How Ashli Nudd got 16,000 Customers and Made Multiple Six Figures with
Did you take an excursion, and were excited you're heading to an area you've wanted to visit but then you arrive only to realize there are numerous amazing places and attractions to explore and you don't have enough time to have a great trip?
It's a sentiment that many people can identify with. If it's happened to someone else, chances are you've had a lesson learned and have made plans beforehand to get maximum value from your excursions. Even then, you might not be able to adequately take in everything, particularly the case of an area that you've never been to previously.
Ashli Nudd, who was the person who founded Dirt in My Shoes noticed this and came up with itineraries to help people make the most of their visits to national parks, including Acadia, Glacier, Yellowstone as well as Yosemite National parks.
"As a former park ranger, I'm at parks every day," explains Ashli. "So I can help folks plan trips to parks and I place a particular emphasis on getting out and hiking within the parks, even if they're only shorter trails. They also avoid the crowds because the national parks have gotten overcrowded."
Ashli started Dirt In My Shoes in 2015. At the time, it was not as successful as it has become. Ashli had just had her first child and was able to stop working for a park ranger and be at home with her new baby. This was an important decision, though, and she missed her job which she loved very much and began blogging about the national parks on an online journal.
"I wrote down all of my most-loved activities within the national parks. I also answered the questions I receive from family and friends wondering what I do while visiting National parks." the woman says. "[That resulted in] me helping other people organize their trip to the national parks. They loved my material as well as my suggestions which is why I started building the site from scratch."
The idea of just a blog, has transformed into a fully-fledged enterprise with a huge number of clients and a six-figure annual revenue. "Now, I have a podcast and a YouTube channel, and I also offer hour-by-hour itineraries when people want my specific suggestions."
Although Ashli founded Dirt In My Shoes in 2015, it was not until 2022 that she switched over to . In the time since, she's had nearly 16,000 new customers, and growing.
Are you curious about the secrets behind her success? Read on.
Skip ahead:
- She created articles on her blog, and also conceived a business idea
- She changed to
- The woman hired people to help her
- She wants to give value to her readers
- She stands for something
- She employs an unusual approach to marketing
- Her podcast creates an emotional connection via the podcast she hosts.
Her blog was a source of articles her blog--and birthed the idea of a company
In the beginning, when Ashli started her blog in 2015, she was more a musical outlet as well as a means to stay connected with the things she is passionate about--national parks. It was not a business. The blog entries they wrote were merely designed to assist people in having enjoyable time in the park, they helped her to begin creating official itineraries to travelers.
When I inquire Ashli what motivated her to make money from her knowledge of national parks, this is what she says: "The reason I started making itineraries was that I discovered that lots of people have the same questions to me repeatedly.
I noticed that many people ask me why when I go to Yellowstone the pictures I take do not have people on them and why I'm able to get a specific parking spot at a location which they've been unable to find parking, and why crowds don't really bother me even though the place always gets crowded whenever people go."
These questions inspired Ashli to design itineraries and charge the people seeking specialized info and insider tips. The first was Yellowstone National Park, and since the time, she's added around 15 more parks and national monuments.
Every itinerary includes plans as well as first-hand information for trips that last between five and seven days. You can also find an additional 4+ hours of video content, which includes descriptions of the activities, lodging recommendations, and extra information about driving an RV, off-season travel, and local points of interest.
She changed to
Ashli made the itineraries she designed as PDFs via Sendowl. As time passed she realized there were some elements to national parks she could not convey effectively to visitors using PDFs. Also, she noticed that some people still had questions following the purchase of the PDFs. the process of answering each one was adding to her work load.
"I wasn't able to do the things I needed to with a PDF document anymore; I wanted to present the data a bit better," Ashli says to me. "In the national parks, things can happen during the summer; there can be fires, floods, or other things that affect people's trips. I wouldn't allow them to be unable to navigate this with only an PDF."
She began to look into different ways to present the itineraries of her students and other national park information better. And she came across and changed to in 2022. Although is primarily known as an online course platform however, her business was not a typical online course in which people go through courses. Instead, her main focus was on compiling her PDFs and providing supplementary materials to aid people.
Nevertheless, gave her the ability to convey information to people the way she wanted to.
"I use to keep all of my PDF documents together in one spot for everyone to access. I also love to make video walkthroughs so they can go through the files. Then I add everything in every "course" to be offered by the national park, but I market them as itineraries, not classes. I do think I use slightly differently than many individuals, but it's perfectly set up for what I'd like it to accomplish."
After she made the change, Ashli saw a drop in sales due to the fact that they were trying to get used to and adapt to the brand new method of disseminating information. After they had adapted to the new system, her company grew larger than it was before she made the switch to .
"As somebody who has run an exciting and successful company for the past 10 year, it only took just a few minutes for the people to come on board with the way I operated [after the switch]," she expounds. "I took the chance at first, knowing it could be a loss for the majority of my existing audience in an effort to better serve people in the future. But not only did it bounce back, but it bounced even more. There aren't as many emails from people seeking answers, and I'm more able to assist customers, and I've had a greater number of sales since making the switch."
Her company hired people to help her
Ashli creates all of her itinerary by herself. She doesn't even create an itinerary in the event that she has visited the park multiple times over the years. In the case of example, before she came up with the Yellowstone itinerary it was the time she had been going to the Yellowstone National Park every year over the course of 10 to fifteen years.
"What makes me different from other people out there is that I do not create an itinerary unless I've been in the park over a lengthy time for multiple years and different seasons," Ashli explains. "My itineraries are a collection of information, as well as information and techniques I've learned from numerous trips to that place."
The various aspects of Dirt In My Shoes all on her own can be exhausting which is why when she switched to , she put together a very small team which takes the burden from her shoulders.
As an example, although Ashli writes all her blog posts and scripts for YouTube as well as her podcast, she's got someone who edits and updates the blog posts to ensure that all information is correct. Additionally, she has a graphic design team that designs her itineraries after she's finished making the itineraries. These itineraries are as large as 49 pages, it's true!
The most appealing thing about Ashli's team members is that they followed her blog, or followed her itineraries before she hired the team. "They are aware of how my business as well as the itineraries operate because they've utilized the same tools before. They're able to offer me an abundance of help due to that ."> "
She is looking to bring an added value to the users
Ashli discovered over time that those she catered to were more of a persona than a group of people. "Some individuals don't want having a set plan they prefer to fly by at the whim of their own pants to show up and say 'We'll figure it out at the time we show up. They aren't my audience members."
Ashli is an extremely organized planner. Considering that national parks have millions of visitors every year, she tries to aid travelers just like her make achievable plans for their journeys. "The individuals who connect with my style of teaching and the way my itineraries work are people who have an anxiety about missing out or have plans, but do not have no idea of how to create it... This could be at any age. I've got younger folks in their 20s, retirees in their 60s and traveling the country; single people as well as married couples with children that take their families on vacations."
Experience as a park ranger helps Ashli offer value to varying audiences. In her role as a ranger, she was able to answer questions from visitors at the visitors' center She also knows what type of information people don't have before they visit the park; information that could make their visit more enjoyable. This is why she incorporates that information into her itineraries and sells them for cheap.
Paying for a typical 4-day guided tour at a national park costs nothing lower than $300. And that's the low end. Ashli is selling her most expensive itineraries (which comprise a trip lasting five days) at $59 while her cheapest one is just 29 dollars. This, she says, could be due to her not offering a broad skill, but for the most portion, she has settled on this price because she prioritizes price and affordability.
"It's most important to me that visitors experience the park positively. I wanted to keep [the prices] at a level where people who don't have much money to spend, but want an unforgettable vacation could nonetheless afford to purchase the trip."
She represents something
One thing consumers hate almost the same way as cash-grabbing is companies that don't represent anything. This is why businesses are rushing to incorporate corporate social responsability (CSR) initiatives, such as the reduction of carbon footprints as well as improving the policies on labor, into their business ethos.
Even with her unbelievably inexpensive itineraries Ashli gives 5% of the profits made from every sale to different conservation organizations and parks funds. In her role as a park ranger, Ashli was able to observe firsthand many aspects and projects where national parks needed funds and assistance. Therefore, when her venture took off, she started donating to these non-profit organizations to help the parks.
"It's never been less important to me to contribute to the organizations that can go in and supplement what's already being accomplished by the park service," Ashli explains. "I handpick the conservancies that I give to because I want that money to go towards what I think are the best projects that park officials need assistance in."
She might not know it and yet, for people who share the same passion with national parks, her gifts give them a good reason to buy her travel itineraries and to tell others about them.
She uses a different approach to marketing
Ashli's methods of marketing are little unconventional. First of all, she doesn't utilize social media as a marketing tool. There are accounts on Facebook and Instagram accounts, however she barely invests money into advertisements on the platform.
In the past, she relied for years on Google as well as Pinterest to drive organic traffic to the website. Additionally, she depends on word of mouth marketing and referrals. In the past 18 months, she expanded her channels of marketing including an YouTube channel as well as podcasts, which she co-hosts alongside her husband John.
"Both [the YouTube channel as well as the podcast] have produced some great positive results for us, as far as building a relationship between ourselves and our viewers as well as helping them get acquainted with me--my personal travel style, what's important for me, as well as my understanding of parks" Ashli says.
While Ashli is averaging 9,000 and 14,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook as well, her most popular audience is her email list, with over 50k members (at the time of writing). The way she built her community was through providing free information to people and by educating them about parks.
"I prefer to educate when I send out emails," she tells me. "People who want to know what's going on [in the parks], the important details -- I cater to those heavily in my emails. It's another method for me to serve my readers and provide them with information that's not fluffy."
Although she did dial back her efforts in building an email list, in order to concentrate on growing the listenership of her podcast, Ashli says she's now working on more free resources as well as drip-based campaigns to her email list subscribers.
She creates a personal connection through her podcast
Speaking of this podcast I found it interesting she decided to manage it along together with her husband John, rather than do her own thing as she has done previously done with other aspects of the business. She has a genius reason for this: to build relationships with friends.
In her role as a park ranger Ashli often dealt directly with individuals from all age groups and temperaments. But, as the online world, there's only so much she's capable of doing in terms communicating with her clients. So she thought it would make a fantastic way to connect with people and share humorous stories and reveal what the experience is as it is at national parks, without the pink-colored images.
"I felt like we needed [the podcast] for people to get to know me; to know that I'm a genuine person with real struggles as well as the fact that going to parks aren't always a great idea," Ashli says.
When she decided to add John in, Ashli explains: "My husband is different than I are: he's fun and jolly. It seemed like a good idea to include him in that section of my business, because even when we're together and have a shared experience, we're not the same. We see things differently He also adds the element of enjoyment that I'm not accustomed to."
If you think that doing Dirt In My Shoes was just helping Ashli achieve a plethora of sales, then you're incorrect! It has also exposed her to more possibilities in the business world, which has allowed her to earn multiple six-figures over the past two years.
While she's picky on the firms she partners with, Ashli collaborates in partnership with WorldMark Hotels for a few years now, selling itineraries to guests staying in a select number of resorts close to national parks. Additionally, she has been interviewed by some larger publications like Business Insider and Thrillist, increasing brand awareness for her business.
If I inquire about the key to her success, she says it's staying true to herself.
"I have never regretted staying genuine to who I am and the things I'm willing to commit myself to and say yes to, what firms I'll be working with, and what advice is given with my name on it. Every piece of content I produce through the YouTube channel or podcast, as well as itineraries and my website, I want it to reflect the true essence of who I am as a person."
In the future, Ashli's goal is to create even more trips and helping others enjoy themselves at the parks.
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