Mission: Possible

Mission: Possible

ENTREPRENEURS by Jean Gruss | Editor/Lee-Collier

Brian Jones has gone two years without a paycheck to build his company, Adventure Training Concepts. But the retired U.S. Army Ranger hasn't given up and it's starting to pay off.

When you're an attorney, losing your tongue is like a piano player losing a finger.

Just ask Jim Nici, managing partner of law firm Cox & Nici in Naples, who had his tongue sliced off recently while searching for a lost temple.

O.K., Nici didn't really lose his tongue. It was taken away, figuratively speaking, when he defied the rules of an elaborate Indiana Jones-style team-building game organized by Adventure Training Concepts. "I had to go through the next event blind-folded and mute," Nici recalls.

Nici still came through by leading his team using only his hands to get through the obstacles. "It helped reaffirm who I am," he says.

Brian Jones, the chief executive officer of Adventure Training, can sympathize. After two years of struggles, the retired U.S. Army Ranger is finally landing new business for his unique Naples-based corporate training program. With a projected $3.5 million in revenues this year, Jones can finally afford to pay himself a salary for the first time.

It hasn't been easy. For one thing, Jones, 51, had to set his offering apart from the dozens of team-building programs that are out there, many of which are mediocre at best. He had to persuade companies to part with thousands of dollars to pay for his program and trust that his upstart firm could deliver on its promises of improving employee performance.

What's more, Jones had to invest the life savings he and his wife, Michelle, had accumulated and live off his small armed forces pension while hoping for a paycheck one day. Finding a site to bring customers to proved more difficult, as land prices soared and landowners were reluctant to lease because of liability concerns.

Raising money wasn't easy either. Jones had to learn to adapt to the demands of prospective investors, not an easy task when you've worked for the government for most of your professional life.

In 2006, Adventure Training notched five customers for the entire year. Now, the company has that same number of customers in just one month.

Have fun, learn more

Jones built his leadership-development company on the idea that people remember things better when they have fun. To be exact, he says studies show people learn 30% more when their adrenaline's pumping.

So Jones created a series of adventures that he organizes in parks, on leased land and even on hotel grounds.

In "Operation Pilot Rescue," the mission is to locate and recover a downed pilot that has been flying a reconnaissance mission over dangerous territory. In "Operation Shipwreck," a sightseeing tour of the Everglades takes an exciting twist when a distress flare shoots up in the sky and the tour becomes a rescue mission.

The participants aren't told in advance that they're involved in a team-building exercise; only that they're just going on a company cruise. An ancient warrior chief complicates matters as they attempt a rescue plan, by which time the unsuspecting participants realize they're in a mock adventure.

These adventures are carefully scripted and Jones assembles the teams of participants who have answered a 28-question personality test in advance. "I know who's not going to like to be there," Jones grins.

The programs last from two hours to three days, but much can be accomplished in five to six hours. Cost ranges from $170 to $440 per person for an eight-hour program, depending on the adventure you pick and how many people participate.

"We feel that every single event has to be polished, rehearsed and done so the clients feel they received very good value for their money," says Jim O'Reilley, a management consultant in Bonita Springs who is on Adventure Training's board of advisors. "It's not a performance that can come out of a can."

That's important because there are many corporate training programs available and their reputation isn't stellar. "That's why I hate to use the term 'team building'," Jones says, noting, however, that there are few alternatives that describe the program better.

Jones' background fighting for this country in places such as Iraq and Somalia boosts his credibility. "He had the kind of integrity that we could rely on," O'Reilley says. "We also felt he had the ethical standards that would come across to the customer. You can't build a company in that industry without that component."

No pay for two years

Jones and his wife, Michelle, a captain in the U.S. Army and now the company's director of sales and marketing, moved to Naples to start Adventure Training after attending the funeral of a friend who had started a similar business. "We invested everything we had into this," Jones says. "I've put in way over $200,000."

In his search for additional financing, Jones made a presentation to the Gulf Coast Venture Forum, a group of wealthy investors in Naples who gather regularly to meet entrepreneurs and explore investment opportunities. Although the presentation was a bust, Jones met O'Reilley and the two formed an advisory board composed of local business executives.

O'Reilley helped Jones set priorities and figure out how much it would cost to organize the programs and what they had to charge customers. He also attended some of the adventures and was impressed by what he saw.

At one event, O'Reilley recalls all the hotshot salespeople were in one group and the company's slower planners were in another. The planners won the event by a wide margin and they discussed how and why that happened and how to apply it to their business. "That was a very good thing to see," O'Reilley says.

But getting customers was tough. "We were unknown," Jones says. A deal to get financing and land for a course was delayed and putting up and tearing down equipment on leased land took time away from marketing. In 2006, Adventure Training had just five customers.

Still, Jones was undeterred, says Nici, the attorney who recently went through the "Lost Temple" adventure and has done legal work for Adventure Training. "Entrepreneurs have a passion for what it is they're doing and that passion supercedes the need for money."

Word of Jones' program spread, however. "Part of the marketing strategy is to try to sell people who influence others," O'Reilley says.

For example, Jones hosted a group of seven company presidents who belonged to an organization called Young Presidents of Canada. The requirement for membership is you have to be the young leader of a company with revenues in excess of $50 million. Jones expects more business to flow exponentially from that event. "They're connected to 3,000 others," he says.

Expanding nationally

Jones is closing on a five-acre tract off Immokalee Road in North Collier County near Interstate 75. That will let him set up a permanent obstacle course for various themed adventures in which four teams can maneuver easily. The course will include a one-acre maze.

He's not too concerned about a slowing economy. "When people are facing harder times, that's when they need us," Jones says. For example, a major Miami-based food distribution company took their senior management team through the Adventure Training program after a dismal year when no one got bonuses. Jones designed a program to rebuild trust among the executives who had started to blame each other for the company's disappointing results.

So far, Jones has four employees. He contracts from a list of about 30 retired soldiers if he needs to add staff. In 2008, Jones expects revenues of about $3.5 million and hopes to double that in 2009.

If that happens, Jones is eyeing an expansion to Atlanta, corporate headquarters for numerous companies. Land is less expensive in Georgia and he'll be able to shuttle participants by bus to a new location there. Phoenix, Ariz., and Dallas also are on the map. "A lot of my clients alternate between Phoenix and Naples," Jones says.

Jones is not shy about what he wants to accomplish. "We're going to change corporate America," he says.

Tips from

a leader

Brian Jones learned leadership in combat in place such as Iraq and Somalia. Corporate executives might consider a few of his battle-tested tips for good leadership:

• Words mean nothing without action.

• Know your employees' strengths and weaknesses so you can understand how your team will perform.

• Keep morale high. Customers can sense immediately when they step into your workplace whether your colleagues are happy or not.

• Make sure the right people are on your team.

• Take time off to plan for the future.

• Take time off to bond through personal interaction, such as barbecues with families or taking a class together.

• Have fun. People retain 30% more information when they're having a good time.

REVIEW SUMMARY

Company. Adventure Training Concepts

Industry. Leadership and team-building programs

Key. Incorporate fun into a serious program and people will learn more.