"Surround yourself with a good support team" with Angeliki Vaxevanaki

Angeliki Vaxevanaki is the founder and CEO of the award-winning travel design company Get Lost. She has more than 15 years of experience in the Marketing and Travel industry. She is a highly driven, creative entrepreneur that managed to survive her company during the pandemic challenges and their impact on the traveling industry.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I am the founder & CEO of Get Lost UK Ltd, an adventure travel design agency operating in Greece. I studied marketing and communications at the American College of Greece and followed a career in marketing events and hospitality. Eventually, I joined the commercial giant Loreal, but after a while — even though my career path was set, stable and financially rewarding — I felt a lack of spirit. I changed the industry and started working on Tourism. In 2013, I became the marketing director of a Travel Agency that was working with incoming traveling in Greece.

In 2014 my heart started yearning for freedom from big business corporations and all that comes with it. I wanted to do something that felt meaningful to me. Two years later, I launched Get Lost.

Get Lost offers adventure travel programs addressed to the industries of Academia, Wellness, and Corporate traveling.

Throughout my career, I gained valuable experience in the fields of Adventure Travel, Destination Management, Product Design, Hospitality, Operations, and Risk Management. Get Lost has been a five times winner of the Hellenic Tourism Awards in the division of Adventure travel, and it has also been reckoned for its Study Abroad Travel products by the Institute of Education & Technology of the US, an initiative of Barak Obama.

What inspired you to start your business?

Ι was always an adventurer. I guess my biggest source of inspiration was my upbringing. Instead of my parents buying a summer getaway villa, they bought a boat with the hope of traveling the Greek Islands in the summer times. In the winter times, we had a trailer, traveling the mountains of Greece to Ski and exploring the terrains. My summers have been full of adventures, being close to nature and traveling a lot. The very nature of traveling enabled me to cultivate flexibility, openness, and deep intuitive nature. The freedom in the spirit of union with my family and nature has been the biggest influence.

When I was studying at the university, I was always envisioning having my classes in the outdoors, while traveling and having more hands-on experiences on what I was studying. I was always wondering how I could offer something like that to students and professors.

Then the economic crisis in Greece came. Unemployment was high and the country was sinking. It was heartbreaking to see all my friends, fleeing to different countries, to find a better future, without their will. Seeing small villages and islands, places that I felt part of me since childhood, to suffer was more than upsetting. I felt I had to do something. Tourism and traveling were what felt right. Greece was still one of the top tourist attractions in the world. However, its image was outdated. Sun and beach, Aristotle, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, and Zorbas were how Greece was positioned in the market. But Greece is so much more.

In 2014, two years after the crisis started, I felt it was time to redefine the country and through this to create contemporary travel products that would attract niche markets. My intuition pushed me to envision something that would bring income from markets outside Greece, as Greeks were not a good target group at the time.

At the time I was working as a marketing director in a Travel Agency, and I realized that Greece had very big luck of adventure travel specialists and huge potential. At the same time, adventure traveling started emerging as a different segment in the travel market, differentiating from mass tourism.

Having some money on the side, I decided to create an adventure travel company. I did that while working for the agency and since that day I never looked back.

Where is your business based?

Our company is based in the UK and Greece. We do all our business from the UK and we operate travel programs in Greece.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I wanted to create products that had a meaningful impact on travelers while taking them to places unknown to many. I started by deciding the destinations, visiting the places so to source inspiration. Then the idea that was bugging me, about education outside the traditional campus venues found the perfect visionaries.

I was introduced to the Study Abroad Director, Ms. Sue Macchiarella of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona. I talked to her about my vision. She asked me to come with an idea. And it's then that I created the first product — a traveling campus. 

Students and professors would travel two weeks on Sail Boats, one week on the mainland of Greece, and one week in Athens to get workshops with successful companies. Classes are taking place in different locations every day. From ancient temples, theatres, monasteries, WW1 catacombs, and many others. Then cultural and nature immersive experiences are integrated. Students and professors, study, travel and explore. The idea became a reality in 2016 when we hosted 100 students. The rest is history.

Then I started searching for other clients and niche products and we expanded our business in Wellness and Corporate Retreats that had the same architecture.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

One of the smartest choices was to operate on a B2B basis. I knew that working B2C would be more difficult due to the competition and would require a huge budget. B2B did not require big investments. The most effective way was direct email marketing, focused business trips, and social media direct marketing methods.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Our biggest challenge was of course COVID 19. Its massive impact on traveling resulted in 2020 as a year without operations. The company was very squeezed and there was no light at the end of the tunnel as the pandemic created uncertainty and people would not plan on traveling. We created a huge campaign of direct email and messaging via SM and attracted new clients. We managed to make bookings for 2021 and 2022 and ensured small deposits that boosted our cash flow. In 2021 we also decided to attract local start-up companies, that had big funds, and work on their annual meetings. This change of direction was a good call and finally, it ensured our financial safety.

In addition, we focused on rebranding, boosting our SM presence, and making our company more known. It was a good time for trial and error. By doing that we also felt productive and that we did not give up. This helped our mental state and our business.

Lowering expenses, freezing any paid marketing activations, and working on a minimal budget were also other strategies to survive the pandemic effects.

How do you stay focused?

Through inspiration. I do something I love tremendously. Hence, I am naturally motivated.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Get Lost is offering unique experiences around the world. We can proudly say that we are among the little companies that have taken adventure travel and transformed it into group experiences for corporations and universities. We blend both each client's mission (meeting, studies, etc) with the element of traveling and we are a few of the companies worldwide, offering this blend.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Direct email marketing for sure.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

To me the recipe includes the following ingredients:

1. Find something that you will love doing every day. Not something that only feels like a source of good income. Something that gives you a lifestyle that makes you happy.

2. Allocate the Need. Is very crucial for your product to have Unique Selling Proposition and to answer the need of a specific target group.

3. Niche, Niche, and Niche… If you do not have a good budget, transform your ideas in a way that serves niche markets. It is easier to penetrate this market as most of the times competition is lower.

4. 4. Surround yourself with a good support team. Your parents, your friends, or your mentors — whoever that is — understand that you do not know everything. Even if you are having a bold career or just starting your first career steps, be open mind and know your weaknesses. Always seek advice.

5. Know thy self: Know your strengths and your weaknesses. For the latter make sure to work with people and form the team that completes you.

What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

1. Shazam: Even today it fascinates me how I can find a song I like, by just clicking one button.

2. Blog: Laurel Attanasio Blog on traveling. Her weekly Mantras give me the strength to start each week ahead with positiveness.

3. Book: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I am a pure adventurer and Jules Verne speaks to my heart.

What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Monday. It is the best CRM and project management tool I could use. Our travel operations are massive. It is a very integrative tool, with multiple functions that give you a good platform to review work and organize it.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I have to say, my mom. She is so organized, hardworking, sharp, and always has a keen eye on the details. She also has a database, full of good advice when I need them.

How do you balance work and life?

By taking long breaks and time for myself. To travel, kitesurf and be close to nature. It’s important to recharge and disconnect to empty our minds and let some time for new ideas to come. It also allows time to digest situations, and solutions to come to mind out of the blue when we are stacked. Having a mental coach is also one of the most important things. It has assisted me to gain perspective in the difficult arena of female entrepreneurs and become stronger.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Traveling, working out, and kitesurfing.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

This time of the year we are implementing our sales strategies for 2023 and improving all our operating procedures for our summer operations. In March we start hosting our first trips, so we need to make sure that we have put in action all the things we want to improve in our operation and also attract new clients. After that our season starts, when is the time to craft the experiences, we have promised to our clients.

How can our readers connect with you?

They can visit our webpages www.getlost.gr and www.gowitheflow.com 
 email: travel@getlost.gr
 Instagram: @getlost_in_greece