So, you have skills, but you don't want to be tied down to one company. Then you should consider becoming a freelance consultant. Here, you can hop around to 'mostly non-competing' hostels and use your expertise to solve their problems. Hostels are always looking for an outside perspective, and if you are open to alternative payment options—such as free accommodation and/or food & beverage for work, travel compensation, and perhaps some pay—you can maintain a traveling lifestyle while conquering challenges, building your professional self, and maybe saving some dough.
Still on the fence? Well, I don't blame you. It is hard to leave a cushy job for the unknown. If you are still considering, or especially if you have decided to take the plunge, consider this advice for newbie hostel consultants. It could make your decision, or your life, a lot easier.
It's all about the marketing
Many, and I repeat, many hostels will need your help with their marketing, but this won't be your first challenge. You'll have to market yourself, which can be really difficult. As a freelancer, consider your job 70% marketing yourself and 30% doing the work. You have to build your own brand around you. First off, you need to showcase your expertise. What makes you the right candidate for them? You don't have KPMG or McKinsey & Company to validate your skills by hiring you, so you need to get the message out there that you have the skills they need.
You can do this by giving them a teaser. Provide enough information for them to come to you for more. If you were a software company, you'd be teasing them with a freemium version. You can create content on a blog or LinkedIn and then share it across social media. People need to see what you know and get a taste for free. A super elaborate book by Gary Vaynerchuk called "Jab, Jab, Right Hook" has been written on exactly this. In fact, this is the main motivation behind why I built HostelTrends to begin with, and why we are constantly looking for contributors too.
And networking
Showcasing your expertise is not enough; you need to network like crazy. Find events and attend them. Popular events to consider are the annual Hostelworld conference, Hostelmanagement un-conferences, Hostel Skills Conference, regional hostel staff parties, StayWyse events, and more. Give and get as many business cards as possible while having polite conversations. Try to write down their biggest challenges on the back and send a follow-up afterward. Finally, add everyone on LinkedIn.
The industry is rather small, so this could be easy; however, at these events, everyone—from the owner of a small hostel to the managing directors of the biggest chains—loves to let loose. If you can let loose too, you'll have plenty of opportunities. You might have the mind for it, but try keeping up with some of the heads of Hans Brinker, Beds and Bars, or Clink. Many of them started out small, like everyone else, and drank themselves to success, one beer and one guest at a time. They may be older, but they've still got it. You might have trouble remembering it all, and your liver WILL hate you.
Track your conversations
As you meet potential clients and offer up some advice in natural conversation, you will find yourself repeating the same advice over and over. This information that you repeat is what will make perfect content. Honestly, it is better to get it all out than lock it inside. This is how you proclaim your domain expertise. The more you share, the stronger your brand and reputation will be.
A rule of thumb is that there is no low-hanging fruit. A client will not pay you for an answer you have templates for somewhere. Hostel owners and operators are quite resourceful and can find that answer themselves. The trick is to build their confidence in you by giving them that answer and having them come to you for more. If you start getting challenges you do not have a solution for, then you're onto something. This is where you can shine, where you can devise a solution, and where you can grow professionally. You must instill confidence in yourself in order to do that. Also, when you have to do more work, you can make more money. Don't forget that.
Build an expertise
All hostel consultants are jack-of-all-trades, but you'll have to pick one to master. Take digital marketing, for example. There are the basics, such as how to build long-tail SEO and build links while sharing your content. Then there are specifics, like which cohorts you should target in a Facebook advertising campaign, which keywords work best, what time of day to advertise, and what geographic location to include in special SEM bids. Not to mention, how do you measure the success of it all? This is where expertise can come in.
Are you great at WordPress? Then you can set up their sites. Do you know the ins and outs of the OTA backends and extranets? Then specialize in revenue management. Are you an awesome people person who can turn a group of individuals into a well-oiled machine? Then take the HR and operations specialist route. The sky is the limit, but it's important to carve your niche within a niche.
Share the wealth
Now that you have some expertise and clients coming to you for multiple jobs, you'll find that you don't want to get involved in everything that is coming in. So, send them to other hostel consultants who specialize in areas you don't. In a perfect world, they would send some leads your way too. If you don't believe in karma, see if they are willing to give you a commission or compensate you in some other way for the lead. You never know.
Learn your numbers
You have to back everything with numbers—reports. You need to source data that can give you some projections and analysis. HVS is good for this. Tourism reports are also important. On top of this all, you have to perform in Excel what they cannot do, and I find many hostel owners who are seeking a consultant are actually pretty smart. Know how to use pivot tables. Even better, learn how to go beyond Excel. Learn how to set up a database and execute SQL queries. Perhaps one of these tools can help. Also, Duetto might be valuable; see if you can get inside and learn it. There are many quality courses online to learn data science and the basics of programming. Forums too. Contributing to an open-source program can help you build these skills. This will give you the quality a seasoned hostel owner would desire and compensate you accordingly.
Consider the world outside hostels
Many other small and medium-sized companies face similar challenges and are open to an outside perspective. Just look at the hospitality industry alone. Boutique hotels and bed-and-breakfast establishments find it hard to market their direct bookings as the OTAs, including AirBnb, keep growing. Apps like Spotluck are bringing yield/revenue management capabilities to industries like restaurants. The tours and activities industry barely does any marketing online compared to accommodation. All this provides excellent opportunities for you to source some leads. Don't be afraid to test those waters too.
Now, do you still want to be a hostel consultant? Need a place to showcase your expertise?