The Adventurepreneur Origin Story Pt 2

Just so you’re up to speed, my name’s Alia, and this is my secret travel journal. I’m a 20-something American girl living in my self-converted shuttle bus. This is where I share it all – the hilariously embarrassing truth about my adventures – and you’re about to see how it all started. This is the Adventurepreneur Origin Story Pt 2. That’s really all you need to know. Now, go on, step inside… Welcome to the mayhem.

If you haven’t read it yet, click HERE for part one! (Trust me, you’ll want the full context for this mess.)

Setting Off

Picture this: Me, wrapped in a blanket burrito in the middle of the day exploring the idea of vanlife in any way, shape or form. We’re talking full-blown, may-have-a-problem, all-consuming obsession.

I went down rabbit hole after rabbit hole (goodbye, sleep schedule) watching vanlife content, and spent hours sketching out tiny home layouts (that were actually pretty good, if I do say so myself). I even bought a whole book on skoolie conversions that I read cover to cover in a day. My Amazon cart became a place of dreams, and by dreams, I mean a place very removed from reality.

I wanted vanlife, and I wanted it bad.

Just one problem: How in the world was I going to make money on the road? Because let me tell you, I could land a job interview as well as I could land a bungee jump… Right, I wasn’t landing at all. I was aimlessly flailing through my life with no direction, jobless and screaming.

I had one option and one option only: I needed to get scrappy. If I wanted to make money online while I traveled the world, it was becoming clear I couldn’t rely on a remote corporate job to do it. The phrase, “we’ll keep your application on file” became a recurring character in my nightmares.

My brain dug up a memory from my last semester in college. I had to make a personal website for a class called, “Strategic Self-Marketing in the Liberal Arts”. I was surprised by how much fun I had creating the site and how much I cared about its outcome. After submitting, my professor wrote me a note saying it was the best website in the class. I remember the words, “I would definitely keep this up if I were you!”

I was now taking that very literally.

The Realm of Freelancing

I found a free downloadable pdf guide called, “How To Become a Freelance Web Designer,” cough, for suckers, cough. It told me XYZ – generic tip one to a million – and my ass diligently took notes.

The instructions instructed, “design in WordPress,” so I learned it. Then it barked, “make an UpWork account,” so I did exactly that. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but it was something, and at the time, it was enough.

I started doing small design projects for friends, friends of friends, and eventually, UpWork clients. It was a $30 logo here, a $50 website there – yeah, actual pennies, but I was getting the hang of things. I started to develop an artistic style, which I never had the space or confidence to do before.

Fast forward a couple months (because time flies when you’re living on peanut butter and dreams) I decided it was time to level up. I needed to be making 10x more money from these freelance design gigs if I was ever going to live vanlife, and more pressingly, get myself out of my parent’s house (which I was now secretly referring to as The Hole). So, I joined a self-guided design course called Drop Dead Designer (DDD) and began building my future.

Leveling Up, For Real Real.

DDD was a course geared towards designers looking to level-up their status from freelancer to full-blown business owner. The creator of the course, Ariel, touched on things like creating a professional client process, sales calls, onboarding clients, contracts, project proposals, finding your unique style, you name it. It was all so you could stand out in the industry and start charging more for your work.

As someone who was charging $30 for a logo and feeling guilty about it, I knew I needed this… Desperately.

In it, I learned more than I even knew there was to learn about running a design business. My mindset around my work shifted completely as I realized that I could be… well, legit as fuck. I got more and more excited and serious about it, eventually leaving LinkedIn “Easy Apply” behind completely.

But the second turning point for me happened in one of Ariel’s pre-recorded guest expert calls.

The guest expert was a girl named Carli Anna, seemingly around my age, with a messy bun and a pull-over sweatshirt. She spoke like she was talking to a group of her besties, casual and joking, and I wondered what she could possibly bring to the table besides successfully persuading me to come to her virtual sleepover party (which, I actually would).

Then, she pulled up her presentation titled, “Brand Strategy,” and I kid-you-not, it straight up changed my life.

Discovering Brand Strategy and Taking Over the World… No Biggie.

Suddenly, my design decisions had purpose. They were rooted in strategy and problem solving, not opinion or subjective observations. They weren’t just “vibes” anymore (although, we love a good vibe).

It was a stark contrast to my freshman graphic design classes all those years ago where projects were based in vague abstract concepts. This was the opposite of, “I’m expressing the juxtaposition of human feeling to the idea of death in a mortal world… which is why you’re looking at a banana duct taped to a wall.”

This was “hey, client. Your audience is facing this struggle, this is the solution your business provides for that struggle, so this is how your brand should look to convey that solution visually.” So simple, yet insanely genius.

I bought Carli’s brand strategy course, Brand Mapping Method, almost immediately. My whole world was transforming. My confidence in my design decisions was growing. Suddenly, I had strategic reasons for why my designs looked the way they did – they had true, unwavering purpose.

I loved it.

Within a couple months, I moved back to Gainesville, University of Florida’s hometown (I know, the irony), to live with my little brother who was now a student at UF. I got a hostess job at a seafood restaurant, which ended up accidentally setting itself on fire twice in the time I was there. Yeah, not ideal, but it earned me a paycheck… A slightly scorched paycheck, but a paycheck nonetheless.

Brand strategy became the ONLY way I designed, seeping into my website designs, print designs, and eventually app designs. That, combined with my now professional client-facing business, I went from guiltily charging $30 for a logo → to 9 months of no client work, only business-improvement, learning Brand Strategy, and trying not to die in a seafood grease fire → to confidently landing my first $5k brand design project.

After I booked that client, I quit my fire-prone hostess job, and bought the shuttle bus I would eventually call home. I was doing it; I wasn’t repeating the same disappointing cycle of my past. I was going to live the dream, and I was going to do it now.

Advice For The Next Adventurepreneur

If you’re anything like me, you’ve said to yourself, “PSHH, I can totally figure things out on my own. DIY OR DIE!” Trust me, I’ve been there. I’m the queen of winging it.

But honestly, sometimes you’ve just gotta bite the bullet and invest in some real help. Whether that’s a course, a coach, or whatever floats your tiny home. Freebies are a start, and DIYing can definitely do the trick for a while, but this isn’t just a scrappily-made composting toilet you can put up with for now.

This is your livelihood. This is your dream. You want to make sure your business works as well as it possibly can, as soon as it possibly can.

Real talk? I lost count of how many times I needed to hear this over the last 4 years, so I’m gonna say it, just in case you’re anything like me:

Getting help and not starting from total scratch is OKAY. More than okay, actually, it might be the only way you make significant progress. The worst case scenario would be that you’ll go it alone, struggle to get things working because you’re literally reinventing the wheel, and then having to give up on the dream because you’re not able to make enough money, quick enough.

That would be so freaking sad, dude!!!

So here’s my real, honest-to-Lizzo advice: You don’t have to go it alone, because you’re not alone. People want to see you succeed, I promise. We’ve all been where you are and we feel for you.

You just need to get out of your own way and let people lend a hand.

So with that, I’m here if you need me! My email and DMs are always open.

Love you, good luck, and stay sane.

Alia

P.S: If you are interested in Carli Anna’s group coaching program (Gold Girl Gang), with the Brand Mapping Method course included, here is a link to $500 off! I would highly recommend if you want to learn brand strategy or are seeking an amazing community of designers to grow with.

P.S.S: If you are interested in Ariel’s Drop Dead Designer course, here is a link! I would highly recommend if you are trying to level up your design business from amateur to professional.

Next time on Sent Packing: Alia’s Secret Travel Journal

The DIYer’s Guide to Choosing a Vanlife Vehicle [2024]: The exact retellings of how I ended up with a 2003 Ford Shuttle Bus whose middle name is “break down.” More importantly, some legit vehicle research that might help you avoid a similar fate.