What I’m working on at the moment…
I am updating this as of April 2025 because SO MUCH has changed. Like, wow, so much. The last time I updated this page was in 2016.
First, let me start by saying everything on this page before this update has dramatically changed, showing you how much of a rollercoaster the entrepreneurship world can be. I am going to leave it at the end so that you can see.
Here it goes…
Must Do Canada
2016 was a brutal year for us. We came home from years of travel to start a career while building our business, and the local economy collapsed. It was a dark time. But 2017 was also Canada’s 150th birthday, so I came up with an idea to road trip around the country for 150 days to make a travel series showcasing the beauty and diversity of Canada while interviewing people about what makes Canada special. We found a major sponsor to help make it happen, and that series ended up with 10 million views and giving us a new media business that changed our lives.
Starting around 2020, minus a bad year due to COVID restrictions, Must Do Canada became our full-time business and we continue to promote travel in Canada through our award-winning website, the largest travel newsletter in Canada, a popular YouTube channel, and social media.
We’ve worked with hundreds of brands and DMOS and won the Best Travel Media award in 2022 at the Tourism Industry of Canada’s Award Gala in Ottawa.
Must Do Canada Scratch-Off Adventures
The new venture for us and for Must Do Canada is e-commerce. For those that don’t know, Google basically crushed all blogs worldwide in 2024, leading to a dramatic drop of 70% of our income. Obviously, this hurt us really badly, and we’ve lost all trust in organic blog traffic. But we still have our brand and we still have a strong newsletter and YouTube channel, so we decided to launch our first physical product. We’ve created scratch-off cards that help people experience each province. We started with our home province of Alberta with a box of 50 must-do scratch-off adventures featuring everything from iconic attractions to hidden gems. We were just featured on the local news, attended our first trade show, and it looks like we will be getting them into a popular retail location shortly. It’s still quite new, but we are putting our heart and souls into this, and after a decade of media, it feels pretty cool to hold something tangible.
Family
Looking back at this list, it looks like we were considering a family back in 2016. It took us much longer than we anticipated, due to some issues, but it is now 2025, and we have healthy TWIN girls.
Other Projects
While I’m always toying with ideas, I’m really trying to stay focused. In all honesty, the blog, newsletter, YouTube channel, social media channels, and scratch-off cards is already too much in many ways. So, it is impossible for me to add more things until these take off in a way that they can be streamlined or managed by staff.
However, if there’s one thing I WILL complete in 2025 as a personal project, it will be a children’s book I’ve been working on for many years.
Big thanks to Derek Sivers for starting the NOW movement. It’s a cool project and I look forward to keeping you all updated on what I’m doing NOW. I also want to say thanks for sending me an email a few days ago to ask about the page, as that is what forced me to revisit it. It was nostalgic and enlightening to see how much things have changed.
OLD NEWS (back in 2016)
This is what was written way back in 2016.
Live Limitless
I’m working very hard to build a lot of travel content. After years of travel, my wife and I have decided to stop for a while so that I can focus on turning this blog into what I envision it to be. It was often hard to maintain while backpacking, so now it’s time to focus on creating the content my readers deserve. I’ve also re-launched the Live Limitless Podcast and will be releasing a new episode every Monday. I’m also adding new content to Zero to Dream Trip, a travel hacking video course via Live Limitless. I’ve had about 15 people go through the course so far and they’ve loved it. So now it’s time to market it. In addition, I’m going to be working with a National Geographic photographer who will be showcasing my photography work. Therefore, I’m going to create a photography page on Live Limitless for people interested in travel photography and for those wanting to buy prints.
So, everything in this list has changed. Live Limitless has become a personal blog, and I have long cancelled the podcast, travel hacking course, and more. Travel hacking courses are tough when others do it for free, so I have moved on. I do miss the podcast, so if I can ever find the time, I’d love to start a new one.
Canadian Free Flyers (Canadian Travel Hacking)
This is my main travel hacking site I started in 2012 for Canadians wanting to become travel hackers. Right now, I’ve just finished turning it into a video course like Zero to Dream Trip and away from the monthly membership course it once was. I’m also building a marketing a plan for the site and will likely be going on TV in Canada soon to teach people how to become travel hackers. Stay tuned…
There was a time when I thought CFF was going to be my main business, and in some ways, it was for a year or two. But perhaps due to my inexperience or again, due to others doing it for free, I decided to move on. The website is active but has not been updated in 8 years.
Other Projects
At the moment, I’m working full-time while doing all of the above. I’m toying with the idea of getting my travel agent license so that I can build once-in-a-lifetime itineraries to do cool stuff around the world with people like you. There’s a chance my wife and I might also move to Mexico to work with a travel company there. There’s really so many potential opportunities at the moment so if you check back in late January, we’ll likely know more for what is happening.
Family
My wife and I would like to start a family next year so we’re busy trying to get our incomes to a more stable level ASAP.
I continue to post some incredible travel shots on my Instagram page at www.Instagram.com/MatthewGBailey
This page will be updated regularly. You can always find it at www.livelimitless.net/now