About the author

Tim Moss

Tim Moss has supported over 100 expeditions across all seven continents. He has climbed new mountains, crossed a desert on foot and recently cycled 13,000 miles around the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society London and a Guinness World Record Holder. He aims to encourage more people to live adventurously. Read more...

52 Comments

  1. 1

    alastairhumphreys

    Superb piece.

    Reply
  2. 2

    Viajarapie

    No need to mention which is your current full-time job but do you think your adventurer role has had an influence in the relevant job you do?

    Reply
    1. 2.1

      Tim Moss

      Good question Viajarapie. I think the experiences of my adventures have taught me so much and “improved me as a person” immeasurably so in that sense, I would absolutely say they have influence in my “normal jobs”.

      Reply
  3. 3

    James Borrell

    Brilliant Tim!

    Reply
  4. 4

    George

    Very honest – what a great piece!

    Reply
    1. 4.1
  5. 5

    Simon cox

    What an honest appraisal of being an adventurer. To find such satisfaction in helping others over material gain is inspiring, thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
  6. 6

    Nick Hancock

    Great article, really good read and great advice!

    Reply
  7. 7

    Alee Denham

    I get similar traffic on CyclingAbout.com and have decided it’s just not worth trying to eek money out of every nook and cranny. I personally get more out the product I am given to use and review than anything else. That said, I’ve just put six months into my new bicycle touring book and am looking forward to covering my hosting/server costs for once!

    Reply
  8. 8

    garminbozia

    Thank you for this article. I too am an adventurer. I just started this year (5 months in) and so far I am LOVING it! I was hoping to make money off of my website, and your article has opened my eyes some. I am a photographer as well. Do you have any tips on how I can sell photos? Or could you point me in any directions I can go to learn what I can do to sell them?

    Reply
    1. 8.1

      Tim Moss

      Hi, glad to hear you’re enjoying adventurous life so far. Do share your website so everyone can see what you’re up to.

      I don’t know anything about photography or selling photos I’m afraid. If you’re just asking about the practicality of selling a photograph then you could easily take payments via PayPal then email/post images yourself, just as I do with my ebooks and paperbacks.

      However, my *hunch* is that there is very little money in selling photos as an adventurer.

      I say that because all adventurers get great photographs from their expeditions (see e.g. Al Humphreys, Tom Allen, Alex Hibbert). But I suspect that there are very few people who see a nice picture on one of their websites and decide they want to pay £100 or £500 for the image, or whatever it would be to make the effort worthwhile.

      I have friends who make a living from being freelance photographers but it is, as you’d expect, absolutely a full time job in itself.

      But, like I said, I don’t know anything about selling photos so take the above with a large dose of salt!

      Reply
  9. 9

    Chris McEnnerney

    Great article, Tim, and very honest, too!

    Reply
  10. 10

    Helen Kennair

    Tim. You may not have made any money but what you have done is amazing. What memories to be proud of! And I’m pretty sure if you’d been a 9-5 office boy next door you wouldn’t have bagged your adventurous wife so I say all in all pretty good earnings! X

    Reply
    1. 10.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Helen! The girls are just as important as the money, right?

      Reply
  11. 11

    Elsa Hammond

    Love this – thank you.

    Reply
    1. 11.1

      Tim Moss

      Pleasure. Thanks Elsa.

      Reply
  12. 12

    Bill Brackin

    I went through a similar mental exercise many years ago. I really wanted to paddle the Inside Passage from Olympia, Washington to Skagway, Alaska. I realized that I couldn’t do that as a one-time trip and make a living, so I decided to break it up into bite-sized pieces. I have done most of the route over the last 20 years in one to 17 day trips. It has given me fun trips to do every summer, and I have been able to do variations to the route that I might not have done as a one-time continuous route. I have also been able to bring many of my friends along. They would not have joined me on a longer trip. I have also been able to pick the best weather windows and the best tide and current windows for crux trips. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

    Reply
    1. 12.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks for that Bill. Breaking trips down is a really good approach I think. 20 years is some commitment though! My friends and I have slowly been working our way around the South West Coastal Path here in the UK. It’s taken over a decade so far!

      Reply
  13. 13

    Josh Davis

    Great article Tim. I was always under the impression you made a lot more from this website. It’s cool to see that you really are just doing it for the love of it.
    On top of that the fact you are going to give some of that money away….inspiring!
    Hope you and Laura are good

    Reply
    1. 13.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Josh. Perhaps I would have been better maintaining the pretense that The Next Challenge was a highly profitable business!

      Reply
  14. 14

    Steve Blethyn

    Fantastic bit of word stuff as always Tim.
    I didn’t escape the city to become rich, (that ain’t going to happen teaching first aid), I escaped the city to live a little. Seems to be working so far, for the both of us.
    Since giving up 9-5, I think I’m actually a better, richer, person, but do I have lots of money? Nope!
    Keep up the good work mate.

    Reply
    1. 14.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Steve. Glad to hear you’re still keeping at it.

      Reply
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  16. 15

    charlie

    Great article Tim, as always!Some good links too, so thanks for that also! A fab true insight into full time adventurer!

    I am so with you regarding,” you need a plan! ” along with the need to be a salesperson, oh and logistic provider, researcher, advisor etc.
    I didn’t have a plan for may years! Downside! you pay for that financially! year after year I promised myself I would throw it all in if I didn’t make enough.I was so close to changing careers many times and actually went and spent thousands in courses for offshore oil and gas, then bang! out of the blue, a trip would come along, and yet again your passion wins over the sensible head option.
    ….Once more your fully inserted into the planning, prepping , training. Then pre and post expedition comes and goes, by then your fully emerged back in that magnetised field of adventure! and you seek out the next one !
    It’s a love/hate relationship for sure, but would I change ? …….not a chance :)
    Cheers Tim!

    Reply
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  18. 16

    joanna t

    super honest, love it x

    Reply
    1. 16.1
  19. 18

    David Tett

    Great piece Timbo, well written and some good honest advice!

    Reply
  20. 19

    Lynne Edwards

    Excellent Article Tim, the reality of your situation is inspiraytional in itself. We set up Exploring Magazine as a platform for explorers and adventurers to tell everyone about their adventures, and then we decided to give it away to readers for free, enabling the inspirational messages/stories to get out there! As you can imagine this has cost us a lot of money and all our time spent on it has been upaid, but this is our labour of love.

    Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  21. 20

    Doug

    Tim, an excellent piece about your experiences. I think what you have gained here is I) visited less travelled countries and having adventures that others can only dream of doing II) discovered how much you enjoy writing backed up with huge journalistic talent
    III) picked up new skills along the way, namely digital marketing (SEO, social media guru)
    IV) proved yourself as a very capable photographer.
    My view is that there is a good market out there for selling some of your photos, especially the landscape ones from far away places. Worth some further investigation- there are photography sites out there where you can get a good income.
    Agree whole heartedly that can fit adventures into a regular job- teachers and lecturers work hard but have opportunity for extended travel during summer period. Secondly need to produce a realistic business plan about how to make money when leave a regular 9-5 job

    Keep up the great writing ?

    Best wishes,

    Doug

    Reply
  22. 21

    Bob

    Absolute respect to you Tim. Such honest and humbling reading

    Reply
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  26. 22

    pacific222

    Thank you for the frank discussion!

    Reply
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  29. 23

    mountchris

    That’s what I love about your blog. So much info and you are never trying to sell yourself or a brand or a product etc. Very humbling article and great advice. Thanks Tim for posting, a lot of wisdom in this post.

    Reply
    1. 23.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Chris. “If you enjoyed this blog post then you’ll definitely love my popular range of reasonably priced ebooks“.

      Reply
  30. 24

    Maria

    Thank you very much, Tim, for these honest words. Since I spontaneaously took 2 months of from work to travel through the UK earlier this year, I am a bit unhappy with my job. I always thought, wow, how do the real adventurer manage it to make enough money for living? I want to do the same. But in fact, this job is very well paid and I only work 4 days in a week to have more time for my little adventures. Now I read your blog I am a bit relieved, because I think different about earning money with a non-adventurer job and still be able to be an adventurer. It sounds childish, but I really thought “when I want to become a real adventurer, I have to earn money as an adventuerer”. Thanks for open my eyes. I needed that.
    You are great.

    Best wishes from Germany,
    Maria

    Reply
    1. 24.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Maria. I left it open for others to interpret as they wished but what you’ve taken from it is pretty much what I hoped people would. Good luck with your next adventure!

      Reply
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  33. 25

    Andrew Welch

    Paving the way for more openness Tim – only a good thing in my eyes. Very inspiring.

    Reply
    1. 25.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Andy. I’ll need to do another article on this topic soon to update some of the figures. Ebooks and affiliate links have started to generate more income now.

      Reply
  34. 26

    Keith

    inspired writing Tim. Life fill your days… regards Keith

    Reply
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