Howdy friends,

I need your help increasing my LinkedIn footprint. If you're able to follow my business page, I'd be grateful.

Geology Field School

For the longer backstory-

I quit my job and started my own niche field education company in June 2019. I've been an outdoor educator my whole career. RPTS major. TPWD Park ranger. REI outdoor school instructor. EMT, etc.

Covid slowed things down drastically (grounded everything completely to be honest) but the bottom line is I'm still around and kicking and things for the fall are looking promising. What I'd like is to increase the following of my linkedin page to reach more folks who are interested in nature, the outdoors, and a more technical level of geology than you can get from an NPS ranger, for example.

LinkedIn is my landing page for announcements, interviews, 3D models, short videos, mini-lessons, and more. My main clients are O&G geologists so that's the slant of things right now, but my main goal is to provide tools and insights to anyone who's ever been to a park and wondered why a rock looks how it looks, or how a canyon formed. I'm blessed to know some very smart and very accomplished experts in the field. With their help, we get the stories out there.

Our revenue drivers are industry specific field trips for geologists- Structural education classes in NV, Sequence stratigraphy classes in San Diego and things of that ilk.

I also do outfitting and guiding. We had one trip to Big Bend late last year that went well and plans to do more this fall with some of the geology staff at A&M.

If you're interested and able to give it a follow, I'd be much obliged.

Thanks!

This is right up my nerd alley. Best of luck!

I'd be interested in learning more about what you've done/how you got into it. My background is similar - outdoor/natural resource education. Worked at zoos, aquariums, nature centers, etc. Less intensely focused than what you are describing (more broad and general).

Currently, I'm teaching Biology I, II, and any math class on the high school level. BS in Wildlife, MA in Education - Curriculum and Instruction. I'll reach out on LI.

You should talk to A&M about doing field trips and the like.

Geology, PETE, Wildlife and Fisheries, etc.

I imagine there are a ton of departments that would be interested.

Just gave you a follow. Best of luck.

Done

I'm in.

Thanks for the support everyone! Greatly appreciated.

4- Would love to get in and help A&M more. Some of the issue is that grad students are cheaper (free) but I'm still working on it.

zooguy- As far as getting in to this specific field of work, a headhunter from O&G found me back in 2013/2014. I was at TPWD at the time leading outdoor education programs across State Parks. The longer I'm around, the more I realize how astronomically rare it is that a total outsider gets an interview for a non-local job (was living in Austin at the time) and gets selected for it so I count it as a blessing.

When I started the job it was more of a compliance/managerial role 70% of the time in the office, and 30% of the time I'd be in the field as a "safety officer" for a group of 12-26 folks. After learning the job, I shifted the roles, responsibilities, and training of everyone to be much more in line with outdoor education and wilderness risk management.

The basic outline of the business (there are a handful of competitors, all follow the same basic model) is this:

Go to companies and offer them an all inclusive way to train their staff. Company says cool. We're in.
Find an industry expert, academic, or combination to teach a specific course as a contractor. Importantly, the instructor owns the course and IP. Often times, the instructors teach directly for companies.
Book logistics, print manuals, edit content and exercises, arrange food/accommodation/flights.
Lastly, send a trained staff person on the trip to be the safety person.

Getting off on a tangent but promise I'll wrap up the esoterics here-

If you strip it down, all any of these companies actually do is logistics. There are no exclusive agreements with instructors, no tenure, etc.

The reason I quit the old post and how my company is different is that It's built upon the outdoor education model with wilderness risk management at the center. Anyone can book hotels. Anyone can coordinate with an instructor to promote their trip. Where everyone is lacking is in the actual hard skills in the field. Everyone else takes an office staff person, trains them up (wilderness first aid or wilderness first responder) and sends them out and hopes for the best.

It's a fundamentally flawed practice and historical incident data shows it. So my whole business is essentially training and developing emergency response skills and field abilities.

I could talk at length about all this, but the biggest eye opener for me is how fun and liberating its been breaking away in order to build something better. Easy, lucrative, quick, simple, or as planned- absolutely not. But very rewarding from a mental health and growth standpoint.

I realize 99.9% of people arent interested in the behind the curtain stuff, but don't be afraid to ask any questions if you have them.

Thanks yall!

Spent years in Halbouty way back when, Geop Major / Geol Minor, gave ya a follow.

I barely got a C in Honors section Geology.

Dang, I figured you would have been teaching the class after humiliating the professor with your vast geological knowledge on the first day.

I wanted to. And yet I was over my head. It was very difficult.

On it.

Ha!

Had plenty of Olszewki's lectures go straight through my head but I always enjoyed my time in Halbouty as well.

Thanks so much for the simple support. Really appreciate those who have followed and reached out.

If yall are interested in a sticker, PM me and I'll get one in the mail to you.

Also we're planning a 4 day/3night Big Bend trip this fall with an A&M Geol professor. It'll be a fun trip more geared towards normal folks with an inquisitive geological interest than an industry level training trip.

Put it on your radar if it sounds like your sort of thing. I'll post details and discounts here first.