We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Janessa Jandt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Janessa below.
Alright, Janessa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I have always loved story telling in many different ways. It’s my way of connecting with people. In 2021, I published a poetry book called Shipwreck, and that was my way of sharing my journey through my early twenties. I also love painting as a way to connect with others.
I have always been an outdoorsy traveler. Whenever I am enjoying my adventures, I always want to share the journey with others-it’s something I have always done through photography and my travel blog. I started to share my unique stays during my outdoorsy travels on Instagram, and people were very interested, and asked a lot of questions. This was my start to adding collaborations with STR hosts to my adventures. Following my passion is part of what taught me what to do. Being authentic and finding your specific niche is important.
Skills that are very important are collaboration with your host, and understanding their story behind their lodging experience. What are their goals, what inspired them to create their STR (short term rental), how do they desire their creation to be portrayed?
One of my tricks for videos and photography is variety, I use multiple devices and gear to take photos and videos, and I also take as many different angles as I can. Shooting early morning and early evenings are the best times of day. The biggest obstacle was definitely self-doubt. I can be my own worst critic at times, and sometimes the comparison game comes into play. The more I have been capturing unique stays, the more I have conquered self doubt by realizing no one ever has the same exact experience to share.
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?
My name is Janessa, and I am a Minnesota-based creator who features outdoorsy travel and unique stays. I am a mom of three adventurous children, and owner of a Bernadoodle named Misty. I am a mental health worker as well.
My mom is from the Philippines, so I have been traveling since I was young. Most of my family lives overseas from the US. Sharing my adventures and lodging experiences has been a very natural experience for me that I have been doing years before I started sharing on social media.
I currently provide exposure for my hosts through providing them drone videography & photography, lifestyle photography and videography, I create itineraries, blog stories that are also sent to my email subscribers.
I am most proud of highlighting all the hard work hosts put into their lodging experience by showing how the space can be used. I also have quite a few people ask for suggestions for lodging, and my firsthand lodging experience through collaborations helps me give authentic suggestions.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I want to show options for outdoorsy family travel to my audience, while creating lifestyle photography for my hosts. I love being able to bring to life the vision and hard work that goes into sharing a lodging experience to life through visual imagery and story telling.
How did you build your audience on social media?
My advice is to collaborate with others and build relationships. Start looking at others in your similar niche as inspirational partners instead of competition. Everyone is different with something unique to offer. Also, interacting is very important. For me, everything is always a two way conversation. I am so grateful for my outdoorsy travel community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thetravelingwildflower.com
- Instagram: @janessaonajourney
