From Backpacker to Business Owner

I finally found my dream job! I caught the travel bug after my very first backpacking trip to Europe. Yes, the typical European backpacking trip that most travelers start off with.  Little did I know that trip would change my life.  I spent the last 2 out of my 4 years in university in a hospitality and tourism program which ignited my interest to really see the world. Despite not knowing how in the world I would ever afford to travel out of the state, let alone out of the country, I knew I’d figure it out somehow.  And I did. After working enough odd jobs and learning how to master a budget and build a savings, I was able to make my dreams come true.  Although I was living the ultimate dream of traveling the world, I had no clue what kind of career I wanted, despite having a degree.  What did I want to do for the rest of my life that would make me a living and I would be happy doing it? I had no idea. But that was okay.  I was young and had time to figure it out. I knew I’d learn what I was meant to do when the time was right.  In the meantime, I just kept on traveling. Learning. Growing. Experiencing the world.   As the years rolled by, I kept wondering when I would find a career that made me excited and thrilled to do.  After circling the globe multiple times as a solo female backpacker for over 10 years, traveling to 75 countries by the age of 30, I felt the internal (and external familial and societal) pressure coming on. I started to think, should I just settle for any job? Should I just work for a travel company of some sort? No. That’s not what I wanted for myself or my life. I was never one to just settle on anything and I wasn’t going to start with my career.

I wanted more options than the typical travel blogger, travel agent, or travel influencer, or working freelance jobs as a digital nomad or having a job that pays me to travel. Nothing about working in the corporate world resonated with me or my values. I didn’t want to work for someone who didn’t appreciate me or my worth. I didn’t want to have limited vacation time or never have time to do what made me happy.

During my years of traveling, I learned so much about the travel industry hands-on. From talking to other travelers, facing problems of my own, having a hard time finding certain information and answers, and my personal experiences, I knew that I had a unique and valuable perspective and grasp on the travel industry.  I knew what the common problems were, where people looked for answers, what problems were left unanswered, what struggles travelers had, what resources were used or wished for most, what roadblocks travelers faced, what travelers desired in their lives and careers, what commonalities and patterns existed, and so much more. I then spent over a year learning as much as I could about the travel industry and everything that it encompassed. I dove deep into as much research can I could find and I became a sponge. I remember sitting in my hostel in Northern Spain and I started studying every website, company, influencer, blogger, agency, and travel-related entity that I could find. I wanted to know what they did, who they are, what they offered, who they served, what problems they solved, and how they did it. I wanted to find what existed and what didn’t and what was popular and what wasn’t. As a result, I learned where the voids laid and what problems were left without solid solutions in the travel industry.  

Six months ago when I returned to the U.S from a five month trip in Asia and Europe, I started to dive deep into learning how to start an online business.  It was during this research that I discovered the online coaching industry.  It resonated with me because during my 10 years of traveling the globe, I was giving away all that I knew about traveling on a budget to those who asked. I loved it.  I love helping others be able to accomplish their travel goals in any way that I could.  I transformed the blog that I started during my very first trip to Europe, that I initially used as a personal journal, into an information-packed place for people to learn my travel tips, tricks, and hacks.  Once I learned about the online coaching industry, I knew that if I could mesh my love of travel with helping others as a coach, I’d put an end to trying to figure out what I was meant to do in life. So I did. I discovered the world of travel coaching and a shift in my life occurred that I never thought I’d see.  I finally knew what direction I wanted my life to go in. I finally knew how I could use all that I’ve learned and experience during my travels to help others and earn an honest living.  I finally realized what my calling was.  After all of those years traveling and doing what I loved, following my heart, listening to my gut, ignoring society and my family’s pressure to settle down and choose a career, and being confused on what career I could do that would make me happy, it all started to make sense. I’m meant to be a travel coach.

A travel coach uses their travel experiences, knowledge, and expertise to help people who want to incorporate more travel into their lifestyles in their desired ways.  A travel coach offers a solution to a common problem that exists within the travel industry somewhere, such as backpackers who want to use their passion and knowledge of travel and start a profitable online business, for example.  Travel coaches use the transformation that occurred in their lives through travel to help others achieve a transformation through in theirs.  For me, travel had transformed my life in so many ways such as helping to shape me into the person that I am, helping me find my passion and what I care about most in life, and helping me find my career path. Travel coaches can also use whatever skills or talents that they learned or mastered during their travels and teach it to others who want to learn how they did it.  For me, I mastered how to travel the world as a solo female backpacker on a budget with money management and overcoming my fears and anxieties.  Another example is with travel photographers who mastered the skill of finding the best nature shots and growing a social media following with them.  They can teach others who to achieve the same.

I used all that I learned to start my own online travel coaching business but, there was one problem.  There wasn’t a place where I could go and learn how to be a travel coach.  Unlike all of the other online coaching niches, there wasn’t anyone paving the path for online travel coaches.  The online coaching industry is skyrocketing with fitness, health, business, life, and spiritual coaches but, not for travel coaches, yet.  So, as a natural problem solver, I created the solution.  I founded The Travel Coach Network as a community for wanderlusters and lovers of travel to learn how to become a travel coach and start their own online coaching business.  The Travel Coach Network is based on a program that I’ve created called Backpacker to Business Owner that helps people turn their passion for travel into an online business as a travel coach.  I created what I wish that I had found years ago!

As a travel coach, you can work from anywhere in the world, or even your couch if you wanted to, you create your own schedule and work on your timeframe, you can make it a full-time career or a part-time job, you will be your boss, and you customize your business any way that you wish. Starting a business for anyone can be daunting for many reasons but luckily as a travel coach, you don’t have to have a huge following or a big email list, you don’t need to be super tech savvy, you don’t need any special certifications, and you don’t need to spend tons of money to get started.

Travel coaching combines the online travel industry with the online coaching industry.  It’s the ideal niche for those who want to use whatever that they love, know, and experienced with and about to make a living while helping others.  Travel coaching requires people to find their specific niche, know who their target audience is, build a trusting and loving following, being of value to those who I call their “seekers”, using their powerful and impactful personal story to build connection and to be relatable, create a buyable e-product such as an online course, program, or ebook, coach clients either one-on-one or in group programs, use strategy and social media marketing, and most importantly, stay true to who they are, what they know, and their values. As a travel coach, your business structure, your marketing strategy, what you teach and how you teach it, is all completely up to you and what aligns with your values.

The potential for the online travel coaching industry is limitless and solves the problem for so many people who are looking to turn their passion for travel into a profit as a business owner. If I never stumbled upon the career as a travel coach, I would still be stuck in my stressful cycle of undesirable job after undesirable job, working for someone who doesn’t value me or my time, not making the income that I desire, not achieving my highest potential and what I know that I’m capable of doing, and being clueless on what I’m meant to do for the rest of my life.  I’m so glad that I finally found my dream career and I aspire to help others go from backpacker to business owner, travel blogger to travel coach.

If you're curious to hear more about my story and to see if becoming a Travel Coach is the dream career that you've been searching for, click here.