Why Creating an Online Course is Your Next Best Step as a Travel Blogger

You may have never thought of it before but the best way monetize your blog (rather than altering your voice in hopes that a publication will pay you for your post or spending countless hours producing content instead of enjoying your travels) is to turn your blog or your best blog post into an online course.

Did you know that you can turn your current content (of your blog or website or social media) into an online course in no time!?

How to know what to create your course on:

What is your most popular blog post? (check your analytics)
What do YOU enjoy talking about and teaching most?
What do the majority of your readers come to you for?
What is a major problem that you have a solution to?
What do you know and can teach better than anyone else?
What do YOU wish you had a course on at one point in your life?

Some of the perks and benefits of creating an online course:

It’s actually a very low initial investment

You can create one course and sell it for years!

You’re not exchanging hours for dollars

It’s easy to scale your business by creating multiple courses, creating a high-ticket signature program, moving onto private coaching or masterminds!
You already have product validation! Share the knowledge and expertise that you already give to your audience, just in a packaged and more organized way!

Guess what!? You’ve already began writing the content for your course and you didn’t even know it!

There’s always room for alterations, additions, and re-launching

Earn a passive income and make money while you sleep!

Learn how to turn your current content into the framework of your signature course!

There are various platforms out there to create an online course or program on.  My favorite is Teachable.  It's super easy to use and easy for your students to navigate too!  Plus, it has your first month free!  If you want to learn more about using Teachable to create an online course or to get started now, click here!

8 Reasons Why Someone Would (and Should) Hire a Travel Coach

Why in the world would someone ever hire a coach to teach them how to travel when the internet is filled with copious amounts of free information and you can simply just hire a travel agent?  

Here are 8 major reasons why someone would and should hire a travel coach!

1) Have the Power of Travel in your own hands

After working with and learning from a travel coach, you will have the power of travel in your own hands.  What do I mean by that?  Let's take paying for a travel agent for example.  When you hire and pay for a travel agent to book a trip for you, you are letting the do everything for you including the research, booking of flights and accommodations, and more.  You are depending on their research, knowledge, and work to (hopefully) provide you with a marvelous trip.  You will most likely pay a pretty penny for hiring the travel agent which may refrain you from traveling as often as you may like.  In addition, once you return from your trip that the travel agent booked, you are left in the same position on the lack of knowledge on booking your own travels so you may resort to hiring and paying for another travel agent because you just aren't sure on where to go, how to find deals, or anything else that you leave up to the travel agent to do for you.

On the other hand, after working with and learning from a travel coach, you will have all the knowledge, resources, and tools that you need to know to plan and book your own travels for the rest of your life.  That's how the power of travel is placed into your hands.  You no longer will need to rely on a travel agent to plan and book any of your travels, ultimately saving you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run! woo woo!

Travel coaches help you with any area of travel that you desire ranging from:

Where to go
When to go
How to find the best flight deals using tricks and tips on booking sites
What kind of accommodations to stay in
How to save money for a trip
How much to set for a budget 
How to stick to your budget (but still enjoy your trip to the fullest!)
How to use what you learn and experienced in your travels to better understand yourself and your life direction 
How to gain confidence to travel (solo or in general)
How to stay safe during your travels
Figuring out why you want to travel and what you're hoping to get out of your travels
How to connect with people during your travels
How to use travel to better figure out your career path 
How to find your spiritual path
How to be a better navigator in a new place
How to find the best currency exchange rates when traveling and how much money to take with you
How to use a credit card to earn miles and ultimatley free flights
and so much more!

Travel coaches also specialize in certain travel niches which people can learn directly from such as:

Travel photographers
Solo female travelers
Budget travelers
Backpackers
Parents who travel with children
Single moms who travel
Single dads who travel
Travelers with depression or anxiety disorders
Couples who travel
Married couples who travel
People of the age 50+ who travel
Students who travel
Digital Nomads
Travelers with disabilites
Travelers with severe allergies
Travelers of various religions, ethnicity, and other unique qualities
and many others!

When someone chooses to hire a travel coach that has accomplished something similar to what they wish to accomplish in regards to travel and they find a travel coach that they relate to and values resonate with, they are bound to make travel more of lifestyle and have the power of travel into their hands for a lifetime!


2) Improve mindset both before and during traveling

 One of the best things that hiring a travel coach can do for you is to help improve your mindset.  A common reason why people refrain from traveling is because of any fears, worries, and/or anxieties that they may have.  A lot of people are "too afraid" to travel for different reasons or they are worried about going alone or they they have a fear of flying or not being able to navigate in a foreign place where they don't speak the language. There are so many fears and anxieties that may fill people's minds which can prevent them from accomplishing their travel dreams.  I know that I have loads of fears such as a fear of flying and of heights as well as having an anxiety disorder myself which becomes tested many times in crowded places or facing the unknown, as a few triggers for my anxiety.  

Talking with and learning from a travel coach can help you learn ways to either overcome fears or ways to cope and deal with fears and anxiety.  Let's be real here, it's not realistic or easy to just overcome a fear or if you have anxiety but, there are ways to still live out your travel dreams while managing or coping with them from a travel coach who has the experience and knowledge.

3) Learn the tricks of the traveling trade!

It's one thing to read about travel tricks and hacks but it's another to know how to actually implement and use them to find the best flight and accommodation deals as well as ways to stick to your budget.  Working with a travel coach, you'll learn specific methods on how to find great flight deals such as how to use budget websites, searching the entire month and the "anywhere" option as a destination.  Once you learn these methods and techniques, you'll be well-equipped with resources, knowledge, and tools on how to find the best deals for yourself so you won't ever have to depend on anyone else to plan or book your trips.  After learning my own favorite travel tricks and methods, finding the best destinations, prices, and staying on budget is like second-nature for me, allowing me to have a travel lifestyle rather than a one-time-per-year vacation.


4)Understand their WHY of travel

Who doesn't love to travel!? Right? But, do you fully understand WHY you love to travel?  Is it because you simply just want a break from your daily routine and lay on a beach?  Do you want to find out exactly who you are as a person and build character?  Do you want to meet new people and create new connections around the world?  Did you just break up with a long-time partner and you want to travel to heal your heart and soul and find out what you want out of life?  Do you want to challenge yourself and prove to yourself that you can travel on your own, in a foreign place, or be an independent person?  Do you want to find your spiritual purpose?  Did you just graduate from university and aren't sure what career path or your purpose in life is yet so you want to travel to help you figure that out?  These are just some of the reasons for WHY people travel.  A travel coach can help you tap into the real reason of why you want to travel, what you're looking to get out of traveling, and how to use what you learn and experience in travel to better yourself and your life path with clarity and a plan.


5) Learn how to use traveling to figure out your life and career path

One of the greatest things that I've gained from traveling the world is clarify on my life and career path.  Traveling helped me to realize what I wanted out of life, what I didn't want out of life, who I am as a person, what matters most and least to me in life, what my purpose in life is, what impact I want to make on the world, and what career I'm meant to have for the rest of my life.  I didn't know any of this when I first graduated from university with a college degree and being an independent person.  I used travel to gain clarity, direction, purpose, character, strength, and so much more in life.  A travel coach can help you to understand how to use what you learn and experience during your travels and apply that to helping you figure out all of these open areas in yourself and your life.  A travel coach will help bring you clarity on what you want out of life and what you feel your purpose is and how to use traveling to reach those realizations.

6) Learn directly from an experienced coach in their specific traveling niche

Every travel coach is different, as mentioned in #1.  Each travel coach has his or her own specific niche and specialty that's based upon their personal travel experience, knowledge, expertise, and skills.  By hiring a travel coach that specializes in the travel niche that you're most interested in, you will learn from a hands-on experienced traveler who has done what you wish that you can do in regards to travel!  Are you a mom who wants to travel with her kids but haven't so many questions on how to do so?  Do you love photography and want to learn how to take the best shots that get featured in publications? Are you a recent university graduate and want to backpack the world but have no idea on how or where to begin?  Are you someone who has a regular 9-5 job but want to learn from a digital nomad how they quit their mundane job and have the freedom to travel and work from anywhere they want?  These are just some reasons why someone would hire a travel coach!



7) Get financial help on saving for a trip, setting and sticking to a budget, and better managing your money overall.


If you're someone who wishes they could travel more but feel like you just can't because you can't afford it, hire a travel coach to help you with your budgeting hurdles.  I totally get it, earning, saving, and managing money isn't the easiest thing to do for most people.  To be completely frank, I never really paid attention to my bank account until I got the desire to travel the world and I had to figure out a way to afford it myself.  Now, I'm like a pro when it comes to finding ways to earn money, how to minimize my expenses, how to maximize my income, knowing how much of a budget to set for a specific trip, how to manage my bank account level, and how to travel on a budget. Travel coaches are knowledgeable and experienced in the financial aspect of traveling because they learned ways to make money, save money, set a budget, stick to a budget, and manage their money.  Have no idea on how much a specific destination for a certain time frame may cost you? Want to learn ways to make your dollar stretch?  Hire a travel coach and learn how to you too can become better at earning, saving, and managing your budget.

8) Learn how to adapt when returning from a trip 

It's no secret that returning back to your daily routine after a trip can be difficult.  You may miss the stress-free days that you had on the beach or no having to worry about all the day-to-day struggles that you deal with.  Returning from a trip of any length can bring on a myriad of emotions for people.  Some are happy to return, some not so much.  Some people return home and are faced with so many decisions such as where to live, what job to have, do they want to stay in the job that they have, do they want to stay in the relationship that they have, and so many other thoughts.  Working with a travel coach can help you use everything from the WHY of your travels to what you learned and experienced during your travels to the struggles that you face when you return home to help you figure out a plan for your life path.  Do you have a new found love of travel? Do you want to travel even more?  Do you want to be a digital nomad?  or do you love what you already do and where you already live and you wouldn't have realized that if you never traveled?  There's so much depth that a travel coach can help you realize. 


Visit The Travel Coach Network to learn more about hiring (or becoming) a Travel Coach!

6 Ways to Go from Just a Traveler to a Travel Coach

 

 

1) Determine Your Niche

What is YOUR specialty? What do you know best about travel? Where does your travel experience and expertise lay? Are you a solo traveler? a travel photographer? a mother who travels with her children? a couple that travels? a budget backpacker?

2) What Do You LOVE Talking About Most and Sharing with Others? 

 Do you love sharing how you afford to travel the world or how to travel alone? Do you have a disability or an allergy and you enjoy informing others on how they too can travel if they can relate to you?

3) Decide Whether You're Looking for a Side Job or to Have Your Own Online Business. 

This is important because it will help you know how much time, effort, and investment to put into it.

4) Be confident and just go for it!

To be coach, you must show authority. To show authority, you must be confident. So many people are afraid of not being "good enough" at something. Who am I to be a coach? Who am I to teach something? Who will ever pay me or how can I ever charge someone? These are common questions that fill people's minds. YOU are good enough and YOU can be a coach! Your personal knowledge and your experiences make you good enough to help others and teach what you know. There are people out there (your seekers!) just waiting to learn from you!

5) Hone in on Your Story

In a recent VIDEO that I did, I talked about how you can use your story to help you help others. As a travel coach, it's important to really hone in on your personal story and transformation that traveling has brought to your life. Your story is the foundation for your coaching, your business structure, your brand, and so much more. Think about what your true story is and start sharing!

6) Build Your Business Structure

To go from just a traveler to having your own online travel coaching business, you must decide on your revenue streams. Every coach is different because everyone has their own comfort level. You must decide if you want to do private one-on-one coaching sessions, group coaching, create an online course (if you have a blog, that can be a great foundation for your course), create a full transformation online program (Travel Coach Certification Program), write an ebook (like my upcoming book so stay tuned!), create a membership site, be a paid guest speaker at events or other places, and any other travel coaching income opportunity. It's up to you!