SPI 727: An Epic SPI Success Story with Jackie Nourse

SPI 727: An Epic SPI Success Story with Jackie Nourse

Jackie Nourse: On our last trip, it was rough going. It was like Indiana Jones through the jungle, and then we get out, and there’s pelting rain because there’s always wind in Patagonia.

And we get to the top the summit and the sun breaks through the clouds and There’s glaciers all around us,which is… it makes my heart beat And so that’s not on me. That’s the weather. That’s Patagonia, right?

But that is a moment that brings tears to people’s eyes. And that’s what I want to create. Like I’m going to take you there so that we can have moments like that.

Pat Flynn: In 2015, it might’ve been 2014 actually, so a long time ago, I received a CD in the mail. A compact disc. And for those of you who don’t know what that is, well then, you are very young and I am very old. Anyway, I got a CD in the mail, I open it, and there’s a video. And, I play the video, and it’s from a woman named Jackie Nourse, and she is known as Traveling Jackie. She had sent this beautiful testimonial and thank you video to me for helping her in her trajectory with creating an amazing blog and a brand and I invited her on the podcast today. In fact, I should have invited her a long time ago, but, but this is such a fun interview because we get to talk about Jackie and her journey and kind of where SPI inserted itself as a guide into her journey.

But really she’s the one who’s taken it to a whole new levels and is now somebody who has created a lot of in person trips and creates experiences for people who want to travel as well. We talk about her brand and how she was able to do that, but we also talk about the pandemic and how detrimental that was to her brand, but also how she kind of pivoted a little bit and experimented and rebranded and the opportunities that came about as a result of that. We do talk a lot of travel in this particular episode. I am not nearly as well traveled as she is, so we talk a little bit about experiences, but this is just a fun conversation with a fan, just like you, somebody who had once listened to the show and has taken their brand to an amazing level.

So Traveling Jackie here on this episode, you’re going to love her. She’s amazing. And, I hope you enjoyed this conversation. It’s a lot of fun.

Announcer: You’re listening to the Smart Passive Income Podcast, a proud member of the Entrepreneur Podcast Network, a show that’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host, he always puts on his left, so before his right one. Pat Flynn.

Pat Flynn: Jacky, welcome to the Smart Passive Income Podcast. Thank you so much for being here today.

Jackie Nourse: Thanks Pat. It’s really my honor to be here. So thanks for having me.

Pat Flynn: It’s always fun connecting with a fellow podcaster because I know the mic’s going to sound good. I know we can tell great stories. So I’m just really excited about this and I know that you have a story to tell and I’d love to learn about where this all started, you know, jump adventures and the traveling and the things that you’re doing to help others travel and get outside is amazing. How did you get started with all of that?

Jackie Nourse: It actually started for me a very long time ago, 20 years to be exact, because I was 18 when I first moved overseas. I went to Costa Rica to study abroad. And because it was the only thing I knew I was really passionate about was going to learn Spanish.

And so while college was still kind of a mystery to me, I knew I wanted to study abroad. And so I went for a year and it totally changed my life. I mean, I think it actually, I like to say it didn’t change it. It started it. It created it because that was when I was a brand new baby adult, right? Just spreading my wings and getting out of the nest.

I mean, I was 18 and that year really kind of built the cornerstones of what would be the foundation from which I would then exist. That was travel. That was on a stage of travel and it was the first time that I really felt like me and I I mean, I crushed the Spanish, like, but I also learned how to dance salsa.

And I mean, I met new people from all over the world and I learned how to travel kind of like the ropes of just navigating a foreign country and being a minority and just everything that it means to live in a foreign place. And I was in love. I absolutely loved it. And I liked who I was there. And that was like, probably the biggest realization for me is how do I continue doing this?

Because this is me. Like, this is the first time I’ve really felt like me. And so when I went home, I like to say home, quote, quote home. I like to say I took that flight kicking and screaming because I just didn’t quite I just didn’t want to go and that basically just turned into a snowball of continuing to figure out how to travel.

So that was my first year of study abroad. But then I went for another year in Italy and I learned Italian and I did the whole thing all over again with a totally different experience because it was a different continent, a different language, different people, a different. international experience. And I was still just couldn’t get enough.

And I just kept going and going and I ended up backpacking through Central America and studying abroad in Brazil. And at some point along the line there, I started one of those blogspot blogs. Oh, blogspot. Wow. We’re going way back. Yeah. I know. It actually still exists somewhere on the internet. That was for my, you know, my mom and my friends and anybody who was kind of paying attention because this is before Wi Fi.

Pat Flynn: You were just kind of journaling your experiences?

Jackie Nourse: Yeah, I mean, I wasn’t even using punctuation. It’s like, not properly, like, writing. Yeah, it was just kind of scribbling to make sure people knew I was alive, I was having a great time, here’s some images and… You know, off I go, because, you know, that was before Wi Fi.

It was before cell phones. I didn’t have a cell phone. Like I, I would get one when I’d go abroad starting in, I guess in Italy, I had one, but I mean, it’s all different then. Like there’s no Wi Fi. So you’re not connected. You’re just off doing your thing. Mom and dad are happy to not get any news because no news is good news.

You know, so I check in here and there and just kind of go. 10 years into that, it was when I learned about affiliate marketing. And this is through a mutual friend of ours, Pete Sven, who has DIY Pete, his, his whole empire. He’s a friend of mine and he approached me and he’s like, do you know about affiliate marketing?

I was doing a different thing at the time, but he saw the potential. And he introduced me to your podcast. I think it was episode 44 or that popular one. That’s affiliate marketing from way back in the day. And I listened to it and I was like, Oh my gosh, I was born for this. Like everything that I’m doing basically set me up to create a real travel blog, like a website that I just didn’t even know you could do that professionally.

And so that’s where I started. I hit the ground running with it within a month of having that conversation, I had launched my blog and because I learned from the best how to do the online business thing from the very beginning it was set up as a business and I knew I was going to make it work because of who I am.

You know, I just, this was it. I could see the path. I found my thing. And so it started as just the travel blog and then a year after that is when I went to a conference called New Media Expo in Vegas. Pete and I went there together. I saw you talk for the first time. I think that’s where we met in person for the first time.

That was after I had published that book and sent you that CD.

Pat Flynn: That yeah, I still have it on the wall a long time ago. That was so thank you for sending me that. I mean, it’s, I often don’t hear the real stories of how I’ve been able to help people, but to hear yours and what you’ve done with it. And it’s just, I don’t know why I waited so long for you to come on the show.

I’m so sorry. Like, I feel like you definitely deserve to be here.

Jackie Nourse: You know what? Thank you for saying that. But I believe in timing. I believe that timing is, and I mean, as you were saying, Jackie, welcome to the Smart Passive Income podcast. I was having an out of body experience. It’s like, that’s so wild because I really, it’s like we go way back.

I mean so that conference marked a huge turning point for me because I met Lou Mangiello, who you probably also know, who’s a podcaster. And he sat me down and he said, you need to start a podcast. And I was like, Lou, I just started a blog. I’m terrified. I don’t know what to do. Why should I have a podcast?

And I couldn’t get his words out of my head. He like had these bullet points. He’s like, you need to do this. You need to go to this conference. You need to speak at this conference, but you need to start a podcast. And I have completed my list by now. I’ve done all of those things that he gave me, but it started with the podcast.

And I, I launched it, I think, within another month, because that was no, that was in January and I launched it at the end of April and or at the end of March, I think. Yeah. And so it was two months later, I found myself being a podcaster, which was both amazing and terrifying, as you probably know, because the exposure that you get when you put podcast is entirely uncontrollable.

I actually ended up in new and noteworthy, like smack in the middle, right in the middle of the page on Apple. And I sat there for eight weeks. And which I don’t know, like none of us know the algorithm, right? It’s. It’s magic and it was on my side. I like to think even though it was really scary because I started getting reviews and but anyway, actually I’m gonna say something about that review I got a really I got a one star review for my first review ever.

Oh, no, it’s horrible. They were talking about my voice. They said most annoying voice outside of NPR. And I wanted to crawl into a cave and never come out. And that’s when I really had to dig deep and ask myself if I even wanted to continue doing this. And that’s when the good reviews started coming in.

And I remember something that you actually said once that I keep in my back pocket with me all the time. And it was something like every minute you spend on a hater is a moment wasted with someone who loves you. And I had to focus on the people who were bringing me the positivity to keep going, and I’m really glad I did because now we’re here.

I mean, that was in 2014. So it’s almost 10 years ago, but I can’t even imagine if I had let that voice shut me down. Back then.

Pat Flynn: That’s a tough one, though. I mean, you put yourself out there, you’re like, I just hope people love it and get something out of it. And then you get that first review. That’s like, that’s so terrible.

And, you know, hurt people, hurt people, and people have their opinions and, you know, they’re welcome to share it. And I’m just glad it didn’t knock you off totally, because here you are now nearly 10 years later with millions of downloads. And what is the podcast? Let’s fast forward to now. Like, what is the podcast opened up for you?

What has it done now that you’ve, you know, committed some time into it?

Jackie Nourse: Exactly. Yeah. So the, I’m really grateful for that. That exposure, because that is what really set me apart was the audience. Like I had suddenly all these people paying attention and because of the audience. So I want to go back to My personal kind of goal in the whole thing was, you know, to figure out how I could continue living this lifestyle of adventure and travel because that was where my passion lies.

That’s where I come alive. And that was what I believed in pursuing and I really enjoyed talking about it. And so now I have these people watching me and I remember at some point when I was still in university, I wrote in my journal. I’ve always been a writer. I’ve always kept a journal and I was going through them recently. And I found an entry where I said, because I remember thinking this, but this was sometime in college that I said, I one day I want to be able to take people on trips. Like I want to, I could be, I had all these ideas. I could be the interpreter and the photographer and the guide.

And I’m like, now I’m like, Oh my God, I’m crazy because I would never try and do all of those things. But that was my dream was I had experienced so much just personal discovery and come to lifeness and just seeing what’s outside the box and pushing my comfort zone and all of that through travel that I wanted other people to do it.

How can I do that? How can I show people that? And so it started with the whole independent travel thing. Like this is how I do it. This is how you can do it. And then I made my dream come true in 2016, which was inviting people to come on a trip with me. I had no idea if it was going to work, but because of the podcast and the audience that I had gained and I had started another travel blog in 2015, that’s more personal.

That’s my Traveling Jackie site. That’s like, it’s like the PatFlynn.Com versus the Smart Passive Income, you know, like there’s, there’s the brand and then there’s the person. And I took that personal blog and took it on a journey that was very vulnerable. And I shared a lot. And I, I think I gained a lot of people who can relate, you know, like I gained a lot of people who just wanted to see what would happen once I went off on this journey.

And that overlapped with this timing of getting to invite people to come on a trip with me. And as much as I wanted to do it in the past, you’ve got to have thousands and thousands of people paying attention to even get 10 people to come on a trip, you know, like you can’t just ask a room of 10 people and expect anyone to say yes, which is why I did a whole lot of solo travel leading up to this point.

But then I invited people to come to Patagonia with me and six people said yes, and I love it. I took them down to Torres del Paine National Park and we hiked, we hiked on the Chile side and on the Argentina side and it was, I think, still to this day, my absolute favorite group trip that I’ve ever led because it was perfect, like nothing went wrong and everyone was so excited and it was my first time doing it that I was like, what have I just discovered?

This is it. This is the beyond like this is where I’m meant to be and how do I continue doing this and so then it became a pursuit of okay how do I keep doing this? And I think we’re up to 17, 18 international trips now. Wow, one state side. Yeah, and it’s small I mean, it’s that’s been since 2016, but it’s because I’m on the trips and I keep it personal, I guess.

And it’s absolutely a dream come true. That’s like a big fast forward. That’s a big nutshell for you. But that’s kind of the story.

Pat Flynn: There’s a lot to unpack there for sure. I’m curious about when you put the word out there that you wanted to do this thing with other people, what was going through your mind and how did you respond when you started to get those first people who said yeah, like I’d love to come with you. Like what was going through your head.

Jackie Nourse: Pinch me. This is real, you know. Also, just how do I, well, here’s something I had to let go of is I wanted them to have the experience that I do when I’m traveling and you can’t actually orchestrate that. So I learned that once we arrive, my work is kind of done. And I just let, in that case, Patagonia work its magic on the people.

And it did. But I wanted to make sure that I still had my business mind on, you know, cause this is a business. It wasn’t just, Hey, let’s all go to Patagonia and have some fun. It’s like, okay, how do I also capture this and then recreate it and keep these people with me? And so I had a, I guess I had a lot going through my mind, but it’s, it’s kind of a balance of, of the personal enjoyment of it because it’s, it’s really my, my passion and my dream come true.

And then also the business side of, of, you know, this is something that I need to figure out how to keep going and and how to do it right. And I have over 33 percent repeats on my trips. So I feel like there’s something going right. But I think it’s the people. I think it’s the people that come together on these trips that have something in common.

I might be a common denominator, but that’s all I am. I’m just the one setting the stage and inviting the people to come upon it and experience from there with the backdrop of adventure and travel.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, that’s so beautiful. I mean, I feel like that’s what we do here at SPI too. You know, I’m the person who’s created the content, but we create the space for other people to be able to connect with each other.

And that’s a different level of business that when you start to actually have those connections between each other, not just you and your audience, but your audience with each other, that’s when really magic starts to happen. And to have a 33 percent sort of return rate is, is huge for something that I’m guessing isn’t also cheap. I would imagine that there’s a price point to this, obviously. What would it cost to, for example, go with you on one of these trips and meet some cool people?

Jackie Nourse: It depends on the trip. We are anywhere from 3,000 to around 5,000. And these are all guided trips. It depends, though, on the length of the trip and the destination.

Of course, some are much more expensive than others. But I’ve had Just recently I had somebody say, because they, they are, they can be expensive and I recognize that as a, as a, you know, I started as an independent traveler. I started as the budget minded traveler. Like, it’s funny to me just, but I mean, we, we grow, we grow and we change and we, we don’t need to stay stuck in any kind of way, right?

We can elevate our businesses as we elevate ourselves and bring those people with us. And, but I did have somebody recently say, okay. These trips are worth going broke over. I was like, well, I guess that’s a compliment because it’s not like you can definitely find more expensive trips out there. I’m trying to stay like kind of right in the middle.

But aside from the money, my goal is to blow people’s minds. Like, that’s what I want to do on every single trip. Like, I want your mind to blow, like, I want to watch it happen. I want you to just experience and be open and just leave changed. And so I don’t think that money is everything, you know, it’s, it’s the experience.

Pat Flynn: Can you spoil us a little bit and tell us maybe one way that you blow people’s minds on one of these trips? Like, what’s a surprise element that you… Perhaps offer, you know, a group of people like that.

Jackie Nourse: Sometimes it’s the accommodations. So when I create these trips, I’m not always looking like this is what I mean by, I’m not always looking at the price tag because I want the experience.

What is going to be the best thing while we’re in this place? And sometimes you have an option, for example, we just went to Jordan and in Wadi Rum, which is where they filmed the Martian and other Mars movies. It looks, it’s amazing. It’s incredible down there. There are a bunch of different options of accommodation.

And one of them, they call them Martian domes and they’re essentially geodesic domes with just windows essentially to the night sky. And they also have AC, which you need down there. And they’re the most expensive accommodations, but guess where we’re staying because you need to experience that when you are sleeping underneath 5 billion stars, you’ve got to be able to see them at night. Like you need to sleep in a comfortable bed after we’ve been hiking for five days to Petra, you know, like, so it, it varies and sometimes it’s something I can control and sometimes it’s not. In Patagonia, there’s a trail that we do that it’s called the O circuit and it’s in Torres del Paine National Park, but it’s the big trek.

A lot of people do what’s called the W, which is about half of that. And we, when we do the O, we go around the backside and there’s a big hike. It’s the hardest day on our last trip. We had some rain in the morning, and I mean, it was it was rough going. It was like Indiana Jones thing through the jungle, and then we get out, and there’s pelting rain because there’s always wind in Patagonia.

It snowed on us. I mean, it’s like it’s fall in Patagonia at this time, early fall, and so you’re not necessarily expecting snow, and we got snowed on, and we’re just like traipsing through it, right? And we get to the Top the summit and the sun breaks through the clouds and you start to see these massive peaks that we’ve been hiking under.

There’s glaciers all around us, and the kicker on that one is that once you get to the top, you can overlook Glacier Gray, which is It makes my heart beat like it’s just it’s an incredible glacier and you can see almost all 42 kilometers of it as you get to this point. And so that’s not on me. That’s the weather.

That’s Patagonia, right? But that is a moment that brings tears to people’s eyes. And that’s what I want to create. Like I’m going to take you there so that we can have moments like that.

Pat Flynn: I love it. I mean, I’m all about experience, especially, I mean, I’ve written about this in my book, Superfans. It’s like taking that person through a journey and helping them unlock something new in their life, whatever it might be, is such an incredible thing and a wonderful gift to give somebody.

And sometimes you can’t even put a price tag to experiences like that. I’m curious with the multiple trips that you’ve done, have you developed relationships with different companies and vendors? It’s over there to help enhance the experience even more, maybe even make it cheaper or whatnot. Are you developing professional relationships in that manner as well?

Jackie Nourse: Oh, yeah. I actually, I’ve been attending the Adventure Travel World Summit, which goes, travels around the world every year, but I’ve been attending that since 2015. And it is through those trips, because it’s not just a conference, it’s also an experience and adventure that goes with it that I have met every single person that I work with all over the world and generally by the time we even create a program together and itinerary and create a trip together, I’ve already known them for at least three years. I did the math once and just kind of thought about it and yeah, relationships are absolutely important because I don’t trust just anyone with my people.

You know, I want to have the best experience. I want to have, I want them to be vetted. I want them to be sustainable. I want them to work with the, all the local people and have the best guides and have trained guides, you know, and so yeah, I’m slow to create trips because I want to put some time and energy into those relationships like the people in Jordan that I use actually met in Patagonia on a trail originally.

And the guy that I’m using in New Zealand, we met in Sweden on a walking tour of the city. You know, I mean, it’s, it’s, and these are all years and years ago. Yeah. The relationships are why I keep going to these, these conferences.

Pat Flynn: What would your business look like if you didn’t go to these conferences and, and meet these people?

Jackie Nourse: I don’t even know how I would do it. I mean, I’d probably be Googling, and I don’t really like that. I don’t, I don’t want to do it that way. I really appreciate in person, which I think is why I’m inviting people to come with me. I really appreciate personal connection and not just professional relationships.

But I have made so many friends through my own people, you know, showing up and being adventure minded and being ready to be challenged. I love these people. They’re so interesting. And I love when they become more than a number, like their download. Until they come and say hi, and I’m like, Oh, you have a name, you have a face, like you have a personality, you’re real, like you’re hiking alongside me.

There’s nothing quite like it, especially coming from a place of solo travel for so long. And I still live in that place. But there’s a reason that I invite people. There’s just so many really amazing people out there that that that are just absolutely making this job easy for me and amazing.

Pat Flynn: That’s incredible. You know, I think that the interesting thing, you know, my mind goes to The fact that there was a period of time pretty recently that we weren’t able to travel anywhere during the pandemic. And I’m curious for a business that had been established for so long, who had has built these relationships. First of all, just, I encourage everybody to go to conferences, we’re talking about it here. This, I mean, there’s, there’s no better way to build a business than in person and to see your audience and to meet other partners and friends. 2020 comes around, how is your business affected by that? And, and what. What’s your reaction to it?

Jackie Nourse: You know, it’s almost still too soon for me to talk about it because it was, it was horrible.

Like it, it shut down the travel industry overnight in March. I mean, I had a trip that was supposed to go to Italy that may, and I was in Morocco when everything was hitting the fan. And I mean, we got home just in time before they closed all the borders and the airports and everything. But I think for me, it was extra hard because of the story that I just told you that my entire foundation as an adult, as a creative entrepreneur has existed on a foundation of travel. This is who I, I’m Traveling Jackie, this is who I am, right? It was really, really, really hard for me for a couple of years. It lasted a very long time. I’m only now in 2023 really feeling like I’m getting back on my feet from it because it was such a total decimation of, of so many and so much in the travel industry.

So yeah, it was, it was really rough. And I was really trying to find that like, who are you without, you know, you can still be this and this and this and I just, oh, oh, I was so upset and depressed. And yeah, it wasn’t, it wasn’t cool. I did turn to my podcast because that’s something I could still do from home.

And so we did a lot of podcasting and starting to explore the backyard and that was fun. I think people really appreciated that. So there were bits of joy in there and I hosted an online retreat that was really powerful. And yeah, I mean, I tried to pivot, but I just, that was, it was rough for us in the travel industry.

Pat Flynn: I’m sorry to bring it up, but oftentimes in our journey as entrepreneurs, there’s going to be seasons and things that happen. And a lot of times those things are things that we cannot control. So I’m curious. about your reaction to this. Obviously, it was, you know, detrimental to a lot of the things that were planned and even yourself as a person.

But you also it sounds like you were exploring other ways to find new things and to bring people along. Tell me about the sort of backyard thing that you just mentioned. What was that? And how was that responded to.

Jackie Nourse: I referred to the backyard as the United States, because interestingly, in all these years that I’ve been focusing on travel, it’s always been international.

Everything I write about everything I podcast about all the trips that I do. It’s always international because that’s just where I live. And so I changed the focus to where people were actually traveling. And that was It’s the backyard. We did the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, which I didn’t even know about.

It was so interesting. I mean, I was like losing my mind on that podcast, learning about Uber light and like, I mean, it was so fun. It was so fun because I was just sitting in my chair in my kitchen, but I was getting to kind of travel and, and these people were actually out there doing this cause they could because it’s right in our own backyard.

We did Utah, Colorado, like a bunch of, I don’t know, it was just focusing more on what’s local and what people were actually able to do. And that was really helpful. I think it was a really healthy kind of refocus.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. In moments like that, and I have to credit Michael Hyatt for this. It’s often wise to ask the question, well, what does this now make possible?

Even though things are tough, even though something happened that, you know, we can’t control, well, what does this make possible now? And I love How you pivoted to something maybe a little bit more local and, you know, it worked for a temporary amount of time until now in 2023, we’re sort of back on our feet again, which is which is great.

When did you start up again, if you will, and get back to some sort of normalcy? When did that happen? And what was your first move then?

Jackie Nourse: That, thankfully, oh my gosh, I’m so grateful for this trip. In 2021, we, well, actually, I took a trip down to Baja. And that was interesting because. It was my first, it was as soon as I was able to travel, meaning that was, I mean, I, I drove two hours to get a vaccination because I mean, it was my industry.

I needed to do it, you know, and so I did it. And as soon as I was had the second dose and was like able to fly, I decided to go on a trip and I left for a month and it was like a breath of fresh air. It was 14 months that I was stuck at home. And I went to Baja and that’s interesting because I had a choice then of, well, not a lot of choices, as you know, a lot of places were still closed, but I was looking at Mexico and I was like, Oh, I can go somewhere new and I said, no, I’ve, I need to go somewhere special.

Like I need to go somewhere that means something to me. And I ended up going to Baja because I’ve spent a lot of time there. And I, yeah, have done a lot of my own healing there already, and I decided to go back and try that again. And it was amazing. I mean, I’m, I’m really glad I made that decision because when you’re used to having so many options of where to go, you can kind of lose focus on what you actually need and what you want to do.

And there’s voices saying, do this, do that. And like, what do you want to do? What’s in your heart? Like, what do you need and where, where is that? That was my first trip post COVID was down to Baja and then later that year we were able to run our first group trip in two years, and that was to Croatia. It was a bike and boat trip.

Oh, wow. Yeah, we actually had two of those sold out because people were so ready. People were so ready to get out and get back on. That was the real kind of kickstart again. It just, it was a slow kickstart.

Pat Flynn: Yeah, and then now, I mean… Any trips that I’ve been on and and any sort of chance that people have, it seems like it’s just kind of it’s almost like, wow, everybody’s traveling now, you know, which is amazing. I just got back from my first trip to Japan, which was amazing. Have you been to Japan?

Jackie Nourse: I’m going on Sunday. Really? Yeah. Yeah. For my first time. I’ve never been. Oh my gosh. So by the time this goes live, yes, I’ll have been, but no, I haven’t been before.

Pat Flynn: I went for the Pokemon world championships and I got to go as a spectator and to meet some friends and I was invited by Pokemon as well to come and explore and experience some of that.

And it was incredible. I, I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but it was the trip of a lifetime for me. And I don’t travel as much as you do, but I’m curious, maybe we’ll have to connect and just kind of chat after just you and me about kind of what you experienced and the food and just the city. It’s I’m so excited for you.

Jackie Nourse: Oh, yay. That’s really exciting. You know, I’m gonna skip Tokyo. I’m terrified of cities.

Pat Flynn: There’s 38 million people there. It is so big. It is so big. I went to this place called Sky Tower, which is like 600 meters in the air. And I got to overlook the whole city. And even to the horizon from that high up, it was just city like it was just flat and so many people.

I mean, there’s, I think, two or three million people in San Diego. There’s 38 million people in Tokyo, and that’s just one city. So, I understand kind of not wanting to be a part of that, although there are some amazing parts of it that maybe you can explore in the future. But where in Japan are you headed? I’m curious.

Jackie Nourse: I’m gonna go hike Mount Fuji. Oh, wow. I didn’t even know I wanted to do that until I saw this itinerary. Because with these conferences, we get to generally we get to pick an adventure to go on. And there’s like a bunch of them to choose from. And I saw this itinerary and it made me tear up and I said, that one has my name on it.

And so I, I got on that one and I’m going to hike, we’re going to summit Mount Fuji at sunrise. So I really hope we have good weather so that we can see.

Pat Flynn: That’s cool. Yeah. I was on a bullet train or the Shinkansen as it’s called there and I got to see Mount Fuji on the way back. It was too cloudy on the way to Kyoto from Tokyo, but on the way back I did get to see Mount Fuji.

It’s really impressive and that. Like, I’ll have to ask you about the hike, because that’s something I’d love to do one day for sure. To finish up here, I know that… community is an important part of your brand. And for the longest time, community was just, you know, our comments section on the blog and just who you get to know there.

And then over time it’s become also social media, which I know you have some accounts on what actually, in fact, where would people best be able to connect with you on social media to chat or see what you’re up to or see what trips are coming up.

Jackie Nourse: On Instagram really, that’s, that’s really all I use these days.

Traveling Jackie. Traveling Jackie. And then we’re also at @Jump.Adventures. That’s the, that’s the company. Yeah. And I’m at @TravelingJackie. That’s always me.

Pat Flynn: Awesome. But I also know that you have experienced and have explored a little bit of other ways to bring communities together.

I think you’re using Circle now as well. I’d love to know your use case for that and what that’s been like for what it is that you do. How is that injected into your brand?

Jackie Nourse: Yeah, of course. That’s a great question. I use Circle to bring my people together actually in two different ways. One is before when, when someone signs up on a trip.

They’re invited to a special space on Circle. We call it Base Camp. My Circle is called Base Camp. So it’s Jump Base Camp. Oh, that’s great. And within Base Camp, I have a space for each trip that’s going. And so when you sign up for a trip, you get to come into the back end. And in that space, you can meet the other people who are going to be on the trip.

There are resources, links. I share all the updates there as well as via email, but it’s kind of just more of a social place to say, Hey, we don’t have to wait until we get there to meet and chat travel and maybe make some plans beforehand with somebody else who’s going to be there or after for ongoing travel.

I love that idea. We’ve seen a lot of success with that. In fact, I got to take a trip, a self guided bike trip after my Jordan trip. I went with two of the girls who were on that trip because of base camp. Because we figured it out in base camp that we all wanted to do something. And this trip came together and I, I mean, I’m like pinching myself that I also get to benefit from base camp, you know, just getting to share travel plans and meet people.

It’s really cool. So that’s one of the ways that we do it. And the other way is I just started a new thing that I’m calling pod chats. And when I am recording my episodes, I am inviting my people to come in to the back stage and be there with us and experience that podcast episode live. And so while recording, while recording inside of circle, inside of circle, amazing.

I do them in the live, so it’s, it looks kind of like a webinar and there’s a chat going on and I have the kind of two segments that we do. And first we do the podcast portion, which is just like this. And then after we wrap it up, we turn our attention to the people who are present and we get to do a Q and A and interact with them.

And we do a giveaway every time and just kind of, it’s, it’s another way to bring people in consistently to just chat travel, which we’re all passionate about and kind of invite them into the back stage of my podcast, which is, it’s really scary, but it’s really, it’s so much fun. I was really nervous for the first, you know, a couple, and I’m like, gosh, this buzz, I, it’s like, it’s like, you’re just electric, like in that room with these people. It’s, it’s probably similar to a webinar presentation, but it just feels different. I don’t know.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. No, I love that idea. I mean, that’s a big challenge for podcasters is to kind of create a space for people to come together and to do that and offer a little bit of BTS or behind the scenes while it’s happening, then I bet feel like they get a first crack or first, you know, first look at something before anybody else does by being a part of that group.

Yeah. And then again, a way for people to connect with each other while they’re two, which is, which is amazing. Have you had any. Issues with bringing people into circle as a result of this and where this question is coming from is a lot of people will do this on Facebook or on, you know, Instagram because people are already there.

Had you have any problems kind of taking people off of those platforms and putting them into another platform called Circle to make this happen.

Jackie Nourse: I mean, not that I know of, because of course there’s probably people out there who are saying, Oh, I don’t want to be on another thing. Like not everyone on every single trip comes into base camp, for example, you know, and it’s their choice.

They it’s, I mean, with that, that’s just another premium thing that they get for signing up for an adventure with me. But the pod chats, I mean, you’re going to be on something. You’re going to either have to sign into Zoom or you’re going to be somewhere, right? And so I don’t think that that is so much of a barrier now.

And the way that Circle allows you to create links and invite people in, I mean, it’s, I’ve had to figure it all out and sometimes it’s a headache, but it’s actually quite nice how they’ve set it up. It can be very direct. And so I’m actually more surprised, I guess, in, in a pleasant way than not.

Pat Flynn: Yeah. That’s good. Well, shout out to Circle. As many of you listening now, I’m a user of Circle. We use Circle for SPI Pro and our All Access Pass, and I’m an advisor to the company. I just love what they’re doing there, and I know there are a lot more plans to make community even stronger there. So anyway.

That’s great. Jackie, this has been absolutely amazing to catch up with you. I know it’s been forever. I still have your CD. on my thank you board over there.

Jackie Nourse: Which is how far back it goes, right?

Pat Flynn: Like I don’t even have a CD player anymore. I don’t even know how I would be able to view any of that stuff unless I go to like a yard sale or something, but I appreciate you so much.

You’ve always been an amazing supporter of SPI and what we do here and I’m just so grateful to return a favor with having you on the show and share this inspiration for everybody. So one more time, can you share with people where they can go and find you and perhaps jump on an adventure with you one day.

Jackie Nourse: Yeah. Well, I’m Traveling Jackie and my company again is Jump Adventures. You can find that at JumpAdventures.com and we’re on Instagram at @TravelingJackie and at @Jump.Adventures. And Pat, I really can’t thank you enough for everything that you do and how you’ve impacted my life personally and my trajectory as an entrepreneur.

So I really appreciate this opportunity. I’m very honored.

Pat Flynn: Thank you for that. But like you, I am just the guide. And you know, I’m here to bring people to where magic can happen on its own. So you did it and I’m grateful for you. Thank you so much.

Jackie Nourse: I love that. Thank you.

Pat Flynn: All right. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Traveling Jackie.

You can find her all the links she just mentioned. Plus I’ll have those links on the show notes page at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session727. SmartPassiveIncome.com/session727. Jackie, have fun on your Japan trip. I’m sure by the time people listen to this, you might have something on your Instagram or blog about it.

And I’m excited to chat with you personally to chat about it as well. Cause Japan has become my favorite country and it wasn’t just because Pokemon is over there. It’s because of just the experience and the customer service and the cleanliness and the food and everything. And I’m excited to bring the family back to Japan at some point later on.

And I hope, and I wish all of you some amazing travel experiences in the future. And just Jackie, thank you again so much for all the support and congratulations to you and what you’ve done with the brand and how you’ve been able to take this thing that you did when you were 18 and injected into your entire life and livelihood and what it is that you love to do and the joy that you have with it.

I just, I saw it on your face when we were chatting and I know people are mostly listening to this, but you, you practice what you preach. You help others experience the same joy that you do too. And I just commend you for that. And if we can all do that, that would be amazing. So anyway, thank you so much, Jackie.

Thank you for listening all the way through. I appreciate you again. The show notes and all the links to Jackie’s stuff can be found at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session727. I appreciate you for listening in and I look forward to serving you in the next episode. Until then, peace out, have an amazing day and go book that travel that you have always wanted to because just there’s so much to experience out there and I hope you get to do it. Cheers.

Thank you so much for listening to the Smart Passive Income podcast at SmartPassiveIncome.com. I’m your host, Pat Flynn. Sound editing by Duncan Brown. Our senior producer is David Grabowski, and our executive producer is Matt Gartland. The Smart Passive Income Podcast is a production of SPI Media, and a proud member of the Entrepreneur Podcast Network. Catch you next week!