The great doubt dilemma

Chasing your wildest dreams to become a kickass travel content creator is an exciting journey, yet so many give up too soon over silly doubts.

If you have ever let doubts and fears hold you back, even in the simplest ways, you are not alone. They sneak in and make you feel that you are just wasting your time trying to reach impossible goals. They try and convince you that you could never do what others are already doing.

You even may find yourself comparing your social media accounts to mine as we speak, wishing you had more followers and were already working with this brand or that, thinking that I have it all and that you never could.

Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret, I have been in that exact position and certainly would never have been able to reach this level of success if I let these major doubts stay in the way.

Doubt #1 - I could never be as good as they are

As I just mentioned, it is a natural thing to compare yourself with others and feel you will never reach the same place they have climbed to. But you are well on your way to overcoming this doubt when you realise that they all started from nothing as well, and you can't compare your day 1 to their year 5!

Ask any of the Influencers or Creatives, that you admire and envy, if they ever had this same doubt and I would be surprised if a single one of them had never been through it. And if you think your content is not up to the same standard as them, try scrolling back through their stuff a few years and you will probably see something way short of the quality they have today.

Doubt #2 - I'm too late, there are already too many others doing this

Let's think this through... there are over 7 BILLION people in the world, so do you honestly believe that you couldn't find a few thousand of them who love your message. You don't need a million followers to be successful, you don't even need 100k. There are plenty of Creatives out there with 10k or fewer followers still making a decent living, it's all about how carefully you chose your niche and how well you have aligned your brand with that niche.

So yes, there are more people every day trying to get their share of the pie, but there are also more people adding to the pie as internet accessibility improves. A bigger pie shouldn't have to mean bigger slices for the people already there, get in and fight for your slice.

Doubt #3 - Nobody around here understands my dreams

Don't get stuck in the "hometown bubble" as I did for a while. I doubted my chance of succeeding because I was from a small town, my friends mocked my dreams as they weren't travellers and didn't understand what I was trying to do, and there didn't seem to be any other content creators in the whole town. Eventually, I realised I needed to find the right people and be willing to look beyond the town borders for support... and new friends.

There is a belief that you are the average of the 5 closest people around you, so you have almost zero chance of fulfilling your dreams if you let yourself be surrounded by people who say it can't be done.

Start by finding a Facebook Group of like-minded people, support them, and ask them to support you. If there is nobody else doing anything like you in your home town then find some in the next town and reach out to them. I travel over two hours to Sydney every few weeks just to check in with my little support group. Going out of your way can have massive benefits to your confidence.

Doubt #4 - I need way more followers to have any chance

That's just not as relevant these days. Just a few years ago you could con your way into collabs by buying fake followers and likes, with brands having no real way of measuring your actual influence except with those vanity metrics.

Bu now many brands and businesses are realising it is better to spread their marketing dollars between micro-inflencers than to throw it all at one mega-influencer. The smart brands want to see the strength of your community rather than the number of followers on paper only.

I did my first sponsored collab with less than 1000 followers, and started working with amazing luggage brands not long after. Before I had cracked the 10k mark I had done travel collabs with a few amazing companies both locally and internationally. So today more than ever, follower numbers are not the main factor.

Doubt #5 - I can't do this because I'm not good at everything

This doubt is common but way off the mark. Nobody is good at everything, and nobody has time to be good at everything. With so many social platforms it's impossible to have a total presence.

Find the platforms you enjoy, or you feel best connects with your audience and focus on them, you can always change later. And anything you really believe you should know how to do to reach your goals is worth putting in some effort to learn. These days you can find a Youtube tutorial on absolutely anything, so you have no excuse not to become at least competent.


Doubt #6 - Everyone keeps telling me this isn't a real job

Maybe it isn't a real job for them but if you truly want to live out your dreams you have to believe it will be a real job for you. Imagine what people said when the first planes were being built and someone told them they wanted to be a pilot. I bet it was along the lines of "well that's not a real job!".

Just because there is no application form you have to complete or College degree to waste money on, I assure you that being a Travel Content Creative can be, in fact IS a real job.

You can be certain that it will take time and hard work but at some point, you will start earning money for that work. Do work, get paid, sounds like a real job to me.

Doubt #7 - I'm sure brands can find someone better than me to work with

This goes back to the 'not enough followers' and the 'comparing to others' doubts and is just as false. As long as you are authentic online then you are unique, so finding brands that align with the real you and your personal brand, won't ever find anyone better! You have to believe that if their audience is also your audience they will prefer to work with you over using someone else with more followers but no alignment.

Feel the fear, then do it anyway!

Some of these doubts came from my own overthinking mind, others were brought on by unsupportive friend groups and High School teachers telling me I will never be successful if I do not go to university, even the pressure from social media itself felt a bit too much to handle at times.

No matter where your doubt and fears are coming from, you are doing yourself a huge disservice letting them control your life. It is time to take charge and turn those dreams into a reality! This is where that support group shines and why they are crucial to your chance of success. Sometimes you just need to hear another voice say that your doubts aren't the reality of your situation.

Join the conversation. Leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of this information. Do you have a different opinion, do you have a question, or do you just want to say hello? Don't be shy and get involved now!