Since we started The Jetsetting Family in 2017, we’ve learned A LOT about building an online business. We had basic experience in web design, social media and digital marketing, but made up for it with grit and determination. After a lot of experimentation, mistakes, and successes, we’ve been able to build out several sources of income that allow us to live a flexible lifestyle. While we may not have the comfort of a steady salary, we have the flexibility to chase after opportunities that excite us, build a business together, and travel to incredible places! Here are the different ways we make money as travel creators:
1. Travel Collaborations
This was the reason we originally started our business. We wanted to find opportunities to travel more together while working with travel and hospitality brands that would subsidize our travels (and eventually pay us to work with them). This consists of reaching out to hotels, tourism boards, and tour operators via email with a media kit offering our photography/videography services in exchange for free stays/experiences, or payment. This type of work is called content creation or UGC (user generated content). At first, we leveraged our skills to deliver content that brands could use on their marketing channels. As our social media audience grew, we were able to also pitch influencer marketing campaigns, where we could create photo and video content for their use AND we’d post it on our social media channels so those brands could have additional reach. Because of this, we’ve been able to travel to 40+ countries as we had a lifestyle traveling full-time and working with brands along the way.
2. Product Partnerships
Now that we have a home base, we’ve been able to leverage our experience working with travel brands into more broad product partnership opportunities. We identify the brands that we love to use, and reach out to see if we can serve as ambassadors for their product. This could be a mix of content only (called User-Generated Content or UGC), influencer jobs (posting on our social media only), or a mix of both. If it is a brand we plan to promote on our channel we always make sure it is a brand we love and that aligns with our everyday life. Some brands we have worked with and posted on our channel are West Elm, Old Navy, Rack Room Shoes, and Google. Some brands we have strictly done content for includes credit.com, Target, AAA travel, and California Walnuts. Aside from the income generated from the content or distribution itself, it also provides us opportunities for affiliate marketing (see the next section).
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money online. It involves promoting a specific product to an audience that you’ve built, and collecting a commission from the company anytime someone makes a purchase (at no cost to the product buyer). It’s a great way to earn passive income, and it doesn’t require much effort on your part. There are many different affiliate programs to choose from, so you can find one that’s a good fit for your audience. We love ShareASale, Like to Know it, and CJ Affiliate the most. And best of all, you can start earning money right away! So if you’re looking for a way to monetize your blog, affiliate marketing is definitely worth considering. It might take some time to grow your blog or social media to generate traffic, but this is something that you can start working on with a small audience already. If you want to know more about affiliate marketing check out our free guide: here.
4. Digital Courses
Creating content can be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. And, if you’re lucky, it can also be a great way to earn some extra income. One of the ways we make money from our content is by selling a course on how to pitch hotels and brands for paid partnerships. We spent years figuring out what works and now we love sharing that roadmap with others in hopes that it makes their journey easier. The course is packed with useful information, including how to find the right contacts, what to say in your pitch, and how to follow up. We also share our own personal experiences and lessons learned so you can avoid making the same mistakes we did. If you’re interested in learning more about pitching hotels and brands for paid partnerships, then this course is for you.
We’re also working on a photography course called Make it Frameworthy. Digital photography has become much more accessible, and the course is built around helping others frame, shoot, and edit images that they’d be proud to display in their home.
5. Short-Term Rental Hosting
In 2020, we visited an area in the Gulf coast of Florida called 30A. We fell in love with the laid back vibe and charming towns there, so we purchased our first short term rental property there. In 2022, after seeing a lot of success with our first rental, we bought our second. Anyone that’s been to 30A knows it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth. With its clear emerald waters and white sandy beaches, it’s no wonder that people flock here from all over the world. When my husband and I decided that we wanted to start hosting on Airbnb and VRBO, we knew that we wanted our properties to be in this area. We were lucky enough to find two small condos that fit our budget and were perfect for rental purposes. Now we are able to offer our guests a unique experience while also earning extra income. We love being able to share our little slice of paradise with others and hope that our guests fall in love with 30A just as much as we have.
Nowadays, operating as a short term rental property host doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy a bunch of properties. We’ve met others that have generated a sizable amount of income managing short term rentals for other owners. We actually now operate a family home in Ixtapa, Mexico as well and charge a management fee. As long as you can show expertise of short term rental sites like Airbnb or Vrbo, and you can offer competitive pricing as compared to traditional rental management companies, then you can get your foot in the door by simply reaching out to property owners in the area that you’re interested in.
6. Website/Podcast Ads
This is a source of income that we’re putting a lot of time into. While monetizing our blog or podcast can generate a more passive style of income, it also requires a certain level of web traffic (or podcast downloads) to be worthwhile. Advertisements on digital media are typically paid per how many thousands of visits are generated from the piece of content. To do this, we’ve created a plan to publish two blog posts and one podcast episode every week. Our blog posts are designed to answer questions that people may have, or provide resources to help others. By optimizing for search engines (SEO), we give our content a chance to be searched for and discovered by new readers and listeners every week, which helps grow our traffic to the point where it would be worthwhile to run ads on.
Distribution
Overall currently at the beginning of 2023 our income is roughly distributed as follows:
Travel Collaborations – 30%
Product Collaborations – 25%
Affiliate Marketing – 5%
Digital Courses – 5%
Short Term Rentals – 30%
Website/ Podcasts Ads – 5%
With that being said we have not had an actual digital course launch in 2 years so expect that number to increase as we relaunch this year. We also are heavily focusing on product collaborations and affiliate marketing in 2023 so expect those numbers to shift as well.
We hope this gave you a better understanding of how we make money as content creators. We’re looking forward to expanding our revenue streams in 2023 so keep an eye out for some exciting projects! If you have any questions or suggestions for future blog topics, feel free to leave us a comment below. And as always, thanks for following along on our journey!
