We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katie Chavez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I do wish I had started my Travel Blog earlier. Writing has always been my creative outlet since I was a kid and travelling has been my biggest passion since I was young as well so I had played around with the idea of starting a travel blog for a number of years before I did it. I think it felt too overwhelming at first, and I didn’t know how to get started. When I finally did I used it more as an online journal and didn’t reach much of an audience for many years before I finally started to put more time and energy into it. Only then did I reach a significant amount of people and start making money from it.

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?

I am a Travel Blogger who creates helpful travel content on my website https://theworldonmynecklace.com. I write travel guides, packing lists, travel tips, itineraries, and more for the places I have traveled to myself. I’m proud of the amount of detail I put into each post, something you don’t always see in blog posts. I only write about places that I really feel I have helpful information for and I particularly focus on hiking, outdoors, islands, and city exploration. Colorado is one of my main topics that I write about and is the part of the U.S. I know the best because it has been my main base for the past (almost) eight years.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As much as I am proud that I make money from doing something I love, the most rewarding aspect of blogging for me is the positive feedback from readers. Being told I have convinced someone to visit a particular place, or that I made their trip amazing is always so lovely to hear.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot in my life was when I met my husband, an American. I am from New Zealand and was living in Australia at the time, but when we fell for each other after meeting while traveling, I decided to stay in the U.S. This wasn’t easy to do on a visitor visa, and that’s when I started looking for online work because I wasn’t allowed to work in the U.S. on my visa. I also did some temping office positions in New Zealand for six weeks or so between stints in the U.S. I am still amazed that I managed to make it work before we eventually got married and I got a Green Card (now citizenship!)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theworldonmynecklace.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theworldonmynecklace/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theworldonmynecklace