Ep. 293: How This Travel Boss Encourages Others To Ace Their First Solo Trip with Shakeemah Smith
In this episode, I speak with Shakeemah who is a female solo traveler who has visited over 59 countries.
She is also the founder of million dollar “Travel Like A Bawse”, a nine week online course that has helped nearly 10k men and women ace their first solo trip, and ultimately master solo travel.
Shakeemah is also the create of online course, “Monetize Like A Bawse” which teaches people how to create, promote and scale their online businesses.
Listen on to find out how this travel boss encourages others to ace their first solo strip.
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Transcription:
Debbie:
Hey everyone, thank you so much for being here!
I am so excited to speak with my guest today, I’m here with Keem.
Hey, Keem, how are you?
Keem:
Hi! I am great, thank you! How are you?
Debbie:
I am wonderful! Can you tell us more about you, Keem, and why you live an offbeat life?
Keem:
So, hi, everyone, my name is Shakeemah Smith, but my friends and family call me “Keem” and the internet streets refer to me as “The Passport Abuser”.
I am a female solo traveler of 61 countries and I am the founder of the 9-week online course, ‘Travel Like A Bawse: The Ultimate Solo Travel Guide’.
Debbie:
Amazing! And that’s a lot of countries that you’ve already visited. So, I’m sure you have a lot of different stories and adventures for that.
Before we get to that, how did you decide that this is what you wanted to do? Because that is not your average, that is not the norm.
How did you get into this journey?
Keem:
So, it was actually a crazy ride. I started my solo travel journey, after being stranded by two friends on vacation on my birthday, in Amsterdam.
Debbie:
Oh my gosh! That’s not cool!
Keem:
Right, I was stranded on vacation, on my birthday. And from there, I decided like, you know what, “I’m never going to wait on anybody else to tell me that they’re coming and they don’t come and I’m the only one that has their flight” or, you know, anything like that. I’m just going to do my own thing from now on and I took my first solo trip more as an experiment.
I took my first solo trip to Paris and I said, you know what, “I’m going to try this just one time, if it doesn’t work, I’ll never do it again! But at least I can say that I tried to travel without waiting on other people.”.
And country number 1 now turned into country 61 and here we are.
Debbie:
Wow, well yeah, I mean, that’s definitely something that we all experience especially when you are wanting to explore the world and you’re always waiting for somebody to say yes to you and every time, right? You always have to make sure that they have the right schedule. You’re both in that, you both want to go to the same places and that takes a lot of time and effort and also when you are traveling with them, that’s a whole other mess right there.
So, I think for us too, it seems really overwhelming or even scary to do it on your own and I know that happened to you because you were just really frustrated. But what was that fight-like experience like when you finally did it? I know now you do it a lot, but what was your feeling like when you first began?
Keem:
So when I first started my solo travel journey, it wasn’t a journey that started with the first solo trip. It was really a journey of preparation, even before I took the first solo trip. So, I spoke to my friends and family and they were like, “No, don’t do it. Don’t go out there. It’s unsafe.”, and I said, you know, “I don’t have any friends that, all my friends have kids and the ones that don’t have kids can’t afford it or they can’t get the time off.”, so, I was listening to all the other opinions about how scary outside would be and I was worried. So, I got out a notebook and I wrote down all the things that people said would go wrong and next to it I wrote a list of, “How Would I Be Able To Prevent It From Happening?”.
So, somebody said, “Oh, you might go somewhere and you might get robbed.”, and so I said, “Okay, there is a US Embassy in this location.”. So, usually around the embassy, the US Embassy. That’s a lot of security. There’s a heightened level of security. So I’ll pick a hotel. That’s closest to the US Embassy in that country. And I just said, “You know what? For everything that someone says will go wrong, here is one thing that I can do to make me feel better about it or be more prepared.”, and it started to raise my level of confidence. You know, having an itinerary, giving my itinerary to the US Embassy, I started doing things that gave me a bigger sense of comfort. And so, once I felt that I had prepared as much as I could, that was when I took the first solo trip.
So, it didn’t actually start with, like, just me jumping out there and deciding to be a rebel. It was something that I had mentally prepared for and like logistically prepared for.
Debbie:
Yeah and that’s super important to get to realize and understand because now you are going off and it is a scary thing and I love the little list that you did too, because that I’m sure that helped with your mental state and to calm you down, that’s a really good strategy to do.
So, now that you do this, how did you make it into part of your income streams and make this a part of your business, because it’s one thing to travel solo, go off on your own, maybe you still have a 9 to 5 and then, you know, you just take that off or maybe even as a, you know, a remote worker, you could still do this, but you actually made this a part of your business.
Keem:
Yeah, I did. All of this was unexpected. I took my first solo trip and that was to Paris, France. I fell in love with solo travel. I felt like a whole new woman and I felt so accomplished like I did it. I did something. And everybody kept saying, “She’s not going to really go by herself.”, and it was like, I proved to them, “You don’t know me.”. And then a part of me said to myself, “I don’t know me either. Now, I’m ready to learn me.”, you know?
It was such an amazing ride with a lot of unexpected great turns. I ended up solo traveling and girls were reaching out to me. Like, “Hey, how are you doing this?”, and I’m like, “Okay, let me show you my little system that I mapped out for me that I rinse and repeat.”, and after solo traveling for about 2 years, I said, “You know what? I’m going to turn this into a course.”.
And from there to here, we are ten thousand clients, 14 different countries and ‘Travel Like A Bawse’ has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Business Insider, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Essence Magazine.
And all of that started off of me, just making one decision, which was, “I’m just going to take one solo trip and see what happens.” and then, you know, million-dollar company from there.
Debbie:
Well, that is definitely like, I mean, okay, so let me ask you this, Keem, was this something that you sought out to do? Like, because I know there’s a lot of people when they start a business it’s just like, “Okay, I’ve always wanted to do this, I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’ve always wanted to do X Y and Z.”, was this something that was born out of your, I guess like just from your passion or was it something that you always thought that you were going to do but it kind of wasn’t exactly? I don’t know if I’m explaining this right, but like, cause sometimes it’s like you know you want to do something big but you just don’t know what it is and it’s like the universe is like kind of sends it to you in like a weird way and sometimes it’s like, you didn’t even know that this was going to happen. So what was that like for you?
Keem:
It was all by accident and I had no idea that this was going to happen. I have a master’s degree from Montclair State University, I have a master of arts degree in child advocacy and public policy and I was at my job for 15 years.
So, and my job paid for the masters. So, I never thought that I would do anything else besides work, you know, in corporate, I earned the masters, so, obviously I invested some of my own time and cash into it.
So, I thought that I would retire from that job as the regular nine-to-five girl, you know? I never thought that this would be a form of income. It just so happened that so many women were reaching out to me saying, like, “How are you doing this? I am sick of waiting on my friends. I am tired of being the only one that doesn’t have kids, and I actually have the flexibility to travel all the time.”.
So, I put my system together and I thought that I was the only one that was single with no kids and has money and can travel. Until I put the course out there and I realized, “Hey, there’s a lot of people out there who want to do this.”.
Debbie:
Yeah. And for you, when you finally created your course and I know it’s like you mentioned, you know, you thought you were the only one and then you realized how many other people really needed your guidance for all of this, how did you market yourself? Did you already have a decent amount of following? Or did you kind of like try to figure out how to market this yourself because that’s one of the things for people right, who want to create a course, they want to put it out there and then it’s like crickets. But you have made a really good income from this and you’ve been successful at it. What do you think has been that pivotal like decision or moment that allowed you to make this into a sustainable business?
Keem:
It’s going to sound really corny but honestly the pivotal moment was just sharing my story, because no one can buy from you if they don’t know, really what you’re selling. And most of the time before we buy a product, system from someone, we already bought into them as a person or bought into their mission. I didn’t have this huge following, right now, I have 92000 followers, so, still not a megatron following. I see some people with 300,000 followers, no, I just started posting everyday about “Hey, I solo travel. Here’s three tips on how you can do it. Here is five safety tools that you can use, if you want to do, you know, your first solo trip.”.
So, the thing that I did to make this company a million-dollar company, I just started off small and I stayed consistent about my messaging, even if I didn’t post everyday, I stay consistent about my messaging until people had a very good understanding of who my audience was, you know, what my course can help them with and they were able to actually see the authenticity of my own transformation as I started solo traveling too.
Debbie:
Yeah, and I think that’s so important to really emphasize is your story, your personal story because no one else can have that, right? No one can duplicate it. Everyone’s story is different. Even if you’ve seen other solo travelers before, nobody is going to have your experiences. And also that’s how you engage people and that’s how you get them to really understand because sometimes, like your story will really relate to somebody and, you know, that’s how you hook them and I’m sure that that’s happened to you, otherwise you wouldn’t be this successful as well.
So for you now that you have built this business and you mentioned you were in corporate, how was that transition from like going to school for this, you took so much time and energy and then going to finally have your job and then realizing, “Okay, this is not for me. I’m going to completely pivot to this new thing.”, how did you transition for that? Was it an easy decision? Or was there a struggle? Like?
Keem:
It started out as my side hustle. And so I was like, this is just, you know, my side hustle with my passion project and I love doing it. But once I got to the point where my business was making me five times the amount of my salary each month, I was like, “Okay I don’t have to do this.”, so, I stayed at my job for a year and my company made, “Travel Like A Bawse”, my company made five times more than my monthly salary and when it did for the 12 months straight, I said, “Okay, it wasn’t just a good month or a good flow or I just had a lucky strike for a few months, this is consistently five times better than what I’m getting paid.”, and I’m spending 70 hours every two weeks doing this but I’m only spending 10 hours a week doing this and I love it and it’s my flexibility and more money. So, I paid off all my credit cards and just put a lot of money into my savings and I said, “Okay, I’m ready to, I’m ready to resign from corporate America for good.”.
Debbie:
I love that your decision making is so great, cause sometimes you’ll hear people be like, “Yeah, I just left, quit everything and then hope for the best.”, you know, crossing fingers, but you, you actually made sure that this is going to work for you. And I see this a lot when people dive into this they just don’t know what’s going to happen and what could work or maybe not, right?
Keem:
Right.
Debbie:
But with the way you did it, you made sure that you were successful in this first, that it was realistic and that’s also what I love to see is like, “How can you do this realistically and not, just by crossing fingers, hoping for the best type thing?”, because it seems romantic, it’s a romantic idea to just leave whatever but at the end of the day, realistically, we still have to put food on the table, we don’t have a trust fund and if you have savings, it’s going to come down.
But you actually created the decision for yourself that, “Hey, this was not a fluke. I could do this and this is sustainable for myself.”
Keem:
Right and I also started mentally slowly backing away from my nine-to-five. So with my nine-to-five, I would often do, maybe 40 hours a month in extra overtime, so that way, I could afford to travel and afford to do the things I wanted to do.
So, a year before I left, I said I’m going to do less and less overtime each month to get myself comfortable with the even smaller salary than what I have now, you know? So I started mentally doing things to like make sure that I was cutting things out of my life, so that way, you know, if I had to go without or, you know, I’m, I had less things, I was like, “Okay, you know what? I’m used to that now.”. So, a lot of mental preparation as well as like logistical preparation.
Debbie:
Yeah and that’s super important too, cause, you know, I think it’s some, the first obvious thing that you think about when you do this is the financials but then yeah, like you, you talked about Keem, it’s also your mental preparation for it because there’s going to be a lot of different things that come your way you don’t know, sometimes your business is really great for the month and then it slows down sometimes, you know, it’s like an up-and-down thing and it’s kind of like bipolar.
It’s like you don’t know what you’re going to get, but you know the consistency of it for a certain amount of time and period will really help and for your business now, you create courses, do you have multiple streams of income? Is that mostly where you create your income or do you have other avenues to make this more sustainable for you as well?
Keem:
Yeah, so I definitely have multiple streams of income. So, I have 11 different courses, digital courses. So that way, I’m not relying on one particular course or one product and I have 11 different ebooks and training courses. And I, in addition to that, I also have a publishing company. So, all of the different streams of income, both of the different streams of income that I have are both digital, because I’ve made so much money for my laptop and I’m like, “Yeah, like a brick-and-mortar is great. But then I have to pay rent, then I have to worry about the utilities, then I have to worry about when things go wrong.” or something like that and it’s like, “Well as long as I’m working from my laptop all my businesses are on my laptop, it’s a lot less financial overhead for me.”.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely and also with your ideal audience as well, you know, they’re all travelers, they’re not going to most likely come to a brick-and-mortar unless they’re traveling there. So, it just makes so much more sense when you do it that way and you can absolutely live this lifestyle in the US, Asia, Europe, Latin America, you know, Africa, wherever you want to go, you can absolutely run this yourself.
So, when you first began this and where you are now, has there been any surprises for you that you didn’t expect? Maybe it was a pleasant, maybe it was an unpleasant surprise, that kind of either took you back or you were just like amazed by what has happened since you started?
Keem:
I think it’s all been pretty pleasant. Everything is a learning experience, you know, being an entrepreneur, you know, you trade your 9 to 5 from being an entrepreneur, your hours are like from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. I have to say that, I used to think that I worked really hard at my 9 to 5. I was doing all the overtime. I was happily taking it on. I loved my job, and I worked to the bone, you know, my fingers to the bone, or so I thought, but there’s something about being an entrepreneur, where, you know that there is no paycheck coming, there is no other option, this has to work and that gives you an entirely different level of ambition and will that maybe you’ve never really seen before when you had a 9 to 5.
So, as hard as I thought that I worked at a 9 to 5, the realization that there is no check coming. No one’s coming to save you. I have nothing to fall back on and no other plan. It makes me work even harder, so all pleasant surprises.
Debbie:
Yeah, but I do have to say, I think it takes a special kind of person to make this work and get it to the level that you got it, because this is what I see a lot, and I’m talking personally and what I see with other people who want to start a business, like a lot of people want to start a business, a lot of people want to be entrepreneurs, but most people don’t realize, because we all just see the good part, like what you’re doing now, Keem, like you’re traveling, you have all of these things, it looks really great, but they don’t actually realize how much effort and hard work it takes and it will take a lot more hard work than their 9 to 5 and most, right? And most people don’t realize that until they get into, knee-deep into it and then they realize, “Okay, well this is a lot harder, I thought like when you start your business it’s going to be a lot less work and you know you’re just going to be strolling down you know all this money and it’s just going to come and it’s not.”, and you pretty much just just showed us that because you are, you have to work super hard for this and I do feel like, if you want to be or if you want to have a freedom lifestyle unless you have the work ethic to do it, especially in the beginning and later on, it could be a lot less work because you’ve already done the groundwork. If you are not willing to do that, then it may not be for you, because,
Keem:
Right.
Debbie:
Right, because there’s always that misconception, it’s like yeah, you just start making it like, you know, “You work less and you get paid more.”, I’m like, “Yeah, but after so much work that you have to get done like after years of struggle and all of this, then you finally can reap the benefits.”.
Keem:
Right, right, it takes time.
Debbie:
Yeah, and I think that’s one of the things that I didn’t understand until you get to that point and the hard work is, is there.
Keem:
Right, it definitely takes time.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. But once you do it, I mean it’s absolutely worth it and you can get to that. But it’s like what is it called? Like when you go to college, they have the hazing period.
Keem:
I wouldn’t say it’s like the hazing period, I’m more compared, I’d say growing pains, you know?
Debbie:
Yeah.
Keem:
It’s going to be some work, you know, but as long as you remember why you’re in this and why you got started, then it kind of grounds you.
Debbie:
Yeah, absolutely. So, for now, for your business and what you’re doing right now, I know you have a publishing company, you do a lot of courses, and all of this content that you’re creating, how are you seeing this in the future? Are you going to build it up more? Like, I’m sure you have a plan for this cause you’re very strategic.
Keem:
Yeah, I think one of the things is that, you know, you have, there’s ebbs and flows of lots of things like, peaks and valleys, so, I said, “You know what?”, in addition to opening up, you know, my publishing company, there’s several other companies that I now want to open and me living an offbeat life and solo travel in the world doing something that a lot of people hadn’t ever seen done before, you know, especially for me, being a woman, it led me to create so much capital by sharing my story, that now I’m allowed to actually have other interest and develop other plans for myself. So, there’s so many other different businesses that I definitely want to open up in the future. And so I’m grateful that I did one thing different. I just made one different decision, “Let me solo travel.”, because that created over a million dollars for me. And now, I can have several other businesses.
Debbie:
For you, Keem, is this, like are you one of the first in your family to do this? to do something that is not, you know, the quote unquote norm?
Keem:
Yeah, I’m the first.
Debbie:
That’s awesome and how does your family feel about this? Cause, was it like, “What were you doing? Why did you quit your job?”, or were people embracing it and just kind of like, you know, being super supportive?
Keem:
Everybody was actually really supportive of me, but I let my family also know what the plan was like a year before. So, I’m like, “Hey you know what? ‘Travel Like A Bawse’ is doing so great that I’m going to give myself a year and then from there, if everything looks good, I’m going to walk away from corporate.”. They were all supporting me because I let them in on the plan and what my, you know, goals were, financial goals before I left, how I, you know, I was paying off one credit card a month before I left, so everybody was, it was easier for them to support me because I was so transparent about what I was doing.
Debbie:
Yeah, yeah and I think that’s very important too because you’re not only propping yourself, but you’re prepping the people around you and that kind of takes out the shock of it when you’re just doing it like, “Hey, I’m doing this right now.”, and they’re like, “What? We didn’t even know that you were going to do this, where did that come from?”.
So, maybe let’s look forward to 40, maybe 50 years from now and you’re looking back at your life, what legacy would you like to leave and what do you want to be remembered for?
Keem:
You know, I would love to leave a legacy for my kids that they can do anything and not to listen to other people and you know some men and women around the world as well, like you can do anything. All it takes is you stepping on the other side of your fear and, you know, I just want to be remembered for helping men and women find themselves and have that financial freedom and have that mental freedom by being able to have the guts to travel the world, you know, to just see it, not wait on anybody.
Debbie:
And if you can do it, this is the best time to do anything too, with the pandemic happening within a few years of us being locked out and everyone’s like, “We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. We got to start taking chances!”, and I love that. At least we get like, there’s something positive that came from that.
Keem:
Right, right!
Debbie:
Well, thank you so much, Keem, for being here with us.
If our listeners want to learn more about you, where can they find you?
Keem:
So you guys can follow me on Instagram at The Passport Abuser and each Wednesday I teach a free master class that helps men and women around the world ace their first solo trip.
Debbie:
Perfect, love that! Thanks, Keem, for being here, we really appreciate you!
Keem:
Thank you so much!
Listen to Shakeemah’s interview where she talks about how to stay safe as a solo traveler.
What you’ll find:
In this extended interview, Shakeemah gives us tips on how to stay safe while on a solo trip. Listen and learn and travel more safely!
Follow Keem:
