The life-style of a digital nomad isn’t all it’s cracked as much as be.
Rachel Pregunta and her accomplice, Ruben Arribas, began touring collectively in 2013 with no matter they may stick with it their backs. They couch-hopped and stayed in hostels, at all times in search of the subsequent alternative to leap on a airplane to a brand new vacation spot.
Pregunta, who nonetheless labored her 9-to-5 job in digital advertising and marketing, inspired Arribas to begin a weblog to share his earlier adventures—like a five-month biking journey from Spain to Finland—and their present nomadic travels.
In tandem with the weblog, Pregunta began an Instagram account (@Gamintraveler) and grew it from zero to 130,000 followers. The photographs and tales from their travels have introduced them to Indonesia, France, Argentina, Greece, Iceland, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, and extra. They’ve additionally developed partnerships with hospitality companies and began a social media company for solopreneurs and content material creators.
“Folks will see perhaps 5 p.c by Instagram photographs and every little thing, however there’s a number of work behind it,” Pregunta says.
The work that made their life-style and enterprise doable comes from Pregunta’s unrelenting want to be taught—a trait she didn’t develop on an unique journey however at a desk in entrance of a keyboard.
One thing Larger
Pregunta wasn’t a lot of a traveler earlier than she met Arribas. Really, she loved exploring the web greater than a metropolis hundreds of miles away.
“I’m extra the net marketer particular person, and he’s the traveler,” Pregunta says. “So at one level, I simply thought, ‘Let’s combine our two passions collectively, and perhaps we are able to do one thing larger.’”
She needed to proceed working remotely in digital advertising and marketing, so between sketchy wifi alerts and transforming her schedule round flight occasions, Pregunta made her nomadic imaginative and prescient a actuality.
Listening to Arribas’s 10 years of journey tales impressed Pregunta to begin a weblog. Once they joined the net journey area, there was already a strong group of bloggers, however Instagram was beginning out and much from the polished platform it’s as we speak.
“We positively simply posted selfies or random footage [with] no styling,” Pregunta says.
“Then I found foundr, and this complete new world opened up.”
In 2016, Pregunta grew to become one of many earliest college students of the Instagram Domination course taught by foundr CEO Nathan Chan. She found the course after being kicked out of a special entrepreneurial course as a result of journey bloggers weren’t their preferrred college students.
“The large shifts in my life are at all times after I spend money on one thing I’m actually afraid to do,” Pregunta says. “Instagram, as a substitute of simply being a means of driving new site visitors to the positioning, really grew to become a special channel and medium all by itself.”
Leaping In With Each Ft
Geared up with the methods from Instagram Domination, Pregunta obsessively grew their account.
“The web is only a massive factor. It’s simply an enormous place, and you’ll simply get bombarded by a number of data,” Pregunta says. “Now, right here’s somebody who has a course and who has laid out the method for you.”
One of many first items of recommendation provided within the course is to create a tone, particularly with the primary 9 items of content material in your profile.
“I’m the sort of particular person [who] after I attempt one thing, I do know I’ve to leap in with each ft […] The enjoyable half is when you’ve established that, you’ll simply proceed sharing your story.”
After reaching 5,000 followers, Pregunta and Arribas began receiving inbound messages from accommodations, resorts, and journey companies seeking to accomplice. Their first unsolicited reward was a world cellular lens startup that gave them a lens to make use of on their travels. Again then, Pregunta says phrases like “influencer,” “microinfluencer,” and “noninfluencer” didn’t even exist.
“They have been so comfortable to work with lots of people, which is an efficient factor within the influencer area and accommodations,” Pregunta says. “So so long as it’s an trade of power, and naturally, in case you are actually prepared to provide what you may to them, then they are going to be very comfortable to host you.”
Pregunta says that these days, individuals getting into the social media journey business suppose they want a big following or portfolio to achieve out to companies, however the way you contact them is extra necessary than your resume.
“Consider your first e mail virtually as an elevator speech,” Pregunta says.
“You must be concise, however on the similar time, let the corporate know in two to 3 sentences what you’re able to ship to them so concisely that they know precisely who you might be.”
Identical to creating a distinctive promoting proposition for a product, Pregunta advises leveraging what makes you distinctive and connecting with a enterprise that matches that area of interest. She says that being a multicultural couple—Pregunta is from the Philippines; Arribas from Spain—is the primary motive companions have chosen them as a result of they join with their target market.
Pregunta says that the primary message will set the tone for the connection however to be prepared for fast follow-up.
“You must suppose how many individuals may very well be reaching out to that property,” Pregunta says. “Be sure to have your hyperlinks prepared within the e mail, after which simply allow them to resolve in the event that they wish to work with you or not.”
Pregunta’s systematic method continued to snowball. They stopped getting free invitations to unique places and began getting paid to journey. Their company partnerships expanded, together with an airline and worldwide fee switch facility.
However Pregunta needed greater than new locations. She was seeking to faucet into her old flame—digital advertising and marketing.
A Preventing Likelihood
Pregunta says that almost all of her associates have conventional company jobs, however she’s stayed in social media and digital advertising and marketing due to its fast-paced nature.
“What I really like about social media and digital advertising and marketing is that one thing new is occurring daily. And even in the event you have been doing effectively final week, one thing is launched this week, after which everybody may be on the similar degree once more,” Pregunta says. “So that you at all times have a combating probability.”
As @Gamintraveler’s followership climbed to 6 digits, Pregunta began leveraging the social media expertise she consistently discovered for influencers like her. So she began an company specializing in Instagram progress for solopreneurs.
“Rising an Instagram is an virtually full-time job, particularly in the event you’re one particular person,” Pregunta says.
“The larger the Instagram account, you’ll need to take your expertise to the subsequent degree.”
She rapidly added 20 to 30 purchasers, working tirelessly between journey stops. However the load of managing purchasers’ accounts whereas retaining @Gamintravler related was exhausting.
“I might at all times have this concept that an entrepreneur has a tremendous life, particularly once you watch social media,” Pregunta says. “You’ll at all times see wonderful entrepreneurs having a tremendous residence life after which a tremendous enterprise life. And you then take a look at your life. My residence life is loopy.”
So she received a mentor, Daniel DiPiazza, a startup guide and foundr teacher (see video beneath).
“He was the primary particular person to essentially inform me you’re working with too many individuals as a result of your worth is low,” Pregunta says.
By charging charges on the appropriate worth and matching purchasers to her talent set, Pregunta may steadiness her company and unencumber time to expertise the locations she was touring to as a substitute of staying on her laptop computer all day.
“I might at all times inform them that if the power is matching, in the event that they really feel like they wish to work with me and vice versa, then if it’s a very good match, we are able to work collectively,” Pregunta says. The matching power has ensured that Pregunta’s core purchasers not solely commit financially however have stayed together with her year-over-year. “In case your mindset and perspective should not prepared, you will be unable to deal with [growth].”
Loving the Platform
The previous three years have been tough for the journey business. In 2020, Pregunta stayed residence and targeted on the company. Since then, she’s slowly constructed their journey muscle mass again, but it surely’s clear that the habits she’s developed are why she’s nonetheless in enterprise after the trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I feel it’s following the method, and this isn’t just for Instagram however in a number of issues that you simply do in life,” Pregunta says. “However the factor about following a course of and being affected person with it’s you’re creating that behavior and mindset on the similar time.”
Pregunta encourages fellow social media entrepreneurs to not fear about having hundreds of followers within the first few weeks of a brand new account or marketing campaign.
“Simply develop the behavior of loving the platform—loving who you might be, the way you seem, and the way you give worth.”
She says it’s not too late for the journey weblog business or any business that makes use of visible instruments like social media for progress.
“If you consider companies, there are at all times new clothes manufacturers,” Pregunta says. “And now the nice factor is you may simply begin being you and begin constructing from there, and you’ll positively discover your individuals.”
So is the digital nomad life-style all it’s cracked as much as be?
Nicely, in some methods, it’s.
Like Pregunta, you should be prepared to be taught habitually, all whereas reserving flights, traversing mountains, and having unforgettable adventures.
Maintain Studying: How A lot Do Consultants Make?
The right way to Pitch a Enterprise Accomplice, per Rachel Pregunta
- Maintain it brief and candy—not more than two or three sentences.
- Ask what they’re attempting to unravel (attain a brand new viewers, launch a brand new product, capitalize on a development).
- Share your distinctive worth proposition (UVP). What makes you totally different as an influencer, content material creator, or entrepreneur?
- Join the dots between your UVP and their viewers.
- Lay out what you’re capable of ship for them. Be particular.
- Be prepared with a follow-up e mail with hyperlinks to your work, charges, and anything they could ask for.
- Be you. Your e mail messages ought to replicate your model as a lot as an Instagram caption.
Get the identical course that helped Pregunta launch her enterprise.
