Meet Jim Reich | Company Founder & Guide Extraordinaire at Wine Tours of Sedona

I feel like my business helps the world by offering travelers from literally all over the world have extraordinary tour experiences when they choose the tours my company offers. For me it starts by training my guides to be extraordinary guides who provide extraordinary tours so my customers can go home with extraordinary memories.

The way my business helps the community is through its economic and social impact. As a small business it is within my core values to be supportive of other small businesses. As a company that offers wine, micro-brew, raw chocolate, and scenic tours that often include lunch or dinner; we are in a position to be supportive of literally dozens of local small business. When their is music playing at a local vineyard, our guides always tip the musician. I, myself will often do a live video of the musician performing so others can see them at it boosts their visibility to the public as well as the vineyard where they are playing. Supporting other small businesses simply makes me happy.

As an abundant individual, I spend my money locally at the places I love that include wineries, restaurants, chocolate shops, and clothing boutiques. Through the abundance I am receiving from my customers, the trickle down effect is making a great impact on local businesses.

My business went from offering hiking and 4×4 tours under the name Sedona Hiking Adventures to a business known as Sedona Red Rock Adventures. With the new name, brought new tours, trips to the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, and wine tours. And within this capacity, I was doing what I loved and sharing amazing places with my clients.

And yet there was more evolution in my business that I didn’t know was coming. The Arizona wine industry was booming. And I started offering more wine tours. With this expansion, Wine Tours of Sedona was born. Ironically, wine tours now makes up most of our business. And now we have re-branded and wine tours is our primary business as well as our branding. No longer are we operating under Sedona Hiking Adventures or Sedona Red Rock Adventures.

It’s been an amazing 18 years and I have learned so much. For many of these years business was a struggle, finances were a struggle, and I was challenged in every way. But throughout the entire process I chose never to give up. I always persevered and I always pushed ahead. And now all of the hard work has paid off. My business is doing better than it’s ever done. And I’m positioning myself to be the number one wine tour operator in the state. But let me digress, it’s not about the quantity of tours I offer much more so the quality of the tours I offer. Quality over quantity, that is the key to successful tour operation, at least from my perspective, and the vision I see for my business growth.

So Wine Tours of Sedona, what sets us apart? All of our tours are private to each party, so we never group people together. We personalize each tour to the individual customer, in the respect they have complete flexibility throughout their tour experience. We don’t have hidden costs, for all tours include wine or beer tasting fees, as well as entrance fees. We offer lunch, dinner, and raw chocolate options to be included in the tours. We even offer complementary digital photos on every tour, for all customer photos are archived on www.sedonaazwine.com. For me it’s about going above and beyond for every customer. And if you look at our reviews on Google, our customers love us. I’m grateful for every customer that has contributed to our success, for I or our guides was able to contribute to their vacation experience. That’s extremely gratifying.

If my best friend came to Sedona, I would share with him the hiking trails that brings me joy. We would go four wheeling on the back roads around Sedona and Flagstaff. I would take him to the secret swimming holes the only local know. We would eat at my favorite restaurants that include ChocolaTree, Local Juicery, The Vault, Cucina Rustica, Merkin Osteria, The Haunted Hamburger, and The Asylum. We would visit all of Sedona‘s chocolate shops but likely spend most of our time at Synergy Sedona.

And then there’s the Colorado Plateau. There’s so much to see and do!  I would take them to the top of the San Francisco peaks, and to Sunset Crater. We would see the Indian ruins that are scattered throughout northern Arizona. Visiting in the Grand Canyon would be a must as well as seeing  Antelope Canyon on the Navajo reservation. We go boating on Lake Powell and perhaps even visit Zion National Park. And thinking about what I love about Arizona, there’s so much. There’s the Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest National Park and kayaking on West clear Creek. As my mind travels, thinking about everything I love, I could easily fill a calendar month with things to do for my best friend visiting here.

Two sayings describe my passion for what I do eloquently well: “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Buddha. “And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.” -Steve Jobs

These just aren’t part of my email signature when I sent customers emails, but they penetrate my soul. It’s why I do what I do. I feel that the reason I am able to be so successful in what I am doing is because it’s not just a job, but mores a passion for people, the industry, Arizona, the local businesses I serve; that’s why I am so good at what I do. For me it’s all about passion. Passion to serve customers in an extraordinary manner every tour. Passion to share Arizona’s majestic beauty. Passion to provide my customers delicious wines and foods to compliment their experience with us. Passion to have a positive impact on the local economy. Passion to promote the local arts through what I do. Passion to simply be the best at what I do.