I quit my job to do this full-time.

I’ve got a huge announcement.

I quit my full-time job to pursue my travel business full-time.

This is one of the most life-changing decisions I’ve ever made, and I can’t wait to share the story with you all, here.

If you don’t read this whole thing…

That’s ok, I’m writing this for my records & my daughter.

& it ended up pretty long.

But you should know I’m running a big sale this week on my course.

I nervously charged my first client $75 for a 1:1 consultation… they paid without hesitation!

So, to celebrate going full-time, I’m pricing my $127 course, Go Somewhere, at $75 this week only.

This course is exceptional, but don’t take it from me!

Get the course here.

And now, story time.

I cried on my way home from my first day of work in my corporate job.

I know, weak Gen Z right?

Not really. It just broke me that this is what life was going to be.

Show up to office. Do what I’m told. Don’t be creative. Drive home in traffic. See my kid for 1.3 hours before bedtime. Repeat.

Eventually I adjusted to the job - it wasn’t bad. Wasn’t great. I spent a lot of free time scrolling LinkedIn.

In early summer 2023 I decided to start posting. I didn’t have a niche or a service or anything, I literally just posted random thoughts.

One post even went viral lol:

This was a post about how horrible travel sports are for families.

Well, the summer continued and I came up with crap to post almost every day.

I remember turning on “Creator mode” on LinkedIn at 580 followers (I’m closing in on 8,000 today).

In July 23’, I got a new job in non-profit fundraising and we decided to move to Ohio. That was a big deal.

Right before we moved, I shot off a post about how to get flights with points to Hawaii - it popped off.

I already knew a lot about points & miles but it never occurred to me that I should post on LinkedIn of all places about it…

But that post did well, so I kept going.

Family posts, finance posts, travel posts, soon became travel, travel, travel.

Unfortunately, my new job was not a good fit. I didn’t want to admit that to myself because I’d just moved my family out of our nice home in Indiana to a small apartment in Columbus.

I was chasing professional gratification and community, I didn’t get either.

Now what the heck was I doing in Columbus?!

I pushed through my job and found moments of joy starting to build my travel business.

By October 2023, I’d been posting about travel almost every day and had started taking free calls to help people out.

I’d had a novel idea: What if I charged people for points & miles advice?

I can save them $1,000+, so I bet they’d pay a little!

My first client (who’ll never know she was my first client) Venmoed me $75 and it was the most amazing feeling.

I taught her how to transfer points to get flights to Europe and she was thrilled. It was enough to convince me I could build a business around my points & miles knowledge.

I’d never built a business before, so things were SLOW, but I kept it really simple:

• Lead with content. Great daily content about travel.

• Wait for inbound leads, be super nice to them, close the majority of them.

• Keep tech stack simple.

I developed a 1:1 Consultation product, I made a slideshow, I got a Calendly, I asked for a lot of advice, I studied points & miles for hours, I put in a ton of work…

And it slowly grew. In November & December I got a few bookings - I was hype. This was way better than reffing soccer (that was my make extra money backup plan).

At Christmas, I left the non-profit job because a friend had started this company wholesaling real estate and seemed like he’d make a lot of money.

I worked with him for a bit and that was an absolute dumpster fire.

I was cold calling 20 realtors a day pitching them on “creative financing”. They couldn’t hang up the phone fast enough.

Frustrated at the end of January, I set a big goal:

• I will make $750 from my travel business in February.

I pushed harder into LinkedIn & my newsletter, and I did it! I was hyped up.

I saw some guru post, “If you can make $1,000 you can make $10,000.”

That resonated with me - I knew I had something. I was gaining followers, I was making good connections, and feeling momentum.

In March I made $1,200.

Whoah.

Then things fell apart with my real estate job in March when I realized money I was promised was never going to be paid to me.

I quit that job and was officially unemployed… then my wife found out she was pregnant at the end of March!

I worked hard on my business in April and made more. I took a job at a different non-profit in fundraising, and, for whatever reason, my business started taking off.

• I got paid affiliate links.

• I started working with business owners.

• Demand for my trip planning services was increasing.

• My LinkedIn started growing.

I couldn’t admit it to myself at the time, but I liked my business way more than any job I’d had and wanted to go full-time - but I couldn’t, yet.

I worked hard at my job through the summer but worked harder (early mornings + late nights) on my business.

Now I was legit:

• Branding.

• Website.

• Working with influencers.

• Newsletter.

• Free guides/course.

• Higher prices.

And I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but through discipline and consistency, I almost doubled my W2 income in August.

This was getting real. And that’s when it hit me.

With my success and my wife’s business going well, we realized we could actually do this business owner thing full-time.

And listen, as a guy who truly didn’t believe in himself and said just 2 years ago, “I think I’m just meant to be an employee forever,” this was a big deal.

I’ve been denied for every job I ever wanted. I didn’t get into any good schools. I got a 19 on my ACT. I left college with less of an idea of what I wanted to do than when I entered. I had no impressive network or connections.

But I knew I was capable of excellence. I knew I could do something.

Somehow, I’d become a thought leader and mildly successful business owner.

By September, I’d cumulatively saved my clients $500k+ in travel. I was getting really good at helping people with points & miles.

And the most important thing?

I’d fallen in love with my business.

• I loved helping people travel more.

• I loved teaching.

• I loved getting to know couples from all over the country.

• I loved providing a service that truly made people’s lives better.

So in mid-October, when things were aligning financially, spiritually, etc… I decided it was time to go full-time.

Yesterday was my first day of being full-time and it was my most successful day financially I’ve ever had.

And that actually didn’t surprise me. Why? Because God has anointed every step of this process for my wife & I.

Every doubt I’ve had has been addressed, every need we’ve had has been met + more.

I really can’t fathom the provision I’ve received. In the book of Exodus, the Israelites are punished for trying to store manna overnight.

God makes it very clear to them that He will provide their daily bread, and He did, for 40 long years.

That’s where I am now. Excited for the future, but relying on my daily bread.

And I’ve never been more excited - I’m all in on this business and I’ve got a baby on the way in a few weeks. What could be better than that?

I’m doing a lot with the business:

• Building a better business owner offer.

• Marketing & selling a partner program to financial advisors.

• Building out new free resource & updating my free mini-course.

• Creating high-quality studio video content.

• Becoming a registered travel agent.

• Freelance writing for Dollar Flight Club & Forbes Advisor.

• Marketing & selling my course: Go Somewhere.

• Taking 4-10 1:1 consultations/trip planning calls each week.

• Growing this newsletter.

• Trying to hit 10k on LinkedIn.

• Having a ton of fun.

Well, you made it to the end.

Congrats.

I feel like I’m at the beginning. I grinded for 14 months to be able to make my hobby my full-time job. And now I finally have the time to make it something great.

You all made that possible.

As a thank you to you all, I’m offering my course at $75. That’s the first price I charged someone for a 1:1 consultation.

You can grab the course here, it’s really good.

Happy travels.

Colin

P.S. Shoutout to my amazing wife without whom none of this would be possible. The culture she sets in our home, the way she loves our daughters, the income she brings from her business, the way she loves & supports me, & the unending work she does around our home will never been seen or appreciated enough!