transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] So, I put out an Instagram survey that said, be honest, given that there's so much free information out on the internet about how to maximize your points and miles, what is still keeping you from getting the flights that you want booked on points? Because we produce, for YouTube tutorials, podcasts, Instagram content. Not to mention all of our different podcast guests who also put out tons of free content on how to make the most out of your points and miles. But even with all the free content that's out there, there are still seven key challenges that people are running into when trying to make the most out of their points. So in today's video, I want to pep talk you through that. Challenge number one, it's a just general fear and hesitation around using your points. Where maybe you have a fear of committing your points because those were hard to earn and it's so hard to let go, especially for the first time and move them from somewhere like Chase or Amex or Capital One over to an airline because what if the points disappear? What if something goes wrong? What if it gets stuck in limbo and then you're not able to use the points? And now it's going to take you years to get those points back again, the old fashioned way of earning them. Does that sound like you? Let me know in the comments. But the thing is, what's the alternative? You never move them. The purpose of earning the points is to use the points. The purpose of bringing strawberries home from the grocery store is to eat said strawberries. They're not going to do any good just sitting in your fridge. Same with your points, just sitting in your account. I know it's nice to just look at how many points you've earned. But the point of them is to spend them on fantastic experiences. We have an entire video called the worst case scenario. And I'm just going to spoil it for you and say the worst case scenario is not that you make a bad redemption. It's that somehow you don't get to make a redemption at all. But slightly less worst case is that the company just goes under. Like if you were collecting a whole bunch of Mesa points, that didn't work out very well, unfortunately, for everybody, because those points just went poof. And that's why I highly recommend, as you're earning points, always have a plan for what's the next trip that you're going to take in the next year. And the first time, you just have to bite the bullet and make a transfer. You can even start with something really small. You don't have to make a huge grand around the world and first class every aspirational flight strung together on your first redemption. Just move a few points from Chase to Hyatt, do a staycation at some hotel just to dip your toe in the water and get over your fear of using those points because the points are meant to be used. The second challenge that people said they were running into is that they just don't have enough points yet, or their points are fragmented all over the place where maybe you have some United, maybe you have some Delta, maybe you have some Alaska Airlines, maybe you have some Chase, and it doesn't piece together nicely to make one good redemption. So here's where I would start with this. If you have some points already stuck with a specific airline, try to use those up first. It might not be the highest sense per point redemption, but they are going to be the ones that are most risk of devaluation. If you have a pile of points sitting with British Airways and a pile of points sitting with American Express, please try to use up the British Airways one. Even if you find the same flight through Cathay Pacific where you could move your Amex points over and pay a little bit less, your Amex points can transfer to a dozen plus programs. They're not, hopefully, going to all devalue at once overnight. Whereas the obvious programs could all devalue, or at least the British Airways charts could devalue. And so you want to prioritize using those up first and maybe even moving some Amex points to supplement your British Airways account if you have points already stuck with a specific airline. And if you don't have enough points for a full trip yet, you have a couple of options. One might be you just cover one way with points and then the other way you cover with cash. Or let's say you have four people in your family and you can only afford two or three tickets with points. If it's within your budget, I would just try to cover those two or three with points and then maybe just pay cash for the fourth ticket. Because if you look at it that way, you're still getting about 75% off of the vacation. And the last piece of advice for this is to make sure that you are, for future, earning points that are transferable. So we're talking Chase, Amex, Capital One, Citi, Build, Roeve, there's a whole bunch of them now. If you need help on deciding which cards to get or what kind of points currency to earn next, you can check out our free credit card consultations at geobreezetravel.com/consultations. And I will personally send you an email with credit card recommendations that match your budget, your travel goals and your lifestyle. All right, the next challenge that people are running into of why they still can't get their points redemptions that they want, even with all the free content on the internet, is value maximization anxiety, where you keep asking yourself, but is this a good deal? Can I get a better deal? I really, really want to stretch my sense for point out more because I saw somebody else on the internet was able to do it better. If you are even aware the transfer partners exist and you have made it this far into the video, you are probably in the top 2% of people in points and miles, credit card points, anything, because here's the general population. And then there's a small part of that population that even qualifies for any of this due to credit score and whatnot. And then of all the people who qualify, there's the people who actually take action and get some of these high reward credit cards. And then out of those people, they're the ones who have ever used points for anything. Some people just let their points sit there forever. And out of the people who use the points, a lot of those people are just using their points to wipe statement credits or they're redeeming them for gift cards or something else like that. You'd be surprised. Most people are just doing statement credits. And for the ones who are this much of the pie where they even know about transfer bonuses and that's what they should be doing, and maybe they've done a basic transfer bonus and only got two cents for point, congratulations, you're already probably in the top 2% of people. The second piece of advice I have here, which I've mentioned multiple times on the channel, is that the internet is an illusion and everybody is just posting their highlight reels and the entire point of Points and Miles is not necessarily just to make you look cooler on Instagram so you can sell courses about how to sell courses. It is to have amazing life experiences that might be slightly out of your budget otherwise. And I get a lot of people have that fear of wasting points because the points are hard to earn, or you have that temptation of always wanting to make a better redemption. You're worried that prices are going to drop after booking, not knowing what's really worth it. Like, hey, is this a good deal? Can I get a second opinion? Or you're just trying to maximize your ROI across all of the different cards, all of the different apps, et cetera. If you want to talk to somebody about this, you can schedule a free 15-minute intro call with my team. Just go to geobreezetravel.com/setcall. We will see if we can help if you're a good fit for a client or any of our other products, or if we just have some free resources that might be better for you. We can triage you from there and help you to hopefully get over this point anxiety, because again, the point of point is to use them. The next main hurdle or challenge that people have when trying to redeem their points, even with all of the free content available on the internet, is just a lack of a clear strategy. So you're aware that there's lots of different strategies. You just don't know which one's the one for you. I'm going to also loop tactics in with strategy, where maybe you just don't know how to actually book the flights that you want, where you don't know mechanically what do I click on on this website. Also, maybe you knew about one strategy, but it's not working for you, and you're not sure what else is available as far as alternatives or backup options. If that's you, I've created a resource that helps to aggregate all of this together for you into a step-by-step guide that says, okay, do this first, then step two, then step three. These are the tutorials you need. Here are the tutorials on how to use the different tools, et cetera. This is the Business Class Blueprint Playbook that I have had people test for the last few months. We've had more than 100 testers, and the median average value that they expect to save from having all of the strategies in here in order is more than $21,000. So if that's something that you're interested in, feel free to grab it at geobreezetravel.com/blueprint. It is heavily discounted for not very long. Okay, next main hurdle that people always run into when they're trying to use their points and miles, but still somehow can't get it over the line, even with all of the free content available on the internet, it's just due to time constraints and the amount of effort required. So maybe you don't have enough time to do the searching on your own, or your work or life schedule is getting in the way of your points because obviously that's the higher priority. The process might feel a little bit too intensive for you, or you're doing some last minute planning, or you've heard that you have to do some last minute planning and that is also making it harder. If this is you, once again, please book a free intro call with our team, 15 minute phone calls, and sometimes less than that, geobreezetravel.com/setcall. We will point you to the best resource based off of what exactly it is that you're trying to do, or we'll let you know of like, I just don't think that flight is gonna be happening for you. There are no direct flights from Arkansas over to the Maldives in queue suites, unfortunately. We can save you a lot of time from going down that rabbit hole and trying to research this on your own. All right, another very, very common hurdle that people have that's keeping them from getting all of their points in the flights book that they want, even with all of the free content on the internet is, there is too much free content on the internet, to where you have information overload. There's too many choices. There's too many variables. All of the rules are constantly changing and you can't keep track of what the award chart is today versus what it's gonna be tomorrow. Status requirements are changing, credit card products are changing, what is going on? And so with this, it's just a lack of a simple structured process once again. And with all of the information overload, the analysis paralysis, just constantly over-optimizing or second-guessing all of your options. Again, the blueprint can help with this, but we are also doing a monthly series where it's free live coaching if you want at geobreezetravel.com/webinar, just sign up, submit your AMA questions, and then we can just streamline it from there and help you find what you need. And then the most common hurdle that people ran into when trying to book their points and miles using free tools and free content on the internet is just finding the award availability. This is especially true if you're trying to book business class or first class seats. And if you have a family, you're trying to book multiple seats or you have some specific travel dates. Let us know in the comments if that is you. Because a lot of the people that you follow on Instagram or YouTube, me included, we're just booking seats for one or two people at a time. And it takes a little bit more finesse to find three, four, five, six or more seats, especially in business class. You have to know that there's limited availability for specific routes. And so if you're trying to find nine seats on a specific day, because everybody's going to the same wedding, it's going to involve some advanced planning. It doesn't just show up magically. Unfortunately, we can't conjure seats like that. A lot of people also reported they're having trouble finding those sweet spot redemptions that you're always seeing on Instagram. But once again, the internet is an illusion. And so if you have a specific flight that you are trying to book, you're like, hey, I'm trying to get from here to here. I have this many people. I'd like to travel around these dates. You can submit a request for a free personalized award search tutorial. Just go to geobreeztravel.com/request, fill out that form, and we prepare a free tutorial every week that we post in our free weekly newsletter, which goes out on Monday evenings. So I know I threw a bunch more free resources at you right then and there. Hopefully this does not exacerbate the problem, but let me know in the comments, what is the main hurdle that you are running into? Did any of these resonate with you? What's the main thing keeping you from getting your flights booked despite all of the free resources out there on YouTube and Instagram and the blogs and everything else? And we'll see if we can help in the comments.