Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Jansen.
Emily, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Five years ago, I sold everything to travel the world. I got out of my lease, sold my car, and downsized my belongings. I had been working as an actress in Minnesota for years and while I was super passionate about the arts, the pay wasn’t exactly something that allowed me to go globetrotting in my weeks off.
And yet, when I was a young girl, I used to walk to the travel agency in my hometown of St Peter and cut out pictures of all the places I wanted to travel “someday”. I lived for the one summer road trip my family would take each year. We’d all pile in the minivan and take off to Yellowstone or the Badlands to camp for a week.
Years went by and I never went overseas or prioritized travel in any way.
By the time I was 26, my passport was set to expire and it was almost entirely empty!
With barely enough money for the plane tickets, I decided to book a trip to Europe by myself. I figured if I kept waiting until the “right” time, I would never go. I planned to couch surf around London, Scotland and Germany between volunteer positions I had applied for and was fortunate to have landed!
After those first 3 weeks, I was hooked. I desperately wanted to keep traveling but had a few more months on my lease so I came back to Minnesota and saved while planning what I thought was going to be just one year abroad.
One travel gig led to another and pretty soon I had worked with sled dogs in Sweden, guided a pub crawl in Poland, worked at Munich’s Oktoberfest, hosted hundreds of spring break travelers around the world in Mexico and led month-long cross country road trips across the USA for Australian travelers among many other travel gigs!
Fast forward 5 years and I’m now a professional nomad sharing my travel tips on my social media and website: TheWanderlustRose.com and guiding group trips around the world through my company, Wanderlust Group Trips so others can travel with me. Travel has become my full-time job and I couldn’t be happier about it!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
When I first began traveling, a lot of people were skeptical I could turn it into a full-time gig much less ever be able to support myself, save for retirement or even get paid at all.
I was extremely dedicated in finding travel jobs that allowed me to keep traveling the world until my social media and my own business took off. I had this relentless belief in myself. I took a lot of risks (i.e. leaving my job and everything behind) but they have all paid off tenfold.
I remember reading years ago that the best way to achieve your goals is through massive action. So that’s what I did. Even when I didn’t have the funds to travel, any knowledge of designing a website or working in the tourism industry. I kept going and fighting for my dream. I learned photography from YouTube. I took online courses in SEO & blogging. All these cumulative actions have led to me owning my own very successful travel business!
But running a business as I travel the world is one of the most time-consuming, challenging, and wonderful things I’ve ever done!!
It can certainly be a struggle to pay vendors and answer client emails while traveling in remote areas of the world with limited Wi-Fi.
I was recently on an expedition in Antarctica as a photographer and was off the grid for 2 full weeks. Which any busy business owner would tell you creates a massive backlog of emails, unanswered questions and mounting to-do lists.
I’m busier but happier than ever!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As a full-time travel blogger, tour guide and trip host I have a wide variety of work I do for clients, myself, and the guests who come on trips with me.
While I enjoy collaborating with hotels, tourism boards or different travel companies to promote their destination, product or tour, what I love most of all is hosting group trips.
I run between 1-2 trips a month that are open to adults looking for exciting, adventurous trips in unique destinations with like-minded travelers.
In the two years, my business has been open, nearly 500 people have traveled with me. I’ve hosted trips in Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania, Mexico, Turkey, Ireland, Croatia and more!
I specialize in photographing the guests on my trips as well which I know people really appreciate.
At the end of their trip, everyone receives a Google Drive full of professional photos of themselves throughout the week. It’s a unique additional service I love to provide for my guests!
When asked what I’m most proud of about my business, I can easily answer: the relationships I’ve formed with the guests. I’ve had many people book 8+ trips with me since I started so I’ve gotten to know my guests really well. It’s so fun having so many repeats people I get to travel with!
Many of them sent me holiday cards, we keep in touch regularly between trips and I’m even officiating a wedding in Mexico next month for a couple who has been on several of my trips. It’s really such a special and wonderful community of travelers that have come from this all!
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I started this journey with just a few hundred dollars in my bank account. And I personally built this travel business from the ground up! Sometimes I’ll get comments on viral videos that I must be “trust fund kid” to be able to afford to travel so much. My parents didn’t fund my travels, I did everything by volunteering around the world in exchange for food/accommodation or by staying with locals.
People don’t realize there are ways to travel on ANY budget.
Furthermore, I truly love what I do. And I do not take one single second of this dream life for granted. I feel so fortunate to get to travel the world with amazing people and create friendships all around the globe. Even on my 5th group trip to Egypt, I’ll be just as excited as the first!! It really doesn’t get old for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://thewanderlustrose.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewanderlust_rose
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/thewanderlustrose/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thewanderlustrose
