Notes from Chris

Episode 1886

Since he was a boy living in Bucharest, Romania, Ferenc Elekes has been fascinated with cars. As he grew up, he realized he wasn’t just interested in makes and models, but going on road trips as well.

These weren’t just trips that lasted a couple of days to the countryside. No, they were long distance trips to less frequently visited areas, often taken along remote trails. This was called overlanding, and the whole point was not any particular destination, but to enjoy the journey itself.

Later, as an adult living in London, where he worked in investment banking, Ferenc and two friends drove from the U.K. to Mongolia. Although they had many unforeseen bumps along the way, including having to abandon their vehicle in Tajikistan because of a breakdown, Ferenc thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

A couple years later, Ference—and his girlfriend Evelin, who was now along for the ride—took an even longer overlanding trip, this one for an entire year. They first drove across the Sahara, and then from Europe to Singapore. Because the trip would be so long, Ferenc decided that it would be a good time to start writing about it.

After all, overlanding isn’t a simple feat. It requires off-road capable vehicles to reach places that are typically inaccessible due to terrain. You often need to camp off grid and be self-sustaining. There is a lot of specific knowledge required in order for an overlanding trip to be successful, and the trips Ferenc were undertaking provided a good platform to put what he knew to the test—and then share it with the world. He set up his blog, overlandsite.com, at the end of 2017.

Returning to his day job after the long journey, Ferenc knew that he wanted to monetize his project so that it would fund his travels, and maybe eventually lead to a new life. His research had shown that the best bet for monetizing the site was through affiliate marketing, especially since overlanding is gear-intensive. If you want to get into it, you have to buy stuff!

Today, Overlandsite generates $2,000/month in revenue, most of which is pure profit. Looking back, Ference wishes that he had kept things simple by making sure his site was clean and lean instead of relying on clunky plugins that only slowed down the loading time. But of course he’s learned along the way.

For Ferenc, starting this side hustle came from taking the path less traveled—quite literally in this case.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Take a journey over to Ference’s website, OverlandSite.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Adventurous Couple Turns Travel Itineraries Into Cash: A husband and wife team earns extra money showing off their Romanian homeland.
• Avid Travelers Turn Finding Deals Into Vacation Planning Side Income: A couple in Washington, D.C. convert their passion for travel into a side hustle planning all-inclusive surprise vacations for those who lack the time to do it themselves.
• Developer Gets Paid for Weekend Trips Abroad: This web developer always wanted to travel, but only had a few days a year to do it. Little did she know that her jam-packed adventures would become a profitable side hustle.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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