Ask HN: what lifestyle business could I help to create for my mom? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: what lifestyle business could I help to create for my mom?

78 pointsgilbax50 comments

My mom is a travel agent working in a physical travel agency. Needless to say their business isn't going well, and she'll have to look for another job, which can be hard for a 50+ woman.

So my goal right now is to help her create some kind of a lifestyle business where she could work from home.

Right now I could only think of helping her to set up some kind of blog/e-magazine about travels and hopefully make money from hotel lead generation / affiliation. Though that would require to have some critical mass. I also thought about ebay, but I don't have any experience on the seller side so it's hard to see what's possible.

Any HNer set up a business lifestyle for his mom before ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !

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Having been down this road before, in similar circumstances, with multiple family members: be vewwwwwwy careful that she is the one driving this business forward, or it won't work and will only cause you grief.

Agreed. She needs to be the one initiating things. It's very dangerous to help someone out only to find out you're more committed to their success than they are.

just to throw in a note, this is how i did things (after a few trials and errors):

simply tell them that you can and are more than willing to help, but if they want your help, they'll have to figure out what they want you to do on their own.

She should just stick with what she knows, since she has some expertise in that.

A few possibilities there:

1. a business that organizes all these business nomads out there. Does all the necessary research, finds out all the services that are needed etc. Instead of 1 person moving at a time, it'd be a group of 200. Instead of arriving and knowing noone in the area, you arrive with 200 people you know. Instead of getting the first available apartment, you have one rented by the time you arrive. etc etc.

2. a business that does something as above, but for big 3 month long vacations aimed at those who want to see the world.

3. concierge vacationer for rich folks, figures out exotic destinations etc.

4. just answer for travel questions

5. unbiased travel destinations reviews for $10/yr

I really like idea #2. Call it something like WorkTheWorld.com. Work out all the details for folks who just want to live and work someplace else for a while. It's something I think a lot of people want to do but it seems too hard for most. This service could make it easier.

For independents, pre-screen living situations with fast internet, find the best language courses, identify meetups and other groups that they might want to connect with while they're gone, plus all the usual travel stuff.

Maybe for folks working for other folks, provide info on visas/work permits and possible employers.

Agreed, the idea is great. Perhaps another focus would be on people who want to take a career break to go travelling and need help. I've known a fair few people who've done this and then gone back to their job. They get a taste for adventure, need something a bit more substantial than the usual 2-3 weeks off, and try a bit of travelling for a while. You get something that inspires them and makes life easier for them and I think you have a winner.

EDIT: You could do it by region. I've known people wanting to tackle China, or S.America or Europe in big chunks. 3 weeks isn't enough for these places and 3 months seems just right.

I would like to know, however, if your exposure as a tourist agency to litigation risks increases as the trips become more complex and lengthier.

My SO just went to Uganda to volunteer in a primary school. It was a right faf to organise and was completely chaotic. I'd pay a few hundred just for the peace of mind that someone who isn't a complete moron was working out all the details.

doing #1 and #2 at the same time would be easy.

I'd use this.

#2 is a great idea. I'd love to work for a year in #NYC as (lead dev, CTO, VP eng or whatever ;-)

Just make sure she's as excited about and committed to the idea as you clearly are.

Indeed, not everybody necessarily wants to be an entrepreneur. For example, one of the reasons my mom works is because she enjoys working with other people. Running her own business from home wouldn't work for her in that sense. I'm not saying that's the case here, but PonyGumbo is right that you have to be careful not to project your own ideas and ideals too much.

So .. consider forigners who come to your country ... they face barriers of language, customs, etc. If your mom is multi-lingual (or can work with a translator), she could build a speciality service where she helps people of a specific set of foreign countries visit your country. Basically, help with hotels, local customs, etc. This isn't necessarily just an Internet-based business but can likely be done from home (using a combo of the net and a telephone).

I like the idea of a virtual local guide, someone you can call while in a foreign country to help with language, directions, booking stuff. Just someone with reasonable local knowledge, both languages and the internet.

This could be a great job for wheelchair-bound people in the particular visited country. (Though it wouldn't be limited to such persons.) I could imagine a service that uses smartphones and communications apps like Facetime as a sort of "poor man's telepresence" to enable on-demand translation and protocol/culture navigation service. (It would involve much more than language translation and would leverage a person's commonsense knowledge.) This could be monetized through monthly and weekly availability charges, and be subject to "throttling" the most frequent users by progressively lowering their queue priority.

Have a look at http://tripbod.com who provide a service similar to what you are taking about. Tripbod are at the Launch Conference this week so may well be on pitching on stage at some point

Why not get her to set up a niche Deal of the Day website specializing in adventure tourism in your area?

She knows the industry, group buying is hot and it could be easily run by a single person.

That's kind of an awesome idea, I'd love to get a groupon style email every day offering some great deal on some kind of travel/adventure type thing. You could make the terms kind of restrictive (it's got to be on this day, you only fly from this set of airports etc) and I'd still probably read it each day to see if I could do it.

Urban Escapes (now owned by Living Social) http://escapes.livingsocial.com/deals does this. JetSetter http://www.jetsetter.com/ is also similar.

OP wants Mom to make some money

As someone who works in a deal-a-day startup, I can only describe your comment as naive. Deal a day sites seem very easy to implement technically, but trust me, thats only 10% of the equation.

Can your mom write?

I've found when travelling that there are a lot of destinations that are underserved by travel guides. I've noticed some small self-published stuff popping up for Kindle -- if she has expertise in different places, maybe she could start publishing niche guides?

One area where there is an obvious hole in the market imho would be catering for the disabled traveller. If she could provide a service whereby she could organise disabled friendly flights, assistance to and from the airport, guarantee accommodation would meet your requirements etc it would be a great load off the mind of those who fear travelling due to their disabilities. A "disabled holiday planner" effectively.

The same could be applied for people with eating allergies looking for accommodation.

And airlines that are peanut allergy aware - or whatever you'd call it.

I would go with an online niche/specialist version of what she knows best: travel.

I have a friend who has made a living arranging & supplying tours for cyclists: arranging the route, supplying the bicycles, booking the hotels, printing maps etc.

What other specialist knowledge is there to call upon in family and friends?: her hobbies, your hobbies etc. Is there any two things you could combine?

Obviously you would know your local area better than a foreigner and the web is wonderfully accessible to travellers.

There are many interesting possibilities for automated web services, online mapping software, GPS etc, but it is more important to present a human touch. I would sooner get a hand-drawn map that imparted real expert human knowledge than a Google map.

I think that Square opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities for small businesses and sole traders, too.

Meta answer, which is probably going to get modded down (no love for Tim Ferriss on HN):

Read (and let her read) Tim Ferriss' "4 hour work week". While the goals discussed in that book are different, it has lots of useful advice about how to set up businesses that run themselves, which is probably what your Mom needs.

See e.g. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/12/11/engineering-... for examples. Of course, these are the successful case studies and there are failures - but there is a lot of good info and interesting ideas in that book.

I'm going to throw in the suggestion that she look into Scentsy. http://seasonofscents.scentsy.us . Genuinely booming opportunity. Direct sales, yes. Actually pays, yes. If she works her existing contacts, she will be in business immediately. When my wife signed up I was pretty pessimistic but she has come to consistently out-earn me and this summer she took us to an all expense paid trip to Hawaii. Basically, all of the direct-sales companies have the same offer: work from home, income, incentives. Most of them, IMHO, don't deliver. Scentsy really has for us.

Maybe have her check to see if Cranky Concierge is looking for new people? http://www.crankyconcierge.com/ I've never used their service, but I read the blog regularly.

I was having lunch with a friend the other day and we came up with an idea, but the person who took action would need to be a travel agent--which neither of us are.

We love the shows "Best Thing I Ever Ate" and "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" on Food Network. There are tons of foodies out there (like my friend and me) who would love to go on a tour of the restaurants from those shows. She could organize tours of a certain area of the country and the people on the tour could eat at two or three of the restaurants featured on those shows.

What were the most popular services that the existing business was providing? Is it possible to provide these services outside of an agency?

If your mom knows where the demand was inside that agency then she should draw from that when creating her own company. Perhaps business trips were the main thing they booked? Or young adult tour style trips? If she could focus on what was still selling maybe that is a way to go forward.

Does she still want to be a travel agent or is she looking to do something completely different?

Blogging may work, as long as she treats it like a business and not just a hobby. Within a couple of years she could establish an authority blog on the subject. And don't let her limit herself to hotels either. There are all sorts of affiliate programs for that demographic (language courses and software being one of them). And she can create her own products, as well as organizing trips, etc. The blog side attracts the audience, the business side sells something valuable to them.

I didn't do it for my mom, but helped my ex-wife launch a small business on Etsy. I would recommend looking into some hobbies she has and stuff she is familiar with.

My ex-wife orders cute buttons for clothes from japan/korea, repackages them individually, and sells them on Etsy. It works pretty well and makes her some nice extra money...

If your mom does it, make sure she pushes through to the christmas holiday... sales are practically guaranteed then, and even though its gross rev, the sales can be very motivating!

Good luck!

She could be a 'virtual guide' - http://guide.mygola.com/

I think they pay in US$ too. Not sure if this'll meet her budget req though.

If the sector is tourism, there's plenty of space for verticals. I have a client who has a ring of sites offerinf holydays for board sposrtsers: surf, kite, snowboard and the such. Sambeau suggested cyclists. Another idea could be: travel for families with children. Travelling with children can be hard, especially if the destinations are exotic and the children are small; so a website featuring advice on this topic might have an audience.

> My mom is a travel agent working in a physical travel agency.

How about an on-line travel agency?

Of course, she'll be competing with the other online travel agencies, so she might need to zig where they zag.

For example, they invest heavily in adsense/adwords. I wonder if she could find enough customers by being a participant in on-line conversations. (Yes, they also run blogs, and they probably will ban her from their blogs, but there are lots of other conversations.)

How about an Avon rep?

As a travel agent I'm guessing she liked interacting with people and she probably can contact those same people she serviced as a travel agent for her home-based Avon business.

My wife has been with Avon for years. It does take some time to build up a clientèle and team but you can make okay money at it. It depends how extensive of a network you have and how much time and effort you're willing to put into it.

Cheers

A month or so ago, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame came up with the idea, CloneMyVacation.com. My domain addiction made me buy the domain on the spot. If you think she is serious about doing something and think the idea is good, email me. Here is the post: http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/next_big_thing/

cool. re-create Brad Pitts latest jaunt or Celine Dion's affluent retreat. or Tony Danza's staycation. :)

Combine travel with another one of her interests and make a DVD (a la "4 Hour Work Week"). For instance, if your mom is into wine, make a DVD of all the wineries in a certain region. It could include reference statistics that she could research. People that are going to travel there could use the DVD as a guide or load it into their cell phones as an app.

Do you have personal experience in doing information products? I'm really curious about pricing and sales for that kind of thing if you're willing to share.

Read the book "4 hour work week". He lays it all out step-by-step with links. It includes how to price and sell your item.

I had it a while back, I'll pick it up again

I know some guys who run a seemingly successful travel agency that caters to gay vacations. I guess it's successful because their target demographic has disposable income and this type of travel is not yet comoditized. I.e. there's no "Gay Friendly" filter on expedia, at least as far as I know.

It doesn't have to be travel related if that area is in a slump. She is likely experienced and talented in things relating to helping people, customer service, and marketing. So that opens many more doors for her. Good luck!

I think it's awesome that you're trying to find something for your mom. I am in a similar position so I'm curious on the ideas that users here can come up with.

Whatever she does, she should definitely do something she enjoys.

Is there something she likes to do, like make gift baskets or something, that could become a business? Is there a certain goal in terms of time it takes to take off, and/or amount of money she should make?

Quora for Travel!

You got any pictures?

I would ask Mary Ramblin of morethanmary.com she did gain travel sponsors for her travel blog articles so she may have some advice and insight.

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