Guest interview - Neala Schwartzberg of OffbeatTravel.com
Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I read Neala’s comment that there should be a category for travel information sites in the Travelmole 2008 Web Awards. I was curious about her site called OffbeatTravel as I thought Neala must be thinking along similar lines to me about getting off the beaten track during your trips.
1 What is the aim of your business?
When I started OffbeatTravel.com my first thought was that it would be fun to investigate and find unusual places and then tell people about them. But I’ve come to believe that travel is broadening, and that through travel people learn about and hopefully come to respect the differences that flavor the world and make it an interesting place. That belief, I hope, is expressed in the articles we publish – a fundamental respect for and appreciation of the places we travel and the cultures we experience.
2 What prompted you to start your own business?
I was entranced with the possibilities of the internet and wanted to play
with it. I figured a website would be the way to start. I then had to comeup with a concept that would interest me enough to put in the tremendous amount of work websites require. Since I’ve always loved to travel, and love things that are a little off-center, OffbeatTravel.com was a natural.
3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own business?
Making the time to run it properly. After I started OffbeatTravel.com and since I was living in NY and love New York City, I opened
OffbeatNewYork.com. Then, almost two years ago I moved to Albuquerque, NM and thought “I love New Mexico, I should open another website devoted tothe Land of Enchantment.” So I did. And now I’m always really, really busy.
4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your own
business?
It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve met terrific people and I’ve
certainly learned a lot. But I have to admit, there isn’t much funny about running a business.
5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of
hindsight?
I probably wouldn’t have opened three separate websites. At least when someone asked me to start a fourth website, I got quite a hearty laugh and said “no, I don’t think so.” Oh, perhaps that is the funniest that has happened while running my business!
My comments - Thanks, Neala, you’re right to stress the importance of respect towards other cultures and not assuming that your own is superior. It is hard work running your own business. You never seem to have time to do everything that you’d like to and/or should do. I started a second blog, Business Blog Boost, to write about the benefits of blogging for your business and hardly get around the writing posts for it.
