Epic Tours

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My Story

When I (James, the owner of Epic Tours) was 9 years old I came out to Hawaii from Indiana for spring break. I was extremely fortunate that my parents took my sister and I to go exploring the beautiful black and white sand beaches, ride on a catamaran to some epic snorkeling spots, drive a mustang convertible along the road to Hana, swim and climb in some waterfall pools and hike (what seemed to a 9 year old to be 10 hours) through a bamboo rainforests to a massive 400 foot waterfall. Needless to say, I was hooked.

When I got back to our house in Indiana after spring break, I went to the backyard on the basketball concrete pad. At that time and most of my early adolescence, basketball was my passion. So I was just I was playing around and practicing my “Michael Jordan” moves. While I was there, I started to think about Hawaii and how I loved it there so much and would love to go back. Then I had the thought of playing basketball there for college. Wow, that would be so fun! Then I thought, hey, I like I like soccer too, maybe I could play both sports! So then I got back into the Michael Jordan mindset. I thought ok, if I make this shot, then I’ll play basketball and soccer for the University of Hawaii. So I dribbled around the fake defender and looked at the fake shot clock, the time was running out; 3, 2, 1..I took the shot, SWISH! Nothing but net! Boom! That shot solidified in my mind that I was going to make that dream happen... Now fast forward a number of years and I was lucky enough to transfer to the University of Hawaii in Hilo from Indiana University in Fort Wayne. While at UH, I received my Bachelors in Business Administration while being a member of the NCAA UH Men’s Soccer team. Then I graduated and worked as a Team Leader at Target. Years later while working at Target I went back to school for a Communication degree to further help me become a better leader at Target. One night I woke up at around 3am, wide awake and got on my tablet. I had the thought of, “Hey, I have 1 more year of athletic eligibility, why don’t I try out for the basketball team.” So the next day, I gave the coach a call and he said, that try-outs were in 2 weeks. I was stoked but also a little worried because this was 2012 and I graduated high school in 2004. I hadn’t played any real competitive basketball in 8 years! So I trained as hard as I possibly could and ended up making the team! Our first game just so happened to be against the University of Pittsburgh, who was ranked Top 15 in the nation for NCAA Division 1. When I got the chance to sub into the game at the 10 minute mark, one of the top ranked players in the country says, “I got #40.” I couldn’t believe it, Steven Adams, a 7 foot superstar was going to guard me. I missed all 3 shots that I took because I was worried about that behemoth. Either way, that experience and the rest of the season was just a huge blessing and one of my favorite and most challenging moments of my life. I was working at Target, 3:30am-11:30am, then off to basketball practice after noon. Then classes after that until the evening. I didn't even have anytime to hang out with any of my basketball friends outside of the court, the entire season. A very humbling experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. Anyways, after that year, I was an "assistant student-coach”, then was able to graduate that year. It wasn't until I graduated from the University of Hawaii with 2 degrees while playing 2 sports that I remembered that dream that I had when I was a kid. No joke, I completely forgot about that dream until it actually became a reality, 17 years later!! It's really cool to think that, if you do have a dream or passion in life, just keep being true to yourself, don't rush anything and eventually it might come to fruition. Fast forward a few months and a transfer/promotion at Target, I was playing pickup basketball after work one day at the Kona Gym. After my final game and at the final moment on the court, I went up for one last dunk and I hit the rim awkwardly and all of my weight came down on my left knee. (If you get queasy about this sort of stuff, just skip to the next paragraph!)...Pop! Wow, I could see and feel the pain. I ended up tearing my ACL, MCL, Meniscus and watched my kneecap pop out of place as I landed on the ground. Ouch! (Sorry for all of the details, friends!) Oddly enough, I felt at peace instantly and knew that this was all part of some divine plan for me. The first month or so, I planned for the surgery and went home to Indiana for rest, recovery and to see friends and family. When I got back to Hawaii after the surgery, my mind felt refreshed and even though my leg was propped up on a bunch of pillows, unable to walk yet...I said to myself, "Okay, now it's time to focus. What would you want to do for a living. So, if I had $50 million, what would I want to do with my time?" I mean, I live in Hawaii and love exploring waterfalls and hidden spots all around Hawaii. How could I turn this into a career? Well, eventually I thought that I could start up an adventure company, because, well, I don't want to work for anyone else anymore. However, I don't want to drive a boring looking van, so I eventually came up with the idea of getting a Jeep Wrangler. Then the name for the company finally came to me after sitting and thinking about it for hours on end. Epic Tours!...sounds like a fun tour to me! So I went to register the business name, Epic Tours LLC, but it was taken! So I immediately thought, okay...Epic! Tours LLC. Then a few day into it, doubt sort of came in a little bit, but then I figured, hey, I have enough money saved up and i'll be very frugal with that money for as long as I can. If I lose it all in two years, then I had a blast adventuring on basically a "2 year vacation." So I couldn't really justify not just going for it. So during that time off with the recovery, I had a total of 8 months off of work in between 2 knee surgeries to formulate the tour company. After the first 6 months, I was supposed to go back to work and by this time, I was now absolutely dreading the thought of going back. So, I went to my doctor and told him that my knee wasn't feeling that great and I wanted him to look at it. For the most part, I was trying to buy time because I was almost done forming the tours and getting it ready for launch. I just needed a few more months or so. However, he cleared me to go back to work, darn. During the first couple days at work, I would have to squat down low to stock some shelves and my knee really did hurt and I couldn't go all the way down like I used to. So, I went to another doctor for a second opinion and he said that I had a bunch of scar tissue built up in my knee and that I would need to have another surgery. Yes!! I was so happy that I was going to have a second knee surgery so it would buy me 2 more months! Looking back, it was a pretty funny thought process, but hey, it worked and showed how much I wanted this. I went back to work after that extra 2 months off and I was pretty much finished with the tour company setup at that time, but I needed to prove to myself that, financially it was going to work and i'd be able to quit my job. At that time, Target couldn't keep my original position for over 6 months, so I was demoted and was working for their minimum wage, part-time 20 hours a week. That was okay with me, because my goal was to quit eventually and pursue Epic! Tours full-time. I was determined to make it work. The first thing I did for my marketing was actually setup a Groupon ad to see if people would even be interested in my type of Jeep Tours in the first place. So thanks Groupon!! Anyways, here I am, at work and I'd get a phone call while on the job...I would hurry up to the bathroom and take the phone call to answer any questions about the tours and try to book the tour. Then I had 8 Groupon Jeep Tours booked in the first week, so I had to pause the Groupon Campaign because I couldn't fit everyone in around my schedule. Wow, very cool! It works, I couldn't believe it! Even though I didn't really make any money on it because they take such a HUGE commission on top of cutting your tour price in half..wow. But it made me believe that it works and people want what i'm offering! Then a couple days later, I couldn't sneak away to take the phone call at work because I was just too busy with the task at hand. When I was able to call them about an hour later, the potential guests said that they were looking for one of my $250/person Jeep Tours, but they called someone else since I didn't answer and booked with them. Oh man! That one $500 Epic Tour would have been more than I would have made at Target in over two weeks with the pay I was now getting. That was it, I was about ready to put my two-weeks notice in. Then my Executive Team Leader called me into her office and said, "Hey, good news! We have an opening again in one of our Leadership Roles. Would you like to take it?" I said, "actually, I'm going to put in my 2-weeks." I was so stoked that I was going to be able to take people to some of my favorite spots and they were even going to pay me for it!! So that basically sums up the story of the "Hawaii James" and the formation of Epic! Tours. (Most of the time i'll just refer to it as "Epic Tours," with out the "!" so it's not confusing.) Currently as I write this (July 2nd, 2018, 5 years after I started the company..i’m in an airplane flying back to Hawaii from Salt Lake City.) I'm excited for the future of Epic Tours. As I expand the tours into promoting other top companies' most "Epic Tours" from around Hawaii, the mainland US and eventually the world. I'd love to personally travel around the world, go on other epic adventures with other amazing tour operators and then only share the best of the very best to my guests on my website, www.GoEpicTours.com Mahalo nui loa (Thank you very much) everyone for taking the time to read my story, James