Feb 9
ON BEING A WORKING ADVENTURER
How many times when you are introduced to someone do they say to you, “Hi Bill, it is nice to meet you. What do you do for work?” For thirty years I would proudly reply that I was in the Canadian Navy. But for the past few years when people have asked that question, my reply is a sheepish, “Well I am retired.”
However, at 56 I am not ready to toss in the towel on working life. You might as well put the toe tag on now if all I had to look forward to was waking up, sitting around, and going to bed. Ugh!
So now when asked the question, I respond by saying, “I am a working adventurer.” For more about being a working adventurer read yesterday’s musings https://medium.com/@englandbill2/career-change-9e06dde9110c
I recognize that becoming a working adventurer is not an overnight achievement. I am at the bottom of the proverbial working adventurer totem pole. It will take years to move up the ladder to where I am able to enjoy the financial fruits of my labours.
My idea of a working adventurer is centered on boating, to which I blame my naval career for succumbing to the call of the sea. There is a saying in the card game Euchre, go big or stay home! So, I am going big and building a 48-foot wooden troller yacht that will be capable of taking me anywhere in the world I care to sail to.
Today marks the one-year anniversary since I cut the boat’s first timber. During this year I have been videoing the build on my YouTube channel, The Amblery Odysseys, as well as posting regular updates on Instagram and Facebook. This creative journaling of the build is the first step in the working part of being a working adventurer.
You see, YouTube is the second largest search engine, next to Google. If you want to know how to do something, hear or see something, you search for the subject using a variety of keywords, and voila, YouTube will show you a list of related videos.
Monetizing my YouTube channel to receive a portion of the ad revenues is a goal almost realized. Monetization is just one of many cogs in the revenue wheel of a working adventurer. As my online presence grows I am able to pitch brands for collaboration and/or sponsorship opportunities. For example, in exchange for using and/or reviewing a piece of equipment, the company may provide that equipment for free or at a discounted price.
Once the boat is completed in another four to five years and I begin sailing around the world, my online presence will shift from boat building to being a marketer for the beauty of the oceans and boating destinations. Being a brand ambassador for boating equipment will evolve towards its maintenance and a new niche, that of becoming a travel writer for boating destinations will begin.
Here’s to becoming a successful working adventurer.
