Today’s guest on the Mitlin Money Mindset™ is Jared Kamrowski. The CEO and founder of Thrifty Traveler. Jared is not like your average travel entrepreneur. After graduating from college with a mountain of debt, he and his wife wanted to travel but had to do it on a tight budget. That’s what Thrifty Traveler is all about.
As a Certified Public Accountant Jared’s job required him to travel over 100 nights a year, which quickly acquainted him with many airline and hotel rewards programs. That led him to create Thrifty Traveler as a way to pass on all of his tips and tricks.
Jared’s goal is to show you how to find the cheapest flights and minimize travel costs using points, miles, and above all else show you that travel does not have to be expensive. Listen in for some great takeaways on how you travel more without breaking the bank. Traveling is something my family and I enjoy greatly, and I hope yours does too!
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…
- Jared’s path to founding Thrifty Traveler [3:16]
- What was the mindset needed to transition from corporate job to entrepreneur? [5:01]
- Jared’s #1 Cheap Travel tip [9:35]
- Travel booking myths [13:22]
- Will you get better savings from a credit card or loyalty partnership [20:12]
- What is Thrifty Traveler Premium? [22:43]
- How has the pandemic impacted your business and how have you dealt with those challenges? [25:29]
- How has being a CPA helped Jared with Thrifty Traveler? [29:10]
- What is the next big thing for Jared and the Thrifty Traveler Team? [31:08]
- What Jared did today that put him in the right mindset for success? [32:45]
Jared’s path to founding Thrifty Traveler
Jared came out of college with a mountain of student debt. His wife wanted to travel and he had to figure out a way to make it happen. As a CPA and working in banking he had already had the financial knowledge he needed. He was traveling over 100 nights a year for work so he had the opportunity to figure out points and miles programs, how to fly on the cheap, how to stay in hotels, get points, and miles, et cetera. Jared cracked it when he figured out collecting points and miles from credit card travel rewards. (He’s opened over 100 credit cards though he doesn’t recommend this!) Friends and family began questioning how he was doing this, it was then in 2015, that Jared started Thrifty Traveler. Just two years later, he made Thrifty Traveler, his full-time job and it’s only grown since then. Thrifty Traveler has quickly become the leading source for flight deals, cheap travel tips, and maximizing travel rewards.
Jared’s #1 thrifty travel tip
Who isn’t excited to save money on travel. For most of us the more you save the more you can afford to travel. I asked Jared what his #1 tip is and it was almost painfully simple…Google Flights! It starts with flexibility and planning ahead.
Jared says when you first start looking for a flight and you hop on your go-to site whether it’s Priceline, Kayak, or Sky Scanner, whatever, just dump it and use Google Flights. He claims it is the best tool to find cheap flights and not he isn’t sponsored by Google. He further explains that if you live in Minneapolis and you want to go to Europe in the next six months, you can type in your airport code, then you type in Europe as the destination and it will bring up the whole map of Europe and show you the cheapest fares in the next six months. You can then set alerts to get notified about price drops.
At Thrifty Traveler, they have a flight deal subscription service, Thrifty Traveler Premium, and the tool they use to vet those flights, make sure they exist, and help their subscribers book is Google Flights.
What is Thrifty Traveler Premium?
Thrifty Traveler Premium is Jared’s bread and butter product and the one that he’s most excited about. It’s an email subscription service for flight deals and they find flight deals from 175 US and Canadian departure cities. Whether your airport is New York, Lubbock, Texas, or Fargo, North Dakota they will find flight deals for you.
Jared says you’d be surprised; they actually find a lot of deals even for the tiny airports. And they send those notifications directly to your email inbox for both domestic and international flight deals. Thrifty Traveler Premium costs $49 a year for the service. Not a whole of money and you’re typically going to get quite a few, probably a handful of flight deals a week, even if you choose a small airport.
Resources & People Mentioned
- Who Not How by Dan Sullivan
- Google Flights
Connect with Jared Kamrowski
Bio
Jared Kamrowski is the founder of Thrifty Traveler, the leading source for flight deals, cheap travel tips, and maximizing travel rewards. Jared honed his travel skills by traveling over 100 nights a year as a CPA.
Guests on the Mitlin Money Mindset Show are not affiliated with CWM, LLC, and opinions expressed herein may not be representative of CWM, LLC. CWM, LLC is not responsible for the guest’s content linked on this site.
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