Seismic Explorer Shakes Up Backpacking in Kenya

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

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Hey there, what's up? It's Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. Thank you for joining me as the week comes to a conclusion. Got a great story for you today. It actually reminds me of an experience I had many years ago.

My personal record for the longest bus ride I've ever been on was from Kampala, Uganda, all the way through much of Kenya, Nairobi, continuing on to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, via Arusha, Tanzania, and a couple of other stops. It actually took 35 hours. I think it was scheduled to take something like 18 to 24 hours, which of course is not short either, but 18 to 24 stretched into 35 hours. It was quite the experience. I made some friends, had a good time overall, but no desire to repeat a 35 hour bus ride.

I thought about that experience today because, you know, back then, if I had known about today's featured case study, I might've saved myself some trouble, or I might've just known more about what to be prepared going into that experience. Today's story is about a Kenyan engineer, guy from Kenya who grows up, gets an engineering degree, ends up starting a career in the oil and gas industry, but falls in love with travel. I'll tell you more about his story in a moment, but the point is he starts a travel blog that earns more than $500 a month when he gets back home and begins a new career. So it's basically a backpacking trip that comes from his career that turns into a side hustle, all kinds of ways to make money out there. So stay tuned for the Seismic Explorer who shakes up backpacking in Kenya.

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When you think of classic backpacking destinations, the places that come to mind might include Thailand, Australia, Europe, or Central America. But as Leo Gichuki discovered, sometimes it's the journeys off the beaten path that are the most rewarding. After graduating from college in Kenya with a degree in electrical engineering, Leo found the opportunity to begin a career in seismic exploration for an oil and gas company. His new job gave him the chance to spend two years visiting countries across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East as he worked in oil rigs around the world. He had large blocks of time he needed to spend at work seven days a week, but it also left him with long weeks of free time, basically like a paid vacation.

He took this as the perfect opportunity to discover new areas and dive into different cultures. Traveling outside of Africa was new for Leo, but it opened his mind to new perspectives and sparked a passion for exploration. Still in the oil industry with ups there must be downs, when the price of oil began to plummet, Leo was laid off from his job. His skills in seismic exploration weren't applicable in Kenya's job market, and he had no practical experience as an electrical engineer. The one thing he did know?

Well, he was still passionate about traveling. So he took out a map of Africa, looked at the vast expanse, and decided to set off on a three-month trip. He'd worry about the details as he went along. It was during this three-month trip of discovering both his home country and the whole continent that he decided to blog about the journey and the hope that other people might be inspired to explore it too. He began to write posts so that he'd remember all the details, and he saved those posts so that he could set up a website and publish them when he got home.

Leo's return home also meant the start of a new job as a business development manager for a music school in Kenya, but he didn't let that push his blog to the back burner. He used evenings and weekends to scour YouTube tutorials and free online resources for advice on how to set up a website and publish his first post so that he could begin a new side hustle called Kenyan Backpacker. Kenyan Backpacker initially began as a space to share stories about his travels, but it quickly grew into a source of information for budget travelers looking for tips on accommodation, activities, and transportation throughout the country. After a year of running the site publishing posts each week, Leo noticed a consistent search pattern for train tickets and gear recommendations. He wrote a post about train travel in Kenya after a new train service was introduced, and at that point, his post was the only one out there.

His self-taught SEO tricks helped him optimize the post so that he was ranked first in Google for any search that related to that new train route. And then he began fielding emails that asked him directly for help on planning a trip. The new business development manager saw an opportunity to turn his project into a business, or at least a side hustle. Leo had noticed that backpackers arriving in Kenya were always searching for good quality gear like sleeping bags, mats, hiking poles, and travel bags, but they didn't usually know where to look. As a traveler himself, Leo started to visit local markets to find the gear and then list it on a newly created gear shop section of his blog.

That way, more people would find him for both Kenya travel advice and travel gear, which helped to optimize his SEO ranking even more. But gear wasn't the only thing international travelers to Kenya were looking for. As Leo started to get more and more inquiries for train tickets between Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya's two largest cities, he realized how hard it was for people to get tickets themselves. He could do it easily because he lives in Nairobi, but online booking was impossible, which hindered travelers. A new side-side hustle was born as Leo began to offer advanced train tickets on his website for a small markup fee.

One lesson he learned was to never underestimate the power of referral. When he began to help travelers get train tickets, he encountered a woman from the US who bought tickets for a family. She goes to Kenya every year. She now directs her friends and acquaintances to him. Word of mouth can do wonders for a side hustle.

Startup costs for Kenyan backpacker were minimal. Leo spent about $40 to cover his domain name and hosting, and he now makes at least $500 a month from those ticket markups, gear sales, and advertising on the site. Traffic is seasonal with more people looking in the spring as they begin to plan their summer travel. Leo remains motivated by the simple idea of earning additional income to talk about something he loves and to help other travelers. Using his website and side hustles to connect with people from different countries while giving them valuable advice is something he doesn't take for granted.

At some point, he hopes to turn Kenyan backpacker into his full-time job to see where the adventure takes him. Whatever happens, it sounds like a future worth exploring. Well, as I said, I have no desire to repeat my 35-hour bus journey from Kampala, Uganda to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. But in a weird sort of way, I also look back on that experience with the sense of nostalgia. Like, I know I don't want to go and do it again, but I'm glad I did it.

Maybe you have things like that in your life, too. You look back on something and you're like, "Wow, that was kind of hard." And at the time, I was like, "When is this gonna end?" But then I finished it and I was glad I did. I don't know if it's a perfect analogy, but I think a lot of people that I talk to feel that way about their side hustles. And hopefully it's not the same arduous ordeal as a 35-hour bus ride. But the point is, when you start a project, it might take more work than you expect.

You might have setbacks. Your first project might not work and you have to try something different. But then later, when you look back on it, again, this might not be universal, but from what I hear talking to lots of people, you do feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. You are like, "Yeah, I'm so glad I did that." And that experience, the knowledge I gained through that time or that process is still with me now, even as I go on to other things. So that's my challenge for you.

Maybe think back and ask yourself, "What fits into that category for me?" And if I can't think anything, am I really living the life that I want? If your answer is yes, absolutely, then that's great. But if your answer is, "You know what? There might be something else out there. There might be this dream I have that I haven't pursued." Maybe it doesn't even have to do with starting a business.

I mean, that's what I'm talking about every day on the show, but it could be something totally different. How are you embracing life? How are you embracing challenges? How are you working for the future? Just like Leo is doing, hearing this story.

Just like pretty much all the stories are doing. So I will leave you with that. Along with the reminder, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better. We've got the weekly recap coming up tomorrow. Until then, you can find today's show notes at sidehustleschool.com/483.

Thank you for being out there. You're a rock star. This is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]