Episode 0Dec 25, 2025· 47:14
From Side Hustle to $2K Monthly: A Travel Blogger's Comeback Story
About this episode
Michelle walked away from her travel blog for years—until a chance conversation convinced her to give it one more shot. Eighteen months later, she's consistently earning $2,000+ per month through ads and affiliate commissions, despite Google's algorithm updates that destroyed many travel sites. She shares how she finally learned SEO properly, which monetization methods work best for travel content, and why posting…
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Full transcript
00:03
The Bloggy Friends Show. What's up, my bloggy
00:25
friends? Famous Ashley Grant here, and I just
00:27
want to welcome you to the Bloggy Friends Show.
00:29
We're so excited to have you join us on this
00:31
journey of sharing our knowledge and experiences
00:33
with you. Whether you're a blogger, a content
00:35
creator, or just someone who's interested in
00:37
learning more about the digital world, we've
00:39
got something for you. So grab your notebook
00:41
and a pen to take some notes, or just sit back
00:43
and take in all the amazing information and ideas
00:45
we're about to share with you. Let's get into
00:47
it. Well, Michelle, welcome to the show. I'm
00:50
so excited to have you here. Why don't you tell
00:52
us a little bit about what it is you do? Yeah,
00:54
so I'm a travel blogger. that has a blog called
00:57
Travel Her Story. So I came up the name because
01:00
it's like history, but it's spelled with her.
01:02
And I love history, but also wanted to tell my
01:05
journey of traveling. So that's a little mix
01:07
of both. I was like kind of dual names. That's
01:11
awesome. When did you start your blog? So I started
01:15
it like 12 years ago. I was working in TV at
01:18
the time, but I had a job that basically, unless
01:20
something broke, I really had nothing to do.
01:23
And I had a friend back in high school who had
01:26
started a blog. And she was like, oh, why don't
01:27
you try this thing? And I had absolutely zero
01:29
idea what I was doing. I was just like, oh, I
01:31
write stuff and people will find it. Nope. I
01:34
know how that works. You know, like I was writing
01:36
blog posts that were like my fourth day driving
01:40
across America. And I was like, nobody's Googling
01:43
that, you know. But it gave me the bug for starting
01:46
writing, basically. So I started that. But like
01:50
I said, I had no idea what I was doing. And I
01:52
also was working a full -time job. And so I would
01:55
travel very intermittently. So it wasn't really
01:59
great as far as consistency. And I remember I
02:03
kind of learned some random classes. But they
02:05
just didn't give me the proper knowledge to actually
02:10
take this seriously. And then it was about a
02:12
year and a half ago. I had left my job because
02:16
it's kind of a toxic situation and was doing
02:20
like a networking thing. And I met this guy who
02:22
basically does like a tour groups for, for photographers.
02:26
So he'll take a bunch of photographers to like
02:27
the Sahara and they'll photograph. And I was
02:30
like, yeah, I used to have this blog, but like,
02:31
I don't really do anything with it anymore. And
02:33
he was like, well, you're spending money having
02:35
it up there. Are you? And I was like, yeah. And
02:38
he's like, well, give it a try. Like at least
02:40
make what you're making, what you're spending
02:42
on it. So this way it's not lost. And I was like,
02:44
yeah, he's right. Like I have the time. I don't
02:46
have a job right now. You know, staring at LinkedIn
02:48
all day is kind of infuriating. You can only
02:53
do that before like you lose your marbles. So
02:56
I was like, I need a hobby anyway right now.
02:58
So I went back in, but then like I actually really
03:00
started learning about SEO this time rather than
03:02
just kind of like throwing paint at the wall.
03:06
It started making money. Like, oh, okay. This
03:10
is awesome. Who knew? Yeah. Well, I was like,
03:15
God, I wish I knew this 12 years ago. I was raking
03:17
it back in for 12 years. But, you know, you can't
03:21
regret choices. You can only, you know, do what
03:23
you can. So, yeah, I started making a few hundred,
03:28
a few hundred. And then I actually saw somebody
03:29
on Threads post, like, what they were making
03:31
for the month. And I was like, oh, that would
03:33
be interesting. Like, let me, like, do the math.
03:35
because we make a little bit here and a little
03:36
bit here and a little bit here you see it but
03:38
you don't really like calculate it and then I
03:41
was like suddenly like oh I'm making like two
03:43
grand a month like consistently like I was like
03:45
okay this is like something I should like put
03:48
more energy in so that's that's how I went from
03:51
you know very like not knowing what I was doing
03:54
well to like 11 years later finally figuring
03:57
out what I was doing Yeah, I'm still trying to
03:59
figure it out, if I'm honest. I mean, yeah, I
04:01
will say I have been doing this full time, like
04:04
actually making full time income as a writer
04:05
since. Goodness, I went I guess you'd say I went
04:09
pro in 2011 and I started making full time income
04:13
into 2014. But but not all of it was under my
04:16
name. I started doing stuff for like other people's
04:19
blogs. And so a lot of it was ghostwriting and
04:21
things like that. What were some of your monetization
04:23
methods for whenever you, I guess, got serious?
04:27
So mostly where my monetization even today is,
04:30
is ads and affiliates. Ads is kind of just nice.
04:33
I kind of view it as backup money because if
04:36
somebody doesn't buy something, at least they
04:37
were there and like maybe I made a couple cents
04:39
off them. But I really push for the affiliates.
04:42
So hotels, activities, so like selling, you know,
04:45
winter's coming up. So I did, I went to Finland
04:47
a couple years ago. And did all the winter activities
04:50
like reindeer sleigh riding, dog sledding, aurora
04:53
hunting, things like that. So selling tickets
04:55
to that where you get commission. And then some
04:57
product -based stuff. So like Amazon, like I'll
04:59
promote what my hostel packing list is and, you
05:05
know, link to there. So if they buy the, you
05:08
know, towel or whatever it is in there, I get
05:11
a commission off of that. That's awesome. So
05:13
in terms of ads, is it Google Ads or Mediavine?
05:16
What are you using? So I used to be with SheMedia.
05:19
That's what I was with actually like eight, nine
05:21
years ago and never made it in my own views.
05:25
So when I joined back up to like getting serious,
05:27
I was still with them. So at first I was with
05:30
them and actually I know a lot of bloggers who
05:32
like don't like them, but I've never really had
05:34
any issue with them. I just went switching to
05:37
Journey because when Journey first launched,
05:38
which is Journey is like kind of like Mediavine's
05:40
like little sister where they like let people
05:42
under 50 ,000 views in or 50 ,000 sessions. So
05:46
I joined that. And then actually about a month
05:50
or two ago, I got an email from Mediavine and
05:52
I hadn't hit 50 ,000 sessions, but they were
05:54
like, we're going to invite you in. And I was
05:56
like, oh, okay. And it was actually so new that
05:59
I posted it in a Facebook group and I was like,
06:01
is this real? Like I checked the email and it
06:04
doesn't seem like a scam. Like they didn't ask
06:08
for anything weird, but like it was so, so new.
06:11
And now they've started inviting more people
06:13
in their under 50 ,000 sessions. But yeah, at
06:15
first I was like, oh. I don't know. I get it,
06:19
man, because there's a lot of scams out there.
06:21
Like it's it's it's kind of insane how many scams
06:24
there are. And I've even had the people that
06:26
will send you a message and they're like, we're
06:27
going to pay you a thousand dollars. All you
06:29
got to do is put one post. And it's like, yeah,
06:31
that looks really shady. I had somebody the other
06:34
day that said they had like a company name in
06:37
it because most of the time they don't have a
06:38
company name. They're like, hi, I'm Tony. And
06:40
I want to pay you to do this. And you're like,
06:43
pay me to do what? Like, give me more details.
06:47
Yeah. But this one had a company name and it
06:49
said, and they were like, oh, we're going to
06:50
give you like a three night stay and pay for
06:53
your airfare to use our products. I like looked
06:56
at the company name and like, then they didn't
06:58
have any packages for America. Like they're all
07:01
on like other continents. And I was like, so
07:03
you're going to pay me to. do something you guys
07:08
don't offer like so I emailed back basically
07:11
saying like I don't see any of these things available
07:13
on your website and then no response oh god you
07:16
called it out yeah I forgot their plan click
07:20
google that's funny and then you know that's
07:22
the important thing though is that you know as
07:24
bloggers especially today we have got to be you
07:27
know doing our due diligence and and being careful
07:30
because there's a lot of bad actors out there
07:34
Yeah. And like years ago when I, like I said,
07:36
I was not making money at all. I'd get emails
07:38
like, hey, we want to promote our product and
07:40
your thing. Can you take guest posts? And if
07:43
it was like somewhat travel related, like I remember
07:46
when I was on Dubai or something and I've never
07:48
been to Dubai. So I was like, sure. It's content
07:51
on my website. It never ranked. Yeah. Like it
07:54
was just nonsense. They put together and put
07:57
a link in it. Like, you know, and I wound up
07:59
like being like, I can't do these anymore. Like,
08:01
it's just not worth it. The only times I do that
08:05
kind of like link stuff is if it's like another
08:07
blogger that I'm like, oh, OK, you like are actually
08:09
in the same position as me. You're not just some
08:11
weird company trying to promote their casino
08:12
or whatever. Yeah, I have a pretty strict rule.
08:16
No casinos. And the thing is, it's not I'm against
08:19
gambling. I'm not against gambling. But I don't
08:23
know, something about just putting a link to
08:24
a casino, I don't, absolutely not. Yeah, no,
08:28
no, no. And my other one, there are funny links
08:30
for me. Yeah, the other one is Bitcoin. I will
08:33
not promote Bitcoin. And it's not that I think
08:36
that all of it's a scam, but I mean, you know,
08:38
a lot of it is. Well, there's a lot of, yeah.
08:42
Yeah. And like, I'm sure you feel similarly.
08:45
Like, I don't know enough Bitcoin about a Bitcoin.
08:47
So even if a company would be legit, like, I
08:50
don't know. I don't want to tell other people
08:52
it like, you know. Yeah. And just the fact that
08:55
I know a couple of people, I don't know them
08:57
personally, but I know friends of friends that
08:59
have lost significant amounts of money. Like
09:01
one of the guys that I was talking to. a friend
09:04
of his lost like $15 ,000 in, in a Bitcoin scam.
09:08
And I'm like, yeah, I'm out. I don't want to,
09:10
I don't want to play that game. And I know, and
09:12
I know another one, he made 50 ,000, but it's
09:16
like, you don't know enough unless you know enough.
09:19
Yeah. It was the saying, you know, enough to
09:21
be dangerous or something like that. Yeah. I'm
09:25
not, I don't know enough to be dangerous. So
09:27
that's probably a good thing. So we'll stick
09:30
to, we'll stay in our lanes. So speaking of which,
09:32
so when did you actually start making money?
09:34
I know you said that you started like, you know,
09:35
finally making a couple hundred and then finally
09:37
got to two grand, but what was the timeline?
09:39
What did that look like? So I started ending
09:42
because I had like a hundred blog posts or nearly
09:44
a hundred that were like from the olden days
09:47
and I didn't know what I was doing. in like March
09:50
of 2024 and then I feel like it was like maybe
09:53
like September that I was like oh this is like
09:56
real real money so like six months like you know
09:59
give or take a little bit that I yeah really
10:02
started cranking it up and of course like when
10:04
you when you have almost like no views it just
10:07
looks like a you know Everest going up basically
10:09
from the timeline of how many views and then
10:12
of course at some point it starts like you know
10:15
tapering off or going down a little bit and stuff
10:17
and I'm like oh but you know again I went from
10:20
like almost nothing to like I have 80 posts that
10:23
I've edited and now you know my blog is like
10:25
oh shit there's stuff to rank on Google so yeah
10:29
so it was about I would say six months where
10:32
and that was ending old blog posts which took
10:34
me like a couple months and then starting to
10:37
create new stuff OK, well, just hearing 2024
10:41
is probably going to excite some of the bloggers
10:43
that are listening right now, because I know
10:45
several people that got hit hard by the Google
10:47
helpful content update, which I call anything
10:50
but helpful. So I'm curious, like, do you think
10:53
that the content update helped you or that you
10:57
just were already doing different things and
10:59
so it didn't really impact you? So like the I
11:03
know like they've had like a couple different
11:05
updates and I think. Because I'm trying to remember,
11:08
would you know that when they had that like big
11:11
one that really shook everybody up? It feels
11:14
like it was 2023. It feels like it was like either
11:16
2022 or 2023. So I think I was like on the aftermath
11:22
of that. So I think maybe whatever I was doing,
11:25
Google's like, oh, this is somebody different.
11:27
Like we're not going to. And I obviously don't
11:31
know for sure. I'm just guessing because Google's
11:33
not going to tell us anything. People constantly
11:35
ask me, like, how do you rank? And I was like,
11:36
well, you have these 200 guesses that you make
11:39
every time. But yeah, so I think maybe I was
11:42
just, because I honestly, when I started, like,
11:44
retaking it seriously, I wasn't up. on all the
11:48
updates and all the changes and everything i
11:49
was just going one of the big people that i learned
11:52
a lot from is nina who owns she knows seo who
11:55
has a facebook group for it was exclusively for
11:59
travel bloggers pretty much at the time but now
12:01
it's for like all bloggers and learning a lot
12:03
from her and so yeah i just i think i wasn't
12:07
even like kind of aware of it when i was restarting
12:10
i've obviously become aware since they've done
12:12
other updates and i've definitely seen like get
12:16
affected from some of them but like luckily it's
12:18
like it'll like dip for a month and then it will
12:21
kind of like figure itself back out and I'm not
12:24
gonna say I've like cracked any code I think
12:26
it's just dumb luck some part and just continuing
12:30
to make sure it's actually things I give a hoot
12:34
about like I said like not posting random like
12:36
Dubai articles from random guest posts like I
12:38
don't care about that I've never been there I
12:40
have no skin in the game But for instance, like
12:44
one of my top posts is like an anti -theft purse
12:46
I use all the time. So that's something I'm very
12:49
passionate about. I know about it. I've used
12:50
it for years. Like I can talk very personally
12:53
about it. So if I can't qualify that, then I
12:56
just don't do it. And I think that kind of at
12:59
E -E -A -T for Google really likes like, oh,
13:01
she actually really knows about this and cares
13:04
about it. So yeah, I know the A stands for authority,
13:07
but I can't help but feel like it should be two
13:09
A's. authority and authenticity, because that
13:12
really does matter. I mean, like you, we've talked
13:14
about the guest posts a couple of times and I
13:15
do accept guest posts personally on my own website,
13:18
but I mainly do it from a research perspective.
13:21
Cause like, I kind of like to see what people
13:23
do send me so I can see what I want to play with.
13:26
But, but I have a special category on my website
13:29
that you would have to know what you're looking
13:30
for to be able to find it, if that makes sense.
13:32
So like all my guest posts are corralled in one
13:34
spot. on the site. But I don't know if that's
13:37
the best way to do it or not, but I'm playing
13:39
with it and just seeing kind of what happens.
13:40
But so coming back to the helpful content update
13:43
and Google and all the things, I'm curious, have
13:46
you seen any impact because of AI? Because that's
13:50
a big question that everybody's talking about
13:52
right now. Yeah, I want to say it was either
13:54
in June or July this year that they turned on
13:57
AI overviews for Europe is what I was told. And
14:00
like my month that month went half the income,
14:04
like just sliced in half. And I know it was mostly
14:08
the AI because my impressions were still great.
14:11
So it wasn't like I lost rankings. You know,
14:13
it wasn't like, oh, Michelle, you lost the post
14:14
number one spot for this. That's why it changed.
14:17
my impressions were still pretty much the same
14:19
as the prior month but like all the click -throughs
14:22
were like in the toilet you know so like that
14:24
tells me it's still on google just people have
14:26
decided not to click it and why have they decided
14:28
not to click it well they're getting the answer
14:30
above it you know so yeah so like for a month
14:34
i like lost and i was like that month i was like
14:36
oh no what am i gonna do like it's a night thing
14:39
and then it was like weird like the next month
14:41
everything went back to normal i'm like knocking
14:43
on wood right now um because i i I've just been
14:47
like, OK, I'll take it. So that was the only
14:52
month that like AA really did me in. I'm sure
14:55
it's still doing me in in some format. I'm sure
14:58
people are Googling, you know, things to do in
15:00
Paris rather than clicking on a blog post. But
15:02
there's some of that I just can't control, you
15:05
know, like it's going to happen. So it really
15:07
is. And so with that in mind, you know, one of
15:10
the things I'm thinking about really heavily
15:11
right now, and I plan on interviewing a few people
15:13
to discuss it, is. How are you anticipating that
15:17
you're going to need to promote your website
15:19
outside of just trying to rank for SEO? So I
15:23
do a lot of Pinterest is how I also bring in
15:25
traffic. So Google and Pinterest are the two
15:27
main drivers. I know a lot of people as far as
15:30
like AI are like, oh, I really want to rank in
15:33
the where they note you as a source. You know,
15:36
it's like you've said, you know, you're Googling
15:37
your, you know, thanks to you in Paris. And it
15:40
has that AI box and you click on it and it says,
15:43
you know, Susie's blog. But nobody's yet proven
15:46
to me that that actually gives them any traffic.
15:49
So I've tested with it a little bit and I've
15:52
actually gotten myself to be sourced, accredited
15:56
or whatever you want to call it up there. But
15:58
I've never seen, I mean, I've had like maybe
16:01
50 AI views a month. It's according to my Google
16:04
analytics. So like until somebody's like, oh,
16:06
I'm getting like 10 ,000 views a month from that.
16:10
I just don't. And I get it if you're maybe like,
16:12
I don't know, let's say like a big brand Marriott
16:15
where like you Google like the best hotels, you
16:18
know, to stay at and like you want to be Marriott
16:21
and that you show up in there. But for like me,
16:23
like unless it's coming, clicking through my
16:25
blog, I'm like, I don't know, like, why am I
16:27
going to? I, you know, I can't disagree with
16:31
that at all because the unfortunate thing is,
16:33
yeah, if they're getting the answer and not needing
16:36
to click through, it doesn't do us much good.
16:39
I mean, yes, of course. Everybody wants that,
16:41
you know, feather in the cap of, oh, I'm showing
16:43
up all the time. But if no one's clicking through,
16:45
you're not making money. And so that's kind of
16:48
one of the things that I've been talking to a
16:49
lot of people about lately is like, okay, so
16:51
do we invest in ads? Do we start an email list?
16:55
Well, if we start an email list, then we have
16:56
to buy ads to get the people to the email list.
16:58
So it's an interesting game that we're all kind
17:01
of playing right now. And there's a lot of guessing
17:03
involved. Would you agree? Oh, yeah, 100 % guessing.
17:06
And as far as email lists, like I never. I've
17:09
done email lists for other companies where I've
17:11
like been the person like hired to do their email
17:12
list. So it's not that I don't know how to do
17:14
it, but for me as like a blogger, I just never
17:17
really invested in it. I have started a little
17:19
bit to start investing in it, partly because
17:21
I wrote a book and I want to promote that to
17:23
people. But also like I've seen people who are
17:27
like ranking the number one spot where they'll
17:29
have like a travel guide and they're like, oh,
17:30
do you don't have enough time? Click this and
17:32
give me your email and I'll email you the travel
17:34
guide. So I'm like, okay, like I'll test that
17:36
out. Has it been super successful so far? No.
17:41
But to your point of like, you just got to guess
17:44
and hope something works. But as far as like
17:47
imparting any wisdom on people, yeah, Google
17:49
and Pinterest are still my main drivers. The
17:51
only other thing I'm kind of testing out now
17:53
is definitely like, you know, when you Google
17:55
something and it'll like show like Instagram
17:57
videos and TikTok videos and whatever. And I'm
17:59
not a big video person. I kind of hate editing.
18:01
As far as somebody who used to work in TV and
18:03
post -production, it's hilarious that I hate
18:05
editing, but I do. But I've definitely started
18:08
to like upload all those like little clips or
18:10
do like TikTok videos. I do mostly slides where
18:13
I'll be like, you know, things to do in Paris
18:15
and I'll do like, you know, 15 slides of different
18:17
things. Just to see if I start to rank, I have
18:20
not found myself to start to rank yet. The only
18:23
thing I've gotten so far is like some YouTube
18:25
shorts. I've gotten like a thousand views, but
18:27
has that driven anything to my website? I don't
18:29
think so. Because I think it's similar to TikTok
18:32
where you just kind of, like, scroll through
18:33
and you're not really, unless you're, like, really,
18:35
really interested, you're probably not clicking
18:36
on that person's profile. So, yeah, it's all
18:39
just, like, a game of testing different things.
18:41
I've even started posting my, like, blog posts
18:42
on LinkedIn. Because somebody was like, oh, you
18:44
should create, like, a page for your company.
18:47
And I was like, oh, okay. And has that driven
18:50
anything yet? No. But, you know, it's, like,
18:52
one of those things where you're like, you got
18:53
to test it for a few months and see if it works.
18:55
Yes, that's the facts, man. One of the girls
18:58
that I interviewed for a podcast on podcasting,
19:01
she said she gives six months for any test that
19:04
she does. And, you know, the funny thing is,
19:06
it's like as bloggers, sometimes it's like, well,
19:09
six months could mean that, you know, we're having
19:11
ramen noodle packets instead of an actual meal.
19:14
So it's a weird game. Well, I've definitely I've
19:19
had friends who are like, oh, I'm going to try
19:20
blogging now that it's working for you. And I've
19:22
told them all like. some people are gonna like
19:25
pitch that it's gonna take like two weeks and
19:27
you're gonna be making like five thousand dollars
19:29
a month I was like that was never realistic for
19:31
me a lot every so often I'll get a blog post
19:34
that like immediately ranks but more often than
19:37
not it's six months later that it's ranking on
19:39
the page you know and I've had blog posts that
19:42
were like number one and like I had one that
19:44
like brought me in like five hundred dollars
19:45
in revenue on just activities Like, I was selling,
19:48
like, you can get this pass, and you can go to,
19:50
like, five different attractions. Well, they
19:52
got rid of that pass. So my blank, since my blog
19:56
post was focused all on that, my blog post, like,
19:58
fell off. Which, as far as the Google helpful
20:01
content update, that was actually, I thought
20:02
it was, like, that's pretty fair. It's no longer
20:04
available. My post is now out of date. So, of
20:07
course, I went in and, like, edited it to, like,
20:09
make it up to date. And that was a couple months
20:12
ago, and now it's finally on the bottom of page
20:14
one. But I was like, page one. Yeah, well, it
20:18
fell off page one for, like, those few months.
20:20
So, like, I was not making the revenue I was
20:22
before. All that $500 was, you know, when it
20:24
was number one on the Google. And I had, like,
20:28
the number one slot for, like, almost a whole
20:30
year. I was, like, very proud. I was like, this
20:31
is great. This is great. And then I got rid of
20:33
that damn pass. No. But, yeah, blogging is not,
20:36
like, a short -term, like, I'm going to make
20:37
a million dollars next week. You know? Like,
20:40
some people, like, snag. It is such a long game.
20:43
And, you know, that's kind of why I started diversifying
20:46
myself of of not just focusing on just my own
20:49
website. I started working for other people.
20:51
So I I definitely get that it's you never know
20:55
what's going to happen. So I'm curious, do you
20:58
find yourself working for other people as well?
21:00
Or are you really like zeroed in on just working
21:03
on your own website? I mostly just work for my
21:06
own. I have done a couple of guest posts for
21:08
other people. And that was mostly just try to
21:11
improve my DA, domain authority for anybody who's
21:14
still learning blogging. But I didn't find it
21:17
really worked. What I did instead was I found
21:20
this company called Quoted. So there's Harrow
21:23
and another company where like journalists will
21:26
pitch like, I'm looking for somebody who's been
21:28
to Paris in the fall. I have questions and you
21:31
can respond and hopefully they pick you. I never
21:33
really got any responses on Harrow, but quoted,
21:36
you pay a monthly fee and you get access. Like
21:39
I've gotten features in Travel and Leisure, AOL,
21:44
Yahoo, I'm trying to remember, HuffPost. So like
21:48
names we all know. It's not like, you know, Joe's
21:50
Taco Hut in the side where you're like, I've
21:52
never heard of Joe's Taco Hut. And that's helped
21:54
boost my DA a little bit. So I've spent more
21:57
time doing that than anything. But I have actually
21:59
gotten like a real, real job from this. weird
22:03
story like last year I post on LinkedIn my kind
22:07
of like my blog maintenance and I was kind of
22:09
hoping like well maybe somebody will see this
22:10
and they'll hire me you know it was like kind
22:12
of like I mean brag a little bit you know maybe
22:15
somebody's like oh she knows what she's talking
22:16
about they'll hire me and it worked. AAA who
22:19
does famously like car insurance and things like
22:21
that for people and you can get your car towed
22:23
and stuff like that but they also do have travel
22:25
advisors you can go to them and they'll help
22:27
you book your trip. So they reached out to me
22:30
and were like, hey, do you want to write some
22:31
content for us? So I worked for them for a couple
22:33
months last year. And then they unfortunately
22:35
laid off all the contractors, which included
22:37
me. So I was only with them for a couple months.
22:39
But I actually started up as of last week with
22:40
them again, writing some more content. So basically
22:43
writing those, like, things to do in Paris so
22:45
that you click on that. And then we'll use them
22:48
for travel advising. So I'm very thankful that,
22:52
you know, my blogging has led to, like, real
22:54
full -time money. even if it is just, you know,
22:57
contractor work. Absolutely. And, you know, the
23:00
cool thing about it is not only are you, you
23:02
know, getting income from a client, you're making
23:05
money on something that you own as well. So it's
23:07
like an in tandem thing. And I think it's good
23:10
because it shows, you know, any future employers
23:12
or future clients that you're continuing to put
23:15
yourself out there and that you actually, like
23:17
you said, know what you're doing. And it's funny
23:19
you mentioned quoted because that's how you and
23:21
I met. I'm looking for podcast guests and I am
23:24
going to sign up for. In case Alex Sanfilippo
23:28
is listening, I am still planning on signing
23:29
up for Podmatch. But yeah, I've been playing
23:32
with Quoted as well and seeing what kind of things
23:34
pop from that. And I do have to say, ever since
23:37
Featured took over Harrow, I'm still getting
23:39
pretty decent responses. It's not nearly as spammy.
23:41
But the frustrating thing about Harrow is that
23:44
you still do get a lot of AI -generated bull.
23:48
So that's a big issue that I'm dealing with.
23:50
But I'm curious. So you mentioned Pinterest.
23:53
You mentioned Google. You mentioned that you're
23:54
putting yourself out there on Quoted. Anything
23:56
else you're doing to kind of drive people to
23:58
find out who you are and where you are? Not really.
24:02
I mean, I really don't love the social media.
24:04
Like I said, I post now on like Instagram and
24:07
TikTok mostly to see if I can rank on Google.
24:10
Like I know. I do not have the energy to like
24:13
create TikTok videos where you're like the hook
24:15
at the beginning, like find out how I survived
24:17
this thing. And then it's, you know, a five minute.
24:19
I just don't have that patience. That's why I'm
24:21
doing slides like 15 things to do in Paris. And
24:23
it's just like images and it's like Eiffel Tower,
24:25
Arc de Triomphe. And I'd rather do it. I'd rather
24:29
angle myself as like I said on LinkedIn where
24:32
like I meet with like the AAA or stuff like that.
24:35
And that's part of why I'm like posting my blog
24:37
posts on there is like hoping that like tourism
24:39
boards would be like, oh, she really does like
24:41
know what she's doing. And also like I don't
24:45
know how long I stay with AAA. Like I said, contractor
24:47
work, I would love to stay with them. They're
24:48
a great team. But like maybe I'll go to travel
24:50
and leisures. Maybe I'll go to somewhere else.
24:52
Or to your point, it was like tandem work so
24:55
that. You know, if the blog post isn't ranking
24:57
for these couple of months, I still don't have
25:00
to eat ramen noodles. And I've met some lovely
25:03
people on LinkedIn, a lot of other girls who
25:05
are writing for like Business Insider and stuff
25:08
like that, which they paid like a few hundred
25:10
bucks an article. And I haven't placed any yet.
25:15
I've pitched a few times, like maybe like about
25:17
half dozen times to different outlets. I've got
25:20
one no from like Trev from. teen vogue and one
25:25
other no and i remember like oh man i used to
25:27
read teen vogue i would have liked them um but
25:30
you gotta like yeah you gotta keep like finding
25:32
ways and i'd rather do that than kind of like
25:34
guest post for you know like a random site where
25:38
i'm like yeah well you know this is like a 2da
25:41
site i don't know what those do hey uh i'd rather
25:45
like you went to like the professional writer
25:47
side you know where you're like oh i wrote for
25:49
business insider and travel and leisure and honda
25:52
nest or whoever is you know uh offering up spots
25:55
but i think i just got to get better at pitching
25:57
and i've been told from people who have been
25:59
pitching for quite a while i'm doing it successfully
26:01
that's been kind of dry the last couple months
26:03
so i was like maybe it's not me maybe in the
26:05
new year it will You know, a lot of people, they
26:09
say past Halloween, people kind of start shutting
26:12
down for holidays already. So that's what it
26:15
is. That's kind of true. And then it picks up
26:17
like, you know, I used to actually, you know,
26:20
speaking of the ghostwriting that I said that
26:22
I had done, some of the ghostwriting clients
26:23
I had were actually travel agents. That's how
26:25
I began with the ghostwriting side of things
26:28
is a bunch of travel agents needed content for
26:31
their websites and they didn't have time to write
26:33
it. They wanted to just sell their packages.
26:35
So, yeah, I definitely. understand the ebbs and
26:38
flows of when people are booking trips and things
26:40
like that. So I'm curious with the affiliate
26:42
sales that you're doing, how do you find your
26:45
affiliate partners? So I've signed up for a couple
26:48
of different ones. I used to, when I first started,
26:51
again, I had no idea what I was doing. So I'd
26:53
sign up for like random ones. What I found is
26:56
most successful is I really love Stay 22. They
26:59
do hotels. um get your guide activities and they've
27:02
just started retail so you can like um do i think
27:06
it's like best buy and nike and target and maybe
27:10
walmart um nordstrom's i know is one of them
27:14
so you can basically sell um get commissions
27:16
through those rams as well um not just the hotels
27:20
and the activities um but they have some great
27:23
ai tools where if like somebody's like You know,
27:25
like I have a bunch of posts on Paris. So if
27:28
you're on my things to do post, then you're on
27:29
my three days in Paris post. And then you're
27:31
on my how to be safe in Paris post. It's going
27:33
to like the AI is going to be like, oh, wow,
27:35
they're really like keen to go to Paris. And
27:38
it will kind of shoot you off into some like
27:40
hotel booking pages. And that's where I get a
27:42
lot of my bookings is that like it's like, oh,
27:44
yeah, you might be interested in this. They also
27:47
have some great AI where it will like find text.
27:50
Maybe I didn't like highlight. This hotel is
27:53
near the Eiffel Tower. It will link it automatically
27:55
for me to an affiliate link. So it takes a lot
27:59
of the work out that you would normally do. And
28:02
I'm not saying don't link to anything. Like don't
28:04
rely on this tool 100 % if you're selling some
28:06
specific hotel. But it's nice like a backup,
28:09
right? Because if I like forgot something or
28:11
they think text could be conversion worthy, I
28:16
guess I'll call it, it will highlight it for
28:19
you. So I really like Stay22. Really enjoyed
28:22
working with them. The other one I use is Travel
28:25
Payouts. They have more variety. So you can do
28:28
like car rentals. You can divide or trip advisor
28:30
with them. You can do the hotels. You can do
28:32
get your guide. They even have, I think, travel
28:34
insurance. They've got all kinds of stuff on
28:36
there. That one I just like have never made as
28:38
much money. I do Omeo with them, which does like
28:41
a lot of train and bus travel. I've made like
28:44
a couple bucks on that, I think. I know a lot
28:48
of some bloggers who really may think with that
28:50
one, but for me, Stay 22 has been better. And
28:53
then I'll also like sign up first. I'm part of
28:55
the Amazon affiliates. So again, like if I do
28:59
my hostel list and I, you know, do like, you
29:01
need this padlock and you need this towel and
29:03
you need these flip -flops or whatever, a link.
29:05
The nice thing about Amazon though is even if
29:08
they don't buy the thing I'm promoting, let's
29:09
say like the padlock, but they buy their coffee
29:12
because they always get their coffee off Amazon.
29:14
I still get a commission because they hand through
29:15
my link. So I've seen plenty of that. Oh, yeah.
29:18
That brings up some good memories for me. I posted
29:21
my most popular current post as of the time of
29:25
this recording in November 2025 is I did a recipe
29:30
for the bonefish Hawaiian orchid martini. That
29:32
is like the most popular thing I have on my website.
29:35
And I linked to a coconut syrup by Monin. Well,
29:39
people click that. They don't buy the syrup,
29:41
but like someone bought an Xbox, someone bought
29:43
a Dyson hairdryer, someone like all kinds of
29:46
crazy stuff. And so it's fun that like I'll get
29:48
$12, which pays for the martini because they
29:52
clicked the moment. Yeah, no, I've had the same
29:55
where I've been like, what the hell is my buy
29:57
today? And then I'll look at it like car parts.
29:59
Yeah. You know, like I'm like, I know car part
30:02
is like under a hundred bucks. We all know that,
30:03
you know? So I was like, there was one day that
30:06
I was like, I made like, like a. a good amount
30:08
in affiliates. And I was like, what did somebody
30:10
buy? And it's like, oh, okay. All right. This
30:12
makes a lot more sense. And that, that nicely
30:15
picks up around Christmas because obviously everybody's
30:17
shopping too, because that is one thing I'm like,
30:20
I, when you asked me, I was earlier working on
30:23
and I didn't mention is like making my, my blog
30:26
a little more seasonality proof. So I have one
30:28
location, Finland that I did in winter. That's
30:31
like my, you know, winter travel posts, but the
30:34
rest of them are pretty like. either evergreen
30:37
or more summery stuff, you know, going to Europe
30:40
in summer. So that's another thing I'm working
30:42
on. But yeah, Amazon, like if you're not part
30:43
of Amazon, I mean, I don't love Jeff Bezos, but
30:46
I do like that. Absolutely. It's such a low barrier
30:51
to entry. It's just, it's really good. But so
30:53
it sounds like you need to create a travel gift
30:55
guide. Yeah, that is definitely one of those
30:58
things that I'm like, I gotta keep doing this.
31:00
I keep like, because I've actually, that's how
31:01
some of the ones I'm quoted, like they've been
31:03
like, what's the 10 items you want for Christmas?
31:05
I'll be like, you need these items. So you need
31:08
to write your own. Absolutely. I need to write
31:10
my own. That's one of those things that I'm like,
31:12
I'm working on my pillar post right now. Hence,
31:15
I've written like 15 posts on Paris. I've written
31:17
like. 20 some odd on Austria, 20 some odd on
31:21
Greece. And then anybody who's listening is like,
31:24
what's a pillar post? Rather than writing one
31:26
article on a post, you write as much as you can,
31:28
basically. So whether that's where to stay, the
31:31
itinerary, travel tips, how to get there, restaurant
31:35
guide, whatever it is, just so that Google's
31:38
like, oh, they know this thing and they don't
31:39
just know like one. section of this little thing
31:43
so that's mostly what i've been working on but
31:44
yeah no i need to do gift guides because i do
31:46
very well with products i mean some of my top
31:48
poster products yeah and those one again like
31:51
i usually link to an amazon or some kind of other
31:53
um some of them i partnered with directly so
31:55
i don't link to amazon i'll link to their their
31:57
dedicated affiliate program um and still have
32:01
done well with those so yeah i think Products
32:04
are easy for me because I like will not write
32:06
about it unless they like sent it to me. So I
32:08
have the photos of me with it. I can be like,
32:11
I use this on X trip wherever I was going and
32:14
it did X, Y, Z. And I liked X, but I hated Z,
32:18
you know, whatever it is. So yeah, product posts
32:21
do very well for me. Those are fun. So I'm curious
32:24
with, you know, travel, obviously you're doing
32:27
a travel website. How often do you travel? I
32:30
spent four and a half months in Europe this summer.
32:33
That was the longest I've been gone. That's awesome.
32:36
And I went with no return ticket. It was mostly
32:40
I had like family things that I had to come back
32:42
for that wouldn't make me come home. I probably
32:44
would have been still over there because people
32:46
have been like, how's it being home? And I'm
32:47
like, yeah. I'll go back. I'll go back. I was
32:53
running out of Shangri -La. Yeah, as an American,
32:56
you can have like 90 and 180 day period. And
32:58
I think I used like 60 curry. So I was like,
33:00
I'm pushing the limit, you know. But yeah, so
33:05
like I did four and a half months in Europe.
33:09
Like last year, December to January, I was in
33:11
Mexico and Bacalar. Before that, I was in, I
33:15
think, Finland and Sweden. So I'm actually honestly
33:18
like two to three years behind on posts because
33:20
I've been doing the pillar posts of destinations
33:24
I did, you know, a little while back. So people
33:27
have been like I've met on travels. Like I met
33:29
people in Poland this year. I met people in Belfast
33:32
and Budapest and wherever. And they're like,
33:33
oh, where's the post where I met you? Not there
33:37
yet. Yeah. I'm working on it. It's in the queue.
33:41
It's in like, it's got all these other posts
33:43
that I got to do first. Yeah, I get it, man.
33:46
And it makes me curious though, whenever you're
33:49
traveling and you're thinking about it in terms
33:51
of, okay, I'm doing this for content. Does it
33:54
hurt your travel experience or does it enhance
33:57
it? I had somebody ask me this recently, and
34:01
I think because I really only do photos, it doesn't.
34:06
bug me so much I think if I was sitting like
34:09
there and like recording videos and was one of
34:12
those people with the steadicam and making it
34:13
perfect which their videos look amazing like
34:15
congrats to them but like I think that would
34:17
take me out of the experience as somebody who's
34:19
just doing photos I can like kind of easily snap
34:22
one and like kind of like mentally go back into
34:24
being a tourist for a second um I do like take
34:28
notes like if I'm like oh this thing really sucked
34:30
like I was telling somebody the other day I did
34:32
a tour in Turkey And the tour guide, like, lost
34:35
several people. So I'm going to remember that
34:37
when I write the blog post. Like, we had to go
34:38
back for them. Like, there was, like, three people
34:40
they left behind. And I remember he asked me
34:43
for a review at the end. And I was like, wow,
34:45
the gall of this. You're like, you don't want
34:47
a review from me, man. And really, we only went
34:52
back because somebody else on the bus was like,
34:54
these people from Saudi Arabia aren't on our
34:57
bus. Yeah, because we would have kept going.
35:01
That just transported me back to my honeymoon
35:03
20 years ago. I got left behind. I was on an
35:06
excursion. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon.
35:09
And we got left behind by the bus in Belize.
35:12
And it was like a two -hour drive back to the
35:14
port. And so we're like, okay, what do we do
35:17
now? We're in a foreign country. Like, what do
35:19
we do? And it just so happened we got very lucky.
35:21
A different cruise ship had not left yet. And
35:24
they let us sit on the stairs of their bus for
35:26
the two -hour drive back to town. So we got very
35:28
lucky. Oh, man. Yeah, you really lucked out.
35:31
I was on one in Thailand where we were, like,
35:33
island hopping to, like, uninhabited islands.
35:36
It's not like, you know, island hopping where
35:39
you're like, oh, I'll just go to the nearby resort.
35:41
Awesome. We left somebody behind, but, like,
35:43
luckily we drove away. We see him from the shore,
35:45
like, waving his hands in the air. We went back,
35:48
but I was just, like, oh, my God. Like, what
35:50
if he wasn't prompt enough about waving at us?
35:53
I guess he could have gone on one of the other
35:54
boats that was sitting there, but I was just
35:56
like that. Like, what if it was the last boat?
35:58
Like, I don't know. I just like I'm one of those
35:59
people. I'm like, what if, what if, what if?
36:01
I was actually telling my friend the other day,
36:03
he's like, he has kids and he's like, how do
36:05
you slow to travel? I'm like. I was like, a lot
36:07
of people will be concerned about, like, speaking
36:09
the same language. And I'm concerned about being
36:11
left behind on this whore in our country, okay?
36:14
I always introduce myself to the guide. I remember
36:16
their names so that this lady, they're like,
36:18
oh, that blonde girl from America, you know,
36:21
who asked me my name or was nice to me. Whatever,
36:23
like, I can get them to hopefully remember me
36:25
so that they're not like, where is she? Yeah.
36:32
You just created another blog post you need to
36:34
write. A what if I'm left behind, this is what
36:36
you need to do to not get left behind. Well,
36:38
exactly. That's what my friend said. He's like,
36:40
well, then you need to write that down. So other
36:41
people know, like, you know, make sure you're
36:43
rememberable. So people you're not like ditched
36:46
behind when they like forget, you know, that's
36:49
really solid advice. So we've talked about a
36:54
lot, but one of the things that we also mentioned
36:56
that I kind of want to circle back to, we talked
36:59
about AI. I'm curious because everybody's asking
37:02
about it again. Are you using AI in your writing?
37:05
What are you doing with that? Yeah, I use it
37:08
for like a lot of like outline creation because
37:11
I realize it can't replace me. You know, it's
37:14
not going to. uh be scared in the ATM cave in
37:17
Belize like I was and talk about how I was excited
37:20
it was like an Indiana Jones invention that I
37:22
realized this was an adventure I wasn't prepared
37:24
for um so just not gonna come up with that stuff
37:27
it's not gonna be lost on the island in Thailand
37:29
you know it's not gonna be lost in Belize from
37:31
the bus you know um but I will use it like I'll
37:35
be like hey I'm gonna write a post on how to
37:36
be safe in Paris give you some an outline of
37:39
like what I should do and like it'll give me
37:41
you know like you know uh use a money belt or
37:44
something like that but then I'm going to fill
37:46
that out with like oh I actually like you know
37:48
an anti -theft person this is why you know um
37:51
so I can I think it all can only if you're asking
37:55
it like what's the weather in Paris in April
37:57
everybody's gonna have the same answer you know
38:00
that's fine for me um in my opinion at least
38:03
but yeah if it's something like a little bit
38:06
and and to the point I said earlier like I rank
38:09
For the posts I rank, it's usually, like, the
38:11
very personal posts. So, like, I did the ATM
38:12
cave in Belize, which there's, like, Maya sacrifices
38:15
in this. You have to go through, like, this watering
38:17
cave and climb up into it and whatnot. That was
38:21
a very personal post for me because I was like,
38:23
I love Indiana Jones. I thought this was going
38:25
to be amazing. And then I kind of, like, panicked
38:26
a little bit because that's very personal. AI
38:29
is not going to come up with that. Maybe they
38:31
can guess, like. A lot of people don't do well
38:34
in this cave. Like, they're not going to have
38:36
my exact experience. So, yeah, I really just
38:39
use it. Or I'll use it, like I said, if I'm doing
38:42
a lot of posts on Paris, I'm doing things to
38:43
do in Paris and, you know, an itinerary post
38:45
in Paris. And I talk about the Eiffel Tower in
38:48
both of them because obviously it's, like, the
38:50
biggest landmark in Paris. I'll have it reword
38:52
what I've written in the first post just so it's
38:55
not the exact same words. But I'm feeding it
38:57
my content and going, hey, can you rewrite this?
39:00
you know, so that it's angled more to her, you
39:03
know, how to be safe around the Eiffel Tower
39:06
in Paris or something like that. So yeah, I don't
39:08
just go like, go write me a post on how to be
39:10
safe in Paris and hit publish. I always reread
39:13
it. It doesn't always sound like you. So, you
39:16
know, I have like a more like a quirky, I'm very
39:19
pop culture -y, so I'll like throw in pop culture
39:21
references that it's just not going to do. So
39:25
yeah, I don't think it's like generate and publish.
39:28
I think that's not it. Thank God, because I tell
39:32
you what, that's one of the big things that I've
39:33
been talking to a lot of people about is if you're
39:35
going to use AI, that's fine. But don't forget,
39:38
you still have to be a human. Yeah. Yeah. So
39:42
one of the things that I'll do is I'll leave
39:43
in the show notes. I wrote a blog post for GoDaddy
39:46
about the importance of humanizing whatever it
39:49
is you're getting from AI. There is a proper
39:51
way to write a blog post using AI. So it's good
39:55
to hear that you're doing it that way. Yeah,
39:57
I think I actually listened to your episode on
40:00
using AI. And I remember there was like a website
40:06
you mentioned that you can find out if an article
40:09
is generated by AI. Yes, I'll have to put that
40:12
in the show notes as well. Copyscape does it.
40:14
And then I'm actually going to go ahead and pull
40:17
up the other one. Yeah, because I actually like.
40:20
Last night I was kind of testing it out because
40:22
I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I put
40:23
in some articles that I knew I had used AI for.
40:26
And it told me 0%. It's probably because you
40:29
went back and humanized it. Yeah. Well, that's
40:31
what I'm thinking because I was just like, I
40:33
definitely know I like put in some prompts, you
40:35
know, to like get some information. And I like,
40:37
you know, copy pasted it in there to like see
40:39
what it would say. And I was expecting it to
40:41
say like at least like, I don't know, a couple
40:42
percent, you know, like maybe like 5 % or something
40:44
like that. Um, cause like I said, so the outline
40:46
and I was like zero and I was like, oh yeah,
40:48
I guess me. It matters taking those extra couple
40:54
steps. I mean, it really does matter. Um, the
40:56
website that I was, um, that I've been using
40:59
is writer .com backslash AI content detector.
41:02
And then the other one that I have been using
41:04
has been, um, like I said, copy scape and, um,
41:08
That one's a little bit more sensitive. So like
41:10
if you're trying to get the actual passages highlighted
41:13
that may be most likely to be AI, it'll tell
41:15
you which ones flag the system. But yeah, there's
41:19
something to be said for if you're going to use
41:21
a tool like an AI generator, at least please
41:25
go back and fix it. Yeah, yeah. Make sure it
41:28
sounds like you. Make sure it has your personal
41:30
experience. Because again, you know, it's not
41:32
going to be scared in Belize in the cave. It's
41:34
not going to be lost in Paris. It's not going
41:36
to be. I'm behind by the tour bus, you know?
41:39
Yeah. And those are the posts I think that people
41:42
mostly enjoy reading. I mean, I can still think
41:45
of blog posts that I really enjoyed reading.
41:47
One reason I went on that cable is because, you
41:49
know, other people's blog posts. Because they
41:51
don't let you take your camera in, so you kind
41:52
of just have to imagine what it looked like.
41:54
Oh, man. Yeah. You know, I think that we're going
41:58
to see that a lot more, that people are going
41:59
to be looking more for that human connection,
42:01
that human element of, OK, yeah, everybody can
42:05
have the same top 10 post, but there's nothing
42:07
quite like saying this is how I felt in that
42:11
moment. And if you want to feel this, this is
42:13
what you need to do. Yeah. Yeah, and I love writing
42:16
those posts rather than anything else. I was
42:18
telling my friend the other day, I was like,
42:20
we went to Disneyland and there's a Disney around
42:23
the Matterhorn. Well, I went to go see the real
42:25
Matterhorn this summer, but apparently I went
42:27
too early. All I saw was whiteout. There was
42:29
a blizzard up top. So I joked I've spent less
42:32
money going to Disneyland and seeing the Matterhorn.
42:35
That's awesome. Now that's going to be a blowout
42:38
for somebody else that's right. Unless they just
42:39
happened to go in April to the Matterhorn and
42:42
seen the Blizzard 2. But you know what I'm saying?
42:44
It's not going to be like, you know, they're
42:46
like, oh, by the way, go to Disneyland for treatment.
42:49
I only have a picture of me just in like white
42:53
sky behind. That's supposed to be like 27 or
42:56
29 peaks there. I saw nothing. What are the odds?
43:00
Oh, man. It just sounds like a very entertaining
43:02
blog post. Oh, yeah. It's going to be like this.
43:04
I was so excited going up the cogwheel train.
43:07
I paid over $100 to go on this train. And guess
43:10
what? Nothing. I saw nothing. All I could do
43:15
was laugh with everybody else up top. Well, you
43:18
know what? I got to say, at least she walked
43:19
away with a story and a laugh. Yeah. Yeah. You
43:23
know, at least that's one of those things not
43:24
to do post. Don't go in April. Yeah, that's kind
43:27
of it reminds me of what happened whenever I
43:29
went to Paris. I wanted to see the gardens in
43:32
Paris. And of course, when we went, none of the
43:36
damn flowers had bloomed, but we just so happened
43:38
it was about a week before Notre Dame burned.
43:42
And so so we went to Notre Dame and as we're
43:45
in customs in London, it's all over the news
43:49
that it's burning. And I'm like. But we were
43:51
just there. Yeah, it's wild, wild stuff. So I
43:56
love the fact that you are sharing your travel
43:58
experiences. And so if people want to read your
44:01
travel experiences, where can they find you online?
44:03
So it's travelherstory .com. And again, her story
44:06
like isn't like history, but with her at the
44:08
front of it. So is there anywhere else you want
44:11
to direct people to that they can find you? All
44:13
of my social medias are pretty much Travel Her
44:15
Story, except for I think TikTok is Travel Her
44:17
Story blog. So yeah, I think the rest of them
44:20
like threads, Instagram, Pinterest are all just
44:23
Travel Her Story. Well, we'll share that all
44:25
in the show notes. But before I let you go, you
44:27
did mention that you wrote a book. What was the
44:29
book? Yeah. So again, I'm a big Indiana Jones
44:32
fan and I kept wanting books like that. And there's
44:37
a couple of Indiana Jones books, so I'm not trying
44:40
to hate on them or anything, but I wanted more,
44:42
you know, like there's just not enough action
44:43
adventure in my opinion. And so I wrote one that's
44:46
very kind of Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones. I'm
44:49
trying to get it published. I have an agent who
44:52
wants me to resubmit January. So now I just have
44:54
to wait two months to January, which is a painful
44:57
wait. But yeah, it was basically this woman who
44:59
reclaims art and artifacts that are stolen. And
45:02
she winds up, of course, getting, you know, kidnapped
45:04
or somebody who's after the same artifact. And
45:06
that leads to this whole, whole big, you know,
45:09
search for this Mayan artifact that she joins
45:12
up with a ragtag team to kind of get there first.
45:16
So it's a fan fiction. I love it. Yeah, kind
45:19
of, yeah, a little bit like the original character.
45:21
So I'm not using Indiana or Lara Croft, but very
45:25
much in that vein. So if you like one of those
45:27
two or kind of Jumanji or any of those kind of
45:30
action -adventure -y things, it should be up
45:32
your alley. So fun flavor. I love it. That just
45:35
sounds fantastic. Well, I wish you much success.
45:38
I hope that it gets published. And if nothing
45:40
else, at least self -publish it because it sounds
45:42
like that story needs to be out in the universe.
45:44
Thank you. That's awesome. Well, Michelle, I
45:47
want to thank you so much for taking the time
45:49
to chat with me today. And yeah, is there anything
45:52
else that you want to share that I haven't thought
45:53
to ask you yet? I don't think so. But if anybody
45:56
has any questions, they're welcome to reach out.
45:58
I usually answer a lot of questions on threads.
46:01
So that's why I do my monthly posts of how much
46:03
I make. So if you're like, hey, how'd she do
46:06
this? And feel free to reach out or I can answer
46:08
emails as well, too. But threads is usually where
46:11
other people ask them questions. So maybe sometimes
46:13
you'll be inspired for another question. So,
46:15
well, that's fantastic for accountability, at
46:17
least. Yeah, trust me. I will sit there and be
46:20
like, oh, no, this month is doing either great
46:23
or terrible. You know what they say, what gets
46:27
measured gets improved. That's true. That's very
46:30
true. And thank you so much for having me, Ashley.
46:33
It was very enjoyable talking to you. I enjoyed
46:35
it, too. It was a good time. And bloggy friends,
46:37
until next time, may your page views be high
46:39
and your bounce rates be low.
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