Startup funds help students launch kayak rental business - Jody Lawrence-Turner The Spokesman-Review
A retired lawyer and a professional poker player made a pitch to a Newport High School marketing class: Come up with a viable business plan, and we’ll finance it.

Students Madie Merrill, Jared Barranco and Michael Rapp’s idea of a full-service kayak rental business – Bear Naked Adventures – was exactly what they had in mind. The business opened July 18 in Rotary Park in Oldtown, Idaho, near Newport, Wash., next to a boat launch for the Pend Oreille River.

“Everybody is really excited someone is utilizing the river (for a business),” said Barranco, one of the temporary business owners. “We’ve had some pretty good business, but we got a late start because the river was so high this year.”

The business was created and financed through the Pend Oreille Microenterprise Development Organization, a new nonprofit created by Barb Smith and Phil Gordon, who moved to Newport after living in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Smith spent most of her life in Vancouver, B.C., before joining Gordon, who has won millions in poker tournaments worldwide.

“My husband and I wanted to do something in the community that was working with kids and starting a new small business,” Smith said. “We started the nonprofit with the idea that if we do this right the first time, then maybe we could expand. We would finance it and provide mentoring, but they (the teens) needed to basically take over the business.”

The students meet with the nonprofit organization’s board about all aspects of the business. So there’s guidance, but the teens execute the ideas and run it.

Bear Naked Adventures cost about $12,000 to get up and running, which includes eight tandem kayaks, two singles, life jackets, a kiosk, a van and trailer to pick up the kayaks and the customers after they’ve reached one of four portages.

“The nonprofit basically loans the company money, then as the company becomes profitable, the loan will be paid back and that will be used to fund another microenterprise,” said Smith, who is also the Newport Chamber of Commerce president. “So the money can be used again and again.”

The nonprofit got most of the startup funds from a grant through the Public Utility District, which had money available for developing businesses focused around the Pend Oreille, one of 20 rivers in the nation that flow north.

Smith plans to keep its microenterprises focused on the river. For example, Smith said maybe down the road there could be another kayak rental business created in Cusick and run by high school students there.

Merrill and Rapp, Newport High School seniors, and Barranco, a Washington State University freshman, have signed a contract to stay with the business for two years.

Barranco said he will do more technical work since he’ll be in Pullman, such as managing the business’s website and Facebook page.

“It’s a lot more work than you think,” Barranco said.

“At first, we thought it would just be lots of fun. It’s a good wake-up call for what’s about to happen.”

Smith added, “I think they are doing a really good job. I think they had no idea of what running your own business meant; it’s a steep learning curve. They (the students) seem really enthusiastic about it. They are working really hard.”

Bear Naked Abound with Adventure
Nick Ivie- Priest River Times

OLDTOWN — With the weather finally starting to warm it’s time to hit the water and Bear Naked Adventures, LLC. is open for business and offering a fun and relaxing opportunity to experience the spectacular Pend Oreille River up close and personal with one of their sit-on-top kayaks. 

Bear Naked started in the spring of 2011 when Pend Oreille Microenterprise Development Organization (POMDO) approached Newport High School with the idea of wanting to sponsor a student-run kayak rental business.  Interested students were asked to research and present a business plan for the venture and, from there, start to develop the business.

Jared Barranco, Maide Merrill and Michael Rapp rose to the challenge and adopted the business as their own.

Guided by their POMDO advisory team of Greater Newport Area Chamber of Commerce President Barb Smith, professional poker player Phil Gordon and Newport School District CTE/Technology Director Steve Shumski, the students have navigated their way to launch Bear Naked Adventures.

The group held their first inaugural paddle last Monday afternoon and officially opened for business on Tuesday, July 19.

Another great aspect of booking with Bear Naked is not having to worry about lugging a kayak around or paddling up river against the current to get back to your starting point.  Their full or half day rental includes use of their brand new wilderness systems sit-on-top kayaks (tandem or single), paddles and personal flotation devices along with transportation back to their launch site.

The launch site is located at the City of Oldtown/Rotary Park on the south side of Highway 2 where it crosses the Pend Oreille River.  Depending on how fast you paddle and whether you book a full or half day rental, you can choose from three pick-up locations down river — Sandy Shores, Gregg’s Addition or the public boat launch just after the bridge in Usk.

During the summer season, they anticipate requiring up to five employees per day to work a combined total of 40 hours a day or between 240-280 hours a week.  Projected direct payroll, new local jobs being created, is in excess of $40,000 a year for this primarily seasonal business.

Assuming the business model proves itself, it could be easily duplicated down river to create a network of “sister” businesses along the Pend Oreille River Water Trail, on local lakes, and potentially even Priest River, run in a similar private/school (or tribal) partnership model.

Advance reservations are recommended either by booking online at www.bearnakedadventures.com, calling (509) 795-0424 or via e-mail at customer@bearnakedadventures.com

 Walk-up customers are also welcome.

Half-day rentals are $45 and full-day rentals are $80.

Bear Naked Adventures is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Labor Day weekend and then select weekends in September. 

Half-day rentals start at 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 1:30 p.m. daily

and full-day rentals starting anywhere between 8-10 a.m.

Student Operated Kayak Rental Business Takes Off
Don Gromming- The Newport Miner

OLDTOWN – “Did you show them how to use the paddle?” Steve Shumski asks Jared Barranco, 18, as Barranco prepares to launch two paddlers into the Pend Oreille River.

Barranco assures him he has but runs through it once more anyway. Then he steers the two people out into the river.

The occasion is the first launch for Bear Naked Adventures, a kayak rental business that will operate out of the boat launch at the Rotary Park in Oldtown. Barranco is one of three teenage managers for the business, which is the first project of the Pend Oreille Microenterprise Development Organization (POMDO). Barb Smith is the chairwoman of the board of POMDO. She is also the president of the Greater Newport Area Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Phil Gordon, have put up their money and time to help launch Bear Naked Adventures.

“It’s a big learning experience,” she said Monday afternoon at the launch. The idea is for young people to get actual experience running a business.

There are seven young people involved in the business, along with two paid drivers.

The business is straight forward. People can rent kayaks for $45 for a half day or $80 a day. They can kayak downstream on the Pend Oreille River and a truck will pick them up when they get out.

The idea grabbed Stephanie Craig, 15. She was hired as a kiosk manager for $8.67 an hour.

“I remember Mr. Shumski coming into class and asking if there was anyone who wanted to be involved in a business they could run their whole life,” Craig said. She was in Adam Daniels’ marketing class at Newport High School. “I thought I should apply.”

Shumski, who is the vice president of the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, pitched the idea for the business last winter. Shumski also works full time as the career and technical education/technology director for the Newport School District.

There were several student takers, with Barranco, Maddie Merrill and Michael Rapp being selected to be the business managers.

The three started developing a business plan, Barranco said. POMDO approached the Pend Oreille Public Utility District for some money from the revolving fund. They were awarded a $10,200 grant.

“I think it is something this area needs,” PUD commissioner Curt Knapp said. “It’s nice to get money to a start up.”

Under the guidance of Smith, Shumski and Gordon, the students continued to refine their business plan, working out the details of the business.

POMDO figures Bear Naked Adventures will take about $35,000 to start, Smith said, maybe less. This year will be sort of a learning year, she said. The wet weather and the fast running river have made this summer unusual. The plan was to start by Memorial Day but the boat launch was just recently opened.

“Next summer is when it will really hit its stride,” she said.

Barranco said there has been plenty accomplished already. The business has used the start up money to purchase a 1998 15-passenger van for $4,500. They bought 10 Wilderness Systems, sit-on-top kayaks. They have both single and double models, which cost $500 to $650 apiece, Barranco said.

They got a flat bed trailer from Gordon, which the high school shop class modified to carry the 10 kayaks. They bought a kiosk from the Rotary Club. Business licenses had to be purchased, permission to use the boat launch obtained, people hired.

“We hired them during school,” Barranco said. Prospects submitted application letters and resumes. The three managers interviewed the applicants and two kiosk managers, two kayak specialists and two adult drivers were hired.

Steven King of Oldtown was hired as a driver. He had been laid off since last March and was looking for work.

“I found the job on Craigslist,” King said. At 42, King is older than the managers. “That doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said, pointing out he had a 15-year-old son.

The drivers had to be older than 21 to drive and there were far more applicants for the driver jobs than the other ones, said Barranco, with about a dozen people applying for drivers jobs.

One of the managers, Merrill, was in Europe on a soccer tour and wasn’t able to attend the first public event for the business but Rapp was.

Bear Naked Adventures plans to cross promote with other businesses, he said. One idea is to raffle off free kayak trips to businesses that refer customers to them.

Nobody has objected to the businesses name, Barranco said. They came up with the provocative name in a brainstorming session, he said. “We wanted an association with Newport,” Barranco said. They tried versions of Newport and Grizzly Outfitters, but they were already taken, he said. They finally landed on Bear Naked Adventures, with the catch phrase “The Adventure is Better when you’re bear naked.”

They found a website – 48hourslogo.com – where they had a logo designed for less than $100. Several designers worked on logos and business owners pick the one they like the best. Barranco, who will study computer science at Washington State University, developed the Bear Naked Adventures website.

The three managers will be paid with a small hourly wage, with more money to come if the business turns a profit, Barranco said.
He and Rapp plan to work at the business for two summers.

Barranco and Rapp see Bear Naked Adventures as a great opportunity.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Barranco said.