Want to live like a travel blogger?

As a travel blogger who is, let’s say, semi-well known in this industry, I get a lot of offers from around the travel world. Perks, free trips, free gear – things like that.

One of the best known of these blogger “perks” is getting comped by hotels, airlines and tourism boards.

Getting “comped” is just a fancy name for being given something for free. Travel bloggers get comped all the time on free trips, free flights, free hotel stays. In return they write a review on their blogs and share it with all their readers. In most cases it’s a win-win; the blogger gets a free trip, the client gets some marketing juice. It’s a pretty standard arrangement in the travel blogging world.

I get offers like this often, but if you’ve been a reader here for a while, you’ve probably noticed I’ve never accepted any of them. The reason is, my goal when I started this blog was to show people that budget travel was possible for everyone. Even if you worked a minimum wage job, even if you could only save $100 a week, you could still make it happen. That’s the message I wanted to share.

There was no way I could preach that if all my travel was paid for by hotels and tourism boards. The only way I could show you budget travel was possible was if I was out there actually doing it, and paying for it, myself. So over the years, I turned all those offers down.

Then, as my blog grew, I started getting emails from people who were on journeys around the world – people who had actually used the guides on my blog to actually go out and achieve their travel dreams, thanking me for helping them make it happen. That was an awesome feeling – bigger than awesome.

That’s when it dawned on me.

This website is a community of travellers now. And even if I can’t accept all these free trips in my inbox…maybe…you could. You, the readers, who have been saving your travel funds for years, who have finally made it to the road, who are now on your own journeys around the world. Maybe I could offer you the chance to experience the travel blogger life – maybe a free tour to add to your journey, a free hotel stay in the big city. If I’d gotten that when I started travelling, it would have been the coolest thing in the world!

This is what my Sponsored Reader initiative is about.

Instead of me undertaking sponsored travel from brands and writing reviews on the blog, I offer these opportunities to you, the readers. This allows brands to get exposure on the blog, readers to experience free travel (and blogger life!), and gives me a way to give back to my loyal readers. It’s truly a win-win-win!

What do you need to get chosen as a Sponsored Reader?

Nothing.

Nothing except a kickass attitude and a willingness to learn. Even if you’ve never written a blog post before, don’t take very good photos, or a new to the road, it doesn’t matter. What I’m after is attitude. I will mentor you through the entire experience, and when you’re done we’ll put together an awesome piece for the blog, together. As long as you’re willing to give it your best shot, I’d be happy to take you on.

So keep an eye out. All Sponsored Reader opportunities are announced exclusively on my email newsletter. Make sure you’re signed up, and wait to hear from me.

You can sign up for the newsletter by clicking here.

Talk soon 😉

B