Imagine travelling the world and only paying for the flights.

Diana Chen is a full time travel blogger. Thanks to her blog she gets to try out hotels, resorts and adventure packages for free in exchange for a review or social media posts. She also makes money blogging and recently released a course to learn how to pitch to companies.

You'll love that story.

We also chat about...

Diana's journey as a travel blogger
Her different travel adventures
How she makes money online
How to get started as a travel blogger
Her future travel plans

Enjoy this chat with Diana, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Blog: MVMT Blog
Episode Travel On a Budget and Entrepreneurship with MVMT Blog
Article: Hacking My Engagement Ring with Moissanite
Course: Travel Pitch Masters (50% off using code 'firedrill')
MVMT Blog on Facebook and Twitter
MVMT Blog Facebook Group
Gold City Ventures Blogging for Profit course

Key takeaways from our chat with Diana Chen
1 - How Diana makes money with her travel blog
Diana makes money in a variety of different ways. With certain companies, she gets offered free trips in exchange for reviews or a feature. With others, she has her own rates and packages she offers in exchange for payment compensation. She also hosts ads on her blog and does affiliate marketing. Usually she pays for her own flights, and then reaches out to hotels that fit her blog and readers interest. From there she finds hotels to host her and enjoys gets free accommodation!
2 - How to make money when starting out
Diana got her first free hotel comp 3 months into blogging. She believes that you can make money as a beginning blogger, even when you don't have much of a portfolio. Diana explains that it's more about how you tell your story and how you paint your brand, rather than the numbers. Tell brands your plan for the future and how you plan to be the go-to source for your city or country. Start with writing reviews for hotels and use this as a starting story/portfolio.
3 - The value of blogging courses
Both Diana and Julie agree that blogging courses help kickstart blogging growth because of all the new information you learn. Although blogging courses get a bad rep, if you pay for a course, you get results much faster. A blogging course is similar to a course at university - Diana's job is blogging, and she took courses to understand more about affiliate marketing and other money making skills.
Questions? Like or dislike? Leave us a comment!
Want to support the podcast? Here are three things you can do.
1. Start tracking your net worth with Personal Capital using our link. It's free.
2. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and get one extra LIVE episode from us per week.
3. Join our Facebook group and connect with other members of the FI community.