In 2014, Snapchat acquired a company called Scan, founded by Garrett Gee and his two friends, for $54 million. Scan became the basis of Snapcode, the little dots that make up your Snapchat user ID and allow you to scan to add your friends. However, this story is not about Scan or the acquisition, but what happened after. After the sale, Garrett Gee used blogging to turn his family’s lifelong dream of traveling into a reality.
The Bucket List Family
After receiving his share of the $54 million, Gee decided to embark on a trip around the world with his wife and two kids. However, instead of using their newly earned money, they decided to sell all of their belongings for $45,000 and use that money to travel for six months without dipping into their savings. Along their journey, they started blogging and documenting their travels on social media as the Bucket List Family. Eventually, they were down to their last 5,000 dollars, when their social media presence began to grow. Hotels, airlines, and other travel brands started reaching out to them and offered flights, accommodation, and other rewards just so they could get marketing exposure through their blog. Today, their blog partnerships are so successful that it funds their entire lifestyle and allows them to permanently travel. They are now a full-time traveling family.
So How Can You Start a Blog?
This experience shows that you don’t have to work the typical 9-5 job, and instead you can be rewarded by following your passion. But how can you get started?
· Find your Passion: Look through your life and find out what inspires you. This might be traveling, fashion, sports, or anything that brings a spark into your life. Be sure to find something that you know a lot about, or are interested in learning more about. Then, find something unique about your passion that differentiates you from other bloggers. You need to find a niche in the market or something about you that will catch the eye of related brands.
· Create your Blog: First you need to choose your blogging platform. The most popular ones right now are Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress. Then, determine your domain name and develop a layout that represents you and your passion.
· Create Content: This is the bread and butter of your blog. Write your introduction post that describes you and what you’re setting out to accomplish. This should be hard-hitting and entice people to want to follow you. Before your site goes live, you might also want to write other back-up blog posts so that you have a constant stream of communication.
· Promote Your Blog and Build Your Base: Once you’ve created your blog, it’s time to advertise. Spread the word through social media accounts. Be sure to also create a social media account of your blog and update it regularly. Many marketers are now moving to Instagram so this might be a great place to start to gain followers.
· Make Money: Once you’ve established your base and made a name for yourself in your industry, it’s time to rake in the partnerships. If you haven’t already caught the eye of a brand, reach out to some small brands within your field for brand partnerships. This basically means that you will promote their brand on your blog or social media, and they will compensate you for it.
The Bucket List Family has become an inspiration for all of us that simply want to follow our dreams. It will take a lot of hard work, but with the right dedication and passion, you can create a blogging career that works for you.