My first Business - Digital Travel Guides & Personal Itineraries

[Zizu]

I just launched my website and my first product. A few months ago I was wasting time action faking:

• Reading Books to get "inspiration" and "ideas"
• Watching YouTube videos to learn about business ideas
• Journaling for hours and days on various business ideas that actually got me nowhere.
• Saving social media posts that would "help me" in the future and being on Instagram "for business purposes".

The journey to discovering my purpose was hard. Balancing it with my full time job was even harder (and still is). After one of my hour-long tourist transfers from the airport, it actually came to me.

One of my favourite things at work is chatting with my passengers and giving them advice on what to see, where to eat and what to do locally. Combine this with my love of travelling and a knack for writing (this turned out to be my flow state task) and this is how Roads ReDiscovered (my business) was born.

I help travelers have unforgettable experiences with digital travel guides and personalized itineraries. I write and create only what I am knowledgeable about and this is what I love to do. My first guide took me a few months to fully complete, from design to final proofreading. Once it was complete I knew I just couldn't let it sit on my computer and I had to launch it ASAP. A few days of learning and creating in Wordpress and it was done!

I was so proud.

The next thing to do is to build a community and brand around it. Luckily this is where I don`t have to waste time (even though its necessary, this part wastes my energy for nothing) because it is one of many things my girlfriend does in her SMM agency. She also created my logo to save me from the struggle of spending money and time on Fiverr!

If anyone wants to check it out and get an idea or two, or give some constructive criticism, here's the link:

Roads ReDiscovered

I`ll post any updates I have in this topic.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[matteblack]

I just launched my website and my first product. A few months ago I was wasting time action faking:

• Reading Books to get "inspiration" and "ideas"
• Watching YouTube videos to learn about business ideas
• Journaling for hours and days on various business ideas that actually got me nowhere.
• Saving social media posts that would "help me" in the future and being on Instagram "for business purposes".

The journey to discovering my purpose was hard. Balancing it with my full time job was even harder (and still is). After one of my hour-long tourist transfers from the airport, it actually came to me.

One of my favourite things at work is chatting with my passengers and giving them advice on what to see, where to eat and what to do locally. Combine this with my love of travelling and a knack for writing (this turned out to be my flow state task) and this is how Roads ReDiscovered (my business) was born.

I help travelers have unforgettable experiences with digital travel guides and personalized itineraries. I write and create only what I am knowledgeable about and this is what I love to do. My first guide took me a few months to fully complete, from design to final proofreading. Once it was complete I knew I just couldn't let it sit on my computer and I had to launch it ASAP. A few days of learning and creating in Wordpress and it was done!

I was so proud.

The next thing to do is to build a community and brand around it. Luckily this is where I don`t have to waste time (even though its necessary, this part wastes my energy for nothing) because it is one of many things my girlfriend does in her SMM agency. She also created my logo to save me from the struggle of spending money and time on Fiverr!

If anyone wants to check it out and get an idea or two, or give some constructive criticism, here's the link:

Roads ReDiscovered

I`ll post any updates I have in this topic.

Your website is beautifully designed

 

[Zizu]

Your website is beautifully designed

Thank you! Design is really important for my brand.

 

[Zizu]

Update as of November 4th:

• Started writing my second guide a few days ago
• Creating a Social Media Strategy for Instagram & TikTok, analyizing the best of my competitors who do the same work as I (albeit for different places...mostly)
• Filming B-Rolls for Short-Form content

This will be an active income as my guides cover areas less known by most tourists, but still wideknown in countries around Croatia. Basically it means I'll have to keep writing guides to make a living out of it (currently I'm still in a 9-5). I don't intend this to be a sidehustle, not even a business. I have bigger dreams which I will not stop working towards and I'm taking my country with me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BizyDad]

Following. Congrats on your launch.

 

[Zizu]

Following. Congrats on your launch.

Thanks. The support means a lot!

 

[Sjena]

Congratulations on the launch!

It's awesome to see someone who is also from Croatia and doing things like this. Good luck with your project

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Zizu]

Congratulations on the launch!

It's awesome to see someone who is also from Croatia and doing things like this. Good luck with your project

Thanks for the support, its nice to see fellow countrymen here!

 

[KiwiEC]

Congrats, following too.

Having your girlfriend who supports you is a big plus, enjoy it.

 

[AndreiR]

Good luck man! Love to see this.

Where I’m Croatia are you?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Zizu]

@KiwiEC

Thanks! It definitely means a lot when your loved ones are supporting and helping you!

@AndreiR

Glad you like it! I'm from Northern Dalmatia!

 

[AppleTree]

This looks really great! I think the idea is great and with good marketing has a lot of potential.

I just looked at the website and I just have some suggestions for you(nothing too major, but would help if they're optimized)
- The Roads Rediscovered image at the very top isn't responsive on mobile view so it's cutting off a bit(the other texts aren't cutting off so you might just need to adjust the image on mobile views)
- The "Blog(Coming Soon)" button on the header is broken, I'm assuming that you haven't directed it properly. Right now it's leading to an url "http://blog" which is showing an error. It might be better to redirect it to "https://roadsrediscovered.com/blog" and have it just show a work in progress page
- The Instagram icon at the top opens the Instagram page on the current tab. It's probably better to have it open in a new tab so it doesn't take the user off your website. It's the same with the Instagram link on the bottom
- Some of the links(Facebook, Youtube) don't work, I'm assuming it's because you still need to add them
- The nav bar(The bar at the very top that includes Home, Travel Guides, Experiences, Blog(Coming Soon), and Contact Us) doesn't display properly or work properly after clicking on Terms of Service, Cookies Policy(EU), and Privacy Policy.
- Just my personal suggestion, but I feel like you can break up the large chunk of text under "Dalmatia ReDiscovered`s Guide to Vodice" so it doesn't seem to initimating. It's pretty long so it might be better to break it up into sections(like 1 for food, 1 for tourist attractions, etc) and have parts of your tour guide shown(it can let the user better understand what the tour guide would look like).
- Now this is not website related but more marketing, perhaps you can do a special campaign where the first 100 to buy gets a percentage off or get access to the bonus for free. Just to get the ball rolling and get your first customers.

 

[Michael Ankrah]

My small

I just launched my website and my first product. A few months ago I was wasting time action faking:

• Reading Books to get "inspiration" and "ideas"
• Watching YouTube videos to learn about business ideas
• Journaling for hours and days on various business ideas that actually got me nowhere.
• Saving social media posts that would "help me" in the future and being on Instagram "for business purposes".

The journey to discovering my purpose was hard. Balancing it with my full time job was even harder (and still is). After one of my hour-long tourist transfers from the airport, it actually came to me.

One of my favourite things at work is chatting with my passengers and giving them advice on what to see, where to eat and what to do locally. Combine this with my love of travelling and a knack for writing (this turned out to be my flow state task) and this is how Roads ReDiscovered (my business) was born.

I help travelers have unforgettable experiences with digital travel guides and personalized itineraries. I write and create only what I am knowledgeable about and this is what I love to do. My first guide took me a few months to fully complete, from design to final proofreading. Once it was complete I knew I just couldn't let it sit on my computer and I had to launch it ASAP. A few days of learning and creating in Wordpress and it was done!

I was so proud.

The next thing to do is to build a community and brand around it. Luckily this is where I don`t have to waste time (even though its necessary, this part wastes my energy for nothing) because it is one of many things my girlfriend does in her SMM agency. She also created my logo to save me from the struggle of spending money and time on Fiverr!

If anyone wants to check it out and get an idea or two, or give some constructive criticism, here's the link:

Roads ReDiscovered

I`ll post any updates I have in this topic.

This looks really great! I think the idea is great and with good marketing has a lot of potential.

I just looked at the website and I just have some suggestions for you(nothing too major, but would help if they're optimized)
- The Roads Rediscovered image at the very top isn't responsive on mobile view so it's cutting off a bit(the other texts aren't cutting off so you might just need to adjust the image on mobile views)
- The "Blog(Coming Soon)" button on the header is broken, I'm assuming that you haven't directed it properly. Right now it's leading to an url "http://blog" which is showing an error. It might be better to redirect it to "https://roadsrediscovered.com/blog" and have it just show a work in progress page
- The Instagram icon at the top opens the Instagram page on the current tab. It's probably better to have it open in a new tab so it doesn't take the user off your website. It's the same with the Instagram link on the bottom
- Some of the links(Facebook, Youtube) don't work, I'm assuming it's because you still need to add them
- The nav bar(The bar at the very top that includes Home, Travel Guides, Experiences, Blog(Coming Soon), and Contact Us) doesn't display properly or work properly after clicking on Terms of Service, Cookies Policy(EU), and Privacy Policy.
- Just my personal suggestion, but I feel like you can break up the large chunk of text under "Dalmatia ReDiscovered`s Guide to Vodice" so it doesn't seem to initimating. It's pretty long so it might be better to break it up into sections(like 1 for food, 1 for tourist attractions, etc) and have parts of your tour guide shown(it can let the user better understand what the tour guide would look like).
- Now this is not website related but more marketing, perhaps you can do a special campaign where the first 100 to buy gets a percentage off or get access to the bonus for free. Just to get the ball rolling and get your first customers.

My little recommendation is to put an arrow to go back to the top of the page after scrolling down for easier navigation

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Zizu]

Update as of November 9th:

• 30 pages of the new guide written. This may be a lot and may be little, but this is without following any previous journaling or writing in the scrapbook, I'm writing as I think about it.
• Implemented the website fixes noticed by @AppleTree . However still have difficulties with how exactly to optimize the website banner for mobile...
• Now you can see what the guide actually looks like on the inside.
• Social media strategy (including content calenders for the upcoming month) for Instagram, TikTok & Pinterest is complete. Posting on Instagram will commence on Monday 13th November (thank you Laura!)

@Michael Ankrah I tried but it seems wordpress requires a plugin, and business wordpress is not in the budget currently. But thanks for the suggestion, it's a good one.
@AppleTree Thank you for your suggestions, I learned a few new things in wordpress and you made me think about the marketing idea!

 

[Michael Ankrah]

Update as of November 9th:

• 30 pages of the new guide written. This may be a lot and may be little, but this is without following any previous journaling or writing in the scrapbook, I'm writing as I think about it.
• Implemented the website fixes noticed by @AppleTree . However still have difficulties with how exactly to optimize the website banner for mobile...
• Now you can see what the guide actually looks like on the inside.
• Social media strategy (including content calenders for the upcoming month) for Instagram, TikTok & Pinterest is complete. Posting on Instagram will commence on Monday 13th November (thank you Laura!)

@Michael Ankrah I tried but it seems wordpress requires a plugin, and business wordpress is not in the budget currently. But thanks for the suggestion, it's a good one.
@AppleTree Thank you for your suggestions, I learned a few new things in wordpress and you made me think about

Update as of November 9th:

• 30 pages of the new guide written. This may be a lot and may be little, but this is without following any previous journaling or writing in the scrapbook, I'm writing as I think about it.
• Implemented the website fixes noticed by @AppleTree . However still have difficulties with how exactly to optimize the website banner for mobile...
• Now you can see what the guide actually looks like on the inside.
• Social media strategy (including content calenders for the upcoming month) for Instagram, TikTok & Pinterest is complete. Posting on Instagram will commence on Monday 13th November (thank you Laura!)

@Michael Ankrah I tried but it seems wordpress requires a plugin, and business wordpress is not in the budget currently. But thanks for the suggestion, it's a good one.
@AppleTree Thank you for your suggestions, I learned a few new things in wordpress and you made me think about the marketing idea!

Wordpress.com isn’t free but Wordpress.org is free and if you wanna use Elementor Pro for free just do a search for it on YouTube and get it that’s how l did mine yesterday

 

[Lana Ocean]

I really like your topic and I'm sure you have a future.
My tips for promotion:
1. Maybe it's the graphic designer in me talking, but I'd like a more modern lending site and probably more sales funnels.
2. You and your girlfriend are a VERY beautiful couple, look at the instagram of couples who have millions of followers and you'll see how to capitalize on that. You need more people in your photos.
3. Think about what other extras you can offer your clients. I'm sure there are plenty of additional services in your field. You can also, of course, take commissions from places where tourists come by your promo code and so on

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Zizu]

Update as of November 19th:

• Had productivity problems the past week so I did less work than usually, however today I've exceeded my goals.
• Spent the week working on the offer for my personalized itineraries and private community (which won't be out yet) and it seems I've completed the offers. Next thing is to make a proper landing page for the itineraries.
• Guide is a bit over 50 pages. Still not 100% sure about the design but it take too long if i decide to change it along the way.
• Should've been day 6 of posting but I only posted once and without a CTA or caption or anything. Somewhat disappointed in myself but I'll do better very soon, I promised myself.

@Lana Ocean thank you for the nice words and suggestions, I've been thinking about it and I will definitely take action as soon as we start rolling on the social media posts.

@Michael Ankrah IK but wordpress.com seemed like a less time-investing idea at the time and its already paid for so we'll stay with it for this year.

 

[Zizu]

A long time since I've updated here, and for good reason. Here's what me and my girl have been up to:

• Created a free mini-guide to share on social media (some 25 pages)
• Completely changed the website design & added new pages. I recreated the entire site in canva. Very important for someone obsessed with design like me. This includes a home page, travel guides (with dedicated pages), about us and a landing page for my personalized itineraries.
• You can download the Vodice guide for free by December 31st 2023 if you're interested in what I'm creating. Also, custom itineraries are 50 % off until New Year's. Travel Guides are priced at €17. Regular prices for experiences are €497 and €997 depending on the package you choose.
• Started consistently posting on Instagram, TikTok & Pinterest a few days back. Some videos gained more traction than others but it'll take time to wake up the account first.
• Linktree created

All in all, the few weeks since my last post have been very meaningful. I'll drop the links once again so you can check them out:
Home Page - From here you can visit our travel guides, personalized itineraries, about us and also the social media handles!
Personalized Itineraries
Find our Travel Guides here!

Thanks to everyone here for your support!

 

[Zizu]

26th December!

The last few weeks have been pretty much all about growing social media and sending DMs to leads on instagram.

Been active daily on ig/tiktok/pinterest.

Instagram reach is close to 5.5k in the last 30 days
TikTok has had a few less and a few more successful videos, close to 3k unique viewers, pretty good due to the fact there's only 20 followers.
Pinterest is at 1.5k monthly impressions, uploading 6 pins every day!

As for turning the reach into actual followers, this has seen very little success for now. Gained a few on ig and tiktok but nothing notable. Currently pretty much all I do is help my girlfriend with the pins as that is the most time consuming for her (she is working on her SMM at the same time) and sending the DMs to people who like my ig reels.

I've only been sending to instagram reels as they are definitely a much better audience fit - on tiktok its difficult to target as most of my audience falls into the 18-24 bracket (unwillingly) while the people I'm aiming at are more 25-35 ideally. Haven't sent any DMs on tiktok but I do have a lead magnet (text us "FREEBIE" for a free travel guide). Unfortunately we are yet to be texted.

Its been less than a month so I'm pretty optimistic, and with the service being high ticket (the full prices are €497 and €997) it might be going to the wrong audience.

I might have to optimize the product because it is a travel planning service. The value is definitely there but middle class people might not be able to afford spending €997 on top of their travel fees, so there probably is a much better way to target the people who actually want what I have for them!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Zizu]

Update 3rd of February 2024:

I fell into a huge rut with no idea what to do or do next, no inspiration at all. This has been going since Christmas time up to a week or two ago, now I'm finally feeling a sense of direction for myself.

I had no idea what to do. I'd try doing something and wasn't able to do shit because I felt no passion towards it, not just no passion, I literally felt like my content was useless.

I expected posting every day with the similar clips and mostly unvaluable text would do something. Yeah right. People can smell you have no idea what you are talking about, no matter how much you love something. And this was true. I want(ed) to be a travel influencer, but I don't travel at all in my free time (collective annual leave in Christmas time).

This just looks like a journal rant but I promise, it gets better.

A week or so ago I had a talk with myself and my girl, I told her about all my worries and frustrations about the business. It actually helped me a lot. I should slow down and recollect, start over in a way if you will. Write about stuff I like and create content I like, not be one of those "travel influencers" which I feel like I have nothing in common with.

So anyways, I think to myself - Luka, what do you know? What can you talk about?

I've spent the last 7 years in the bus industry. From being a scrawny 18 year old bus conductor, then driving some really important people (including the guys singing "Sara Perche Ti Amo") and finally fulfilling my dream of becoming a bus driver.

As much as I love the job, I gotta admit, I can't wait to get out of it. I'm sick of mopping sticky floors, swiping toenails from under the seats and of course my fave - getting mononucleosis from the dirty bottles.




7 years of time can amount to some experience and knowledge I can share, right?

• Currently I took up learning wordpress org to create my own blog, where I can share stories, tips, tricks and helpful info - both for bus drivers and bus passengers. This is why all the websites are offline now.
• I really enjoy writing so I'll definitely continue writing the digital travel guides. Maybe I come up with a few more products too, who knows. The personal itineraries I'm gonna stop doing from now on.
• I also told myself I'll practice speaking to the camera 20 minutes every day to improve my speaking skills. I've practiced 8 days in January, aiming for at least 12 in February.

So, there you go guys for the few of you reading this. We all have our own journey. Don't read too much about others, and if you have to, be careful about what you take in so you don't enter with high expectations and leave out dissapointed.

 

[Rarehelge]

Update 3rd of February 2024:

I fell into a huge rut with no idea what to do or do next, no inspiration at all. This has been going since Christmas time up to a week or two ago, now I'm finally feeling a sense of direction for myself.

I had no idea what to do. I'd try doing something and wasn't able to do shit because I felt no passion towards it, not just no passion, I literally felt like my content was useless.

I expected posting every day with the similar clips and mostly unvaluable text would do something. Yeah right. People can smell you have no idea what you are talking about, no matter how much you love something. And this was true. I want(ed) to be a travel influencer, but I don't travel at all in my free time (collective annual leave in Christmas time).

This just looks like a journal rant but I promise, it gets better.

A week or so ago I had a talk with myself and my girl, I told her about all my worries and frustrations about the business. It actually helped me a lot. I should slow down and recollect, start over in a way if you will. Write about stuff I like and create content I like, not be one of those "travel influencers" which I feel like I have nothing in common with.

So anyways, I think to myself - Luka, what do you know? What can you talk about?

I've spent the last 7 years in the bus industry. From being a scrawny 18 year old bus conductor, then driving some really important people (including the guys singing "Sara Perche Ti Amo") and finally fulfilling my dream of becoming a bus driver.

As much as I love the job, I gotta admit, I can't wait to get out of it. I'm sick of mopping sticky floors, swiping toenails from under the seats and of course my fave - getting mononucleosis from the dirty bottles.




7 years of time can amount to some experience and knowledge I can share, right?

• Currently I took up learning wordpress org to create my own blog, where I can share stories, tips, tricks and helpful info - both for bus drivers and bus passengers. This is why all the websites are offline now.
• I really enjoy writing so I'll definitely continue writing the digital travel guides. Maybe I come up with a few more products too, who knows. The personal itineraries I'm gonna stop doing from now on.
• I also told myself I'll practice speaking to the camera 20 minutes every day to improve my speaking skills. I've practiced 8 days in January, aiming for at least 12 in February.

So, there you go guys for the few of you reading this. We all have our own journey. Don't read too much about others, and if you have to, be careful about what you take in so you don't enter with high expectations and leave out dissapointed.

Good to see you posting again, i'm glad to see you are making good progress

Btw, is your website still online? I can't open it, it just says "A new wordpress site, comming soon".

 

[Zizu]

Good to see you posting again, i'm glad to see you are making good progress

Btw, is your website still online? I can't open it, it just says "A new wordpress site, comming soon".

Its offline. I took up learning wordpress the other day, and in the middle of learning how to create a blog I ran into some technical issues (probably the domain still being transferred) as well as the elementor plugin causing the crash meaning I have to do it all over again. Luckily I didn't lose too much progress.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.