I quit my job and became a travel 'micro influencer.' Now I make money leading tours and see the world for free.

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• Rhiannon Wood, 26, fell in love with traveling during her university's study abroad program in 2021.
• After working minimum-wage jobs around the world, she took courses on how to monetize social media.
• Today, she has about 60,000 Instagram followers and is building her own travel agency.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rhiannon Wood, a 26-year-old travel micro influencer who runs a social media business and leads group tours around the world. It has been edited for length and clarity.

After graduating from the University of Birmingham in the UK in 2022, I knew I wanted to travel before settling into my journalism career. I took odd jobs around the world to scratch the itch, but I didn't quite get back to the life I originally envisioned.

Instead, traveling around the world — and finding a way to monetize it online — became my full-time job. I never thought that hosting group tours in Greece, Peru, and Georgia would be my business, but now I can't imagine it being anything else.

My now-60,000 Instagram followers make me a "micro influencer," generally defined as an online creator with a follower count between 10,000 and 100,000. I don't make a ton of money, as I'm only about two years in, but I make enough to live comfortably and continue building my business.

Here's my journey to becoming a "micro influencer" leading group tours and seeing the world for free, and how I make money doing it.

I hired an Instagram coach to learn how to monetize social media

I first caught the travel bug during my senior year of university, in my study abroad program in the 2021-2022 academic year. I lived in Lyon, France, with friends, and on weekends, we took trips to the nearby mountains and other countries.

I fell in love with skiing on the slopes of the Alps, which catapulted me to Lake Louise, Canada, near Banff, immediately after graduation.

While skiing as much as possible in Canada, I worked at a boat-and-canoe rental company, a zipline company, and a ski resort — living on minimum-wage pay and the excitement of being in a new part of the world. But the low pay got old, quick.

Since I was already posting photos of my travels on Instagram, I figured I should try to monetize them and, hopefully, achieve financial independence.

I started intentionally posting my travels on Instagram in late 2024. To prepare, I took a series of social media strategy webinars, hired an Instagram coach, and made sure I understood Instagram's algorithm and how to work with it.

Within four months of posting, I landed my first brand deal: Mapo Tapo, an online group-trip provider that specializes in outdoor sports, offered me the opportunity to host my first trip to Switzerland, where I earned £330 ($446).

I didn't have direct experience leading tours before I landed my Mapo Tapo deal. But given my outdoor knowledge and years of experience with intense hiking, mountaineering, and rock climbing, it wasn't too difficult to map out a pleasant travel and outdoor experience for those on my first few group trips. And it helped me work out the kinks of my tours and learn from early mistakes.

The sponsorship floodgates opened after that deal. I've now worked with Skyscanner, Siroko, Roamless, and several other travel and athletic-related companies. My personal and group travels have taken me to Peru, Scotland, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and more.

Gaining experience on the other side of the online travel industry has also inspired a new ambition: I am working to launch my own travel agency, one where I can still travel the world with my followers and fellow explorers while earning more.

In the meantime, my audience is growing, and I'm happy with my follower count, especially with how engaged they are. I would love to have more; that's the nature of my business — to seek more growth and brand opportunities.

Still, you don't need a huge six or seven-figure follower count to make money online.

I work every day and make money from brand deals and tours

The financials of a group trip vary depending on numerous factors. Some agencies I work with will take a higher commission per person, while others will offer me the trip for free.

I've earned up to $3,000 in commission per trip, but it depends on the tour size. My trips usually last at least a week. Similar to the group trips, I have a rate in mind for my Instagram collaborations when I negotiate, ranging from a few hundred dollars when I started to more than $1,000 now.

I tend to save my earnings from group trips and use the income from Instagram Reels sponsorships for fun spending. I negotiate my commission to ensure I earn enough from each trip to live comfortably.

Overall, I currently make in the low five figures but am securing more work as I grow. But I don't need to earn as much as I did in my college days. My life is largely on the go, and I often travel for free, only use budget accommodations, and rarely buy new things. I've essentially lived out of a backpack for a year now and have gotten good with money.

Still, building a brand on my own often blurs my work-life balance. I work every day sending emails, posting, negotiating offers, and planning trips. And that happens both on trips and in between, so I rarely have a day off.

Navigating an online presence can be challenging

I struggled at first in my early sponsorship negotiations — I didn't have the confidence to believe these companies wanted to work with me or to find a happy medium on rates, instead of bypassing me for the next potential collaborator.

Over the years, however, I've realized that having confidence that things will work out in my favor is the best mindset for this job.

Whether that's figuring out visa and passport requirements, managing my workload alone and without an agent, feeling safe in new countries, or managing follower count and engagement expectations, I have learned that maintaining a positive, growth-oriented mindset is key to my business success and mental health.

It's inspiring to see my growth in navigating those challenges.