Sellouts
No, we didn’t go to Cuba.
We would love visit someday, but this particular arrangement was for cash.
I wrestled with this decision a bit more than I should have. When I was younger, I was always quick to label my favorite bands as ‘sellouts’ as soon as they became popular, hit the mainstream, or showed up as background music in a commercial. Of course I wished them success, but somehow without ‘selling out to the man.’
Now, of course, I have a finer understanding of economics. And, expenses.
This is not our first dalliance with commercialism. There was the short-lived Google Ads Experiment. We made several hundred bucks in a very short period of time. It was too good to be true. I still don’t have a definitive understanding of why we were permanently booted. Their policy is to not disclose the reason. We’re still banned. And, the way I see it, they still owe us some money.
A few years back, I took cash to place a link on our vehicle page for a British insurance company. They contacted us, and I figured nobody would see it anyway. A few more hundred bucks in the bank. A month later, I removed it. It’s easy money, really.
Since then, I’ve still been getting solicited. Mostly bad deals, and I’ve ignored them. Besides, we’re not sell outs.
But, we’ve been spending more time thinking about costs. And, 6 expensive months in Brazil. And, maybe a trip to Africa. Europe. Asia. Our plan for funding it is just as poor as our plan for doing it.
Since our donate button hasn’t produced any major windfalls, we’re going to think harder about generating some income through the blog. Maybe that book will actually happen. We might start shooting some video and trying to hock it. We might… uh, any other ideas?
The Cuba Ad just landed in my lap and I took it. I made $140 USD in 5 minutes. So, sorry for selling out to the man. I feel dirty. Since some of our friends actually thought we went to Cuba, I feel even dirtier. I don’t know if we’ll do it again, but we might. At least we hope you will take comfort in the following graphic:
as long as I know you were not hacked! it’s cool with me
sell it all out, just keep posting about YOUR trip 🙂
Maybe it’s time to order another shirt love the new ones
just like the stickers you sent
Hi Jason –
I wouldn’t feel guilty or dirty about posting the advertisement to Cuba. It’s just another option to keep your bigger dream of traveling – and sharing those adventures with others – going. I actually like the idea of having the advertisement identified as being written by an advertiser. It’s clear and up-front.
Just my 2 cents.
Maybe you could “sell” your format/design to other travelers. Maybe not actually sell it – but design sites for others. I have other travel blogs bookmarked but yours is the only one I return to daily.
Ummm, call me crazy, but I’ve got your problem solved. Bode is a pretty cute kid. Get that boy out on the street selling gum. Kid’s are killing it on South America. 50% mark up. It’s a racket.
If I come up with any other genius ideas, I’ll let you know.
Carry on – TREE
Do what you gotta do! The Advertisement for Cuba was labeled! Need to make moola however!
my boss every time that saws your blog, ask me… why don’t you record on video your travel and sell it to Travel Channel or something like that?, there are a lot of “lonely” travelers that go around the world recording they’re “adventures”.. then they sell the video to Discovery Channel
Oh, this sounds so familiar: “Our plan for funding it is just as poor as our plan for doing it.”
We’re now at the stage, that there is a less than half finished vehicle [ http://www.dare2go.com/mb_pictures.shtml ], and clear decision to pack up our home (again), and leave Australia by end March 2013… But how to fund it all – no clear concept, no savings, only ideas, and the knowledge, that Australia is so expensive that we cannot afford to live here anymore. The longer we stay the more money we’ll spend not doing what we love to do, so we jump head first into waters unknown…
Maybe one day we’ll meet you guys – somewhere!
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