Bruce Poon Tip - Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business

FOUNDER OF G ADVENTURES

This book is dedicated to everyone who ever wanted to follow their passion or struggled to find their purpose. To the people who didnt fit in because they think differently. To the people who know that freedom lies in being bold and that the secret to happiness is freedom. This is a story of what we are all capable of if we listen to our hearts and follow our destiny. Believe it or not, thats something they didnt teach you in school, but its inextricably linked to your business and your life.

The growing gap between the rich and poor is one of our planets biggest challenges. Successful business people can make a contribution to solving this by creating opportunities for the poor to improve their lot. None of us exists in isolation, we depend on others not only for our success but for our very survival. Therefore it is in our interest to help our fellow human beings and to protect this planet that is our only home in whatever ways we can. In so doing we will not only make this world a better place for ourselves, but ensure that it remains a happy place for our children too.

This book by Bruce Poon Tip encourages me. I met Bruce in May this year. In todays materialistic world where people risk becoming slaves to money, Bruce seems to be one of those entrepreneurs who understand that human dignity, freedom, and genuine well-being are more important than the mere accumulation of wealth. Wealth should serve humanity, and not vice versa. The stark economic inequality between rich and poor is not only morally wrong, but is the source of many practical problems, including war, sectarian violence, and the social tensions created by large-scale economic migration.

When it comes to creating wealth and thereby improving peoples material conditions, capitalism is without doubt very effective, but we need to adopt an approach to economic justice which respects the dynamism of capitalism while combining it with a concern for everyone involved. On the one hand we must do all we can to end poverty, on the other, the sooner we accept that riches alone do not bring happiness, and the sooner we learn to live with a sense of modesty, the better off we will be.

Not only in his business, but also in this account of his adventures, Bruce Poon Tip is making an active contribution to creating a more peaceful and happier world, while at the same time creating a model from which others can learn.

July 29, 2013

MARCH 14, 1997. TATOPANI, NEPAL.

Water fell on my face, bringing me back to consciousness. In one sudden movement, I sat straight up, gasping for air. My face was numb. It was so dark, I wasnt sure whether my eyes were open, what time it was, or even where I was. I was disoriented. I heard snoring around me.

My mind quickly came back to reality. I had been sleeping in an overstuffed, down-filled winter jacket I had rented days before. In our hotel, there was no heat and no electricity; I assumed that the moisture on my face that woke me was made up of my own breath freezing in the air. I was in a room with different travelers, some of whom were my friends; the rest were strangers. The darkness surrounding me was absolute; I couldnt see the gigantic fire-engine-red jacket I was wearing, which was so bulky, I couldnt even lie down flat in it.

We were in a hotel along a mountain pass that led through Nepal and into China. It was colder than seasonally normal, and the small town was covered in snow and ice. During the day, we played Yahtzee to pass the time while we waited for our Chinese visas to arrive. The cold front had frozen the roads, making it hard to drive. On the way to Tatopani, our van had slid off the road a few times. We had to get out and push the van, which was ill-suited for the frigid weather, back onto the frozen path. It had seemed funny at times, but that may have just been the high altitude affecting our moods. I didnt realize when planning the trip that wed be at some of the highest altitudes you can drive in, and for long periods of time. I remember eating lots of candy bars because you lose your appetite when youre in those altitudes, and Im a bad eater at the best of times. So I was devouring all these Mars and Snickers bars I had brought along in addition to a diet of mostly noodles, and frankly, I thought I was going a bit mental.

The winding roads had become thinner as we went deeper into the unforgiving Himalayan mountain range, and our youthful humor gave way to a more intense concern that we might not make it. By make it, I dont mean staying aliveI mean making it into Tibet and completing a major personal goal of mine: to have visited one hundred countries before my thirtieth birthday.

But what should have been a time of celebration was overshadowed by worry because of the critical situation that awaited me when I returned home. Over the last year, the Canadian dollar had fallen to all-time lows against the greenback, and the British pound was gaining strength with every passing day. For companies like ours that pay in foreign currency for services such as hotel stays and equipment rentals, a weak Canadian dollar meant that our costs were skyrocketing on a daily basis. We didnt have systems in place to react quickly enough, and in a frighteningly short period of time, our liabilities would surpass our assetstechnically we were bankrupt. Unless we found a way to get back on our feet, wed lose our tour operator license after the next reporting period. I knew when I went home, Id have to deal with it.

Sitting in my room at night, with the Tibetan border within reach, I should have enjoyed the feeling of being on the verge of achieving my wildest dreams. Instead, I was playing out different scenarios in my head of what might happen when the trip was over. I was tired. It had been quite a fight to keep the company afloat during the past year; after all our success and growth in previous years, everything had screeched to a halt.

I lay back, realizing I needed to get up and head to the roof to take a pee. (Before we went to bed, the owner of the hotel had informed us that the doors to the outhouse were frozen. If we need to go during the night, she had suggested, we should make our way to the roof to do our business, and aim over the side of the building. I dont remember thinking this was unusual.)

A minute later, I stood on the roof of our hotel, doing my thing while looking out across the Tibetan plateau. Even though it was dark, the stars stretched out in front of me. I had never seen so many of them in my life. It was impossibly quiet, terrifically cold, and breathtakingly beautiful. I was completely alone. I will never forget that nightunder the frozen blanket of stars, my life flashed before my eyes, and my mind whirled with thoughts of what felt like the end of my dream. I was exploring and doing what I loved. But I couldnt explode with happinessmy eyes welled up and my head rang with the words of everyone who said the company would never work, that I couldnt do it. I had to acknowledge that maybe they were right. Maybe I really couldnt do it. I was coming to grips with the possibility that this was the end.