Three Mistakes that Keep Nature Schools Broke and Struggling.

So, you've taken lots of wilderness, nature, tracking or craft workshops and intensives, and spent years practicing your skills under a ton of different conditions. You've been an intern or a volunteer, and you've started teaching once you saw the power of these skills and experiences to awaken, heal and grow. You want to offer this to SO MANY PEOPLE, because you want to help them get this juicy, awesome stuff.

You spend some money, build your website, make a brochure, and put your 'programs' together. You dedicate yourself to your vision, and your door has an 'OPEN for Business' sign.

You get some successes, but then, things slow down. Cash flow trickles, and you don't have a clue why SOME programs fill, and others have only one or two people show up.

You start to question your vision. You start to question yourself. Your frustration grows, and well, you can take it from there.

Of course, it's not ALWAYS like this. Sometimes you get a call from someone looking for a big program, and hope grows. This could be your big break! Sadly, they don't call you back when you tell them the price. Or they DO call you back and ask you to do it for free.

You spend time asking the Universe to help you, in offering your gifts to the world but things are still up and down, feast or famine. Still, you believe in your mission and you 'soldier on'.

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Sound familiar?

I have heard many, many phone calls and campfire conversations with instructors and directors over the past 27 years and this is what I've heard. I've also lived it myself at times, too, over my years running Hawk Circle.

And yes, I know that there are some schools that are not struggling, or at the very least, they seem to be doing okay, so, I know that this doesn't apply universally. I get that. But for many, these sentiments and frustrations are all too common.

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So, the good news is, it's probably NOT YOUR FAULT if you're struggling.

The fact is, wilderness education and nature education is a pioneering field. It's still in the formation stage, and it takes a while to get a business model that can be sustainable over the long haul.

The bad news is that, until that happens, it's going to be a little rocky.

However, there are some things that you can do to make things A LOT better!

So, here are some of the top mistakes that many schools and programs are making, as well as their solutions.

(Disclaimer: Every school, program and instructor is different or unique, so, my 'solutions' are not meant to be universally applied, but rather, to point out certain concepts that can help you figure out something that will work for you, specifically.)

Mistake Number One: You not only don't understand Marketing, but you actually SHUN anything that even resembles it.

Okay, this is probably pretty obvious, as far as mistakes go, but seriously, this is a HUGE problem for a lot of visionary people, who believe that marketing and business is EVIL or BAD.

Yes, it's true that many businesses are bad in that they harm the environment, pollute, take advantage of people and use money as currency, (the root of all evil?), so I understand that perfectly.

However, if you are going to build a vision and you want to grow this idea, this service, this 'gift', if you will, to your community, you are going to have to follow the rules for a summer camp, or store or vendor or whatever, and you are going to have to find a way for people to find you.

Seriously, that's all Marketing is. Helping you help people to find you. Helping people to understand what it is you do, and how it could benefit them. Helping them 'get it'.

Yes, I know there are lots of sleazy marketing techniques that trick people, like putting 'New and Improved!' on the box of the same old toothpaste, but that's not what I'm talking about. If you think you have to go to that extreme, well, that's not what I'm saying.

Marketing is simply finding your audience, your tribe.

When you don't understand how to communicate with your tribe, you are going to struggle.

Solution: Do some research. Remember when you studied trees, or wild edible plants, or animal tracks? Remember how you read those field guides, and learned about where certain trees grew, or what animals mate in January? Yeah, I know you understand that. Well, you have to apply your study to understanding who you like to work with most, and get a feel for what they are interested in, and how to just connect with them.

Think about how you describe your work, and look at your website or brochure from the perspective of someone who knows NOTHING about what you do. Is it user friendly? Is it beginner friendly?

Ask your friends or former students to give you some feedback on your blog, or your web pages, (privately, of course) to find out what they think about it, and how it can get better.

Get some coaching or marketing advice from people who actually know how to do this for a living. (Note: NOT a graphic designer or a website builder! Most of those people are great at making things visually appealing but often know very little about actually getting your website or brochure to connect with your tribe.)

Study other people who are actually successful (not those who LOOK like they are successful, but the ones who actually ARE), and see what you can learn. Find people who resonate with you and feel like they are in integrity, and reach out and talk to them about how they got started, and see if you can get a conversation going. Sometimes, you can get great advice or ideas that can make a difference for you as you get started and on your way.

Mistake Number Two: You Try to Go TOO DEEP, TOO FAST.

When you offer programs that sound like they are for Advanced students, people generally are reluctant to sign up.

Most people are NOT advanced. Most people want to learn, but they don't want to get into a class with a bunch of strangers and then look bad when they fail at making a grass coil basket, or a pair of moccasins, or an arrowhead. No one wants to fail, and they especially don't want to fail in front of other people on their day off, when they are paying for it.

If they wanted to do that, they could just stay home and try to fix their clogged sink drain in front of their kids.

When you offer programs that YOU think are awesome and detailed and incredible values for your students, you're usually not remembering that most of your students are just starting out, and you need to make sure they learn their letters and alphabet before you start requiring them to read War and Peace.

Solution: Make at least a third of your programs ENTRY LEVEL or Introductory type programs, and keep them short to start. Keeping the price on the lower side to begin with is good too, because you want to get a LOT of people signing up and taking your programs, and giving them a chance to get to know YOU and for them to see how awesome these skills are, and get a sense of your passion and your excitement to be teaching them all this cool stuff.

If they stay past the two or three hour deadline and don't just leave right away, that's a great sign that they are into it!

Remember how long it took you to learn these skills, (years, right?) and take your time. Let them go at their own pace. Don't rush the process. Get to know your students by name and enjoy this part of the process.

If you do this correctly, you will start filling up more advanced programs within a year or so, because all the people you are meeting and connecting with will be asking for them!

Mistake Number Three: You put out Course Information, (Dates, Prices, Description) but don't actually ENGAGE with anyone.

This is a bad habit and everyone does it. I'm guilty as charged! Why? Well, for lots of reasons. One is that it takes time to engage with people, and interact, and connect. The other is you just get kind of stuck creatively, and freeze up, so nothing comes to mind to type in that Facebook post or Blog post. Other times you just think "Everyone is just so short on time, I don't want to share anything too deep or meaningful, so I'll just leave this description here, and hope it does the trick."

That is a mistake that will cost you.

There is an old marketing saying that goes like this: "Facts Tell, and Stories Sell."

I paid dearly for that information, by the way, when I was a young lad learning about selling water filters back in 1990, when I tried to supplement my income with a sales job. Needless to say, I was a much better carpenter and landscaper than a salesperson at that time of my life, but still, it was worth it to get that one quote. It's helped me for years and years.

Quite simply, it's ALL about the stories you tell, that make a connection between you and your tribe.

I'm not talking about made up stories, because that takes you out of integrity. I'm not talking about magical, unbelievable, or legendary stories either, because let's face it: Most of us don't have those yet.

What really works are stories about you, how you started learning your craft or skills, what happened last weekend when you went for a walk, or what it was like making a new wild edible. Your tribe wants to connect with you, and understand and get to know you. They want to know what inspires you, and what makes you do what you do, and take the risks that they are too afraid to do themselves (yet!).

Solution: You have to engage people. If you're offering a tracking workshop, well, for two weeks before the course, offer a daily tracking quiz on Facebook that you can share with others, pointing out cool features of trackes and praise all of the people guessing. Give them an experience with you so they can see that it would be fun to go out in the woods with you and learn more.

Take a short video of you out tracking, and talk about one thing that will help them be better trackers.

Write a blog post about your favorite tracking story, either with your own teacher, or something that blew you away.

Give a conference call with some of your friends who can talk about tracking and answer questions to anyone calling in.

Write a review of your current Tracking field guide, what you like about it, what would make it better, or whatever, and give it five stars......

Okay, you get it, right?

Please say you get it.

It's all about engaging with people. Caring about them. Laughing at their jokes, and sharing some of your own. Having fun, sharing stuff, being serious when necessary, and above all else, sharing WHY you think TRACKING would benefit their lives, in very profound and positive ways.

(Note: Again, please substitute 'Herbal Studies' or 'Basketmaking' or 'Forest Pre-school' instead of 'Tracking' and get creative here. These are just suggestions that are off the top of my head, honestly.)

Okay, I could keep writing and writing here, but I sincerely hope that this has been helpful to you, and that you can see a little glimpse as to how you can fill your programs a little more, teach more people, change the world for the better for all of the animals and the Earth and our unborn Seven Generations to come.

Please ask questions below, or write to me directly, or ask me on Facebook. I am happy to answer your questions, and feel free to contact me for a free strategy call if you need help getting your vision out there in the world and happening in a good way. Just click Contact at the bottom of this web page, and select 'Free Strategy Call' along with a couple of different choices for our call. It's super easy and it would be great to connect with you and find out more about what you are working on.

Good luck, everyone, and keep doing what you do. Our world needs what we can offer now, more than ever before, in the history of the human race, and the planet. Thank you for your dedication, passion and vision.

What the Nature Education community should pay attention to Deadpool.

Warning: This might seem like a weird blog post.

It's probably a little nutty to compare Nature Education and Wilderness Schools and the latest super 'anti-hero' movie Deadpool, but bear with me. I think this will be worth your time, especially if you are working to reconnect people with nature.

If I'm being honest, 'nature' connection is a tough sell. Not because it's not a powerful, skill developing relationship that affects your whole life, but because it's just not seen as all that important in today's modern world. It's needed now more than ever, but most people don't actually KNOW they need it. So, it's not easy sometimes to fill a program when there isn't a natural demand for it across our cultural spectrum.

This is where Deadpool comes in. So, you probably need a little context first.

Deadpool is a comic-book 'anti-hero' who is a completly wacky, wise-cracking character with powers, a frightening visage and a heroic sense of humor. He's not a massively popular character like Iron Man/Tony Stark, or Spiderman/Peter Parker, or Batman/Bruce Wayne. He did generate a very large fan base over the years, who enjoyed the contrast he offered to the usual run of the mill 'hero' stories.

To say that getting a Deadpool superhero movie project to actually happen was a longshot is an understatement. It was viewed as 'highly risky', and most studios wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole, sensing a financial failure and embarrassment. Studio executives DO have a sense of pride, after all, and no one wants to be on the hook.

Enter Ryan Reynolds, as a champion of Deadpool and representing a lot of passionate fans. Reynolds played Wade Wilson/Deadpool in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, which introduced the Deadpool character but strayed from the character's true nature and this INFURIATED the FANS. Ryan felt it was up to him to actually do it right, and bring the character to life in the way the comic books originally intended, but he was having trouble getting any traction.

Why am I telling you all this? Because it's important to know this so you can fully appreciate the LONG ODDS facing this movie that opened in theaters this weekend.

Reynolds convinced the studio to do a short 'audition' film of him as Deadpool, to see how it would resonate with fans, and somehow, it was 'leaked' to the internet, and well, here's the full story.

Once it was greenlit by the studio, who recognized the fans demanded this be done, Ryan was chosen for the lead, and they started adapting the story/script to fit their budget and production limitations. This wasn't a big budget film like the Avengers or Captain America. The writers, producers and crew begain putting it together, after an eleven year battle. That's dedication!

However, Ryan Reynolds knew that the movie could still struggle at the box office, so, he and his team begain a fiercely creative marketing efforts that I have EVER seen. They began shooting 'spots' or short ads that basically defy every traditional movie marketing plan I've ever seen.

Deadpool was everywhere online, with TV ads but especially on social media, where they got VERY creative. Deadpool The Marketing Machine went nuts. Reynolds played a huge part in this entire effort, and he went far away and above ANYTHING that ANY other superhero movie actor has done, EVER.

Deadpool had his own Tinder. He had his own EMOJis!

He gave Conan O'Brian a MASSAGE.

He created billboards implying that Deadpool was a romantic, Valentine's Day Date Night film.

He got Betty White to do a film review video and posted it online.

Check out the media, who noted how extraordinary it was, HERE, HERE and HERE. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

I have barely even scratched the surface of how completely viral they got this movie marketing effort. (The 12 Days of Deadpool was awesome.) Deadpool was on the map, in a big way.

People who had never heard of Deadpool, were getting drawn in, because the marketing was genius. It drew people in. It was different. It was unique. It was hard to know what to make of it all, but they kept watching, and getting a feel for this irreverent, creative, fearless, saucy superhero. They were getting a dose of Deadpool, to know him. They were getting to like him. And they eventually started to believe that he could be fun. They were starting to trust him to entertain and spend some time hearing his story.

You know: The KNOW, LIKE and TRUST factor.

Time will tell whether or not this movie is a blockbuster, but I just saw that today, on Saturday alone, the movie has exceeded the opening of the X-Men, Days of Future Past. That's pretty significant, because that was the SIXTH X-Men movie in their franchise. Formidable competition indeed.

"Okay," I know you're saying. "What's your point, Rick?"

Here you go: We have to be A LOT more creative if we want to get Nature Education, Wilderness Skills Programs, Earth Philosophy, or Tracking to become mainstream.

Yes, Ryan Reynolds is a celebrity. Yes, his movie was backed by 20th Century Fox, and given millions for a creative marketing team to launch this movie. Yes, I totally get that.

But here's the thing: Reynolds, who is almost more of a natural Wade Wilson than Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark, was willing to throw everything but the kitchen sink into this effort to get this movie SEEN by people.

We can learn from this effort, people, and use it to the benefit of millions of people.

For the children.

You see, the problem is that, when you go out into the wilderness and you have an EXPERIENCE, and that gets you on a path to learn skills, herbal medicine, tracking or whatever, you become humbled by all there is to know. You learn to move silently in the woods, and you learn to listen intently.

After a bunch of years of study, on your own and under the guidance of some good teachers, and you go to open your own school, you're different. You probably shun mainstream media, and social media a bit. You feel guilty promoting your programs, your events, because, we're taught to be humble, and you know how much there still is to know. All of this is in right order, if we were living in a traditional society.

The thing is, most people don't know that much about native peoples, or nature, or wilderness skills, and they don't care about tracking. Most people, that is.

Why is this? I mean, it probably is unfathomable to us that anyone could just 'Not Know' about how great it feels to make a fire without matches, or throw a tomahawk. They don't know how it feels to make pine needle tea around the campfire after a hard day's tracking or hiking or gathering acorns. They don't know.

They don't know.

Just like, a few months ago, most people didn't have any clue that Deadpool existed. They didn't know ANYTHING about him.

Okay, I am hoping you get it.

Marketing is communication. Communication is about engagement. It's about emotion, and connection and finding ways for people to experience something that they didn't know they need or want, prior to hearing about it through some sort of medium.

I'm talking Blogs. YouTube. Billboards. Twitter or Instagram. You get the picture.

But here's the thing about most 'nature marketing': It's kinda boring.

How do I know? Well, that's easy. It's not working. You can tell when something's working, because people are calling you up, demanding it. People who know they have a problem or a need search for solutions to their problem. They start looking for YOU. (Or US, as the case may be.)

When they get the VALUE of what we have to offer them, for their kids or for their health or their family's lives, they will be lining up to take our programs.

But yeah, obviously, we aren't there yet, are we?

I can go on and on about this topic, but I won't. Not right now. But this is food for thought, and I hope it's stimulating your appetite.

If some creative teams can leverage all of the media tools that are available out there to ALL of us to get literally MILLIONS of people to go see a juvenile, foul mouthed, violent anti-hero like Deadpool, in just a few months, we should be able to do something similar for the power of nature and earth skills.

We just need the right creative team, and a budget, and the motivation to make this happen.

Honestly, all of these are out there, attainable and ready to go. We just need to develop some different angles to approach this so that we can help people understand why Nature Matters. And maybe the people in that room should be people who understand both the nature world and the modern world, and can help build a bridge to connect the two.

I think it's possible, and Deadpool's success makes me excited, honestly. Because we're not just a comic book character. What we have is real. It's powerful, and it's a key ingredient for humanity to find it's way out of this mess we've created called modern society.

What do you think?

Update: Deadpool is slated to end the weekend with the biggest President's Day open for movies, ever, at $130 million projected. That's over double what the studio was hoping for.

Marketing. It's important.

The Four Priorities of Building a Visionary, Nature-Based Business

When people who aren't trained find themselves in a survival situation, they often struggle or even die because they don't really know what to focus on that is most important to their survival. They make mistakes and waste time, energy and resources on stuff that won't get them their absolute necessities needed to thrive and be successful.

This video shares how the Four Priorities of Wilderness Survival also relate to building a nature-based, visionary business, and what you need to have in place to build a vision that thrives!

Hope it's helpful to some of you who are working hard to bring your gifts to a world that desperately needs it at this time in human and Earth history.