A Beach Less Traveled

A memoir of a man whose love of fragrances led him and his wife from the corporate rat race to life as entrepreneurs in the French Caribbean.

Can a happily married American couple successfully abandon their careers—along with their handsome salaries and benefits packages—to open a perfumery and create their own custom lines of fragrances in the French Caribbean? That was John Berglund’s vision, and A Beach Less Traveled is the remarkable story of how he made it happen.

What originated in a family trip to the beach eventually became an unlikely but thriving business based on Berglund’s lifelong fascination with perfume. Though he chose a career in law, his passion lay in the chemistry sets of his youth. Berglund eventually built a full-fledged lab in his basement in Atlanta, where he spent countless hours of free time experimenting with new concoctions. When he had the dream of opening a perfumery in a tranquil island paradise, he set out to make it happen—no matter what.

Berglund’s account of his Caribbean adventure is a fun-filled factual tale of conflicts, contrasts, and celebration. As he and his wife embed themselves in an eccentric community on the island of Saint Martin, they learn incredible lessons about business, success, and themselves. Their story may just inspire you to follow in their footsteps and ditch the business casual attire for a pair of shorts and flip-flops.