In 2015, when I was first working on what would become Dream of Travel Writing, I had a surprising discussion with the head of one of the main conferences for travel content creators about how much I was paid to write blog posts for my tour company clients.

He was flabbergasted that I was able to convince clients to pay $250 for a post and wanted me to do a talk about it.

The next year, an editor from National Geographic saw the cover of my book when I brought a preview to a dinner with friends.

He called the concept that *anyone* could be a six-figure travel writer ballsy.

Back then, there wasn’t a lot of information about:

  1. how to market your travel writing and ideas
  2. how much different places paid.

I still vividly remember how hard I worked to find anything at all specific to freelance travel writing in 2007 when I first quit my job. And I kept close tabs on every new thing that came out looking for valuable nuggets to boost my business. I literally found one company with courses, and one guy giving a webinar on someone else’s platform.

Quite a lot has changed since then.

Travel still remains one of the most important industries in the world, employing one in 10 of all people worldwide and accounting for $8 of every 100 dollars spent.

Content creators–the ones who inspire travelers to even be interested in destinations and inform visitors how to reach those destinations and what to do when they are there, among many other important topics–are now far better positioned to earn an income that correlates to the actual amount of time and work they do researching and familiarizing themselves with destinations.

Many travel writers have stepped into seeing themselves as small business owners, whether that means:

  • putting their article ideas out for bidding amount different publications to get the best rates,
  • owning their own content engines and being paid directly for the products they market, or
  • getting paid directly for the eyeballs they generate on social media or their websites the ways editorial outlets are paid for advertising.

We are now in an age where you can be paid five figures for a single image on Instagram. But let’s not gloss over all of the work that makes that possible.

(Incidentally, I’ve worked with writers to do all the above over the years, along with many, many more ways of earning a solid and sustainable living with this work!)

When I started working with people one-on-one myself, people wanted to know what they specifically should do, but they also had a lot of specific informational questions. They wanted a brain dump from me.

Now, the landscape is so much more crowded–both with options and information–that it’s comparatively easy to get thousands of ideas about where to start and exactly what to do.

What’s hard is knowing what is actually the right thing for you.

For:

  • who you are
  • your circumstances
  • your favorite things to write about,
  • your work style
  • your pet peeves with clients
  • your way of writing
  • your travel style
  • your mode of working with clients
  • your time management approach
  • your comfort with numbers and business systems and planning

A.k.a the thousands and thousands of things that make one thing fit you love a glove—and feel like you are actually living the dream you envisioned for yourself—and some other tip, tactic, or tool make you want to give up on your dream immediately.

As it has become easier, in many key ways, to earn a sustainable and sustaining income creating travel content, it’s become dizzying:

  • the number of ways to go about it,
  • the different places to learn about how to do,
  • the number of people with methods to follow,
  • the steps involved, and
  • the decision points where you must sort through different options.

Creating truly customized plans and ideas that meet each of you where you are takes a lot of time and expertise, but it’s something I remain as committed to as when we first started Dream of Travel Writing.

Ever since the beginning, I’ve helped people individually and in small groups to build sustainable businesses that supported their dreams for themselves and their careers.

That hasn’t changed. And it won’t.

But how we actually go about helping the people who need it must shift to meet the changing demands those creating content face today.

And my own reality.

One thing that has changed, as some of you may have heard, is my health, and my ability to attend dozens of conferences in-person every year, single-handedly run our own live workshops, and be on point for back-to-back-to-back calls and webinars in the same day.

How will I balance a commitment to customizing what people really need with my new, more limited reality?

We’ve spent the last year diving really deeply on this, and are so excited to finally share with you all what we’ve been working on.

Through these difficult years, the excitement of creating something that I knew would help someone–even if it was just one or a handful of people–was such an important light on the horizon for me. I kept a vision of helping people feel a sense of ease and focus in their work where there had before been confusion and block as a fire to motivate me.

It really means a lot to open these things up to you now.

To be ready to support you even better than ever before, I’ve:

  • read (really) hundreds of books that touch on every area of awesome-izing your business,
  • earned an Advanced Applied Positive Psychology Certificate from the University of Pennsylvania, including classes dedicated to experiential learning, work, relationships, creativity, resilience, and character strengths,
  • worked through three years of Business Accelerator business coaching with Full Focus Co (formerly Michael Hyatt & Company), and
  • completed mentor coaching with Positive Acorn, run by leaders in the coaching psychology and applied positive psychology fields.

Here on the blog and in our newsletter, we’ll be announcing all sorts of new initiatives, events, and programs soon, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek of how we’re shifting our focus in ways that I hope will create serious traction for you in your life and business.

Going forward, you’ll see a big emphasis on:

  • Flourishing over Languishing: Would you like to stop suffering for success and get going building a flourishing life and business? For many years, a lot of us were languishing, myself most certainly included. I’ve spent the last year studying the science of flourishing, and I am so excited to share all the different evidence-backed ways this will change your work, routine, and relationships for the better. Incredibly cool science has shown that, especially for creators, flourishing isn’t the prize. It’s the path to your best work.
  • Transformation over Information: It is so easy, probably too easy, to get information today. You don’t really need more of it. What you need is action. Transformative forward action toward your most meaningful dreams in particular. We have built everything new that we are working on around providing you the most and best opportunities for transformative experiences.
  • Evidence over Anecdote: So many corners of the internet these days are awash with one’s person’s story getting blown up into gospel. We want to focus on what has clear evidence, including scientific studies from applied psychology or business schools whenever possible, so that any advice we give you has been proven to work for most people most of the time.
  • Systems over Sisyphus: We don’t want you to ever have to push the same rock up the same hill. We’ve had incredible experiences over the last five years working with people on setting up systems for their business—and bringing in outside contractors to help when appropriate—so that your time stays focused on what you do best: exercising your creativity.
  • Customized over Cookie Cutter: One of the main things I’ve been working on is a whole suite of tools for you to design every aspect of your business exactly to what you would want, and I can’t wait to share it with you. You’ll also see this emphasis in our coaching program revamp along with some cool things coming down the line like our new instant Q&A tool.

I am really brimming with excitement to be able to be back with you all after getting through a litany of health challenges over the past few years.

Thank you for being part of our community!

I can’t wait to see what is next for you. And to hear exactly how you’d like us to help. 

To your flourishing,
Gabi

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