This interview is with Soubhik Chakrabarti, CEO at Canada Hustle.

Soubhik Chakrabarti, CEO, Canada Hustle

Welcome, Soubhik! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming a travel expert?

Thank you for the invitation. I'm the founder of Canada Hustle, a platform for travel services to explore the beautiful Canadian landscape. I'm an avid traveler with a passion for writing. I have traveled extensively and explored Canadian travel destinations and beyond, including various European countries. Later, I decided to share my journeys and valuable travel hacks with people to enjoy hassle-free travel experiences. Balancing my interests and passion, I started sharing my travel experiences through articles and blog posts and established a platform to deliver services to travelers based on my expertise. On this platform, I inform travelers through self-guided tours across Canada, learning about the weather, useful travel hacks, and transportation facilities.

Many entrepreneurs dream of turning their passion for travel into a career. How did you make this transition, and what were some pivotal moments along the way?

I started my traveling career as a part-time travel writer while working for a real-estate company. I often explored the nearby attractions on weekends and traveled to my bucket-list destinations during vacations. One pivotal moment that helped me switch my career was during a six-week vacation when I traveled to Alberta and Ontario. Exploring the vibrant wildlife, sublime lakes, snowmobile trails, and majestic mountains, I realized the idea of being a full-time travel expert to follow my passion. I founded my first website, Icy Tales, in 2015 and posted travel-related blogs and articles. My digital marketing courses helped me utilize the power of the internet to deliver quality content to a broad audience and established my profile as a travel expert. I traveled further and discovered the hidden gems of Canada through self-guided tours. Then, I realized it'd be great to start a travel-services platform where I could design travel-related services for users by offering valuable insights. So, I founded Canada Hustle.

You mentioned the importance of a detailed travel checklist in a previous answer. Can you share a tip for business owners who are constantly on the go about how they can streamline their travel planning process to minimize stress and maximize efficiency?

The best way business owners can streamline their travel-planning process to minimize stress and maximize efficiency is to create a standardized travel itinerary template using automated tools like Trello, Google Trips, Adobe Express, or TripIt. These tools can keep their travel and essential documents in one place. Business owners may also receive safety, transportation, and other travel information through these tools. It helps save time and decreases the mental effort of remembering every detail. By streamlining their travel-planning process through automated tools, they can concentrate on business without worrying about the hassle of logistics.

In the business world, time is often equated with money. You've emphasized the importance of finding good flight deals. What's your most effective strategy for securing affordable flights without spending hours searching?

I look for airline loyalty programs and perks. Leading airlines offer personal- and corporate-level loyalty programs. They serve as two-way beneficial partnerships for both parties. These programs provide flier points that are automatically added to your flying account. You can get a discount on your future flights. Since I travel frequently, I find this strategy less time-consuming and hassle-free, as I don’t need to spend hours searching for affordable flights.

You've spoken about the value of travel insurance due to a personal experience. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who might be tempted to skip travel insurance to save costs?

Skipping travel insurance to save costs is an impractical idea, as the short-term savings aren’t worth the potential long-term risks. Entrepreneurs and business owners usually carry important travel, business, and personal documents during their journeys. Therefore, opting for travel insurance makes their journey hassle-free and safe. Presently, travel insurance is not limited only to lost baggage claims or food poisoning—you can now claim a refund for trip cancellation and emergency cash advance in case of theft or medical emergency. Hence, I think skipping travel insurance is not a great idea to save costs. I recall an incident when my flight got canceled due to weather issues while returning from India. Thanks to my travel insurance, I received an instant refund.

You've mentioned using the PackPoint app for creating self-guided tours. What other digital tools or resources have significantly benefited your travel business, and how can other entrepreneurs leverage them for their ventures?

Here is a list of digital tools that significantly benefited my travel business:

1. Customer.io: This email automation tool helps us establish meaningful, longer-lasting relationships with our customers, sending targeted emails, push notifications, and SMS. It saves our costs, and we can craft our email marketing campaigns with limited manual effort. Business owners can use automated email marketing tools to serve their clients or customers on time and measure the success of their communication efforts.

2. Sprout Social: We use Sprout Social for our social media marketing. This social-listening tool provides trending hashtags, topics, and keywords that people and brands discuss on social media platforms and the web. Using metrics like buyer personas, pain points, and preferences, we can create our social media campaigns accordingly. We can scale our campaigns' success rates and work on the areas that need improvement. Businesses can use social media-listening tools to understand their target customers' preferences, pain points, and demographics to craft their campaigns accordingly.

3. Talon.One: Customer retention is a challenging task, and for this, we use Talon.One, an automated software that creates hassle-free customer-loyalty programs for our platform. We can also track the effectiveness of our loyalty programs and promotions using the available data analytics. People in business can use automated software to reward their customers and improve their retention rate.

4. BigMaker: Networking is an integral part of any business. Webinars can serve as a networking tool and a medium for lead generation. BigMaker helps us create brand events and live sessions with our customers to improve our online presence. Businesses can integrate webinar tools like BigMaker for networking and lead generation.

You found inspiration for a business idea while attending the Montreal Mural Fest. How important is it for entrepreneurs to stay open to inspiration from unexpected sources, and do you have any advice for cultivating this openness?

Unexpected sources of inspiration, such as art or nature, can spark creativity and out-of-the-box thinking among entrepreneurs. Since entrepreneurs require constant learning, adaptability, and a growth mindset, gaining inspiration from unconventional sources helps them think about an idea multi-dimensionally. It opens their thought process, and they can include different prospects to their point of view. I'd suggest entrepreneurs travel extensively, meet new people, learn about cultures, and understand art and nature. These activities lead to better networking opportunities, they can reignite passion and commitment to deal with setbacks, and they enhance their decision-making abilities and leadership skills.

Many entrepreneurs find that travel can spark creativity and fresh perspectives. Can you share a memorable travel experience that significantly impacted your business approach or led to a breakthrough idea?

I advocate sustainability and minimalism. I can recall a travel experience when I visited Tofino, British Columbia. I used sustainable transportation and travel practices to lower my carbon footprint throughout the venture. I carried out my expedition with minimal expenses. These behaviors helped me craft self-guided tour packages for my customers with minimum costs, respecting nature.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Never let your professional responsibilities be an excuse to explore this beautiful world. Travel as frequently as you can. Encourage your employees to visit the places of their choice. Respect nature, and use safe-travel methods to explore the hidden gems around.