Eric Killen
Founder & Owner, Killen Outdoor Adventures
A global hunter and angler who turned his passion into Killen Outdoor Adventures — chasing buffalo in Africa, red stag in New Zealand, and whitetail in Michigan, with his wife Mary right alongside him.
- Hunt Trip Outfitting
- Corporate Sales
- Travel Logistics
- Client Experience
- Debt-Free Growth
About Eric Killen
What Eric built
A 26-year corporate sales veteran out of Chattanooga who became known as the "cruise director" for entertaining clients on hunts — then turned the habit into a business. Eleven years ago he and his wife Mary founded Killen Outdoor Adventures (yes, in Killen, Alabama). Last year they sent around 230 people hunting and fishing across roughly 48 vetted locations worldwide. The model is client-first: the outfitters pay his fee, so it costs the client nothing to book through him, and he runs his own logistics company to handle everything from airport pickup and paperwork to taxidermy and trophy delivery to your door. He kept his corporate job the whole time — and got the owner's blessing to build the thing on the side.
Eric in the field
A lifelong hunter and angler who has hunted and fished around the world and designed his whole life around it — Africa this year, Australia next, with Spain and the rest of Europe on the list. His wife Mary, a former college rifle-team shooter, is a better shot than most and now travels with him; their couple-trips pair a seven-day safari with four or five days of decompression (Cape Town wine tours, penguins, the works). His rule is simple and absolute: he won't send a client anywhere he or his team hasn't personally been and photographed. The gear list is short — a knife, a lucky (terrible-looking) hat, and a good pair of binoculars.
Why this conversation matters
Eric is the embodiment of the show's thesis — he didn't just succeed in sales, he designed the life he actually wanted around the outdoors. He explains how vetting every location personally builds trust at scale, why word of mouth and client experience beat marketing, and how he scaled past 180 trips a year before finally hiring help (still running it off a clipboard and a dry-erase board). His one keys-to-success answer: a supportive partner and zero debt — never spending money he doesn't have. And he lands on the traits that show up in both great entrepreneurs and great hunters: patience, persistence, and the discipline to come back after you've been defeated.
“I have no debt, because I don't spend money I don't have. Everything you see is paid for — it's just the way we live.”
Eric Killen on The Hunt for Success
Sam McGough's full conversation with Eric, available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Key takeaways from Eric Killen
The ideas Eric left on the table in episode 10.
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Turn the passion into the business — without killing the passion.
Eric and Mary started Killen Outdoor Adventures simply because they love to hunt and fish, and wanted to share the experience and pay for the habit. Eleven years in, he's made a business out of his passion and it hasn't ruined it — he just refuses to let it.
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Client-first: the outfitter pays, so the advice is free.
It doesn't cost the client a dime to call Eric and have him run the whole process. As long as you work within his portfolio of roughly 48 vetted locations, the ranches and outfitters pay his fee — so the client gets far better service than just showing up, at no added cost.
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Never send someone where you haven't been.
Eric won't send a client anywhere he, Mary, or one of his team hasn't personally visited. Sometimes that costs him a booking he could have taken — but he won't do it. The photos he sends are ones his team took, not pulled off the internet. That's how you build trust at scale.
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Service design beats marketing.
Growth came from experience and word of mouth, not advertising. When a client gets picked up at the airport, wined and dined, and handled end-to-end, they tell people. Eric's standard is so consistent that clients who booked their own trip elsewhere came back saying, "It wasn't a Killen Outdoor trip."