#MancrushMonday : Melvin Boecher

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Introducing #MancrushMonday : Melvin Boecher

#MancrushMonday: Melvin Boecher is part of a FABULOUS new series dedicated to showcasing some seriously inspiring men that have crossed my path. Previously on my #jaxpirational series I gave the ladies some props, it’s time the men got a shout out!

Today we meet the man behind the popular #TTOT twitter hashtag and two great influencing brands on social media. I so appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me. So without further adieu let me introduce:

Tell us a bit about yourself

Melvin, the founder and CEO of Travel Dudes and COO of iambassador, is one of the top travel influencers online. On Twitter, there are over 270.000 followers and he gets on over 8.500 Twitter lists recommended. That’s top 3 in travel!

When and where were you born?

October 1977 in Germany

Where are you living now?

Germany

What kind of creative are you?

I’m the CEO & founder of Travel Dudes, COO of iambassador & co-founder of the Social Travel Summit. With Travel Dudes we produce all kind of travel content, from cinematic videos to quality travel shows / guide videos, inspiring photos for social media and storytelling articles for the website.

Name of your brand?

Travel Dudes

How did you discover your calling?

I’ve been a travel agent for over 10 years and we started the Travel Dudes website as an online travel diary for a 3 month long trip through Indochina 2004. Then we traveled for half a year through Australia and used this trip to work on Travel Dudes full time. That was 2006.

What do you love most about what you do?

I love to travel, to share travel tips with others and also to produce travel videos. You’re in a certain place and a fellow traveler, or a local, tip you off on a little-known beach, bar or accommodation. Great travel tips from other travelers or locals always add something special to our travels.

What do you like the least about what you do?

I’ve got a home office and sometimes I miss working with colleagues in one room. But I’ve got a great team, which is situated all over the world and it’s fascinating to see that this also works successfully.

Who or what has been your biggest motivators ?

Travel itself is a big motivator. Being out to explore new destinations and meeting new people. Travel is something very special and I even think that it plays an important role in keeping the peace between countries. It’s a very positive business with lots of passion involved. And I wanted to work independently, making my own decisions.

Have you experienced fear along the way & how did you overcome it?

I haven’t experienced fear, but it happened once that I nearly lost my business. We relaunched the website and we’ve created something very special and huge. It was the first Social Travel platform. Everything worked nicely on the developing site. When we went live, everything collapsed and went black for around one week. The problems continued for months and I couldn’t do much, as I was in the hand of a developer team and I can’t develop myself. I was only able to react for weeks, waiting for emails, and giving the directions then. I overcame it by getting active myself, which happened in the middle of the night, waking up and writing an email. This was not an important email itself, but it was the first step to take it into my hands and responsibility again.

What are your greatest achievement/s?

Having a family with two kids and being able to spend a lot of time with them and still being able to run two successful businesses. And I played a major role in creating the professional travel industry by running iambassador, creating award-winning formats and campaigns, founding the Social Travel Summit, and sharing my knowledge and experience on stages at the major travel events and exhibitions.

Who do you thank for your success?

Myself and the support from my family and especially my wife, but also my business partners Keith Jenkins and Nicholas Montemaggi and the Travel Dudes team.

What upcoming projects do you have?

We love to produce our own travel guide videos, which is a kind of an own travel show. We will keep pushing and producing those.

How are you currently coping with the #Covid19 Crisis?

We are working on a new relaunch of the website, which keeps us busy. Luckily we are based in Germany and many European countries have reacted quickly and responsibly to the crisis, especially Germany. Because of that, it’s now possible to travel through Germany again and pretty much also through Europe. Though the crisis hit us hard, we now have the big opportunity to help the different destinations to help them with their recoveries. We can travel around the show, write and talk about different situations. Is it safe to travel? What to expect? Can you go out to restaurants, do tours, visit sights and enjoy activities?