Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amanda Kratzer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 2019 we sold everything to travel full time in an RV. We have 3 kids and a german shepherd so understanding what is important really matters not just in the physical sense but emotional sense. Things carry emotion so we only keep what we love, we only buy things that we need and we are happy with the minimalism within all of it. When we started traveling, Joseph (my husband) quit his job so we could move every couple of weeks. I had a successful photography studio in our small town and mainly worked seasonally so I knew that we could come back once or twice a year and make our years worth of income within those few months and then hit the road again.
The problem was when 2020 hit and our world went through a pandemic, my photography studio was forced to close. People weren’t buying luxury items anymore, they didn’t want to get into close proximity and things were shutting down.
We were forced to find alternative ways to make money, and fast! I quickly learned that our social media presence started to increase due to sharing our lifestyle of traveling with 3 kids full time, moving every 1-3 weeks. Slowly I also learned how to spot scam jobs and find legit jobs to apply for along with freelance work. While sharing our story on social media, a lot of people would comment on how we afford to live our lifestyle without working in one spot or steady internet. I began sharing tips/tricks for those to find legit jobs or how to freelance work. The topic became such a big hit on our social media that I opened up a remote jobs membership page to share how people can find remote work and travel full time.
Today we still focus on sharing our full time journey, minimalistic lifestyle and adventures but we also help others with small business coaching, freelance work and finding legit jobs.
The number one problem people have when applying for jobs on free search engines is that there are a lot of scammers, old job postings or companies just looking for collect emails. We help by hand selecting each job posting and sharing with our members. Working online is still a new concept so there’s a lot of people who want the freedom to travel full time but don’t know how so we also help with finding ways to freelance work and small business coaching.
The most rewarding part about sharing our lifestyle is showing our followers that we are not special and if we can do it then they can too. We do not have a money tree, we live within a budget and take advantage of cheap/free adventures.
When you can look past the “white picket fence” dream and focus on what’s best for your family then you can see what is important; it’s not the extra curriculars, fancy cars, nice clothes, big house, property but it’s the memories and experiences that matter. All we do is show people what that side of life looks like because it seems so far fetched to them but in reality it’s just a mindset and anyone can live this lifestyle.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We began our social media in 2019 when we sold everything to travel. For the first 2.5 years we barely posted. It was one of those things that seemed fun at first but learning how to live this lifestyle and meeting new people consumed those “free” moments. Social media was the last thing I wanted to do because I felt like I was bragging or showing off. One day our friends stopped by and told us how much they were making on their social media accounts and it was in the 6 figures so my jaw hit the floor and I KNEW that we could also make this a side hustle. I’m business minded so anything that will make me a few bucks, I’m in!
It didn’t take long before I realized that this wasn’t a side hustle but it was a full time job! Building a social media presence means that you need to post 5-10 times a day, keep up with trends (hash tags, songs and more), stay relatable, respond to comments and more. The hardest part is that there’s no time to “turn it off” because you have to stay on top of social media at all hours of the day. However, the freedom to work when you can is amazing and it can be really fun!
We decided to focus on 5 different topics for our social media that meshed well together; RV living, adventure, remote jobs/work, scuba diving and family life. Knowing that all of our posts need to be categorized into one of those topics helped create an audience that knows what to expect from our social media.
My biggest tip is to stay consistent and reliable. It’s hard but it’s what separates those who succeed to those who fail. Social media isn’t a race and to get a loyal following then you need to be there for your audience by showing up. You are their entertainment just like a reality TV show. They want to know what’s going on and see you as a person, not just as a business. Be relatable, be you and show up for them.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

This is a great question because it was a hard lesson for us to learn. When I had my photography studio back in 2019 and my husband quit his job, we relied on my photography business 100%. When the pandemic hit and we lost the business we had decided that we would never rely on one stream of income again. We don’t just make our income based on our remote jobs membership and small business coaching page. We also make money with affiliate links, content creation by partnering with companies, scuba diving, work-camping (aka workamping), and social media itself.
For those that don’t know what affiliate marketing means, it’s where you get a special website link from a company created just for you. Anyone who uses that link and purchases a product or service, I get a small percentage each month. This is done with different platforms and companies to create multiple streams of income. I place these links on our website, blog, social media pages and email campaigns.
Another option to making money while traveling is workamping. This is when we work for an RV resort and stay in that resort for a huge discount and make an hourly wage. It nice because we get to know the locals and meet other people while workamping. Right now we are in The Florida Keys, in our favorite resort workamping.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.OurJourneyToHappiness.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ourjourneytohappinesstravel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OurJourneyToHappinessTravel/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OurJourneyToHappinessTravel
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@_ourjourneytohappiness https://www.buzzsprout.com/2039655