We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Aaron Millar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Aaron below.

Aaron, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

This is related to my podcast business, Armchair Productions

Our speciality is working with destination marketing organizations, and tourist boards, at a state and national level. In a recent campaign with Travel Oregon we devised a new itinerary, turned it into a new travel product (a self-drive tour offered by a UK tour operator), recorded an audio documentary of myself and my producer actually doing the trip, and then launched both the podcast and travel product at the same time to cross-promote. Our marketing campaign won the ESTO Mercury Destination Marketing Award for 2023: Best Broadcast Marketing Campaign, we’ve also received over 100,000 downloads to date and been recognized for two other national awards for our storytelling and production

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Aaron Millar is an award-winning travel writer, broadcaster and author. He contributes regularly to The Times of London, National Geographic Traveller (UK), Wanderlust, The Guardian and many other international publications. Aaron is the 2014 and 2017 British Guild of Travel Writers Travel Writer of the Year, the 2020 and 2024 British Guild Broadcaster of the Year, and the recipient of 11 other international awards. His podcast Armchair Explorer (which he writes, hosts and produces) has been hailed as “Inspiring Storytelling” by the New York Times and “Ear Candy for Listeners” by the Washington Post, and is recognized as one of the leading travel podcasts in the world. Likes sci-fi and tequila, hates rom-coms and gin

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Profit First: Transform your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

I have a small business: three full time employees and a few regular freelancers. We were getting a lot of work, always at capacity, and receiving numerous accolades for the work we do. The problem was, I wasn’t making much money. The central idea of this book is that you need to feed yourself first. Most business run on a Sales – Expenses = Profit. But what was happening in my case was that because the amount of time it took to complete projects was variable, the profit I was taking was variable too. Plus, it was dependent on my full time staff completing things within a set amount of time, for a set amount of income. We just couldn’t stick to that, and because I assume all the risks the profit I would make on one job would be swallowed up by delays on another. This book flips the model on its head: Sales – Profit = Expenses. Take your cut first. You feed first. And what you’re left with is what you have to spend.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The book I mentioned above led to a recent pivot in the structure of my business that has already started to show dividends. Using the model of Sales – Expenses = Profit, I quickly realized that I couldn’t afford full time employees – my business structure just didn’t work in that model. I decided to let my full time employees go. It was a tough decision – they did a great job, and I liked them all personally. But my business just didn’t work with with them on payroll. I now work with freelance contractors only and am able to guarantee my cut on each project and control costs. In turn, that has helped me set better sales prices, and understand levels of marketing I can and can’t do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.armchair-productions.com
• Instagram: @armchairexplorerpodcast
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/armchair-productions/
• Other: Our house podcast is called Armchair Explorer – www.armchair-explorer.com

  Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1woeckvcWBMGEauAFhIl1k?si=57b467dd32e84198

Image Credits

all my own images no need to credit