The first set of walks is done and everything seemed to really well. I was so stressed out before the Friday walk - the first one - and really it could not have gone smoother. There was only one major issue leading to my anxiety.
I knew I had done the work.
I had walked the route, done the interviews - with regular people who had an irregular experience, just like any ghost story.
I had made sure my timings were okay for walking and telling stories.
I had done a situational awareness scan for safety and to make sure everyone was comfortable.
I was lucky enough to do a radio interview for CBC on the walks with a great journalist who loved ghost stories.
I'd done my Facebook paid ads. The same day the ads went live, I started to get bookings and they just didn't stop! We sold out the first night of two walks and got pretty darn close for the second night. I figured out a connection issue between my booking program and PayPal and all of a sudden everything came together.
The major issue? My own brain, going through everything that COULD or MIGHT happen. That is what was knocking me down from believing everything was going to be amazing.
Why do we do that to ourselves? Why do we torture ourselves with the "what ifs" . I understand that aspect of the process is important. If we didn't do that we would not think of potential problems and find their solutions. However, it can go too far.
We had a couple of "no shows" but that's okay, but otherwise everyone on the walks seemed engaged, excited to be there and happy with the experience. What more could I ask for?
I learned somethings on the fly, as you always do in new situations, but I think I may have undervalued my ten years experience leading walks in Victoria. To my great shock, I actually knew what I was doing.
The experience was fun, exhausting, exhilarating and a great reminder that I really do love telling stories.
My hope? My goal? I'd love to hear more downtown Ghost Stories. I've already had a couple of leads on this and I'm hoping the people who mentioned them to me actually follow up and let me know their stories. If we could have enough to develop a second walk, that would be amazing. I'm also thinking about a True Crime route as well, I think that could be a lot of fun.
While this sounds like a lot of things to memorize, the Victoria route had 8 different routes - with stories to remember - as well a Halloween route that changed every year and a Christmas route! So my goal of three routes? Not so bad.
The biggest thing I'm feeling right now - other than slightly sore feet - is gratitude. Total gratitude for the amazing people in Prince George who are showing they were so ready to come out and support something new. Everyone was kind, up for anything and willing to follow the guy with the weird stories.
So THANK YOU to everyone who came and everyone planning to join us. I'm really excited that this adventure is off to a great start. We don't have the same tourist traffic that a bigger, southern city does, so we will have to do things a little differently, but then in the North, we always have and done just fine doing it!
Hungry for more stories? Check out the podcast right here!
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