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(June 15, 2009) When traveling with family and friends, Robin Strup always found it difficult to find restaurants that served vegan cuisine. "I would do research, most of the time online, before we went because I'm a vegan," Strup said. "We would end up somewhere where one person would eat and nobody else would want to eat there." A Web site with in-depth information, recommendations, pictures and videos would have made their choices a little easier. Along with business partner Michelle Parr, Strup has founded Insider's Passport, a Web site that features the restaurants, clubs, museums and other community activities for vacationers and day travelers for the Williamsburg, Richmond and Virginia Beach areas. "We thought it would be great to have one place that had recommendations for the best of things in that area," Strup said. Having both worked in marketing for years, Strup and Parr started researching, formulating and coming up with a strategic plan to set up the site. Making sure the content was relevant to readers was important in developing the site. "If someone is interested in vegan cuisine, sushi and Italian food, we wanted to have recommendations for each genre of food," Strup said. "So the content was really born out of our desire for a place where all this information can be found." Visitors can click on the Restaurants & Attraction Guide tab to search for activities in the Williamsburg, Richmond or Virginia Beach areas. The site also features money-saving coupons made to look like passports, which can be used for various destination spots. "The partners we work with will offer printable coupons that allow people to come to the Web site, whether they are local or traveling, print them out and take them with them," Strup said. "It's a great savings." Twice a month, Insider's Passport sends out a newsletter updating readers on new destination spots, coupons and what's going on in the community. "We have people who sign up from all over, including New York, Florida, Missouri and California," Parr said. "I think the only place no one has signed up is Alaska and we're working on that," she said, laughing. Readers can become eyes and ears for the site by sending in recommendations and acting as guest bloggers. "It's not just the Insider's Passport perspective," Parr said. "It's also the perspective of the people who live in the area." Insider's Passport also features "Hey Bartender," a weekly blog guide to wine, beer and spirits written by Brian Artis, head bartender, at Blue Talon in Williamsburg. "It gets so much traffic," Parr said. "He talks about cocktails and different recipes and ties things in with culinary events. He's developed quite a following." The site is financed through numerous partnerships including the Richmond Kickers, a soccer team; the Virginia Aquarium; Virginia Music Theatre and Bad Ass Coffee, which are featured in the newsletters and on the Web site. "We have developed banners for our partners," Parr said. "We want to not only give readers coming to the site a great resource but links back to our partners that give them maximum exposure to all who sign up on the site and our newsletter." The use of social media tools like Twitter gives the site additional exposure. In the future, Strup and Parr look forward to branching out to different cities, and others have requested Insider's Passport for their states. For the duo, the journey has only begun. "We have been doing this for a year and have had a tremendous amount of success," Parr said. "Robin and I can stand behind this 100 percent because we feel these destinations are the best of the best." In the owners words Michelle Parr and Robin Strup, talked to Inside Business about Insider's Passport, which was founded in May 2008. It's a travel destination Web site for Williamsburg, Richmond and Virginia Beach that offers resources for locals and out-of-towners looking to vacation or day travel in the area. Hardest part about launching the business: Time management. When you work for a large corporation there are people in place who do specific things. When you own your own business, you do it all. You do everything from making sure the website is working, meeting with partners and dealing with conference calls. It's great and we like it but you have a lot to do. We have to work with writers and web developers. It's all about learning how to balance everything and deal with time management. We compliment each other very well when it comes to dealing with these tasks. Each of us wears a different hat. We've learned how to step back and stay on the right path. It's important to a making your business a success. A lesson learned: Being able to embrace flexibility. When you have a plan in your head, you want to execute it the way you see it. Things start to evolve and turns into something you didn't envision. We can now take a look back and not be afraid of change. It makes things better. When you take a step back, you see things in a more clear way. Different doesn't necessarily mean its bad or wrong. Another lesson learned was not to always go to places that we know well. Go out and see out unknown places in the area. Just because it wasn't part of the original plan doesn't mean that it wouldn't work. Biggest risk you took: Going out on a limb and starting a business. You're emotionally tied to it. It's such a unique, fresh and risky idea, that you think others won't feel the same way about it. You want people to see it for what it is; a travel resource website. It was just a little unnerving because you think it won't click with people. There is some uncertainty when it comes to starting a business. Biggest obstacle you overcame: In the beginning, people thought it was like the Yellow Pages, and that's not what it is. It's not a directory. We think it's much different from that. Another obstacle was realizing that you won't make a lot of money from it in the beginning. You shouldn't be looking for immediate gratification. For us it's a labor of love. Greatest innovation: Our website is truly a complete package. We offer printable coupons and other components that make the site useful to our visitors. We have a section called "What's the Deal?" where people can see what type of deals that's being offered right now. In terms of innovation, I think the website is an invention. Is the business earning a profit?: It's earning a small one right now. We were able to start this business without any loans. We purposely did this in the smartest way possible. We put our time and resources on the line. We have been able to accomplish a lot without going into debt. Web site: www.insiderspassport.com; twitter.com/ipWMBG; twitter.com/ipRIC; twitter.com/ipVABEACH Address and Phone: 1176 Jamestown Road, Ste. A, Williamsburg 23185; (757) 561-2121 Financed?: Self-financed Legal structure: LLC Marketing?: We have a strategic relationship with various partners. For instance, we partnered with the Richmond Kickers, a soccer team. They highlight us at their games. We do a lot of grassroots marketing with the community. Our drive is to branch out and get them coming to the website with our newsletters and Twitter. How is the current economic situation affecting your business?: When we first started, we wanted to do places like Memphis, Miami or other places outside of Virginia. In this economy, people aren't traveling far and are staying within the region. With other businesses we try to convince them that when the market is a little tighter, it's not the time to bury your head in the sand. They need to find more cost effective ways of marketing their business. Click here to read the article on InsideBiz.com. Quote this article on your siteTo create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :  Powered by QuoteThis © 2008 |
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