Down the Rabbit Hole 🕳️🐇 of Opportunities
Down the Rabbit Hole 🕳️🐇 of Opportunities
Issue #2
“I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner. It is only through a human’s efforts that an idea can be escorted out of the ether and into the realm of the actual.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert
Nothing bothers me more than an unfulfilled business idea. It’s like an itch in the back of my mind that I just can’t scratch until I start bringing it to fruition.
How about you?
This can be quite frustrating though when I’m already busy with a carefully planned out launch or another creative project...🙄
It needs to manifest itself & it won’t stop bothering me until I do something about it.
📘 All of which makes me think of the quote above... (seriously, if you haven’t read that book yet, drop everything and read it now!)
This happened to me again recently though and is the whole reason why I started this newsletter...
First, I discovered and subscribed to Francis Nayan’s The Nomad Newsletter, then I contributed my Hotel Sponsorship Pitch Letter Templates to the free bundle for Lizzy’s Christmas Party and came across Jessica William's awesome Curated Newsletter Mini-Course sharing her lessons learned through her #jesspicks newsletter.
👌 BTW if you don’t know Elizabeth Goddard (Lizzy) then I highly suggest checking out her Everything Page1 and getting to know my favorite biz mentor.
The Universe was speaking to me and it wanted me to start a newsletter... so off I went down the rabbit hole 🕳️🐇 and spent the last few weeks deep in research mode… 🔎
As Khe Hy of Rad Reads says, “your rabbit hole is someone else's treasure.”
I realized that I wanted to create a free newsletter that provided real value to other travel writers/bloggers or travelpreneurs in the form of:
Job opportunities
Paid writing opportunities at publications/magazines
Press trip/sponsored travel opportunities
Tourism board & travel PR contacts
Pitching tips & hacks
Resources for creating a profitable & successful freedom lifestyle
More to come...
I even polled my awesome community of Wildly Successful Travelpreneurs to find out what would get you really excited to open up my newsletter each week.
But I soon realized in order to do this, I would need to tap into my network of contacts in the travel industry while also spending time going down the rabbit hole each week to find truly useful opportunities & resources.
Luckily, I fancy myself a modern-day Alice in Wanderland bravely plummeting down the internet rabbit hole each week to curate a newsletter that helps you create a successful location-independent freedom lifestyle.
Basically, I want to use my own network, list of contacts, and personal resources to give you a roundup of everything you need each week to become a wildly successful travelpreneur...
Besides the opportunities & resources I’ll share each week, I also want to drop some knowledge on you.
The expertise will revolve around a central theme each month.
Our theme for March is Networking (Travel/Blogging Conferences)
So, before we get to the good stuff, here’s the schedule for March:
1 March - Why you should use travel/blogging conferences as a networking strategy
8 March - Travel/Blogging conferences to attend in 2022
15 March - Tips for successful networking at conferences
22 March - Following up with contacts after the conference
29 March - My secret hack for making travel conferences more affordable
The Good Stuff 🔥
Curious Find 🔮
An alternative to AirBnB… that focuses on Community Powered Tourism.
Fairbnb.coop gives both travelers and locals the opportunity to participate in a more responsible and sustainable tourism model by supporting social and ecological projects for the local communities.
Freebies 🆓
Does your travel blog, brand, or business need more exposure? Well, then you need to up your publicity game. Selena Soo’s 2022 Publicity Calendar is the ideal starting point. Her handy calendar guide has 12 months’ worth of Story ideas that should help you get the media’s attention.
Join a free masterclass with Diane Cunningham to learn 7 Ways to Show Up and Be Seen so that You can Get Paid. The masterclass is taking place later today so register for it quick!
Please do *not* mention me as the person who referred you in your applications and pitch emails. Just because I'm sharing these with you does not mean I am a reference and dropping my name won’t help you get the job :)
Travel Jobs 🧳
Remote opportunity for a Virtual Assistant (VA). Chantal Stephens of With Chantel, who does marketing & PR, is looking to hire a virtual assistant to help with email management, content creation, and social media management.
If interested, fill in this form.
Flytrippers is looking for Travel Rewards Ghostwriters to join their team. This is a remote opportunity for anyone who loves travel and has experience with travel hacking and using reward points to fund their travels. The position is on a month-to-month basis with the possibility of renewing your contract for a year after a trial period. Learn more and apply here!
Paid Writing Opportunities ✍️
Love Paris and the Eiffel Tower? Eiffel Tower Tour is looking for blog writers to write ~1,000-word posts about the most famous landmark in Paris. The rate starts at $100 but can edge up if you're able to share your blog posts on social media. Apply via this form.
How about New York City and the Statue of Liberty? Statue of Liberty Tour is looking for freelance writers, preferably based in NYC, who can write about this incredible monument — what it's like to visit, its history, little-known facts, and more. Most posts are around 1,000 words for $100 and include sourcing photos. This is great for a new travel writer looking to expand their portfolio as they want to publish a lot of content. And they do pay promptly! If you're interested, fill out this form to apply.
Insider Life is the lifestyle section of Insider. Their daily features editor is looking for freelance pitches. They cover the following beats: entertainment; digital culture; health; food and drink; fashion, beauty and style; home and design; travel; weddings; and the royals. Their features editor mostly commissions longer, reported pieces (1,000-2,000 words). According to payment reports, they pay up to $1/word for deeply reported features. For more information, refer to their daily features editor’s Tweet and their features pitch guide.
BONUS: 85 Publications That Pay Writers (Travel Edition)
Press/Media Trips 🌐
Matador is seeking an adventurous travel creator for an 8-day press trip to Iceland. They are specifically looking for a travel photographer who can create a travel essay while also capturing video footage for use on TikTok. Learn more about what’s included and excluded before applying here.
Tools for Travelpreneurs 🛠️
If you have anything to do with Membervault (it's a course and membership platform where I host my Pitch to Travel course) no doubt you'll have seen their pricing announcement earlier this week. In a nutshell, their much loved free plan is going away completely at the end of March and for all new accounts after that date, there will be one simple price of $99/month. However, if you already have one or sign up for a paid plan ($19/month)2 before 1 April then you'll be locked in at that price. So, I suggest if you’re planning to create a course or membership this year, you should jump on this before the chance is gone. Membervault has the most comprehensive list of features for course creators and their customer service is absolutely incredible.
Interesting Reads... 📰
👉 As someone from a developing country with a 👎 passport, I’m always on the lookout for possible options to live/work in other countries. This list of 7 Countries That Offer Digital Nomad Travel Visas has 2 countries that I’ve considered (Portugal & Mauritius).
👉 Experts Predict The Most Popular Travel Destinations Of 2022. Leave a comment below to let me know which of these are on your list…
Bonus Content 🤩
Dream Job Challenge: Win a chance to travel the world for 12 months for free (worth over $85,000) The end date is 23:59 on Monday 28th February 2022.
FlyCoin, a cryptocurrency-based travel rewards technology company based in California, raised more than $33 million in an oversubscribed seed round.
Creator Shout-Out 📣
I connected with Kate early last year in my Facebook Group and absolutely love the wintery content she’s creating recently while exploring Slovenia with her little family. Give her a follow!
Share & Win 🏆
Every week, I’ll be gifting one lucky subscriber my newest digital product, the Pitch Perfect Media Kit Guide & Workbook (worth $49). For a chance to win all you have to do is share this newsletter!
You can share it on Instagram too. Just make sure to follow me @oursoulfultravels and then tag me in your post or story.
Until next week…
With love,
Daniella
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👍 Yes, super excited! - 😐 Sort of. - 👎 Not really.
I spend hours each week to read, curate, and write this newsletter to bring only the best to your inbox. You can now share this newsletter in less than 5 seconds to show support for which I'll forever be thankful.
OR
Thanks for your support!
I’ve taken a bunch of her courses and am part of her students-only FB Group (the entrepreneur community I mentioned in the previous issue) and love her fun approach to business.
I personally use and love Membervault. I first launched my course on Teachable but felt restricted by their lower-tier offers. With Membervault you have access to all their features on the lowest tier so definitely worth it.