Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job, selling your stuff, and traveling long-term? (and paying for flight ENTIRELY from travel hacking points?)
How about living and saving off of side-hustles? Getting your blog featured in multiple news outlets, including Glamour magazine?
Today’s episode was SO much fun; I got to chat with real-world friends of mine, Nate and Jess.
They’re amazing people (and hilarious by the way), and I’ve been fortunate to follow their journey in real-time. This includes:
- “stumbling” into local and national press coverage, driving massive traffic to their blog
- Living minimally and crushing side hustles to save up $80k+ in 18 months
- Travel hacking their way across the globe (literally. 25+ countries)
Nate and Jess are amazing, and I know you’re going to enjoy their journey!
Listen to my episode with Nate and Jess (the Round the World Couple!)
or listen on Apple Podcasts \\ Google Podcasts***
Show notes and referenced links
- All Marketers Are Liars – Seth Godin
- Honey Fund
- The Boarding Area
- Flyer Talk
- Honey Trek Blog
- Adventurous Kate
Key takeaways from today’s episode
1 – Live your dream! No, seriously…do it.
Something I’ve seen a TON in Nate and Jess is their ability to live out things other people only talk about.
How often do we visualize ourselves doing amazing things? How often do those visualizations live out?
Rarely.
Myself included…but the big takeaway for me is this: If a normal (well, let’s define normal) couple from Atlanta and Chicago can do something crazy…why can’t we?
What’s stopping you from doing the huge things you want to do in life?
Answering that question might be difficult, but will give you a clear picture of the small actions to take in order to make those dreams come true.
Corny, but fantastic advice.
2 – The importance of a good story
This applies directly to your blogging career.
Marketers do this all the time, because telling an interesting and engaging story is SO much more powerful and “sticky” than just presenting facts, listicles, etc.
Good news? Everyone has a story. Yes, you included.
Bad news? Weaving together a story ISN’T just about promoting a killer /about page 🙂
It’s about identifying the world-view of your audience and shaping your brand/message to tell a story.
Um.
If you’re sweating with “huhs?” and “whats?” after that…I’m right there with you.
It’s definitely not easy, but All Marketers Are Liars is a fantastic (and short) read by the best in the business, Seth Godin. Grab it for $10 on Amazon and read it. You WILL see noticeable results in your blog promotion and content creation.
Resonate with a good story.
3 – You learn from iterating.
- Do You Even Blog is not my first experience publishing stuff on the internet.
- This technically isn’t my 1st podcast either…
- My first product launch made $0.
- My first email opt-in conversion rate was like, 0.5%
We learn from experiences. (duh)
We also learn from failures, so each time we attempt something (launching a blog, a product, providing a service, etc), we should find ourselves eventually getting better.
*
The point is this: Don’t give up.
*
If this is your first experience with something, you should manage your expectations and keep things real.
As you move from project to project, you will improve. You’re never going to perfect the first time. You learn from iteration.
4 – Start travel hacking right now, even if you don’t plan on traveling soon.
It takes a bit of time to build up points, but you never know when you’ll want/need them!
As personal finance and lifestyle bloggers, I think we should all talk more about travel hacking. It’s one of the more overlooked ways to save money.
Here are my fave resources:
- Scott’s cheap flights (I WISH I INVENTED THIS. So good).
- The Points Guy
- Chris Guillebeau
- my bonus video on travel hacking woot woot!! (see below)
Want a short bonus video? Travel Hacking 101?
Well, I made one for you! Click the button below 🙂
**
Oh, and if you’re a proud member of the Do You Even Tribe…all I ask is you tell a friend! Sharing is caring and all that, yes?
<3 you 🙂
Pete
2 Responses
Okay. Liked the podcast absolutely.
What I loved: that it showed what a blog can do
What I didn’t love: I felt like it didn’t meet me where I am at. The other podcasts started from, what to do to get where they are. I felt this one did opposite, this is what they were doing, and here are some tips that may have helped them.
What I wish: That if you wanted to appeal to people already blogging, and beginners, to show a realistic way of getting their names into the right audiences. I felt like this focused too much outside of the blog (credit cards, what to do with money etc)
Usually Blogs lack depth for serious learning. They are good for intellectual entertainment (in a good sense), announcements (again in good sense — for example announcing some new ideas, new articles, new products), “general interests” reading. Not the case with your post though, really enjoyed it reading it and it held my attention all the way through!