I was listening to the latest TRO Signal Podcast this weekend, A Talent for Practice and it was a fascinating look into some of the non-travel sides of or colleagues. A pumpkin carver, a comedian, and a construction maven.
I am not going to spoil the episode, because you really ought to subscribe and listen on your own, but there was a theme that jumped out for me during the conversation and it is an important one for all of us as we navigate this strange place in which we find our collective selves.
Just do it!
OK, so Nike probably has the trademark, but hear me out.
The episode focused on non-travel pursuits. Barbara built a sound isolation booth during the COVID-19 slowdown. Annette, over a period of years, became an expert pumpkin carver. And Joey started Kung-Fu and stand-up comedy. All three were unsure of themselves at the start; but all three are now adept—although I am pretty sure they are all keeping their day jobs at this point.
What all three of them did, was to overcome a fear/doubting/uncertainty and just went for it. And you should go for it as well.
Many businesses fail or just get by because of a lack of innovation. The easy road is to do things the way they always have been done. If you take that road, you might survive this pandemic. I say look outside of the box and …
Just do it!
As always, don’t be reckless. Barbara did a lot of research prior to buying wood for her project. Annette started with a kit to see if she liked it first. And as Joey said, he was scared to death (and still is) to stand before a room hoping to make people laugh (hence why he prefers to sit).
It is scary. Doing something you are good at doing is easy. But the harsh truth is that unless you are exceptional, easy will not be enough.
Are you a cruise only agent working in a segment of the travel industry with no firm idea of resumption? Maybe you need to start thinking about something other than cruising while that segment recovers. It is not going to happen unless you just do it.
Have you been hesitant to get on social media for some reason? It’s free. It’s effective. And there is a world of prospects waiting to hear from you. It is not going to happen unless you just do it.
See what I mean?
A bit of a personal story. While not specific to travel, I am a news junkie and I love my hometown. I married the two and developed a daily 10-minute podcast featuring news about my hometown. I had $500 and an idea. What I didn’t have was a clue. I jumped in and I am quite sure my first episodes were horrible. But, now that I have been doing it a while, I can put it together in about a half hour, I feel a lot more confident “on air”, and people are listening.
Right now, there are just over 10,000 subscribers. It’s no Joe Rogan Experience or Call Her Daddy, but in a county of 500K, it is not too bad. And by just doing it, there was a payoff.
My idea morphed into a hobby which morphed into a revenue stream. Local businesses are now contacting me to advertise on the podcast. And in this COVID-19 world, any additional revenue is much appreciated and is helping keep my travel business solvent.
And none of it would have come to pass if I hadn’t hemmed and hawed prior to telling myself….
Just do it!
PS: But seriously, check out the TRO Signal and the other podcasts on TRO’s Travmarket Media Podcast Network.
