Back in January 2008, I’d just returned from my trip around the world. I was broke and got a temp job at a hospital. My job was to sit there, answer phones, open the mail, and just generally not break anything while the full-time assistant was on maternity leave. Within a few days, I said to myself “This is not for me.” Being back in a cubicle felt like I was back to the same spot I left. Like the last 18 months on the road hadn’t happened. It was dispiriting. I wanted to be “out there” — that mythical place that was anywhere but home.
Sitting in that cubicle, I wondered, “What could I do to keep me traveling?”
“Travel writer” seemed like a good idea.
So I started a blog to showcase my work, get freelance writing gigs, maybe write some guidebooks, and hopefully make a living from this all. I imagined myself a cross between Bill Bryson and Indiana Jones.
I bugged my design friends for help, learned HTML, wrote blog post after blog post, connected with other bloggers, pitched stories to online publications, and figured out SEO and social media.
Today is the anniversary of my first post. I can’t believe I am still at it ten years later. What started as an online resume has morphed into a business that includes this website, a charity, hostel, conference, blogging course, community meet-ups, tours, ebooks, and a NYT best selling book.
So, on today’s ten-year anniversary, I want to share some of the business/blogging lessons I learned (often the hard way) in the past decade:
1. Being first helps, but it’s not a prerequisite for success.
When I started, travel blogging was in its infancy. Starting before it became mainstream certainly helped contribute to the success that I have today. It would be foolish to deny that.
But it’s not the most important thing. After all, Netscape was first — but how many of you still use that today?
And I can name dozens and dozens of blogs that went under despite having started early.
But more importantly, I can name dozens and dozens of blogs that have started in the last few years that have done extremely well.
What matters more than being first is being persistent and innovative, creating quality content, offering something that solves your readers’ problems, networking, and many other things. “Being first” would be low on my list of “things you need for success.”
2. You’re going to change — and so will your blog. That’s OK.
Your life is going to change — and so is your blog. At first, I wanted to travel a lot and just blog. Now, I want to stay in place more. Build a routine. Go to the gym. Write more books. Maybe start a podcast. Mentor more. Do more community events.
Basically, not be nomadic anymore.
For a long time, I resisted that change. I tried to still be the person I was when I started this whole thing. What would I be if not Nomadic Matt? How would this website continue?
Then I said, “Who cares? So long as this website is helping people travel, it’s not really important if I am always on the road. The content matters more than anything else.”
People will either love it…or they won’t, being on (or off) the road won’t change that.
Moreover, the lives of your readers will also change. They will get older too. They will have new desires. Maybe people stop reading your blog because they find it boring. Or they grow out of your advice, or they simply stop traveling. It doesn’t matter. That’s just how it is.
Life changes for you and your readers.
Don’t fear change.
3. Don’t do this for you. Do it for your readers.
Do you know who the most successful people are? The ones who wake up and think about how they make someone’s life better. The people who do whatever it is they do for a reason beyond themselves. If your goal is to get free travel and how to do cool stuff for yourself, the Internet will quickly tire of you. No one wants to read the story of someone doing things they can never do. “Inspiration porn” only goes so far. We all want people – and businesses – that solve a problem we have in our life. That can be anything from the mundane “I need to know how to dress better” to the esoteric “what do I do with my life?”
No matter what you do, do it for your readers. Think about how to solve their problems.
Do something that makes your audience go, “Because I came here, my life is better.”
For me, that’s helping people travel cheaper. Figure out what it is for you. Your mission should never be “How can I make my life better?” People will see through that. Being a personality on the Internet only lasts so long as your schtick is in vogue.
If your mission is reader centric, you’ll stand the test of time.
4. Because your readers want you to succeed.
Your audience wants to support you. They read you for a reason. Give them a way to support you. Don’t think, “Oh, people just like free stuff. I’m gonna need to throw up ads and do brand deals or I’ll be broke.” People want to support artists and creative people they love. Don’t be afraid to sell them a product you created. Or start a Patreon page. Or do tours. Or create a subscription service for added content. Mark Manson does that for $5 a month. You know what? I bet a lot of people pay that.
Give people a way to support you and they will surprise you. Because when you create something that helps people and improves their lives, they want to support you. They will go out of their way to do so. Because everyone wants to help those that help them.
5. Ways to monetize will change greatly.
There have always been easy ways to make money online. First, it was Google’s ad network, AdSense. You’d slap up a few ads that looked like normal links and people would click away. Then it was banner ads. (Those both still exist, but how many of us click on banner ads?) Then it was selling text links to companies trying to game SEO. Then sponsored posts that did the same thing but were supposedly harder for Google to detect.
Each was a fad that people said would last forever. (Now, it’s “influencer” marketing, where everyone with a following gets free stuff, and people are still saying the same thing about that.)
But everything changes.
If you’re only doing the most popular thing to make money online, you are going to fail. When the tides shift, you’ll be left holding the bag and having to start over again.
Never rely on a fad for your income. EVER.
For example, you used to be able to sell e-books for like $50. Now, thanks to Amazon and people used to $1.99 Kindle books, that’s changed. No one buys expensive ebooks anymore. Ebooks are a cheap product. We sell a lot of ebooks and had to adapt our model…but it also forced us to figure out other ways to monetize. We used to rely on one page for a lot of our affiliate income but then it dropped in Google and we had to scramble to figure out what to do.
Always assume whatever it is you’re doing is not going to last. It will keep you innovating.
6. Create your own products.
Continuing on that idea, own your income stream as much as possible: e-books, tours, T-shirts, whatever.
When I started out, I sold a lot of text links (see #6). Then one day it all went to zero after Google changed its algorithm. It didn’t bother me, though, because by then I had already moved on. I had e-books. Then tours. Then courses. A hostel. A conference. I had diversified my income and created my own products.
Having your own thing — no matter what it is — means you don’t rely on others for your income because you never know what could happen. Amazon could kick you out of its program or cut its payout in half (we got kicked out for a few months and lost thousands. Luckily, we’re back in but that money is gone), influencer marketing could change, brands might not want to work with you, or someone could cut their affiliate rate or stop offering their program altogether.
When 100% of your income is from other people, you are 100% at the mercy of other people. Creating your own products allows you to be independent.
Always own your income.
7. Your first stuff will suck.
Years from now, you’ll look back at your first articles and go, “Who the hell wanted to read this? This is horrible!” Or you’ll look at the first version of your website (see above) and go “What the F was I thinking!!!” It’s only natural. It means you’ve grown as a writer (and a blogger). It’s about progress, not perfection. In the beginning, don’t obsess about your work (whether writing or design). Just put it out there and go back later and fix it.
Why? You only get better by doing. Never wait for perfection. And if you wait for perfection you’ll never start your blog. There’s no cost to putting up a website. Just get it up there and fix the problems later!
8. SEO is not a dirty word.
A lot of bloggers think SEO is this dirty thing, that optimizing for Google takes away from the “humanness” of their website. But every day, billions of people search for answers to their questions. Optimizing your website for search engines means that your website can be the one that answers their question. It’s a source of unlimited free traffic!
Over the last decade, focusing on SEO has given me a huge advantage and has helped me reach millions of people, earn a living, and get media mentions (I once got a big feature on CNN because the journalist found me on Google).
9. Write for humans.
But still, write for humans. Don’t put in overly optimized content, because, at the end of the day, you want people to connect with your website. No one is loyal to WikiHow or another generic information website. People read blogs because they connect with the voice behind it. Optimize for Google, but write for humans.
10. There will always be setbacks.
Six years after I started this blog, I lived on credit cards for three months. I had put all my money into a Kickstarter project, and until that ended, I was broke. I hit my fundraising goal, paid off my bills, and launched the app. But it turned out I didn’t know how much work apps were, and, by the time I stopped updating the app, I was down $10,000.
I’ve run sales that didn’t go anywhere. Launched books no one bought. Hosted webinars no one showed up to. Made shirts no one wanted. Redesigned parts of my website that caused conversions to crash. Hired consultants that didn’t do anything but sap my bank balance. Tried video that went nowhere.
I’ve failed constantly.
The trick is to remember that failure is a teacher. Sure, it sucked wasting time and money on all these projects that didn’t work out but we took the lessons from these projects and improved the site and reader experience other ways. If you believe in your mission, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn, and move forward. You’ll find another way to get your message across.
As Edison said, he didn’t fail, he just found 10,000 ways that didn’t work.
11. People will be really mean. I mean REALLY mean.
The Internet brings out the best — and the worst — in people. They will get really mean. I mean so mean that you’ll want to curl up into a ball and cry. You might actually do so. I have a whole folder of all the mean emails I get.
You have to learn to develop a thick skin. Because it is only going to get worse the bigger you get.
It takes time to learn to do this, but don’t take it personally. It’s never about you. It’s about their problems and their lives. People like to troll to make themselves feel better. You’re just their current target.
Just ignore the haters and move on. It’s easier to say than do, but you must!
Because for every troll, there are a thousand people who value what you do.
And, when you get a troll, send this video:
12. Start an email list.
From the day you start your blog, start an email list. Tweets, Facebook, social media — people miss those updates all the time.
Social media changes all the time. Facebook says “pay me or never your readers will never see your content,” Vine goes out of business, and Instagram does some funky stuff — and suddenly you can’t reach people anymore.
But no one misses an email. Everyone checks their inbox all the time! Email is still king. My greatest mistake was not starting an email list right at the beginning. Forget about the likes. Get emails and you’ll always own control of your audience. No algorithm can take that away from you.
13. Never call yourself an influencer.
Stephen King has influenced a generation of writers, George Lucas a generation of sci-fi fans, Gloria Steinem a generation of women. Ditto to folks like Gene Roddenberry, Ernest Hemingway, Tim Ferriss, Carrie Fisher, Gal Gadot, Levar Burton, Mr. Rogers, Steve Jobs, and countless others.
They got people to do something. To better themselves, read more, follow their dreams, and strive to be better.
They influenced.
Do they go around calling themselves influencers?
No.
Why?
Because being an influencer is a fake profession created by millennials and social media “stars.”
You have influence when people listen to you. When I find myself thinking “What would Bryson do?” — that’s Bryson’s influence. My friends have influence over my life when I follow their recommendations. In some ways, I have influence when I suggest something travel related and someone does it.
You have influence when you provide value and make someone’s life better.
You do NOT have influence because 20,000 people “liked” a photo on their way home from work.
True influence comes not from calling yourself an influencer but from what you actually do and the example you set.
Don’t set out to be an influencer. Because that is YOU centric. Not READER centric. (See #3 again.)
14. Success takes time.
(Photo from Derek Halpern)
A lot of people try to become insta-famous these days. They want to be rich and successful NOW and don’t care how they get there. But where are those Vine stars now?
I can’t fault people who want quick cash, but remember, real success takes years to achieve. It’s work. Anthony Bourdain didn’t get famous overnight. Stephen King was rejected countless times. Morgan Freeman didn’t get famous until he was 40. It took me years to turn this into a living.
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you don’t have the patience for the long haul, you should find something else to do.
15. There will always be someone better.
Be humble. Remember that as good as you think you are, there is someone better. I can name ten people who do what we do better. All that does it make me try harder. Don’t say, “that person is making it and I’m not.” Say, “What can I learn from them?”
Only fools think they are wise. People who don’t learn or find mentors are the ones that fade away. Most of the bloggers I know who stagnated or failed were also the ones that never read books, never found mentors, or never attended conferences. They never improved themselves. My success is in part because I always sought out new knowledge, books, and especially teachers. I wouldn’t be here without my mentors.
If you aren’t learning, you aren’t growing.
16. If you’re going to be a business, treat this like a business.
It’s easy to view everything as having a cost, but investing in your business is the surest way to grow it.
When I started, I didn’t have much money and I hated spending money on things. I found the cheapest designers, hosting, virtual assistants, and tech support. I went cheap — and I also did a lot by myself. I regret that. Now I wish I had paid a little more for quality.
I know what it is like to start your blog with not a lot of money, but the day you decide to make this a business, put more money into it. Buy a nicer theme, get a better hosting platform, get a better email service, hire someone to help. This will help you grow quicker. And the quicker you’ll grow, the sooner you’ll start making up the costs of your investments.
The scariest thing I did was hiring a full-time employee, but it allowed me to do so much more. It allowed me to make a much better website.
I once paid $5,000 to go to a high-level conference. Why? I knew the people there were going to help me go the next level. It was a lot of money and I couldn’t really afford it, but I knew if I was going to grow my business, I needed the people in that room to help me out. If the right people are in the room, no amount of money is too much.
17. Don’t be afraid to take a second job.
When I started, I was working as an English teacher. Daymon John from FUBU waited tables while he built his business. Don’t be afraid to get a second job while you develop this venture. It may take longer to get off the ground, but it’s a lot better than being a starving artist!
18. It’s OK to walk away.
via GIPHY
If you don’t want to do this, walk away. If you start a project and don’t love it, walk away. We get so invested in projects that our pride keeps us from giving up on them. But sometimes you just need to walk away. Successful entrepreneurs don’t double down. They know when to walk away and shift their energies to something else.
19. Remember timing is everything.
Timing and luck are everywhere. Being at the right place at the right time is a big percentage of success. I got lucky by starting when there wasn’t a lot of competition. I got lucky by having good teachers, seeing that Tweet that got me a New York Times interview, and that Facebook ad that got me an invite to a conference attended by the best businesses minds in the world. I got lucky when someone found my website and featured me on CNN, sending a ton of traffic and more interview requests. A lot of success is just being at the right place at the right time.
I never think, “I am a success because I am great at everything.” No, I am a success because I’m better than average at a lot of things (and outsource the things I suck at) but also because I’ve been in the right place at the right time.
Remember that. No one is a success because they are great at everything. People are a success because of a combination of skill and luck.
But I hope you found something of worth here as you start your own ten-year journey.
P.S.- If you’d like to learn how to start a blog the right way, avoid my early mistakes, and get a peek at all the processes and methods I use to continue to grow this website (without scammy ads), check out my blogging course. It gives you all my secrets as well as direct feedback on your website from me and tech support from my tech team.
P.P.S. – If you’re in NYC, we’re hosting a meet-up Wednesday night at 7pm at Solas. Come join us! You can find out more and RSVP on our event page!
(Photo credits: 5)
Martina
Just before reading this I posted on my blog that I’d rather connect through email than social media. I won’t say I hate it, but it’s so time-consuming and it doesn’t even feel real. It annoys me when I see so many bloggers not updating their blogs and posting a hundred times a day on social media. I know these are hard times to deal with our egos but Social Media is just…noise sometimes.
I loved the article as usual! it’s great to know you have haters –not the fact that you have them but is a silver lining for this newbie– lol
All the best!
guineveruca
This is awesome. I’ve been having a lot of conversations around creativity and getting projects off the ground (and perfection being the enemy of the good), and this particularly resonates right now. Cheers!
Emily
Just the kind of list I needed to read today.
Thanks Matt 🙂
Chris Roman
Thanks for this today! Definitely relating to that roller coaster of emotions and feeling a bit exhausted just three months into my blog. I think the thing that I liked best that you said was to always think first about how you can help your readers. That helps me stop rolling my eyes at all the SEO stuff I’ve been learning lately.
And hey, congrats! Ten years is really something blogging. Looking forward to seeing you at the Austin conference.
Julia Reil
Matt, I appreciate your honesty and candor in this article; sharing your successes and failures to help others in their efforts to succeed in the field. I don’t have aspirations of making an income from blogging but I’m impressed by those that do!
Suze
I hate the word “influencer” too, it’s one of the most overused and it means very little. I agree wholeheartedly with continually learning and improving. Congrats on your 10 year milestone and here’s to many more!
Bernz JP
I’m a new subscriber, and I am proud to say that I have read a total of ten posts on your blog since yesterday. Congrats on your achievements and is this the 10th anniversary of your blog? Thank you for this advice “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”. Love it!
Linda Dee
Your post gave me hope. My blog is four months old. I enjoy working on the blog, but there were a few moments when I wanted to delete it. It is good to hear from someone who has survived the frustration of start-up. I remind myself as much as possible, “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
BTW, thank you for #13. My stomach turns every time I hear the word “influencer.”
Congratulations on your success and thanks for sharing your journey.
Baldric
Great article and so succinct. I’m in the process of launching my blog and this list perfectly encapsulates everything I’ve been learning.
My number one focus is providing value for my readers (when I get them haha). My audience is VERY niche and wickedly underserved.
I’m excited about being one of the first to my space, but besides selling t-shirts, I’m failing to come up with ideas to monetize. Events will definitely help my audience down the line, but what innovations are you guys seeing/using to monetize your sites?
Thanks again, Matt.
Kara
This is great! I’m fairly new into my blogging adventure (just over 6 months), and I love how honest you were with your “failures” along the way. Nice to see those who have succeeded in this also struggled early on. Gives me lots of hope!
Ricker LeDoux
I’m just beginning to put my toes into the water of blogging and am very uneducated in blogging ways. I’ve subscribed to a course that I wish I would have researched more but, it helped lead me here, to some enlightening information. So for that I am thankful. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Congratulations on the 10 year mark.
Sonal
Really awesome post and amazing points. I have been procrastinating creating my own products but after reading your post, I know I should just start (and so what if I fail.) Point #13 is so true! I hate the “influencer” word and the fake-ness associated with it. You’re so right about the email list – I remember I found your blog years back when I was planning on traveling to SE Asia and ended up subscribing. Your email updates bring me back to your website every month and I love it has evolved over the years. I hope to see you at Traverse in May.
Shannon Borg
Hi Matt!
Much gratitude for putting the time into this insightful and vulnerable post. It really does matter to other writers out here, and is helpful to hear your true feelings on these subjects!
Thanks, and here’s to another 19! LOL!
Giovanni Esposito
Hey Matt, congrats on your 10th blogging anniversary and cheers to your achievements! 🙂 I remember your first post. Indeed, it’s the desire to travel that makes us choose it among other things. You’ve come a long way, thanks for sharing your journey, you’re one of the people I look up to in this industry. And thanks for the “never wait for perfection” reminder. It’s the very thing I need to tell myself.
Grace Stafford
Matt- I’ve followed your blog for almost the full 10 years now. I’ve watched your ups and downs and YOU are the person who inspired me to follow my dreams and begin a blog. When I found out I had terminal cancer, I knew that I needed to start traveling now because someday wasn’t coming but as a single mom, I had no idea how to afford it. I bought your first book, read and reread your website and followed your advice and went. As a new blogger, it is quite overwhelming but after spending a lifetime in a sales career, I understand the peaks and valleys. Today’s article is more than inspiration. One of my goals is to meet you in person and I hope that someday our paths will cross because besides my kids, you have made a serious impact on my life and for that I am sincerely grateful!! You have always written to help others and I’m sure people tell you all the time how much you help. But I know sometimes people forget to say Thank you so in case you haven’t heard it- Thank YOU!!
Robert
Congrats on 10 years Matt! I’ve been following you for quite some time and have certainly learned a great deal from your posts. I had to laugh about looking back at ones older posts. I’m constantly going over and updating my old ones and can’t believe how bad they actually were! 🙂 Definitely blogging requires commitment and a lot of hard work like any business to be successful, but their are definitely rewards to be had. All the Best for the Next 10!!
Brittney Disov
Congrats Matt! I enjoyed every single word of this post! So much good and honest stuff here. You have always been and will continue to be a HUGE source of inspiration for me. Thank you for paving the way for us newbie bloggers. 🙂 Cheers!
Mike
It can take over 1 year before your blog even begins to gain some traction, you can enhance your chances by adopting high quality production values, and actually taking some time to optimize your work. The biggest advantage is to use WordPress CMS, which has significant semantic features which are compatible with the WWW at the outset, and then of course avail yourself of powerful SEO plugins, markup and mobile accelerator plugins. The largest benefit to your ranking is to produce the highest quality writing, and to provide genuine value for your audience; be patient, and persistent and observe the incremental improvements. You will get there if you want it.
Jessica
From a “millennial” – AMEN to number 13.
Roy Stevenson
Nice summary, Matt, of the reality of travel writing & blogging. Well done & excellent common sense, grounded advice for those aspiring to succeed in this competitive arena. Keep up the good work, mate! Regards, Roy Stevenson
Regan
This is hands down the best blogging advice I’ve seen on the web…and I’ve read lots.
As a blogger, I ironically came here to look at travel stuff to inspire me to kick my writing/blog game into high gear and start turning some profit. I never even thought to see if one of the biggest blogs ever would have advice on how to grow one!
Thank you so much for this…every single step was helpful for myself.
Jeroen Vogel
2012… I was in Australia, ticking off the last thing on my ‘working holiday list’ which I’d created when I was 17, and was reading Bill Bryson’s book “Down Under.” He made writing seem so damn easy that I thought one day: I can do that, and I’ll start with a book on Australia, about my two years there as a backpacker. And so I did.
I left Australia – that beautiful, beautiful Australia – in April 2013 and went to backpack in South East Asia before going back home to Europe. A friend from home happened to be there. He asked whether I was up for buying a motorbike and riding it from Saigon to Hanoi. During the trip, he saw me working on my book about Australia and said, “You should write a book about this trip in Vietnam.” And so I did.
I wrote the two books, made the covers myself with Photoshop, and uploaded the books to Amazon and some other platforms. I had not paid someone to proofread and edit the books, make the covers or do the publishing for me. I had not spent a single penny. Well, about twenty Facebook friends I’d met in Oz bought the book about Australia, because they all wanted to see if they were in it.
Then nothing happened.
I tried give-aways, I tried Facebook pages, I tried …
No results.
Then, when my Canadian work permit was about to expire, I thought: Maybe I should do something original. And so I travelled on public transport from the polar bears to the penguins, retracing Paul Theroux’s ‘The Old Patagonian Express.’
This time I had learned from my mistakes: I hired an editor. Then the book came out. I sold one copy.
Someone said, “Look at your covers! How many hours do you spend writing one book?”
“Hundreds,” I said.
“And you allow yourself to… Argh! Your covers, mate! Pay someone to do it for you!”
And so I did.
You know, I had no uncle who was a writer or a contact at a publishing company. I have always loved writing, but knew nothing about bringing out a book and heavily underestimated that little thing called ‘the reader’s perception.’ And now things are slowly changing for the better. I’m being drawn in to the writer’s world, slowly but surely, and I finally feel that things are starting to pay off.
Thank you for another great post that resonates with me and so many others. I hope you will keep blogging, still travel occasionally, and keep writing for your readers. You have lately found a writing voice that’s both commercial and human(e). That’s just another the result of ten years of blogging!
Tara Reid
Keep it up!
Jeroen Vogel
Thanks! You too! It’s always good to remember that the greatest rewards result from the hardest challenges.
Tara
Thanks Matt for another great article. I started learning how to create a blog and it’s not pretty. Someone told me that what I am blogging about – DIY – we are remodeling our 3700sq ft ourselves (basically gutting it); i do a lot with dogs and love a holistic/non-medicine life – was too saturated and not niche enough. I would love a mentor.
Waheeda
Matt, this is such an inspiring post. Yes, all those income reports make new bloggers feel bad for not achieving the same success in six months.
But everyone’s journey is different and as you said, real success takes time and perseverance.
Anne Howard
Congrats, man. 10 years is a big deal, especially in something as wild west as travel blogging. We have been at this six years and took a lot from this post. I have a whole new respect for your honesty and humility. Rock on.
Joe
Great article Matt! It’s very helpful to read about some of the things you went through along the way. I think it will encourage others to not give up. Thank you for sharing.
Shelly Najjar
“You only get better by doing. Never wait for perfection.” Super encouraging! Thanks for sharing your lessons learned, and congrats on the first 10 years!! I’ve learned a lot from you and from your blog and look forward to more.
Olivia
This made me so happy! I have been following your blog for about 5 years and always recommend you. I have my own website as well and I know its so hard! Thank you for your truth 🙂
Mandy S Robinson
I can’t stop laughing at the part about your first stuff sucking! It is so true. Some of my early stuff I am still in shock that I wrote!
Linda
I’m just starting out. THANKYOU.
This is such a wise, humane and liberating post.
It’s so cool to read that ‘your readers want you to succeed. Give them a way to support you’.
Of course~I forgot, I love to support people I love/enjoy, give money to a busker that touches me.
Actually, I haven’t even finished reading your post yet lol, so will get back to it
Crysta Parkinson
Woot, congrats on 10 years!
This is such an insightful list – I am super grateful! The thing about calling yourself an influencer totally jumped out at me, because I keep noticing it on Instagram. OK, so you’re an influencer. Says who? Like, you put it in your profile so I know? It’s kind of like when someone says they are really nice, or well endowed or anything else — if you have to tell me, it probably isn’t true.
Cory Varga
That’s one epic hater video! haha loved it. Thank you, it actually made my day.