Best Business Ideas for People Who Love to Travel
Typically when you start your own business it’s hello stress and goodbye vacations; but what if you could start a business where every day was spent in an amazing destination? These days, the lines between business and pleasure are becoming increasingly blurred as entrepreneurs are cashing in on tourism and hitting the road to form their own travel-based businesses. If you love racking up tourist visas and don’t mind adding a work visa or two to your passport here are four of the best businesses to begin for all you adventurers out there:
Wedding Photography/Planning
Ever secretly dreamed of having a multimillion dollar wedding in Hawaii, Maldives, Bali or [insert another tropical island here]? Well someone has to pay for it and chances are if someone is spending $5000 on fire dancers they’ll pay you to plan it all and make sure the first dance goes without a hitch. Wedding planners and photographers love to specialize in different wedding themes and couples will go all out to make sure their special day matches what their Instagram feeds have looked like for the past 2 years, 10 months and eleven days of planning. You can structure your business two ways: you can either work locally during the planning stages and fly out to a luxurious destination for two weeks (and maybe for the honeymoon too) or you can base your business at the destination and speak to your clients over the phone (and probably avoid a bridezilla meltdown or two in the process).
While it may take some photography classes to sharpen your skills, you don’t even need to be certified to become a wedding planner which means you can start your business before saying “I do” to a bunch of debt. Just remember with the popularity of Instagram and Pinterest any wedding destination is a click away- and your business can be too. Wedding photography and planning can be just the ticket if you enjoy working in events, can stomach a difficult client or two or maybe want to keep your business local and just live in the honeymoon phase over and over and over again...
Tour Guide
When you first travel to a new city, country or even continent I’m sure you scoff at the $100 all inclusive tour advertised on TripAdvisor- but you’ll also be the first to grab a free tour flyer at your hotel. These days with the free walking tour business model all you need is a good set of lungs, a good set of legs and a good sense of direction to be on track to making money. Don’t forget your charisma at home though- most travelers visit with extra spending cash and will gladly give it over to their funny and cute tour guide if they enjoyed themselves. For the cost of a couple dozen flyers and some extra strong espresso in the morning you can have your tour up and running with you in the driver’s seat. Don’t live near a big city? Don’t worry as there’s always some interesting history in smaller towns that people will want to learn about when they’re dragged across the country to their estranged cousin's baby shower. And once you’ve got the skills down in your own hometown you can make the big move and swim with the big fish across the pond in London, Paris or whichever city you dream of.
Become a Digital Nomad
Digital what? A digital nomad is an entrepreneur that uses the internet to make a living by working remotely. Because a digital nomad is only tied to wifi you can be a software developer in Spain, work as a virtual assistant in Venezuela or graphic design in Greece. Because this position is the only one on this list that does require a third party (someone has to pay you for all your hard work!), you can get up and go without creating a proper business plan, going to grad school or even saying goodbye to your parents (okay, maybe not that last part). Do you love the world as much as the World Wide Web but have no idea where you want to work? We’ve done all the hard work for you with our list of the best places to work online from here.
Travel Blogging
While it might be the most obvious entrant on this list don’t underestimate the power of the humble travel blog. These days it’s easier than ever to make your presence known on social media in the travel world as blogs aren’t limited to just your ordinary Wordpress site but include Instagram posts and even YouTube blogging. That gives you three areas to make money while also working creatively. Could there be a better combination besides planes, trains, and automobiles? Affiliate marketing, Adsense and even sponsored trips may just be your ticket to going from middle-class office worker to first class traveler.
And there you have it: four businesses for you to turn your wanderlust into winning work. And one thing you can take with you wherever you go? Our Invoice Home app on GooglePlay (iOS coming soon!). You can create invoices for your wedding party, guide expenses, online agencies and advertisers that are universally loved no matter where you are on the globe so you can get paid fast and go on vacation faster. Have invoices, will travel.
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