When I scroll down my Facebook or Twitter feed, every now and then I run into very “clickable” titles such as “become a travel blogger, travel for free” and I cannot help but to roll my eyes. This drives thousands of people every day to start blogs, post one to three times and quit after they realize the hard work that comes with building an audience, creating content, and being on social media 24/7. I find I have these discussions with fellow bloggers offline but there seems to be no open and honest discussion on becoming a travel blogger… and staying in business. Everybody has a different story on travel blogging. For some it may have come easier than others. Here’s my particular story.
Photo by Kristen Kellogg of Border Free Travels
I Love my Job
Before people go into the comments section to write”if you don’t like being a travel blogger, you can quit”, I will preface by saying that I love what I do. I’ve had the opportunity to meet amazing people and see parts of the world that I only dreamed of as a child. What began as an expat blog almost ten years ago has evolved into a community in which we (my kick-ass contributors and I) strive to give our audience travel and food tips they can use in order to make their travels better. But it is hard work. Becoming a travel blogger was organic to me. Back in the day there were no courses, no Instagram, barely any Facebook Groups to share your content. Although I spent thousands on an MBA, I feel that I have learned more from my experience running The Dining Traveler than my 18 months of graduate school.
Constant Learning
Professional careers require constant learning. Blogging is not exempt from that principle. One of most important things I’ve learned in the Marine Corps 20 years ago was the leadership trait “know yourself and seek self improvement”.  In this ever evolving digital media world, one has to be on their toes at all times. Whether it’s trying to crack the code on Instagram algorithms or mastering SEO, there’s always something new to learn in the blogging and digital content creation business. Becoming a travel blogger has taught me not to put my eggs in one basket, such as putting all my efforts into one social media channel (look at what happened to Vine).
Photo Credit: Italo Morales
The Business of Blogging
I was recently approached by a headhunter of a luxury jewelry shop looking for an in-house marketing manager. She found my profile on LinkedIn and was interested in talking to me about the position. She started asking me about what I did as The Dining Traveler. She said “We’re looking for someone who has managed a $1M marketing budget”. I explained to her that although I didn’t have that particular experience I did have other budgeting experience from my military assignments. What struck me from the conversation was that she said “oh, The Dining Traveler seems like a nice hobby”. The tone was very condescending.  No, lady, The Dining Traveler is my job. Not only do I monetize from my blog, but I use it as a platform for writing, consulting, and photography. Perhaps I may have not fit the profile she was looking for but no need to demean someone’s job.
The Behind the Scenes
If you’re becoming a travel blogger for the sheer luxury of traveling for free, you’re in the wrong business. When people say “you travel for free”, I disagree. The closest I’ve come to traveling for free is going on vacation to Thailand in which I spent all my miles and points on flights and hotels and I did not owe anyone anything! Â By anything I mean blog posts, social media shares, photographs, whatever. Media trips are business trips. I traveled all over the world as a Marine Corps Officer. On the job, I’ve traveled to exotic places like Thailand, Japan, Australia, among others. Regardless of the objective, I owed the boss something at the end of the trip. Same analogy for media trips. A destination or hotel invites travel bloggers to experience their destination, they expect coverage in return. They are not going to spend thousands of dollars on your trip just so you can chill on the beach.
The Time
Every now and then you run into a blogger who became an overnight success, which is awesome for that person. However, for the majority of us it takes time to develop a brand, make connections, write stories, and most importantly develop an audience. Like every good salesperson, you have to attend the conferences, meet the influencers, and I cannot stress it enough, be in a state of constant learning. While on the road, the end of the day is reserved for writing stories, editing photos, connecting with your audience on social media. You always have to be “on”.
The Hustle
Last year, I became pregnant with my piccola. I was shocked that many people thought I was going to stop producing The Dining Traveler just because I was having a baby. Some PR firms stopped inviting me to their events. How is this different from any other profession? I have friends that range from engineers to lawyers who have kids and get back in the grind. Kids have to eat. Parents need to work. As a business owner, the most challenging part was trying to figure out how to take time off as your momentum as a brand is growing. I am grateful, with my good health, that I was able to travel up to my 36th week. I am also thankful for smartphones! Behind the scenes as I was waiting to give birth, I was still sending pitches. If you got an email from me earlier this year at 3am, I was probably nursing my baby as I did that. Now that she’s six months, she’s been to 3 continents and 8 states. The fact that I can provide her with experiences I never had as a kid, make it all worth it.
Spending Money
Like any business, running a travel blog has an operating budget. In my case, I hired a developer to design the current website and migrate all my content from Blogger to self hosted via Bluehost. It requires paying hosting costs and also a marketing budget. I’ve also hired outside contractors for support. More about my Blogger platform migration experience here. Â It takes a village and time to create good content. A village that sometimes I cannot afford. Travel costs money. Even when you go on trips that most things are comped, there are always expenses incurred. I self-fund many of the trips featured on the blog. My audience not only wants to know about the destinations, but also how to get there. Looking for a hotel, planning an itinerary, looking for local tips is one of my favorite things about traveling.
Making Money
One of the most difficult parts of this business is dealing with people who want you to work for free and/or try to devalue your work. Whether it is working on a campaign, writing/photographing for a client, or monetizing on the blog, it takes time and preparation. You don’t go to a TV station and ask for free ad space, don’t expect the same from a blog. What’s more disappointing is to see bigger brands trying to take advantage of bloggers versus startups who even if it’s a nominal fee, acknowledge that it takes money to survive.
Becoming a Travel Blogger
I just wanted to share a bit of the behind the scenes of becoming a travel blogger, at least from my perspective. I quit my full time job at The Pentagon almost two years ago to pursue The Dining Traveler full time. As any job, it has its ups and downs. As any small business you have your good and bad months. Becoming a travel blogger has been one of the most challenging and time consuming things I’ve taken on, but I am grateful to make a living by seeing the world. Being your own boss, publicist, salesperson, etcetera is not the most glamorous but it’s sure an awesome learning experience. Whether I continue to do this for a year or twenty more, I can say that what I have learned from this journey is priceless.
As a fellow travel blogger, I had no idea how much work it was when I first started! It’s definitely a labor of love and some days I may feel like giving up, but I love what I do and have to keep reminding myself of that! People see the finished product but don’t realize all of the hard work that goes in to it. Thank you for shedding some light!
Trust me, I’ve been close to throwing the towel many times! Don’t ever quit! I love your blog too much!
Thank you for your always insightful observations and being transparent. I agree that travel blogging looks more glamorous than it really is, and that it takes a lot of determination to go on. Cheers!
Thanks! The hustle is real!
Love your honesty in this piece and hearing your story. Not surprising that becoming a mom was seen as a crossroads by some PR people, but I am glad you did not see it that way. I also love how you’ve identified lessons throughout your careers, whereas some may see one as unrelated to the other, you’ve found the similarities and have applied learning from one to the next. I love following along on your adventures from Amsterdam to Columbia, and can’t wait to see what’s next.
Thanks Amy for your thoughts and for following along! Crazy that this day and age people still see motherhood as a career killer…
Loved reading your honesty. It helps for new bloggers like me. We’re planning to leave on a rtw trip in November and I definitely have big plans for our blog. However, as I blog mostly about California for now, I’ve seen how time consuming it is and how it requires one to learn first! I’m taking this time to learn as much as I can from others and courses, get better at writing and social media, and saving up so we can fund our travels. I know the perks will only come with hard work and dedication! Thanks for your honesty!
Thanks for reading and I am happy you found value in this post. A RTW trip sounds exciting! Wishing you a successful adventure!
I am so glad to take your baby with you. I’ve always wanted to travel more, but it was a vague goal when I was single and childless. Once I had children, it became something that couldn’t be vague anymore. It had to happen. And while we haven’t traveled quite as much as I’d hoped, we did move from the US to Mexico this month. I’m amazed that we (my husband and I) are able
to give our children this experience.
And blogging as a career isn’t easy. As my hobby, I find it fulfilling and I do recommend others try it. But if you approach it as easy money, you will end up disappointed quickly. I do hope to turn mine into income, but other things are taking priority for now. I’m glad you are recommending education (such as conferences and such). In that regard, I don’t even know where to start!
-Natalie
I’ve been following your move to Mexico, what an amazing experience, especially for your children! Like any career, you don’t make money overnight! I find a lot of travel related conferences just doing a google search every now and then. Don’t limit yourself to just blogger conferences but industry and anything else in your niche you can meet interesting people who you can work with.
Thank you for sharing such a candidate and inspiring story. I started my blog nearly a year ago and have learned how much hard works goes into it. People don’t realize how much time and care goes into this job. You have stated it so well. I was worried that if I wasn’t an overnight success that I was doing something wrong, so thank you for reminding me that it’s perfectly normal to take time to build your audience.
I think there are very few blogs that are overnight successes. For those who claim they are, there’s always more to the story. It takes time to build a loyal audience, something that after all these years, I keep working on.
I am just glad I am not doing for the purpose of earning a living. I just love doing it!
That’s great! The most important thing is to enjoy it.
Really liked reading and felt motivated. I am blogging since 2 years and have learned many things and have met many wonderful people. I agree with you that blogging is not about earning rather it is about following something you like 🙂
I am glad you felt motivated by the post!
I love the post, and love the #DCTravelBlogger pic! Blogging takes SO much time, dedication, and skill. I’m proud of you for taking it on full time, it’s a courageous step!
Excellent post, Jessica. When I launched Triplicity by Craft, I thought about you and all that goes into maintaining the brand, the business, the posts. I felt overwhelmed but still glad I launched. I take it one day at a time. I’m believing that one day , I’ll maintain it full but for now, it is MY hobby. 😉 Kudos to you lady, and all travel bloggers out there. Keep up the great work! XO
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