Are you treating it like a business or a hobby?

by Caz Makepeace on March 1, 2014

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I was brought into a conversation the other day on Google+. I wasn’t aware of it until I’d been tagged and discovered I was being held up as a case study to prove you couldn’t make money off travel blogging.

I get his point. Making money from travel blogging is damn hard. But, it’s like any business or job, 20% of the people will have success because they will do the things that the 80% won’t.

The case studies highlighted about 4 travel bloggers and put forth a strong case that no one is making money. Except, he didn’t clarify the stats or how things have grown (not with me anyway) Because I am proving that you can make money from travel blogging.

I know most people aren’t so I understand the argument of don’t even try, you’re wasting your time. But, I hate people preaching this message because it is false.

False Evidence Appearing Real

Yep false evidence designed to place fear into people so they don’t invest time and money into their dreams. It’s evidence based upon what the 80% do. What about the 20%?  My thinking is if the 20% can, then why can’t I?

Don’t I just do what they do.

Anyone can make a business around what they love- people do it for crocheting or scrapbooking. I’ve a friend doing it now on her passion for drinking gin! Nice one.

• Its all about your attitude
• Its about what you’re willing to do
• It’s about what you are willing to sacrifce and invest.

I’ve been sharing some of our journey to success on this blog with my sacredness steps series, and in my upcoming book. I spent many years fumbling around in the 80% proving to my fear that it couldn’t be done. Then life sucked so bad and my soul was dying that I said, fuck it, time for me to change.

For those who think they can’t have success or aren’t, you don’t need to look at what others are doing to determine whether you can or not, you just need to look at yourself.

• What are you doing?
• What choices are you making? How are you doing things differently?
• Who are you listening to?
• Are you taking the time to improve your work and create better and differently?
• Are you investing time and money into growing your business?

Because I tell you, if I can make money from travel blogging, anyone can.  I sure as hell never had the skills or the smarts. You wouldn’t believe the heart palpitations I get when it comes to implementing anything tech related.

Craig and I have spent thousands on education and I hate to think how much on time. We’re the best at what we do because we learn from the best.

It’s ridiculous how many people contact me, I want to be like you and get paid to travel (the glamour they see is a far cry from the hard work reality)

I get excited. Of course you can. Here’s what you have to do.

They come back, Ah I don’t think I want to do that anymore.

Or they say, I see you’ve worked with Nissan or Tourism Australia or Canon. Can you give me their contact details? I want to work with them too.

Looking for the quick leg in the door. These are contacts I’ve spent HOURS of time and INVESTED money into myself and business to build a valuable connection. I don’t even know half of them and they haven’t bothered to put the right building relationship strategies in first. They just want to bypass all the work to just get the results.

That’s what the 80% do and then they say, this doesn’t work.

If you skip the work, you just won’t get the results. You won’t have gone through the process that eables you to learn and grow and you’ll miss the opportunities.

I’ve had to really close my doors down to helping people becuase my time is taking up with those who just want to treat their business like a hobby, but get paid like a rockstar.

Lacklustre effort brings lacklustre results. It’s not that travel blogging can’t make you money. It’s not that scrapbooking can’t either. Its’ because people decided to create something from their passion and be in the 20% group to make it happen.

ANYONE can be in the 20%, it’s just a decision.

Don’t listen to people who haven’t done it tell you why you can’t, listen to those who have and follow what they do. It’s that simple.

(Warning: Always put your own soul and flair to it, NEVER be a copy cat. It’s very uncool)

Here are some ways to land in the 20% of people who treat it like a business

1. Invest in courses from experts who are having the success in the area you want
2. Apply and implement everything they teach you
3. Get a mentor or coach (you can get me through B-School 😉 )
4. Reach out and start making the connectons yourself. Building relationships is KEY.
5. Befriend the sacrifices. You’ve got to let some things go, like bumming-on-the-couch time. Are you willing to work your butt off for 2-3 years so you have finanical security and freedom for the rest of your life? (The 20% will because they understand about future rewards- the 80% are too focused on instant gratification)