We recently connected with Jillian Eppler and have shared our conversation below.
Jillian , appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
For years I have been a photographer and travel blogger. Mostly sharing travel tips and inspiration through Instagram. Stepping into motherhood almost four years ago finding my niche and continuing to do what I love in terms of content creation has been a bit tricky. We have traveled a ton with our kids, but I still felt like something was missing. Previously I had been a teacher for 5 years and I wanted to incorporate my love for teaching, travel, and raising kids. Then on a road trip from Dallas to Hill Country between passing snacks back to my kids, it hit me. I asked myself,
“What if there was a way I could create something to help other families make travel memories too?” My original idea was to simply focus on making state road trip scavenger hunts. I first released my Texas Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Pack and then my Alaska Road Trip Scavenger Hunt Pack. Eventually, I plan to add all 50 states in order of which states I am most familiar with. I want a family who is coming to Texas or lives in Texas to simply be able to purchase, download, and print to elevate their travel experience. For older kids families can make it into a game/competition and let the winner pick gas station snacks or the next stop. Next, I designed Family Road Trip Conversation Cards. Some of the cards ask simple questions and some tough on love languages or dreams and aspirations. I wanted to help families have deep and meaningful conversations mixed in with silly out-there questions. If a family each took turns answering the questions it would be a fun way to laugh and bond together. I hope that the digital products I have created make it easy to keep kids off a screen without adding extra work for their parents in preparing for the trip. I have already heard some of the sweetest stories of families making memories with these items and it’s made me so happy!
Jillian , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I began traveling and sharing travels on weekends and summers as a Texas teacher. Being from Alaska, I have always had a longing to explore and see new things so when I moved to Texas I wanted to see it all. I started sharing my travels on Instagram and later added a website/ blog. As I finished my 5th year teaching I decided to stay home with my son and was offered a new job as a marketing manager part-time for a travel-related business. This allowed me to work some, but mostly be home with our two young children. My husband is a firefighter which has given us the flexibility to continue to travel and explore. Most recently I launched my Etsy Shop in the past few months.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
It’s so easy to view success as something that happens quickly. I thought as I began to share my digital products it would be something I could advertise and grow quickly. As we all know success doesn’t happen overnight. Even though sales have been slow the customers I have spoken with have heartwarming stories. Hearing stories about families competing to find the most scavenger hunt items and laughing along the way is what it is all about for me. It was never about making money or reaching a certain number of people. As long as I can create something even one family enjoys I have accomplished my goal and I have been successful.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Etsy is completely new for me, but so far I have received the most traffic from organic reach and people searching for items similar to what I have in my shop. The traffic is slow, but it also is consistent.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.travelandtenacity.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelandtenacity/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/travelandtenacity
- Other: Etsy Shop: www.travelandtenacity.etsy.com
