destinations. We're listening to fun and lively rhythms of music. We're feeling complete relaxation and rejuvenation. We're getting cultural and self-exploration. So it really allows people to kind of slow down and appreciate their surroundings, appreciate where they're traveling to, and really become mindful of where they are at that time. Well, let's talk about your background, because you didn't just wake up suddenly one day and was like, I am going to create this amazing company that's going to incorporate all these senses and experiences.

5:48So what is your background a little bit and kind of lead us up into the foundation and creation of Gusto? Luckily for me, my adventures in Mexico began only at a few weeks old. My dad had a restaurant down in Cabo San Lucas. So I was pretty much spending the majority of my time down in Mexico with my mom, playing on the beaches, being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the surf and the melodies of the mariachi bands. And then once the restaurant was sold was when I moved actually to Colorado full time. So since that time, kind of through my work experiences, through a lot of volunteering, through some play and travel, like you said, I've really tried to chase every opportunity to learn about people and places around the world.

6:33I've been so fortunate to have traveled to all 50 US states, over 60 countries, all seven continents. And so those experiences have really allowed me to play to my adventurous spirit and to tie in everything that I've done on my professional side as well. So on the professional side, I've earned a master's degree in hospitality and tourism management. And I've worked for a ton of prominent California luxury resorts, providing five-star services to people. And then I've also lived in various Latin American countries and worked for tourism down in those countries. So I feel like I've kind of come full circle from my childhood in Mexico to operating a business that introduces others to the pleasures of Mexico, which has now become my second home.

7:28So I've kind of utilized both my personal and my professional experiences to create these unique getaway packages to some of Mexico's most charming spots. We have a lot to talk about, but I just got to ask before we move on. I mean, you've traveled the world, like you said. I mean, you've lived in multiple Latino countries, Central and South America. Why Mexico? Why did you choose Mexico to build this business? I think for me, Mexico is a country with such abundant natural beauty and rich cultural offerings. And it's really a wonderland for the senses. So for me, I feel like my purpose and my passion and my pleasure is sharing everything that I have experienced in Mexico from just a few weeks old up until right now at 30 years old.

8:14But that is my passion and my purpose is to share it with people that are like me. So for me, Mexico is a really special place in my heart. Now, the question has to be, do you speak Espanol? Yes, yes. I am completely fluent in both English and Spanish languages, but it was not without a lot of difficulty. Let me tell you. Oh my gosh. Now, for somebody, me, who's lived in Puerto Rico now for four years and still is not fluent, what's your number one recommendation for me? How do I actually get to a place where I can at least have decent conversations on a regular basis? You know, one thing that I still do to this day, and this is after years and years and years of speaking Spanish, is I still watch Netflix with Spanish subtitles.

8:59So it doesn't matter if I'm watching Narcos, that's automatically in Spanish, or if I'm watching reruns of Friends. I always have Spanish subtitles on because if it's in Spanish, then I'm connecting what they're saying with the words that are down in the subtitles. And if it's in English, I feel like I'm learning. I learn new words. I swear, John, every single day by doing that. That's fantastic because I do have something I have to admit to is back in 2008, after I was done with my tour of duty as an army officer, I went down to Guatemala for four months. And I went down there because I just wanted to get away and have fun.

9:37And I went to this amazing place called Lago de Atalan, which is right up in the mountains of Guatemala in this town called Panajachel. And I went there to take four hours every single day of one-on-one Spanish. And guess what? By the end of those four months, my father came to visit. I was fluent. Like I could speak the language. I could talk the talk. I could walk the walk because I was fully immersed. The family that I lived with only spoke Spanish. it was immersion by fire 100%. But guess what? A year later, two years later, I wasn't using it at all and you lose it. So you have to keep those things up.

10:11So I love that you kind of brought that up. That was something I really wish I had done, which, hey, let's just flip on the closed captioning and let's put on some Spanish subtitles and let's kind of keep that learning going. Now, let's get real about some specific examples because I want Fire Nation to be able to picture what a Gusto Mexico experience looks like. Break it down for us. With Gusto Mexico, my experiences are all inclusive. So that means that the package price that they're paying, they get a number of different things included in it. So that includes the accommodation, all of the transportation, normally a welcome and a farewell dinner, and then a number of different activities.

10:50and each day each activity kind of brings a sense into awareness so I'll just give an example of my Oaxaca tour which Oaxaca is known as the culinary capital of Mexico so not only as I mentioned is the accommodation and the transportation included we do a full immersion cooking class with a famous Oaxacan chef his name is Chef Oscar Carrizosa so we do a full market tour with him as well as a full-blown cooking classes. It's a full-day experience. We also visit Monte Arran, which is where a lot of historical ruins are located. We will visit a mezcal farm tour. A lot of people have maybe either heard of mezcal or they don't know exactly what it is, or they consider it the cousin to tequila that they would rather not even touch.

11:40So we'll go on a mezcal farm tour, learn about the process of mezcal, how it's made, what it tastes like, what it goes with. We also have an optional day trip to a place called Hervé al Agua. This is Spanish for the water boil. So it's kind of this set of natural rock formations that resemble cascades of water. Absolutely beautiful. And with the high mineral content, these waters are actually thought to have healing qualities. so each one of those experiences are included in your gusto mexico package so that would just be kind of a little example of like i said of my oaxaca tour and i do try to keep my groups smaller so i try to aim for 12 to 15 people and this is because i mean that's a number that i myself feel comfortable with handling so that's that but then it also allows for more opportunities So when you have a smaller group, you can do things like having a one-on-one cooking class with the famous Oaxacan chef or taking this optional day trip or having a completely private tour of this mezcal farm.

12:46But it also allows people to open up and feel more comfortable. I want people to feel comfortable traveling by themselves to my Gusto Mexico experiences, traveling in couples, traveling mother, daughter, father, son, groups of friends, because everyone that comes all shares the same mentality that they want to get out of their comfort zone. They want to experience something new. They want to meet people that are similar to them. So that's a little bit of a look as to what the experiences entail. So Fire Nation, you can start to see exactly how you're incorporating all these different senses into the experiences, but we're really going to be diving into that deeper as well as I'm going to have Kaylee break down her biggest fear of being an entrepreneur as well as her biggest thrill.

13:31We're going to talk about the good stuff too, as well as the steps that she took to actually get this off the ground, because you're going to be able to pull a lot of things, Fire Nation, out of what Kaylee did right and wrong to help you launch your business. And then of course, how do we measure success? She'll be talking about that too. And so much more when we get back from thanking those sponsors. We all want the same things for our business, more leads, faster sales, and better insights so we can serve our customers at the highest level. One thing we all don't want to waste time and money trying to figure these things out.

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14:31HubSpot has 1 ,300 plus integrations that you can add for customization like you've never seen before. HubSpot CRM's powerful tools will help marketers wow prospects. Sales teams lock in deals and service teams improve response times and overall service. Get started for free at HubSpot.com. That's HubSpot.com. So Kaylee, we're back. And before the break, I was teasing a little bit about diving deeper into one of these experiences so that you can kind of share with us the different senses that you do incorporate into this. And again, you've kind of mentioned a little bit this and that, but let's really dive into the full five senses.

15:08What does that look like? So the full five senses, you have taste. So as As I mentioned, we will be tasting local cuisine. Each specific destination in Mexico that I have chosen features different foods that come from that area or that come from that specific region. So taste, we'll be doing a lot of times a tasting or a cooking class and things like that. Also tasting tequila or mezcal. Tequila! Yeah, sometimes things get a little bit out of control, but, you know, that's fine. Hey, Fire Nation, whatever they say, never eat the worm. Don't eat the worm. Sometimes the worm goes good with mezcal, though.

15:51I have to admit. You heard it from Kaylee first, Fire Nation. You heard it from her first. We also have smell. So, for example, one of my destinations is actually in the Valle de Guadalupe, which is just, luckily for those of us that live in California part of the are just two hours south of the border. So it's where 85 % of Mexican wines are produced. So a smell aspect, for example, would be going to different wineries and seeing what the different aspects are in the Mexican wines, which is considered a new world wine versus old world wines. We also have sight. So with vision, it's very important to be not only aware of our surroundings, but maybe seeing something new, trying a new experience, seeing a cultural dance, seeing how someone dances salsa for the first time.

16:45You also have touch. Touch can be, for example, when we go to Tulum, we go and visit the famous Mayan ruins. An optional day trip would be to go over to Coba. And this is really allowing you to touch history. So you're touching something that hasn't been messed with in hundreds of thousands of years. And then finally, you have hearing. So hearing could be hearing the ocean waves crash. Not all of my experiences are on the beach, but some of them are. Some of them offer surf lessons for people that are more of the active travelers. So hearing the sounds of waves crashing in the ocean. So even though you may think, oh my gosh, you're touching history that's kind of out there, but that's the fun of it, right?

17:35So we're really exploring these different places and we're putting our imagination into things. We're kind of being playful with this idea of enlightening the five senses because it brings a different aspect into people's traveling and it brings more mindfulness into it. Fire Nation, what I love about this entire conversation that Kaylee and I are having is that she executed on exactly what I preach day in and day out on Entrepreneurs on Fire. Now, what does she have? She has passion. She has excitement. She has curiosity for travel, for Mexico, for experiences, for all this stuff. But guess what?

18:08She also has experience and knowledge and skills in these areas as well. I mean, she grew up there. She's traveled a lot. She's experienced all of these things. She married those together and she's created this business, Gusto Travels. Now she is living and breathing her passion, her joy, her expertise, her skills, her knowledge. But let's be frank, Kaylee, there's still fear. There's thrills, but there's still these anxiety, stressful moments. So talk about both. Give us your biggest fear that you have being an entrepreneur as well as your biggest thrill. My biggest fear, as lame for people as it might sound, because it's actually not the fear of failure.

18:47But for me, it's the fear of what others will think, right? So in North America, in the United States, and in Canada, for example, a traditional, and I'm putting air quotes in, even though you can't see them, the traditional way of life still to this day is you go to high school, you go to college, you get a degree, you graduate, you immediately dive into a Monday through Friday, a nine to five job, you come home, you make dinner or you go get takeout, you go get in and out, you heat up your frozen thing. And that's just the way your life is. And then you retire at God knows what age and that's it.

19:28And one thing I'll jump in at real quick before you continue is a lot of times people, especially people that listen to this show, I mean, you have the best intentions, you know, Hey, I'll work from 22 to 30. I'll bust my butts. I'll get rid of my college debt. I'll do all the things I need to do. then at 30 though, I'll just, I'll start doing what I want to do and I'll be young enough to enjoy it all. But then guess what? 30 comes, maybe you're married, maybe you have a mortgage, maybe you have a car. Now you have a whole different kind of debt, a whole different kind of obligations. And guess what?

19:55You are in this endless cycle of, you know, waking up at 65 and being like, well, now I can retire. Maybe, maybe 70. But like, what does that look like? Exactly. I'm not going to be surfing with Kaylee in Mexico at 70, unfortunately for most people. So that's where I wanted to jump in and talk about that cycle because Kaylee, you're talking to Fire Nation. I mean, they may be in that scenario, but by the way, I was in during my late 20s for sure, but they're looking to break out. So keep going. You got this. No, absolutely. And I've been there as well. Even though I've worked primarily in tourism before, I've worked five days a week and I've had a certain set schedule that I've stuck to for a year, two years, things like that.

20:37And I've enjoyed it at the time. But the main thing is becoming passionate about something. So me going to a hotel and managing the front desk and managing the concierge. Yes, it was fun because I was meeting new people. I had an amazing team. But that's not what drives me to get in my car and drive to work every day. That's not something that I look forward to every day and something that I feel like I was not put on this earth to do. So I think a lot of that fear comes from, as I was saying, what other people think. Because when I first started even coming out with this idea of saying, you know what, I think I'm going to start a travel business.

21:21And I'm going to come. Luckily, I have parents that are both entrepreneurs. So they've always told me, this is how you have the perfect job. You find what you're good at, how you can make money of it, and then you put it together and that's what you do. So I kept thinking, and it was a year, years and years and years long process. I started probably thinking about this when I first got a life coach when I was 22, 23 years old, writing little business plans, things like that. And these Fire Nation are the steps that you take. So keep kind of taking us through those steps that you took to get Goose in Mexico started.

21:57but don't forget, we still want to talk about the biggest thrill. Yes, absolutely. So the biggest thing is when I started doing work with my coach, she had me figure out what are my passions. So that's travel, that's group travel, that's guiding people, teaching people something new, but it was really funneling it down. So I originally had this big plan to host all of these small group trips in Bali and Costa Rica and Nicaragua and Australia and Mexico. I was all over the place. And she kept saying, okay, let's funnel that down, funnel that down. That seems a little outrageous at the time, which now that looking back, I'm like, yeah, that's very true.

22:37And I just kept having to funnel down that idea. But when I started to think about this, even when I said, okay, one of the main things that I'm missing from my personal knowledge, in order for me to run a successful international travel business is working more internationally. So when I was 24, I quit my job. I moved to Argentina, never, barely could even point out Argentina on a map, still wasn't that good at Spanish, had no clue what I was doing, knew no one there. So starting off at that point, even though I knew it was going to help me in my direction to eventually start this business, people thought I was crazy.

23:19They thought, oh my gosh, you're leaving a job. You love California. What are you doing? You're going to be far away from your family. So that fear of people kind of wondering what I'm doing or thinking that I'm absolutely crazy following my dreams or learning something new or dedicating myself to something different has always stuck with me. And that even held true when I moved and worked in Nicaragua. I spent some time in El Salvador and then eventually coming up to Mexico. I've had a lot of people that have not been on my side, which at one end, it's like, oh, that sucks. These people aren't supporting you.

23:57But on the other end, you're really weeding out a lot of people that don't support you. You don't want those people in your life. You don't need them to be whispering things in the back of your head. And let's be honest, Kaylee, not everybody can be in your life. I mean, there's only so much time, so much energy that we're going to be able to put into this world, into our business, into our friendships. And you're the average fire nation of the five people you spend the most time with. So I mean, choose your five wisely. So keep going through that process. Yes, absolutely. And so basically just allowing myself to come full circle.

24:31I hate using that term again, but I really did because I spent so much time in Mexico. I literally traveled and lived all throughout Latin America before I ended up back in Mexico once again, quit the job that I was at. I was working and helping to manage a huge surf school and adventure school down here in Puerto Vallarta. And I spent probably two or three months back at home where I sat down and I said, okay, I've learned everything that I feel like I've needed to learn for this journey. I've done everything that I've wanted to do. I have all of the things that I feel like I need to start this business.

25:08And now I'm going to carve out this time, which for me, like I said, was two to three months for me to really dedicate and sit on it. So the amount of beers that I drank with my brother brainstorming ideas and taglines and what the website was going to look like is a very large number. But really taking that time, and I understand not everybody has the opportunity or the means to take that much time off of a full-time job that they might have right now. I am very fortunate and I think I'm very grateful every single day for the opportunities that I've had. But even if you have a full-time job and you carve out an hour every afternoon and you say, okay, or you carve out three hours on the weekend and you say, in these three hours, I am going to dedicate all of my energy and all of my thoughts into my project and into my passion.

26:05It's going to come true. Little by little, everybody has a different process. For me, this whole process has taken seven years. Wow. Right? So you don't think, and that was literally from the moment that I even had the idea planted in my mind that I wanted to start a travel business to today, which is where I have the travel business. I'm successful. I run multiple trips a year, things like that. And that's a long process for people. Some people think that, oh, in one year I want to be this. And it doesn't happen. So they get discouraged with themselves and then they stop. But that's not how it works.

26:44You have to be truly passionate about what you're doing and you have to have that drive to keep going and to keep going. Well, speaking of that, Kaylee, let's talk about your most thrilling moment to date. Take us to that moment where you're just like, wow, this is exactly what I was hoping or picturing when I launched this business. And then also share with us, what exactly are you going to use to measure success for you in Guso, Mexico? I think after I hosted my first retreat, I actually co-hosted it down in Sayulita, Mexico, which is just a little bit north of Puerto Vallarta. It was the last night that everyone was there.