Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Ep. 50: Built a Global Travel Business at 23—Now 400,000+ Customers - Roso Travel (Weronika Sipak)
Transcript
- Joe: Most travel companies sell tickets. This one built a global machine for unforgettable experiences. Welcome to the Glovisor Podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through real conversations with people that make an impact. guest is the founder of Roso Travel, a global travel company serving over 400,000 customers across 30 countries and six continents. She built the business from scratch at the age of 23 and speaks on entrepreneurship, scaling global companies, remote leadership, and business growth strategy. Glovisor welcomes Weronika Sipak Weronika: Thank you very much for this warm invitation and I'm happy to be here with you today. Joe: All right. So Weronika, we're going to start off with please share with us a little bit more about what you do. Weronika: Yes, of course. So thank you very very much for this in introduction. at Roso Travel we organized guided tours in over one hundred cities all over the the world. We started in Poland and that was the first place when we started, in Gdańsk actually, and then Poland, Europe, now we have US, South America, and also we are starting we are we are launching Asia actually just now, Bali. we organize guided tours and we do it always with the expert guides so this this is our like mission always to provide our customers the best experience that's why we are doing this with experts who have like huge experience and a lot of knowledge so that we we all can always provide the best experience. Our mission as a company is to organize the experience which will give you the mo memories you will have for the lifetime so that's that's our mission and yes that's that's what we do every single day and we have the remote team which is based In two countries, in Poland and India, and we hire it now fifty five people in the office. Joe: Well, that's quite a growth. but let me s just ask you a quick question here. Are these preset trips or can I contact you directly and say, Weronika, I want to go here and I want to do this. How does that work? Weronika: Yeah. So basically we have mostly presets strips and I will tell you why. That's the business case actually. So first when we started we are doing both like the pre preset strips and also more customized trips. But when you want to scale the company, the cases that's you know, the those customized tours usually take like a lot of time to prepare. we have two thousand private tours across all cities when we offer our tours. So basically Each tour can have a few options, like two, three, four-hour options. Depends what you choose. You can do you know, a few things, see see a few things more, or have like dinner also among the tour. So basically, it's like this that we rather want to give you our expertise and share with you what we know that this we have the those and those options, but If you want we can also make the customization. But in general we we are prepared this way that the customizations are really not needed because we already have very good tools prepared before. Joe: Got it. And now for these group tours, are there minimum number of people or a maximum? Weronika: So we have two types of tours. first type is private tours, and those private tours we organize in every and in every city, and also we have group tours, and those tours are run like this: that for example, every single day we have a few tours in London for Westminster Abbey, and you can join this tour you have a few different groups on the tour. Those tours are cheaper, but also you know you share the tour, you should you share the guide with with others. But those tours we do in 10 cities and the in the rest of the cities we have private tours. Also depends on the on the language. for example in Vienna we offered tour we offered tours in twenty-nine languages, but shared like group tours we have in in five languages. Because you have some some you know very specific languages and there are not so there is no so much demand for this. So it from the business case, from the the it's like this that we don't do it for the for every single day, but the c customer can buy it for the for from the private tour. From my personal experience, private tours are you know incredible from this point of view that you can ask everything and you can adjust the tour to yourself. If you are tired and you simply want to sit and have a coffee, you can do it. If you want to have a lunch, you can do it. If you can if you would like to ask more questions about for example, culture than history, you can always do it. For the group tours, you know, the guide has to adjust the program to. big group and that group can com can be you know combined with the people from a lot of different countries. So of course the customization is is much harder. So but it's also nice experience. I always recommend to go for for those two two types and choose what you like more personally. Joe: So now what inspired you to pursue this career path? Weronika: during my faculty, which was totally not connected to with this area because I was studying on IT faculty. but when I was student, I joined the student organization, which was c which is called ISEC, and ISEC showed me this entrepreneurship, like How we can create amazing things in the world. ISEC is the like the biggest students organization, international students organization. And you know, I met their people which created one of the best, biggest companies in Poland. They were working on the top level you know management positions in like the biggest corporations in the world. So basically ISIC ISEC showed me what is possible. that everything is possible and if we set up ourselves like huge goals then we can we c we can do it. So that was like the first inspiration. Okay. I I don't really need to like simply work like on the let's let's say standard path. I can choose something which is bigger which will like you know make me grow and I can do like amazing thing in this world. So basically that was the first you know idea that I would really would like to have my own company. And I set up myself the deadline that on the fourth grade of my studies I want to create a the company. So I set myself the deadline and I encouraged my boyfriend back back in time to join me so we can start something together. And that's somehow that we started to think what we can do. And so this is very unusual path because normally it's like you know someone is just you know has some passion for for for some specific area or is like the expert in some area some area and then start the business in this case. In my case it was totally different. let's let's say it's kind of funny when I'm talking like right now about it, you know, nine years later, four hundred thousand customers later. It's kind of interesting, but you know, back in time I was not like let's say Saying about this, like, you know, so officially, let's say, because it was like not something which say I could be proud of that I'm not an expert and I'm doing the company like this. I had to really work on myself and of course learn a lot because that was what was needed. So first I had to learn a lot how to do it, and yeah, but I was I was al always like you know let's say a huge fan of traveling. So that is like very close to my heart. And right now that I I know that is very close to my heart. Also I you know, I like to study, I like to learn. So like the guided tours are you know, about exploring the city, getting to know the city. So this is like very close to my heart. But back in time it was like from very different angle, let's say. So I'm saying this that's you know maybe maybe someone hasn't any idea for the business yet. But that's it doesn't mean that you know if you don't have anybody business idea yet that you would not start the business. Simply you you need to set up yourself the deadline. Okay, this day I'm starting and I will choose some ideas and from those ideas I choose one and then I will check if this idea works works out actually. Joe: Well, I like that you chose something that was close to your heart. And I think that's important, right? Because it it gives you a real basis to really move forward and to grow from there. one of the challenges that I can see of starting a business such as this is scaling to other countries. in dealing with the different individuals to coordinate all of these moving parts that a business like this requires. has that been a challenge for you? Weronika: Yes, that's a challenge for sure. but first what we did, we started, you know, from one city in Poland to another city in Poland. So that was the like first, let's say, growth, like more local, but still to the other cities. So we knew how to do it online, let's say, on this on this level, how how we can technically do it. But there were other barriers which we didn't expect actually, and those were connected with the nationality. So we are from Poland, we are based in Poland, and you know, there were people which didn't have like so good opinion about Poland. So there were cases like guides at the very beginning were scared, for example, to work with us. But we could do it Another way, like this way that for example we were like doing this way that we were sending the money to the guide before the tour. So he had the money on the account, we knew we knew that we will not cheat on him, and this way we were building trust. And right now we have very good opinion. They know that we always pay on time, or even sometimes before before time. That was a process. It's you know, right now we are for example in Vienna on the market five years. So after that that five years we are, you know, one of the best, if not the best, you know, company to cooperate for for the guides and they really appreciate work with us. But at the very beginning they were scared. Just like that this is the true word. They were scared because, you know, Poland for sure is not known globally from the travel industry or in general, Now it's changed. Like it after the that few years when I was, you know, last this year in Florida, I you know I was speaking to a lot of people from US and heard a lot of amazing things. But you know back in time it was like a little bit different. so people were a little bit scared. but you know, we get our point and now it's I was it now it's easy, but we had the time when we had to simply find our way to build the trust. Joe: And I'm I'm sure that that's one of the biggest issues that I wasn't even thinking about when I asked you this question. I'm thinking just logistically, right? Just coordinating people and all of that. But trust is a huge thing. And and I can see that in but you're on the other side of that now because you've proven yourself in many different countries. Now I I'm sure that it's the other way around where people want to work with you even before you approach them. That's probably the case. Now Weronika: Yes, that's right. Joe: If one of our listeners wanted to work with you, what would that journey look like? Weronika: we have this kind of rule that customer can book the tool today for tomorrow. So like we have a few thousand guides, let's say we we with whom we cooperate with. So it's mostly works like this that we have we are in c in contact we are let's say discussing the general terms and we start for for one tour so the the guide can have a look how are our tours like how do we work from organization outside and then depends on the city because in some cities we have more tours some cities less like in Vienna or or London we have like a lot of tours then for example the guide can have you know even Like a few tours per week when we can cooperate. what is like always important for us is the rate from the customers. So what we always track is the the rate which customer gave gave to the guide. But it's like officially we always say this because it's very important for us as the company to provide the best guided tours and the best experience to the customer. So we always track it, we always share it with the guides so they can have the feedback as well from the customer. And this is you know one of the most important factors for us, which we track every single day. So the our so to make sure that our customers are satisfied. Joe: Now, one of the things that just came to mind is let's just say taking, for example, the London tour. Weronika: Yeah. Joe: Do you travel to that location to learn about the subjects, the what would be interesting to whomever is going to take your tour? Or Weronika: No. Joe: do you just genuinely just know this from afar? You just know what's valuable and what needs to be highlighted, and you require that of your tour guides. Weronika: usually like first steps in every single destination we do online. So that's the the first the first twin thing. But we have our you know patterns because we already organized like like many tours. So we know what our customers like, what they don't like, and usually we do like let's say similar tours in other in other cities basically. So we we we know how to make the content but what we do that when we have the tools which are our best sellers then from time to time I'm going for example to Vienna or London as a silent customer. So I'm joining the tour and checking how it's how it works. And you know from organizational sides I'm checking my team if they are replying fast to the to the message that I'm late for example I'm late I cannot find the guy guide so what should I do and I'm checking what is their reaction how fast they how how fast they reply what's very important what we do, we do the tours with always with expert guides. To become the licensed guide, you need to have huge knowledge, you have to pass like historical exams, etc. So you have to really be prepared prepared for this job. It's like a few a few few years sometimes to pass those exams. So that's why we are always working with very qualified people. Of course not all of them have the same skills if it comes to the presentation. So from this point of view we have some guide guide guidelines for the for them. So they can for example they have this kind of checklist, what should they how they should start the tour, what should should what should they do do during the tour and after. so that's what what we do to, you know, make sure that the we can somehow have those points which are important from us and for our customers that we already know from through those years. Joe: Now you mentioned testing. Is this a third party organization that conducts these tests? Weronika: No, usually we do it by our own, you know, it's simply you can put annoy you know, was it y remember that we are working online, remotely. So we we we like we don't know each other so much if it comes to face to face. Of course some people we already know, but we work with many guides, so sometimes when you will go to some tour they will not know who I am and then they will get to know afterwards, you know. So yeah, but we don't use the third parties. We Joe: you really get to see from the customer's perspective what they're experiencing. So that makes Weronika: Mm-hmm. Yes. Joe: a lot of sense. I've seen a lot of independent travel agents. Do you have a process or a way to collaborate with these independents for them to send customers in your direction? Weronika: Yeah, so basically what we what we do personally, we only organize like a few hour e experiences and activities. So how do we cooperate with agencies? They usually work with us on this way that they buy let's say our tours. And they at our tours to their whole like let's say trip schedule. Joe: Now, would you be able to share with us a client success story? Weronika: let's say experience from the last two days. So basically in our company you can buy the tours today for tomorrow because we know that usually it's like this that some people are In the spot and somehow they don't have the idea what they want to do on the next day, and we want to really provide them this possibility. So we got the booking for 90 people in Warsaw in Russian language, like in the evening for the next day. It's really no not easy to do this tour because we have also this rule that there must be one guide per 30 people, because for 90 people they would not hear one guide for sure. So we had to find free guides in Russian language for the for the next day. And my team managed to do it. I'm I'm very glad for this Joe: If listeners remember only one thing from today's conversation, what do you hope that message is? Weronika: what is very important for me personally, especially like last time, is like time flows very fast. And either from business or personal case, it's important that we spend our time wisely, the way that we don't regret every single day. So if you want to start the business, start the business. If you want to start the family, do it, but simply do it this way that you always take care of your values. If you're if you take for for example, for me, the value is like health, family, and business, those three things. And I so I always want to give like my time to those three areas. And I think this is very important for us as the business owners to don't forget about our other values, not only about the business case. Because life is going very fast. So it's good to do everything what we want to do. Joe: That is great advice. And the you're totally right. It flies by. And health, love, and wealth, those are the major things of life. Where can our audience connect with you, learn more about your work, and continue this conversation? Weronika: Yeah, so with me personally you can connect through LinkedIn or or for example Instagram and you can find me on my personal name which is Veronika Sipak or Weronika how do you say in English with W and K because this is Polish spelling and if it comes my company Russo Travel you can also find us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or or LinkedIn. we share some more about some destinations when we do the tours, some tips, etc. So If you would like to connect, it would be nice to find you there. Joe: Weronika, thank you so much for joining us. And we appreciate all of your time and the value that you've shared. Weronika: Thank you so much. It was so pleasure to be here with you, Joe. You give amazing value to the to the to the world. And I keep my fingers crossed for for this and I am sure that it will grow more and more in the next months and years. Joe: Thank you. Thank you everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to follow the Glovisor Podcast for more conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.