You can't make money from travel

Ep #47 - You Can't Make Money From Travel (EDITED)

Mon, Mar 18, 2024 12: 54PM • 26:00

Mon, Mar 18, 2024 12: SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Mon, Mar 18, 2024 12: travel, paid, earn, write, money, work, trips, experiences, years, love, business, host, lindy, job, client, tour, company, stay, house, melbourne

00: 01

00: Do you want to live a life of freedom and adventure? Are you wanting more than the daily grind? Me too. Welcome to the Emma Lovell show, a place where we talk about living a life you love. Now, I'm your host, Emma Lovell, and my number one value is freedom. I've spent the last 14 years running a business and traveling the world. And now I take my husband and toddler along for the adventure to it's possible and I know you can create a life doing what you truly love as well. This podcast will inspire, motivate and encourage you to go after your dreams to create a life you love until you get now don't wait for a time and or someday in the future. I'll be sharing episodes weekly about how I harmonize business travel and self care. I'll also bring on incredible guests to share their journeys, wins the challenges and how they're creating a life they love. Let's jump in and get dreaming. This is a space for you to manifest a life you love.

01: 03

01: I would like to acknowledge and recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of this place now known as Australia. I am grateful for the continuing care of the land waterways and skies where I work live, listen, learn and play. From here on you can bear country and from wherever you are listening, I pay my respects to the elders past and present.

01: 26

01: Hello, and welcome to today's episode, I'm going to be talking about why you can't travel and make money. You can't.

01: 36

01: I'm just joking. You can travel and you can make money from it. And this is a statement that's been said to me for so long.

01: 46

01: I obviously love travel. I've been traveling since I was a young child, but traveling solo. And since I was 18 on a gap year, and then I've made it my mission to travel and as much as possible. And I just wanted to share this so many ways that you can make money while traveling. You may not make money from travel, but you can make money while traveling. You also can make money from travel. There's a travel industry, there's a tourism industry. Surely that means that people are making money.

02: 22

02: I think that nowadays people are thinking of it like in terms of an influencer or even travel writing people like oh, that's the dream. But not everyone gets to do that. Well, yeah, okay, not everyone gets to do it. But even if you can do it in a small way, or occasionally you're still making money from travel.

02: 40

02: I'm literally have just been on a website called Rome to Rio, these I met the founders of that years ago. So they took their troubles and turn it into a startup and have this wonderful website that I still use today, which works out and funnily enough, it's like Rome to Rio, I was working out how to get from Rome, to Positano and Rome to Florence and Rome to Milan. So it really does work. And, you know, they made money from that, funnily enough, I remember them saying, though, they were not traveling as much at the start, because sometimes when people are working in travel, in a more traditional sense, that running travel companies, they don't travel as much. But obviously, the main way that people think of travel work is like travel agents. Or maybe like flight attendants, and pilots,

03: 29

03: tour managers, things like that, you know, going on Contiki, or they think you've got to like, pack up, leave everything, and go away and travel for, and live in a place for a year or so to actually make money. It's just all, you know, these are all stories, we tell ourselves, these are all things that can limit you. And I don't want that to be the case. So

03: 52

03: I'm going to be talking a lot more about this. And I'm very excited to say I think I've said it a few times. But if I haven't, it's the announcement. I'm gonna be talking more and more about this in my book, which I'm writing at the moment. I'm also doing a speech this week. And that's where this topic came from. Because my talk is about the alternate career path and how I run a business, travel the world and live a life I love. And I have managed to do that for 14 years. It'll be 15 years in September, that I've been running my business and traveling the world. But over the years, I've had multiple multiple revenue streams and ways to make money while traveling or through my travels

04: 30

04: through the travel industry and tourism industry that so that has fueled my love and allowed me to do what I love. And I want to share some with you.

04: 42

04: So let's go through some of the ways that I've managed to make money while traveling and through travel.

04: 48

04: In my first year, traveling properly was 2006 when I went on a gap year and so some of the work I did then was I worked in a office

05: 00

05: Have a Indian friends company, logistics company in England. So that's just working a traditional job in a different place. So and I then would travel on weekends or traveling my holidays, I then got a through a recruitment agency, I worked at gum tree, which is a online marketplace and community sort of forum, I used to manage the forums for them. And so then again, I was having more of a traditional job in a sort of casual contract role, and then getting to do my travels around it.

05: 33

05: Around that time, I actually decided I wanted to do a bit more traveling in the fun, you know, I was quite limited in what my job was giving me. So actually picked up some bar work. And for six weeks, I worked in a local bar to bring the extra income. So I'm always willing to work, I'm always willing to make extra money. So if it's that you want to travel more, and you don't have as much money, you can always pick up extra jobs or additional income outside of what your limited work is. So obviously, wasn't running my company then running my business then.

06: 07

06: And then in 2007, I did a ski season in big white Canada. So that's a different way to travel and work. So I lived in big white, I worked as a housekeeper, do I keep keep my own house now? No. But I was pretty good at it. And that allowed me to live there, earn money, and snowboard and enjoy being in that fabulous place. It's another different way. And a lot of young people do tend to do this or people take other people all different ages who would doing a season, which could be anywhere from a few months to seven months. And having that experience. I've also had friends work on cruise ships, be Contiki, tour leaders, things like that. So that actually, the job is the travel.

06: 54

06: But then I started my business in 2009. And what that allowed me to do at the time, I was sort of doing the more traditional way of working so I'd work work work, travel, work, work, work, travel, and work in promotions work, which was fantastic, great income sometimes allowed me to travel. So with the promotions work, I would be sent to Melbourne or Canberra or Adelaide and work on different events like big music festivals or Bathurst. 1000 car racing, work on various different events that made me travel which meant I got to visit friends or take some extra time whilst I was on the trip. And are we not only was our travel paid for but our accommodation was paid for we also got per diems. So you get a little bit of extra cash and then you get your hourly rate as well. So that can be quite lucrative if you had the time and were able to so I did those when I could getting paid travel. Even, I would take the jobs that were further away. So living in Sydney and take the jobs that were in Wollongong. Anything outside of I think was like 40 kilometers. I mean, it sounds like a lot. You got to travel payment as well. So it's just a way to earn additional income, see cool things I got to go to like Big Day Out.

08: 13

08: I worked at the energy drink for some of the big music festivals, dance festivals,

08: 19

08: ah fairs, I went to the role shows which are there is to show the Melbourne show the Canberra show. So got to see Bathurst 1000 got to see some really big events by working. So promotions work is another way to do that. But as I said, I'd sort of work work work in Australia, and then go and have a holiday Work, Work work, then go away.

08: 39

08: Around that time I started working for a 2011 I started working for a travel company, which was like the dream and actually saw that I was really good at social media and blogging. And so I actually got my first ever social media role. And that was a new thing, then doing social media. And again, I got to travel through my work, so I got to go and do some of their stays. They were like a marketplace for hotel deals and holiday deals. So I would go and stay in a few places and review them and write the content about them. Other times I was at home, writing the content from what they provided me, but I also could do that job from anywhere. And I met that that founder through a company called a tourism group called massive travel massive

09: 26

09: which is how I met the Rome to Rio guys and it was a community of people in the travel and tourism space. And people making money through travel as well as having it as their passion and their love. A lot of people were bloggers. So I have made money through my blog as well. It was called Lovely M at the time, or no it wasn't it's called the adventures of the traveler M. And I would write about certain brands and certain experiences

09: 58

09: and I

10: 00

10: We'd get paid. So I had one client called drive now, I would write articles, I'd either write them for them on third party websites, or I write blogs for their website, or they would pay me to do a sponsored post on my blog. And that was pretty freakin cool. So having a platform and obviously, we now know that there's, if you're a micro influencer an influencer, you can pay paid either in payment or gifts in kind,

10: 30

10: through Instagram, through social media to do that. So but yes, I was doing it way back when, way back in 2011 2012, getting freebies, sometimes or free experiences, or getting paid cash like $500, to write a blog post should pretty nice, especially when you're younger. And that I could do from anywhere. So that was like a game changer. Like I can write about travel, I can share my travel experiences and get paid. I mean, I knew it existed. But you know, you do think the lucid dream.

11: 02

11: I've gone on to write for publications, I remember most recently wrote an article for Virgin Australia about my home on the Gold Coast. And got it was actually about shopping on the Gold Coast. And I got paid for that got paid quite well for that. And so obviously book that's bringing in my writing skills and my communication skills, but there's a wonderful writer called Linda Alexander who went from being a social worker to writing and earning over six figures. For her travel writing, She now teaches people how to travel, right, and how to get commissions and how to get the articles in publications. So if you're sitting there right now going Yeah, but I don't do that. And I couldn't do that. If you enjoy writing and you think you have some stories to tell there is an art to it. There is a skill set to it. And there is contexts. And that's where someone like Lindy Alexander comes in handy. I'll put in the show notes actually her course so I am an affiliate for her course, which is another way that I earn money. But I fully I have purchased the course myself I've purchased her media contact list. I have had many conversations he's on this podcast if you want to have a listen with Lindy and she is just such an incredible resource. So if you want to learn feature writing, if you want to learn pitching if you want to learn travel writing, Lindy has a bunch of programs courses, coaching is available to help you with that.

12: 25

12: And really, to get that dream job. So that is pretty cool. The other way that I have explored, working and traveling was through pet sitting. And so you know you don't have to start a pet some business. Of course I did. Because that's how I am I ran that business for four years. And I didn't just do the pet setting myself. I actually had a group of pet sitters. So I had the ABN I had the name, the website, the socials, I had clients and we did pet sitting in Melbourne, Brisbane Gold Coast, Sydney, I even had pet sitters in doing work in LA. So basically, I would talk to the client arrange what the headset looks like. And then they would pay us and I would pay my my sitters. The most lucrative was of course, when I did it, and had a really great gig a couple of years, even on the Gold Coast over Christmas, we charged a premium had two weeks in this fabulous house with the old funny cat, cute dog. And yeah, it really funded the summer. And the best bit is I still run my business from where I am. So I'm actually double dipping and earning money.

13: 37

13: By doing the petsitting I have zero costs. When I wasn't renting and living I was living with my dad.

13: 44

13: Even if you are renting, you could essentially be paying your rent

13: 49

13: or paying towards your mortgage by doing it and just getting to be in a different space. I didn't pay electricity, then I didn't pay water.

13: 57

13: Internet, because I would use all of their things, of course. And then even sometimes I would not have to buy food because a lot of them would say eat whatever you want and leave food for me. Sometimes they would leave gifts for me,

14: 10

14: which is unnecessary when they were paying. But there were a lot of perks to that. And really, the pet sitting and having a full time contract with World Vision in 2016 is how I purchased my investment property. So I saved up $40,000 in six months. So that's the way to travel. I was getting to travel around to all different houses. I was getting to meet different people. I was even traveling within my own city, which is really cool staying in different areas, which is a great way if you're looking for a house looking where you want to live, you can try all different areas. And I believe travel doesn't isn't just overseas travel travel is travel is really just taking a different path. It's having your eyes open. It's having a trial traveler mindset. So I always continue to do that and that petsitting was a huge part of that.

15: 00

15: Hi, I'm Alicia major, I love working with Ms. So much I've done everything that she has offered me is how to live in Love Your Brain course opened my eyes to the power of personal branding, then I moved on to one on one coaching, attended multiple of her fabulous photo shoots, and her rest and retreat retreats have all been the best time out to rest. Think about all those juicy possibilities, and then wait for you to receive that post retreat, goodness.

15: 29

15: The other way is I ended up I have, as I said, been an affiliate, so I partner with travel companies. I currently partnered with an Indian travel company and I have done for seven years now. And so what I do is I'm the Australian representative and I talk to people about their trips, I help them to plan their dream holiday in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and then I earn a commission through that. So the company pays me when people book through Australia from Australia and go on their trip, I earn a commission for that, which is how a lot of travel agencies work. They are the representative on behalf of many different smaller companies. So due to my many, many, many experiences, I think at the time was like eight or nine trips, maybe seven trips, I'm now up to 14 trips to India, I was able to build that relationship and earn money.

16: 21

16: Another client that I worked for two different clients in the charity challenge space. So what they do is provide trips where people can travel overseas,

16: 32

16: take on a challenge like climbing Everest base camp cycling through Cambodia, trekking to Machu Picchu,

16: 39

16: climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro, all of which I've done, you can do that on behalf of a charity and you pay to go on the trip and then you raise money for the charity, sometimes raising 30,000 to $100,000. We raised $100,000 for World Vision on Everest base camp trek. But I ended up working for them in a few capacities. I subcontracted where I would, from wherever I was in the world started in Melbourne where I was living, but I ended up sometimes making phone calls or sending emails from Ibiza, Hawaii, the USA, the UK,

17: 15

17: India, basically wherever I was at the time, I could log on for a few hours, pick the right timezone call people, talk to them about fundraising training, what the trips were like, whether they wanted to join, whatever they needed support with. So whether they were joining looking to join the trip, or whether they were on the trip, I would call in my experience of travel, and from tracking and cycling in these countries and help them along the journey. So I was paid an hourly rate by the companies. But then I stepped into the role as well of tour managing, though through two different companies. My most recent was soulful concepts who are fantastic. I would say take a group to Great Wall of China. And my slides are paid for my accommodation is paid for all of my costs are paid for in any expenses that I have, while they're and I must say like personal. If they're sort of my you know, functioning costs while there anything I need to pay for. That's all covered. So essentially, I'm away for 10 days or two weeks, free of charge. Getting to do some of these world, amazing adventures bucket lists, great Well, China, Everest base camp, Bhutan,

18: 29

18: Machu Picchu, I'm getting paid for, which means I have no costs at home as well. So there's like zero expenses while I'm away. And then I'm not spending also $10,000 or whatever it is to do these trips. So that's been a huge, huge boost in travel, and authentic as long as it fits in with them and fits in with me. When I went to do the Nepal one I stayed on for another two weeks, so I didn't have to pay for the flights. And I got to enjoy the holiday. In Vietnam, I stayed on for three or four days and got to have a holiday in Halong Bay, you know, so I would usually try to tack on and extend the travel.

19: 08

19: So those are really cool. And obviously I'm calling on lots of experience here. But it's also about saying yes to opportunities and seeing where things lead. And I'm just wanting to show you that there's so many different ways. Not only that you can make money from travel, you can make money while traveling

19: 24

19: through working for a company that doesn't matter doesn't care where you are, even if that's a contracting company. And all the while I was running my own client businesses to so I could be in America, doing my client work, staying in my cousin's house, but doing work, so I would have multiple clients, I'd have the sub contracting, I have the promotions and have the travel writing. All of them are all simultaneous, you know, like 2014 is like the combination here of this. And I will have actually written a blog and I can I can do an episode on that. So I went away for four months that

20: 00

20: year probably traveled cumulative six to seven months of that year. And, and in just that four month period, that four months cost me 16,000 all up. I earned $9,000. While traveling,

20: 15

20: I had no expenses at home, I was living with my dad at the time, and then came back to do the pet sitting. So I had no costs, apart from I think HCF that I would pay consistently. And I was, so I ended up only out of pocket $7,000.04 months of travel at age 26. You know, would I do it again now? Yeah, I mean, we have a house. So we would like rent it out or something, maybe or have a house sitter, and we figure that out. My husband's not really into Airbnb being but we have this now asset that we could actually Airbnb, and we could basically be paying for our flights or paying for our accommodation,

20: 57

20: through the money that's coming in while paying your mortgage. So I just want to show you that is ways to do it. A few other things that people ways that people will do it is you could do, like I said freelance work. So that's where you are free to work for all different clients are different businesses.

21: 15

21: They're just your client. So that is a lot of the work that I did. You have blogging and blogging.

21: 21

21: So that's blogging or blogging, video blogging. So you can earn money through sponsorship or paid to write to talk or you can earn through YouTube as well. And you can earn through ads,

21: 35

21: remote consulting, so again, you're working in a consultant role you're just working from wherever you are, it's not location dependent. You could host online courses or do tutoring or workshops. So tutoring, you just do online tutoring, if that's sort of in that most simple way. But you could host master classes or workshops, teach what you know, and charge I don't know anywhere from $49 to $300 per person, or more $1,000 per person, depending on the type of training you're doing. You can do with online courses, which you know, I have conduct course on my website, people go by anytime and I can earn $2,000 while I sleep. I have lower courses as well. But

22: 16

22: you could have as well passive income products. So have a photo shoot guide, or a social media guide or personal brand guide on my website that you can buy for $9 anytime.

22: 27

22: You could do Airbnb hosting, like I said, So you if you have a property, if you have your own house, you could be come an Airbnb host and have that let it out while you're away. You could do travel photography, and earn money to the photos that you take and sell them. Virtual Assistant. Of course that fits under freelancing again, but virtual assistants are virtual, they work from anywhere I have virtual assistants one in Brisbane, which isn't too far away, one in

22: 55

22: the Philippines or two in the Philippines actually. So that's a huge help. And they get to earn money at a higher rate than they would just any money in their own country, which is wonderful. There's retreat hosting, which is oh, there's that's too big a thing that I've got podcast episodes about that. But that's my new perfect way. I am traveling, I'm having amazing experiences, and I'm earning money, doing what I love, and it pays very well. I also make sure that those are profitable. So I'm earning a substantial income, I can earn, you can earn a lot of money for hosting retreats, but you can also spend a lot of money. I'm all about making them profitable, so that you're walking away with a nice income, as well as delivering an amazing experience and having a great time doing it. As I said, you could be a tour guide or deliver local experiences. So even there's people who do walking tours or run a little tour or do a cooking class or something like that in their home area to earn an extra income. And then, you know, as I said, there's tour managing, which I didn't get paid for, but I got paid to do. And I got my expenses paid for which was a value exchange that I was very happy with to do amazing experiences that were just so outside of the box. So

24: 12

24: yeah, I hope that's helped. As I said, I've done a lot of these over the many years, and I'm sure there's more than I'm forgetting. I will have to write I have a list. But I'll have to write a specific list and maybe that'll have to be in the book.

24: 26

24: We'll see. But I'd love to hear your questions about this. And I want to hear if you've been traveled, challenged and are told you can't make money from travel. You can't make money while traveling.

24: 38

24: Or you can't make money from the travel industry because it is simply not true. And I want to see people I want to see more people traveling the world traveling domestically, getting to have some bleisure which is mixing business and leisure. Finding ways to make it work for you. Because I have

24: 58

24: all right. So as I said

25: 00

25: Some things in the show notes especially Linda's cause, if if travel writing is something that you're interested in, and happy, happy planning and happy ideating on how you can make money from travel

25: 17

25: Thank you for listening lovely one. I hope this has inspired you to dream big and start creating a life you love today. If you love what you're hearing, don't forget to follow and rate on Spotify and rate review and subscribe on iTunes. It helps other awesome people to find this podcast and get motivated and inspired as well. Want to stay connected comm and join the live a life you love group on Facebook or connect with me on Instagram. Emma lovell.au The same as my website. But all the details are in the show notes lovely. I'll see you next episode for more inspiration, motivation and freedom seeking Now go out there and live a life you love