When You Do ONE Thing Well, Three Things Will Happen

It works almost like magic!

‘Your Other Passport’ (the section where this post resides) is a set of blueprints filled with bright ideas, actionable advice, and bite-sized tidbits that’ll teach you how to stop spending money on travel, start earning money on the road, and become widely recognized within your destination of choice, even if the destination is where you currently live.

First of all, can I just tell you I spent WAY too much time playing with AI images to generate 3 beach coconuts I loved? 😁

Okay, let’s get started.

Don’t you hate when you click into an email or blog post and you have to read skim twelve paragraphs before getting what you came for?

I’m spilling the details right now, before making you read a seven-minute intro.

There’s pure magic in this little list of three and each point plays a role in your success in whatever you set out to do. However, for the sake of this post, we’re specifically talking about specializing in travel blogging/writing about a particular destination.

If you do ONE thing really well, here’s what will happen as a result:

1. Some people will want to be like you.

2. Some will want to live through you.

3. Others will want to pay you.

Let me explain.

1. The people who want to be like you.

If you’re anything like I was with Jamaica, you travel to the same place a few times a year. Sometimes you even land and decide not to leave (or maybe that was just me).

In fact, you spend so much time there that others start to wonder how many children you sold to finance your habit.

When you’re out there acting like you know everything about your destination you gain unprecedented attention from these folks. Why? Because you’re there and they aren’t.  They wish they were you and they wonder how you do what you do.

These are the people who will be your future customers. They’ll buy into ANYTHING you launch in the future related to that destination.

2. The people who live through you.

These are the ones who, for whatever reason, aren’t willing or able to jet off at the drop of a hat but still want to keep tabs.

They’ve been to your beloved destination a couple of times and fell in love as hard as you did but they have common sense (a.k.a. children, a career they love, a mortgage, stainless steel appliances, etc)

Not everyone flies by the seat of their pants and feels the attraction of abandoning normalcy, but they still love watching someone else do it.

These folks will faithfully spread the word about you because they feel like a VIP knowing someone willing and able to live such a free lifestyle.

3. The people who want to pay you.

These guys are your pot of gold. They recognize the skin you’ve put into your game and will solicit you for all kinds of paid deeds along the way.

All you need to learn is which deeds are worth your time, even if the money sucks because…connections, baby!

More on that here ⬇⬇

A few simple connections can change your life overnight.

I’ll teach you how to make those connections, which ones to prioritize, and why they’re all worth something, even if not the dollar bills.

Once you become innately known for your destination of choice, by default you become a go-to source. This puts you in a position of influence. It puts you right where you want to be which is at the center of inquiries that’ll earn you money and allow you to connect with whoever you wish.

But how do you even start getting good at it?

You begin at the beginning.

Some past comments on posts I’ve written about this destination ‘specialist’ gig have sounded a lot like this:

“But I don’t know enough about anywhere to be considered an expert.”

Just listen for a minute. Nobody is an expert on anything. They’re just a few steps ahead of the next guy.

When I launched my destination blog in 2009, it was lame as hell. In fact, I’ve copied and pasted my very first post below, and do you know what the title was?

I called it…

“My First Post”

(Pretty epic title, huh? 😂😂 )

This is how it read:

“It’s the first day of the new year, and with a new year came a new idea: To spread the love of the beautiful island of Jamaica and all it has to offer, with my own personal spin on things.

Whenever friends, coworkers, friends of friends, etc, are preparing for a getaway to Jamaica they always seem to come across my phone number and call for tips on travel.  I wondered if there was a way to start charging for a drink from my fountain of information!  But for real, I love Jamaica so much that I’m more than happy just to share!

I will give you plenty of practical information about traveling the island and answer the most typically asked questions. And just for kicks, there will be a section with my trip reports in it.

Stay tuned for a steady flow of posts! In the meantime, have a drink with me!”

Then I gave my welcome post a magnificent finish with a very crappy photo of a Red Stripe beer bottle.

But that uninspired introduction was how the blog that ultimately became an internet empire began.

You don’t need a big budget or a big story.

All you really need is some foresight and faith that if you commit to this it won’t take long before you’ll never pay for another vacation again.

You have to start somewhere and in my experience, nobody cares how it began and they’re not scrolling back to 1863 to find out.

People want to know how you can help them right now as they’re Googling what currency to use or whether it’s safe to travel there alone.

Your big (little) story is this:

You’re just a few trips ahead of the rookies. That is ALL.

You don’t need to be anything more than a few steps ahead of first-time travellers to your destination.

My first trip to Jamaica was in 2003 and I launched my blog in January of 2009. With only six trips over six years under my belt, friends and family saw me as an expert when I was basically just an addict.

It’s funny how outsiders view you when you’re mere steps ahead of them.

Looking back at my beginnings, all I wrote about was the Montego Bay airport, the taxi system, karaoke at a local bar, and sunsets. Those were my actual first four posts.

But just nine months from my beginnings? I was offered my very first FREE all-inclusive vacation, all because I wrote journal entries on a mediocre little destination blog.

And that is hopefully why you’re here today!

If you’re new here and have no idea why I’m harping so hard about destination blogging, drop in at Your Other Passport. All the lightbulbs will turn on. 💡💡