How Sarah Quit Her Job to Become a Full-Time Travel Blogger in Just Under a Year

Anna:

Okay. So today we have Sarah Plack from Fernweh Sarah. She’s one of our students from The Blogging Fast Lane Course. I’m really excited to interview her because she is one of our first students and we’re really happy to speak with her today.

Anna:

So Sarah, if you don’t mind, introduce a little bit about yourself, about your blog. You can tell us about your niche, how long you’ve been blogging for and yeah, we can’t wait to hear from you.

Sarah:

Yeah, sure. So yeah, as I mentioned, my blog is Fernweh Sarah, which is incredibly difficult to pronounce if you’re not a native German speaker. Even though I blog in English, I use that word because it’s a very German word, which essentially describes the feeling of being far-sick.

Sarah:

So like the opposite of being homesick. And I just feel this word perfectly describes my feeling whenever I’m home in Berlin, I love Berlin, but after like two weeks, we’re always like, “Oh yeah, we could go on the next trip now.”

Sarah:

So yeah, that’s where the name comes from. And on my blog, I do mainly luxury travel blogging. So I report a lot about luxury hotels around the world and like unique experiences.

I mean, it’s not strictly luxury because obviously I don’t have $1 million to spend on everything. But yeah, we try to keep it a little bit of that focus. Because before I became a travel blogger, I was traveling a lot for business. I was very used to staying in five-star hotels and flying Business Class.

Sarah:

So I was like, okay, this is something where I actually really know what I’m talking about. So I think that just gives me a little bit more credibility. And yeah, that’s why I said, okay, this is something I can really help someone with. And so I started this blog when Marcus and I went on a nine-month honeymoon around the world trip.

Sarah:

So we did that sabbatical. And initially I planned to return to my company or at least to let’s say do something normal and in the middle of the trip we were like, oh yeah, “let’s start an Instagram account.”

It was just like, I didn’t even use Instagram like for half my round-the-world trip.
Then I was just starting that and it started working really well, which I did actually not anticipate in the beginning because it was already 2018 and everyone was like, “oh that doesn’t work anymore.”

Sarah:

And it did because we actually did it pretty strategically.

So we did a lot of analytics and we checked what works and everything and then we came back and it was kind of like, yeah, Instagram was, I mean I still do it a lot, but I feel people sometimes read the captions but they’re not really interested.

And even if you can’t really transport all that stuff. Yeah, I love talking. So it was not enough, so we kind of like started the blog.

Sarah:

So that’s been like one and a half year ago. And I am working as a full-time blogger right now. So this is my apartment in Berlin. Yeah. I’m sitting in front of my laptop pretty much the same amount of hours I used to do before in management consulting. But now I’m doing something that I really love.

Anna:

That’s amazing. So how was that transition, because obviously you were working in large companies doing a full-time job and then you just transitioned to becoming a full-time travel blogger, how did that happen and what gave you that courage to take that leap?

Sarah:

I mean basically in the beginning it was kind of like, it was just an idea that we had and we said okay. I mean we came back and we were really like this, okay we just have been traveling for nine months and we still don’t really… I mean we miss our family. We obviously wanted to meet them, but we were like, well we could still go on.

We were not like tired. There’s like these people who are like, after two weeks they’re like, “Oh, I’m so glad to be back home.” And we were not. So we said like, okay, we need to make this work.

Sarah:

So we were actually first thinking about like funding startup, which we also did. So we kind of did both in the beginning, but then I noticed like every time when I had to do something for our startup idea, it was kind of like, yeah, it was interesting, but it was not like… And then I noticed that can really quickly that you can actually make money off Instagram and I realized, okay, then this must be possible with blogging.

Sarah:

And we did a lot of research on that. Actually, Marcus came across a podcast from you like very early in this journey and he was just like, “Oh yeah, there’s this travel couple. I heard that podcast and they’re actually making a living out of that.” And yeah. Then we just started doing research on that because like just because of the background in management consultancy, we are always like doing everything very strategically.

Sarah:

So we started looking into it and once we realized that actually people are able to live off blogging and off travel blogging, we were just like, okay, so what’s their secret? Were they just lucky? Because on Instagram, it’s very often just being lucky. So a post goes viral and that’s it. And then we realized it’s actually not, it seems to be a lot of like strategy.

Sarah:

So if you put the work in and you do the right things and you have the patience, that’s where I’m stuck most of the time, then you can actually make that work. But you have to do it strategically. And once we realized that, we said yes, we can do that. So we could become these bloggers that can actually make it work for them.

Anna:

I think you really nailed it on the head about being strategic because I think that’s the most important part. Like you said, you just started your blog a couple of years ago and people think that for you to be successful in blogging, you have to have been blogging for like 10 years.

Anna:

And the perfect example that that’s not true as long as you think strategically. Now, I actually read one of the reviews that you wrote recently and then you said there that you didn’t want to invest in a course initially.

Anna:

Could you tell people a little bit about that? What were you feeling and what actually changed your mind and why did you decide to invest in the Blogging Fast Lane?

Sarah:

Yeah, so I mean, in the beginning I’m like very, very skeptical. I think that’s also where I’m a bit German. Germans have always skeptical to buy online anyway.

Sarah:

And then obviously since we looked into the numbers, we kind of realized a lot of the bloggers who make a lot of money are new-time bloggers, so they make a lot of money just by telling about other people, about becoming bloggers. And then we were like, yeah, no, I don’t want to be tricked.

Sarah:

So I thought I’m smart, I’m not doing a course, I can figure it out myself. And yeah, when Marcus first told me about you, I was very hesitant myself. I was like, yeah, I know. And then I listened to the podcast. We were still, I think we were still on our trip I think at that time-

Anna:

Oh, that is so cool.

Sarah:

I’m not sure because I was traveling somewhere when he first showed me. Yeah. I think it was in Palawan, somewhere in the Philippines even. But I’m not entirely sure. But it still took me like a while because I tried to figure out everything myself. And the one point that made like really starting to trust you was when I really read your blog reports. When I saw that you’re making the money off of talking about blogging only because you actually made a travel blog work and because you were very open about it.

Sarah:

And then I really had that feeling that the way your minds work, like after watching the webinar and like reading that… That your work, that your brain essentially works the same like Marcus and my brain does. Because it’s strategy. Then I started to really respect you for that and I was like, I think they made it work. I think we work the same at least in our head.

Sarah:

So if we learn from them, we can actually make it work too. Yeah, then we took the big leap while we were traveling again and yeah, you very quickly realize that this was a step I should have taken like directly in the beginning. But I think it’s a normal journey. You need some time.

Anna:

That’s amazing because you know, obviously there are a lot of groups/courses out there and one of the reasons why we love Adventure in You because up to this date we’re still growing our blog and in fact all the strategies that we use and teach in the Blogging Fast Lane, we test out on our travel blog.

Anna:

And I think that makes it so relatable. And you can’t just talk about blogging if you’re not actually trying stuff yourself.

Anna:

So this is something that Tom and I were really adamant about, so I’m glad that convinced you to take the leap. Can I ask you, tell us a little bit more about your blog. Where were you at before you joined the Blogging Fast Lane? Like what was your traffic like? What was your income like? What were the things you were struggling with?

Sarah:

I think I joined in November 2018 because that’s when I was in the Dominican Republic pretty much in November I think. And so basically I was running a blog at that time for like four months roughly, or like four to five.

Sarah:

And I still know that I was like crazy about getting the numbers to be accepted to go to ITB Berlin as a travel blogger. And I think it was something like 5,000 page views you needed to have in a month for something. So no, I was like, will I be able to crack that before the registration goes up?

Sarah:

But now I’m like, was it really that low? Was it really just 5,000? Because I’ve passed that so fast. Then like when I started taking your lessons, I was not even fully through when I realized some of the stuff that I had not done strategically enough yet.

Sarah:

And then I said, okay, let me craft a post on a topic that I think based on like the keyword research makes sense to do right now because I could really see that it was picking up in the trends at that moment. People were actively looking for what to do and where to travel in 2019 at that time. And it also worked on Pinterest so I did that blog post, and it spiked like crazy on Pinterest.

Sarah:

It later also got a ranking in Google but at that time I was just too new of a blogger, but it just gave me that huge spike of traffic and that helped me to quickly push me over the border and I never really lost that traffic again.

Sarah:

I just then copied the strategy again after talking to you in the Facebook group. I just did a very similar one for Europe in particular and it again gave me a lot of traffic. So again, shows you, it’s just you might hit a nugget but then you have to analyze it, redo it, and strategically shape the plan and then it’s going to work again.

Anna:

No, that’s great. So when you first started the Blogging Fast Lane, you were around 5,000 page views, where are you now? And what numbers are you hitting now if you’re comfortable sharing them?

Sarah:

Yeah, I mean in December I had 109,000 page views.

Anna:

That’s incredible. In such a short time.

Sarah:

It was crazy. I mean it has gone down a little bit again in January because there was the big traffic spike from India coming. It was funnily enough with Google spikes. It was not coming from Pinterest. So I was very surprised and I was thinking like, is it going to stick?

Sarah:

But it has gone down a little bit again, but it’s still like, I think it was 70,000 in January. So that’s a little bit more than those 5,000.

Anna:

Oh, that’s incredible. Because obviously with those numbers, you can obviously just see a steady stream of passive income coming in. That must be really good.

Sarah:

Yeah, and from a financial perspective, in November, when I joined your blog, of course I wasn’t making any money off my blog. I did Instagram collaborations. But they’re not passive income, so you always have to put so much work into contracting them.

Sarah:

You do them and then it’s just a one-off thing and I always knew that even though we’re like workaholics, both of us, we really love the idea of driving a passive income.

Sarah:

So you can’t do passive income with Instagram. So yeah, and right now it’s a bit different obviously not each month it’s the same, but I’m hovering around a little bit or below a thousand to a thousand dollars a month.

Anna:

That’s incredible because you said it’s passive. Like, I know you took a vacation recently and you guys were traveling all over Indonesia and even though you guys were traveling, money was still consistently coming in.

Sarah:

Oh yeah.

Sarah:

Since the traffic spike. I didn’t even notice it because before I came back and I had that Google report in my inbox and I was like, oh, I didn’t notice I had such a huge traffic spike and since I had advertising setup for my blog that just brought in money.

Anna:

That’s incredible. I think that’s one of the things that we love the most about blogging. As you know, like Tom and I love traveling and we love going to all these different places and it doesn’t matter how much time we’ve put… We work, we actually work, but the money does consistently come in and it’s such a great way to actually earn from your passion.

Anna:

So I love that. So, okay. As you already know, in our Fast Lane community, we encourage everyone to share and celebrate their wins.

Anna:

This might sound a little bit familiar to your earlier question, but could you share some of the wins that you’ve experienced while you’ve been on this course? You mentioned traffic spikes. What are the other things that you could really say has helped you?

Sarah:

For me, one of the very big steps was really realizing how to use Google for keyword research, because I do a lot of Pinterest. So I can do Pinterest pretty well myself. But I was like, Google. I was like, okay, I have no chance of actually ranking posts for Google and by actually doing your lessons again, like a little bit later.

I was like, I’ve probably done the course like three times now, but you constantly keep adding stuff so it makes sense, anyway. I really realized like how to use Keysearch.

Sarah:

Again, Keysearch was something where I was like, I’m not going to invest money in another tool, but I think I do that mistake all the time. I had the same with Pinterest traffic, for Pinterest scheduling with Tailwind in the beginning. I was like, no. Now I’m like on their full plan, like the biggest one they have and so it’s like compared to that, Keysearch was so cheap.

Sarah:

Then just like using them, like I said, especially like the lesson where you really use it and where I can see like how it works totally helped me understand how I can actually rank for keywords.

Sarah:

Yeah, so some of my, like now I find out I have some articles that are like really in the top positions for Google. And I mean I would have never written them without keyword research.

Sarah:

So like how to go with the bus from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. I think I’m positioned two or three for that because I was just like thinking about what do I have to write there because I spent like six weeks in Dubai last year. And I was like what did I write about it?

Sarah:

And then I saw that this is like something where the competition is incredibly low and people were looking for it, so wrote the blog post, optimized it the way you explain it and SEO is actually not so difficult or at least the way you explain it. It definitely helped me tackle the issue.

Sarah:

It’s not user-friendly SEO in the beginning, not like Pinterest. Pinterest is like nice and sexy and easy to understand and Google’s that big dark thing that never lets you know, but it’s actually right there. And I think that your course really teaches that really, really well. So yeah, that definitely helped me to get consistent Google traffic.

Anna:

Oh, that’s amazing. I remember like chatting with you in one of the threads and you were going, “Oh, I’m going to also update my funnel so I can do this.”

Anna:

And just hearing you talk about how you’ve implemented funnels on your own blog and use email marketing is also really cool. Could you tell us a little bit more about that? How’d you got started in doing that? Because I know you also sell your presets and everything.

Sarah:

Yeah, yeah. That’s basically since like I always tried different ways. So like I always wanted to have a mixture of affiliate income, advertising income, and digital products.

Sarah:

And for me, the most natural thing was doing Lightroom presets for Instagram because people kept asking me on Instagram, “Which presets do you use?” And I was like, I’m editing them myself.

Anna:

And Sarah’s Instagram is amazing by the way, so you guys can check it out. I’ll add a link later. But it is amazing.

Sarah:

Yeah. So this is something that I really realized I can do a product for and then you cannot really sell something if… You cannot just sell it on your blog and expect someone to go on your website and just buy it. Even though I can obviously tell people on Instagram, like show them a before and after, it’s just not going to be enough.

Sarah:

So I decided to do the classical why, to do an opt-in, to have some emails, follow that up and then try to make them buy my preset pack, like my full packs, because I’m obviously on the giving away four now three presets, which is not enough for all Light situations. So still definitely you need a preset pack but then they can see that they actually working and so they know what they’re getting themselves into.

Sarah:

So I feel like it’s a very fair way to do it. And it has grown my email crowd to over 10,000 subscribers already. They’re not all super active. I probably have to clean it up because I’m paying a lot for my email list already. But it’s still like, as you also say like your email list is so powerful.

Sarah:

If you get that you just have that tool. I just, yesterday, at one o’clock in the night I sent out a survey to my followers asking them about a product that I’m thinking about developing and I just asked them a short Survey Monkey question.

Sarah:

I already got like 50 responses by now, which is not a lot from a thousand followers but from 10,000 email subscribers, but it’s like 50 people who are incredibly interested in this if I ever launched that. So this is like something where I know. And I now know actually what they’re actually struggling with.

Sarah:

It’s a powerful thing.

Anna:

Obviously, in the Blogging Fast Lane, the Trust Marketing section there is really important and this is something that we talked about because your email (list) is your lifeline to your readers. Exactly what you did. “Hey, I’m thinking about this product, what do you guys think about it?” That’s so powerful.

Anna:

You can bounce off ideas from them and I’m sure you’ll still get more responses over the next few days. And that’s so powerful because you’re not just going, “Oh I have an idea and I’m going to do it,” and hoping that people will like it.

Anna:

So I really liked that. Great. Can you share with us, what’s your favorite part about the course or what have you found most valuable? I know you mentioned earlier the SEO modules, but is there anything in the course that you really enjoyed and that you have found really interesting?

Sarah:

I think that also like the strategy behind like how to do affiliate marketing the right way definitely is. I mean this is the year, like from the way the course developed since I first joined, this definitely became a bigger focus. And I totally understand and I think you see like a lot of people are teaching you about affiliate marketing, but what really made it… Your course is incredibly strong for me is like this sequencing from going from, oh I don’t know if I get the words right, like the transactional, the inspirational content. So kind of like that idea. And then I realized that I’m very often staying on that inspirational level and I’m not doing the ones below.

Sarah:

So it’s no wonder people do… Or I only have the ones below, but not the inspirational taking them together. Like especially like let’s take hotel bookings. Still struggling actually a little bit with getting really a lot of booking income, but I do have a lot of hotel reviews, but I need to have something, a brief as well so I can like cover all the different ways so that in the end people like, yeah, I think I really want to stay there.

Sarah:

So yeah, that definitely like the idea behind that you have these different types of content and how they work together. I think this is really something you need to understand to make affiliate marketing work for you.

Anna:

So that’s great. And what I really love about what you’ve said is that I’m not technical-minded, I love writing. And so the way we explain things is most affiliate marketing courses out there are geared for people who are, this is how you do this.

Anna:

And it’s all very technical and that’s why we like to explain things in simple terms that make sense as a user. And so I think you nailed it in the head of understanding different types of content first and producing the right ones in order to make sure that your income there keeps growing.

Anna:

No, go ahead. Sorry.

Sarah:

I just wanted to say it’s like the one thing that I think where your course really stands out is that it’s both explains the concept behind something really well but then also actually gives you the tools to execute them.

Sarah:

Like when you do like tutorials, so it’s not like, okay, so you just do that and you’re sitting there like, and how do I do that? It’s both. And the combination of both makes your course that incredibly valuable.

Anna:

Amazing. All right, so we’re about to wrap this up. I really enjoyed chatting with you. Can you tell us what are some of your blogging goals that you want to achieve this year?

Anna:

So obviously you’ve grown like in leaps and bounds from 5,000 page views to now 100,000 page views. What are the different things that you want to achieve with your blog over the next couple of years? Or this 2020?

Sarah:

Yeah, I think, I mean for me now it’s really scaling that up because I got the traffic, I understand how Google works, I understand how Pinterest works, so now it’s the timing… Because you can see there’s the type of blogger who never earns money from their blog and then that’s where I am right now.

Sarah:

They own a couple of hundreds to maybe a few thousands. And then there’s bloggers who really get it. And so for me it’s not really about doing the next step. And since I already got the traffic and I know how to create more of that traffic, it’s more about getting my RPM higher.

Sarah:

So, really monetizing through different ways, it can be another digital product as I said, I’m conceptualizing something right now, but also affiliate income. So because I can see all those channels that I’m picking up and so I have that. Everything’s set up there and I really have to execute it and tweak those things because I mean obviously a $1,000 is not enough, even not in Berlin, even though it’s a cheap city to live.

Sarah:

So I need a scale that up a bit more and my husband’s already waiting to leave his job, so he’s still working part-time, which is very good. We have to play off our flat here.

Anna:

That’s so funny.

Sarah:

But he’s always, “I can’t then stop it. I can help you.” I guess I’m still like, now, no, please stay until I make that work. But I think I want to make 2020 the year I make that really work. I’m positive it’s going to work out.

Anna:

Oh, well, you know I am too. You are so hardworking and you’ve grown your brand into something that’s really impressive in such a short amount of time. So I know you say 1,000 bucks isn’t much, but you have to give yourself credit. That’s incredible. That’s $1,000 that you’ve managed to create out of doing something that you love. And that’s not something that a lot of people can say.

Sarah:

Yeah, I’m happy with that. For sure. It’s just like I know I can do more and I want to do more.

Anna:

No, that’s really exciting. So this year is the year of scaling, and I look forward to chatting with you and seeing how the Blogging Fast Lane can help you grow and achieve that. Awesome. Thank you very much, Sarah. I really enjoyed chatting with you.

Sarah:

Thank you. Bye.