Joined in December 2023
Based in Atlanta, GeorgiaStu Dressler spent decades guiding, transforming, and building businesses—first at General Motors, where he had many international responsibilities and worked on the ground with business units in 18 countries; then, helping clients with their initial internet marketing efforts; and, finally, creating and operating a startup with his co-founders, which they grew to a $100 million business for its corporate sponsor. Throughout this time, the more he traveled, both professionally and personally, the more people in his network came to him for advice on their own trips, growing his enthusiasm for helping them explore and experience the world.
After retiring at 59, Stu wasn’t looking to slow down, but refocus on his personal passions. During his first year of retirement, while researching his own three-week trip to the Middle East, he came across an article about Fora. “I call it serendipity,” he said.
The appeal was immediate. Fora’s founders and mission resonated with him, particularly given his own background building businesses. He applied and joined to formalize what he’d already been doing for years: building detailed, personalized itineraries for friends and family.
Building a business on curiosity and word of mouth
Stu named his travel business Constantly Curious Travel (CCT), as it truly reflects why he travels. He doesn’t specialize by destination or trip type. He’s booked trips on all seven continents, from Antarctica and Patagonia to the Norwegian Arctic and group safaris in Africa. What unifies all his itineraries is a commitment to finding something unexpected: a 13th-century bell factory in Abruzzo, Italy, open for rare English-language tours; a chance to ride Clydesdales in Scotland for a horse-loving client.
I always seek something off the beaten path that’s very unique. I think that alone gets clients coming back.
Stu Dressler
joined December 2023“I always seek something off the beaten path that’s very unique,” he said. “I think that alone gets clients coming back.”
He’s never formally marketed his business with paid ads or social campaigns. The experiences he creates do that work for him. Once he started advising, word spread among friends of friends.
The decades Stu spent managing operations and running businesses show up in his work with clients. His process is thorough: a travel preferences survey, a 30-minute intake call, a first-pass itinerary, and room for revisions. Stu packs each itinerary with details and recommendations drawn from his experiences and the research he does for each traveler. He’ll include his favorite gelato spots for an Italy itinerary and add hours of operation or neighborhood tips, because he knows these details are what make a trip memorable.
Flexibility by design
Stu is candid that he built his business to be flexible, and that flexibility was part of the draw. His client base is almost entirely friends, family, and their referrals. He takes on more when he wants to emphasize CCT; he pulls back when he wants to dedicate time to hiking, taking classes, or other personal projects.
“I’m in a really good place personally where I don’t have to do it full time,” he said. “But if I’m really busy and happy with that, great. If I want to take a little more time off, that works too.”
Fora's training library helped Stu build deep expertise quickly
Fora offers 700+ hours of on-demand trainings, 28+ hours of weekly live training, plus a community where advisors exchange trip-planning knowledge, supplier contacts, and client management tips.
That flexibility is made possible, in part, by the infrastructure Fora provides. From day one, Stu found himself with more support than he expected. “I just kept seeing this table full of resources that I could come sit at and feast on,” he said. Training, supplier relationships, a booking platform, a local community of advisors to lean on—it meant he could run a personalized, detail-intensive business without having to build any of that himself.
How Fora made success possible
Three years in, Fora’s tools, community, and supplier access are central to how Stu runs his business. “I have so little complaint about Fora,” Stu said. “Everything has been so well done.”
Portal: Stu regularly uses Fora’s all-in-one booking platform to research and reserve stays and activities for clients.
Supplier relationships: Suppliers organize events to meet Fora Advisors and share more about their offerings. Subsequent to one such lunch in his area, Stu has already sold an expedition he learned about that day, and has a second client in mind for it.
Training: Stu dove deep into Fora’s training early on and continues to pursue new certifications when his schedule allows.
Community and culture: Stu has built friendships with fellow advisors in his local Chapter, which he describes as its own tight-knit community within the broader network.
