She travels

Hi NomadHers!

Your fellow NomadHer SooMin, reporting from sunny Madeira 🏝️ At the beginning of June, I worked as a digital nomad on the island with the NomadHer team. Thought I would check-in and talk about what it is like to live the digital nomad life!

First of all, what is a digital nomad?

It’s a word that is used for people that have careers or jobs that are in large part or fully remote. This means you might be employed, for example, in Germany by a German startup but you’re residing, paying taxes, and officially based in another country - like Vietnam for example. Or maybe you don’t even live in a different country. Maybe you live in Germany, but you constantly change your location and work from there. One week in Peru, the other in Brazil… It’s been a new way of working that’s always existed, but that has become more pronounced with the Covid-19 pandemic.

For those wondering, I am currently working as a Freelance Business Consultant for South Korean SMEs wanting to do business in Europe. My work is project-based so some months I’m crazy busy, other months, super free. In parallel, I’m finishing a second Master’s degree right now, also fully remote. I’ve also previously launched my own ed-tech project in 2020 and was a COO. My cofounder lives in another country from me so we both worked together remotely on that project too.

I haven’t been properly in an office, classroom setting or meeting room in almost 3 years now. So yes, I am indeed a digital nomad!

Before I chat with you about my experience, do you love the idea of being a digital nomad? Does it sound like a dream way of working? Or an absolute nightmare? Comment below before you start reading about my experience to compare, and see if your vision of things may change after reading 😉

In my experience, when I tell people I am a digital nomad, the usual response I get are the two following:

“you’re so lucky, being able to work at the beach in a bikini… You must love being a digital nomad! Work must not even feel like work for you.”

Or,

“it doesn’t feel like you’re working in a very serious way. Surely you can’t get anything done working from home like that all the time. Don’t you get depressed from it?”

I would say there is some level of truth in those statements, but also a large amount of misconception. So, let’s talk about what it’s really like to be a digital nomad. The good and the ugly!

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💦 You work just as much being a digital nomad as not being one.

If you’re committed to working and your monthly income depends on it, you’re going to work hard, no matter the job format. If you’re a digital nomad and you get lazy at work or just don’t show up by partying at the beach, your workplace will definitely let you go. Even digital nomads that are founders themselves work twice as much sometimes even though they have employees working for them and they’re working with the dream scenery in front of them. From the perspective of someone that works in an office, remote work may seem like a joke or a holiday - but it really is neither. Deadlines remain deadlines and working towards a salary, to be able to pay your employees, to support your family… Those are very real concerns. And whether those concerns are within the office setting or outside, they remain the same. You may be working at the beach, yes. You may have an amazing landscape in front of you. The reality is though, you’ve got things to do.

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📍 You don’t actually always end up discovering the dream location you’re working at.

About that dream scenery in front of you while working - this may become the only scenery you end up seeing. What’s surprising sometimes about remote work is that even though you’re working or living in your dream country, because you’re so busy you just may not have time to visit anything or do anything. This depends of course on how much work you’ve got to do and what your work may expect of you - but it’s definitely a thing. Even worse, if you go to a country where your wifi connection isn’t at 100%, you may have to go on the hunt for a coworking space or simply stay in your hotel room. Which really is not very much different from working in an office setting.

😭 Being a digital nomad can be lonely.

Depending on the line of work you do, you may have to work alone. Without a team next to you, things can get lonely pretty fast. Even for people that have digital teams that they constantly do online meetings with, the lack of human contact can get tiresome real fast. That Zoom/Skype/Meets fatigue is real. Loneliness can also affect your productivity too. As you’re a digital nomad, you have to force yourself to be productive, plan your own work days and be your own boss. Don’t feel like working because you see the bed next to you at home? Or the beach? Tough luck, you’ve got to work on that productivity. This could mean taking a quick jog to get your brain working again or changing the spot you’ve been working at. But it still means you’ve got to motivate yourself to do it. All by your lonesome self.

… But there are great things too!

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🗺️ Location flexibility still means the world is your oyster.

I mentioned sometimes you don’t end up travelling as much as you’d think. It’s true, but if you’re also a healthy nomad that makes sure to keep your health and work/life balance on track, you’ll be energized enough to enjoy your weekends or days off. That’s when the world will really feel like your oyster. Maybe you spent Monday to Friday working in a coworking space in Costa Rica - but on the weekend you’re going to be able to hit the beach, meet locals, go surfing, and eat some great food. It’s all about balance. This is definitely a privilege you can’t quite indulge in if you’re a classic 9 to 5 Monday to Friday office worker, because you’d need to take official holiday days off to leave the place you live in.

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👭 Make friends and meet coworkers beyond your permanent personal and professional location.

Working in a traditional office you’ll mainly meet people within your office, partners of the place you work at or people in direct relation with the place you work at. As a digital nomad, the people you meet professionally are super diverse. Not only are your online coworkers may be located all over the world, from all sorts of places, and based in all kinds of timezones; your network will expand in directions you may not even expect! You may meet fellow digital nomads at a coworking space in another country. Or people working in completely different fields from you that also are digital nomads in the country you’re visiting.

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⏰ Time becomes your friend.

Being a digital nomad is great for people that are good at planning and being organized about their work. Maybe you’re not much of a morning person? As a digital nomad, that’s fine as long as you’d be able to make your meetings. Maybe one day you’ll need to get up at 3 am because you have a meeting with colleagues on the other side of the world. Bummer. But maybe in the next 5 days, you’ll be able to sleep in until 11 am and start your work day late, and instead work later into the evening. Maybe one day you work a half-day and the next, slightly more than a traditional full day. Time truly becomes your friend with remote work, if you’re dedicated to keeping on track with everything.

One last note.

Pro-tip for those considering a digital nomad life: the constant battle will be maintaining a healthy balance between personal and professional life. Precisely because you are a digital nomad, the two sometimes blur into each other. Burnouts are no joke, and your mental and physical health both truly come first. So if you’re considering this format of work, you’ve got to draw clear boundaries for yourself. Exercise regularly, learn to pull yourself away from work, and always dedicate some solid days off from work. There will always be another day to work on things, another moment to finish up what you’re working on.

This way of working is for some, not for others. Like everything in life ✨ Good luck!

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Hi NomadHers!

Your fellow NomadHer SooMin reporting from Madeira. It’s my last week of the Digital Nomadher Challenge in Madeira which makes me a bit sad, it’s been extremely healing to be here. I’m going to miss being able to go to the beach whenever I want, working at the beach… I’m definitely more of a lizard than a polar bear when it comes to weather, so it’s been amazing being here.

10 days sure fly by real quick. I’ll be sure to be back another time in the future though!

Today I thought I would write to you NomadHers about living as a woman, travelling as a woman and seeing the world as a woman. We are after all, a community of women so I thought it would be a subject most of you would be able to empathise with.

I’ve always felt comfortable in the body I was born in, I’ve never questioned being assigned female at birth, but with time, through the different experiences, the ups and the downs, I’ve realised being a woman isn’t really a problem for me, but rather, a problem sometimes for others. You don’t ask to be treated a certain way, perceived in a particular lens, but it just keeps happening. It’s definitely draining, and some days are harder than others. But I really hope that with this post I could send a virtual letter to all of you lovely NomadHers, telling you there will always be a better day, and that there are so many other women out there that will understand your story and give you the pat on the back you deserve.

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I read a book recently called ‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982’ (82년생 김지영). Written by a fellow South Korean, it’s a famous feminist novel about the story of Jiyoung. It shows what it is like to be a South Korean woman today, with a kid and married. It also tells the tale of what it’s like simply to be assigned female at birth in modern South Korea. I had this book on my reading list for a long time, many of my friends had recommended the book to me but I had put it off as I had other things to read. Flying to Madeira, I read the book, feeling ready to delve into some heartfelt literature - and it was indeed heartfelt and heartbreaking.

My heart broke every time Jiyoung would have to check the public toilets for secret cameras filming women (몰래카메라), when she would overhear that her mother had sacrificed her possibility to go to university by supporting the family, earning money to send her brothers to university. When she was called names for being a ‘hindrance’ as a woman wanting to be in restaurants and cafés with her child. When she spoke of ‘having to’ give up her career to be a housewife, cleaning and taking care of her child. Every time her hard work as a housewife wouldn’t be deemed labour.

It reminded me how much more we need to do to achieve equal rights. After reading the book, I sat in the airplane thinking to myself what this means for me as a woman too. I’ve definitely experienced some similar things in South Korea, being a woman there is hard. But really, being a woman anywhere is. Intersectionality. I’m an immigrant woman in Europe, and will always be seen as one no matter how long I’ve lived there. I’m queer, so people will always have their own opinions about who I love and how I love them. I don’t want kids and I am heavily tattooed. These choices I’ve made about my body has labelled me as ‘that type of woman’.

Do I really care though? No. This is my life. I am South Korean, so I do understand the pitfalls of a heavily communitarian society. But I’m also an immigrant in Europe, so I do understand and have experienced the pitfalls of an overly individualistic one. What I’ve come to terms with is that you sort of have to find a balance between the two. It’s really hard to get to the point of “I am who I am, and this is how my existence is defined”, but I’ve found once you get there the mountains and hills you have to climb are worth it.

And finding women like you online, that tell me bravely that you’ve travelled in Tanzania alone, have done a backpacking trip in LATAM by yourself… All these stories tell me that ultimately, although society and others may try to pull us back, we have to stand strong and believe in what we need to make our own space in the world we live in. Maybe for some of us the cage that we’re trapped in is even ourselves, our own fears, our own traumas. It’s important to recognise this and try to take the next steps into recapturing what is our very own lives, our purpose.

Let’s keep sending each other the love and support that is sometime hard to find in the depths of oneself, take a small step, one step at a time to make the world a better place, a safer place to live in.

I believe in all of you NomadHers. Who knows, maybe the next step in your life to find your purpose is a solo trip. Or a girls’ trip! Pick a country you’ve always dreamt of, and just throw yourself into the experience. You never know what you may find out about yourself.

Pro tip: I’ve found seeing a therapist that is of a similar cultural background and a woman has helped a lot with understanding myself, loving myself and feeling confident. Do it if you find it may be worthwhile for you!

So much love and hugs,

Your fellow NomadHer sister, SooMin

#digitalnomadherchallenge

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How borders separate us, how language and culture are different, There are values that we can share. Olive Soreng tells her story of the last bonfire and what she learned about re-using ash.  Do you have a similar story like this? here is her story❤️

Currently on holidays for Christmas and New Year's in my hometown, Jharkhand, India. Having brought up in different countries, made me less knowledgeable about my own home. It is only through my mother's stories that I've only heard about my roots. My father is now retired and my parents have settled in the hometown.

Ever since we returned to India, whenever my sister and I, visit home for the holidays, we make it a point to actually experience life as is and make do with whatever is available around us.

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✨So what can you do with the leftover of last night’s bonfire?

Today morning, a day after Christmas, my mother made us strain the leftover. We separated the charcoal from the ash with the help of a strainer.

What I learned today will forever be imprinted in my memory — We used the Ash to sprinkle over the onion and garlic which we are currently growing in our little garden.

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✨Why?

Ash is a good fertilizer. Among its other uses, especially in remote villages, it’s used to clean dishes, and some even clean their teeth. As for the leftover charcoal, well that’s going to be used again to make a bonfire to warm ourselves tonight.

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✨Nothing is wasted.

Pretty interesting?!! Such knowledge can only be taught firsthand. Passed from one generation to another for survival or for simply to be connected to your roots.

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🌈Travel Travel Travel.

Solo or with the company. Let there be cultural exchanges.

Such knowledge and basic work should not be extinct. That’s my lesson from this morning.

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Five Things Solo Travel Teaches You💚

As women, we are put into cages from a young age. Society tells us what is expected from us, how to behave, think, and what we should do with our lives before we even know who we are. We are filled with fears, encouraged to limit our experiences, passions, and desire to explore the world because the unknown may seem dangerous.

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Before starting my journey, I had given up on my dream: traveling.  I was too intimidated to be away from my comfort zone and too frightened of the unfamiliar. I found myself just existing, limiting myself to ensure that anything negative could happen to me. 👉 This all changed when covid first started. I realized that up until then, I had never done something memorable with my life. I realized being alive, healthy, and having the right to do outdoor activities are privileges. I promised myself I would never again take anything for granted.

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I booked my first solo trip to the other side of the world. I left my country (Colombia) and moved to France in a month! It has been over a year since I made the best decision of my life. I have become wiser, more independent, stronger, and happier.😊 That’s why I want to share five things this experience has taught me since I consider them great encouragement if you have second thoughts about taking this step.

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1️. Responsibility: From planning a whole trip on your own, being financially in charge, to surviving in a foreign country/city, solo traveling speeds up your capacity to be accountable✨ and make the most appropriate decisions to fulfill your purpose of traveling safely.

2️. Independence: You have the opportunity to plan your trip to please yourself. you can focus on the activities you love and enjoy some time alone! You get the chance to reinvent yourself as a person.🙂Being away from everything you know and the things that are socially dictated, you get this new given sense of freedom. You can focus on your happiness, building your own identity, and your world-conception.

3️. Adaptability: Finding yourself away from your culture, your support system, your language, and your traditions can be unsettling and scary. Don't worry! As human beings, we have the survival instinct which rescues us in situations like this. As foreigners, the best travel experience can be achieved through cultural immersion. 🌸The best thing to do is not to impose our habits and customs but to let ourselves be embraced by the new world that is being offered to us.

4️. Perspective: Every place you visit gives you the possibility to understand the world through a different conception. You realize that there are no absolute truths.🙂 You begin to be more empathetic, open, and willing to learn from others.

5️. Self-esteem: Self-esteem: your self-love, courage, and confidence grow in an inexplicable way when you realize that you can be self-sufficient, overcome every challenge that comes your way, and that even if you find yourself in intimidating situations, you can succeed. 🌈Traveling alone allows you to leave your fears and insecurities aside and see your true self.

Every woman should try solo traveling because the world has so much richness to offer; beautiful places to visit; lovely people to meet. Traveling it's the perfect opportunity to reinvent yourself, find who you want to be, and get to know your full potential. Be free.

From Maria Bello, Colombia 💗

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Have you ever had that feeling when you really want to do something but feel like you aren’t brave enough? Or fear that people will judge you?

When it comes to solo travelling, we all have that same feeling, especially for solo travelling as a woman.

That’s why we asked our community to share their fears and how to overcome them!

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1. You will feel safer when you prepare as much as you can. (From Sira, Deutschland)

• Make a good research on the area
• Make a list of areas to avoid walking alone at night
• Always keep your bag close
• Keep your important stuff (Phone, ID, Purse and etc) on you
• Have an arm on you bag while taking public transportation

Sira says one thing that can help a person that have fear of travel, it’s to plan the trip before. For example, see where your hotel/hostel/Airbnb is and then plan everything you want to visit. When I travel alone in the evening, I stay inside my room because I don’t feel safe going around alone in the evening. But nothing can stop me to travel, It’s so important to meet new people all around the world, new cultures, it opens the mind and while travelling, you make beautiful memories that you keep in your heart. I love the concept of the NomadHer app because it’s only for women, so I feel like it’s safer to make new friends

2. Remind yourself that people don’t really care about what you do (From Laura, Italy)

• Remind yourself that people don’t really care about what you do. Most of them don’t have any bad intentions.

Laura says people who overthink a lot (like me) tend to think about the worst scenario possible like “is there a lot of bad people with bad intentions?” How to overcome it? Probably just to put more trust in humans, a lot of them don’t actually care about what you do, and there’s kindness in the world too. And always look at the surroundings and use your senses and if you feel something is wrong don’t think twice before going somewhere safe or contacting someone.

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3. There are many ways to overcome loneliness(From Leidya, Indonesia)

Leidya says some useful tips on how to overcome feel being alone.

• Always open your heart to new experiences and cultures.

• Never judge the way people act in the new country you have visited. Take it as a new way of life. It might be different in another country. For example, I am from Indonesia and I am used to people smiling but if I go to more close/communist countries they might look a bit tough but it doesn’t mean that they are bad.

• Being open doesn’t mean being innocent. We have to be careful as well. Prepare things and try to look for some information before you travel.

• You can search for a community/activity before your departure. For example, join humanitarian work/ volunteering. Also, You can join and meet NomadHer community. Many NomadHers meet each other while traveling now.

4. Be brave to ask people to get useful tips for your solo trip. They are willing to help you. (From Olivia in France)

• Remind yourself why you really want to go on a trip and ask yourself what will you lose, miss or regret if you don’t. Based on that, you will find the courage to live the life you want

Olivia says I was afraid of being stolen, not having the capacity to do hitchhiking. I asked for tips and advice from people that have already done this type of travel in their life and that helped me to stop imagining the worst scenarios! Having friends that support and help you before the departure helped me a lot!

While I travel alone, I realized that there is almost ALWAYS someone to help you wherever you are! And when nobody’s here, you can always call the emergency, a family member, a friend to solve this bad situation! And if it’s too hard, you can always go back home, it’s not a failure, you’re not weak, you’re just protecting yourself which is the most important!

Want to get more tips? Download NomadHer and meet over 10,000 inspiring women from all over the world.

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Have you ever thought of going on a solo trip? Let's see 5 ways your life will change when you start solo travel.

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✳️ 1.Challenge yourself (From Maria, Columbia)

When traveling solo, you will face multiple challenges, one of them is to face your own boundaries. For example, fear of rejection, or people's opinions. Ask yourself, why are you not taking this trip you really want to? Is it a good reason?

Maria says, Before starting my journey from Columbia to France, I had given up on my dream: traveling. I was too intimidated to be away from my comfort zone and too frightened of the unfamiliar. I found myself just existing, limiting my actions to ensure that anything negative could happen to me. This all changed when covid first started. I realized that up until then, I had never done something memorable with my life. I realized being alive, healthy, and having the right to do outdoor activities are privileges. I promised myself I would never again take anything for granted. Solo trip broadens my sight beyond boundaries.

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✳️ 2.Become more independent (From Yuliya, Portugal)

Traveling solo is easier to plan. Indeed, you will be able to do what you want & when you want to, and you will mostly rely on yourself.

Yuliya says, It was me who decided what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, without any setbacks because of the other person, without having to do what others want to do. It was just me, my thoughts, and my wishes. I don’t want to miss this great opportunity to feel free and be independent. That is why I keep doing a solo trip by now.

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✳️ 3.Increase confidence(From Soyeon, South Korea)

I do not speak English well and will I be able to travel solo? Well, you will find yourself communicating with locals and other travelers by using hand gestures, broken English, etc. It is fine! You will discover that if you believe in it, you will make it.

Soyeon says Fear could be smaller than you think. When foreigners come to your country and ask you where they go, you will tell them as kindly as possible. The same happens when you travel abroad. In the world, there are much more kind people than bad people. So when you face your boundaries. Don’t make an excuse to say ‘No’ to solo travel.

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✳️ 4.Self-discovery (From Hyeyoung, South Korea)

Learn to prioritize yourself by getting to know who you are, and what you really want. The only person you will be with is yourself.

Hyeyoung says I was very surprised when I found myself talking to locals for the first time and asked many questions. No matter how much you prepare before you go on a trip alone, unexpected situations happen all the time. I realized that the easiest and fastest way to solve the problem was to ask the locals. If I go with someone, I would just step back and depend on my friends. In addition, when I traveled alone, I could try something that I’ve never done before. Getting a free-diving license in Thailand was the best thing I did. I learned that I can have more courage because I traveled for myself!

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✳️ 5.Make a new friend (From Maryline, France)

Just because you're travelling solo doesn't mean that you can't find a friend on your way! In fact, when you meet someone on the road, the connection can be even stronger than in your daily life.

Maryline says A solo trip is a great means to discover yourself, make friends, become strong, and find yourself. Be free and take time for yourself. You can make more friends that you travel for yourself. It’s a privilege of a solo trip!

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A personal essay.

They asked me to justify why every woman should travel solo once in her life. This is what came out.

I have put off writing this article for months because I didn’t know where to start.

I didn’t know where to start because there is an implication in that prompt that doesn’t sound quite right and, for some time, I couldn’t put my finger on it. All I knew is that I was uncomfortable.

Why should every woman travel solo once in her life? I let it sit there in my mind, letting the subconscious do its job. Procrastinating can be a very powerful thing. A few weeks went by until one day, I was finally able to say it out loud: She shouldn’t. Or, rather, she doesn’t have to.

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Have I disappointed you? Bear with me, please.

In the process of reflecting on my own beliefs, I looked up the words on the internet to see if I could get a different point of view. Maybe there was something crucial I was missing. What I found, it turns out, was a long list of articles with the same topic listing the benefits of travel rather than backing up the premise they chose as a title. “Why should women travel solo” and “the benefits of travel” are two very different topics of conversation.

Don’t get me wrong. After years of traveling on my own, I could talk for days about the benefits of traveling solo. I could go on and on about confidence, connection, empowerment (the trendiest of words), intuition, courage, personal growth… I have experienced all of those, and more, while traveling alone. And I can say with a certainty I don’t often feel that traveling has been a life-changing experience for me and everyone I have met on the road.

However, the fact that something has benefits doesn’t mean that everyone should do it, right? I’m sure running 10 km a day has many benefits, but we don’t go around telling people they should go and complete a marathon a day. Why should this case be different?

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✨ It’s not the traveling part that stings me, it’s the should I have problems with ✨

Why should women travel solo once in their life? What if they don’t want to? Aren’t our lives plagued with enough shoulds already? We should study. We should love our family. We should exercise. We should eat healthily. We should act in ways that are acceptable to society. We should always strive for more (don’t even dare to settle). We should, we should, we should.

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The last thing I want to do is adding another should to our lives.

Maybe some people thoroughly and genuinely prefer traveling in groups, for instance. And what if someone doesn’t like traveling? What, you don’t think that’s possible? I have friends who hate traveling. They find it stressful and suffer every minute of it. Others are simply indifferent to it. Now, you might be tempted to say, for example, that they are afraid of the unknown and that traveling would help them beat that fear. Touché. But they are not. They don’t fear it. They are simply not interested. Period.

Do I relate? Well, not really. I have been wanting to explore the world ever since I can remember. I used to read stories of adventures in faraway lands and dream of the time when I would go away and have my own. I also see travel in every little movement I make. Damn, even a trip to the supermarket can feel like an adventure if you put your mind to it. Maybe travel is just a mindset.

And traveling is not the only path to challenging yourself, boosting your confidence, or feeling empowered. In the end, we all have to find our own ways, our own answers.

I don’t relate to what my friends feel, but I wholeheartedly accept it.

Embracing our differences is love. This is an exercise in empathy: not sharing someone’s beliefs but still understanding that other people have the right to think differently than us. And that’s what makes the world interesting, isn’t it? Being open and exposed to other people’s opinions and points of view can broaden our minds just as much as traveling. And we don’t need to get on a plane to the other side of the world for that.  

So, no. I don’t think every woman should travel solo once in her life, the same way I don’t think every woman should get married, or have children, or love men. What’s true for me doesn’t necessarily have to be true for others.

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Let’s rephrase it, then: Every woman could travel solo, if they wanted to.

If you’re reading this, chances are that you DO want to travel, that your feet are itching to get going and explore the world. And that’s great. That’s amazing. Go do it. You have all the power and resources within you that you need to make it happen. And, whatever your experience, you will come back stronger and wiser for sure.

But let’s not put pressure on others to do the same.

Rosana 🌼

👉 P.S. I am aware of the tremendous amount of privilege that these words carry. My journey has not been without its challenges (I’m from a poor family in a third-world country), but they are nothing compared to the challenges other women face. To them, to you, I salute you. And I’m here for you.

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Our friends from Creativ Jungle joined us on a live workshop to teach us about how to get started with social media and content creation to turn your passion for travel into a brand. We decided to compile and sum up the workshop in written form, so you can access it anytime!

Disclaimer: all the content in this article was provided by Creativ Jungle and credit goes to them.

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What is Creativ Jungle?

Creative Jungle is a marketing agency specialized in Tourism. They help Tourism brands develop their presence on the web and social media.

But who’s “they”?Ruben and Amélie are friends, travelers, and the founders of Creative Jungle.Amélie acts as project manager, campaign strategist, and content creation coach. Her favorite social media is Instagram. On top of traveling, she loves photography and nature.Ruben is also project manager, in charge of building relationships with brands and influencers, and he’s a LinkedIn coach. He likes adventure, exploration and is a foodie.

This workshop was divided into 3 parts:

👉🏽 Choose & Begin on Social Media

👉🏽 Tips for Content Creation

👉🏽 How to Improve Engagement

Let’s dive right in, shall we?

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🌟 HOW TO CHOOSE AND BEGIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA

💡 Objectives: If you want to have an effective strategy, you need to know what your goals are. To reach them, have the following in mind:

• Develop brand image and awareness: The first step is being clear about who you are, what you do, and how you can solve your client’s problem/s.
• Generate sales/bookings: The second step is to get attention and build trust. Create a genuine relationship based on shared values.
• Build client loyalty: Focus on content and consistency, ask for feedback, and keep interacting with your audience.

💡 Identify your target: It’s essential that you know who you’re talking to, who your ideal client is.

These are some questions that you can ask to identify them:

• Who do I want to reach? A person (B2C) or a company (B2B)?
• How old are they?
• What are their hobbies, preferences, interests?
• What are their motivations/frustrations?

This will allow you to adapt your message to your audience, which, in turn, will help you determine which social media to use.

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💡Which social media should you choose?

At the beginning, it’s better to focus on 1 or 2 channels. And, as said before, which channels you choose will be greatly influenced by who your clients are. For example, TikTok users are very young, while LinkedIn’s average user age is 44yo. They both work, but for different audiences.

Instagram: Users between 25-35 years old, great to strengthen brand image, perfect for Tourism.Facebook: Good to increase brand awareness.TikTok: Very young users, between 16-24 years old, high organic reach.Twitter: Age group between 35-65. Information centered, good to stay informed, high percentage of journalists are on Twitter.YouTube: Best format for content creation and to show your expertise.LinkedIn: Ideal for networking and creating a community, essential to acquire professional contacts.

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🌟 TIPS FOR CONTENT CREATION

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💡 Create in batches: Deconstruct content creation into several steps and work on one step at a time. This will allow you to focus and be much more efficient.

💡 Follow these four steps to create content:

1. Plan: Establish an editorial calendar to stay organized and ensure long-term consistency. Plan weeks or even months in advance.
2. Keep these factors in mind when doing the calendar:
3. ✔️Content  ✔️Objective  ✔️Social Media  ✔️Date of publication  ✔️Results.
4. Brainstorm: Write down all your ideas, don’t limit yourself! This is not the time to edit, but to create. Go wild! Think about upcoming key dates and events, answer FQA’s, talk about you, etc. But whatever you do, STAY AUTHENTIC 🙌🏽

The Golden CircleFocus on why you do what you do. What drives you? What are your values? Passions? Build a story around that. It delivers a powerful message, and it is the reason why people will connect with you and choose you.

A PERSONAL BRAND is made up of different ingredients:

🙋🏻 YOU +

✨ WHY +

🙌🏽 VALUES +

💃🏼 EXPERIENCES +

💗 PASSION

     3. Create

Now that you have established your objectives, your target audience, and that you have a plan and ideas for the content you want to put out there, it’s time to create! 🎨

Take your ideas, turn them into pieces of content, and share that content in different formats (visuals, videos, quizzes, articles, stories, etc). Remember to condense the creation process into blocks of time to stay focused and efficient.

💡 Here are some useful TOOLS to help you create content:

• Canva: Very user-friendly free tool. Many templates that you can modify and use for all kinds of content.
• Mojo: Great for stories and animated posts. Templates are presented by topic and can be adapted to your needs.
• Inshot: For video and photo editing. Very intuitive and easy to use.
• Instagram: It is a social media but also a content creation tool in itself. Many possibilities, especially in stories!

💡 Use the AIDA formula for your messages

AIDA is a very well-known formula for writing attractive copy and it can be used in all types of written content. It stands for Attention - Interest - Desire - Action.

Attention: Catch the person’s eye and spark their curiosity with an attractive opening.

Interest: Expand the message, provide details, explain benefits to generate a positive emotion.

Desire: Make the audience want to know more about you/your service/product.

Action: Ask the person to perform an action (CTA): like, comment, share, subscribe, etc.

    4. Schedule

Now your content is ready. Great! Most of the job is done! Don’t forget to add hashtags, emojis and everything you need to make it more appealing before posting. Ready? Good 💪

Now, you have two options:

• You can save the content as “drafts” and hit “publish” manually for each post when the time is right.
• You can use Facebook’s "Creator Studio” (accessible from your business page), a free tool that allows you to schedule your posts/stories for both Facebook AND Instagram. Just click on "schedule" instead of "publish now".
  

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🌟 HOW TO BOOST ENGAGEMENT

We have come to the last section of this workshop!

Here are some tips to increase your engagement on social media:

✔️ Be regular                                  ✔️ Use Calls To Action      

✔️ Vary content and formats       ✔️Reply to comments & messages

✔️Do Lives                                       ✔️Include the opinion of your audience into your business

✔️ Interactive stories                     ✔️Try making videos (reels/tiktok)

💡 Sponsored Posts

While organic content is great to increase brand visibility and awareness, it’s getting increasingly hard to reach a big audience organically, with the algorithms getting more and more selective about which posts get displayed in someone’s feed. Imagine: every day there are 1500 posts published but only 300 places in your news feed.

Sponsored content can therefore be a good tool to generate a maximum number of interactions quickly. Dedicating part of your budget to sponsor certain posts will allow you to increase visibility and acquisition, and to reach a specific target audience.

We hope that these guidelines will give you a clearer idea of how to turn your travel passion into a brand that connects with your audience and expresses your true self! All credit goes to Creativ Jungle, who put together an amazing workshop for NomadHer users.

Visit Creativ Jungle’s media channels for more amazing tips:

Website

Email

Instagram

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It was an eye-opening experience that I could finally use all my knowledges and experiences in the pursuit of my dream.

Hi Jinhong, thank you for coming forward to talk about your experience as a solo female traveler in New York!

The goal of this interview is to give women a real and honest insight into what it is to travel solo as a female in New York, your testimonial will inspire other women who were hesitant to take their first step and think “hey if she did it, I can to it too!”

• What if we started by telling us a bit about yourself?
  Hi! I am Jinhong from South Korea. I am currently studying at Lyon, France, as an exchange student. I like to travel around the world, and I wish that my experiences can be helpful to make the world better.
• What made you decide to visit New York solo?
  I went there for an internship. Well, I wanted to make an excuse to live in New York frankly saying haha. So, I applied for a short internship position so that I could be there for 6 weeks and visit so many amazing places!
• If you could describe New York in one word, what would it be?
  Rule.
• Could you elaborate?
  It was one of my first experience alone in the international society (I know it is quite a grand naming). So, I was anxious when the journey has just started and completely overwhelmed by the rule of New York as an outsider of the society. But after visiting “The Museum of the American Indian” it taught me the importance of keeping a root and my own rule of life. Even though how hard the society want to push back your own identity with their rules. After that, all the buildings that felt like looking me down suddenly felt like full of opportunities for me. Haha.

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• Do you think that travelling changes us?
  Definitely!

• If so, what changed in you after your visit to New York?
  It was an eye-opening experience that I could finally use all my knowledges and experiences in the pursuit of my dream. After I learned that I do not have to feel depressed with the existing rules of NY, I could be more confident of myself being Asian, Korean and not a member of major population there. And it was a great founding experience for me when I came to Lyon.

• What is the best or worst memory you keep of New York?
  As mentioned, the best memory was when I could change attitude toward NY. However, the best scenery that made my heart bump was a “top of the rock” observatory in the Rockefeller Centre. I went there before the sundown and stayed there until it completely became dark. I looked around with telescope with 0.5$ and it was definitely the best that less then a dollar can offer me! The picture there is still my background photo of my phone, I pad and laptop !
• Well the worst memory can be personal, but I was frauded by the landlord. Well she never returned me my deposit so… my 750$ was stolen. (anyone who read this, please do not believe people with out contract. Haha) And the high overall price was also one of the big NO there. I calculated recently and found out that the cost of 5 months in Lyon and 6 weeks in NY is almost the same. (Well, NY was before the pandemic so that I could travel around more and now I am not.)

• Do you think New York is better experienced solo or accompanied?
  NY is not a bad place of the solo travel. Except for the cases that I felt sorry for my family that I could not share those beautiful moments together, haha.

• Having been to New York, what do you think are the "Must take with you" items?
  Well the small things like nail clipper, underwear and socks are important. Those things cost so much, so think carefully and bring all those things. ( I was so busy when I had to pack so that I could not put everything in and I spent so much money on those items. Haha

• Do you have any advice for our fellow NomadHers?
  Traveling is fun and meaningful when you open your heart fully on your journey. Please prepare sufficiently before you travel and enjoy as much as you can!

• As a solo female traveler, what do you expect to get out of your travels?
  Well the biggest goal for me was to prove myself that I contribute to make the world better, (as I went there as an intern.) And I wanted to get some insights about problems and their solutions in the international society. However, the goals differ according to the style of the travel and they completely depend on my decisions. For example, for short trips after exams I would prefer having enough time to enjoy the atmosphere and eat delicious/ traditional foods.

• What would you say to NomadHers who would like to visit this destination?
  Please don’t be afraid of traveling and confronting the beauty of New York! It is one of the best cities full of opportunity.

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