We recently connected with Jen Ruiz and have shared our conversation below.
Jen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today
I rebranded twice and almost gave up on blogging altogether before Jen on a Jet Plane was born. I’m not sure I could’ve gotten to the outcome any faster since blogging wasn’t a career when I was growing up, and is still very much developing currently. Essentially, I’ve taken my love of travel and skills in public speaking, teaching, and writing to create several online income streams. If I were starting from scratch now I would:
1) Build my email list
I shudder thinking about how much traffic my site had for years that went uncaptured. I’ve realized that more than a website, a mailing list is the core of your business.
2) Be strategic about SEO
I would niche down in order to stand out. I would create content about one particular region or travel topic and become the go-to expert.
3) I would repurpose content everywhere
I’ve been able to grow channels like YouTube and Facebook with short-form videos created on TikTok. I would stop trying to reinvent the wheel and repurpose my content everywhere, sooner.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a lawyer turned full-time travel blogger and author. In 2017, I set out to complete 12 trips in 12 months while employed full-time. I surpassed my goal, completing 20 trips in 12 months. In the span of one year, I visited 11 countries and 41 cities, all while managing to be back in time for court at 9am on Monday morning.
During my self-proclaimed “year of adventure,” I was able to find airline deals like a $16 flight to Ecuador and $38 flight to New Zealand. To meet a demand for tips on flying for less I wrote my debut book, “The Affordable Flight Guide: How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets and See the World on a Budget.” It became a #1 Amazon bestseller in 8 categories and was named a 2018 Readers’ Favorite Award winner.
I have since published four more books, all of them Amazon bestsellers. I won my second Readers’ Favorite Award in 2020 for “The Solo Female Travel Book.” My memoir, “12 Trips in 12 Months,” is signed to Blackstone Publishing for release on June 4, 2024.
I’ve given three TEDx talks and spoken at conferences like the Women in Travel Summit, FinCon, Women’s Travel Fest, Latino Travel Fest, and the New York Times Travel Show. I have been featured in Forbes and was named Top 40 Under 40 by the Naples Herald.
I am a 4-time national award-winning travel writer with bylines in TIME Magazine, National Geographic Traveller, Fodor’s Travel, Lonely Planet, The Observer, and The Washington Post. I was part of AFAR’s United Voices Program and a member of The Points Guy Travel Advisory Panel.
With over 375,000 social media followers, I’ve partnered with brands like Airbnb, Audible, Samsonite, Frontier Airlines, Viking Cruises, citizenM Hotels, and more. I have been named one of the top Latina travel experts to follow by Mitú and am fluent in Spanish.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In March 2020, all travel stopped and my income streams almost completely ceased. Thankfully, I was already preparing to launch a book about remote work that I’d been writing since January, so I accelerated that and launched the book in April 2020, along with another book in the series later that year.
I also began posting on TikTok about remote work and entrepreneurship, content I hadn’t shared on other channels before. I got the attention of a coding bootcamp when I shared a special course they were hosting with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and they brought me on to create videos for them.
That income got me through the pandemic till my travel related income sources picked back up again.
Also, posting on TikTok was outside my comfort zone but the first place where I reached over 100,000 followers and started to make meaningful income from sponsored content.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Blogging was a side hustle that I didn’t monetize until after I quit my attorney job to do this full-time. Important milestones along the way were:
1)} Freelance writing
I started by being an unpaid contributor to Elite Daily. My posts got millions of view and attracted the attention of an editor at Paste Magazine. He asked me to write for their travel vertical. An important milestone was going on assignment to Universal Studios, knowing I had my ticket and express lane comped, and was getting paid to have fun for the day.
2) Self-publishing my first book
I self-published my first book on Amazon because I wanted to test if I could make money from my own products. I was encouraged by the success, and new that the majority of 6-figure authors have 20 books or more, so figured it was just a matter of scaling and writing more books. 12 Trips in 12 Months will be my 6th book!
3) Joining Mediavine
Joining the Mediavine Publisher Network in 2019 was a game changer for my business and allowed me to monetize the blog passively through display ads.
4) Getting my first brand partnership for the blog
I got my first paid brand partnership by attending the Women in Travel Summit in 2018. They paid me $100/day plus all travel expenses, transportation, and meals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jenonajetplane.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jenonajetplane
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/jenonajetplane
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-ruiz-75791663/
- Twitter: https://x.com/@jenonajetplane
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jenonajetplane
- Other: https://12tripsin12months.com https://instagram.com/12tripsin12months https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07B7GSVSL
Image Credits
NA, myself