MAYBE THE TIMESHARE ISN'T THE PROBLEM
MAYBE THE TIMESHARE ISN’T THE PROBLEM
I know.
Timeshare.
😂
Just saying the word is enough to make half the internet start yelling:
RUN!
There are people whose entire business is selling timeshares.
There are other people whose entire business is helping people get OUT of timeshares.
That should probably tell you something.
But after owning them, exchanging them, staying in resorts, booking hotels, buying airline tickets, renting cars and actually traveling all over the place, I’ve started looking at the whole thing differently.
⭐ MAYBE THE TIMESHARE ISN’T THE PROBLEM.
Maybe the problem is:
- What you bought.
- What you paid for it.
- How you financed it.
- What the annual fees are.
- Whether you understand how to use it.
- Whether another travel option would have been smarter.
Because here’s my operating rule:
I DON’T CARE WHICH TOOL WINS.
Timeshare?
Hotel?
Points?
Cash?
Rental car?
Uber?
Whatever.
Do the math. Pick the tool that works for the trip.
I’m not joining a travel religion.
I’m trying to go somewhere.
😂
⭐ BUT HERE’S THE PART I THINK ALMOST EVERYBODY MISSES.
This Parking Spot you’re reading cost me $7 to create.
Think about that for a second.
I was already going to travel.
I was already going to take pictures.
I was already going to have opinions about resorts, hotels, rental cars, cities, restaurants, timeshares, airlines and everything else that happened along the way.
Normally, that makes me a consumer.
I spend money.
I take the trip.
I come home.
Maybe I throw some pictures on Facebook.
Then they’re buried three weeks later underneath somebody’s political argument and a picture of their dog.
😂
But I spent seven bucks and changed the equation.
⭐ FOR $7, I PUT MYSELF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRAVEL BUSINESS.
I created a full-page advertisement on a website devoted to travel.
This page gets its own URL.
I can add photographs.
I can embed video.
I can link to something I’m discussing.
I can continue editing it.
I can share it tomorrow, next month or next year.
And it has no scheduled expiration.
I didn’t become Expedia for seven dollars.
😂
But I’m no longer doing nothing but consuming travel either.
I’m participating.
I’m documenting something inside the travel industry.
I’m publishing around it.
I’m advertising around it.
I’m building a travel Garage or Channel one page at a time.
That changes the way I look at the trip immediately.
⭐ NOW THE VACATION CAN PRODUCE SOMETHING.
Maybe I stay at a resort.
That can become a Parking Spot.
Maybe the hotel down the road was actually a better deal.
That’s another Parking Spot.
Maybe I discover an incredible restaurant.
Another page.
Maybe the rental-car company was fantastic.
Or terrible.
Another page.
Maybe I find a timeshare resale that makes absolutely no sense.
Write about it.
Maybe I find one that makes a ridiculous amount of sense.
Write about that too.
Now the trip isn’t only something I consumed.
It created inventory for something I’m building.
⭐ AND THEN THERE’S A SECOND LAYER.
This is where it gets much more interesting to me.
Travelers Freak also has a free Affiliate Program.
So after I learn how to create Parking Spots myself, I can show somebody else what I’m doing.
Maybe another traveler.
- A timeshare owner.
- A vacation-rental owner.
- A resort.
- A travel agent.
- A tour operator.
- A runner traveling to races.
- A golfer traveling to courses.
Someone who simply takes interesting trips and has something useful to say.
If somebody clicks my affiliate link and buys a Parking Spot, I get paid.
Now stop and think about what just happened.
- I didn’t get paid because I went on vacation.
- I didn’t get paid because somebody looked at my pictures.
- I didn’t get paid because I called myself an influencer.
I showed somebody what I was doing. They bought a $7 Parking Spot through my link. I got paid.
⭐ THAT CHANGES THE MATH AGAIN.
One of my timeshare ownerships currently has an annual maintenance fee of roughly $1,091.
Most people look at that and see one thing:
EXPENSE.
Fair enough.
It is a cost.
But now imagine that during the year I earn enough money through the Travelers Freak Affiliate Program to cover that $1,091.
Did the maintenance fee magically disappear?
No.
Did somebody pay me to vacation?
No.
But the economics changed.
I built an activity around travel that generated revenue capable of offsetting a travel cost I was already paying.
That’s a completely different situation from:
Pay fee → Take vacation → Come home.
⭐ THIS IS WHY TRAVEL IN A BOX ISN’T REALLY ABOUT TIMESHARES.
The timeshare is just one tool.
The bigger idea is:
TRAVEL SMARTER.
Use the right lodging.
Use the right points.
Use the right airfare.
Use the right rental car.
Use the right deal.
Then:
DOCUMENT WHAT YOU ACTUALLY DO.
And if you want to take it another step:
BUILD SOMETHING AROUND IT.
That’s the part I think most travelers never consider.
They’re trying to save $100 on the hotel.
I’m asking a different question:
What can I build around the entire trip?
⭐ CONSUMER → PARTICIPANT → POTENTIAL INCOME
That’s really the progression.
Consumer:
I buy travel.
Participant:
I spend $7 and create a travel Parking Spot around something real.
Potential Income:
I build a Channel, show other people how I’m doing it, and if they buy a Parking Spot through my link, I get paid.
That’s a much bigger idea than arguing about whether timeshares are good or bad.
⭐ THAT’S TRAVEL IN A BOX.
I mapped out the entire strategy—the lodging, exchanges, hotels, points, airfare, real trips, actual numbers, mistakes, deals and the Travelers Freak layer.
I call it Travel In A Box: The Map.
I’m not selling the Map as a standalone product.
I give access to people who actually participate.
Create one legitimate $7 Travelers Freak Parking Spot, send me the live URL and request the password.
Then read the Map.
Participants use maps.
Spectators bookmark them.
⭐ YOU COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS.
Seriously.
This page isn’t some travel-industry article written by a giant corporation.
It’s me thinking through something I’ve learned from actually traveling.
I spent $7 and turned that thought into a full-page travel advertisement with its own URL.
You can do exactly the same thing around something you legitimately know about travel.
A standard Travelers Freak Parking Spot is currently $7 one time and includes a full page with a dedicated URL, up to 25 photos, two embedded videos, up to 20,000 characters, links and contact information, a public view counter and owner editing.
No subscription.
No scheduled renewal.
No scheduled expiration.
Then, if you want to take it farther, join the Affiliate Program for free.
Somebody clicks your affiliate link and buys a Parking Spot, you get paid.
Advertise → Build a Channel → Create Income.
👉 EXPLORE MY TRAVELERS FREAK GARAGE
👉 READ TRAVEL IN A BOX: THE MAP
You must first create a legitimate Travelers Freak Parking Spot and request the password to unlock the Map.