Hello fellow guide!

We hope you will consider joining us on JW Guides. We want to explain who we are, what the purpose of the site is, how it is designed to function and we will also explain how you can be a part of it.

WHO IS BEHIND IT:

The administration and concept is from Tomek (Germany) and David (Israel). We are both elders who also work in tourism. If you want to help in administration, or have ideas for the platform, we are happy to hear from you!

THE CHALLENGES:

Advertising tours can be very challenging. Especially if you are new, it can be difficult to make yourself stand out from more well-known Witness businesses operating tours in your area. Add to this that some brothers don't openly advertise as being Witnesses, perhaps due to restrictions on our work, not wanting to target the brothers or perhaps just wanting to also appeal to secular groups. The result is that Witnesses often question "if they are really brothers". Social media also has challenges. For example, how do you reconnect with people who unfollowed you or stopped using social media?

THE PURPOSE AND DESIGN OF JWGUIDES

This site is designed to fulfill three objectives:

To connect brothers and sisters with Witness guides. So whenever someone says, "do you know brothers that do tours in that country?" The answer is, "check JWGuides.org". As the platform grows, it will be easier for the friends to find us.
To connect us to the brothers and sisters. We plan to send a monthly email to subscribers of the site. It will include an introduction to new guides, featured tours, collaborations, and so on.
To connect us with each other and facilitate cooperation among independent Witness guides. For example, guides in Europe can reach out to each other and work to build multi-city or multi-national tour programs.

This website will NOT be used to collect donations, send invoicing, or even connect people to a guide's personal pay site (like PayPal or CashApp). For tax reasons, no part of this site will be used to collect income. In addition to the website, we plan to launch an Instagram account where all the guides will be able to benefit from free promotion.

OBLIGATION OF THE GUIDES

If you like this idea and want to be part of it, then here is what is expected of you:

You should be in good standing in your local Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
You must be a tour guide that offers tours in your area/country. For example: if you live in the USA, you cannot advertise as being a guide for Europe. Though we may consider exceptions if you have a guiding license for a country you don't reside in.
You should be following the local laws regarding tourism, guiding, and taxes.
The profiles are for local in-person tour guides. So while you can also promote your virtual programs, if you exclusively do virtual tours, at this time, the platform is not for you.
You cannot use your JWGuides profile to advertise 3rd party tours or tour companies. Your website and social media links need to be personally owned. For example: If you guide at a Museum in New York under the name (or booking system) of a third party Witness tour company, then at this time, JWGuides is not for you.
In the same vane, if you are found to have stolen your tour program from another guide or company without permission, the administrators reserve the right to remove you from the site.
The guides listed are expected to contribute towards the annual maintenance of the website. Our hope is that the annual cost of the website will be less than $5 per year. However, we will wait a few weeks to set the final price until we know how many guides we have or are projected to have. This site is not designed for the administrators to make profit. Our goal is to have enough guides that the payment becomes a one time fee.
All the guides listed are expected to advertise from time to time for jwguides.org. This can be done on their social media (through reposting), messaging status (Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.) and/or personal tour email list. The reason is simple, the more people we can direct to the website and to join the monthly newsletter, the more we all benefit from the advertising!
In line with advertising, we ask that the guides routinely send us pictures (and even short descriptions/captions) to post on the JW Guides Instagram account. Again, this is free exposure for all of us, so we want to work together to get the friends following our Instagram.
If you match the above description, review the sample below to learn what we need in order to create your profile page. You can send them to the administrators at jwguides@outlook.com. Before we publish your page, we will check to make sure it meets your standards and has all the necessary information.
Remember that the administrators have the final say in photos or descriptions that can be used on your profile.

We hope you are as excited as we are for the launch of JW Guides!

The Admin Team

YOUR NAME
COMPANY NAME (if applicable)

1) This area is for your personal information and story. Tell everyone about yourself, for example: how long have you been in that country or city, how long have you been a Witness, how long you have been guiding people and past experience. Are you married? With kids or pets?

The goal is for the friends to be comfortable to message you further and want to travel with you. So sell yourself and also sell your country and city! Perhaps someone is looking at JW Guides so they can have ideas for a future vacation and now that they read this, you have helped them to decide!

2) We will need a profile picture

3) If you have social media we need the name of your accounts

4) If you have high quality pictures, please send them, or we can use stock photos, just tell us what you want (for example: the acropolis at sunset)

Catchphrase for your tour or style

This section is for your services. Just give a general idea of what you offer.

For example:

We specialize in single day walking tours of the city that are usually about 6 hours long. But we can also arrange multi day tours. We focus on God's name in the architecture and the history of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city and through the eyes of the historical buildings and landscape.

We love treating our guests to local flavors and drinks, and you will be delighted to try our national dish. We also have a bed and breakfast available for visiting friends!

When you book a tour, we are happy to give you extra advice for where to stay and eat.