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Have you ever thought of building a business around travel?
Andy Steves started his travel business in 2010, giving student tours to exchange students all around Europe. At first he was doing all the manual work himself (tours, guides, etc) but eventually learnt how to scale and grow his business. He currently lives in Medellin, Colombia.
You’ll love how inspiring his story is.
We also chat about…
- Growing up with a travel lifestyle
- How he scaled his business
- His business and personal goals
- How do find off-the-beaten-path places as a tourist
- The emotional perspective of working and travelling.
Enjoy this chat with Andy, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!
Show notes and links from today’s episode
- Rick Steve’s Europe
- Instagram: Andy Steves Travels
- Website: Andy Steves
- Book: Andy Steves’ Europe: City-Hopping on a Budget
Key takeaways from our chat with Andy Steves
1 – Technology has changed the way we travel
Andy has been working on his business for 8 years, and he’s saying that in the past 2 or 3 years travel has evolved a lot. Now you can book a holiday from your phone, you can easily meet people online and Instagram influences the places we want to go. This is an interesting challenge for his business, that revolves around 3-4 day city trips for students in Europe. He tells us his goals are to turn his website in a type of marketplace, so he can easily adapt his city trips.
2 – Travelling is often cheaper than staying at home
This has been repeated on other episodes – meaning that travelling really does not have to be expensive. Andy tells us how cheap it is for him to live in Medellin, Colombia, compared to Seattle. Rent, food and general cost of living is so much cheaper that Andy is not considering living in the US any time soon. He also mentions how important personal interactions are, and that talking to the locals and learning about their culture can go a very long way.
3 – Life is about the opportunities you choose
It is true that it’s a little strange seeing your friends and acquaintances achieve certain life milestones as you continue down your own path. Gwen explains how she wonders what her life would be like if she stayed in the military, J and her husband could have kept working for the Olympic Committee and gone to Rio, and Andy can see how everyone back home goes on with their own lives’.
Although maybe a strange feeling, we all agree it’s about the opportunity cost of every decision. At the end of the day it’s best if you feel confident about the decisions you take, and accept that your life is about what you choose to do.
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