It is a hard thing to lead a tour with no energy… when you have almost no enthusiasm left in your body.
This week we finally tackle the tough question of how do you avoid burnout as a tour guide? This is one of the most common questions I’ve received from tour leaders around the world and it is one of the biggest challenges we can face.
You don’t have to be a tour leader for very long during a busy peak season to understand how much energy you need as a tour guide. And we all know that the more enthusiasm and passion you show, the better the experience for your guests, right? But we know there are times when all you want to do is run and hide from your group.
In this episode, I share eight techniques I’ve learned over the years for keeping your energy up. As a full-time tour guide for five years, I had to balance my life and work constantly, and this is how I was able to survive.
Have a look through it and give them a try. Maybe some will work for you, maybe some won’t. But I know from experience it takes a lot of discipline to keep yourself balanced, healthy and happy.
Hang in there if you are in the midst of an energy crisis… we are going to get through this together! As a kindness, pass this video along to someone who might need a little bit of a booster.
-Kelsey T
P.S. Here is the link to our Free Video Course on How to Double your Tips
P.S. Here is a great link to a blog post on How to set your tour prices to increase revenue!
Finished Watching?
Let’s give each other a helping hand out there! How do you keep your energy up as a tour guide? What do you do to keep from getting burnt out? Share it with the community in the comments below!
Transcript:
Hi everyone and welcome to beabetterguide.com. I am your hostess with the mostess, Kelsey Tonner. Today, we are talking how not to get burned out as a tour guide, how to keep you energy, enthusiasm up.
This is an issue that I know so many of you are dealing with right now. We get lots of questions to the site about, “How do I keep my enthusiasm up?” I will tell you what, I am here for you. We are going to get through this together. Here are eight suggestions for helping out.
One, do not work so damn hard!
The reality is, if you are feeling burnt out, you are probably leading way too many tours, and working way too many hours.
This is tough especially during peak season because the customers are there, your tours are full, you are making a lot money, but you really got to figure out what your schedule looks like and when you crossed that line too much.
For me, when I was leading back-to-back tours, two-week-long tours and if I had to do a third one in a row, I would literally die. On like the second or third day, my energy would bottom out. I was a terrible tour guide.
It was not a good situation for me, for my employer, for the guest, or anybody. You got to figure out what does that look like for you. If you are leading shorter tours, can you do four days in a row, five days in a row? What are the days that you can take off to get some time to rest?
Two, can’t afford to take your time off?
Then, think about raising your prices. There are all kinds of really smart business strategies for dealing with your prices during peak demand.
One, raise your prices during the weekends, or times when there is a lot of demand for your tour.
Two, raise your prices during peak season. So that way you do not have to work as many tours to get the same kind of money.
Thirdly, just raise your prices generally. You are an awesome tour guide. Your tour is worth it, so just bump those prices up so you do not have to work as hard, and if you are working for a company and you are thinking, “Well, I do not have a lot of control over my wages.”
You can negotiate with them, or check out our free video course on how to double and sometimes even triple your gratuities. There are all kinds of ideas in there for earning you more money.
Three, lead a different tour.
This was super important for me when I was guiding. If I got to go to a new place, have a new experience, be a guide with some new co-workers or had to learn some new material, that really kept me energized and kept me fresh.
It felt like it just got out of the routine. You guys know what I am talking about. What does this look like for you? Can you work with your employer to maybe work with somebody different, or take a different tour? If you are doing this on your own, can you just design an entirely new tour?
Maybe do it for a niche group of customers, or a particular interest in your city or location. Try and create a new tour, and that is going to keep things fresh.
Four, can’t create or lead a new tour?
Then, throw out your script. You know how much control you have over what you say and what you do not say.
My challenge to you is, to throw out everything. This is going to take some work and is kind of scary too. All that stuff that you can just rattle off, you are not allowed to say that anymore. That is going to force you to learn new things. It is going to force you to maybe go on other tours.
Do a little more research, maybe go to the library. Find out some new stories that you can share with your guests.
Five, sleep more.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has publicly stated that people are not getting enough sleep. Study after study shows that this is a health epidemic.
There are all kinds of consequences for you as a tour guide, but also for all of us and all of our workplaces. If you are tired, or groggy; your judgment is affected.
If you are driving, guests, anywhere, depending on what sort of tour guide you are, you could really be putting yourself at risk, and the lives of others if you are overtired. Really take this seriously.
How you are going to get more sleep? Here are some things that worked for me: One, get up and go to bed at the same time. That gets your body in a rhythm. Two, avoid eating big meals right before you go to bed.
Avoid consuming a ton of alcohol or caffeine right before bed. Studies show that affects your sleep, and the quality of your sleep. Lastly, smoking and nicotine can do the same thing.
Six, eat healthier.
Now, I got this statistic from a fellow tour director named Nick Manning who wrote an excellent book, How to be a Great Tour Guide.
He said that the RAND Corporation did a study of 250 restaurants in North America, and it found that once you added up everything that people were eating in a restaurant, on average, 95% of people were getting around 1600 calories per meal in one sitting, just one meal a day.
To put that perspective, me as your average male, I only need about 2000 calories for the entire day. If your job involves eating out with your guests, lunches, dinners, those sorts of things; that is going to be a lot of calories that you do not need.
I should mention that study did not even include alcohol. To keep healthy when you are on tour, reach for those salads, reach those soups, and try and keep your calorie intake down. Avoid sodas whenever possible, and maybe skip out on the dessert.
Seven, exercise.
As we heard off the top, exercise is literally the prevention for almost every disease that you can think of. From heart disease to stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and even anti-ageing. Regular exercise is going to help keep you fresh.
What happens when you exercise is the endorphins get released in your body, and chemically you are going to feel better. You are going to feel recharged and refreshed.
Every single day, try and work in a brisk walk, a jog. Whatever that is to you, a bike ride, something like that, and you will feel better I promise.
Finally, number eight.
Take the time to do things you love. This is so important for me, and I put it last because I really think it is one of the most important things you can do.
I found nowadays, our days are filled up with things that we just do. But not really things that we love doing. I am thinking here of maybe scrolling on that Facebook newsfeed, checking out my friends on Instagram, binge-watching Netflix; gossip sites.
The internet can really be the sort of vortex that we get sucked into. You have got time in your day to really get intentional about how you are using that time.
What is something that really makes you happy? Is it reading? Is it learning something? Is it maybe dinner with friends? Is it taking time to visit with your family?
Whatever those things are for you, make sure that they are fitting in your life, because I know the hectic schedule of a tour leader do not always have time to do them, but we are going to try and make it happen.
These are some ideas for reducing your burnout and keeping your energy up. I really know what you guys are going through if you are feeling that burnout. I was there.
This is a tough job that we do. You are doing amazing. Take the time to take care of yourself, and everything is going to be okay. I want to hear it from you, in the comments below, how do you keep your energy up? How do you keep from getting burned out?
I want to hear your suggestions for everybody here at Be a Better Guide. Thanks so much for tuning in this week. I will see you next time.
