Travel Blogger's Exchange Conference talk on expanding beyond one blog or website to creating a real media company.

1. Beyond Blogging: Building a
Publishing Empire
Tim Leffel
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2. Tim Leffel
BEYOND BLOGGING – BUILDING A PUBLISHING EMPIRE

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4. From Blog to Sustainable Business
Why expand beyond one website or one business?
How do we spot opportunities and build revenue streams?
How do we do it without losing our free time and our minds?

5. The grim reality of relying on others for your
employment:
- Unemployment in Canada is 7%, the USA and UK is 8%, Portugal 17%, Spain 27%, Greece 27%
- For those aged 16-24 it’s 14% Canada, 17% USA, 21% UK, 38% Portugal, 52% Spain, 60%
Greece. Only Germany below 10% in developed world.
- “More than half of America's recent college graduates are either unemployed or working in a
job that doesn't require a bachelor's degree.” (Associated Press)
- 25 percent of retail sales clerks in the USA have bachelor’s degrees. (USA Today)
- As of April, “Only 56% of the law school graduates of 2012 [in the USA] had found a stable, full-
time job in the legal profession.” (The Atlantic)

6. Who’s responsible for your
livelihood?

7. How is real wealth created?
• Selling something of value repeatedly, with a sizeable margin
• Saving & investing income from a high-value service performed repeatedly
• Building businesses that generate income and can be sold

8. Wealth should be created by investing to create more wealth. Income is the fruit of wealth.

9. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of not trying.

10. “Sometimes we are called to wait and it can
be a good thing, but other times I really
believe that we need to make things
happen, and pursue our dreams with
reckless abandon.”

11. “Don’t be put off by failure. Work really hard to make your idea
succeed. If it doesn’t, bow out gracefully and try again.”

12. It is impossible to live without failing at
something, unless you live so cautiously that
you might has well not have lived at all, in
which case you have failed by default.

13. “Putting all your eggs in one basket and watching the
basket really carefully isn't nearly as effective as the
other alternatives. Not when the world gets crazy.”
- Seth Godin

14. Tim Leffel’s Media Holdings
PLUS MULTIPLE BOOKS GENERATING ROYALTIES
PLUS FREELANCE INCOME

15. Luxury Latin America
Practical Travel Gear
Cheapest Destinations
Book royalties
Freelance writing
Perceptive Travel
EARNINGS SPLIT

16. The benefits of multiple sites, $
streams
A buffer against factors beyond your control
Increased inventory for advertising
Cross-promotion opportunities
Increased outlet/content/travel opportunities
Increased affiliate sale opportunities
Increased tax write-off opportunities
Increased media/marketing opportunities
Multiple streams of income – earning diversity

17. Pandas, Penguins, and
(Un)predictability

18. Pandas, Penguins, and
(Un)predictability

19. Test and Experiment; Fail or
Succeed
Start-up costs are the lowest in history
Data measurement tools are cheap or free
Finding your audience is easier than ever
Web publishing is a no-overhead business
Publishing books is cheaper than ever
Joblets can be farmed out as needed

20. Publishing paths to profitability
FAST BUT WITH LESS POTENTIAL
1-writer blog or content site (6 – 9 months)
Short e-book (3 - 6 months)
Freelance writing (1 - 6 months per article)
SLOW BUT WITH MORE POTENTIAL
Multi-contributor blog/content site (1-2 years)
Full length book POD (3 - 9 months), Full
length book traditional (1.5 - 3 years)

21. Where are the future opportunities?
Owning a specific niche
Serving an underserved market
Being first to a category
Being completely different
Building a tribe of followers
Being better, stronger, faster

23. Passion + = $

24. Do readers care…
enough to come back?
enough to subscribe without a pop-up ad in their face?
enough to follow you where you ask them to go?
enough to tell you what they like/don’t like/care about?
enough to spend money on something?

25. I’m trying to find a website with…
Adventure spas for guys Kayaking routes in Florida
Cheap travel advice for Guatemala
Reviews of wine biking tours
Every ship sailing the Galapagos Surf lodges under $40 per night
Hotels in ______ that aren’t on Expedia
All the safari operators in Kenya A directory of 1-day cooking classes
Hiking trails in Mexico Lift ticket discounts
Non-hostel cheap hotels in Bolivia
Travel information on Zacatecas Windows RT apps for travel

26. Where to look for ideas
Magazines (Wired, Inc., The Week, Mental Floss, Economist…)
Conferences (esp. non-writing)
Good TV (in moderation)
Conversations with infrequent travelers
Biographies
Good history books
Good films
In nature
Reader comments

27. Go where the money is
LOW INCOME POTENTIAL (UNLESS YOU’RE TOPS)
Long-term backpacking
Budget travel
Destinations with few visitors
Unpopular activities
Narrative travel writing
Responsible travel
Volunteering
HIGH INCOME POTENTIAL
Luxury travel
Hotels & resorts
Popular destinations
Popular activities
Travel products and gadgets
Adventure & tours
Vacation ideas

28. What advertisers care about
NOT IMPORTANT
How often you post
How much time you spend on Facebook
Your three weeks in Moldova
What you ate for lunch
How many countries you’ve been to
Your history in the Peace Corps
How you pay your bills
VERY IMPORTANT
Their sales
Click-through rates
Number of readers OR focused audience
Engagement
Strength of brand, following
Clearness of message/slant
Influence

29. Non-advertising revenue options
Ongoing sponsorships
Book royalties
E-book sales
Courses
Consulting
Leading tours
Freelance writing
Speaking for companies/brand

30. Relationships and visibility better your
odds
“All things being equal, people would rather work with people they like.”
Who knows you?
Who likes you?
Who trusts you?
Whom can you help?
Who should know you?
Who should trust you?

31. Expanding your empire
(without losing your mind)
MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR TIME AND EFFORT

32. What I accomplish each month
26 blog posts
2-8 freelance articles
Social media promotion for 6 websites
Travel 7-10 days
Have fun on the weekends
Manage 21 bloggers and assistants
Publish Perceptive Travel webzine
Edit 6-12 feature articles
Interface with 10-20 advertisers
Sleep

33. Do the real work, but farm out the
rest
Elance, Sologig, Odesk, Guru.com
Craigslist, Taskrabbit
PA services like VirtualStaffFinder.com
Network for writers
Look abroad to lower expenses
Automate when it makes sense
Have a predictable schedule
Don’t overextend on $ or time

34. How to do the work of many people
Limit social media time to x minutes per day
Have a weekly entertainment time budget
Spend 80% of time on creation, revenue
Set weekly goals, not a long daily task list
Use the phone to get more done faster
Know what your time is worth and leverage it
NOT Leverage

35. Promote when it matters, not when it doesn’t

36. Big ideas require thinking time
“People who work 50 or 60 hours rarely get more done than people who work 40 hours”
- What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekends

37. And don’t forget…
1. Do work that you’re proud of.
2. Do work that will last.
3. Create publications that will take on a life of their own.

38. Beyond Blogging: Building a
Publishing Empire
Tim Leffel – www.TimLeffel.com
Get the materials - travelwriting2.com/empire/