How This Broke Backpacker Earns $50,000/Month

Will HattonFounder of The Broke Backpacker $50,000 estimated monthly revenue
Published December 4, 2023 by Fardeen Khan

Will Hatton is the founder of a travel blog called The Broke Backpacker

How it started…

The Broke Backpacker officially sprung into existence on January 30th, 2013. Before this, it had existed as an email newsletter to 40 or so friends at home who encouraged me to take it to the next level [to start blogging].

Our mission is to provide a blueprint for others to ditch their desks and discover the world. We want to show you that it’s possible to travel the world on a budget of $10 a day

In a recent interview, Will says…

[The site] was making about $1,000 in 2015.

I then launched a tour company which would give me cash injections of between $12K to $16K pretty easily while I was basically spending two weeks in the country leading a tour, and that enabled me to grow things further.

By the time we got to 2018 we were hitting $3.5K-$5K/month from all affiliates.

And then that just exploded… it quickly went to 5 figures and then it went to 6 figures [per month] and then it just kept climbing.

He got initial traction by…

[Writing] around a theme that really wasn’t being covered on the internet at the time which was extreme budget travel.

Elsewhere, Will writes…

As The Broke Backpacker gained traction and became one of HostelWorld’s largest affiliates, it was clear that there was an opportunity to use the success of the blog to create something truly special.

The idea of building the ultimate hostel for aspiring entrepreneurs and digital nomads to [begin] their online journeys had been a dream of mine for many, many moons

That eventually led to Will opening Tribal Bali in 2021. More on that here.

Sounds like the website is still the core of Will’s business, but the pandemic hit hard…

we’ve recovered to about 50% of where we were which is good money it’s not the crazy money we were on before

I’m assuming then that he’s still earning around $50,000 per month from the site

Mainly via…

Affiliate revenueDisplay adsMerch

However, Will thinks it’s a lot harder to start a travel blog nowadays

Travel blogging is the most visible digital nomad job, and it’s what most people think of when they think of creating some kind of online income.

It’s also one of the most competitive and one of the most difficult ones to actually do well in. It’s a lot sexier than doing local SEO for, I don’t know, a lawnmowing business, but you might be able to build that up much faster and get it onto autopilot much quicker.

… to do well on [as a travel blogger] you’re going to need to work for 2 years with no expectation of making any money, and you’re going to need to do something a bit different.

If you do start a travel blog, Will recommends niching down…

Go out somewhere special. Central Africa hasn’t been done properly, parts of South America still aren’t properly covered. There’s still opportunity out there for sure.

Or you could take on a big travel challenge

For example…

Get a motorbike and drive it from the top of the world to the bottom, people will love that.

Last words from Will…

Discipline eats intelligence for breakfast… Forge a strong routine that ensures you have dedicated work time each day and keep chipping away. It takes TIME to build anything worthwhile, be consistent.

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