Christopher Mitchell and his wife Briana at Machu Picchu, a 15th-century Incan citadel in the Andes mountains of Peru. The Mitchells have visited more than 90 countries and lived on four continents.Supplied
Christopher Mitchell started his blog, Traveling Mitch, in early 2011 while doing a year of university in Oslo, Norway. It was a way for him to share fun stories about his travels around Europe with his friends and family back home in Toronto. Traffic blew up when he and his now-wife, Briana, moved to South Korea and began blogging about their adventures there.
During a stint living in Istanbul around 2015, Mr. Mitchell attended a blogging conference and realized he was well on the way to being able to make money from the site, through ads and affiliate marketing. Mr. Mitchell has since become the North American director of that conference, launched a newsletter and two more blogs and created full-time gigs for himself and Ms. Mitchell.
In this series, Reimagining Wealth, we explore the evolving definition of wealth in today’s world. We’ll meet Canadians who are thinking beyond traditional measures of success to maximize happiness and well-being.
Here’s more about how Mr. Mitchell turned a hobby into a career:
How did you figure out that your blog could be your job?
I started a website with no real intention other than I wanted to be present when I was travelling. At that time, it was a lot easier to get a blog rolling and get traction with it. There were a lot less people trying to do it. When I went to [the blogging conference] I realized, basically, I already had the traffic to monetize it effectively.
When we moved back to Toronto and my partner went back into teaching, I decided to go full-time on this. I was nervous to go to her and say, ‘I’m going to give this a try’ but instead of being surprised, she said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to say this.’
What do your days look like?
My day-to-day life changes every week. Three weeks ago, I was in Anchorage running a conference. Last week I was speaking in Atlanta. I am going to Istanbul next week and will be in Europe the remainder of the month of November. I am on the road 150 to 200 days this year.
The best part of what I do now is that every day is different, every time I check my e-mail inbox, it feels like there’s a new opportunity to consider. I keep waiting for that curiosity to leave me, but it hasn’t. It’s been really liberating.
For the first little while when I was working for myself, it took me a while to distinguish between being busy and being productive. I’ve started to get to know my brain very well. My best writing is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Then, I’ll shift to more administrative stuff and take calls. The biggest thing was giving myself space to understand when I am most effective. We get trapped in this idea that ‘I am supposed to be working from here until there.’
Your wife also works for the blog and the two of you travel together. How has this affected your relationship?
We went to South Korea after being together for a year. It laid the groundwork for us to be good communicators. When you do everything together, you need to communicate where you’re at. That set the groundwork for us to be supportive partners.
What else plays a big role in your life, or is work the main thing?
Over the years, I’ve seen that I don’t have the strongest distinction between personal and professional time and have had to set boundaries. It has taken me a long time to make sure I am not just working 24/7 because there’s always something that can be done. The biggest challenge is burnout.
I have lots of different hobbies, but because I have this career where I am doing this thing I love, it can be hard to separate hobbies from work. I love reading and language-learning. I’m studying Spanish right now.
Bri and I haven’t taken a trip for just us in a long time, where we don’t owe anyone anything for the blog. It’s a different feeling to be travelling on your own dime and in your own way.
I absolutely adore cycling and I cycle a lot with my brother, but I also do about five campaigns a year that are cycling-related for work. I have two nephews now who are wonderful little guys; Bri and I make an effort to see them as much as we can. My dad is the accountant for our business and he’s been the best. That relationship has really grown leaps and bounds because I finally get to see how brilliant my dad’s brain is in finance.
What would make you consider changing careers or taking a more traditional job?
I wouldn’t sell this freedom for anything. I am really enjoying the opportunity to be the captain of my own ship. I also feel that if traditional employers aren’t going to traditionally employ people and give them benefits and trust and security, of course more and more people are going to look outside the box.
I am not the person aiming to work 10 hours a week, but I get to choose what I work on. And sometimes, I get paid to do something I would have paid a good chunk of change to do.