Three years of The Flight club, here's how a crazy idea became a job
What is the job of Matteo Rainisio, aka the bum inventor of The Flight Club? here are the answers to the questions asked to google
Today The Flight Club turns three years old, It was November 1, 2020 when we went online, and 36 months later I decided to do this article to explain how this crazy idea came about And answer some of the most frequently asked questions that I get asked, a special edition of TFC responds.
In this article:
First, it seems only fair to answer a question that I have just discovered many people are asking Google.
What work does Matteo Rainisio do?
Have you ever googled someone's name? I have, often for work, but never had I googled my own, then an acquaintance of mine sent me the screenshot saying, "People want to know what you do for a living...."
In fact, it is the question that also pops up more often under videos on The Flight Club's YouTube channel, and actually in addition to those who ask the question there are also those who venture the answer. So I decided to answer this question for all those who did not know me before they saw "bum" pop up in their timeline.
I am the owner of the Edinet Ltd., to feel cool I could say Founder & CEO, my company was founded in the late 1990s, since 2006 I have been the publisher of IVG.com the most widely read newspaper in the province of Savona. In 2010 we doubled by opening Genoa24.co.uk which is, as you can tell from the name, a news medium that deals with the Genoa area. We are one of the few digital native publishers to have been chosen by Google for the Showcase project, along with us is the elite of Italian journalism from Corriere to Sole 24ore to Open and very few others.
In addition to running their own media Edinet is in charge of developing publishing projects throughout Italy For local, national, and industry publications. We work with multinationals and small local businesses, from Costa Edutainment Group to Magneti Marelli, we work a lot with the public administration, we manage press offices and we like to develop beautiful projects as one of the most widely used elearning platforms in Italy and a couple of ecommerce businesses that turnover more than 100 thousand euros per month.
How did The Flight Club come about?
As I have recounted in several videos and articles I have always been "in love" with points and loyalty programs, for years I was an ant reading pages and pages of American forums and sites, and I was always wondering "But why isn't there anyone in Italy trying?". Then came the covid and during the first lockdown., the one where experts said it would take years and years to return to travel as before, the same period In which companies were sending A380s and B747s to the scrap heap., at that moment I decided, "I'll do it."
In Edinet we had and have the skills to develop complex web projects and so I decided to launch into this crazy project precisely because we had the technical know-how, editorial expertise and passion for the world of points and travel. And so it was "easy" to go online.
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Is The Flight Club a job?
I know that in the world of influencers with millions of followers, people are used to evaluating everything by views, but that's not the heart of the project, for us at TFC, social media is just the showcase the heart is this site is where the revenue is generated.
I often read comments "but with so few views how do you make a living?" legitimate observation if I were a youtuber living on CPM, or Cost Per Thousand Views, but that is not the case as of today 90% of the revenue comes from the site.
The starting business model was based solely on the affiliate world, as we explain at the top of each page and on one in detail. Today the business has expanded to special projects, company ADV and To consulting to companies that want to understand how to leverage "loyalty" To grow their business.
The first business plan made in 2020 was to break even in 2023 and make a first small profit in 2024. I am happy to say that last year, that is, 2022, TFC made a small profit, and this year things are going much better than any forecast.
October 2023, The one that ended a few hours ago, Was the month with the highest turnover ever for our site since its inception: nearly 60k euros.
Fruit of a series of special projects signed with several airlines that decided to focus on TFC to reach an audience that no one in Italy cared about before our inception.
Not only ADV, we broke all records of credit cards issued through our links. The Youtube channel exceeded 12 thousand subscribers and generated over €700 in revenue, just as the affiliations on the site more than doubled compared to previous months.
November will see the first collaboration with a "one-of-a-kind" company and other activities that I look forward to publishing.
A beautiful community
One of the things I am most proud of is. the community that has formed around our project. I'm not just talking about the FB page that has almost 5o thousand followers, but about the facebook group that now has more than 3500 users which daily share experiences, help newbies and exchange opinions.
We also launched the first (and only) Italian whatsapp channel dedicated to frequent flyers. A group where we send only important news, special offers and error do to catch and where you can obviously sign up with just two clicks.
TFC projects for 2024
In the past few weeks, we have been at the TTG and so many airlines are going to talk to our readers through our pages, and that can only make me happy. The goal will be to grow in the quality of our product, increase the numbers and reach more and more readers, if all goes as planned there will also be the first full-time "employee" of this site, a resource that will join the 30 people already working in Edinet.
Thank you to all the readers who turned my dream into a job
The thing that makes me happiest is the dozens and dozens of messages I receive in which readers thank me for advice, those where readers tell me their "success stories" because from day one I put TFC readers at the center of the project.
The Tramp owes you, if you catch me, drinks are on me.
