Hi everyone,
I’ve made a substantial amount of progress these past three weeks. Let’s get right into it.
Pivoting the entire business before starting.
Yup! You read that right. 😅
I had some genuine interest in the trip after the previous post, which caused me to rethink everything… My good friend from college, John, was curious if he could make this trip work for him. He has a rig, but he’s in Utah. A drive to San Diego just to start the trip would be massive, not to mention the drive home after. He has 3 weeks off maximum, so the 21-day expedition plus the drives to and from home wouldn’t work. In addition to this, he would prefer something all-inclusive, where he wouldn’t have to think about grocery runs or packing too much. Picking up a vehicle in Mexico instead of bringing his own would be ideal.
While John is not in the niche target market I have in mind for the 21-day trips, he is part of another demographic that I’d love to offer shorter, all-inclusive trips to at some point. He’s a husband and dad. He works a 9-5 job, doesn’t want to spend too much time away from his family, and he usually only has about 2 weeks dedicated to vacations per year.
There are a lot of people like John that may want to experience a trip like this… with vehicles provided, flying in and out of a nearby airport, all meals taken care of, planned yoga classes and surf sessions. A true “just show up and enjoy” style trip with all the rawness and adventure and authenticity that overland travel brings with it.
I wasn’t blind to this when starting Baja Good, but this demographic is totally different than the one I have set out to serve for this first season — more full-time vanlifers, nomadic, with flexible work schedules.
So, I got thinking… why not offer both trips? Having someone ready to sign up was pretty motivating.
I contacted campervan and truck rental companies in Baja to set up rentals at Los Cabos International Airport and organized an epic 10-day itinerary throughout Baja California Sur.
And then it hit me…
I haven’t even officially launched this business, and I’m already dividing myself among two totally different trips serving two totally different demographics… How am I going to market to both groups while keeping the brand consistent? Will I be able to market to both effectively or only get “eh” results for both instead of doubling down on one?
I realized that, as a one-man team, it will be insanely difficult to actively lead a 21-day trip while dialing in the final touches for a 10-day trip that’s set to start just a few days after the current expedition ends. Not to mention dealing with marketing, ads, social media promotion…. all things that are pretty new to me and overwhelming enough as it is.
The energy simply wouldn’t be sufficient to underpromise and overdeliver for both types of trips — my goal for the first season (to generate amazing reviews).
So, I made the hard decision to put the 10-day trip on the back burner for now… but don’t worry, there is a waitlist live on the website so that I can get warm leads for people who stumble across Baja Good, love the concept, but don’t have their own rig or enough time to join the current expeditions.
With even more clarity on exactly who my target customers are for the 21-day adventures, I’ve decided to move forward, offering four separate expeditions that depart between December and March.
Full-time nomads who live in their vehicles. Flexible work schedules (remote work, seasonal jobs, entrepreneurs with their own businesses). Americans, Canadians, or those currently living and traveling throughout the USA or Canada who haven’t gone into Mexico due to stress among planning/logistics, fear of the country (blame the news), lack of Spanish, and/or nobody to caravan with.
There are certainly fewer of these people than people like John, but I know exactly who I’m marketing to… which at least helps a little!
Reworking the 21-Day Expedition
Another thing I realized after talking with John is that I had designed the 21-day itinerary in a way that piled up four long driving days for the very end of the trip. Not ideal.
I reworked the trip into a loop that is a lot more balanced now. No burnout. No driving fatigue. I locked in an off-the-beaten-path whale tour that leaves from a quieter town. I’m honestly super stoked with how great this loop is. I personally can’t wait to get back to Baja and do it myself, which is a good sign that I’ve created something others will hopefully love as well.
Each caravan now has a theme and finalized dates!
The first one, labeled as the Holiday Caravan, will be dedicated to those nomads wanting to spend the holiday season with new friends-turned-family. My Christmas Eve vegan potluck on the beaches of Baja California Sur shared with four other couples in their vans, buses, and trucks, was one of the best Christmas celebrations I’ve ever had… complete with a bonfire and the sound of crashing waves.
Creating the “Potential Client” PDF
With dates locked in, I knew that I wanted to have a beautiful PDF to immediately send to anyone who fills out the form on the website expressing interest in joining a caravan. I’m no designer—although I wish I were—and decided to use Figma to try and mock something up. Big mistake.
After slow progress and lots of frustration, I switched to Canva Pro and immediately everything felt easier. I created an 18-page PDF with all the essential information that anyone looking to sign up would want to know about this trip.
I included dates, the complete itinerary, info on who I am, social proof that I’m qualified to lead this tour, payment, a list of what you need to join the expedition, and a bunch of other things that (hopefully) get people stoked to sign up.
I also included Baja Good’s mission, which is to help the stray dogs in the area. 3% of every trip is donated to organizations helping the doggos, including the place where I adopted Paquito from.
I want this part of the project to be more visible. I plan to do this on Instagram, as I have so many videos of Paquito in Baja.
(Part of me finds peace in the fact that—if this whole thing epicly fails—I can easily pivot Baja Good into doing something to help all the stray dogs more directly.)
I also used this software called Zapier to connect my website’s forms to my business email. That way, whenever somebody fills out the form and clicks “submit”, they will instantly receive an automated email from me with the PDF I just mentioned and a promise that I will get back to them asap to chat with them personally.
I don’t want to miss a single lead.
The same system was integrated for the waitlist signups for the 10-day trips that I plan to offer next season (if this season is a success).
Shipping the van from Argentina to Mexico…
With all that being said, the next month will involve me focusing all my efforts on social media, marketing, and promotion… now that I finally shipped the damn van!
Yup! The van is currently en route from South America to North America. Crazy.
This was the biggest logistical and financial hurdle to making Baja Good a reality. If I wrote about all the planning behind this process, this post would be far too long and boring… but just take my word for it. This was one big task fiiiinally checked off that had a million little boxes to check off underneath it.
My van was parked in Uruguay because it had already reached its legal limit in Brazil a couple of months back. I flew to Uruguay to pick up the van and drove all the way to Zárate, Argentina, which is about 2 hours outside of Buenos Aires.
Zárate is one of the few ports used for shipping tall vehicles that won’t fit in shipping containers. It’s a process called RORO (roll-on, roll-off), where you have to give random strangers your key as they drive you home onto a boat, and you hope and pray that all your stuff is there when it arrives. Thefts are not uncommon.
Oh, and it’s over $5000 USD. Awesome! (I’m never shipping RORO again…)
I spent a lot of time building wooden partitions to separate the “house” part of my van from the “car” part of the van. I used bike locks to secure doors together, and I even blocked some electronic sensors that—once covered—don’t allow the doors to open, even when using the key to unlock.
These are all little tricks I learned after shipping RORO from Panama to Colombia. Luckily for me, Argentina is leagues more organized than those two countries.
It was actually a relatively smooth process once at the port… but the prep is insane. I was even scrambling last minute to get a power of attorney drafted in Spanish according to Argentine maritime law with little guidance from my shipping agent. It’s always a fun time in Latin America with these things. Nothing I’m not used to after 3+ years driving through the Americas.
About 10 hectic days after getting the van to Zárate, it’s now in the port waiting on the boat to arrive (hopefully by this weekend). Then, if all goes to plan, the boat will arrive in Mexico towards the end of October.
I’m now back in Brazil, where I’ll wait out the next month before flying to Mexico with my dog — a bunch more paperwork and bureaucracy, which I’ll save for a future post. 😉
It’s coming together!
If any business owners reading this have any crucial tips on marketing, hit me up. I am dreading getting back into the world of social media. I’d love to rely on word-of-mouth… but for a new business, that’s a long-shot.
Thanks for reading,
Alex 🌵
Alex WOW you have really done your homework! Everything looks amazing! Wishing you the best of luck