July 17, 2025 • 26 mins
What makes Joseph Rossi with Wildside Adventures a good neighbor?
What happens when a lifelong outdoorsman with a knack for storytelling decides to share his global connections with fellow adventure seekers? Joe Rossi's Wildside Adventures emerges as the answer—a luxury hunting and fishing tour company born from passion rather than mere business opportunity.
Rossi's remarkable journey unfolds across this captivating conversation, revealing how his 35-year corporate career at Emerson Electric provided the perfect backdrop for international exploration. His natural curiosity led to weekend hunting and fishing excursions that eventually sparked a decade-long television production showcasing outdoor adventures. Though the TV career ultimately proved unsustainable, the relationships forged with premier lodges worldwide became the foundation for Wildside Adventures.
From modest beginnings with just eight partner locations, Wild Side Adventures now boasts 45 carefully vetted lodges spanning every continent. Rossi's approach stands apart in the travel industry—he personally experiences 60-70% of the destinations he recommends, eliminating the guesswork that typically accompanies expensive adventure planning. His clients, primarily 50-80 year olds with the means and desire for exceptional experiences, benefit from this meticulous attention to detail.
The conversation takes a particularly fascinating turn when Rossi addresses hunting misconceptions, especially regarding African safaris. With passionate eloquence, he explains how regulated hunting has dramatically increased wildlife populations while providing essential protein to villages where children would otherwise go without. His firsthand accounts of delivering meat to grateful communities reveal the profound humanitarian impact these adventures can have.
What truly distinguishes Wildside Adventures is Rossi's commitment to personalization. Whether crafting a couples retreat in Panama with activities ranging from deep-sea fishing to yoga, or designing a South African itinerary featuring hot air balloon rides and game drives, each experience is tailored to exceed expectations. His story of transforming adamant non-hunters into enthusiastic participants illustrates his unique ability to open minds through authentic experiences.
Ready to discover what the world has to offer beyond the ordinary? Visit wildsidejoe.com and join the growing community of adventurers who've discovered that the best journeys begin with trusting an experienced guide.
To learn more about Wildside Adventures go to:
Wildside Adventures Travel Services
(412)352-8703
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a luxuryhunting and fishing tour company
?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
joe Rossi, with Wild SideAdventures.
Joe, how's it going?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm doing very well.
It's been raining a lot inPittsburgh, but we all know what
that's like, right?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh, certainly, yeah, it's a season for it, and
everyone forgets how to drivewhenever there's a little bit of
rain, it seems.
Well, we're excited to learnall about you and your business.
Tell us about your organization.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well, wildside Adventures Travel Service was
started about five years agoduring my actual real job.
I was working for a companycalled Emerson Electric for 35
years, but I've hunted andfished all my life and when I
started working in the utilityindustry I got to do a lot of
traveling throughout NorthAmerica and then eventually all
(01:21):
over the world and eventuallyall over the world and started
to couple my trips, weekends andextra day here and there to
hunt or fish with friends,clients and I had the luxury of
being able to travel all overthe place and I got to see some
(01:41):
really exciting things.
Back in 2005, I got this justwild idea that I wanted to
produce a television show aboutthe outdoors and about hunting
and fishing and you know, wildgame cooking was a segment that
I had on the show and I did thatfor for 10 years.
I started this I'll try thisand see what this is all about
(02:02):
had no idea how to edit, no ideahow to use a professional
camera, so I went and read andread and learned and actually
learned in a lot of collegedorms with friends that had kids
that were going to school forvideography and cinematography.
So I learned how to edit fromthese, uh, young people and
(02:25):
learned how to uh, you know,produce a show and, uh, started
doing it on my own and itactually lasted for 10 years and
over the course of that 10years I made a lot of friends
and developed a lot ofrelationships with with high-end
fishing lodges and huntinglodges all over North America.
And after the 10 years it justgot a little too expensive and
(02:48):
sponsorships were tough to getand I decided to put an end to
the TV career.
But I had all these contacts andall these people and I called
them a little bit at a time andsaid hey, you know, would you
guys be interested in me bookingand sending clients to your
lodge?
I've been there.
I really like it.
I think it would be somethingthat people would enjoy, and so
(03:11):
I started doing that and Istarted out with about eight or
nine lodges with the idea ofkeeping it small and just
specifying and going intoparticular areas of trout
fishing or deep sea fishing andthings like that.
Well, I think my website rightnow I have 45 lodges, so it just
(03:32):
mushroomed over the last fiveyears and a lot of people that
own lodges have been contactingme.
They see my Facebook andInstagram and they talk with
people who I've sent ondifferent trips.
So now I have have lodges allover the world, um, and I've
(03:53):
been to a lot of them.
I haven't, um, I've been allover, uh, north america, from
from the arctic circle, and thensouth america, central america,
all the way down to the tip ofargentina and all points in
between, um, hunting and fishingin both of those um, and then
I've got lodges up in icelandand I have lodges in ireland and
(04:16):
denmark, and you name it justabout any place on the planet
you could think of uh, and overthe last uh, over the last two
to three years, I retired frommy, uh, my regular job.
So now I'm doing this full timeand I am so busy.
It's uh, but it's a passion,it's something that I don't even
(04:38):
consider work.
I spend hours and hours here,you know, setting up trips, and
I don't know if you, if anyone,has had a chance to look at my
Google reviews, but there'sthere's about 50, 55 reviews on
there and there's not one that'sless than five, five star.
So I take a lot of pride incustomer service and showing
(05:00):
people things that they wouldnever have the opportunity or
the chance to see because theyknew nothing about it.
So that's kind of where youknow I'm a one man show.
I have some family that helpsme do some of the graphic design
.
My daughter's into that and shedoes that.
She actually worked for asafari company in South Africa
(05:20):
now and she met her husband whenI took her on a hunting trip
and ended up, you know, theyended up talking with each other
and eventually got married andnow they live in South Africa
six months out of the year andthey live in the United States
six months out of the year.
So it's been great and I I'mreally having a lot of fun, um,
(05:42):
and I I'm getting more and moreinto some entertainment,
entertainment, photo, safarikind of things where hunting is
involved.
And I understand 100% thateveryone's not a hunter and
everybody doesn't like huntingand that's fine, I have no
issues with that.
So I took I took the Africathing because I think Africa
(06:05):
people are afraid of Africa,people are afraid to experience
it and go there because theyhear, you know the media and
they see TV and you know thingslike that.
But I've already sent at leasta dozen groups to South Africa
and other parts of Africawithout hunting or fishing,
(06:25):
south Africa and other parts ofAfrica without hunting or
fishing, just sightseeing CapeTown and Victoria Falls and
Kruger National Park and PLonsberg National Park.
So I actually have a group I'mworking on right now, 34 people
going to Africa next spring.
So you know I've been quite,very busy with it and expanding
into, you know, some thingsoutside of that realm of hunting
(06:46):
or fishing, but my primaryfocus is hunting and fishing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Wow, that is brilliant.
So did you get into thebusiness through the TV show, or
what initially sparked yourinterest in this?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
business, just the fact that I had so many friends
and contacts in the industrythrough the tv business and I
just hated to let it die andfade away.
You know, I wanted to dosomething with it and I always
had, you know, people thatwatched my show and it was a
local broadcast.
It was on on fsn pittsburgh fora while and root sports.
(07:19):
You know the tri-state area,but if you had a national
package to fox sports then yousaw it all over the country and
I had a lot of people callingsaying, wow, that was really
cool.
How can I do that?
Can I go there?
What do I need to do to to goon that trip?
And so that's kind of how thetravel industry business started
.
I didn't want to give it up, Ididn't want to get out of the
(07:41):
industry and, like I said, Ihave so many friends all over
the place and I have friends inArgentina and friends in Belize
and friends in Mexico, justabout any place I go.
I've been there more than once.
I just got back the other day,on Sunday morning, I got back
(08:02):
from Cuba.
That was my sixth trip to Cubawith clients and just
fascinating.
So you know, I just I love theinteraction with people.
I love the international flairand different countries and the
cultures and I'm really intothat kind of thing and I like
sharing it with clients.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Excellent, Joe.
What are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think one of the biggest ones misconception is
hunting.
Hunting could be very, verycontroversial.
You know I get a lot of I don'twant to call it hate mail, but
I get a lot of, you knowmessages like how could you do
that, how could you, how couldyou kill those beautiful animals
?
And and I think it's a you know, it's education, a lot of it.
(08:53):
Sure, hunting is hunting andyou are taking an animal's life,
but, but especially in Africa,africa only has animals because
of hunting and that sounds crazyand it sounds confusing, but
the fact of the matter is 99% ofAfrica's revenue is generated
(09:16):
by hunting.
Revenue is generated byAmerican hunters and what
happens is it the?
Um, the property owners who ownsome of them are 200 000 acres,
which is huge.
Um, most of them, you know,they own 15, 10 000, 8 000, 20
(09:36):
000 acres.
It generates revenue to managetheir herds and it gives them
revenue to protect the animalsfrom poachers.
And about 25 years ago huntingwas banned in South Africa
because there were so manygroups against it.
So when they finished huntingthere, within 10 years, the
(09:59):
population went down ahundredfold because the animals
were being just brutally killedfor horns and tusks and ivory
and and everything.
The meat went to waste and theyfound out that you know a
population of animals thatdecreased that much.
There was a problem, so theyreintroduced hunting again back
(10:20):
in I want to say the 90s, andthe population of animals in
South Africa at that time was200,000 animals.
Today there are over 20 million.
So it's conservation, but youknow people always misconstrue
conservation with killing andsay how could that be the one
(10:43):
and the same?
And then the you know theeducational aspect of that is
I've talked with so many peoplewho are anti-hunters and didn't
appreciate hunting and when Iwould sit down for them for a
half an hour and explain thebenefits, they go oh, I never
knew that.
That's fascinating, wow, I'llhave to tell other people about
that.
So I think that when morepeople understand that and I'm
(11:08):
not saying anybody that doesn'thunt is no good, or I totally
respect everybody's opinion, ifyou don't like to hunt.
That's fine.
But where I have some issues iswhen people say, oh my God, how
could you kill that animal?
That's disgusting.
You're, you're an awful person,but yet and I've been showing
pictures of children in SouthAfrica that the safari company I
(11:32):
work with feeds hundreds andhundreds of children, starving
children, tens of thousands ofpounds of meat every day, and so
everything goes to use.
You know obviously you saw mytrophies in my game room.
You know I get the benefit ofdoing that hunt and I get the
benefit of the trophies, but Ialso get to eat everything
(11:55):
that's in this room.
Pretty much I have had some ofit to eat and the rest of it the
skin, the bones, every part ofthat animal goes to the local
villages and the amount of foodthat is provided that these kids
, they will never see a steak,they will never eat chicken,
(12:16):
they will never, you know, porkand some of the things that we
just take for granted.
They eat wild game meat andthat's their total 100% source
of protein.
So when you see that and I'vebeen to some of these villages
and and actually dropped off a50 gallon garbage bag full of
(12:37):
meat just a bag and when you putthat down.
You would think that somebodygave them, you know, a $10
million house and an airplaneand a boat.
They, they, just, they.
Just just to see the looks ontheir face and to listen to the
way they thank you, and justprofusely.
It's very humbling and it'svery emotional.
(12:58):
It's.
It's tough to see that.
You know, and you know when,when things like that happen, it
makes you feel so good thatyou're helping in a way that
some people might think is weird, you know, or strange, but I
enjoyed.
I, you know, when the first timeI went to Africa was in 2019.
(13:18):
And that was a bucket listthing for me.
It was something I want, alwayswanted to do.
I wanted to go hunting inAfrica and I said, okay, that's,
that's going to be a one anddone, I'll go over.
You know, I'll do it, I'll seeit, I'll experience it and then
I can check it off the list.
Well, I just came back in May.
I was there for a month.
That was my sixth trip toAfrica, to South Africa.
My daughter and son-in-law areliving there right now this time
(13:43):
of year because it's theirhunting season, and I love it,
absolutely, love it, absolutelylove it.
I plan to go back at least oncea year for as long as I can get
on an airplane and travel.
It's fascinating and you know,and for the non-hunting people,
I love taking them there to showthem the animals, to show them
the different parts of thecountry, how beautiful it is,
(14:04):
how friendly the people are, andyou know just what an
experience it is to go to seethat kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Wow, what great insight that you had, joe, and
how profound.
To kind of address you know theelephant in the room, if you
will, when it comes to you.
Know a hunting company and kindof these kind of misconstrued
ideas surrounding it.
So I love that you justdirectly addressed that.
(14:32):
So we know marketing is theheart of the business.
Who are your target customersand how do you attract them?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, I am working with a company out in Nevada
that's doing my website and myGoogle and search engine
optimization, instagram,facebook and that kind of thing
my website and my Google andsearch engine optimization,
instagram, facebook and thatkind of thing.
And I'm not one of the youngergeneration that can just pick up
your phone and go through andcreate an Instagram page.
(15:00):
I'm an old guy, I know how touse a computer, I can carry my
phone, but so I have peopledoing that and my target
audience is mostly 50 year oldto 75, 80 year old.
Um, you know, ladies andgentlemen, and the, the thing
that really astounded me in the,especially in the fly fishing
(15:23):
industry how many women are flyfishers and how many women
travel the world.
And it's really a cool thing tosee, uh, when you go on a trip
and there's a bunch of ladiesthat are fly fishermen and
fisher ladies or whatever youcall them.
But it's uh, uh, it's fun tosee that.
And, um, you know, being thatI'm only a single, um, you know
(15:46):
single person, company, one,just me um, I don't have a huge
budget to you know market and soI I am building, I have been
building my business pretty muchorganically.
I get a lot of you know, google,um, inquiries, uh, and that
kind of thing.
But you know what?
One of the one of the pointsthat you know I wanted to make
(16:07):
you ask how to, how did mybusiness grow, and everything?
Uh, if you I don't.
I don't know what your hobbiesare or where you like to go, if
you like to travel, but I knowthat 99.9% of all people, the
first thing they do is okay,let's see, I want to go on a
scuba diving trip in Tahitiwhich, by the way, I do scuba
diving trips too.
So you Google it scuba divingin Tahiti, right, and 25 lodges
(16:33):
will pop up.
So now you're sitting theregoing oh, oh, my God, 25.
How do I know if this one'sgood?
How do I know what this oneoffers?
How do I know if I'm gettingripped off?
How do I know if these peopleare just blowing smoke?
How do I know if it's a qualityorganization?
How do I know if they're safe?
How do I know if their food'sgoing to be good and I'm not
(16:56):
going to get sick?
So when you're planning a tripthat will cost you between five
and ten thousand dollars for oneweek per person, the guessing
game is is mortifying, becauseyou see everything on the
Internet.
How do you know who to believe?
How do you know that that'swhat you're looking for?
(17:17):
So what I try to do is a lot ofI would say probably 60 to 70%
of the lodges on my website.
I've been to so I personallyvetted them.
I personally experienced thelodging, the food, the people,
the guides, the transportation,the communication.
You know, do they answer emails?
(17:38):
Are they efficient?
Do they give you the rightinformation?
So I try to take that guessworkout of it for my clients and
I'll give you a perfect example.
I had a client that I met acouple of years ago.
He went on a trip with methrough a friend of his that I
knew.
Years ago he went on a tripwith me through a friend of his
(17:59):
that I knew and he came back andsaid my God, that was the most
amazing thing I've ever done.
I didn't have to do a thing.
So he told me.
When he got back, he said mywife wants to go to Africa, her
bucket list is to go to Africaand she, now that I'm going on
these fishing trips with you,africa, and she, now that I'm
going on these fishing tripswith you.
She has to do her Africa trip,which I'm going to go.
(18:21):
So she calls, she calls me, andthis, this is a great story and
this is a perfect example of whyI do what I do.
She called, she said look.
She said my dream has alwaysbeen to ride in a hot air
balloon in Africa.
I've seen videos, I've seenmovies, I've seen this.
That's something I want to do.
And I said well, okay, we coulddo that.
(18:44):
And she goes.
Well, I don't even know whereto begin.
And I said well, all right, Iknow your husband, your husband
knows me.
He said that he had a greattime.
I said why don't you let meplan your trip for you guys, so
you don't have to worry about it?
And she goes oh well, oh, youknow, she was kind of taken
aback by that because she had noidea.
(19:05):
You know what I was going to do.
I said trust me.
I said I'll put it together,I'll send you an itinerary and
if you want to change things orif you don't like something on
there, let me know and we'llfigure it out.
And she goes.
Okay, you know.
I said the only thing I need toknow is how much time do you
have?
So she said, well, we're goingto do it like two weeks.
(19:26):
I said okay.
I said do you want to gohunting at all?
Absolutely not.
No, my husband's not goinghunting.
This is a couple's vacation,you know.
She was very adamant about that.
I said okay.
So it took me about a month andI put a package together.
There were six people going,three couples.
They were all friends and Isent them the itinerary and she
(19:51):
wrote back.
She goes oh my God, this looksfantastic.
I'm not going to change a thing, it looks perfect.
I said okay.
I said so.
All I'm asking you to do istrust me, don't worry about
anything.
Just make sure that when I sendyou an email about your flight,
you need to be in Cape town andthis day and you need to leave
(20:13):
Johannesburg on this day, and soon and so forth.
She said, okay, fine.
So I didn't hear from her untila couple of months before the
trip.
She's getting nervous and hey,you know the trip's coming up.
Blah, blah, blah.
Uh, how's things going?
I said we're all ready to go.
I said you have your planetickets so fast forward to may,
just this past.
May they go to cape town fivedays.
(20:34):
In Cape Town they spend threedays, and then I was over there.
So I met them in the nationalpark and put them up in this
gorgeous lodge and met themthere and spent four days with
them there and then after theirtrip they flew home.
But when they were in Cape Town, they were there five days and
I didn't hear a word.
I didn't hear anything.
I'm like, oh man, I don't know.
I didn't hear a word.
(20:54):
I didn't hear anything.
I'm like, oh man, I don't know.
They're not calling to, to, tocomplain, but they're not
calling to say oh my God, what agreat time.
Well, when they showed up in theother part of the country,
where I was at, she came up tome and gave me this big hug and
said oh my God, way, way, way,way, way beyond my expectations,
(21:14):
this has been phenomenal.
And then then they did the hotair balloon ride.
And then they did.
So we took them on the last day.
I said, how about if we go on agame drive?
And a game drive is where youget in one of the vehicles with
the open ends and you know thetent roof type thing, and you
drive around through the,through the bush and you look
for animals.
Well, we did that and we wereup close and personal with more
(21:35):
animals they can than they caneven imagine.
And and by the end of that dayshe goes hey, we have one more
day.
Do you think we could gohunting?
And I was just blown away.
Oh, my god, you want to gohunting?
Yeah, we'd like to try it.
We'd like to try it.
I said how many people she goes?
Four out of the six of us wantto hunt.
So it was her and three of theguys.
(21:57):
So I called my outfitter.
I said, hey, can we set up ahunt tomorrow?
I know it's last notice, it'slast minute notice, can we do
this?
And he goes yeah, absolutely,what do you guys want to do?
And so I told him well, thenext day we go out.
And she was the first one andshe took an impala.
(22:37):
So now I just spoke with himyesterday, umseeing with it and
going back on a hunt instead ofa sightseeing tour.
It was a cool experience.
That's why I love it that's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
That's why I love excellent.
Yeah, it sounds like you aretruly a professional in kind of
crafting these remarkableexperiences for people, and it
seems as though you're a peopleperson too.
Have you ever thought aboutdoing your own broadcast?
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I am actually in the process.
I could talk for hours andhours and days and days about,
you know, because I've been.
Really I've been hunting andfishing since I was 10 years old
, so I mean over over, I don'twant to say, but you know, 50,
55, plus years.
I've been, you know, out in the, in the woods and in the
streams and lakes and rivers,and you know doing that kind of
(23:34):
thing and, again, I love sharingit with people you know and
doing things with people there.
I do trips to Panama that are acombination and they're couples
trips for husbands, wives,boyfriends, girlfriends,
whatever significant others,where you do not have to be a
fisherman to go there and have awonderful time, because the
(23:56):
resort is a private resort and Iusually get enough people to go
there.
Where, no, a wonderful time,because the resort is a private
resort and I usually get enoughpeople to go there.
Where, no, there are no otherguests, so it's only my guests
and they're snorkeling and scubadiving and horseback riding and
hiking and kayaking and paddleboarding and yoga classes and
pottery and you know.
So there's something foreverybody there.
(24:17):
But the hardcore fishermen likemyself will get on the fishing
boats and go out and fish formarlin and sailfish and tuna and
mahi and you know all the biggame fish and um, you know, and,
and I'm about about the foodtoo.
I, I am a food guy, foodie.
If you, so to speak, um, and ifthe lodge doesn't have good
(24:38):
food, I'm not going there.
So these places all have greatchefs and they, they really,
really know how to entertain andtake care of clients and uh, so
I, I enjoy that aspect of it aswell so Joe um, please tell our
listeners one thing that theyshould remember about Wild Side
Adventures.
(24:59):
Well, one thing you can rememberabout Wild Side Adventures if
you plan a trip with me, it'sgoing to be the easiest planning
that you've ever done.
I can assure you you're goingto have a great time and I'm
going to answer your texts andyour emails and try and show you
and it's on my business cardand my tag and show you a trip
(25:20):
of a lifetime.
And just go to my Google, go tomy Google reviews and read some
of them.
And I have people that are, youknow, ladies, gentlemen, young
people, older people, andthey've all had great times.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And how can our listeners learn more about
Wildside Adventures?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
You can go on.
My website is wildsidejoecom.
You can shoot me an email atjoe at wildsidejoecom, ask any
questions and I'll return phonecalls and answer any questions
you have.
I enjoy what I do and I lovetalking with people and meeting
(26:00):
new people.
And watching people experiencesomething out of the country or
in the country for the firsttime is a thrill.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, Joe, I really appreciate your time today and
having you as a guest on ourshow.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Well, thank you very much, Lila.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate you giving me the
opportunity, especially here inwestern Pennsylvania.
I was born and raised here, soanybody around that needs
anything please get a hold of me.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom.
That's GNPPittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a luxuryhunting and fishing tour company
?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
joe Rossi, with Wild SideAdventures.
Joe, how's it going?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
I'm doing very well.
It's been raining a lot inPittsburgh, but we all know what
that's like, right?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh, certainly, yeah, it's a season for it, and
everyone forgets how to drivewhenever there's a little bit of
rain, it seems.
Well, we're excited to learnall about you and your business.
Tell us about your organization.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Well, wildside Adventures Travel Service was
started about five years agoduring my actual real job.
I was working for a companycalled Emerson Electric for 35
years, but I've hunted andfished all my life and when I
started working in the utilityindustry I got to do a lot of
traveling throughout NorthAmerica and then eventually all
(01:21):
over the world and eventuallyall over the world and started
to couple my trips, weekends andextra day here and there to
hunt or fish with friends,clients and I had the luxury of
being able to travel all overthe place and I got to see some
(01:41):
really exciting things.
Back in 2005, I got this justwild idea that I wanted to
produce a television show aboutthe outdoors and about hunting
and fishing and you know, wildgame cooking was a segment that
I had on the show and I did thatfor for 10 years.
I started this I'll try thisand see what this is all about
(02:02):
had no idea how to edit, no ideahow to use a professional
camera, so I went and read andread and learned and actually
learned in a lot of collegedorms with friends that had kids
that were going to school forvideography and cinematography.
So I learned how to edit fromthese, uh, young people and
(02:25):
learned how to uh, you know,produce a show and, uh, started
doing it on my own and itactually lasted for 10 years and
over the course of that 10years I made a lot of friends
and developed a lot ofrelationships with with high-end
fishing lodges and huntinglodges all over North America.
And after the 10 years it justgot a little too expensive and
(02:48):
sponsorships were tough to getand I decided to put an end to
the TV career.
But I had all these contacts andall these people and I called
them a little bit at a time andsaid hey, you know, would you
guys be interested in me bookingand sending clients to your
lodge?
I've been there.
I really like it.
I think it would be somethingthat people would enjoy, and so
(03:11):
I started doing that and Istarted out with about eight or
nine lodges with the idea ofkeeping it small and just
specifying and going intoparticular areas of trout
fishing or deep sea fishing andthings like that.
Well, I think my website rightnow I have 45 lodges, so it just
(03:32):
mushroomed over the last fiveyears and a lot of people that
own lodges have been contactingme.
They see my Facebook andInstagram and they talk with
people who I've sent ondifferent trips.
So now I have have lodges allover the world, um, and I've
(03:53):
been to a lot of them.
I haven't, um, I've been allover, uh, north america, from
from the arctic circle, and thensouth america, central america,
all the way down to the tip ofargentina and all points in
between, um, hunting and fishingin both of those um, and then
I've got lodges up in icelandand I have lodges in ireland and
(04:16):
denmark, and you name it justabout any place on the planet
you could think of uh, and overthe last uh, over the last two
to three years, I retired frommy, uh, my regular job.
So now I'm doing this full timeand I am so busy.
It's uh, but it's a passion,it's something that I don't even
(04:38):
consider work.
I spend hours and hours here,you know, setting up trips, and
I don't know if you, if anyone,has had a chance to look at my
Google reviews, but there'sthere's about 50, 55 reviews on
there and there's not one that'sless than five, five star.
So I take a lot of pride incustomer service and showing
(05:00):
people things that they wouldnever have the opportunity or
the chance to see because theyknew nothing about it.
So that's kind of where youknow I'm a one man show.
I have some family that helpsme do some of the graphic design
.
My daughter's into that and shedoes that.
She actually worked for asafari company in South Africa
(05:20):
now and she met her husband whenI took her on a hunting trip
and ended up, you know, theyended up talking with each other
and eventually got married andnow they live in South Africa
six months out of the year andthey live in the United States
six months out of the year.
So it's been great and I I'mreally having a lot of fun, um,
(05:42):
and I I'm getting more and moreinto some entertainment,
entertainment, photo, safarikind of things where hunting is
involved.
And I understand 100% thateveryone's not a hunter and
everybody doesn't like huntingand that's fine, I have no
issues with that.
So I took I took the Africathing because I think Africa
(06:05):
people are afraid of Africa,people are afraid to experience
it and go there because theyhear, you know the media and
they see TV and you know thingslike that.
But I've already sent at leasta dozen groups to South Africa
and other parts of Africawithout hunting or fishing,
(06:25):
south Africa and other parts ofAfrica without hunting or
fishing, just sightseeing CapeTown and Victoria Falls and
Kruger National Park and PLonsberg National Park.
So I actually have a group I'mworking on right now, 34 people
going to Africa next spring.
So you know I've been quite,very busy with it and expanding
into, you know, some thingsoutside of that realm of hunting
(06:46):
or fishing, but my primaryfocus is hunting and fishing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Wow, that is brilliant.
So did you get into thebusiness through the TV show, or
what initially sparked yourinterest in this?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
business, just the fact that I had so many friends
and contacts in the industrythrough the tv business and I
just hated to let it die andfade away.
You know, I wanted to dosomething with it and I always
had, you know, people thatwatched my show and it was a
local broadcast.
It was on on fsn pittsburgh fora while and root sports.
(07:19):
You know the tri-state area,but if you had a national
package to fox sports then yousaw it all over the country and
I had a lot of people callingsaying, wow, that was really
cool.
How can I do that?
Can I go there?
What do I need to do to to goon that trip?
And so that's kind of how thetravel industry business started
.
I didn't want to give it up, Ididn't want to get out of the
(07:41):
industry and, like I said, Ihave so many friends all over
the place and I have friends inArgentina and friends in Belize
and friends in Mexico, justabout any place I go.
I've been there more than once.
I just got back the other day,on Sunday morning, I got back
(08:02):
from Cuba.
That was my sixth trip to Cubawith clients and just
fascinating.
So you know, I just I love theinteraction with people.
I love the international flairand different countries and the
cultures and I'm really intothat kind of thing and I like
sharing it with clients.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Excellent, Joe.
What are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I think one of the biggest ones misconception is
hunting.
Hunting could be very, verycontroversial.
You know I get a lot of I don'twant to call it hate mail, but
I get a lot of, you knowmessages like how could you do
that, how could you, how couldyou kill those beautiful animals
?
And and I think it's a you know, it's education, a lot of it.
(08:53):
Sure, hunting is hunting andyou are taking an animal's life,
but, but especially in Africa,africa only has animals because
of hunting and that sounds crazyand it sounds confusing, but
the fact of the matter is 99% ofAfrica's revenue is generated
(09:16):
by hunting.
Revenue is generated byAmerican hunters and what
happens is it the?
Um, the property owners who ownsome of them are 200 000 acres,
which is huge.
Um, most of them, you know,they own 15, 10 000, 8 000, 20
(09:36):
000 acres.
It generates revenue to managetheir herds and it gives them
revenue to protect the animalsfrom poachers.
And about 25 years ago huntingwas banned in South Africa
because there were so manygroups against it.
So when they finished huntingthere, within 10 years, the
(09:59):
population went down ahundredfold because the animals
were being just brutally killedfor horns and tusks and ivory
and and everything.
The meat went to waste and theyfound out that you know a
population of animals thatdecreased that much.
There was a problem, so theyreintroduced hunting again back
(10:20):
in I want to say the 90s, andthe population of animals in
South Africa at that time was200,000 animals.
Today there are over 20 million.
So it's conservation, but youknow people always misconstrue
conservation with killing andsay how could that be the one
(10:43):
and the same?
And then the you know theeducational aspect of that is
I've talked with so many peoplewho are anti-hunters and didn't
appreciate hunting and when Iwould sit down for them for a
half an hour and explain thebenefits, they go oh, I never
knew that.
That's fascinating, wow, I'llhave to tell other people about
that.
So I think that when morepeople understand that and I'm
(11:08):
not saying anybody that doesn'thunt is no good, or I totally
respect everybody's opinion, ifyou don't like to hunt.
That's fine.
But where I have some issues iswhen people say, oh my God, how
could you kill that animal?
That's disgusting.
You're, you're an awful person,but yet and I've been showing
pictures of children in SouthAfrica that the safari company I
(11:32):
work with feeds hundreds andhundreds of children, starving
children, tens of thousands ofpounds of meat every day, and so
everything goes to use.
You know obviously you saw mytrophies in my game room.
You know I get the benefit ofdoing that hunt and I get the
benefit of the trophies, but Ialso get to eat everything
(11:55):
that's in this room.
Pretty much I have had some ofit to eat and the rest of it the
skin, the bones, every part ofthat animal goes to the local
villages and the amount of foodthat is provided that these kids
, they will never see a steak,they will never eat chicken,
(12:16):
they will never, you know, porkand some of the things that we
just take for granted.
They eat wild game meat andthat's their total 100% source
of protein.
So when you see that and I'vebeen to some of these villages
and and actually dropped off a50 gallon garbage bag full of
(12:37):
meat just a bag and when you putthat down.
You would think that somebodygave them, you know, a $10
million house and an airplaneand a boat.
They, they, just, they.
Just just to see the looks ontheir face and to listen to the
way they thank you, and justprofusely.
It's very humbling and it'svery emotional.
(12:58):
It's.
It's tough to see that.
You know, and you know when,when things like that happen, it
makes you feel so good thatyou're helping in a way that
some people might think is weird, you know, or strange, but I
enjoyed.
I, you know, when the first timeI went to Africa was in 2019.
(13:18):
And that was a bucket listthing for me.
It was something I want, alwayswanted to do.
I wanted to go hunting inAfrica and I said, okay, that's,
that's going to be a one anddone, I'll go over.
You know, I'll do it, I'll seeit, I'll experience it and then
I can check it off the list.
Well, I just came back in May.
I was there for a month.
That was my sixth trip toAfrica, to South Africa.
My daughter and son-in-law areliving there right now this time
(13:43):
of year because it's theirhunting season, and I love it,
absolutely, love it, absolutelylove it.
I plan to go back at least oncea year for as long as I can get
on an airplane and travel.
It's fascinating and you know,and for the non-hunting people,
I love taking them there to showthem the animals, to show them
the different parts of thecountry, how beautiful it is,
(14:04):
how friendly the people are, andyou know just what an
experience it is to go to seethat kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Wow, what great insight that you had, joe, and
how profound.
To kind of address you know theelephant in the room, if you
will, when it comes to you.
Know a hunting company and kindof these kind of misconstrued
ideas surrounding it.
So I love that you justdirectly addressed that.
(14:32):
So we know marketing is theheart of the business.
Who are your target customersand how do you attract them?
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, I am working with a company out in Nevada
that's doing my website and myGoogle and search engine
optimization, instagram,facebook and that kind of thing
my website and my Google andsearch engine optimization,
instagram, facebook and thatkind of thing.
And I'm not one of the youngergeneration that can just pick up
your phone and go through andcreate an Instagram page.
(15:00):
I'm an old guy, I know how touse a computer, I can carry my
phone, but so I have peopledoing that and my target
audience is mostly 50 year oldto 75, 80 year old.
Um, you know, ladies andgentlemen, and the, the thing
that really astounded me in the,especially in the fly fishing
(15:23):
industry how many women are flyfishers and how many women
travel the world.
And it's really a cool thing tosee, uh, when you go on a trip
and there's a bunch of ladiesthat are fly fishermen and
fisher ladies or whatever youcall them.
But it's uh, uh, it's fun tosee that.
And, um, you know, being thatI'm only a single, um, you know
(15:46):
single person, company, one,just me um, I don't have a huge
budget to you know market and soI I am building, I have been
building my business pretty muchorganically.
I get a lot of you know, google,um, inquiries, uh, and that
kind of thing.
But you know what?
One of the one of the pointsthat you know I wanted to make
(16:07):
you ask how to, how did mybusiness grow, and everything?
Uh, if you I don't.
I don't know what your hobbiesare or where you like to go, if
you like to travel, but I knowthat 99.9% of all people, the
first thing they do is okay,let's see, I want to go on a
scuba diving trip in Tahitiwhich, by the way, I do scuba
diving trips too.
So you Google it scuba divingin Tahiti, right, and 25 lodges
(16:33):
will pop up.
So now you're sitting theregoing oh, oh, my God, 25.
How do I know if this one'sgood?
How do I know what this oneoffers?
How do I know if I'm gettingripped off?
How do I know if these peopleare just blowing smoke?
How do I know if it's a qualityorganization?
How do I know if they're safe?
How do I know if their food'sgoing to be good and I'm not
(16:56):
going to get sick?
So when you're planning a tripthat will cost you between five
and ten thousand dollars for oneweek per person, the guessing
game is is mortifying, becauseyou see everything on the
Internet.
How do you know who to believe?
How do you know that that'swhat you're looking for?
(17:17):
So what I try to do is a lot ofI would say probably 60 to 70%
of the lodges on my website.
I've been to so I personallyvetted them.
I personally experienced thelodging, the food, the people,
the guides, the transportation,the communication.
You know, do they answer emails?
(17:38):
Are they efficient?
Do they give you the rightinformation?
So I try to take that guessworkout of it for my clients and
I'll give you a perfect example.
I had a client that I met acouple of years ago.
He went on a trip with methrough a friend of his that I
knew.
Years ago he went on a tripwith me through a friend of his
(17:59):
that I knew and he came back andsaid my God, that was the most
amazing thing I've ever done.
I didn't have to do a thing.
So he told me.
When he got back, he said mywife wants to go to Africa, her
bucket list is to go to Africaand she, now that I'm going on
these fishing trips with you,africa, and she, now that I'm
going on these fishing tripswith you.
She has to do her Africa trip,which I'm going to go.
(18:21):
So she calls, she calls me, andthis, this is a great story and
this is a perfect example of whyI do what I do.
She called, she said look.
She said my dream has alwaysbeen to ride in a hot air
balloon in Africa.
I've seen videos, I've seenmovies, I've seen this.
That's something I want to do.
And I said well, okay, we coulddo that.
(18:44):
And she goes.
Well, I don't even know whereto begin.
And I said well, all right, Iknow your husband, your husband
knows me.
He said that he had a greattime.
I said why don't you let meplan your trip for you guys, so
you don't have to worry about it?
And she goes oh well, oh, youknow, she was kind of taken
aback by that because she had noidea.
(19:05):
You know what I was going to do.
I said trust me.
I said I'll put it together,I'll send you an itinerary and
if you want to change things orif you don't like something on
there, let me know and we'llfigure it out.
And she goes.
Okay, you know.
I said the only thing I need toknow is how much time do you
have?
So she said, well, we're goingto do it like two weeks.
(19:26):
I said okay.
I said do you want to gohunting at all?
Absolutely not.
No, my husband's not goinghunting.
This is a couple's vacation,you know.
She was very adamant about that.
I said okay.
So it took me about a month andI put a package together.
There were six people going,three couples.
They were all friends and Isent them the itinerary and she
(19:51):
wrote back.
She goes oh my God, this looksfantastic.
I'm not going to change a thing, it looks perfect.
I said okay.
I said so.
All I'm asking you to do istrust me, don't worry about
anything.
Just make sure that when I sendyou an email about your flight,
you need to be in Cape town andthis day and you need to leave
(20:13):
Johannesburg on this day, and soon and so forth.
She said, okay, fine.
So I didn't hear from her untila couple of months before the
trip.
She's getting nervous and hey,you know the trip's coming up.
Blah, blah, blah.
Uh, how's things going?
I said we're all ready to go.
I said you have your planetickets so fast forward to may,
just this past.
May they go to cape town fivedays.
(20:34):
In Cape Town they spend threedays, and then I was over there.
So I met them in the nationalpark and put them up in this
gorgeous lodge and met themthere and spent four days with
them there and then after theirtrip they flew home.
But when they were in Cape Town, they were there five days and
I didn't hear a word.
I didn't hear anything.
I'm like, oh man, I don't know.
I didn't hear a word.
(20:54):
I didn't hear anything.
I'm like, oh man, I don't know.
They're not calling to, to, tocomplain, but they're not
calling to say oh my God, what agreat time.
Well, when they showed up in theother part of the country,
where I was at, she came up tome and gave me this big hug and
said oh my God, way, way, way,way, way beyond my expectations,
(21:14):
this has been phenomenal.
And then then they did the hotair balloon ride.
And then they did.
So we took them on the last day.
I said, how about if we go on agame drive?
And a game drive is where youget in one of the vehicles with
the open ends and you know thetent roof type thing, and you
drive around through the,through the bush and you look
for animals.
Well, we did that and we wereup close and personal with more
(21:35):
animals they can than they caneven imagine.
And and by the end of that dayshe goes hey, we have one more
day.
Do you think we could gohunting?
And I was just blown away.
Oh, my god, you want to gohunting?
Yeah, we'd like to try it.
We'd like to try it.
I said how many people she goes?
Four out of the six of us wantto hunt.
So it was her and three of theguys.
(21:57):
So I called my outfitter.
I said, hey, can we set up ahunt tomorrow?
I know it's last notice, it'slast minute notice, can we do
this?
And he goes yeah, absolutely,what do you guys want to do?
And so I told him well, thenext day we go out.
And she was the first one andshe took an impala.
(22:37):
So now I just spoke with himyesterday, umseeing with it and
going back on a hunt instead ofa sightseeing tour.
It was a cool experience.
That's why I love it that's.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
That's why I love excellent.
Yeah, it sounds like you aretruly a professional in kind of
crafting these remarkableexperiences for people, and it
seems as though you're a peopleperson too.
Have you ever thought aboutdoing your own broadcast?
Speaker 3 (23:11):
I am actually in the process.
I could talk for hours andhours and days and days about,
you know, because I've been.
Really I've been hunting andfishing since I was 10 years old
, so I mean over over, I don'twant to say, but you know, 50,
55, plus years.
I've been, you know, out in the, in the woods and in the
streams and lakes and rivers,and you know doing that kind of
(23:34):
thing and, again, I love sharingit with people you know and
doing things with people there.
I do trips to Panama that are acombination and they're couples
trips for husbands, wives,boyfriends, girlfriends,
whatever significant others,where you do not have to be a
fisherman to go there and have awonderful time, because the
(23:56):
resort is a private resort and Iusually get enough people to go
there.
Where, no, a wonderful time,because the resort is a private
resort and I usually get enoughpeople to go there.
Where, no, there are no otherguests, so it's only my guests
and they're snorkeling and scubadiving and horseback riding and
hiking and kayaking and paddleboarding and yoga classes and
pottery and you know.
So there's something foreverybody there.
(24:17):
But the hardcore fishermen likemyself will get on the fishing
boats and go out and fish formarlin and sailfish and tuna and
mahi and you know all the biggame fish and um, you know, and,
and I'm about about the foodtoo.
I, I am a food guy, foodie.
If you, so to speak, um, and ifthe lodge doesn't have good
(24:38):
food, I'm not going there.
So these places all have greatchefs and they, they really,
really know how to entertain andtake care of clients and uh, so
I, I enjoy that aspect of it aswell so Joe um, please tell our
listeners one thing that theyshould remember about Wild Side
Adventures.
(24:59):
Well, one thing you can rememberabout Wild Side Adventures if
you plan a trip with me, it'sgoing to be the easiest planning
that you've ever done.
I can assure you you're goingto have a great time and I'm
going to answer your texts andyour emails and try and show you
and it's on my business cardand my tag and show you a trip
(25:20):
of a lifetime.
And just go to my Google, go tomy Google reviews and read some
of them.
And I have people that are, youknow, ladies, gentlemen, young
people, older people, andthey've all had great times.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And how can our listeners learn more about
Wildside Adventures?
Speaker 3 (25:39):
You can go on.
My website is wildsidejoecom.
You can shoot me an email atjoe at wildsidejoecom, ask any
questions and I'll return phonecalls and answer any questions
you have.
I enjoy what I do and I lovetalking with people and meeting
(26:00):
new people.
And watching people experiencesomething out of the country or
in the country for the firsttime is a thrill.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Well, Joe, I really appreciate your time today and
having you as a guest on ourshow.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Well, thank you very much, Lila.
I appreciate your time and Iappreciate you giving me the
opportunity, especially here inwestern Pennsylvania.
I was born and raised here, soanybody around that needs
anything please get a hold of me.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom.
That's GNPPittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.
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