Carol Walton, Director of the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, never thought she would need to know about business when she left for the Amazon rainforest, but life has a way of twisting and turning and, through trial and error, she has now become an international marketer, accountant and logistical expert.

Carol’s background is in veterinary medicine, though she had always tried to spend as much time as possible in the jungle during school. She loved the outdoors and teaching people about nature, so she volunteered to lead tours during summer vacations and would save her vacations up, while working as a vet, to spend in the rainforests.

By taking some time to seriously analyze her life, and developing a strategic plan, of sorts, for herself, she discovered that she was most happy outdoors in the jungle. She had not thought of making a career out of this, though, because she had been tied to her ideas of living a typical, responsible life. She sat down and wrote out everything she wanted to be doing. She wrote the story in the present tense, though, as if she was already doing it. She then wrote out twenty steps that she needed to do to make the story a reality.

Getting to her ultimate goal required sacrifice. She had to give up her lifestyle in the United States, complete with all the comforts and the income of her veterinary practice and work as a guide for $25 a day in South America. She was definitely afraid to do this, but knew that by working for a short time as a guide, she would be soon be able to take advantage of other opportunities. She saw her ultimate goal and had to follow along the path to get there.

While working as a guide, Carol strategically made numerous contacts throughout the country. Soon afterwards, she was approached by a private university, Universidad San Francisco, and asked to be in charge of building and managing a research station in the jungle. For the next two years, she was dedicated to building the best possible station. She analyzed other stations, evaluated how to minimize the ecological impact, worked with architects, and purchased all supplies. She set up a marketing effort to attract researchers, students, and ecologically minded tourists. The business skills she uses all the time include logistical management (determining how to get supplies and people to the remote location); time management; budgeting; marketing; advertising; finance; accounting and management. The station is running full-force now, and Carol continues to manage the operations and marketing efforts. The station is more successful than anyone originally thought possible. By having a lot of initiative and through careful planning, Carol has achieved what she set out to do, and is completely fulfilled in her career. She just ran across the story she had written years ago and was amazed that it all had come true. Her $25 per day salary has greatly increased, she’s happy to say!

Carol defines success as living a life so that you feel fulfilled, doing something you feel is worthwhile and helping the world in whatever way you can. She believes that everyone, at one point in their lives, should spend some time away from their home and family because they will appreciate them much more and gain invaluable experience. She thinks that, although not everyone is going to agree with what you’re doing, you’ll be alright if you stay focused on what’s important to you and the people who are important to you.

People sometimes live their lives as though they are just going through the motions, and Carol advises students to be conscious of the decisions they make because life is not a dress rehearsal.