Travel Stories No One Tells

My name is Will. A long time ago, I worked at the intersection of politics and technology. As you can imagine, that world is exhausting and mentally draining beyond belief. I left my relationship, my life and my career to get on an airplane with a one-way plane ticket to Colombia. That was in July of 2019.

The Baggage Claim podcast is the story of what, exactly, happens when a twenty-something loses faith and sets out for "adventure," whatever that means. These are travel stories no one tells. These are awkward language barriers and dozen-hour bus rides.

Each episode is a highly produced, immersive little travel story. They're often short - they're usually between 10-20 minutes, and they're designed to pull you away from your life, immerse you in a new world and get you thinking.

Listeners so far are somewhat predictable: they're often people who either travel themselves or long for travel. But the show also tackles mental health, human empathy and creativity, and so folks don't necessarily need to be tethered to travel, exactly, to find the show interesting. As long as they like being immersed in a world and made to think outside the box, they'll have a good time.

Baggage Claim was originally a book, actually (and it may still become one at some point in the future). I realized as I was telling the story I deeply needed to tell that the world offered all sorts of new and interesting ways to share stories. I couldn't really find any immersive, ASMR-style first person audiodramas, so I just went for it!

The motivation here was, really, to get what I had inside into the world. There's an underlying theme of human empathy and authenticity in what I'm creating, and I'm not sure anyone doubts the world needs more of that right about now.

I began writing and producing for the show in April of 2020 - it took eight months to birth this thing (the trailer dropped on December 15th). I learned so much in that time. But, honestly, it's January of 2021 as I write this, and I've learned more in that single month than I did from March to December. If you have something in your heart, get it out the door, take feedback with grace, and growth will follow naturally.

Baggage Claim releases new episodes every Tuesday. The first season is thirty episodes and, if I can give this thing legs and grow a substantial listenership, I'm in it for the long haul.

As far as time, I'm treating Baggage Claim like a full-time job. After my trip, I just wasn't quite ready to reintegrate into "normal" life, and if there's a way to make this a financially viable full-time gig, I'm in.

Right now, I spend about $200-$300/month on Baggage Claim (yes, out of pocket). I just successfully converted my first few Patreon-style members, so we're trending toward profitability.

I made a decision early in the life of Baggage Claim that I would not accept sponsorships. These are fully immersive experiences, and they last for only 10-20 minutes. Do you really want me to sell you Dockers in the middle of that?

I'm growing a membership program, I accept one-time contributions and I am about to launch a merchandise store. As of this writing, Baggage Claim pulls in between 300-600 listeners per episode in 30 days, depending on the episode. We're only six weeks in and each episode trends better than the last, so we're looking like we're going to get where we need to be, financially.

And oh man... how does it benefit me? This is the most intense artistic project I've ever taken on. I've learned so much from this experience, and I don't expect that to stop anytime soon. So excited to see where it goes! I'm truly in love with it.

Right now, I use a Yeti mic and Garageband, but I'm in the process of promoting myself to a new mic and Logic. From a marketing standpoint, I use Buzzsprout for hosting, Canva (religiously) for branding and design, Podkite for link sharing and review tracking, NationBuilder for website, email, texting and more, and a big ole pile of Google Docs/sheets for organization.

I spend 2 hours a day conducting personal outreach on Twitter, another 2 hours on Clubhouse and another hour or two split between Instagram, Reddit and Facebook. I've found Clubhouse and Twitter to be the most effective for me thus far. And, of course, asking existing listeners to share, evangelize and recruit is huge.

In terms of converting my existing listeners, I spend a ton of time building a texting program, and it's paying dividends already. My primary call-to-action in my show and on my socials is a text message keyword (text CONNECT to (332) 877-9540 if you're curious to see how it works). Those folks get texts every week when shows go live, and other little things from time to time.

The world wants to hear you! Drop the imposter syndrome and become your own biggest advocate. But do it personally! No one likes canned spam. Figure out what people care about and provide them value first. They will absolutely build a relationship with you if you do it well.

The best thing? Text CONNECT to (332) 877-9540 and we'll be friends. I mean literally - you'll get a call from me.

I'm on social media everywhere as @heywillconway, and the podcast is everywhere as @heybaggageclaim, except for Instagram where it's annoyingly @baggageclaimpod.

And the website is super active with blog posts, insights and cool community tools. Check it out: heybaggageclaim.com.