July 12, 2018

10 min read

In this series, The Gambit, Entrepreneur associate editor Hayden Field explores extraordinary risk, speaking with successful people about how they overcame unusual obstacles to found a company or switched industries entirely in a “career 180.”

Jeff Bonaldi told himself he’d never launch a company again.

The 25-year-old had just decided to cut his losses and move on from the business he’d been working on since age 21. After Bonaldi shuttered his first company, he set his sights on a safer path in the realm of business and banking, ending up as a top-level executive at Citibank. That is, until, he became riveted by a centuries-old legend.  

It was October 2012, and Bonaldi, now 35, sat at a wooden table inside Small World Coffee, a local favorite in Princeton, N.J. His companions: green tea and The New York Times. One article in particular had drawn him in, penned by foreign correspondent Edward Wong. Even the title, “Myths and Mountains in Nepal,” snared him. The piece covered the tale of Guru Rinpoche, an Indian Buddhist master who is believed to have emerged victorious from a wide-ranging fight with a demon in Nepal.

A seed was planted in Bonaldi’s mind, which would later grow into a fully formed idea for his adventure travel company. About a year later, he’d travel to Nepal’s Mustang District and follow the path of the Guru Rinpoche legends himself. And in 2015, with the story as inspiration, he’d lead his company’s second-ever trip: a trek along the same path that legend says Guru Rinpoche traveled.

Today, Bonaldi’s idea has evolved into The Explorer’s Passage, an adventure travel company that plans each trip with captivating stories from history as through-lines. Guides lead travelers between different sites that shed light on the historical story they’re following, all in the context of an adventure trip. It’s been around for about four years, and in 2018, the company will guide more than 750 travelers on trips spanning all seven continents. But Bonaldi’s path to founder and CEO was a winding one.

The Detour

When Bonaldi was 18, his father took his own life unexpectedly. The elder Jeff Bonaldi had been an inventor, and his chief idea was “Sports Klip” — a thin, waterproof, clip-on pouch for runners, swimmers and other athletes who wanted to keep their keys and money safe. The patent approval came in the mail the day after he died. 

At 21, his son thought the next logical step for him was finishing what his father had started. Then a college senior, Bonaldi reached out to a Chinese manufacturer, created a website and brochure, then launched the company at The New York Times Travel Show to rave reviews. Manufacturing and packaging were set in motion without a hitch, but the sales area tripped him up. A few years later, Bonaldi felt certain he’d never successfully break into the market in retail stores. Feeling like a failure, he decided to cut his losses and move on to something less risky. He told himself he’d never launch a company again.

Bonaldi chose business and banking as his safer path. He took relevant courses at the University of Pennsylvania, then used any connection he could swing to land an interview at Merrill Lynch. That led to a one-year stint in marketing, which led to a portfolio manager position, which led to Bonaldi overseeing $90 billion in client portfolio assets. He ended up as a top-level executive at Citibank, overseeing sales and marketing strategy across both North and South America.

The Itch

When Bonaldi was 18, he discovered his love of history and storytelling through a visit to Princeton University. He’d never traveled outside the U.S. before, and he imagined that the campus resembled Europe. The stories of historical figures who had frequented the halls also fascinated him. Bonaldi attended a small public college nearby, but whenever friends or family visited, he would take them on informal tours of his favorite historical landmarks at Princeton, like a bench where Einstein had often sat or the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

That love of storytelling had been asleep in Bonaldi, but in 2007, as an executive at Citibank, key changes in his life began to force him awake. There was the divorce. There was the financial crisis. And there were the many layoffs at his company, hitting staffers in their fifties the hardest. That stuck with Bonaldi. He didn’t want anyone else to control his fate.  

During this upheaval, Bonaldi began feeling restless. He didn’t feel connected to what he was doing, and he wanted to rebuild his life into something he was passionate about — he just wasn’t quite sure what that looked like. Things came to a head at a corporate conference he attended, where explorer Robert Swan was keynote speaker. Swan, who has been lauded by Queen Elizabeth II and the United Nations, is a leader in energy innovation and the first person in history to walk both the North and South poles. Hearing Swan speak onstage served as the final sign Bonaldi needed. “He was so passionate about his life and his goals, and I just said, ‘One day I want to live like him,’” Bonaldi says.

The Leap

“I wanted to live through my heart,” Bonaldi says. After he saw Swan speak, he decided to start a company that combined the three things he was most passionate about — adventure, history and stories — and see if he could one day turn it into his primary source of income. For about seven years, Bonaldi essentially worked two full-time jobs — by day, he was a manager, but by night (and weekend), he was a founder and CEO. With no travel industry experience, he leaned heavily on outside resources like the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA). He started a corporation and a business bank account with his accountant’s help, enlisted a graphic designer to help with a logo and branding and finally landed on a company name. “The Explorer’s Passage” was inspired by the explorers of old and the Northwest Passage, a sea route which once seemed impossible to cross. 

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

Dreaming up trip itineraries came most easily to Bonaldi. The first would be a crossing of the Chilean Andes, following the story of Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín — the “George Washington of South America,” Bonaldi says. The second would follow the story of Guru Rinpoche through Nepal’s Mustang District. And the third would focus on the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s, crossing from Alaska into British Columbia. To this day, Bonaldi says travelers can spot gold rush-era cups on the side of the trail. “We’re trying to find these places that have this deep history where you can see it in the land,” he says. “The places where people walked … the places where people did these incredible things.”

The Breaking Point

Bonaldi officially launched The Explorer’s Passage in February 2014, at the same place he’d debuted his father’s product 14 years before. The company won the title of best booth in the trade show, out of about 400 overall. But the following year and a half were so difficult that Bonaldi almost threw in the towel. Despite a positive reception at the travel show, the company led no trips in 2014. Sales issues similar to the ones he’d had with Sports Klip plagued Bonaldi, and he realized that his experience with corporate sales wouldn’t help him as much as he’d thought. The trip itineraries he’d designed weren’t taking off. The reminder of what he had gone through with his father’s product was painful, and anger and self-doubt that he’d since buried came rising up to the surface. “Here we go again — I’m going to fail again,” he says he thought. But there was a difference this time around: Now, he was doing it for himself — and it was something he loved.

Bonaldi told himself to stop blaming others or the market for what was going wrong. Instead, he asked himself, “How do I need to change the product? How do I need to change myself to make this work?” When he turned his honesty on himself, things began to move forward. Bonaldi worked on his negotiation skills and did some soul-searching about why he might be fearful of success and power. He introduced trip itineraries in more popular destinations and launched a New York walking tour and day trip to get the word out about his company. It worked.

In 2016, Bonaldi reconnected with Robert Swan — the keynote speaker who had inspired him to launch his company. Swan was looking for someone to serve as partner in running a trip to Antarctica through his foundation, 2041, which raises awareness about environmental issues across the board. Bonaldi jumped at the chance, and together, they led about 90 people from 18 different countries to Antarctica in March 2018, with the aim to educate them about sustainability and leadership so they could become environmental leaders in their hometowns.

The Next Step

In February 2018, Bonaldi stood up from his desk, walked across the trading floor to his boss’s office, closed the door and told him he was resigning. Bonaldi told him: “I’m not going to a competitor. … My business — it’s thriving.” His boss smiled. Bonaldi was on to a new adventure — a full-time one after shedding his safety net.

Image credit: Jeff Bonaldi

The Explorer’s Passage currently offers trips on six continents, including trips through Machu Picchu, Iceland, Chile and Nepal. And together with Robert Swan and his son Barney, Bonaldi is launching a strategic expedition series to areas around the globe that are most in danger from the effects of climate change. Next year, they’ll bring a group of travelers to the Arctic in June 2019, and another group will head to Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2019 and plant 1 million trees around its base to offset carbon dioxide effects. One more thing in the works: In coming months, Bonaldi plans to launch Gladiator Trek, a healing program for people experiencing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It’s partly inspired by his father’s story.

On Feb. 28, 2018, Bonaldi posed for a photo at the southernmost tip of South America — nicknamed the “End of the World” —  with Swan and about 90 other travelers in their group. They were about to board a ship called the Ocean Endeavor that would take them to Antarctica. In that moment, Bonaldi couldn’t believe he was standing next to explorers from 18 countries as the founder and CEO of his own company. “I had this idea years ago that I wanted to take people and show them history’s greatest stories with the greatest explorers on the planet,” Bonaldi says. “I’m standing there … and it was real. It was exactly how I had planned it in my head.”

July 10, 2018

7 min read

This story originally appeared on GOBankingRates

You work hard but you’re not getting ahead in your job. You’re not making as much as you feel like you deserve. Or maybe you just feel stuck. Does this sound like you? If so, you’re likely wondering what’s going to help you achieve the career and financial success you want.

Related: 12 Expenses Successful People Don’t Waste Time or Money On

The answer is goals. Yes, you need to set goals. “The benefits of setting goals is really to help yourself achieve what you want to achieve,” said Elizabeth Koraca, an executive coach and career strategist. “You have to have clarity on what you want and a clear path how to get there.”

But there’s a right way and a wrong way to set career or financial goals you can actually achieve.

Here’s how your financial future stacks up with other Americans’.

(By Cameron Huddleston)

Figure out what you want

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Before you can set goals, you must figure out what you want. You have to have a vision for your life, Koraca said.

If you’re unclear, Koraca recommends asking yourself what excites you. Think about what you would do if you could do whatever you wanted. When she goes through this exercise with clients, Koraca usually finds that what people want to do is not that unrealistic. And once you know what you want, you’ll have the motivation you need to set and stick to goals that will help you achieve your dream life.

Set SMART goals

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One of the strategies that career and life coach Allison Task uses with her clients is SMART goal setting. SMART is an acronym for the ideal characteristics of goals:

Specific: Goals should be detailed.
Measurable: You should have criteria for measuring your progress.
Attainable: Do you have the ability to achieve what you want?
Relevant: Your goals should be consistent with your values.
Time-bound: Goals should have a timeframe for completion.

“By using this framework, you are more likely to achieve the goal, because you will think through the specifics of what needs to happen for you to do it,” Task said. A bad goal, for example, would be, “I need to lose weight.” Task said a SMART goal example would be, “I will lose 25 pounds over the next six months in time for my best friend’s wedding.”

Write down your goals

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When setting goals, it’s not enough to just think about doing something, Koraca said. “If you don’t write them down, any goal you might have will be swirling around your head,” she said — and you’ll be more likely to forget it.

Not only should you write down your goals, but also you should put that document where you can see it. “If you can have those goals printed out and visible, even better,” Koraca said. Hang up your list of goals in your office, on your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator as a constant reminder of what you want to achieve.

Related: How Richard Branson Built His $5.1 Billion Fortune

Create an action plan

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Your goals document should actually be an action plan, not just a list of what you hope to achieve. Koraca recommends listing your vison at the top. “Don’t hold back,” she said. “Put what you really want in that vision.” It should be as detailed as possible, and below it, you should list your top five goals for the year to help you get closer to your vision.

To create an action plan, write January through December underneath your goals and the specific steps you want to accomplish each month that will make them happen. By creating an action plan, you can see that your goals are within your reach. “It gives you a sense of feeling in charge instead of frustrated,” Koraca said.

Set a timeline for achieving goals

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Both Koraca and Task recommend setting a timeframe for achieving your goals. Those deadlines need to be realistic, however. For example, if you want to go from earning $50,000 a year to $500,000 a year, you might be setting yourself up for failure if you give yourself only 12 months to achieve that goal. A more realistic timeframe might be at least five or six years to get on the path to riches.

Koraca recommends using a planner or the calendar app on your phone to schedule due dates for your goals and action steps. But don’t try to tackle too many goals at once. “Take your time with it,” Koraca said.

Break goals down into small steps

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When you start to feel overwhelmed by trying to achieve your goals, turn your milestones into “inch pebbles,” Task said. In other words, break down your big goal into small things you can do each week to inch toward it.

“The more we build up successful habits, those inch pebbles build up,” Task said. Your confidence will increase as you accomplish each small task, and you’ll be motivated to keep working toward your bigger goal.

Have accountability

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One of the best things you can do to improve your chances of achieving your goals is to create a method of accountability, Task said. “Whether it’s a professional, best friend or spouse, share your goal with someone and make sure they can help you hold yourself to it week to week,” she said.

Perhaps even more important than finding someone to hold you accountable is being accountable to yourself, Task said. This goes back to your vision and having goals that are relevant. You need to have a reason why you want to achieve a goal. “Tell it to yourself why it’s important,” Task said.

Related: 12 Essential Money Tips for Every Phase of Your Financial Life

Monitor your progress

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Monitoring your progress is part of the measurable component of SMART goals. Track what you’ve done and what you need to need to do to move closer to your goals.

Task said she asks clients every couple of weeks to rate their progress on a goal on a scale of one to 10. That helps them get a better idea of where they stand. Tracking your goals also can help you celebrate your successes and give you the motivation you need to continue.

Let others’ success motivate you

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It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing what you have achieved — or haven’t achieved — with what others are doing, especially considering that most people broadcast their successes on social media. Koraca calls it the black spiral of misery. “If you focus on someone else, that’s where all your energy is going,” she said. “You’re not moving forward to where you want to go.”

Instead of being jealous, both Koraca and Task recommend figuring out what the person who has what you want has done to get there. If you know that person well enough, ask him or her to share some tips with you.

Learn from setbacks and adjust Your goals

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If you’re having trouble achieving something on your action list, don’t assume that you’re failing. Instead, Task said you should ask why it’s not happening. “Maybe it’s the wrong thing, and it’s not working,” she said. You might need to find a new approach, or even re-examine your goals.

The important thing is to get clear on what works for you because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to goal setting. “You want to change course if something is not working for you,” Koraca said. “I can’t stress that enough.”

July 9, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Happy customers make for a happy business owner … and on the other hand, unhappy customers can really bring you down.

If you’re a business owner, you already know that the increasing popularity of review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor gives your customers more power than ever. Just one negative review from an unsatisfied customer can cost you a lot of potential business. You might be thinking, “Well, I don’t have any bad reviews, everything’s fine!”

Related: 5 Proven Ways to Get More Customer Reviews On Google and Facebook

But do you really know how your customers feel?

If the answer is no, learning how to determine your customers’ happiness score and improve your customer service will be one of the best time investments you can make.

Why does your customer’s happiness score matter?

According to Help Scout, poor customer service costs U.S. companies more than $62 billion annually. When it comes down to it, unhappy customers can end up costing you a lot of money.

Satisfied customers might recommend you to a couple of people, but generally, you won’t hear from those customers if you don’t ask. If a customer has a bad experience with your business, though, he or she will let everyone know just how disappointing that experience was — as in the number of stars selected:

Google reviews (screenshot). https://www.google.com/

Marketing and sales are much more difficult these days: Customers are smarter about making purchases and are less trusting of companies, making customer retention more essential than ever to growing a business.

Customer retention, in turn, is much less expensive than customer acquisition; and, according to Invesp, the probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 percent to 70 percent, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is less: 5 percent to 20 percent. This is why you need to focus on your customer service and ensure you have a good relationship with your existing customers.

To start focusing on improving customer service, here are some simple ways to measure your customers’ happiness score:

Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

Key to a customer’s happiness score is his/her customer satisfaction score. This basically entails asking customers to rate their satisfaction with your service, product or business, in general. Your score is the average rating of your customer responses. It’s a simple and direct way to gauge the happiness of your customers.

You can make it easier on the customer to let you know how they’re feeling by asking them to click the face that best describes their satisfaction with your service.

Customer satisfaction scale (image), https://www.questionpro.com/article/likert-scale-survey-questions.html

You can send targeted emails to your customers asking for their overall satisfaction rating. Make it simple for them to choose their level of happiness, as in the example above; also consider adding an optional text box to get more detailed feedback.

Net promoter score (NPS)

A net promoter score works to determine how likely your customers are to recommend your product or service to a friend, family member or colleague. Typically, customers are asked how likely they are to recommend you, on a scale of 1 to 10. You can use an in-app survey, where you subtly integrate a feedback bar right into your website, or a slide-in popup that appears for customers and subscribers only. For example, take a look at Asana’s feedback bar: 

Asana feedback bar (screenshot). https://app.asana.com/

This is a great way to measure brand loyalty and to see which of your customers are going to be ambassadors for your brand. Brand loyalty also helps you connect with your customers. Using the word “friend” in your question creates an emotional connection between the customer and your business.

Related: 4 Lesser-Known Customer-Review Platforms You Need to Know About

Customer effort score (CES)

After having a negative experience, 51 percent of people would never use the company again, according to New Voice Media. Customers don’t have a ton of patience, and that means you need to be quick and efficient at solving any problems they have. This is what the customer effort score can help you with.

You can use a tool like QuestionPro to help you understand how easy or difficult it was to use your product or get help from customer service. 

Customer effort score (image). https://www.questionpro.com/customer-effort-score.html

Customers here aren’t being asked for their happiness score but instead for the amount of effort they invested to get a problem solved. The goal is to lower this customer effort score. That way, you’ll know your business is easy to use, and your customers will be more likely to want to repurchase your product or reuse your service again.

Monitor social media conversations

Customers talk about brands on social media all the time. If they have a problem with your business and are ranting about it on social media, you’ve got a good opportunity to improve your customer service. Many companies will reach out to unhappy customers on social media personally, offering their apologies and help in solving their issues. Customers appreciate the convenience this method offers.

You can also use a tool like Mention, to track everything that’s being said about your company online, making it easier for you to manage unhappy customers and see what people are saying about you.

Mention brand monitoring (screenshot). https://mention.com/en/

Related: 6 Ways to Make Online Reviews Work for Your Business

You’ve got to realize, however, that there’s always room for improvement when it comes to your customer service. Constantly looking for ways to raise your customer’s happiness score is never a wasted effort and will help grow your business to new heights.