Travel Alive Travels to SCORE to Succeed

For many people, the ideal overseas vacation consists of living as if they had never left home: the comfort of a four star hotel; American-style food; and—best of all—everyone speaks English. Not for Tom LeaMond, co-founder and CEO of Travel Alive.  The Oak Park, IL-based travel company offers what it describes as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to volunteer and grow in a foreign land.”  Specifically, Travel Alive provides travel packages that offer language immersion and volunteer experience for students and professionals who want to improve their language skills while making a difference in the world. 

After an extended career in business and finance, LeaMond began preparing his business plan in late 2004, partnered with Molly Besta-Alscheid in 2005 and turned to SCORE in 2006 to help turn a dream into reality.  SCORE, a national not-for-profit association of successful business executives, provides free one-on-one counseling, teaches low-cost business workshops and supplies other resources to entrepreneurs and small businesses
in Cook and Lake Counties.

SCORE counselors Bill Broderick and Ingrid Van Weenen met with LeaMond and Allscheid more than 10 times to review business plan progress and to help develop a marketing strategy. “We were investing a lot of time and our personal funds to get this off the ground and Bill and Ingrid offered expertise and encouragement when we needed it most.”

The pair also attended a number of SCORE seminars and enjoyed ready access to other SCORE counselors, such as Mike Koen, an expert in business development, and Peg Corwin who helped the pair maximize the company’s Internet presence.

A year into the business SCORE introduced LeaMond and Allscheid to Nicki Tader, another entrepreneur with a dream to start a volunteer-based travel company…this time in Brazil.  The trio combined operations under the Travel Alive name. “We were excited,” Tom LeaMond reports.”With Brazil as a destination we were able to offer clients a new country and a new immersion language, Portugese.”

In 2006, Travel Alive sent five participants to Ocotal, Nicaragua. In 2007 more than 80 clients will travel to Nicaragua and, late in the year, volunteers will begin traveling to Ecuador.  Late in 2008 Travel Alive expects to send its first participants to Brazil as part
of an overall goal of more than 300 volunteers they have recruited for next year.  You can find them at http://www.travelalive.com.

The Chicago Chapter of SCORE provides counseling, workshops and other resources to entrepreneurs and small business through 14 branch locations in Cook and Lake Counties.  A national nonprofit association and resource partner of the Small Business Administration, SCORE was formed in 1964 to encourage entrepreneurial education and the formation, growth and success of small business across the country.  There are more than 10,500 volunteer members nationwide in 389 chapters.  For further information, contact David Woods, SCORE Chicago, 500 W. Madison, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60661.  (312) 353-4540.  scorechi@sbcglobal.net.