Going Awesome Places

While Will Tang is now known as a travel blogger, his foray into travel started over a decade ago, on an entirely different career path: consulting.

“Coming out of school, I got a job in consulting that I really enjoyed,” says Will. “I got to travel a lot for work, which is obviously very different from traveling for leisure.”

But it was demanding work and being on the road all the time took its toll. Like many consultants, Will burned out after a few years, and in 2012 he took the bold move of quitting his job. With lots of miles wracked up over the years, he wanted to travel again — this time on his terms. He planned a three-month tour of Asia, with stops in Shanghai to see his grandparents.

Ultimately, his post-consulting plans were loose. So loose, in fact, that some friends thought he was a bit crazy. So one day, a supportive (but slightly concerned) friend asked if he would at least be taking photos of his trips and maybe sharing stories from his travels online somewhere.

“I liked the idea, so literally a week before I left, I decided on a whim to get a domain name,” says Will. “I was like, ‘Okay, I'm just going to dive right into it and set up on a domain and everything.’ And that’s how goingawesomeplaces.com was born.”

While bloggers had existed for a few years, social media was just hitting its stride in 2012. The term “influencer” hadn’t become commonplace yet. In short, Will was diving into the unknown.

“In many ways it was the wild west,” he says. “My blog was primarily a diary when I first started. I didn't know anything about writing but I wanted to be able to share my thoughts and photos. It wasn't until I started to meet others in the community that I realized that there was an opportunity here.”

Along the way, Will returned to work. While the blog was fun, returning to full-time work at a fast-growing startup was energizing in its own way. Plus, he knew he always had the blog there as a reliable, income-generating side hustle.

But juggling work and a growing side hustle wasn’t easy. He counts 2016 as a notably grueling year. “I felt like I was working two jobs,” he says. “Job from 9 to 5, then blogging at night. I was working around the clock.”

The good news? The work was paying off. The blog continued to grow and grow, until finally Will was faced with an exciting prospect: Quitting his corporate job again.

“I told myself that if I could actually make minimum wage off ad revenue, maybe I could quit my job again,” he says. As balancing both jobs got harder and harder, this possibility got more and more attractive.

Eventually, thanks to some “hockey stick growth,” he hit his income goal on the blog and sprung into action. While 2016 was a tough year, 2017 was all excitement. He left his startup job in August, then got married in September. Then, the blog took off even more.

“Once I was able to take the blog more seriously, I could really focus on generating revenue,” says Will. “I built this really healthy ecosystem and diverse revenue stream — and by the time 2019 came around, I was making more than I had when I was a consultant.”

As his blog continued to gain traction, Will recognized the potential of video as a complementary medium to further engage his audience. He launched his YouTube channel, embracing the opportunity to connect with viewers on a more personal level and offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his adventures. He has experimented with different video formats, including product reviews, hotel walkthroughs, and educational travel tips to help others plan their trips.

If Will’s story teaches us anything, it’s that the blogger’s journey is rarely a straight line. He came to the game early, quit his 9-to-5, juggled blogging and full-time work, then returned to blogging full-time when the passive income hit his goals. And along the way? Lots of memorable trips.

“The most meaningful thing is getting to travel to incredible places as part of my job,” he says. “Through that, my wife and I have had experiences that we never thought were possible.”

“In addition to that, I'd say that the other part that makes our work incredibly meaningful is when we hear kind words from our readers, who tell us our content made a difference in their trip planning.”

Readers particularly love his Tokyo food guide, where he not only lists his favorite spots but also goes into detail about each restaurant — all while providing an all-around guide to Tokyo that is meant to make life easier for someone planning a trip there. He once even heard from a friend who saw a tourist in line at Shin Udon with Will’s guide open on his phone.

“Another meaningful part of the story is being someone of color in the travel journalism space where I've always been the minority,” he says. “It’s significant to be Asian because I feel like I can tell a meaningful story of what it's like to travel as an Asian Canadian, and provide a diverse perspective.”

Today, Will is a member of organizations like the Adventure Travel Trade Association, Society of American Travel Writers, Travel Media Association of Canada, Travel Massive, and an ambassador for Destination Toronto, where he’s been able to carve a reputation for himself — giving presentations, winning awards, and being a leader. He’s gone to awesome places — and it all started when, on a whim, he decided to start a blog.