Episode #196: Elinor Fish

Guest Bio

Elinor Fish is a Tourism Business Consultant and founder of Open Air Consulting. With over 14 years of experience building and leading an international travel company, Elinor has firsthand insight into the challenges of growing a tourism business and preparing it for sale. After successfully scaling her own company and navigating the complexities of a business exit, she now helps travel industry owners understand the true value of their companies and guides them through the process of scaling, structuring, and ultimately selling their businesses on their own terms.

Show Summary

In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Elinor Fish about her journey from founding and operating a women-only travel company to becoming a trusted consultant in tourism business sales and growth. Elinor shares her experience of building her company from a solo endeavor into an international operation with a dedicated team and explains how the pandemic and post-Covid travel surge impacted her business and contributed to her decision to sell.

Elinor dives into the importance of preparing a business for sale well in advance, focusing on creating systems that allow the company to operate independently of the owner. She discusses the due diligence process, the role of business brokers, and how early planning can greatly improve outcomes for sellers. Additionally, she emphasizes that the steps taken to ready a business for sale can also free entrepreneurs to enjoy their businesses more and avoid burnout.

Throughout the conversation, Elinor offers practical advice on managing employee concerns during ownership transitions, capturing meaningful customer feedback, and aligning business sales with personal life goals. Her insights extend beyond selling to building a sustainable, valuable asset that supports both business success and personal well-being.

Key Takeaways

• ✓ Preparing a travel business for sale is a multi-year process that involves building strong systems and documenting key operations to reduce owner dependency.
• ✓ Engaging with a consultant early allows business owners to understand current value and identify steps to increase it, rather than waiting until the sale is urgent.
• ✓ Due diligence can be an invasive and challenging phase; preparation and having a trusted advisor help ease this process and improve deal outcomes.
• ✓ Business brokers typically enter the picture when a sale is imminent, while consultants work with owners to grow and position their businesses years before selling.
• ✓ Employee retention and clear communication about leadership changes are critical factors that influence buyer confidence and deal success.
• ✓ Collecting and analyzing customer feedback through simple tools like Net Promoter Score surveys helps improve service and demonstrates business health to potential buyers.
• ✓ Intellectual property in service-based tourism businesses often resides in the owner’s knowledge; transferring this knowledge into documented systems is essential for sale readiness.
• ✓ Selling a business often involves emotional and identity shifts; planning for personal goals post-sale is as important as financial considerations.
• ✓ The same strategies that prepare a business for sale also help owners reclaim freedom and reduce burnout by creating an operation that can run without constant owner involvement.
• ✓ Starting small and taking steady steps, like booking a venue or promoting the first trip, can build momentum toward creating a successful travel business.

What You’ll Find on Open Air Consulting

• ✓ Expert guidance on understanding and increasing the value of travel and tourism businesses.
• ✓ Strategic planning support for scaling operations and building effective teams.
• ✓ Preparation services to ready a business for sale, improving readiness for due diligence and buyer inquiries.
• ✓ Advice on managing employee transitions and preserving company culture during ownership changes.
• ✓ Tools and frameworks to collect meaningful customer feedback that informs business improvements.
• ✓ Personalized consultations to align business sale timing and structure with owners’ personal and financial goals.