travel blogger

Want To Become Full-Time Travel Blogger? Here’s My Advise!

Planning to become a full-time travel blogger? Here’s what you need to know first!

Off-late I’ve started getting a lot of messages from my readers showing their interest in travelling and becoming a full-time travel blogger — people working as investment bankers and engineers earning a seven-figure income, yet unsatisfied with their lifestyle, wanting to break into the ever-glorious field of travel blogging.

In the previous month itself — and particularly after my recent blog trip with The Golden Chariot luxury train — I’ve received more than 100 such messages stating “I want to become a full-time travel blogger but just don’t know where to start from, and how to do it!”

So if you too are struggling with a similar unsettling bug of making travel blogging a career choice, but not sure how to get started, this blog is for you!

travel bloggers

Never Start As A Full-Time Travel Blogger

Blogging is a slow process. It takes time to eventually become a full-time travel blogger. Even if you’re exceptionally good at writing content and have a fair knowledge of SEO and digital marketing, expect no sudden monetary benefits out of your travel blog.

Expect almost no revenue generation (or even sponsored trips) during your first year of a full-time travel blogging stint. So, the best thing to do is to start as a part-time travel blogger.

Start with a Facebook page or an Instagram handle and build your community. If you are sure that you’re eventually going to become a full-time travel blogger, buy a hosting plan, build a website and keep travel blogging until you see a potential return.

Though I know that I was one of those bloggers who quit their job to travel and started as a full-time travel blogger from day 1, I still advise people not to follow the same path. I managed to start making money from travel blogging because I had a fair knowledge of how online publication businesses work, thanks to my previous few corporate jobs. But you may just belong to a different field and that makes a difference.

So, start with part-time travel blogging and let your blog grow to an assuring point.

full time travel

Save Enough Before Starting Full-Time Travel Blogging

One thing I always advise people showing their interest in discontinuing their previous lifestyle and becoming full-time travel bloggers is to have some financial assurance before they do so. Have enough money in your bank account so that you can sustain for at least a couple of years, even if you made no money from travel blogging.

When I quit my job I had enough money to be able to keep travelling for 3 or 4 years without making any money. Having some financial assurance allows you to keep going. And as with every business, with blogging too, if you survived your initial couple of years, consider your business a success.

Now, another thing to keep in mind is where you’re coming from. For an Indian, for example, working and travelling internationally is not possible unlike for people with a stronger passport. For instance, people from Western Europe can easily move to Australia (and many other countries) without having to deal with a work permit, and work and travel at the same time. This means they can continue travelling, and keep making money on the go. For Indians, or someone having a similar useless passport as the weak Indian passport travelling anywhere out of their country only means travelling and bleeding money!

So before you decide to become a full-time travel blogger, make sure you’ve enough money saved in your bank account depending on your travel choices and personal lifestyle.

full time travel bloggers

Start As A Budget Traveller

When I initially started travel blogging, I had no idea when I monetize from my blog. Naturally, I started as a budget traveller. I wanted to make sure that my money lasted longer. I would camp in the Himalayas and save money on accommodation, or hitchhike and save on transportation.

However with time, and as I started making money from travel blogging, and sponsored trips became more frequent, I changed course from budget backpacking to premium flashpacking.

Now, had I not cared about my spending during the initial days of my full-time travel blogging, I might have run out of money long before. So be thoughtful of your resources and create a long-term plan.

travel blogging

Find Your USP

The key to successful travel blogging, or any kind of blogging for that matter, is standing out from the crowd. Rather than trying to cover every topic and being everything to everyone, focus on one or two areas of expertise.  Understand your passion and create content around it.

For example, adventure and solo travel are my core focus areas. After this, I write a bit about city guides and travel blogging tips, all while keeping the Indian community in mind. If I am talking about how much money you need to travel in Thailand, for example, I will write it while keeping Indians in mind and convert all prices to Indian Rupees.

Branding is what has differentiated me from other travel blogs out there. The same will apply to you.

beach pictures
Last but not least, professional travel blogging is tough, and if you think that this job is just an extended vacation, you are very, very wrong. Travel blogging is like having a 365-day job with no vacations and no annual leaves. It’s a different thing that once you get into the business and get comfortable, you start enjoying it.

Having said that, and to conclude it on a positive note, let me say this… Travel Blogging is the best thing that ever happened to me! Being a full-time travel blogger is a wonderful feeling.

Also, see this video from my YouTube channel, now that I am making videos too:

Categories Travel Blogging

About

I am Dev, and I've been travelling full-time since 2016. I was a journalism student & started my corporate career as a documentary film-maker in England, before moving to India & becoming a full-time nomad. 25+countries. 50+ Brand Partnerships. And the adventure continues...

  1. Varun Sharma

    Thanks for your advise, it really helps.

  2. Wonderful article for a new blogger like me who is still struglling between full time job and part time blogging. After reading I think I am doing right, Thanks bro

  3. bishal basnet

    WOW, Nice I like the way you openly portrayed your background and cautioned the fence sitter. It’s always good to be cautious before getting in. Good luck..

  4. Rahul Khatri

    Hey that’s Alex Chacon sitting on the left… 🙂

    • Yes bro. Was on a blog trip with him and a few other international bloggers. Guess you follow him fairly well.

  5. Manjulika Pramod

    You have advised rightly. People need to start slow, maybe part time first, have enough financial security and then put their heart and soul into blogging. One should be prepared to cut down on indulgence. Once you start doing good, blogging is sustainable. Like I have never felt the urge to join job again.

  6. Maheshwaran Jothi

    Nice, liked the way you openly portrayed your background and cautioned the fence sitters. It’s always good to be caution before getting in. Good luck.

  7. very useful tips here
    There are lot many people who quit there jobs for travel and so many people who thinks travel blogging is all about glamorous lifestyle and pretty beautiful pictures.But this is not the case. I love you quoted start with Part time blogging, you will get the idea how this one suited you or not.
    Thanks for sharing this article.

  8. Prinze Linda

    Hi,
    More informative and amazing article written on good contents. I really appreciate your hard work and recommend this one with friends.

    Good Work, Nice article and Thanks for Sharing.

  9. Rahul Gandhi

    I have particularly loved the fact how bluntly you pointed out the irony or travelling with an Indian passport. I have seen Europeans travelling and working for years while moving from one country to the other, while we just cannot even imagine it. It’s definitely easier for someone having a stronger passport to travel without having a need to save any money in the bank account as they can keep earning while on the go, whereas we need to do so as we cannot work and travel. We cannot even do that in our own country because poor salaries don’t allow us to.

    • Prinze Linda

      I have no words to appreciate your over great article.

      Keep sharing. Thanks

  10. A great post indeed 🙂

  11. You’ve pointed out a few very useful pointers Dev that is easy to remember but hard to comprehend. Thankyou for a great post

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