I didn’t plan on attending TravelCon in Boston. I didn’t plan on signing up, buying tickets, and attending any conference at all, let alone walking away with TravelCon lessons. But somewhere along the way, as flashes of epic journeys turned into full on daydream sessions in the middle of a work week, I realised that I kept circling back to travel.
I remember briefly that when I was about 8 years old, I told my mommy I wanted to be “a translator because I would go to the UN and meet people and interpret for them”. I dunno where I got that idea from and to this day she doesn’t either. Then teenage years and things became more complex…I decided I wanted to learn a total of 8 languages (I made it to 3.5 languages – shoutout to Patwa, English, French and a bit of Spanish!).
And then I moved to France, and India and Colombia because…TRAVEL.
But really…I didn’t plan on going to a travel conference. The thought never crossed my mind.
And yet, I named 2019 my “Year of Learning” so I tried to learn about all the things I was interested in. And what else am I more passionate about than travel?
So I set about learning. Almost instantly like *snap* I found TravelCon on the Google lol. 3.5 hours of rabbit-holing and the rest, as they say, is history.
So What’s So Special About TravelCon Anyways?
TravelCon is a travel conference that was created by one of the OG travel bloggers in the industry – Matt Kepnes. Matt runs ‘Nomadic Matt’…the number 1 travel blog in the world (according to Moz and Google and all things SEO). So dude knows a thing or two about travel. TravelCon19 as they call it was held in historic Boston. Boston has such an old-world European vibe that I really appreciated as the venue for TravelCon.
Not only that, TravelCon sets itself apart by focusing on the needs of travel bloggers. We attend the conference to learn what it takes to be successful in this business of travel bogging. At TravelCon, it’s other successful bloggers sharing their inside knowledge, their mistakes, their business models, their network and their hopes and visions for the travel industry. TravelCon allows us to sit at the feet of some of the best in the travel industry and learn from them.
And boy did I learn!
I soaked up so much knowledge that I every night, before the networking parties put on by TravelCon team, I had to offload all the TravelCon lessons for the day or else my brain would burst and overflow with info. Yep, TravelCon was that good!
Yet while I learned so so much about the travel industry, there were some other lessons…some more important gems that I walked away with at the end. I was pleasantly surprised by how universal these lessons are.
It doesn’t matter if you are an aspiring travel blogger, entrepreneur, working a 9-5, or just here for the epic reads…you can take these lessons and run with them! There were so many but I chose the lesson that resonated the most with me.
The Surprising TravelCon Lesson I Learned and How You Can Infuse It in Your Own Life
TravelCon Lessons…It’s OK to Ask for Payment for Your Work
That hit you like a ton of bricks, didn’t it?
This was the first and hardest of all the TravelCon lessons. I got real uncomfortable every time someone said this. Like something inside me was ashamed and pushing back HARD to accept that I can and should ask for payment for my work.
You too. Ask for payment for your work. You should. You can. You must. Don’t write it off and say it’s just a little thing so you can just do it for free because you don’t wanna look too money-grubbing.
TravelCon speakers and fellow attendees were like
“Nah, Sis. Don’t watch no face. Secure the bag!”
But you gotta be prepared…you have to also know how much you’re charging for your services. Because yes, there will be haters who try to get the most for free. But there will absolutely be people who see the value in your work and are willing to pay you for it.
It was at TravelCon I realised that I missed many opportunities in the past because I didn’t know my fees for simple things like “coffee hour consultations” with me.
So what I would do is jokingly mention “but you have to pay me for it hahaha” (*cringe*)
The person would be like “ok…how much?”<~~opportuniddy!
Then I’m usually like “uhhhh I’m still working that part out”. (mm-hmm *eyeroll*)
Well there goes the money bag. Poof! Right through the window.
Like I said, when I realised I was doing that…it hit me like a ton of bricks.
So ask for payment for your work. Set your fees beforehand. Know Your Worth.
How many of us are guilty of this???? Let me know in the comments.
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