We were lucky to catch up with Lauren Grijalva recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I used to be a professional photographer who focused on family portraits and events. When I decided along with my husband to hit the road and started traveling full time in an RV, I knew I needed to figure out how to use my skills to make an income as we traveled. I started documenting our travels on our blog and my social media accounts, and grew an audience quickly. Brands started reaching out with paid opportunities to partner and help promote their items or services. I also got freelance work writing and creating content for a few RV websites. I started learning the ins and outs of scaling content creation and growing my blog and social media presence in order to bring more paid opportunities my way!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In 2018 my family of four got rid of 90% of our stuff and moved into an RV, in hopes of living larger with less and seeing the world. We gained a lot of interest on social media and started growing an engaged following right away. We documented the ups and the downs of Rv life, and inspired many to get outside and travel more. Our blog and social media got the attention of brands, including outdoor brands, RV brands and adventure brands and destinations. We started making money by visiting certain destinations and using certain items and showcasing it to our audience. We aim to always be authentic in our reviews and experiences, so our audience trusts us. We have built great relationships this way. We have become well known in the Rv and travel communities and love that we’re able to fund our travels through creating content as well as promoting items and places we love on our blog and social media. We enjoy inspiring others to try RVing, travel more and get outside whenever possible! Our family has grown closer than ever after over 3 years of full time RV travel throughout the US and Mexico.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe in being 100% authentic- even when things suck. There are a lot of ups and downs in RV travel and it’s important to be transparent about it all. Some people only talk about the good and it can paint a false picture of what it’s like. People hire us to help promote destinations and items because we’ve built trust with our audience. They know they can trust that we will share the truth, even when it’s not pretty! It’s also important for us to build and maintain relationships as we travel with others in person and online. Being available to help others and answer questions has helped us build an audience that knows they can trust us.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

We’ve had to unlearn a lot. The American dream looks very different for us. We don’t want a busy life with full schedules and a 9-5 job. We want to live a lifetime full of adventure, have lots of meaningful time with our kids and take things slowly- all which can be challenging with typical life. The way we live in unconventional, but it serves us well. We had to change our mindset on what schooling or learning looks like, what community looks like and what success looks like. So many families are RVing full time now, so we’re intentional about making friends along the way and traveling together or meeting up often, when we find families we really click with. We have an amazing community on the road. Our kids don’t sit in a classroom for hours a day- the world is their classroom. They’re seeing and touching and experiencing places and things other kids only read about. We feel successful not because we have a lot of things, but because we have a close family bond and get to have adventures all the time out in nature, seeing the most beautiful parts of the US and Mexico regularly. We actually have several streams of income, including content creation, influencer marketing, website design and buying/selling/trading crypto. We keep the hours we work at these “jobs” to a healthy minimum though, as we know our time with our kids is limited and that’s our priority.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.thewanderpreneurs.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/the.wanderpreneurs
• Facebook: Facebook.com/thewanderpreneurs
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/TheWanderpreneurs

Image Credits
The Wanderpreneurs