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RomsDeals CSUN Presentation
1. Traveling Smart and Turning a Hobby into a “Business”
Cal State Northridge
By Rom
2. Topics
• What is my “business”?
• Turning a hobby into a business
• How you can start traveling smart
3. What Is My Business Hobby?
• Teaching others about earning and using travel points and
miles to travel smart.
4. How it started
• Started collecting points and miles over 2 years ago
• Wanted to save on our honeymoon.
• Opened several rewards credit cards to earn points and miles.
5. How it started
• Earned thousands of points by meeting credit card bonus
requirements..
• Used airline miles for free flights and hotels.
• Hooked after first trip on points and miles.
6. What Is My Business Hobby?
• Showing people how traveling can be affordable.
• Hawaii for 25,000 miles and $5 per person.
7. What Is My Business Hobby?
• Black Sand Beach in Maui
8. What Is My Business Hobby?
• Educating people about using a good credit score to your
advantage.
• Maximizing every dollar spent with credit cards.
• Reviewing and analyzing credit cards.
• Travel consulting.
9. Travel Consulting
• Helping people plan trips
and honeymoons.
• Example: Planned a
honeymoon trip to Turks
and Caicos in the Caribbean.
$100 per person and credit
card points from 2 credit
cards. Retail value: $2,000
10. Travel Consulting
• Helping people use points and miles for complicated and
unique trips. Example: Los Angeles to Hawaii to Korea to
Taiwan and back on one ticket. $100 in taxes per person.
11. Travel Consulting
• I also book complicated and multiple-stop tickets for myself.
$100 in taxes per person
12. Why I Enjoy Blogging
•
•
•
•
Interactive
Being part of a community
Sharing with people something practical
Inspiring people to travel
13. Why Do I Collect Points &
Miles?
• Visiting friends and family around the world.
14. Why Do I Collect Points &
Miles?
• Staying in Hawaii with hotel points. (18,000 Hyatt points/nt)
15. Why Do I Collect Points &
Miles?
• Experiencing international first or business class using airline
miles.
16. Why Do I Collect Points &
Miles?
• Helping people make happy memories.
17. Why Do I Collect Points &
Miles?
• Experiencing awesome hotels with hotel points.
19. 11 Days in Europe for $500
• Collected over half a million airline points and
miles with credit cards.
• Paid $500 out of pocket per person for airline
taxes and hotels
• Stayed mostly in 4-5 Star hotels
28. Turning a Hobby Into a
Business
•
•
•
•
What do you enjoy?
What is your skill and expertise?
What do others care about?
Is it profitable?
Things you
Enjoy
Profitable
$$$
What
Others
Care About
Sweet Spot
29. Turning a Hobby Into a
Business
• Things I enjoy – Traveling/saving money
• What others care about – Good deals on travelling
• How can my blog be profitable? – Affiliate marketing,
consulting, advertisements, etc.
Things you
Enjoy
Profitable
$$$
What
Others
Care About
30. Turning a Hobby Into a
Business
• What others care about?
•
•
•
•
Explaining something complicated in simpler terms.
Solving a problem.
Example: Traveling is too expensive.
Goal: Proving that travelling can be affordable.
31. Turning a Hobby Into a
Business
• Passion and Skill are key
• Benny has a passion for language learning
• Benny’s skill is learning languages quickly and has a proven
teaching system
• Identifying the problem
• Learning languages is too hard
• Solution
• Developed a system of learning languages fluently in 3 months
• www.fluentin3months.com
32. Turning a Hobby Into a
Business
• Leading by example
• I explain which credit cards I used to earn points, how many
points, and how I booked each trip. (Trip Report)
33. $100 to Start a Blog
• Started a blog in October 2012
• Paid $10 to buy a website domain at Godaddy.com –
www.Romsdeals.com
• Paid $80 for a website host on Hostgator.com
• Used Wordpress software - No HTML or designing skills
required
• Started writing about deals and traveling
34. Trial and Error
• Lots of trial and error in the beginning
stages.
• Topics were too broad and didn’t draw
enough visitors.
• Narrowed down my topic to a specific
niche.
35. Niche Market
• Definition: subset of the market on which a specific product is
focusing.
• Example: Cooking > Organic Cooking > Organic Vegan Cooking
• My Niche: Traveling > Budget Traveling > Budget Traveling with
Frequent Flyer Points
36. Growing my business
•
•
•
•
•
Requires LOTS of time and effort – I blog 4-5 times a week.
Connect with top notch bloggers and constantly interact
Social Media – Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/RSS feed
CONTENT , CONTENT, CONTENT
Search Engine Optimization – Content Marketing
37. Monetization
• Several ways to monetize a website
•
•
•
•
•
Google Adsense
Affiliate Marketing
E-books
Selling products
Consulting
38. Google Adsense
• Most popular way to monetize a hosted website.
• Advertisers bid to show in your ad spaces in a
real-time auction. The highest paying ad will
show on your site.
• Choose where to put ads on your website.
• Based on traffic.
39. Google Adsense
• Most popular monetization method on Youtube
• Companies bid on ads on Youtube.
• Pay varies - $.70 to $7 per 1,000 views.
40. Affiliate Marketing
• Affiliate marketing is type of performance-based marketing in
which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each
visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing
efforts.
• Example: Amazon pays 3-6% of products sold through their
affiliates.
41. Affiliate Marketing
• Niche website on affiliate marketing
• www.bestadjustabledumbbells.org
• Reviews adjustable dumbbells
• Amazon affiliate program % on each sale
• Reports $500 a month
42. Affiliate Marketing
• Smartpassiveincome.com
• Creates multiple niche websites
• Teaches how to create niche websites
• Lots of affiliate marketing – recommends tools and software to
start a monetized blog or website
• Reports $50,000 per month.
43. E-books
• You can write e-books on your topic and sell it.
• Need a good readership first.
• Nomadic Matt sells guides on backpacking the world for
cheap.
45. How you can travel for a few
dollars
• Start building credit slowly by using credit cards responsibly.
• Apply for a good rewards credit card, get sign up bonus.
• Apply for more credit cards slowly.
46. Myths about Credit Cards
• Common Myth – Too many credit cards is bad for your credit
score.
• Response – Many credit cards when paid in full and on time
increases credit score.
• Common Myth – Paying with debit cards are a better option
that credit cards.
• Response – Paying with debit cards does not show that you
handle debts responsibly. Using and paying off credit cards
improves your credit score.
49. Improving Credit Score Slowly
•
•
•
•
Become an authorized user to a parent’s account (AMEX).
Retail Credit Cards – Remember to pay
Apply for a no fee credit card and keep forever.
Credit Score is about proving you can manage debts well.
50. Improving Credit Score Slowly
• Wife had a credit score of 711 before signing up for credit
cards.
• Applied for 4-5 credit cards over two years.
• Applied for a car lease.
• Paid credit cards and car lease in full and on time.
• Credit score increased.
51. Why Credit Cards?
• Banks are offering the highest credit card sign up bonuses in
years.
• Quickest way to earn points and miles without travelling.
• Credit Card Churning – Method of applying for multiple credit
cards, unlocking bonuses, and strategically closing credit cards.
• Earned over 2 million points with credit cards.
52. My Credit Score
• Applied for at least 20 credit cards over the last 2 years.
• Paid in full and on time 100% of the time.
53. Disclaimers
• Traveling for free sounds enticing, but requires the following:
•
•
•
•
•
Income (part-time job)
Organization
Discipline
Living within your means
Financial responsibility
54. Disclaimers
• Only do what you can handle or manage.
• Missing a payment or not paying in full can damage your
credit score.
• Earning airlines miles and hotel points can be time consuming.
• Award tickets subject to availability, must be flexible.
58. Best Credit Card for College
Students
• Chase Freedom – $100 for free after spending $500 in 3
months.
• Rolling 5% Categories each quarter – 5% off Amazon Q4
• No Annual Fee ever
• Points Transfer to Chase Sapphire Preferred, which transfer to
airline miles.
59. Best Personal Credit Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($500 in free travel) after
spending $3,000 in 3 months
• Points transfer to United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Hyatt,
British Airways
• Best and most flexible points program
• Used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel to Europe on
business class and flights to Hawaii
• First year annual fee waived, second year $95
60. Fast Track Spending
• Amazon Payments – Transfer $1,000 a month for free to
another person through a credit card
• Charging everything to credit cards
• Paying for parents and relatives and have them pay you back
• Wedding spend
61. Avoiding Annual Fees
• 2 Options
• Cancel card after first year, and move credit line to another
existing credit card. Little impact on credit score.
• Call and ask for a retention bonus (waived annual fee or bonus
points)
62. More on Credit Cards
• Lots of other credit card options including hotel credit cards
and airline specific credit cards.
• Check out my HOT credit cards deal page, start here guide,
and my sponsored credit card page.
64. My Travels Using Points &
Miles
• A week in Kauai – Paid $10 for airfare, 2 free nights Hyatt
Kauai
• 2 weeks in Italy and France – Paid $100 per person for
business class airfare
• 1 week in Oahu and Maui – Paid $10 for airfare, 3 free nights
Hyatt Waikiki
• 11 days in London and Germany – Paid $300 per person for
first class flights and $100 per person for business class. Free
hotels for each night
• Future – 11 days in Taiwan and Japan – Paid $2.50 for business
class and $75 for first class per person
• Future – Bora Bora on points and miles
65. Resources
• The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
• www.millionmilesecrets.com – points
and miles blog for beginners
• www.thepointsguy.com – full-time
blogger about points and miles
• www.romsdeals.com – my blog about
points and miles
• Email me at Rom@Romsdeals.com or
tweet me @Romsdeals
