I went from backpacker to business owner when 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.
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