‘Professional Traveler’ Shares Details of Her Job and People Are in Awe
The job of "professional traveler" sounds like the ultimate dream come true for anyone with chronic wanderlust. Putting aside the money and time for long trips takes work and effort, but if you could get paid to travel the world? It wouldn't get much better than that!
But how do you turn an expensive hobby into a fulfilling career? In a November 8 TikTok, professional luxury traveler Nicole Sunderland told the story of how she turned travel into a profitable full-time job. Her testimony is fascinating!
Back in 2015, @nicolemsunderland's journey began with her doing something many of us already do: posting travel pics on Instagram. She also went a little further by starting a travel blog, but again, this wasn't anything more than a hobby- until she started getting attention and money-making opportunities.
Once things started taking off there, she was able to devote more money and time to luxury travel and eventually became a full-time travel influencer. She continued to find new audiences by branching out into TikTok and Instagram reels, and the rest is history.
As far as making her money goes? While Nicole isn't averse to brand partnerships, she takes few of them, saying that she only accepts one that "100% align with [her] brand." Much of her income comes in through selling content, blogging, travel planning for others, and consulting travel brands.
She's also pretty transparent on how she turns over income from her videos, detailing it in the comments for a curious viewer:
"When clients hire me, and it’s always disclosed on the video, I go to their destination, film and create the video I want. We agree on price before I go! I charge a lot of money because my audience overall size is over 2 million and my followers spend a lot of money. I’m valuable to them. I can’t disclose exactly what I’m paid because of contracts, but annually I make multi 6 figures. Hope that helps!"
Naturally, other social media users had questions- particularly on how she gets those perfect vacation shots.
"Do you still shoot on an iPhone or use different gear now?" questioned @live.love.wander.
"I have since upgraded to an iPhone 12+ lol... I shoot all videos on here and drone on DJI Mini 3," Nicki shared.
Of course, with any job predicated on social media popularity, some of it is just comes down to luck of the draw and finding an audience. However, Nicole demonstrated that by expanding her social media presence, maintaining consistent and quality output, and thoughtfully choosing her opportunities, she managed to turn traveling into a profitable career!
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