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The Ultimate Guide To Boosting Your Blogging Strategy
Looking to up your blogging game? This all-in-one guide will take you to the next level with tips and fixes including...
The Ultimate Guide To Boosting Your Blogging Strategy
Yes!
I'm finally writing about my biggest passion of the last two years (besides travel, minimalism, food, pugs, and finally, Taran): BLOGGING, to bring you 40 simple steps to making a better blog!
I believe that I was always destined to write, from a young age; I wrote anything from poetry to short stories to songs even. But when I was a teenager and trying to find my creative outlet, blogging was in its infancy. I had no idea that one day this would be my thing.
We grew up together, blogging and I.
I liked the idea of journalism, but I also always wanted to help people, provide advice or guidance, but did I have a single clue via which channel I wanted to do that? I truly didn't, until 2 years ago.
This blog is one of the best things I have ever gone through with, from its small beginnings to what it has grown into today.
I've had so many ideas about blogging advice jumping around my brain for months.
The last 2 years have been a major learning curve for me as a blogger. Even the last 2 months have brought me reams of new ideas. I now read about blogging more than I read about travel which might seem odd to admit as a travel writer.
No offence to my fellow travel bloggers! I love peoples travel chronicles and advice, but when I get downtime from travel, I use my days to hone my blogging craft.
I have slowly figured out some solid ways to boost my own blogging strategy, through trial and error, lots of time on social networks and other blogs.
Ready to totally up your blogging game and follow 40 proven steps to success?
Below is an 8 part guide, which centres on the different areas of blogging strategy.
1 - Review your blogs user friendliness
2 - Engage with other creators in your community
3 - Review your newsletter strategy
4 - Build a deep and sincere relationship with your audience
5 - Utilize social media scheduling tools
6 - Create great content upgrades
7 - Audit and repurpose old content
8 - Improving your writing
1. Review your blog's user friendliness
We often get disconnected from the user experience of our readers when we are in a routine of writing, publishing and sharing.
How often do you actually sit and use your website as if it wasn’t your own? Do you ever take a moment to actually enjoy your own stuff, whilst also critiquing it?
Use your website instinctively and intuitively.
This isn't about analysing your writing quality, that we will discuss in a part 8; this is purely about design elements, technical issues and general user-friendliness.
Write down anything which sticks out to you as needing immediate changing, from small details, to overarching flaws. Note what is working well and see if you can build on this across your site to deliver a more consistent and stream-line look.
Struggling to critique? Consider this:
Are your most recent, and most popular blog posts easy to find?
Your blog might have a deep archive filled with content that doesn't match your current style, theme or message. In time you probably intend to edit or remove these posts, but meanwhile, you want to ensure that your new readers come into easy contact with what you know is 100% current, as well as your evergreen content. We personally use a gallery tab on our homepage which shows 5 of our most read posts. We then share our most recent content nearer the bottom of that page. We also have a category in the top navigation bar for latest and popular. We basically make it super simple for anyone to find the content we want them to see first.
Are your sharing buttons well-placed for optimal visibility?
If people love what they find, at almost any place on your site, can they easily share that on multiple social networks? We favour using AddThis to display our sharing buttons on the left side of the page for desktop and at the bottom for mobile. We originally relied on social links at the top of the page, plus a floating follow widget that followed the page as you scrolled down, as well as sharing links at the bottom of the post. I have noticed a lot of popular or high-quality blogs who do this is also, only including share buttons at the very bottom of a post. I do ideally want people to read all the way through a post before sharing, but not everyone will read the whole she-bang before they feel the desire to share it. I like the placing of our buttons because they don't detract from the bulk of the text whilst also making it very easy to share the post.
Can your readers easily ascertain who you are and what you do, without having to read your 'About' page?
Something we have tried to do here at Nomad'er How Far is ensure that we use a bio on the homepage, and at the bottom of every post, using our keywords to get across our blog's purpose. We also created categories for all of our blog posts displayed along the top bar, so that readers can get a quick idea of the key things we are all about, no matter which section they land on. Our homepage uses an video in the header if you are viewing on desktop. We also have our sidebar present on every page, displaying our logo, names and social channels.
Do you use one readable font type across your site for a simpler viewing aesthetic?
We go through phases where we hate our font and want to change it, we often stumble upon a dream font somewhere online and then can't find a worthy match. For now, we are mostly a-ok with this font because we know it's readable. We did however make our font smaller, which makes our longer posts much easier to take in. We also now use our Heading 1 and Heading 2 correctly, as this has a lot to do with improving SEO; our blog title at the top of the post is always Heading 1, and any subsequent sub-titles, Heading 2. This is something we had just brushed aside until recently and is such an easy mistake to make, we genuinely felt a bit silly when we realised what we were doing.
Is your colour scheme and layout easy on the eyes?
We have used the same colour scheme since day one, although I did gently encourage Taran to lighten the background because I love black on white, whereas he thinks the pop of colour is better. It is actually good for our blog because it visually complements our logo image, and is a continuation of our branding.
Focusing on these elements of design have helped me spot a number of things that needed addressing on our site; I found that many of my blog posts weren’t using the best header images, and I also found weird glitches in fonts, where my bottom bio was all messed up. I couldn’t believe I'd missed this stuff before, but I hadn’t been looking for it.
My forever solution to this problem is to regularly audit my content. I go back through the archives, pick old posts and edit them to ensure they follow the design of our newer posts.
HOLD UP, we will discuss this more in Step 7.
2. Engage with other creators in your community
Lately I have loved being social, present and chatty across our social networks. I'm a chatter box by nature and I have to kerb this so as not to babble all the time. Like I was about to, just then… So recently I have massively upped my game across the board, from Facebook groups, to twitter conversations, to talking more to the bloggers who inspire me the most. I have also become addicted to podcasts and I now use my walk to work for lots of inspirational brainstorming time.
As bloggers we can become solitary figures, locked down to our laptops, typing away endlessly, and trying to go it alone in creating great stuff, and sharing it. But I have to remind myself that blogging is fundamentally, my hobby, so I should try and enjoy it more. Sure I get days and even weeks where I avoid everything to do with my blog, which I call, my blogging overwhelm. But right now I am striking the balance between engaging often and brightly, with my fellow bloggers, as well as creating meaty content.
I especially love talking to and sharing the stories of those who are just starting out in blogging, travel or minimalism, because we were all new to this once upon a time!
5 Things To Consider:
Do you regularly share others content, which you have read and can truly advocate?
I believe its more important to share other people's content less frequently, and focus more on the quality of what you share, furthering the message and purpose of other bloggers you personally respect. As bloggers I believe we want to encourage each other in our quest to produce truly engaging and life-changing stuff. But also, it makes sense that you don't deliver to your loyal followers something that you can't provide 3 solid reasons for why they should read it. You don't want to fill up the feeds of your fellow bloggers and your audience with things that aren't worth their precious attention. Plus, if you share absolutely anything, of any quality, it does nothing for your credibility as a voice worth listening to.
Have you created a spreadsheet to collate your favourite posts from other bloggers or websites?
This is a massive time-saver that I recently brought in, so that I can save any links I have read and shared, and make it easier to re-share them again in the future. I also utilize Pinterest and Feedly, for when I want to source new bloggers or content worth sharing; I look at my saved pins and newsfeed, and pick a few things to share on other platforms. Yet again, this saves time and carries forth a message in-line with your own, curating social spaces that are unequivocally suited to your niche or target reader.
I have also been making better use of IFTTT, which if you haven't heard of, is a neat site which allows you to connect different processes through what they call 'Recipes'. I've connected our Twitter to my google drive, so that all the tweets I post are saved into a spreadsheet; this helps make twitter sharing quicker in the future.
Are you regularly commenting on other creators posts, offering positivity and friendship?
I develop blogger and youtuber crushes constantly when I find people who are hitting it out the park with their stuff. I don't necessarily mean established and well-liked individuals, I mean people similar to myself, who are maybe not yet pro-blogging, but headed that way. This might seem like a purely social activity not geared to improving your blogs success, but it truly is.
Some of my favourite podcasters, some of whom are super successful personalities, often bring on fellow creators to share their wisdom, and these people aren't just their guests, they're their friends. When you move forward in your creative journey, it makes sense to bring others along with you, to complement one another in your different outlets, and make the long process of growth far less lonely. But also, by being massive and consistent supporters of our fellow creators, we foster mutually beneficial friendships, not short-term business connections.
Do you play an active part in Facebook communities in your niche, offering advice and opinions, not just links back to your website?
I try hard where possible to help others via the various Facebook groups I am currently in (including a minimalism group of around 7000 people), but more often than not, I am the one seeking help. I am still a relatively new blogger, and there is an awful lot that I yearn to understand. Thankfully, these communities are full of people willing to share their wisdom, open to building others up, because its the cool thing to do. We are all in this together, and whilst competition exists, there isn't ever going to be one standout winner in this game. If you are someone who wants to succeed and become the top in your field, and you choose to chase this in a selfish and one-sided manner, you're not really here for the right reasons. Sharing IS caring.
Have you reached out to any of your blogging companions via email to discuss a collaboration?
I personally struggle with this one usually because of time limitations; I'm so caught up in my daily life and blogging routine, I neglect to broaden my content variety by inviting others onto the blog or reaching out to guest post on other sites. I just never get down to writing out thoughtful emails to people who I genuinely want to collab with out of fear that they will either say no, or simply be too busy, in which case I feel bad for bothering them aha! People-pleaser disease. I am definitely going to be working on this big time in the coming months.
This idea, as well as the other 4, will benefit your blog in terms of content variety and authority, but at the core, it’s a fun and important part of staying sane in the blogging game.
We're all here to cultivate something special and real aren’t we? Being engaged and creative within the communities which we rely upon and want to be successful in, is a key part of that.
Step 3. Review your newsletter strategy
We currently use Mail-chimp, because, duh, it’s free...up to a certain point that we are nowhere near reaching.
We have seen a huge rise in our newsletter sign ups in the past 2 months. We believe this is directly linked to the addition of a call to action to join our email list, placed in the middle of our longest and best content. We don’t have a welcome mat or a pop-up (we find these mildly annoying even if they do apparently convert to list growth) but so far, increasing the opportunities to join the list across our blog posts has more than sufficed.
For the longest time we sent out a weekly newsletter pulled from our RSS feed. This is surely a pretty boring email to receive, plus these often end up in people's promotional folder, not even their main inbox. It's great for our readers who need reminding we exist, but, it doesn't provide extra value to those who have willingly handed over their email address in the hope of getting something great.
Recently we made some changes based on the fact that we suddenly had this growing audience on our email list who had signed up assuming they’d receive bonus content, and we simply were not delivering on this.
We still keep to only 1-2 emails a week, but we now bulk out the RSS email with a conversational style of email. We share more personal info that links well to recent blog posts and we try to give a little extra detail than what our audience finds on the blog.
But the biggest change has been the addition of a mid-week email. I create a relatively long-form email which will relate to a recent post, and make mention of my minimalism eBook. In-depth and thought-provoking, this email levels a question at readers in the end. The answer to that question could well lie in the product you are promoting be it free or paid, or in the very least, it makes your readers think, and interact.
You really cannot underestimate the connection you can build with your reader via email, so consider these 5 ideas:
How often do you email your list, and what are you current open rates?
We review our analytics for our open rates and click-throughs via Mail-chimp, and it's always a good way of measuring which email format is working best. But because we only alternate between an RSS-driven email, and a more long-form chatty one, there is little room for drastic comparisons. We generally use this as a rule of thumb for if we need to up our game further, for example, by creating a better email subject line in future emails.
Do you often share something valuable, and bonus, making the members of your list feel like they are part of an exclusive club?
We send emails to our small (but steadily growing list) which are more conversational to encourage more interaction than the average blog post might do. We also expand on our current posts, or discuss something relevant but not yet published on the blog. We have also brought in content upgrades only available by joining our list, but in the future we will periodically send out content upgrades to our list, as well as incorporating an opt-in to a landing page, which will be a piece of evergreen content.
Are you including a call to action at the end of your email, plus 1-2 links within the text?
Research into getting your emails not flagged as spam might suggest against too much link dropping in an email, but you should still include at least 1-2 links within the text, otherwise you are missing out on a targeted traffic-driving opportunity. I definitely keep it to a minimum however. I also add a call to action to the bottom of the email which relates to the key topic or takeaway of that email and directs readers back to my website or product.
Is your sign up link visible across your site, during your content and at the end as a call to action?
Our list growth can be directly attributed to the increased visibility of our sign up link, now included in the middle of posts, often at the end, and in the side-bar. We have seen a 1000% growth in our list. Yes, 1000%. For months we only gained 2-4 new people a month...to now getting 2-4 a day.
And you know what, we haven't used any annoying user-interrupting methods or pop-ups to achieve this growth! It is purely from having more sign-up links across our posts, combined with a couple of content upgrades in some posts, but only a couple so far.
Have you made this sign-up link enticing, but not promising of too much that you can't deliver?
We generally keep it short and simple, and we ask, 'Like What You're Reading?', so when people sign up, it's a vote for YES, your stuff is good, and I wanna hear more.
We don't promise a specific type of email as we are still in the process of improving our email content strategy and don't want to make false promises. We believe its mostly important to have a great piece of content, because then you gain list sign ups based on the quality of your writing and the message this infers, that whatever your emails contain, it will probably be good.
I know this blog post is a long read. I mean, LONGGGGGG, so I have also created a printable checklist for all 40 steps:
Sign up to our newsletter and get it sent to you instantly!
See what I did there ;)
4. Build a deep and sincere relationship with your audience
Of course your email list, your social media sharing and your actual blog posts all go a great distance in building your audience, but do they facilitate a deep and lasting connection?
Do you convert one-time visitors to long-term readers? Are you true to yourself and yet true to your audience and their needs?
42% of the world’s population now have internet access, and right now, around 3 billion people use a variety of devices to access it, but not all of whom are reading blogs (stats courtesy of we are social). That’s a lot of people all searching for inspiration and information, online. But then again, there are also 6.77 million people producing blogs.
But how many of these blogs are in your niche? And how many of them are producing content of a consistently high quality? Well, for starters, you need to be confident enough to say that you are... You need to be sure (via step 1 and later, step 8) that you are producing stuff worthy of an audience.
But really, it doesn’t matter what the numbers say, or how scary your level of competition is. You can still make a place within an over-saturated marketplace if your blog impacts a few people each and every day; you are going to gradually increase awareness, grow your audience and become a useful resource to a small but valid part of those 3 billion people.
Do you reply to comments promptly, address the commenter by name if possible, thank them, and think before you respond?
This is pretty much the most basic thing for audience engagement. We don't receive a constant stream of comments so its relatively easy for us to do this for every comment, always. I get its harder for larger blogs to keep up with but I still think its a worthwhile practise. I know you can't drop everything to immediately respond to a comment but even taking 10 minutes twice a day to do so, is still prompt enough for most people.
I really dislike it when a blogger replies to my comment with a perfunctory response that shows they speed-read my comment and probably found even that level of interaction an inconvenience. I think it all boils down to knowing your purpose; do you write for yourself, for your audience or to generate customers? For many creators, you are basically nothing without your readers, and you would be speaking to a brick wall if none of them felt like respected commenters.
Do you pepper your content with provocative questions, or statements, to make your readers think and respond?
We used to end every post with a question but it didn't really work, and maybe that's because we were focusing too much on this one question, neglecting all the points in our post that might have got our reading thinking, and wanting to speak. And it's not about asking more questions than you answer, but it is about placing a couple of well-worded sentences, which might even contest the point you are actually making. I believe we should assert our advice and be confident in it, whilst still showing a consideration for other perspectives. For example, in this post, we delivered a firm stance (albeit on a mildly trivial topic) but we still suggested ideas in support of those of the opposite stance. That brings me nicely to my next point...
Do you write about something from a fully-informed place, and use secondary sources as support?
I think its very important to not just use disclaimers (more in point 5) and refer to external sources across your blog, in places where you recommend products or specific ideas, but also, you should expand your readers knowledge on a topic, beyond the points you yourself present as truth. I make good use of social media to drive this but I also try to refer to external research in a blog post, sometimes that I myself conducted. I find this helps me to not make assumptions about the pains of my readers, or deliver unrealistic advice. Also, in certain posts when I am delivering a perspective from my own personal experience, I use my own situation to help my readers avoid the same outcomes. If we simply sound off about our own pains and basically put out negative vibes, what value does that provide others?
Are you honest and true to yourself in your creative output?
This might be hard if you cultivate a persona based on indomitable strength and success, who prefers to always keep up the appearance being an iron-clad authority in your field, and nothing else. But most of us show some level of weakness because it appeals to our audience, and because we want to keep it real. We want to be a respected authority but we don't want to steer so far away from sharing our imperfections that we lack personality and hold back our truth. This is important for building reader connections because we come across as real people, with real concerns, and the solutions to match, who care about our readers lives more than just being business-like 24/7.
I always go back to my reasoning for beginning this blog, which was to chronicle a phase of my life which I knew would be momentous. It then changed over time because I realized that I could marry my desire to be a helpful advice-giving person with my minimalist travel adventures, and maybe, just maybe, turn it into a part-time job. My fundamental goal starting out was centred around creativity, expression and honesty, something I never want to stray from in the pursuit of blogging success. My audience, every day real people (not companies), and the truthfulness of my content, is of my up-most concern. That brings me smoothly to the next point...
Is your blog over-run with self-promotion, external ad's and sponsored posts?
I talked about this topic super in-depth a little while back because it had been majorly bothering me. I get that plenty of the biggest and best blogs out there will have ad's and self-promo in abundance, and that great content can co-exist alongside these things. But for a number of reasons, this can really turn off your readers and distance you from them. I want to be drawn in and delivered something of value on the blog I have chosen to read, and I want to be offered, in small subtle ways, invitations to develop my knowledge, which may be via your affiliate, eBook or course. But I don't want to click on a link, having been tempted by a Pin or tweet, to then find a website I can barely load for all the ad's its running. I won't even read the post in this scenario, I will click off before my browser implodes (my tiny laptop is not built for much).
If you aren't striking a nice balance between furthering your professional goals, and also delivering a readable website with consistent and high-quality content, your readers will suffer, and eventually, you will to. We would love to build an income from our blog, because we're nomads and work is not a stable facet of our lives; we basically need to find a way to make a sustainable living to keep on travelling. But you know what, we currently both work casually and part-time (we often end up washing dishes or doing housekeeping) and we go without, every week, but we still pay our website fee, and we still invest all our free time into this blog. We have turned down numerous sponsored posts and limit our ad's to 2/3 sidebar spots at current, because we have a clear idea on how we want to do this blog.
Our passion costs us time and money that we don't really have, but that's love folks. Love for our audience, love for helping them, love for our creativity, and a belief in a bigger purpose to what we are doing here.
5. Utilize Social Media Scheduling Tools
So this step goes hand in hand with engaging in your communities.
Do you use an automated and efficient sharing process for your own content and that of other people?
Our favourite tools for sharing (and engaging) include Tailwind for Pinterest. We invested in the full paid version because not only is Pinterest our number one traffic source (thanks to some semi-viral minimalism pins that no longer fit our style and look kinda ugly, ha!) but it’s also my favourite place for curating and sharing content I love and can learn from.
I share some pins right away but schedule about 70% into our Tailwind queue. This means I am constantly building our boards at a rate I couldn’t without the scheduler. I also love Tailwind for the analytics as it shows the virality and engagement score for your boards and group boards. This helps us know where our tribe is most active and where we should pin to most regularly.
We use Twitter regularly to chat with fellow bloggers and know it’s where our professional circle spends a lot of time, along with Facebook communities. So I love to use Tweetdeck combined with my twitter lists. Twitter lists are actually my favourite new thing that I have been using to make the crazy nature of Twitter, easier to navigate. I find this is the easiest way to see the latest content from my favourite bloggers and quickly add it to my scheduled tweets, which I then specify to go out at a specific time and date. I try to space these out across the week, and to post early in the morning and late at night (I tweet live during the day).
I see Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter as a great way for curating content that I love, as well getting my own messages out there.
We also use Tweet Jukebox to send out a list of our key important links each week. We edit the tweets weekly as Twitter isn’t a fan of duplicate tweet content! We include things like our Patreon sign-up, our email list sign-up, YouTube channel and 2-3 of our best evergreen posts.
It’s quite obvious that if we are ever-present and providing valuable sharing, beneficial to our readers and our comrades, then we will also create more awareness for our own stuff.
But that’s not to say that the key reason for a solid sharing strategy is to ultimately lead to our own growth, but its a cluster of activity that helps elevate your brand as well as lift others up.
5 things to think about:
Are you automating and spacing out your sharing as much as you can?
Tailwind is great for this purely because everything is added to a schedule which posts your pins to nominated boards in intervals which you can specify. Also, via Twitter and Tweet-deck, I like to live tweet/re-tweet/like throughout the day and have 4-5 things pre-scheduled to go out at other times, so that I am present across the different time zones, and can build engagement in my sleep. We also schedule Facebook updates to ensure our content is seen by the time-zones that our largest demographics come from.
Do you utilize free tools as well as premium sites to help you share consistently?
We love Tailwind but its currently the only paid tool we use. We utilize all the free tools previously mentioned such as Tweetdeck and Tweet-Jukebox as well as Canva and free stock photos for our sharing designs. We are always on the look-out for new free tools because we are still a small-scale operation. But the main justification in our minds for forking out for Tailwind is because Pinterest is our biggest traffic source. If we have any intent of growing then some investment in our social tools is necessary. I believe even bigger bloggers can seek out frugality in the running costs of a blog, but realistically your social tools should reflect your audience size and how well you can manage it and grow it. Don't spend money on social tools if you can do most of the work on the free ones.
Have you looked at your Twitter/Pinterest/Facebook analytics to see if your current schedule is working?
As much as I love Twitter, it is a tiny source of traffic for us. But Twitter has a bigger purpose as we use it for building and maintaining our relationships with other bloggers as well as learning stuff from our favourites. I still have a regular sharing strategy because I know that if you have a large audience on a social network, then some of that audience will be made up of your readers. Being present in a variety of channels that your readers might want to find you is a solid idea, but, we can always play around with social strategy to ensure we balance out being engaging with our counterparts and engaging with our audience. Its important we regularly check if we are reaching certain goals via our current social activities, whatever those goals may be. When your goal is measurable, such as gaining new readers, then reviewing your analytics will help you know where to always show up. When your goal is building business relationships, then it makes sense to change the way you interact on certain platforms.
Could you alter the way you contribute to your social spaces to better meet your core goals?
One thing we have done recently is delete pins on Pinterest to make sure our boards are continually of good quality and engaging. We also like to ensure we are chatty and honest on Twitter so that our followers and fellow creators see us as more than just link generators. Furthermore, we like to do live videos on Facebook as this is a rapidly growing feature that we want to take advantage of to actually share the travel side of our blog. Basically, each social space is different and can be curated to show different sides of your blog and your personality, when used correctly.
Have you looked at expanding your reach to different social networks e.g. Stumble-upon, Google+, Snap-chat or Periscope?
We have taken a few light steps in Stumble-upon and are still none-the-wiser to Periscope so this step is advice we too need to act on. I think it's all too easy to stick to what you know works or to believe that you are already adequately reaching your audience, but you could at least experiment in these different spaces. Your audience are often trying out new social networks, so it's probably wise that you follow suit. But you can still have a strategy in mind, and look at the optimal ways to deliver value in these new spaces, not just replicate your strategy from other social networks.
Step 6. Create great content upgrades
I'm super new to this, mainly because when we were travelling non-stop (before we took a travel pause to work and save up) I had barely enough time or internet to upload a post let alone create a content upgrade.
I have tried recently to focus more on this because not only is it an incentive for email list sign-ups but it provides your audience with double the value they expected to receive. You deliver something great, and then some. That 'then some' can set you apart, or just better imprint you in the memory of your readers.
Even if I don’t always read or use the content upgrade I might find on my favourite posts from other bloggers, it is suggestive of a quality and committed creator who wants to help me as much as they can. And, they want to do it mostly for free.
5 things to consider:
Would some of your older posts which still deliver traffic benefit from an email list content upgrade?
I am currently in the process of creating some content upgrades for older posts, be they just a downloadable PDF (which requires email sign-up) or an activity workbook, but for me, its a slow process. The best way to go about this might be to review your top-performing posts and see if they might also convert readers to email sign-ups. Do these posts max out on value or could value be added with an upgrade?
Are your current content upgrades converting in some way, and if not, how could you make them better?
We recently published a post in our super popular minimalism section which included a content upgrade. It has resulted in a few email sign-ups but not a whole lot. I think the best way to overcome this is to give the post some time to grow its audience (being that is reasonably new) and see over time if it converts to sign-ups. But if it doesn't convert we will probably adjust the sign-up link text to make it more enticing. We might look at the placing of the sign-up and ensure that it will be seen as a highly relevant solution to the problem discussed in that part of the post.
Have you isolated the best content for upgrades or do you place them across all your postings?
It might seem that placing upgrades on all your posts or just the ones which get the most views is the way to go, but those posts might not actually be suited to an upgrade. I think its probably wiser to spend time on one amazing upgrade that is completely useful within a given post, even if it isn't a highly popular post. This is a great way of improving an older post and driving new traffic to it, meaning that when you go to re-share it on social media you can make mention of the new awesome content upgrade.
Are your content upgrades actually good and something you yourself would want to download?
Taking on the challenge of bringing in content upgrades can add a lot of stress but not necessarily a lot of value. If you allocate a lot of time to develop your upgrades, and want it to build your audience engagement significantly, you want your sign-ups to receive something they will be more than satisfied with. Focus less on developing multiple upgrades for multiple posts and instead, build occasional upgrades which are extremely in-depth and useful. It takes a lot of time and energy to construct a blog post that people will love and share, so it makes sense to not try and add to this commitment by creating too many sub-par upgrades.
Have you considered creating one great upgrade applicable to more than one blog post or topic?
I currently publicize my eBook as a great supplement to my minimalism posts but of course anyone can buy this, they don't need to sign up to my email list to get it. But, you could introduce some short-term incentives for existing products in your inventory, by creating a discount on a paid product, only available via your email sign-up. You could then insert this into relevant posts, see how it performs and adjust it accordingly. If you want to create new products, be it a free eBook or course for example, then these should be something solidly relevant across your whole site.
Providing discount incentive sign-ups on paid products might seem like a bit of a pushy and salesy thing to do, but people can take the offer, or leave it. If you put lots of effort into creating a brilliant product worth buying, which you want to generate passive income on, then a content upgrade will help you do so; you already did a lot of hard work to create your product, make sure you give it the best chance to succeed.
Step 7. Audit and repurpose old content
Those of us that have been in the blogging lark a while are probably regularly auditing our websites, reviewing our traffic, SEO, keywords, meta data and imagery, then making slight improvements to our content along the way.
It’s something I have been majorly lacking on recently; being engaging and social leaves little time for this which I find quite a daunting task. Having produced our blog for over 2 years, there are a lot of pages and posts to audit and edit. There are some things I know desperately need fixing, some I am too afraid to look at, and then others I know could really boost our blog if updated.
The benefit of a blog audit is to know where you are at, how your blog is performing across the board and thus establish where you need to change things. When an audit is combined with repurposing, you can create new content from what you already have, potentially boosting your traffic and improving your brand cohesiveness. Many of your best blog posts will have been buried somewhere down the line, unless they have taken on a viral life of their own. And so many could do with updating to ensure any new visitors land on content that is totally in-line with your current keywords, voice, visuals and of course, your email list sign ups and content upgrades.
In part 1 we used our blog as if we were a reader. We may have isolated different things we needed to immediately change or edit. But within part 7, we can now set aside time to audit, edit and repurpose, one post at a time, one day at a time.
5 ideas to think about:
Are your recent and popular posts the best they can be, in terms of spelling, grammar, layout, visuals, social sharing imagery and of course, calls to action?
We always make sure to review each week which of our most recent and popular posts are gaining the highest traffic, and we proceed to re-read them, edit and ensure that we didn't miss anything when we originally published them. There's nothing worse than a new post gaining great virality, and only then do you realize it isn't the optimal representation of your best creative practise. We combat this by re-reading a post when we go to share it, be it 1, 2 or 3 weeks later.
Have you got old content with great potential but which needs a total revamp?
We most recently altered a super old post which was garnering fresh activity on Pinterest. The post itself is 2 years old, and highly simplistic compared to more recent posts on the same subject. Instead of removing it or changing it drastically, I made sure it was grammatically correct, created a new pin and matching header image, and added a comment at the top inviting people to read our more recent and in-depth posts on the same topic. I basically invited people to the stuff I would prefer they read, which is broadly better, but the post itself still holds some value, so I of course encouraged readers to continue. This post then saw a surge in traffic even though I didn't re-share it in all its up-to-date glory. It most importantly lead readers to the rest of our content on the topic, simply by adding the new opening sentence.
Many of our older or original blog posts lack several things we now include as standard. They don't simply look weird and wrong but they are either extremely short and basic, or just not in line with our current style of delivery. But if we took the time to write on this topic way back when, surely we cared about the idea or thought it was worth discussing. So part of our current auditing process is to pick things from deep in archives, which probably get no reads at current, and completely revamp them, change the publishing date and re-share.
Are you categorizing all your posts clearly meaning people can easily find your different content, not simply your most popular or latest posts?
Of course its important to always re-emphasize your latest creations and direct people to your most popular stuff, because, well, we know there's a high chance they will like it. But we should also make sure that our readers can actually get into our archives and can easily read further into a specific topic if we have talked about it numerous times.
We make sure we have a search bar in our side-bar so people can look up anything on our site. We also have our posts categorized which then display along the top-bar. This helps readers spend more time on the site, which of course builds a deeper connection and helps elevate your brand over time. We are not the sum of only our best offerings, or only appealing and worth reading based on our most recent stuff. Our blogs grow and develop over time, and some people want the chance to experience that, know us on a deeper level and extract value across all our creations.
Do you link to older or similar posts in several places, also including a list at the end of each post for relevant suggested reading?
I don't do this enough, but somewhere I recently implemented this, was on our 'Start Here' page. Instead of just talking about our topics, I straight away list 5 useful posts that people should read, which takes them through our blog purpose and ethos. Our tag-line states that we changed our spending habits, embraced minimalism, ditched the 9-5 and started afresh, so we list 5 posts which help our readers do the same. We also list relevant internal and external links to posts which expand on the given topic (or one particular point within the post). Sometimes one post is highly relevant to another but slightly different in topic matter, but by linking to a relevant read, you are making yourself appear like a bottomless pit of interesting info.
I feel like people are more responsive to a bulleted list of links, titled by what that blog post is about, not simply peppered through as in-text links, because they can sometimes get lost in the process of reading. I have admittedly used in-text links in this post purely because this is a super long read with those links only supplemental to the actual points.
Have you looked at repurposing certain pieces which might work better in video, audio or infographic form?
Blog post repurposing and auditing can go hand-in-hand I believe. If you find a post that could work better or could engage a different audience via another form, then consider why and how. Don't try to convert a blog post into another format just because you can, try to locate things which can be expanded on or explained better in video, audio or infographic form. There are many ideas on what you can repurpose your stuff into, with Darren at Pro-blogger and Melyssa Griffin offering great advice on this tactic.
Step 8. Improving your writing
After all that's said and done, you have looked at the ways you can improve website user friendliness, engage more with fellow creators, refine your newsletter, build a deeper relationship with your audience, simplify your social sharing, devise great content upgrades and improve old blog posts.
You want to boost your blogging strategy, up your game, and just get better at what you love to do, via these proven methods for success.
You've ticked many a box, but this step pales the others in comparison.
If you don't have great writing, you have nothing. Well, you have something, just not something worthy of you or your audience. But you do have something you can build up, change and improve.
No matter what in the blogging game, you can always improve!
I am constantly working on all the other steps but I realized recently that I don't spend enough time educating myself on how to write really, really, well. One thing which got me thinking more deeply about this was a free email course I joined a few weeks back. 'Unboring Your Writing' from Rosie Morley at Hedera House, and its been a great experience for me. I'm sure there are plenty of courses out there and I'm eager to find them too.
Rosie's course got me thinking about my writing beyond the actual story; she got me thinking about the active voice, expletive constructions and contractions, in ways I never had before. I recommend it for anyone who wants to give their writing some real attention.
When forming a blog post, do you edit as you write or let your thoughts flow without a pause?
I recently began brain dumping, something I read about when seeking some blogging inspiration. Basically, you write non-stop, letting everything come out in its organic state, without editing yourself in the process. This seriously helped me with the major blogging block I was having, but it also went against my normal mindful way of writing. I would usually go slower, editing each word even before I had wrote it down, which I now realize works well some of the time. However when it feels right, letting yourself go with the flow, tumbling out your words, and altering it later on, helps bring forth some real gems. If we over-edit ourselves during the writing process we might stunt our creativity and suck the soul from our writing.
Beyond your grammar and spelling, do you structure your sentences to be concise and clear?
I have been known to write crazily long sentences, full of words that don't need to be there. This was a major criticism of my work during my Uni studies, and I think it will always be an issue. But, by spending a bit more time during my writing and editing process, I have learned to craft my sentences better. I now include a mixture of shorter and longer sentences, made easier to read with the right punctuation placement. I have also learned to space my paragraphs to make certain points more impactful. I have also placed more focus on ensuring I don't repeat myself too much and focus on having multiple valid sentences that all have a good reason to be there.
During the editing process, how often and for how long do you re-read your post?
If you stare at one particular word long enough, it starts to look strange. The truth can be said of blogging, that if you read through your own block of content repeatedly without taking a break, it starts to not make sense. You also might fail to spot key errors or notice areas you could expand on or refine. When I finish a blog post, I leave it alone for an hour, or even a day, and then return to it. If any new ideas have come to mind in that time, I will make room for them. I will re-read my post and of course check for grammar and spelling, but also make sure I have said all I truly can. I don't want to press publish and realize 5 days later than I skimmed over certain vital points because I was rushing.
Are you getting across your natural personality and language, tweaking it for a broader reach?
I am generally someone who likes to laugh, to try and be funny, and to wax lyrical. I try to combine all this to create content with personality and value but I don't want to over exaggerate my natural traits and alienate readers. I do this by peppering my post openings with small personal details, delivered in a concise yet conversational manner; I get to the point of the blog post quickly but not without first setting the scene and clearly communicating my vibe and tone. I couldn't write any other way because I am unapologetically me, but I'm not so silly as to think that I can be myself to the nth degree. If you are writing to help, guide and inform a broad sect of people, you have to speak in a way that makes people want to listen.
Do you regularly use a set of specific words to bolster your branding whilst also expanding your vocabulary?
In Rosie's email course, she mentions that we should use certain words or phrases recurrently which helps to define our style and branding. I try to employ certain terms consistently in this manner, but I also like to shake things up by expanding on the descriptive terms I might use, especially in my travel-related stories. This creates a nice balance of language that is predictably 'my style', combined with something fresh, clever and interesting, for myself, and my readers.
If you want to truly up your blogging game, you should want to expand on your knowledge and language, so you can craft better stories that people will want to read, love and share.
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Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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Have We Found The Perfect Carry On Backpack?
So its very apparent that the materials used in making this bag are of the highest quality. The bag itself feels like it could easily withstand...
Have We Found The Perfect Carry On Backpack?
Heard of the Slicks range of backpacks?
Well, we have, and we were super excited to receive this pack from the Swedish company! The backpack was recently funded on Kickstarter and is now available for pre-order here!
We were kindly sent one to use and review, so we took it out for a few test runs, paraded it around Brisbane and Noosa, and also used it on the flight back from the UK.
So, this is the 'Slicks Trip', a multi-functional and dynamic day-pack hybrid, which comes with a multi-section packing cube, plus a toiletry bag, and something less common in day-packs, a shirt protector. It also has a waterproof cover hidden in the side perfect for a sudden change in weather.
This pack is targeted at active professionals who might want to combine a briefcase, with a travel bag and gym kit. It also has a secure place for your laptop or devices, which helps us as digital nomads; we don't carry much but we do have tech!
It is designed as a multi-purpose pack suited to all these needs, but is also suited as over-night luggage, with its handy packing cube, multiple compartments and front zipped section ideal for shoes or a camera.
We found it was a treasure trove of hidden pockets and places, great for if you have a lot of different stuff to carry and you want to separate it, but it might be an under-utilized feature for the average day-to-day user looking for quick access to their things.
So what did we like about the Slicks Trip? Here are our Pro's & Con's:
Pros:
So its very apparent that the materials used in making this bag are of the highest quality. The bag itself feels like it could easily withstand some heavy usage and the zips are very chunky. The material near the zip's is rounded under itself to stop it sticking. These kind of small but thoughtful features are all over the bag and show how much care and thought has been put into developing this.
The amount of compartments this bag has amazes us. There are 8 on the main bag itself and that number increases to 16 when you are using the packing cube and wash bag included! If you are a fanatic about everything having its place then you will love this bag. We even found a tiny zipped pocket on the hanging wash bag, only big enough to fit a few small pieces of jewellery, but still, a neat little compartment to have.
The straps on the Slicks bag have an amazing design that allows you to take them apart and turn them into one across the body strap. You can even fold them away entirely and use the side handle to turn the bag into a briefcase!
At the back of the bag sits the laptop compartment which includes yet another small but thoughtful design element; the lining hangs a few inches above the bottom of the bag meaning that if you plonk the bag down on a hard surface, the laptop will be suspended inside the bag and thus safe from the impact!
Cons:
As previously noted, the bag has a tremendous amount of compartments, but this can also be a negative. When packing the bag for our flight back to Australia from the UK, we struggled to fit in the same amount that we previously fit into our smaller 1 compartment bag. This is because the two main compartments (the front zipped part and the main clam shell opening part) fight for space, and so you might end up putting everything in these two big places and ignoring the others as the space will have been maxed out. We feel like the large pocket accessible from the side (which we've seen displayed as a good place to put shoes) could easily be removed, along with the small zipped pocket above it, as they wont allow you to store anything when using the other compartments.
The bag itself is quite heavy. This is due to the high quality materials used, the extra padding and the double lining from all the pockets. This makes the bag feel overly heavier than it should when only carrying a few items. This only really matters when using it long term like we do, walking for hours on end, or carrying it on your front with a bigger pack on your back..
To sum up...
From our experience, the Slicks Trip would be ideally suited to someone needing a long-term quality option to use on overnight business trips. It could easily pass as a professional looking briefcase with its sleek and muted design, but it combines this with a widely creative use of compartments for lots of storage.
There is another version of the Slicks pack available, called the Biz, which includes a suit-bag.
This multi-functional pack delivers on many points, with only a few con's to speak of. So its possible this could be the perfect carry on backpack for the dynamic traveller going on short trips, combining business and pleasure.
Grab yours here!
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
Be social and come follow us across the virtual world!
LATEST POSTS
How I Went From Down And Out Graduate To Debt-Free Nomad In Less Than A Year
Recalling the path I was on 3.5 years ago, I shudder a little bit inside, I was embarking on...
How I Went From Down And Out Graduate To Debt-Free Nomad In Less Than A Year
Recalling how my life was 3.5 years ago, I was embarking on a new business venture, creating a self-employed life as a dog-walker and pet-sitter. This was the result of leaving my previous job, and bumming around unsure of what to do with myself for 3 months.
It didn't feel like it at the time, but the spring of 2013 was about to be major turning point, after 2011 and 2012 had been pretty painful.
At the end of 2012, I was in debt and pretending I wasn’t, continuing to spend mindlessly, buying new trendy stuff I didn't need, trying to make myself feel better. I was also kinda lonely, having been single for a good few months. I didn't have the best social life and my whole week was being swallowed up by my crappy job in a bank.
It was a bundle of laughs guys, truly.
My debt wasn't disgustingly huge and ridiculous, but I believe it was around the £3000 mark by the end of 2012. It was mostly credit card debt but also an overdraft from University.
It doesn't sound a lot, but it was for someone who was on a low income, whilst avidly pursuing everything... Literally, trying to consume every single thing.
I gave in to my sadness and disappointment at where I was in life, and continued to build my mini mountain of debt, partaking in window-shopping that turned into a shopping spree. Always having had a weakness for pretty things, I was going beyond that, consuming too much, too often. I would put things on my credit card willy-nilly and worry about it later.
The funny thing is, for the longest time as I entered my early 20's, I never had a credit card, nor even considered it. I spent what I had, and didn't spend what I didn't have.
A (very smart) part of me knew that credit was a bad idea for someone with my mentality. I loved buying clothes and other random things, and I had grown up accustomed to having what I wanted when I wanted it.
God, spoilt much?
Fortunate and well-cared for, definitely. Spoilt? maybe a tiny bit...
Anyway, I knew that as soon as a credit card came into my possession, my eyes would roll into pound signs and I would see it as a free money despite my better knowledge.
Why the hell did I get a credit card then?
I can’t remember the precise reason, but it was mid 2011, and I was going through some big life changes; moving in with a boyfriend and going into my final year of study. I do remember the cherry-popping card had an 18-month-interest-free period, the ultimate clever incentive of essentially free credit for almost 2 years!
That is a dangerously long grace period of being able to let debt mount up without accruing interest on top.
I think that's a key part of consumer debt psychology; people ask themselves, how long can I use credit and not really feel pain from it? How long can I pretend that I'm not living beyond my means whilst not trying to change them? Well, the credit card companies will always have a solution for you.
So the credit companies are the enemy?
Many credit cards are built on solidly decent perks, beneficial to those who know how to use them; people with self-control and probably a decent income, able to make each monthly payment whilst gaining air-miles or whatever. But that wasn’t me, and yet, because my income was of a certain level, it was as simple as filling in an online-form and BAM, a credit card with a £2000 credit limit now had my name on it.
That’s a lot of money to someone who was earning under £1000 a month and was new to this idea of adult financial freedom. For a while after my card arrived, I used it cautiously, paying for small amounts with it near the end of the month before pay-day. I promptly re-paid the full amount when it was due.
It wasn’t until a few months later, when I experienced a fairly traumatic and unexpected relationship break-up (from the boyfriend I had moved in with), that I suddenly looked at my credit card, and it looked at me, and we gave into a full-on passionate affair.
Takeaway meals when I was too depressed to cook, online shopping when I was too sad to leave my house, my credit card was my crutch.
I fell into debt not out of necessity, nor because I had bills to pay or some big holiday planned, I simply used credit for random daily spending, with the full intent to pay it back as and when. Underpinning this spending was a story I was telling myself, that I deserved this 'free' money. This credit card bought me the things I thought I wanted, or needed, in order to overcome my sadness.
In my hazy state I perceived junk-food and new clothing that I wouldn’t even remember in 3 years time, as my treats. I didn't buy self-help books, or invest money in trying new experiences, which sounds like a healthier approach, one I was simply incapable of in my down and out state. Maybe that's a stage you reach a little while after the initial impulse spending blow-outs following a break-up. But I didn't reach that point for months to come...
You’d have thought that the spending would have stopped a few weeks later, when I emerged from my sad girl cave and re-joined the functioning humans, but it was too late, I had already formed bad habits.
A few months later, life was mostly back on track. I graduated Uni with top marks, and I was on the cusp of entering real adult professional life. The first financial decision I made in my new grown-up life, truly was a nightmare dressed as a daydream (I just quoted a Taylor Swift song and it works); I got a brand new expensive car on finance.
I didn’t know anything about car finance until right before I took it on. I truly believe it was a win-win situation and I failed to account for how much of a commitment it was to take on.
I remember the precise moment, when walking through the supermarket car-park, when I fell in love with this little cream car. Sat there, all alluring and feminine, I knew, as soon as I laid my eyes on it, it had to be mine. It was a nippy little cream Fiat 500. So petite! So cute! So out of my price range.
Until someone said, ‘Did you know you can get the same car on finance?’
Interest piqued.
"What is this finance you speak of?"
Okay, so lemme get this straight, I hand over a little bit of money as a deposit, and I get a brand new shiny car. All I then have to do is pay £129 a month for the next 3 years, and then it's entirely mine? I can afford that so it must be a good idea!
Plus, I deserve it, I DESERVE a brand new car. I was still peddling that woe-is-me story to myself...
I thought this was an awesome turn of events. Car finance was helping me live out a dream of luxury. Little did I know it would be a short-lived buzz that would take me further away from the dreams faltering at my core.
I still feel guilt at the way I fell in love with that car far deeper than I ever did for my starter car, a little blue Vauxhall Corsa. I feel actual sadness that I gave that silly tin can away. But at the time, it was a fun change and it was just another part of my effort to feel better about myself.
The steering wheel on my pristine new baby felt so smooth and agile, and the car was so clean, and just, beautiful. I felt accomplished, like I had stepped up a rung on some invisible ladder of life success. I had a nice, smart card, nd I believed it helped me appear, to the outside, that I was winning at life.
But the reality was more like this:
I was working full-time in the same job I’d had since I was 16, a small supermarket where I jangled my keys as a supervisor and general checkout operator. This little weekend job had stayed with me throughout 3 years of university, and then turned into my main gig.
It wasn’t inspiring or fulfilling, at all, it was convenient, and familiar. I was trying to move into something better, namely, something that earned me more money. Whether the job truly suited me and my core values, was a secondary thought, a bonus in fact.
I wrongly sought out something that would bring me more money to buy more stuff to be more happy. But had my consumption made me happy up to that point?
I ask myself this question a lot...
Was I unhappy because I spent my money impulsively to fill a lonely void, and thus wasn’t planning for a fulfilling future based on real experiences. Or, was I just suffering from a mental illness and using the incorrect tools to fix it.
I'm certain that I was unhappy in myself and perceived buying things to add to my image as a way to attract the right kind of people who could fill the space in my sad ickle heart.
I sound as if I'm making light of my situation, but I was, in fact, headed for clinical depression. I got there eventually and I fell into a dark pit that I tried to escape every time I went to a clothes shop. I was desperately hating my job in a bank, where I had to partake in awful sales stuff as well as be responsible for people's real actual money. To this day I hate sales-y people or anyone who targets me with bull-shit for their own monetary gain.
So that job didn’t work with me, at all. Yes, I had money, I was able to shop more, and show off my nice car to my colleagues, but I wasn't actually a happy or sane individual.
I had some traditional markers of success and yet, I was also deeply disappointed. In the pit of my being, I was asking, is this it? Is this my life, from now on and forever?
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How Did I Change Things For The Better?
Well, I overcame that difficult time through a variety of avenues. Prescribed pills were involved (for a short while), falling in love played a large part, and of course, time was a big healer. I moved through my issues gradually, grew my little business as a dog-walker, and I was finally engaging with the world in a healthy manner. I eventually began making exciting plans.
My exciting plans had no room for debt or financial over-stretching; they were geared to financial freedom.
I got rid of my car out of necessity. My expensive gift to myself was now a chain around my neck on my new low income, and it didn’t suit my business as a dog-walker. So I went through the rigmarole of advertising it, temporarily clearing the finance with a family loan, then repaying that back when my car sold. Yep, a total effort.
I rid myself of that 129 a month and then focused all my energy on debt repayment. I kept a diary of all the amounts I owed and to whom. I decided to clear the smallest debt first, because it would be a surmountable goal that would boost my morale. There was no doubt in my mind that I would clear all the debts, because I had a goal for doing so, it just made sense to me to start small.
My exciting plans were that I wanted to travel Australia with Taran. I did the research and got sucked in by the absolute beauty of this very far-away land, and I just knew I had to get there.
I didn’t want to just go away for a year, I wanted to travel for a long time. I decided that being out there in the world, exploring it almost without purpose, would be the optimal way to reconnect with all the best parts of living.
Driven by this goal, I threw literally as much as I possibly could at my debts each week.
I got paid sporadically due to being self-employed so if my money came in drib's and drab's, I threw it at my debt in drib's and drab's. If I had an unexpected booking that led to a lot of extra money, I didn’t hold onto that money for a second, I sent it on a one way debt-clearing journey.
That is certainly one of the difficult parts of paying off debt and an obvious reason for why people delay repayments. We see our pay-check as having a better or more exciting purpose in the present, instead of going into a black-hole that brings nothing. But it does bring something eventually. It brings back financial clarity, control and an ability to plan for the future.
I think even if I hadn’t wanted to save up for travelling, I would have put my new positive financial situation to a good purpose, and I would have developed smaller, every-day goals, centred around family, relationships, and experiences.
When my life lacked greatly in these areas, when my time, money and energy was going purely to consumerism, I was miserable.
Then again, it goes back to my question around shopping addiction as the cause or effect of my depression. It was mental health versus financial health, and neither side was fighting strong.
That's why the true approach to tackling debt goes beyond the common tropes of spending less, working more and going without. Those things help clear the debt, but they don't deal with what lies underneath. They don't prevent debt occurring later on, or alter your mentality away from consumption as self-prescribed therapy.
It’s a truth, not merely a pleasant idea, that we should build our finances around sustainable, long-term and deep fulfilment.
My motivation wasn’t to explore in order to ‘get it out my system’ or escape the trappings of real life, it was about creating a whole new path, based on experiencing far-flung places, doing crazy things beyond what I believed I could and ultimately, discovering myself. I believed that my long-term fulfilment could be built on solid foundations formed from these experiences.
The Key Is To Not Go It Alone
Many of my peers and fellow graduate millennials often say that they wish they had the money to travel. In truth, some definitely do have the money, they just choose to allocate it to other things, and that's their business.
Many people however are bound by extortionate outgoings and financial commitments, as I was, and are navigating the same personal battle I did. I came through it thanks to the support of friends, family, and of course, Taran. That's why I recommend surrounding yourself with people or positive influences that will encourage you on your journey to being debt-free.
If those around you bolster the behaviours that are the most detrimental to you, then it's time to get real, have some honest conversations, and be clear in your motivations for changing things.
If you lack a supportive circle of like-minded individuals, I get that it makes debt repayment hard. But plenty of people out there are super into these lifestyle ideas, of thrift, frugality, and minimalism. In fact I wrote a whole book on that last topic. And the idea of being 100% debt-free, as in owing zero to anyone and clearing a mortgage earlier, is a major movement.
There is a tribe out there with open arms awaiting you, without a doubt.
Some of my favourite finance-oriented and majorly inspiring people:
My journey from down and out, to who I am now, has been a relatively long one, but I've finally got to where I want to be.
A year into travelling, and 2 since I became debt-free, I’ve worked as a farmer, a cook/receptionist/housekeeper and a cleaner. These are definitely not dream jobs, but they are short-term ventures targeted at a specific goal. But that's just the boring necessary stuff.
I've also camped on a completely deserted paradise island, with ocean so clear my eyes couldn't believe it. I've jumped out of a plane, held a snake, stroked a kangaroo and rescued a koala (not all at the same time).
I opened myself up to the unpredictable nature of life, embracing what scares me.
The result is that I have lived, and it's been an awfully big adventure.
What did my debt experience teach me?
I learned in my early 20's, that debt, whilst sometimes unavoidable, can often be prevented if we are open and honest with ourselves and those around us. I lost control of my life because I was suffering alone, smothering my inner truth, and favouring my unhealthy spending habits over the challenge of building new ones.
But I don't do that any-more, and I'd like to think that others can escape that spiral too. We can spend our money mindfully today, in the pursuit of something amazing, someday.
And that someday needn’t be so far away that we can't picture it and keep focus.
We can take stepping stones, steadily moving to the other side, to a place where we can start over again, begin listening to our core values, and live by them, forming new habits that will fulfil our truthful needs.
What motivates you to become unencumbered by debt?
Thanks for reading!
Hannah here, one half of NomaderHowFar. I love reading, the beach, proper fish and chips, and a good cup of tea. But I mostly like to chat about minimalism, simplifying your life, the beauty of travel and sometimes I get a bit deep. Get to know us here!
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12 Struggles Of Minimalist Beginners And How to Overcome Them
You can feel ready to embrace minimalism, and enthused to change, but some things can hold you back...
12 Struggles Of Minimalist Beginners And How to Overcome Them
So, you are hearing the call of minimalism!
You are being drawn toward living a simpler life, and have recognized the stress and mess that years of accumulation has brought you.
You are ready and willing, committed and enthused. But others around you, not so much...
My minimalism book (based on the popular life cleanse blog series and pictured below) comes from the perspective of someone who has come into minimalism fairly easily. By easily I mean, I was able to adopt the principles without opposition, confusion or derision from others.
Nothing was holding me back from dealing with my spending habits, de-cluttering my home, and changing my relationship with material goods, other than myself.
"I was free to embrace change unencumbered by the expectations or opinions of others."
But that isn't the case for many minimalist beginners...
I am part of a Facebook community full of people at differing stages of their minimalist journey. I have learned from this very supportive and honest space, that many people who are embracing minimalism, are facing a myriad of obstacles along the way.
This became even more apparent when I posed a question to my fellow members:
'What for you, has been the hardest part of embracing minimalism?'
It received 25+ responses and inspired a lot of conversation. I realized then that I clearly had to turn this into a blog post that could support these people or others starting out in minimalism and finding it tough.
There are many different paths individuals follow in life which inspire a negative response, and there are some very difficult journeys to acceptance which people face every day.
This is one vein of that, in this modern age where there is a push for tolerance and equality for people of all different lifestyle choices. This isn't one of those lifestyle choices you would immediately associate with inciting resistance and difficulty, but I have to come to see, it certainly is.
On the broader scale, minimalist ideas have big implications for capitalist society, but, on a smaller scale, people who want to change and lead a more fulfilling life, face the challenge of not being supported by those closest to them, alongside the other struggles of letting go of consumerism.
These are the 12 dominant struggles of my fellow aspiring minimalists from the Facebook community. I imagine others are too experiencing the same:
1. Knowing where to begin. Being overwhelmed by the prospect of simplifying your life, feeling too busy to begin or just unsure where to literally start.
2. Convincing a spouse of the benefits of simpler living. A partner that is either not supportive, not really understanding, or who is tightly holding onto their own materialist ideas and clutter.
3. Getting rid of gifts, or expensive items. Feeling guilt at giving away items someone else spent time or money on, as well as feeling regret at having spent a lot of money on things you now never use.
4. Building and maintaining a healthy attitude to consumerism. Being able to be in a shop and not feel the desire to buy things you don't need. Untying your relationship with shopping as a stress relief or emotional escape. Letting go of pretty and yet useless items.
5. Learning that our worth is not tied up in our possessions. Realizing that our things, the image we try to create with them and the ideas we try to represent, are not intrinsic to our true self-worth and value.
6. Thinking that when you let go of a sentimental object, you the lose the associated memory. Believing that our trinkets and life artefacts somehow keep a memory or experience alive better than we can ourselves, so we feel unable to ever part with any.
7. Pressure from those closest to you to consume. Having family or friends that are avid consumers, who not only normalize consumption but deride you for your rejection of materialist principles.
8. Feeling unable to discard consumables because of a low house-hold budget. Feeling that you can't let go of certain things because you feel like you can't afford to replace them when you might need them.
9. Keeping things 'just in case'. Worrying that we will get rid of something and then suddenly need it. Wanting to keep multiples of something believing it will make life easier in the long-run.
10. Struggling to re-home items, for sale or donation. People either don't show up to buy things, or they just don't sell. Or, you struggle to set aside time to physically remove the items from the home.
11. Having less to choose from. Discarding means you will have less options to choose from each day and so you worry that you might feel bored or limited by what you have kept.
12. Teaching your children about having less. We can actively process our own relationship to our stuff but trying to help our kids de-clutter or feel less desire to that stuff, is a bit more difficult...
There are all the usual obstacles we have to overcome when embracing a minimalist life, from consuming less, to letting go of things, but we can also feel limited by those around us, and the dominant ideologies by which they, and our society, abides.
"Stead-fast consumption, regular impulse spending, and the perception that life is too short to not have exactly what we want no matter the cost."
I think this mindset whilst common and natural for many of us, is short-sighted, and not really sustainable, for our own budgets, and for the wider future of our planet. You too, might agree, as an aspiring minimalist.
I want to posit 5 ideas, that you need to always remember on this path, to help you process and cope with the above 12 struggles.
I want you to recognize that your difficult beginning will become a happy ending.
Then, I will suggest some ideas for how you can communicate with those you feel don't support you, and how you can still pursue this journey without causing damage to your relationships.
Here are 5 ideas to remember during your struggles:
You have already fought half the battle.
Even getting to this point, a place where you want to change your life, and are trying to do so, is a huge deal. I partook in a consumerist and cluttered mentality for most of my life, from my teens into my 20's, but it's also routed in my childhood.
That is a long time of forming habits, and perpetuating unhealthy associations between wealth, possessions and self-worth.
It takes guts to look at our lives honestly and then seek a truthful change, and not just continue on the same destructive path.
In terms of where the hell to start, you have to start small. But first, before that, you have to understand your why.
Why did you find yourself here, seeking something to make your life more fulfilling?
Only when you are fully clear in your reasoning's, will it become clear what you have to do first. For me, it was a mixed process. I knew I was in-debt and also knew that I was desperate to travel.
So, I wrote down all my debts, from smallest to biggest, and I began throwing as much money each month at my smallest debt.
It was then that I actually got super into minimalism, and began de-cluttering my home, by first throwing stuff out of my wardrobe, because that was where the most abundance of clutter was confronting me each day.
I slowly removed things from my bedroom, gradually growing my addiction to discarding, that often comes when you witness the calming effect a less cluttered space creates. I then ramped up my efforts, spending whole afternoons removing things. I then helped my boyfriend do the same. He was motivated because we both wanted to travel and he felt like he didn't want to leave behind material commitments.
Even if travel wasn't our goal, I think he would have been influenced by my change in demeanour; I was motivated to clear debt and so I was also motivated to change my relationship with consumerism, and it made me super positive and enthusiastic in general.
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You are living out your truth, and that's always better than living a lie even if it feels easier at the time.
When you stumble upon an epiphany, or you reach a point in your life where you cannot continue to live in the way you have been, you are finding out something very important and special.
You are listening to your inner truth, realizing your fundamental goals and appreciating what you need to do to reach them.
You are opening yourself up to a new way of life and welcoming in positive change thus being authentic to your own intrinsic needs.
If you continue to live how others believe you should, you are lying to yourself, neglecting your purpose, and basing fundamental life choices on the opinions or comments of others and not your own inner voice.
Surely if you are denying your truth to supposedly please them, eventually it will damage your relationships anyway, with your suppressed desires or conformity eventually building resentment.
You will become a living breathing example of the positive ethos of minimalism.
People around you, who advocate consumerist mindsets, or who aren't interested in minimalism, will eventually witness the positive impact of living a simplified life, with less stuff and less push to work, earn and spend. They will get a front-row seat to seeing the cause and effect, and only then, can they truly understand it.
Only then can they too be inspired and maybe consider following the same path. Your peers, children and spouses, are obviously people you love and care about, and whom care about you, but resistance from them, when it involves a change in their own fundamental life choices, is natural.
This isn't something you can preach, but it is something you can live out, and eventually, you will inspire without trying.
You will feel guilt and fear, but not forever.
This is what I love about the simplifying process, and hate at the same time.
You are gonna feel some pains and you are going to want to pull back, delay the process and just, stop. But, once your life has become simpler, and you have committed yourself to reaching particular goals, some emotions, you won't have to encounter again, because you confronted them during this process.
Letting go of sentimental items will feel confusing and upsetting, but once you have taken decisive de-cluttering actions, you won't have to let go of those same things ever again.
Once you have resolved yourself to spend less and accumulate less, you won't have to repeat the letting go process over and over.
"You have to tell yourself, 'I will feel the pain and stress of letting go and discarding now, but I won't have to feel it again, because I won't re-clutter my life again'."
And even if there comes a time where you do in fact need to let go of more stuff, you will have proven that its possible, and you will have survived without those things you originally got rid of.
Discarding items attached to specific memories or special times in your life, takes nothing away from the fact you got to have that experience.
And if by some horrible future scenario, you lose sentimental items, you will move past it and make new memories, as well as have the old ones.
You have to consider that when you strip away the artefact's of precious life moments, the most important things usually still remain e.g. the people and the memories.
Believing that you need to keep things based on some imagined future use, is not a bad thing, when we are trying to lead thrifty lives. We just have to resolve to not bring in more of the same.
We can keep stuff that we truly think will be useful, but we have to specify to ourselves, exactly what that use is:
- Is it a seasonal object?
- Is it one that will replace something else in time?
- Is it something you have multiple versions of, and if so, can you retain just one version?
- Could you better organize these 'just in case' items so that you actually remember you have them when the 'in case' actually happens?
Realistic justifications are not discouraged in minimalist thinking, at all. But sometimes we justify things we know deep down we will not need again or which bring negative vibes into our home, but we are just racked with guilt at our spending, and think that by throwing it out we are being terrible wasteful planet-haters.
But we need to realize that this is it, the point where we make changes that will prevent us being wasteful big-spenders further down the line.
You will
eventually create a fulfilling life that isn't rooted in consumerism
I know this because I was able to do so. I went from in-debt, and addicted to shopping, to being a mindful consumer who was able to make decisions removed from impulse.
I still have moments of weakness but I have accepted that I always will. I have habits and behaviours formed over years, and years, tied to emotional times in my life, so my natural response at times will be to consume, because it is what I have always known. But I don't believe it's ever too late to form new habits.
I brought in a few ideas which I have stuck to for the last 3 years, which keep me debt-free and living within my means (whilst also doing what I love, travelling and writing) unbound by material possession's, which I talk about more in-depth in my book.
Appreciate what is most important at your core. If it is your relationships, and building a life based on special moments with others, having ten million things to tidy each weekend, and a bucket-load of consumerist debt, is going to prevent that happening.
You might literally be stumbling over the results of your consumer choices daily, but you are so used to being surrounded by them, you don't see what is in plain sight. You sometimes need to clear the decks to actually understand why you are dissatisfied or unfulfilled.
Yes, you are used to having multiple options for everything, from your breakfast, to your clothing, but when we reduce the field of choice, to a few quality items, we can actually extract more value and enjoyment from our options. If I have a cupboard full of cereals, or a wardrobe full of clothing of similar styles, and yet I still feel dissatisfied, I probably don't have the right options at my disposal.
I love the concepts of meal planning and having a capsule wardrobe as solutions to these respective issues. I think this allows us to still have options and choices, whilst being thrifty and creative.
Your usual short-cuts to escapism, might not really be feeding your core desires. You may be living a life based in habits you know do not serve you but you feel scared to confront them. When you do confront them however, you soon realize that the only obstacle to your true fulfilment, is you.
You can change certain unhealthy spending habits with some honest appraisal of why you formed them to begin with. When we understand the deeper-seated reason for a behaviour, we can endeavour to change the habit, not just introduce new habits doomed to fail because we aren't accounting for the deeper reasons behind our choices.
You can bring in healthier routines based on mindfulness. Mindful money management is when we know, off the top of our head, our general money situation, be it day-to-day, week-to-week or month-to-month. Mindful spending is when we really question each and every purchase we make, understand the purpose, quality and life-time of the item. You might not be able to increase your income to reach certain financial goals but over time, mindful consuming will make your money work better for you, and of course, prevent future clutter and waste.
More on how I stick to mindful consumption:
Okay, so you have bolstered your self-belief, appreciated what you have already achieved, and placed some faith in the future results of your efforts.
But, ah, you still have to deal with the expectations and opinions of others.
Well, I hope, that in re-affirming your goals for your life, at the centre of your minimalist journey, you will feel stronger and more resolved to change, despite the beliefs of others. But you still need some practical tips on how to counter all the struggles.
1. Be clear of your 'why' to others and resist the urge to try and convert them right away.
When we talk about something that is either seen as a fad or trend, such as de-cluttering and minimalism, you will find a level of initial scepticism, most of the time. If you try to argue with this, and behave defensively, you are likely going to aggravate the situation and bring the person no closer to empathy or understanding.
Instead of coming at our loved ones hard with the notion of simplifying, we need to bring it in gradually.
I know you probably feel all this energy, and naturally you want to get others on board. But they won't believe in the effectiveness of an idea until they see the proof.
- Live out your changes honestly, share them with others if they are making you feel good, but don't posit this as something everyone around you should adopt. Nobody likes to be told that they are living their life wrong or that they are unhappy, when they believe they are. In fact plenty of people around you will not be minimalists, and never will, and will still find the same fulfilment you do. Minimalism isn't the cure for everybody's woes, so resist the urge to prescribe it as the dream drug.
- Use simple language to explain your motivations, like 'I want to save money for...' or 'I want a tidier home...', instead of, 'I am becoming a minimalist, death to materialists!!'. I certainly have strong opinions for why I advocate minimalism over materialism, but for most of my life, I didn't have these opinions, and I didn't want to. I had my consumerism under relative control for a time, and it wasn't until I didn't, that I considered other ideas.
- When people are told of how your previous lifestyle choices were bringing you stress, they will get why you are making drastic changes. They want you to be happy and find a healthy way to do so. Over time they may get to witness the benefits of your new minimalist choices and come to understand it better that way.
2. Try to understand the place from which your spouse/kids/family are coming from.
To them, you have suddenly upped and changed, and maybe you are fervently spouting all these new overwhelming ideas that they haven't come to yet. They too are a sum of their life's habits and history, so go easy on them.
You might feel frustrated or stalled by them and their views, but they need to be given time. They also need to be heard and understood. A partner or friend who continues to spend and acquire, with no intention of de-cluttering, yes, that is going to be difficult to witness and not interfere in. But it's like any difference we ever encounter with those closest to us, we will never all be on the same page about everything.
- Encourage peaceful, open and honest conversation with your loved ones, by truly explaining your desire to change, and why. When others understand your motivation and maybe learn something about you they didn't already know, they are much more likely to keep their scepticism in check.
- Tell them what it is about your current lifestyle that is making you unhappy, and this might make them feel less dismissive of the idea, if they are assured that they aren't suddenly someone you cannot relate to. They just need to understand your 'Why' and try to accommodate it in small ways and recognize that you don't want them to change anything they aren't content with. If they care about you, they should care about your pursuit of true inner happiness, more than your ability to conform with the norms they themselves are used to.
3. Bring your children, partner and loved ones, into the journey, as a pursuit of a mutually beneficial goal.
You can't exactly achieve the minimalist home environment of your dreams if your kids and partner won't budge. You are going to hit a brick-wall in your overall progress at times, even if you have communicated openly and inspired their loving support. The best way to overcome this is a combination of the above two; re-iterating your 'Why' and communicating it gently and over time, but also, by trying to portray de-cluttering and mindful spending, as not something you need them to do, but something that they might actually want to do.
- Create challenges with your loved ones, based on minimalist values. If you suggest the de-cluttering process as being one which will reward them, it will be positive reinforcement that over time may lead to an intrinsic change inside them too. You need to mix your own goals with the inclusion of your family's goals too.
- An example could be that your husband has wanted a holiday abroad for years, but due to frequent random spending or accumulation, you both haven't been able to save up quite enough to do so.
- By suggesting you look at your finances together, to see how you can reach your mutual goals sooner, you will be bringing him in as an active and important part of your journey. You could suggest selling stuff to make some extra income, whilst also de-cluttering, or consider both going on a spending ban. Brainstorm some ideas together to help you achieve mutual dreams, which have the added benefit of involving minimalism.
- Another example might be that your children have reams of toys, many of which they never play with but refuse to part with. You too need to bring them in on this based on your mutual goals. What do they want or desire most in their life at present? Maybe they want to have a million different toy choices, as simple as that. Or maybe they would be willing to share their good fortune with a child who doesn't have what they have by picking some to personally donate.
- Maybe they actually want to get more value of out family life but are so used to the usual daily activities being based around their things, they simply don't know of other options. Maybe they have always been rewarded for their achievements by being given things, and so you will have to go back on your previous re-reinforcements by creating different reward systems. Maybe this can be a lesson in sharing and in having perspective, as well as a way to prevent them always associating toys and things, with their fun or happiness.
I sincerely hope that the above advice goes some way to help you in your struggles as a minimalist beginner.
And I want to re-iterate my very first point, that you have already fought half the battle.
You have chosen to embrace a path where you can carve out a simpler life for yourself and those closest to you. Your honesty, hard work, and the positive results it will yield, will get you through the bulk of the challenges you will face along the way.
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Create A Quality Cover Letter That Gets A Response
The first thing your employer is going to see when you apply for a job is the cover letter, so it better be good!
Create A Quality Cover Letter That Gets A Response.
So this master-class is gonna come at you in three parts.
If you can't be bothered to wait around for part 2 and 3, 'Creating a CV/Resume that Sticks Out From The Rest' and 'Being Interview and Job-Ready', just head over to my Fiverr, where I can help you out with a resume AND a cover letter one-on-one for only $5!!!
Alternatively, join the email list and you will receive notice when these posts are live.
I might even send ya some bonus stuff like a printable cover letter checklist or PDF for your future reference, because I am nice and spontaneous that way...
I am writing this from the perspective of a traveller working in a travellers job market. But this advice could be useful to anyone seeking assistance in getting to that all-important interview.
So, you've seen an ad online for a job you like the sound of. You jump at the chance to reply to the email address. You fall over yourself in a rush to type out something quickly because you reallllly like the sound of this job and you just know that you are perfect for it.
Well, you might just be, but the employer doesn't know this.
Stop, read the ad again, and consider might it be worth a little more thinking time before you hammer out your cover letter or inquiry email. You might have zero clue where to begin in crafting an email that sticks out amidst the 100's of others clogging up the employers inbox.
This master-class suggests a simple method to use when you face this clueless yet exciting mess of enthusiasm, and need to channel it carefully to secure a result.
I know a well-thought-out cover letter, can get results, because using this layout and formula helped me secure a job, literally within a day. I had tried numerous cover letter styles previously and all were either too long or irrelevant, and thus failed to get my message across quickly and clearly. This cover letter got a phone call a few hours later, an interview the next day, and then a job. I'm not saying it was simply the cover letter that did it, but being the thing that the employer reads first, the impression it gives sets off the rest of events that can result eventually, in a job.
Some employers will focus mostly on the resume, ensuring the person matches the skills or at least displays potential. But still, it can be a pretty solid life-skill to be able to compile a cover letter that will set you apart from the competition, to make you a triple cover letter/resume/interview threat.
The Cover Letter Email That Got Me An Interview:
Why Did This Work?
- Its short, succinct yet detailed. I introduce myself quickly in the opening sentence, and describe my work experience right away.
It also suggests that in my previous job I surpassed the basics of the job role by training my colleagues.
Showing that you might be even over-skilled for the role, infers you will meet the basic requirements but also have high standards and take a lot of pride in your work. This is what might set you apart even further.
It rounds off with some food for thought; this individual can back up their skills with referees, so they're resume will be worth a look.
I attached my resume to the email which contained all the evidence to back-up my claims and provided the reference contact details. It also contained my phone number but I evidently forgot to include this in the email sign-off, which I do recommend doing.
So a Cover Letter is important because...
You need to tick boxes to even have your resume read these days. Your cover letter should deliver the important info up-front, making the employers life a helluva lot easier. The resume will expand on all the boring other info, the cover letter sells you much faster.
So, you want to know how to craft a perfect cover letter/email that gets a reply? No worries, I can show you how.
1. READ THE AD AND NOTE THE 4 W'S:
Who is the employer/business/ contact name, What skills does the suitable candidate need and what responsibilities will they have ,When is the role due to start, and Where is the job located.
2. BEGIN YOUR EMAIL/LETTER WITH A SHORT INTRO:
Address to the Who, introduce yourself by your full name, age and location (where are you based currently or where are you moving to, dependant on whether the job is far away or local).
3. DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THE TERMS THE AD USED:
With this opening sentence include a line about how you are well-suited to the role based on recent/previous experience.
For example, if the ad title was 'Hospitality Professional' then you'd say 'I am an experienced hospitality professional', providing that you are applying for a job you do have experience in.
If you can't describe yourself exactly in the terms of the job title, describe yourself using other terms found in the ad.
If the employer emphasizes that they want people with certain skill-sets, and you can truthfully describe yourself as containing related skills or experience, then do so.
4. OUTLINE HOW YOU MEET THE WHAT:
What have you actually done that makes you well-suited to the role. If you haven't yet done that said role, draw on your related experience and transferable skills. For example, someone who may worked in a certain setting, e.g. a hotel or a restaurant, and is applying for a front-of-house host, but previously worked as a waiter, is still going to be familiar with the inner-workings of such a business.
Don't make mildly tenuous links e.g. if you worked at McDonalds you might not quite be ready for the role of cook in a major restaurant. But then again, being familiar with how certain environments run, is still going to help you appear somewhat suited if not totally suited.
Be realistic in how your transferable skills translate over to the job role. If you try to stretch the definitions that the ad put forward for what it needs, you may get discounted right off-the-bat because you will simply seem in-experienced.
Focus on your most relevant skills, not the random or most interesting ones. Demonstrating relevant and inter-linked skills makes the employers job easier; he can size you up quickly and assess how much training you might or might not need.
5. DON'T JUST MEET THEIR NEEDS, STATE HOW THE JOB MEETS YOURS:
A short sentence, with not too much exaggerated language, outlining why you want the job so much, can help your case and differentiate you from the rest.
When people send out cover emails or letters every day, not really caring which job they get because they are just spamming every ad they see, they can become a bit re-miss in this aspect.
Ask yourself what appeals about the job role, the business or the type of responsibilities.
Does your personality mesh well with the type of environment, e.g. an energetic person who thrives in a loud and busy workplace. Can you thus represent yourself as even more suited to the role by outlining, briefly, just why this particular job role appeals to your other strengths and interests.
A satisfied worker who chooses a job based on how well it suits them naturally, will be a harder worker. A harder worker will be a respected worker. A respected worker will stick around awhile and make the employers life a lot easier.
Examples on how to use these ideas:
So, let's put this into practice. We are going to do a little exercise.
I have looked online for a few job-ads and I am going to create what I believe would be a memorable cover letter than will get the resume read, the phone call made and the interview secured.
The cover letter will alter slightly in style based on each ad. I have chosen 2 ad's for their differences to prepare you for the different ad styles you might encounter.
I used gumtree.au, a popular site in Australia where people can find everything from sofa's to boats to, you guessed it, jobs. I also used another popular Australian job-site, Seek.com.au.
Bear in mind that often the right move may be to telephone the number provided in the ad right away. Some ads will even advise to call and email, others will say only contact via email. If the case is that they want you to call and email, or just call, sometimes its good to send a cover email and resume through just before making a phone call. That way you can tell the person over the phone that in your keenness you already whizzed them off all the info they need to read.
1.
So this is the typically short ad you will often find on gumtree. Its usually because the job is simple, self-explanatory, and the job is expected to go quickly due to this. Still, a decent covering email can help with what appears a simple job application.
THE COVERING EMAIL:
Afternoon [insert name],
My names [name], I am 25, and I am a locally-based experienced waitress and barista.
I have previously worked in a commercial kitchen, taking orders, then delivering them to the kitchen, then taking the meals out when ready. I also took coffee orders, and successfully used a full coffee-machine to make a full range of normal coffee's and iced drinks, single-handedly.
I thrive in a fast-paced environment, having worked at a busy cafe on the most popular family resort on Fraser Island, and will bring an energetic and friendly mentality to the team.
I look forward to speaking further regarding this role, and can be contacted on [number] to chat.
I attach my resume for your reading.
Many thanks,
[name]
So I have kept this covering email relatively short seeing as the ad was short, however I got a lot of relevant info into the email. In this scenario I would have then telephoned the person, informed them of the sent email and had a conversation about the role.
2.
So this Ad is a little bit more meaty, and gives you much more material to be creative with in your covering letter. This ad was on Seek which requires you to attach a covering letter by uploading a word document, or you can write one out in the box provided for each job when you apply.
THE COVERING LETTER:
Aena shekhikhi!
Yes, I am fluent in Dothraki and my sense of humour is renowned across the seven kingdoms.
But am I king material? Well, I am considered a bit of a sales superstar by my previous employers, [employer name/business], delivering consistent sales meeting daily set targets often [outline any figures of sales met]. I worked within the sports industry also, and being personally incredibly fitness-oriented, I thrive in an environment where I can talk about it passionately with potential clients.
I love being part of the sales environment, where personality and outlook is key, with a presentable appearance and a fun yet professional approach also important. I get to be my usual enthusiastic self, but translate that into a rewarding career also.
I love to travel, being a traveller from the UK, it's important for me to not just experience Australia but also learn from the best in its marketing industry, build on my sales skills and take my knowledge to the next level.
I am available for interview immediately, and can't wait to get started.
Thank you,
[name].
This was personally, a challenge, because the ad makes references to Game of Thrones, which I know NOTHING about, other than that its super popular and that I can't be bothered to watch it and hide from spoilers my whole life (I already do that with Walking Dead). Anyway, I thought this was a good example for where you have to demonstrate that you have read the ad thoroughly and responded accordingly. I didn't introduce myself by name or age, because they will see this in the application and the attached resume, but I did sign off with my name.
In this letter you are demonstrating the sense of humour they require, not simply saying that you have one. You are also showing previous experience in a similar role, where you excelled, which makes you job-ready but also suggests that you are self-confident and good at dealing with customers face-to-face. But in this scenario, if you didn't have sales experience, your best bet would be to think of the ways all your current experience lends itself to the skills listed under 'What our clients are looking for'.
You essentially pepper the covering letter with some references to Game of Thrones, just like the ad did, but you don't over-do it. You get to the heart of the matter, show your experience, and show your ambition as well as your personality.
So there we go, two very different examples, but also the common types of job ad's you might come across as a working traveller.
KEY THINGS TO TAKEAWAY:
- Your covering letter whilst heavily built on the language in the ad, shouldn't look like a copy and paste job. You need to contextualize their language by relating it to your own experience and skills.
- Match the length of your cover letter to the ad, and then add a few lines. If the letters too short it might not grab the interest strongly enough (bearing in mind all your competitors) but if its too long they may lose interest. As long as you cover the key ideas they talk about in the ad, with a bit of explanation, you can't go too wrong on length decision.
- A great covering letter should only suggest things that the resume or interview can back-up. Your resume will be a jumble of information only really useful for the few keywords that jump out at the employer, so the covering letter might be the main thing they read thoroughly and thus remember, so its important to be honest and truthful.
MORE GREAT READS FOR TRAVELLERS:
Thanks for reading!
Hannah here, one half of NomaderHowFar. I love reading, the beach, proper fish and chips, and a good cup of tea. But I mostly like to chat about minimalism, simplifying your life, the beauty of travel and sometimes I get a bit deep. Get to know us here!
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The Amazon Dash Button: Is this for real!?
My brain was at first confused by this, sure it was some kind of late April fools joke...
The Amazon Dash Button: Is this for real!?
Okay so yes, this is real. The future of consumerism folks, right here.
Amazon dash buttons are these little branded buttons you can affix to anything in your home. When you press the button (which cost $4.99) it will automatically send an order to your amazon account and you will receive items in the next few days. You can get these buttons for everything from dishwasher detergent, to dorito's. I've no idea how it works but it looks mental.
Just, what!
My brain was at first confused by this, then I thought maybe it was some kind of late April Fool.
Then having looked into it a bit more, we realized, this is an actual thing. People are being invited to buy these buttons, and put them all over their home, so that they never need suffer the pain of running out of all their stuff at once, ever again.
The horror of using the last of something, with what, at least a 10-minute drive (or even more ghastly, a 20-minute walk) to the nearest massive supermarket. Apparently it's so hard being a person in this world where we have everything at close hand, that we need our consumption decisions simplified even further for us...
With the Amazon dash, you no longer need to even THINK about what you are consuming, like don't even form thoughts, just put your best pressing finger forward. You don't have to use your memory, or make a shopping list, or even leave the house, you can just consume with the press of an ugly little button.
Amazon, you have my permission to use this as your key marketing slogan, winky face.
Some people might see this as as a quirky novelty, that they will buy for fun, thinking it mighthelp them out in their busy lives. I still think it is a tad over the top.
The comedy of this situation on the amazon website is worth a look though. For example, one user asked this on the questions section:
"If I put this in my bedroom, will it still order the Tide detergent? Or does it have to be on the washing machine?"
With one witty person replying:
"If you put this in your bedroom it will order "Tide the Musical" on dvd or bluray, depending of course on which type of media player it is near. It has room-aware technology as well as spatial-visualisation abilities which allow it to analyse which objects it's nested by. So yes, it must be placed in the same room as the washing machine."
It's just, kinda ugly, no?
Same goes for the above button, you have to attach the button to an actual Dorito (other brands of chips are available) for the button to recognize the flavour and order accordingly. It also feeds on the crisp to sustain battery levels...
All jokes aside, to think of just one negative implication of this somewhat to-be-expected development in online ordering, is how this further increases the reach of already established brands, quashing competition and discouraging people to experiment with off-brand, cheaper products.
Not only that, but you are essentially being encouraged to fill your home with advertising, disguised as helpful consumer gadgetry. By displaying the branding everywhere in your home, for every guest visiting to see, you will be advocating only these brands.
Have we not go enough advertising in our world already?! Check out this crazy video we made about advertising:
I have never yet cared what brand of anything my friends might use, but surely, narrowing the field of choice down for consumers and the people they can influence, isn't that majorly questionable?
And what about if you get some joker come in your house and go around pressing all the buttons? Amazon is careful to say how you receive an email to confirm your order where you can then delete it. So is it really that convenient anyway?
I can't many people wanting these in their homes though truthfully, but I do just think they are kinda unsightly. I wouldn't print off a photo of my washing up liquid and frame it, put it on the wall, and stand back to admire. I wouldn't do this either.
But also, are people really that far disconnected from their consumption that they will happily swap using their minds to consider purchasing decisions, to get the best deal for them, for just giving into the ease of these brand-associated buttons.
I like to think that the reason minimalism and frugal living is becoming a popular idea for so many is because people are rejecting mindless consumerism, and all the associated debt, stress and waste.
I know that my journey to a minimalist lifestyle means I look at this button with a lot of eye-rolling. It seems like the two movements, of minimalism and materialism, are both gaining momentum, almost as a reaction to one another.
As mindful consumerism builds a loyal, loud and influential following, big companies push harder in the direction of the down-right silly to get their consumerist message across.
Maybe some people will think this is just a convenient little gadget, only one or two steps away from 1-click ordering.
Maybe they will get a few of the buttons, just to experiment with the ease.
Maybe they will end up resembling the couch-potato blob people from Wall-E. Did I take a big leap?
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
Be social and come follow us across the virtual world!
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37 Ways You Can Save Money Every Day
How can you save money when you don't lead an extravagant life, or you have mounds of debt to clear. Well, it simply boils down to these simple ideas, based around mindful spending...
37 Ways You Can Save Money Every Day
How do I save money, if I already lead a frugal life and have no debt; surely I am doing enough?
Well, find out below if you're doing all that you can!
Whether you are saving for travelling like we did, or trying to reach another life goal, or simply wish to make your pennies go further, this advice will hopefully help you.
GENERAL MONEY MANAGEMENT
1. BUDGET, and do it wisely:. Look at a months expenses, fixed and changeable. Split your budget into a week-by-week basis. You might get paid once a month or paid every week (this is less common in the UK where I am from) but if you live week by week, its sometimes easier to break down where you will need to allocate funds on things such as food shopping. It could mean that by the time you reach your next payday you aren't dipping into savings to make the short-fall.
2. BUDGET FOR REAL LIFE: Creating a budget doesn't have to mean you designate every penny of your earnings to particular things with zero room for movement. If you are trying to clear debt or make savings then cutting back or limiting yourself is a good idea, and yet giving yourself no budget breathing space might make you more likely to impulse spend as a rebellious act. Try to budget for your reality, one where you will still want occasional treats, and so including this in your budget will make you more mindful of where you could make savings elsewhere, if you desire a balance of controlled spending, enjoyment, and saving.
3. USE MULTIPLE SEPARATE BANK ACCOUNTS: I name different accounts after the bills which go into them. It means I can easily put aside my expenses and know exactly what my situation is for the next week or month. I currently have two savings accounts, one for rent and one for actual long-term savings. I tend to withdraw the rest of my money for food and transport, as cash, on payday. If I use my bank accounts as piggy-banks, instead of using my debit card for impulse and convenience spending, I feel much more mindful in my consumer choices.
4. KEEP RECEIPTS: I judge how good I am being with budgeting by keeping all my receipts, all the time. It holds me accountable and means I can't ignore what I am spending. I am acutely aware of every dollar that I give away and it has helped me achieve no-spend days, or weeks, because I like to have as few receipts as possible:
PRO-TIP: Instead of thinking 'I won't spend money this week', think, 'I don't want a wallet full of receipts to read through each week'. Obviously, the two go hand-in-hand.
5. USE A DAY-PLANNER: I love my day-planner for many reasons, but one of the main ones is how it helps me track spending beyond just having a pile of folded up receipts. I write every single thing I spend each day or week, and I also plan ahead for up-coming bills. This helps me spot the times where I spend more, and I can link it to how I am feeling that day, or what else I was doing. If I know why I spend more, I can better give attention to those areas of my life that clearly need some re-thinking.
FOOD
6. BUY CHEAPER VERSIONS: I think sometimes this is a challenge when you are trying to buy organic or healthier food products. But even when you are buying healthy food, you can still get cheaper versions of your favourites. I buy lots of fruit each week, which can be expensive, but to save some pennies, I will buy which ever apple type is the cheapest per kg that given day. It doesn't save as much as if I forewent the fresh fruit altogether, and bought a pack of 6 fruit-filled and sugar-laden breakfast bars, but the cost to my health isn't worth it in my opinion.
7. SWITCH SUPERMARKETS: We often shop at the stores that are the most local or convenient to us. We know the lay of the land, which aisle has what, and we develop a real sense of familiarity with a shop. Sometimes this blinds us to whether that is the cheapest or best value place to buy our weekly food shop. I like Aldi and Lidl (in the UK) with Aldi growing its reach in Australia right now.
8. GO IN KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED: Make a shopping list, based on a meal plan, and buy only ingredients for this. I buy foods to feed me for a week of breakfast, lunch and dinner with a few snacks. I don't get into buying stuff to fill up the freezer or the store cupboard, as I believe this just leads to waste.
PRO-TIP: Write on your shopping list a brief run-down of what's in your fridge or pantry, so that you aren't forced to make random extra spending decisions because you can't remember what you have at home.
9. DON'T BUY ONLY FRESH: Dairy and bread are often an unavoidable exception, but just be wary of filling up the refrigerator with foods that go out of date within a week; these foods are often the most wasted. When you create a meal plan you can make sure to designate your fresh foods to particular meals to prevent this waste. I buy frozen fruit and vegetables (berries for smoothies and veg for curry's) as it can be cheaper as well as waste-reducing. I just make sure the fruit says 'No added sugar' on the pack.
10. RESIST TEMPTATION TO BUY EXTRA FOOD: You might live near a little corner shop and get tempted of an evening to go looking for yummy snacks. Try to anticipate this by including some nice food in your weekly shop so that you don't end up spending over-budget on food.
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FUN AND SOCIAL LIFE
11. HAVE AMAZING NIGHTS IN: A social life is the foundation of a fulfilling life based more on experiences and relationships, not material spending. But do consider cutting back on eating-out, cinema visits and day-trips. These experiences can actually become habitual, meaning you continue to regularly spend on these activities without much consideration for doing something else new. Suggest cheaper alternatives to friends or family, like a dinner party where everyone has to bring their own home-made speciality dish. Or introduce a weekly movie night where you each bring a movie from your own collection, or go in together on renting something.
12. GO OUT ONCE A FORTNIGHT: Resolve to have one evening/day out every 2 weeks. This might sound hard but you can actually get quite used to a routine of not going out. If you reduce your expensive outings you will save more money but you will also come to view them as more rewarding and enjoyable if you don't do them so often.
13. GET CREATIVE: I nurtured my creative side by beginning this blog, a place to come and guide others as I too cleared debt and refined my spending habits. It helped me stay on my path to a debt-free future as a nomad, and it opened me up to a world of writing I had been too afraid to pursue before, too consumed by my consumption and other distractions. I'm not saying blogging is for everyone, but you may have other inner creative abilities that might come out in other forms and interests which you might have previously ignored in favour of your habitual entertainment escapes.
14. EMBRACE WHAT YOU LOVE EVERY DAY: What do you do most when you go on holidays or when you have a relaxing Sunday? Do you read a book, take a walk or try a new recipe? Our hobbies do not have to be confined to just one part of our week. We can try to build on our true loves and engage in them more often, or see what other hobbies we might like that derive from them.
PRO-TIP: Get ideas from Pinterest or YouTube, awesome online spaces where you can find like-minded thrifty people ready to introduce you everything you can imagine.
SHOPPING
15. GET RID OF STUFF: If you are craving the buzz of buying a treat for yourself, sell something on Ebay, or donate a few items. Whatever you make you can spend on something new. But be careful, try to only acquire quality things out of need. The process of saving is also one of de-cluttering and simplifying, you don't want to get excited and accumulate too much.
16. BE CERTAIN BEFORE YOU BUY: When shopping online, add the item you have your eye on to the basket, and then leave it. Go back the next day and if you still want the item, question if you need it and what value it will bring. The more you think about it, the more likely it is you will talk yourself out of it and not give into that impulse-buy feeling.
PRO-TIP: Calculate the cost of the item versus what that amount of money could otherwise get you. Could it go to your debt repayments, your saving goals or your holiday plans?
17. HIT THE CHARITY SHOPS: I honestly love the challenge of finding a new outfit in a charity shop. Not only does this encourage recycling and lengthening the life of trendy items, but it is going to be a fun money-saving challenge. Consider that not all the stuff in these shops is junk, think of all the unworn clothing sitting in your wardrobe and how nice that is, you are bound to find something which meets your tastes.
18. RE-STYLE YOUR EXISTING CLOTHING: When I go through all my clothing to donate some to charity and make space, I always find things I had forgotten about. I then try to come up with new outfit combinations and it's a fun little task to re-imagine and re-appreciate the things I already have.
LIVING EXPENSES
19. CONSIDER FINDING A CHEAPER HOME: Are you paying exorbitant rental fees? If you aren't bound by a contract, look around for cheaper rental rates, either by focusing on a cheaper area, or just a smaller property. If you are trying to save for a forever home consider that a small and unsightly home that costs less will get you to your goal sooner.
20. MONITOR WATER AND ELECTRIC USAGE: Don't just pay your bills, study and compare them. Be aware of what you are using and try where possible to lower consumption in the home to lower your bills. Set a timer on your showers and flush the toilet less (ew but true). Never leave appliances or computers plugged in and turned on when you aren't using them.
21. RENT OUT A ROOM: My brother and his partner rent out a small room in their home to a lodger who essentially pays their mortgage (or some of it). If you don't like the idea of sharing your home, look at temporary lodgers, people who only need a room during certain periods of the month or year. This is quite a common thing; I know of a family who have a lodger who pays a fixed monthly rate but is only there 2 or 3 day's a week.
22. CANCEL ANY T.V. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Sky TV in England is incredibly popular for its numerous channels, so lots of choice for programmes, but in reality you can only watch one thing a time, so why pay a premium for reams of channels you will never use. So much TV and entertainment is available online these days too, and for much cheaper.
23. LOOK FOR WHERE YOU CAN SAVE MONEY: Is your home insurance set to automatic renewal? If so, could you get a better deal? How about your energy supplier, are they giving you the best prices? Don't just accept your current outgoings as fixed, savings can always be made if you try.
SPECIAL OCCASIONS
24. BIRTHDAYS: Dread when it comes to spending on presents when it feels like you only just went bankrupt from Christmas? Consider second-hand gifts. Yet again charity shops are great for finding unopened items perfect for giving. Or alternatively make your own gift considering how special it is to receive something that has taken time and effort.
25. CHRISTMAS: When I was living in England with family, I would make a list of all the things that reminded me of each family member or person I intended to buy a present for. This brainstorming helped me decide on the perfect gift instead of leaving it to last-minute overspending.
26. ANNIVERSARIES: Luckily Taran and I more or less forget important dates/valentines day and they go by without us noticing, ha! But if you are more into celebrating them, try to go for home-made gifts. Pinterest is perfect for ideas which cost between 5 and 10 £\$. Or make vouchers with promises of things, little gestures and treats you will give to your significant other, like a coupon for a 30 minute massage.
27. DON'T WORRY ABOUT APPEARING TIGHT: If your family and friends know you well, they will most likely know about your saving plans and thus won't expect you to spend a lot of money on them on special occasions. Be clear with them why you are choosing to do so, so as not to build confusion or resentment. In return be clear to people you also do not expect much either and that you would rather they saved their own money!
RANDOM
28. DRINK WATER: Its free, really good for you, and as I said, it's free!!
29. DON'T BUY NEW BOOKS: A shelf full of unread books which drew you in with their synopsis and pretty cover? Well, it's time to actually read them! Try to trade in old books if you are seeking new ones to read!
30. WATCH YOUR CAR MILEAGE: Do you get a lot of miles for your fuel money? I noticed my fuel economy decreased and so I did simple things, like checked tyre pressures and paid for an interim service to check her out. If you drive more than you need to, swap the car for some walking shoes, and get out there!
31. MAKE YOUR OWN TAKEAWAY FOOD: Do you crave a curry or a pizza but bulk at the bill? Well experiment each week with making a dish which closely resembles your favourites, and save lots of money. Taran makes a delicious feta and mozzarella pizza with cheap ingredients, meaning he not only knows exactly what's in his food but it saves money each week for the rest of the food budget.
32. CANCEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Do you use your Spotify, Netflix etc? I mean, are these key things in your life? Do you use them every day or week? If not, cancel, and save the money. If you don't use them much now, you won't miss them.
33. ALWAYS MAKE A PACKED LUNCH: The days on which I neglect to pack food and drink, I inevitably spend money because a girl's gotta eat!
34. USE UP ALL YOUR COSMETIC PRODUCTS: Resist the temptation for a whole new beauty regime before you have finished your current one. Use up all that shampoo, lipstick and face cream. Save waste and money.
35. AVOID THE SHOPS: Plenty of people while away the weekend meandering around the local high street or shopping centre. And when they might intend to only window shop/people watch, they are bound to be tempted to spend which over a month can add up to a lot of mindless spending.
36. QUESTION EACH AND EVERY PURCHASE YOU MAKE: I will compare prices endlessly when buying something, if it is something I need. But if I get distracted and look at other things, whether it be on e-bay or in the supermarket, I pick it up, and think, why am I wanting this? Will it get utilized, used, or wasted? Will it add value to my life? If the answer is not clearly a yes, I put it back.
37. BE POSITIVE AND CELEBRATE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS: Each time you resist spending money or save yourself a cost, let that feeling wash over you. When in the future all the money you save comes into use on your travels, you will be even more proud of your thrifty and restrictive choices. Your whole approach to living will change; value will be placed more on experiences, friends, family and suddenly spending will seem like an annoyance, not a short-cut to happiness.
MORE MONEY-SAVING GOODNESS:
Thanks for reading!
Hannah here, one half of NomaderHowFar. I love reading, the beach, proper fish and chips, and a good cup of tea. But I mostly like to chat about minimalism, simplifying your life, the beauty of travel and sometimes I get a bit deep. Get to know us here!
Be social and come follow us across the virtual world!
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Our Biggest Challenge Yet As A Travelling Couple.
We have had our ups and downs over our 3 years together, but this has been mostly down...
Our Biggest Challenge Yet As A Travelling Couple.
For almost 2 months now we have been settled down in Noosa, Australia. Our bedroom has lime green walls and a cat that sits on the windowsill the same time every night. The sun shines most days and the winter wind is making its way through.
The reason we stopped travelling was because we needed to earn some more money to keep going. Working travel is not funded by fairy dust. Whilst its a pause made out of necessity, it has been a great time to work on our blog and my book.
Why Noosa
We hopped on a train, and then a bus, for a few days by the beach after a week in the big Brisbane city. We had been here only a day, enjoying this place that we hadn't really seen properly, even though we passed through it one night last year.I had a good feeling, and could see myself settling here. There's definitely a buzz, also a beautiful beach, all combined with a safe small-town vibe.
And so, I rushed out a few emails at 7am one morning on our 2nd day here (I was super productive thanks to jet-lag waking me up at 5am), and I got so ridiculously lucky because by the next day I had a job.
I wasn't just applying for fun, I was acutely aware of our decreasing bank accounts, so now seemed as good a time as any to stop and earn. But getting a job that quick? it certainly doesn't happen that way out here usually folks.
And then, a few hours later, we had a room in a house, that has now become home.
I couldn't believe it, I had never had such a quick turn-around from unemployed and anxious, to having an income again, and feeling secure. I was so relieved. Taran was happy to have found a spot with some good surfing and water sports nearby. It seemed like we were going to have a really cool few months even if we weren't on the road where we truly wanted to be.
Fast forward a few weeks, nearly two months, and I still have my job, which I'm enjoying, whilst saving up a little bit and paying my bills.
Taran on the other hand, remains unemployed, having had not so much as one interview.
Despite his decent resume and his constant trying, its been impossible. Many of the people we have been in contact with are useless at calling back, replying to emails or are just saying no.
It has really brought us down.
It is really not an understatement when we say that this has been the biggest challenge for us as a travelling couple, so far.
In 3 years of being together we have always been equal partners. We share the costs of our lives together, and we treat each other on special occasions. We are obviously minimalists and money isn't a big motivator for us, but still, we have both been relatively secure and able to enjoy our time together.
Right now, we are so unbalanced in our situations that it has almost ruined our relationship.
Poor Taran is trying super hard to find work, whilst doing a hell of a lot of work on the blog. I help him where possible, and we spend time looking for opportunities together, I then help write emails and perfect his resume. We are trying to deal with this crappy time as a united team. But it's been extremely hard to do this.
I am currently paying the majority of the rent each week. I buy all of the food despite Taran eating a small portion and a limited menu.
We go without constantly.
My mobile phone is 90% broke and needs replacing desperately but I cant afford it.
We never get to do anything, go anywhere further afield, or even just treat ourselves.
We are basically living a relatively small, extremely quiet and restrictive life in a place where we shouldn't be. This wasn't what we signed up for.
We should be doing all the awesome water-sport's Noosa has on offer. We should be exploring the quaint and beautiful towns surrounding the sunshine coast. But most importantly, we should be saving up enough to sustain our travel dreams.
We aren't just travelling on a whim, we fully committed to this lifestyle two years ago. We both gave a lot up back home to come to Australia. It hasn't been a light journey, its been up and down, but never has it felt so stressful as it does right now.
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We fight even though its the last thing we want to be doing.
The tension between us has peaks and troughs. Sometimes we feel fine, we muddle through, and we focus on the positives. Then other times I feel so frustrated and believe that we are just wasting time, and money, paying rent whilst not building our savings.
The only way we have survived thus far is by being honest and by talking things out as much as possible...
There have been some hard conversations, like me telling Taran that I doubted him and his efforts, and then him evidently showing signs of extreme stress at his situation, which has put us into a cycle that can only be broken by one thing: Taran getting a job.
Why don't we just leave town?
You might be wondering, why don't we just leave Noosa.
There's a number of reasons...aside from loving our house, and the time that settling here has given us to work on the blog, and me, the right environment to write my book.
But also, I am not willing to leave a good job in order for Taran to find one elsewhere. I had such a tough time in a previous job in Australia, that I just want to live out this lucky time to its fullest.
Maybe that's selfish but it fills me with major anxiety to walk away from a good opportunity, with not a lot of savings, having essentially wasted 2 months, and yet be no nearer our goals.
I committed to my employer to at least 3 months, and I had a figure in mind for what I wanted to save up; we both did. And we won't have achieved that, not by a mile. But there is another valid reason to stay put.
For tax purposes, it is beneficial to remain in one place for 6 months in Australia to ensure maximum tax rebate come the end of the financial year. To be considered a resident for tax rebate purposes this is generally a requirement. I am just trying to make our life a bit easier down the line when we go to try and recoup the thousands of dollars we will have paid in tax.
If we stay here and work for 6 months, we won't simply save a lot via our earnings, we will be saving up lots in tax too.
We haven't yet lost all hope or succumbed to the idea that we have to start over elsewhere.
We know that an opportunity could arise at any moment, and our worries could be gone, just how it happened for me.
We have however realized that based on present circumstances, its possible Taran will actually have to leave me. He may have to move further away to find work. That is not what we want, obviously.
Space is sometimes good, absence can make the heart grow fonder and all that, but when you set out to experience travel with the person you love the most, being torn apart by money, is a very sad prospect.
We are already thousands of miles away from home. We are already isolated from the others who we care about the most. We are already limiting our experience by not having the funds to enjoy our temporary home. We are struggling enough, we don't want to throw separation into the mix. But it might have to happen out of necessity.
We didn't sign up for this, but its real life.
I think the distance could be painful and I could end up wanting to leave my job sooner than I can. I just generally fear what the time away could do to us if I am being completely honest, especially seeing as we don't just work together on the blog, but we are best friends.
We keep each other laughing, happy, entertained, grounded and creative. We give each other encouragement and energy.
We can be really good for each other, but right now we aren't...
I really hope this situation changes soon and that we will have good news to report back. I also hope we can overcome the stress this has put on our relationship, and that we can become equal again, because for money to force us apart, that would truly truly suck.
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
Be social and come follow us across the virtual world!
LATEST POSTS:
Minimalism: Cleanse Your Life, Become A Calmer Person - Book Release
I did it! I climbed Everest! I ran up the steps from Rocky Balboa (I actually have done that). I gave birth! Orrrr, I just finished writing a book...
Minimalism: Cleanse Your Life, Become A Calmer Person - Book Release
I did it! I climbed Everest! I ran up the steps from Rocky Balboa (I actually have done that). I gave birth! Orrrr, I just finished writing a book.
A bloody book. It feels so good to have finished it. I produced something, poured months of my life into it and I can finally step away, put on its uniform, push it out the front door and into the sunshine. Its my brain child.
Amazon UK Store / US Store / AU Store / CA Store
Okay, so it's definitely not an epically long overtly complicated book, its about minimalism, but it did take a lot of time and effort. I wanted to create something that I could be proud of for a long time, but also something of true value to anyone who does me the kindness of spending their money on it.
The previous blog posts I wrote on minimalism told me that people wanted to read about this movement, they were seeking out information on simplifying their life and they landed upon my musings in search of advice. And so I knew that this would be a worthwhile topic to write a whole book about.
So one day, whilst living on a desert island with no internet (I had no distractions or excuses), I opened up a word document and I began.
I focused on my own experience of minimalism, the reasons why I brought it into my life, and began discussing how it has made me happier.
Our friend Tristan designed us the awesome cover! Here's the work in progress, watercolours n' all!
Happy means something different to everyone, but I posit happiness in the book as having an awful lot to do with how we feel at our core. I view fulfilment as being the motivation for giving attention and time to our true desires and needs. I believe that I have become calmer inside, thanks to not simply de-cluttering my surroundings but by actually tackling the areas of my life bringing me stress.
I realized how inter-linked everything is. I discovered that minimalism can be a whole life philosophy, not just the way you keep your home.
The book is fairly in-depth and really contextualizes the negative side of consumerism and how it massively contributes to the mental and physical health of society, in a bad bad way.
But its main purpose is providing the right questions and guidance for anyone who wishes to simplify their life.
It focuses on creating a home which works for you, refining your spending habits, creating more meaningful online activities, and organizing your day-to-day routine.
It is all based in realistic ideas that I myself have adopted so I know that my readers can follow it and achieve the same outcomes. I just want to help people find a way to navigate the hardships of life, and reach their life goals sooner. I hope the words I spent a few good months forming, help at least one person out there simplify their stresses and become calmer, healthier and happier.
So if you fancy a read you can order the book now.
Alternatively, if you are a blogger or a minimalist writer I would love to send you a free copy for review on your blog or social media. Just drop us a line at nomaderhowfar@gmail.com. I poured a lot of finger sweat into this and would appreciate any feedback.
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Healthy Eating On A Backpacker Budget in Australia
Healthy eating on a backpacking budget isn't impossible, and if you want to travel long-term, start as you mean to go on...
Healthy Eating On A Backpacker Budget in Australia
When you travel, you sometimes scrimp on the quality of the food that you buy, in that you can't always afford the freshest most healthiest options. But you still fork out for random takeaways now and again, because, let's face it, cooking is time-consuming and when your hungry, you don't fancy walking round the supermarket trying to formulate a mouth-watering recipe. You just wanna eat.
We lived like this for the most part of our first 6 months travelling, regularly making the most of the $5 domino's... which co-incidentally was when we were staying mostly in hostels and campsites, some of which were difficult to cook in: always competing for burners, using pots and pans that have had the most basic of backpacker washes, and having not much space to store all the food you would like to be cooking. This can end up being not only inconvenient, but also kinda expensive and lead to you to multiple visits to the shops/local pizza place, more than once a week.
A shopping trip that costs $30 doesn't seem like a lot at the time but if you do this 3 times a week, then add on alcohol spending plus impulse purchases, it is a hefty chunk of your savings down the toilet. Literally.
Since settling in Noosa for an extended period, moving into a house with a fully-equipped kitchen, and being generally busy working/blogging/flailing about in the sea, we have embarked on a healthier eating challenge. We spend a fair bit of money, in one go, on a weekly shop. But we think this works out not only economically but it means we are prepared better and don't end up making bad choices.
- We always make a meal plan, and then a shopping list.
- We rarely deviate from the list or buy into deals on things we wouldn't normally buy.
- We have a rough budget in mind and avoiding those tempting offers help us stick to it.
We currently shop at Coles, even though Aldi is nearby too, but it is definitely too much of a trek for a weekly shop (seeing as we carry it all back in our rucksacks). The delivery for food from the supermarkets is super expensive so we prefer the 30 minute round-trip rather than an extra $40 a month.
A Typical Week Of Food Shopping
This shop came to $90.83. There's a range of things, including salad vegetables, fruit, beans, sugar-free hot coco, red hot sauce, bread, eggs, and some spices. I also did a mini shop the day before (as we had no food at all and I needed din din's) costing $18.57 for some Kale, milk, a massive block of cheese for Taran the cheese fiend, plus some potatoes and tempeh.
What You Can Make From All That Food...
Taran is on a strict pasta and cheese diet, with occasional fruit smoothies. I am trying to get him to consider eating less of the beige carb's and more greens but it's a slow process. When I think Taran, I think pasta. The guy single-handedly keeps spaghetti in business. I am however eating a bit differently to how I have in the past. I now eat with more consideration for what's in my food and I have finally fought my unhealthy cravings into submission over the last few weeks.
A typical lunch or dinner now consists of mostly vegetables and legumes, and maybe some dairy.
A favourite is some brown rice with kidney beans plus roasted sweet potato and salad. It's filling but most importantly, not processed. It also isn't a restrictive diet meal, as it has a generous helping of carbohydrates. I generally snack on fruit only between meals, or in the afternoon if I don't have lunch I might have some rice crackers with capsicum (red pepper) dip on top. I'd like to make my own in the future though, to avoid even more hidden nasties.
For breakfast I have my old faithful, peanut butter (organic) on whole-wheat bread (I check the label to ensure the primary ingredient is 100% wholegrain or whole-wheat flour) with a banana.
Taran might have cereal or nutella on toast, which I can't argue, remains a deliciously terrible craving of mine. I am not currently having any 'treats' per se, but I do genuinely enjoy my bowls of fresh watermelon and berries, providing more than enough sugar in my diet.
One of our favourite meals we have together is falafel.
We put it with pitta, wraps, home-made salsa and salad, plus cheese for Taran. The salsa is just tomato, garlic (wow did we have garlic), onions, coriander and some jalapeno pepper. We mixed it all up and blended it briefly to combine the mixture.
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Why I Decided to Change Things.
I was sat on the bed one night recently, having overeaten again. I had stuffed myself to beyond fullness during my evening meal and some more snacking afterwards. I think I have always had a problem with over-eating, often happening when I was bored or down. Maybe there's something wrong with the message delivery between my stumach and my brain, always being a bit late to tell it that I can stop eating. Or maybe I just always eat too fast and don't allow that message to get through (nutritional advice for weight-loss often centers on slow eating and savouring your meals more).
Either way, I felt really gross that night. I was 6 months pregnant with a fatty-food baby.
What I wanted to achieve from a change in my eating habits, was firstly, to just know that I was putting better things into my body. I have been educating myself on food and nutrition lately, and have been able to see just how what you eat is so tied up to your mood, and the quality of your life, that it would be crazy to not make some changes.
It's easy to stick to the same eating habits we have always known, especially if we don't experience any overwhelming negative symptoms, but years of certain habits create the perfect situation for illness in later life.
Years of high sugar consumption lead to pre-diabetes early on in life which then leads to type 2 diabetes (this super interesting book I'm reading shed's light on the relationship between lowering blood sugar and totally reversing diabetes).
Of course bad eating habits also lead to a number of other illnesses, from fatty liver disease, to heart disease, to cancer. But knowing that reducing your intake of sugar could mean you can almost totally prevent some illnesses (including diabetes which leads to limb loss and blindness).
In the present though, bad habits strip you of energy and impact the way your brain works in the short-term.
When you have only ever engaged in bad eating habits, you don't actually know what it feels like to be firing on all cylinders.
I wanted more energy, a better attention span, and to lose weight. So far, I have felt clearer-minded, I can get through my day without sugar crashes, and I go to bed feeling satiated. I also feel slimmer, which whilst a major incentive has become a fringe benefit.
I know some people will pick apart my eating habits, saying that carb's are starchy and bad for you, dairy is bad for you, basically not being on an entirely plant-based vegan diet means I am just failing at a true healthy diet.
One of Taran's awesome smoothies!!
But these dietary changes have been the most easy to stick to compared to any I have done in the past. I make solidly healthy choices 95% of the time and when I do buckle and 'cheat', I don't actually enjoy it. The things I once craved simply don't enter my mind. I didn't really believe it when people said that the cleaner you eat, the cleaner you want to eat, but it appears to be true so far.
It also helps that I don't count calories. I believe in portion-control but also don't limit myself during meal-time too much, seeing as it makes up the bulk of what I eat in a day now that I forego snacking.
Most importantly, I am not consuming processed products, I am making everything from scratch, I am eating more vegetables and fruit, I am not adding salt or sugar to my foods or drinks, and dairy is only a small part of my plate each meal.
I feel like I have adapted really well to my new habits, and my motivation to be healthier is having a great impact on me physically. No longer do I practically fall asleep after each meal, or do I spend my entire evening feeling disgustingly bloated knowing I have consumed way more than my body needed. I enjoy my meals but food is no longer the be-all and end-all of my day. It is fuel for my body and my mind, and is no longer consumed just for the sake of it.
The result of these changes means I basically desire less of the crap by filling myself up with the good. Plus we spend a bit less overall on food, and no longer make impulse purchases. We don't waste money on filling up our tanks with shitty fuel.
I won't never eat the bad again, but the cheats don't really feel so tempting anymore. If I can make healthier and cheaper versions of my favourite bad foods I will endeavour to, and share them here when I do!
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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Backpackers Working In Australia - A Guide to Knowing Your Employment Rights
Knowing your rights as an employee in Australia are so important...
Backpackers Working In Australia - A Guide to Knowing Your Employment Rights.
See that photo at the top in the header there? Well that was me working on a farm, where despite the heat, the dust and the remote-living, we had a truly amazing time. Actual life-changing stuff.
What came after wwoofing, wasn't so awesome.
I have spoke on the blog before the dream job which turned into a nightmare. I briefly alluded to why that job didn't work out. I still do not desire to dredge it up in a detailed manner, and if I did, I would find myself down all over again, when I have already been through a raft of emotion already. Safe to say its the most negative work experience I have had not just in Australia, but in the entirety of my working life, including when I worked at a bank in a sales and customer service job that I hated.
That sales job literally drove me to depression, but somehow, this was worse...
Landing on Fraser, before arriving at the 'dream' job..
I don't think it is beneficial to my audience or to myself to outline every way in which my recent employer may or may not have been paying very blurred attention to the rights of their employees. Or to go over why we stayed there for two months and tolerated our grievances (clue: we needed the money).
What will be beneficial is to try and help people in my position, who have either found themselves in a difficult job whilst backpacking, or who want to know before-hand what they can do to protect themselves.
First off, it's not cynical to expect or predict that employers will try and exploit you because you are a backpacker. A backpacker traditionally works because they really do need the money if they are to continue their travelling dreams, so some employers will 100% play on this fact, try to short-change you, over-work you etc.
You are not an Australian citizen (who do by the way, also get regularly messed around), you are generally less aware of your rights and thus ignorance is their bliss.
This is not cool, SO not cool (Walking Dead Finale reference, makes this phrase way more sinister).
Always remember your worth, and what you have to give. You are a skilled and worthy human being, not an ignorant idiot primed for manipulation. You do not need to suffer the shit of unscrupulous assholes. I am a big believer in Karma, and if these people are okay with mistreating ANYONE under their employment, then they will eventually be punished by the law. But we don't have to let them get away with it by suffering through it, or not reporting them to Fairwork.
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HERE WE GO, 6 STEPS TO KNOWING YOUR RIGHTS AND PROTECTING YOURSELF:
1
From a practical stance, when you are looking for jobs and replying to adverts (on sites like Gumtree, less so the likes of Indeed or Seek), it's worth noting how much information is being willingly given in that ad. A company or person who delivers limited info, info that allows you to know exactly what you are going into, is to be treated with caution. If they continue this level of guardedness when you reply to an ad, consider why they are not being upfront by providing the information that anybody would need to make an employment decision. Just listen to your gut. It's the old adage, if something seems to good to be true, it probably is. The best way to be, is to apply for a job with equal parts info on yourself with questions for the employer.
2
If you are offered a job, and you accept, insist upon a few things. Ask for a dated document which states your name, your employers name, ABN (Australian business number) your hourly award wage (refer to this to check what the awards are for your industry as standard: list of awards) a full explanation of your role and responsibilities, and your expected employment hours. This is definitely not a standard thing that every employer will provide. Many will not willingly tell you your pay-rate, you are left to discover that on your payslip.
But let's not beat around the bush, you are only working because you need money, there is no need to behave as if it's something you shouldn't ask about. You absolutely should, and need to, to make sure your employer is meeting the industry standard. If they want to ensure the rights of their own employees they will oblige in writing up an email or document listing all these things. If you wait until you are a few weeks into a job, enjoying the income, and then all of a sudden you realize not only is your pay-grade wrong, but you find yourself being asked to do things way beyond your original job description, it's kinda too late. Not too late to leave, but it's too late to not be exploited. You already have been.
3
When you accept a job, and are informed of your role and your pay-rate, you can check this out and make sure it is correct. If in doubt just email or phone Fairwork to discuss. I recommend downloading the award documentation online, and reading through it. It goes into a lot of detail on exactly what your employer/employee relationship should be. It covers things you might not even consider, and thus you could be mistreated in ways you never would have realized had you not read the documentation. For example, if you work somewhere which includes living on-site in employer provided accommodation, there are rules around what they can reasonably charge you for board and food. Don't get ripped off!
4
It's not unreasonable in time to maybe expect your job to alter or your responsibilities to change but this should be the result of a conversation, and a mutual agreement, not something that is put onto you at short notice. If you feel uncomfortable or out of your depth in a part of your new responsibilities, you must be honest. You DO NOT have to do something that compromises your safety, that of others, or your personal well-being. It is the sole responsibility of your employer to hire people with the correct skills for a particular job role, it is not down to you to meet the short-fall, without any training or consideration for what you want to do in the job. Of course if a change of role is agreed upon, trained and brings a new level of skills to you for future employment, embrace it, but do not feel like you must do it if it becomes apparent that you cant.
Our tent on Fraser Island, this was our home for 2 months!
5
Ensure you receive your payslip every pay-round. Aussie businesses frequently email these through, ensure you give the correct email address and always follow-up if it is not received. Read here to find out what your payslip should include every time. When you leave a job be sure to ask when your payment summary will be sent, either to you or the tax office, at the end of the tax year, or on leaving. This will be a required document for when you do a tax return. A tax return will be a requirement if you undertake regular paid employment in Australia. Head here for info.
6
Always provide your employer with the name of your superannuation account and
tax file number. PRO TIP: Always provide your TFN to your super account during the application process or contributions are taxed at 45%! You can ask your employer or payroll how often they pay your superannuation into your account as some employers pay it every quarter, some every pay round.
Some super accounts will actually be closed if they do not receive funds within a quarter and so it's good to bear this is mind. When an employer has supposedly paid your super, you can usually log into the account online to verify this. Don't assume it's paid and wait until you leave Australia to then claim it back, to find its not been paid. I know of companies who have not paid peoples super and they have had to try and get it out of them.
To learn about what super is, and how to open an account, head here. I will have a post about this and all other important things to do with Australian banking, tax etc soon, so sub to the newsletter below to know when it's out!
There is no way to 100% ensure that an employer won't, at some point in your employment, treat you questionably.
But there are rules in place to protect everyone, including backpackers, who are not 2nd class citizens exempt from respectful and lawful treatment. I hope this advice prevents someone out there going through what we did, and if so, our experience wasn't in vain.
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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Getting a Job In Australia: 9 Do's and Don't's for Backpackers.
Being a backpacker and getting a job In Australia is far easier with these 9 Do's and Don'ts...
Getting a Job In Australia: 9 Do's and Don't's For Backpackers.
Job-hunting pretty much always sucks, no matter where you are in the world.
It's competitive and sometimes demoralizing, especially when you go into place after place, essentially begging someone to give you money, and you realize that it isn't anybody's concern but your own if you can eat that week or not. Maybe your parents, but not the people who see backpackers every day, all trying to get the same job's, so they can save up for more travels.
A lot of the time a business owner would prefer to employ a local person not someone who has become voluntarily unemployed to follow their wanderlust....yeah, it makes us seem like we might have our heads in the clouds and leave as soon as we make even a little bit of money.
Some people will give you a chance, and usually if you can give them at least 6 months commitment, you can strike it good.
But sometimes you will be faced with a brick-wall. Some employers in Australia simply won't consider someone from the travelling community, who have a reputation for being flighty and unreliable. In reality that is the minority, as plenty of travellers actually value when someone gives them an opportunity, and end up being a really good member of a team. Plenty of aussie employers know that, and will embrace the positives of having a willing and enthusiastic person on-board, even if it's not forever.
That time we spent two months working on a desert island...
To summarize, when trying to find a job in Australia you are up against 3 things: competition with other travellers, unwilling employers, and other Australians.
But fear not, young backpacker, you can find work, you just need to approach it differently:
1. Don't land anywhere expecting to find work in a week.
In fact, expect to not find a job. I'm not saying that to be pessimistic, but have the mindset that you will need to try super hard to find work sometimes, and so you should always budget and make plans accordingly. Try to find a job before you need one, cause by the point you need one, it could be too late.
2. Don't turn up to establishments looking like a backpacker.
By that I mean, consider not wearing just wearing swim-wear and flip-flops out that day, maybe even buy a cheap but smart outfit, so that when you walk in somewhere, you aren't immediately pigeon-holed as a traveller. Sure, soon enough they'll figure out that you are, but they are more likely to see you as employable if you show you've made an effort and stepped out of your backpacker uniform for a minute. If you take yourself seriously, others will to.
3. Do perfect your resume and make sure it focuses on real experience and transferable skills.
Not all employers will care if you volunteered or worked for accommodation, this might be something you can bring up at an interview, but lets be honest, anyone can commit the couple of hours day that a hostel usually requires for work for accommodation, so it isn't a sparkling addition to your resume. They need to know what you can do, and what you might be able to learn. Always list experience from home (even though there won't necessarily be references an employer can verify) as well as recent experience, as it can create a broader picture of your skill-set and personality.
4. Do visit places in person, even if they advertise online, and usually suggest you email through a resume.
Only replying to a job ad via an email means your resume will probably be lost among all the other ones, whereas if an employer meets you in person, with your resume in hand and a smile on your face, you've made their task a lot easier. Do go into places even if you have no idea if they are hiring, you never know if they might have lost someone that day, or just haven't placed an ad yet.
5. Do send emails sometimes, for example, if you are job-searching far away from the place you want to find work, then consider sending them to employers or companies which interest you.
Be concise, introduce yourself briefly, and list your recent experience and skills, in a few lines, no more. Tell them why you want to work for them, display some knowledge of their brand or business, and make it personalized to them, addressing the email to an actual person's name if you can find it. Let them know at the end that you are contactable by phone or skype for a conversation, leaving the ball in their court, whilst making yourself appear assertive and confident. Be sure to include a photograph in the email or as part of your resume, its much harder to ignore someone when you've seen their face, and they become more than just some words on the page.
6. Do follow up on these emails if you don't receive a response in a few days.
People are busy, sometimes they need a nudge to prioritize your email. A polite and short re-iteration of the initial email should be enough to secure either a yes, no, or a maybe, which is better than no response at all. Always proof-read these emails, use indents, and sign off with a thank you followed by your contact tel.
7. Don't oversell yourself, on paper, or in person.
Aussie's all have top-notch bull-shit detectors, and they are usually not favourable to a backpacker who is just blagging it, flat-out lying, and is irritatingly over-confident from the get-go. They just want someone who will turn up on time, not smell of alcohol and do the job well, not be a winner of Personality of the Year. Then again if you are going for a job at a travel agent, as is common with backpackers, then feel free to ooze charm from every pour...There is a fine-line between confidence and arrogance in all walks of life, but a backpacker fresh off the plane needs to remember they are suddenly a small fish in a big pond full of backpackers, and it's a competition of skills and experience, not who's the most gregarious.
8. Do use a multiple of job-search avenues, such as gumtree, seek and indeed, plus the Facebook accounts of brands or businesses you like.
Try to check these sites first thing in the morning and then again later on, as new opportunities go up all the time. Apply to pretty much everything that is even a little bit relevant to your skill-set. Don't be afraid to ring a number if the ad requests it, it's always nerve-wracking reaching out for an opportunity on the phone or in person, speaking to someone you don't know, but you will miss out a number of chances if you don't take a pro-active stance.
9. Don't be picky when searching for jobs or applying, or consider yourself too experienced.
You can't wait out for the perfect job description with the optimal pay, whilst your bank balance continues to wither away. It's much easier to look for a job that is more suited to you or more fulfilling, when you are already in a job. Plus, no job when your a backpacker is forever. I've come across people who at home, worked in finance, nursing and advertising, who have had to adapt to their surroundings, and now work in housekeeping jobs, including me. I had my own business in England, and was my own boss for two years, and generally I prefer jobs where I can use my brain. However I am still quite content making beds and polishing tap's (not just because I am a clean-freak) but because it means I am in a better position than a lot of other backpackers; I am being paid and can save up to keep travelling, as well as, ya know, eat.
Working on a farm in Australia can be a big learning curve...
So the bottom-line of getting a job in Australia as a backpacker, is respecting the needs of the employers, matching your needs with theirs and appreciating that the competition will be strong; you will need a stellar CV, a great cover letter and a professional approach, for an employer to take you seriously. Happy job-hunting!
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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How To Capture Epic Photographs
Want to learn how to use the MANUAL mode on a camera and take amazing photographs? This masterclass will teach you how...
How To Capture Epic Photographs
Since setting out on our adventure we have witnessed some wonderful sights, sights that just cried out to be snapped! We travelled for 7 months just taking photos on our GoPro and phones.. But then we forked out and bought ourselves a Canon G16. Its a fairly mid range camera with no external lens, but we did our research and the picture quality this camera can give really speaks for itself:
This was a truly beautiful moment for us, waking up at sunrise and meeting kangaroos on a beach in Australia. And the new camera certainly proved its worth! "But how did you get such a picture" You may ask.. For the above photo I set a ISO-80 and f/2.8 and then chose a fairly quick shutter speed of 1/320.
Okay so some of you may have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.. These are the things your camera will take care of when you have it set to AUTO mode, and while this will work most of the time, you will find that you can create photographs that are way more epic on MANUAL mode. Okay so lets take a quick course on the values and what they mean, and trust me, they aren't that scary when you get your head around them :P Lets start with the thing that took me the longest to figure out..
The F-Stop Value
The f-stop value refers to the size of the cameras pupil, in many senses it works the same way your eyes pupil does. A low value of f/1.8 will mean that the pupil opens up wide and lets in the most light, and you guessed it.. a high value of say f/8 will reduce the pupils size and let in less light. Below is a little graphic to help you understand:
But this is not the only thing affected by the value.. Low value f numbers will have a lower depth of field, meaning you can take those close up pictures with blurred backgrounds. Similarly high f numbers will produce an image that will have close and distant objects in focus.
So to summarise:
LOW F VALUE (f/1.8 or similar) = MORE LIGHT + MORE BLUR
HIGH F VALUE (f/8 or similar) = LESS LIGHT + LESS BLUR
The ISO Value
ISO numbers are basically a measure of how sensitive the camera is to light, low ISO numbers mean the camera will be less sensitive and high numbers make it more sensitive. This can be very handy when taking pictures at night or inside as it will allow you to keep a fast enough shutter speed to stop there being any blur.
But this added sensitivity comes with a drawback, the higher you set the ISO the less quality you will get in your pictures, generally when taking photos outside you will want to keep the ISO as low as possible as there should be enough natural light to keep the camera happy :] Here is a comparison of two photos but to be fair the low ISO side came out brighter just because the sun was shining straight through the window...
To summarise:
LOW ISO VALUE (ISO-80 or similar) = LESS LIGHT + MORE QUALITY
HIGH ISO VALUE (ISO-3200 or similar) = MORE LIGHT + LESS QUALITY
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And Finally, Shutter Speed
Okay, so finally we have shutter speed, I've saved the easiest till last. Shutter speed refers to how long you want to open the shutter for when you press the capture button. Opening the shutter for a very short amount of time will let in only a tiny amount of light so you will need to turn up the ISO, but you will be able to capture shots of fast moving objects without blur. Our Canon G16's quickest capture setting is 1/4000 of a second.. which is kind of ridiculous for most photography unless maybe your trying to capture a speeding bullet or something :P
On the other hand opening the shutter for longer will (you guessed it!) allow more light in. This can be very handy if you taking pictures in a dark room or at night, but you will need a tripod to keep your camera very still or the image will be blurry. This photo below was taken with the shutter open for 30 seconds in a area of low light pollution:
And so to summarise:
LOW SHUTTER SPEED (1/400 or similar) = LESS LIGHT + MOVING OBJECTS WONT BLUR
HIGH SHUTTER SPEED (30 seconds or similar) = MORE LIGHT + MOVING OBJECTS WILL BLUR
Now lets move onto the less technical skills, starting with: Focus
Sometimes there will be something that just stands out to you in the foreground of a scene, the best way to bring attention to it is to shift the focus to it! If you get a little bit further away from the object and then zoom on it you can get a good balance on the background being blurred.
Framing And Foreground Objects
A natural frame for your picture can draw your viewers eye to what you wanted them to see in the picture, as you can see above I have used part of a tree as a frame here and it doesn't overpower the image. Also the addition of a figure in the water completes a triangle of interest between the big leaf, the sun breaking through the clouds and the figure, this keeps the viewer looking for longer.
Combining Those Skills!
The above photograph was taken just after a sunset at the waters edge, I set the f value to f/8 so that the clouds and the tree where in focus. The ISO value was turned all the way down to ISO-80 to let in the least amount of light, as I was aiming at the area that the sun was still lighting up. I then let the shutter open for 15 seconds, which was needed to let some light in with the other settings, but it also gave the water an awesome effect that makes it look like mist!
Experiment!
Capturing lightning can be a tiresome thing to do.. It includes a lot of waiting around and hoping you have the camera pointing in the right direction! The picture above was taken on our GoPro silver, this was good because the wide angle lens makes it much easier to get a whole lightning bolt in the frame.
I found the easiest method was to set up the camera with the lowest settings possible on the GoPro, ISO-100 and that's all you get to change haha! Then mount it on a tripod, point it in the general direction of the lightning and turn on the time-lapse mode with the shutter speed set to 20 seconds. This way you don't have to keep pressing the capture button, you can leave it doing its thing for 30 minutes and then take a look at the results!
The Milky Way
Photographing the stars is one of my favourite things to do! To capture something like this you will need to set up your camera on a tripod preferably, I then used the settings ISO-800, f/1.8 and took a 15 second exposure. You will probably want to open the photo up in an editing program to do a few touch ups to bring the colour out and adjust the contrast (this ain't cheating by the way, no one ever gets pro Milky Way shots straight off the camera).
The above photo was compiled on the camera! The Canon G16 has a feature which does all the technical stuff for you, And gives great star trail results :P But there are some great free applications out there that will basically do the same! StarTrails.de is one example.
Any Questions? Just Ask In The Comments..
Thanks for taking this short master-class! There are a few links to the cameras and tools I used to get these photos and if you click these to purchase anything, you will be helping to keep our site running at no extra cost to you :D
Now check out our first year of travel in 12 stunning photographs.
Thanks for reading!
Taran here, owner of Nomad'er How Far. I'm fond of psychedelic rock, photography & videography, anything to do with space and I'm also partial to the odd gaming session. Oh and I love to travel :P Get to know me here!
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Falling in love with island life - Guest Post
Colourful sunsets, fresh breeze and soft sand under your feet.. This is the life any true nomad will fall for...
Falling In Love With Island Life
THIS GUEST POST is brought to you by Manu & Kasia, a Swiss-Polish couple wandering about in Europe and South-East Asia running a blog called The Clueless Abroad. They are into diving, slow & responsible travel and island life. So they are pretty cool :P
Here's a confession: we probably suck at travelling. Our first attempt to see the world ended with us staying in the Canaries for 8 months. Our plans of wandering through Thailand have to wait for a better time, all because our stay on Ko Lanta stretched from a couple of days to almost two months... and we still haven't had enough of it. It seems like the island life is much more attractive to us than staying in our own countries, or even travelling itself - but why is that?
Living on Gran Canaria, we thought that maybe the lazy lifestyle and chilled out atmosphere were simply a part of the Spanish spirit and the mañana culture, but it turns out that nearly every island that we've stayed on in the last two years was much more laid-back than the rest of the country - whether it was in the middle of the overcrowded Halong Bay or next to nowhere in southern Laos. There have to be exceptions to this, but so far we've been lucky to end up in places where time seems to slow down and all the paradise cliches come to life.
CALM AND CHARMING
Even if you're the grumpiest traveller out there, you'd probably fall for the persuasive appeal of colourful sunsets, fresh breeze and soft sand under your feet. And it's not just the calm - it's also the attitude of people around you, especially noticeable on the small islands, where the local restaurant owners greet you with your favourite fresh coconut whenever you go out to eat something. There is this unique, special charm in the islets, similar to the atmosphere of little towns and villages.
Still... how long can you just go to the beach and back?
That's where the landscape comes into play - even the tiniest island we've been to had forests and huge waterfalls, easily accessible by bike. On Gran Canaria, you can wander off to the cliffs, sandy or rocky beaches, beautiful and challenging mountains, canyons and sand dunes... all of which are within an hour or two of driving, regardless of where you're staying. The Big Island in Hawaii is one of the most surreal places on Earth and has most of the world's climate zones, so you really can't complain about the lack of variety there. If that's not enough for you - go underwater! It's very probable that you can dive, or at least snorkel somewhere around the island, so if hiking's not your thing - put your fins on and jump into the water!
THE SIMPLE LIFE
And what's the most appealing is that even with this richness of outdoor opportunities, the island life is still much simpler, mostly because you just don't have the access to some of the things that are so easily available on land. While the big islands with developed infrastructures can cater for more needs, the smaller isles might have just one, understocked village store and no Internet. And it's fine, because after a couple of days you find out that you actually don't need all these supermarkets, clothes shops, gyms and fancy restaurants to be happy. It's a perfect place to just switch off, go offline and re-evaluate your lifestyle and daily habits.
Sounds too good to be true? There are also big disadvantages and nuisances to being stuck on an island... for example, being literally stuck on an island - something we barely avoided when a typhoon hit near the Cat Ba island in Vietnam and the transport to the main land was almost cancelled. In some places, there's a threat of a natural disaster, and in some others you'd have to get on a boat to get to the nearest medical facility in case of an emergency. As for the smaller, daily problems, we've got three words: giant flying cockroaches, constant visitors in your flat on Gran Canaria.
But should that stop you? A disaster can happen anywhere in the world and apparently some people keep cockroaches as pets... you can get used to a lot of things, and for us, nothing beats the proximity of the sea and great diving or hiking sites right at our doorstep.
If you think you'd also fall in love with the island life, think about squeezing one of these 4 places into your next itinerary:
- Gran Canaria: An island with great hiking opportunities, bigger and more developed than others on this list, but definitely worth visiting and immersing yourself in the laid-back Spanish culture. Perfect for party goers, but also lovers of nature and mountains.
- Ko Lanta, Thailand: Has everything you need, but not too much - so there's an Internet connection, but no big shopping malls. There are parts of the island that are almost empty (including some amazing beaches) and it's a perfect place for divers, especially if you're dreaming of seeing a whale shark or a manta ray.
- Don Khone, Laos: A teeny-tiny island in the south of Laos where you can rent a bike and drive around the fields or see the famous waterfalls. There's almost nothing going on - and that's why it makes for a great getaway spot.
- Cat Ba, Vietnam: While overcrowded during the Vietnamese holidays, it's almost empty outside the season. You can find there some great local guides who'd be happy to take you for a kayaking trip to the bat caves and hidden lagoons or hiking the mountains in the National Park. And it's one of the best climbing spots in Vietnam!
Hi! We're Manu & Kasia, a Swiss-Polish couple wandering about in Europe and South-East Asia. We get lost a lot and we write about our adventures and misfortunes on The Clueless Abroad. Drop by if you're also into diving, slow & responsible travel and island life!
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The Scariest Thing About Terrorism - And It Isn't The Terrorists
I begin to realize this wasn’t quite a fire started from some normal reason, as the grave newsreader confirms..
The Scariest Thing About Terrorism - And It Isn't The Terrorists.
I wrote this post literally a day before a terrorist attack occurred in Pakistan on the 27th March claiming 70+ lives. It will put the facts within the post into even more context.
It was a day like any other in the life of an 11-year old in England. Get up at 7am begrudgingly to get ready for school. Make sure my backpack has everything I need for the day, grab my snack for break-time, and head out the door. It’s September so it’s still warm, but there’s a cool morning chill following me the familiar route I walk each day.
Tutor group merges into first break, then it’s maths. UH MATHS, followed by, English, much better! Finally some dreaded P.E, nobbly pale knee’s in over-sized football shorts. Not long and I am on my way back to the comfort of home.
I walk into the house and through to the dining room where the tiny fat-backed 90's TV is playing the news. I see two really tall slate grey buildings, with black smoke bellowing from them up to the blue cloudless skies over New York.
Okay... so a really big fire has started, but in both buildings, how is that possible? Then I begin to realize this wasn’t a fire started from some normal reason, as the grave newsreader confirms that two planes had flown into the buildings, on purpose.
But why on earth would that happen?
It was that day in 2001, that terrorism became a part of my vocabulary and that of my peers, and my parents, and everyone who before that day associated the term with a few random events of the past, some close to home like the IRA bombings. Suddenly a new kind of terrorism was in our homes, on our televisions, happening on a grand and devastating scale we had never witnessed.
But terror, the word without ism at the end, the word meaning horror and dread, was also about to become the experience of 11-year-olds elsewhere in the world. I was witnessing terrorism from the comfort of my middle-class English home, and whilst people suddenly felt a little less safe in their western world, many of us couldn’t have foreseen who the true victims would be over the next few years.
I was confused, and scared, but I wasn’t frightened of a hoard of angry people coming into my country and killing me, and that I might just be collateral damage. I felt like I would be protected by my country and that I was ultimately safe.
I wasn’t an 11-year-old in Afghanistan (or later, Iraq).
THE FACTS
- Since the year 2000 terrorism has risen exponentially, with over 61,000 thousand terrorist attacks claiming the lives of 140,000 people. Source
- Between 2004 - 2013, 60% of terrorism fatalities occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Source
- Something like 21,000 civilians have died in Afghanistan over the course of the 13 years that the western world sought revenge against Al Qaeda. Source
- Half a million civilians are thought to have died in Iraq. Source
- ISIS are not the most murderous of the terror groups Source - Nigeria based Boko Haram killed nearly 7000 people in 2014, 600 more people than ISIS did that year.
- “Over the past 15 years, only 4.4 per cent of attacks and 2.6 per cent of deaths were in Western countries. However, attacks in Western countries are among the deadliest. Four major terrorists attacks (the September 11 attacks in the US, the Madrid train bombings, the Norwegian massacre and the London bombings) account for 90 per cent of those deaths” - Source
- 70 per cent of registered refugees come from the 20 deadliest countries for terrorist attack's- Source
The cold hard facts are difficult to read. But what I notice is that out of those 61,000 terrorist attacks, I know without consulting the stat’s, the vast majority of those did not affect us in the West.
“Between 2004-2013, the UK suffered 400 terrorist attacks, mostly in Northern Ireland, and almost all of them were non-lethal. The US suffered 131 attacks, fewer than 20 of which were lethal. France suffered 47 attacks. But in Iraq, there were 12,000 attacks and 8,000 of them were lethal.”
THE MEDIA CARES MORE ABOUT WHITE DEATH'S
Across some media there is a focus on mourning the losses and trying to redirect energy to remembrance, not mentioning the perpetrators of these attacks. We see a sea of faces and names whose lives were cruelly cut short, at the hands of terrorism. But really, their murder was pre-ordained thanks to the actions of western governments. Our governments signed their death warrants when it too has brought terror to the doors of the Middle East in its quest for revenge. Simon Critchley puts it correctly: “When we act out of revenge, what we will receive in return is revenge”.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the westernised world have been guilty of blatant ignorance in regards to the plight of Muslim people in war-torn places in the middle-east, because the fear that terrorism has generated has stimulated a rise in racist ideologies among western society. Sympathy and empathy in the media are constantly directed at people and places closer to home.
But I do think some mainstream people and outlets are starting to comment more on this bias, publicly, and are having conversations about terrorism on a global scale, not merely a local one. But it might be too little too late.
A small sect of extremist Muslim people have shown unimaginable disregard for life and launched these grand spectacles of horror. Horror that some just can’t wrap our heads around without reverting to hateful prejudice. Muslim people have had no choice but to wrap their heads around violence and senseless death; they are the victims of a small contingent of their own people, who take their religion and bastardize it in the name of murder and revenge. Recent extremist terrorist organizations don’t just target the west, they target those on their own doorstep:
There is a wider issue of course, of how in amongst society we react to terrorism when its close to home differently to when it’s far away. Yasin Aktay writes:
“Apparently, the refugees that are deemed fitting for Istanbul and Ankara are deemed unworthy of Europe.... It is a pity that terrorism is not universally opposed simply because it is terror and because it is a crime against humanity... Some terrorist acts cause no great consternation because they are viewed as functional by some.”
We have not merely a geographical distance but a real shortfall in empathy and care for these far away victims. We either see terrorism as a common part of their daily lives (which is desperately sad) and thus react less, or we just fail to identify with an innocent sect of people because they display the religious markers of the very same people killing white westerners.
And therefore, the scariest thing about terrorism, is that it works, long after the initial impact of an attack. It permeates across society and creates tension, prejudice and violence. It can unite victims not in peace, but in a desire for revenge.
A successful terrorist attack is one that inspires an undercurrent of fear that eventually leads to all out race and religious war. Which is what the intention of terrorism truly is. And when that happens, that is when terrorism truly does reach every doorstep in the western world. The undercurrent of fear doesn’t just affect those predisposed to xenophobia, it flows consistently enough that it penetrates the minds of whole cities, then whole countries.
GOVERNMENTS BENEFITING FROM TERRORISM
The powerful in the world are playing on the fears of its people to benefit their own agendas. Don’t even get me started on Hitler Part Two, Donald Trump. That’s a whole blog post in itself. But I can’t be bothered to give oxygen to his plight, when the plight of the true victims of terrorism is more important. Trump and his policies are to Muslim people what Hitler was to the Jewish.
You cannot eradicate a threat forever by using catastrophic and indiscriminate force, one that ultimately will have as much success at claiming many innocent victims as it will in claiming terrorist lives. And those innocent victims won’t all be wiped out, they will leave behind families, maybe children, who will grow up feeling like bug’s that were lucky they didn’t get squashed by the ruthless strength of the west.
And what kind of mindset does being born into a world of conflict create? You got it, a terrorist mindset. Because before a terrorist becomes a murderer, he or she was a victim, be of manipulation, brainwashing, or circumstance.
The only way, and I believe the best way, to try and overcome the terrorism of recent and past groups, is to band together and show some bloody compassion, and really look at our ignorance and short-falls in knowledge. Too long have we been blind and blinded to the plight of the real victims of terrorism, thanks to media bias and its focus on terrorist attacks close to home. It acts as a diversion away from us questioning the role our governments play in creating the perfect political situation where terrorism can thrive.
In the very least, I urge people to seek the facts, and understand terrorism from the ground up.
Whilst you can’t fully ever understand or explain the motives of a murderer, a person whom chooses to attach a bomb to themselves, end their life in a gruesome manner, and kill other innocents in the process; you need to try. We all need to recognize what it is that makes people join terrorist organizations, and appreciate the role our governments play in that. And for god-sake, don’t let the fear turn to hate.
Remember the mindset of that 11 year old you once were, when the world was revealing itself to you, and you were being indoctrinated with prejudice and judgement. Remember what it felt like to not understand hate, and to have an inquisitive mind, one that could of have been shaped to seek knowledge, empathy and the facts about the way this world works, and the way it is slowly destroying itself. Read this is you want to see one view on governments creating terrorism:
SOMETHING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS
I am not 11 any more, I am in a better position to comprehend the world and the corruptness of our governments, but none the wiser on how to fix it. I am not big on global policy or how far we are away from enforcing things which exact positive change. I am aware though of how the likes of Donald Trump, and racist hate groups, are like gasoline on this raging fire:
So I choose to look to those who preach something real and true, something that me at 11, and me at 25, can believe in. Whilst I might be an atheist, with some strong views on religion, I can definitely get behind those of religious influence who spread a message preaching sense and compassion.
“People want to lead a peaceful lives. The terrorists are short-sighted, and this is one of the causes of rampant suicide bombings. We cannot solve this problem only through prayers. I am a Buddhist and I believe in praying. But humans have created this problem, and now we are asking God to solve it. It is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place. We need a systematic approach to foster humanistic values, of oneness and harmony. If we start doing it now, there is hope that this century will be different from the previous one. It is in everybody’s interest. So let us work for peace within our families and society, and not expect help from God, Buddha or the governments.” - The Dalai Lama
Cartoon Credit: Simon Kneebone
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
WE WRITE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST THE TOPICAL:
I'm writing an eBook... and loving it.
Writing is my first passion, my main area of study at university and my only real..
I'm writing an eBook...And loving It.
At the end of 2011 rolling into 2012 I was 21, working 2 jobs, living in a flat alone..
..a misguided move of living with a yucky ex-boyfriend. I was entering my last year of my media degree at Portsmouth University, whilst also trying to pay my rent. It was definitely a juggling exercise! When I wasn't working, my macbook and I were one entity. I was tethered to it, as I tried to create my final year masterpiece: the 10,000 word dissertation that fills all students with dread for most of their degree.
I was overwhelmed, buried in research, surrounded by 10 library books at any given time, trying to pull things together into something good. Something I'd be proud to submit, something that would get a 1st (which is the highest mark). I didn't spend 3 years working hard to not get the top mark. I was an ambitious little one. Growing up my dad always frowned at C and B grades, so I guess he instilled aspirations of greatness, over okay-ness. I am glad he frowned all those times though, because when it came down to results time, I did it. I got my bloody 70% mark and I felt all kinds of happiness and relief.
Me in the middle.
It wasn't just about the grade, it was the fact that I had fulfilled a dream. I had written something of substantial size and length, and someone decided it was not bad, not bad at all. It was a social science degree and included a study, so it wasn't a piece of epic creativity. It was a whole lot of quotes and interconnecting factual conclusions. And yet I felt like I was doing something which fit me, completely. I loved the research side, I got my kicks perfecting my sentences, and loved seeing a mass of words on a page.
Alongside writing something of substance, I also had some blogs of major immaturity and teenage confusion. I wrote about random things, like shrinking my boyfriends shirts twice and how it made me feel (yes really). An excerpt from my first blog (not a chance I am sharing this gem of a blog url):
Writing is my first passion, my main area of study at university and my only real skill (Although maybe I should let you be the judge of that)
I can't remember much of those embarrassing posts but I know that I just wanted to say something. I wanted to write things down and see where it lead me. I was a blogger at heart with no real niche or focus. Until Nomad'erHowFar was born. Now I write a good mixture of stuff that I like to think holds some value. Whether as a curation of my own memories, stories and experiences, or as a source of inspiration for others.
One of the things I have loved writing about the most is minimalism. It's something I brought into my life over the last 3 years, a merger of my dissatisfaction with my life and the meeting of a certain hairy hippy. I gradually began changing my outlook on life, and then changed my relationship with money. I feel confident when I write about it on here because I know it's all stuff I have done, and rituals I stand by to this day. So why the hell not put that into an e-book?
Okay so it's a tricky one, writing something that is instructional, very blog-esque, and nowhere near as creative as fiction. It's essentially self-help. Then again it's the kind of self-help that will tell you to stop filling up your home with self-help books...
I am loving the process of researching, crafting my chapters, and trying to create actionable advice that I would give to a friend during a conversation about minimalism. Helpful and motivational stuff, delivered in a non-pretentious manner...
Anyway, just wanted to say that when I'm not blogging, I am still writing, and I hope you will like the eBook I will birth very soon, kicking and screaming onto your e-readers.
My book is now available!!
Make sure to check it out :]
/ 
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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1 Year In Oz - Photography
Will these 12 reasons be enough to get you on a plane to Australia?!
1 Year In Oz - Photo Book ☀
So its been 12 whole months since we left the UK, the time really hasn't gone fast at all.. In fact its gone quite slow!! This past year has felt like a lifetime in Australia, but that's what happens when you change your routine all the time. We have had 4 different jobs in that time and are just about to start new ones, travelled to beautiful islands, partook in a cannabis festival, took shelter for two days while a massive storm destroyed the camp ground we were staying at, hitch hiked up the east coast, watched whales migrate to warmer seas, spent Christmas on a isolated desert island, jumped out of a plane and so much more!!
So here we are, our 12 most favourite snaps that capture the journey we have been on so far! Enjoy!
1 - Port Stephens, a small area home to the largest sand dune system in Australia! We really did feel like we had just been dropped off in the middle of a desert..
2 - Crystal Falls near the old fashioned town of Bellingen, we went on a trek into the local rainforest filled with views like this!
3 - We worked for a month at a beach resort in a small beach town called Bargara, the views of the milky way were spectacular! Another shot taken on a bloomin GoPro!!
4 - Second year visa farm work in Australia ain't all bad, we landed WWOOFing positions on a small macadamia farm in the middle of know where. This photo was taken during one of the forest burns we took part in (That was Hannah's 4x4)
5 - The storms over our farm house! We spent hours just sitting out on the balcony watching the lightning and listening to the thunder. We also had to run out into and get wet :P
6 - This haunting photo was taken just after sunset on our GoPro in the town of 1770. You can even see a few stars starting to shine in the sky!
7 - After working on the farm we headed to Fraser Island to do some paid work at a camp ground. Over the course of the 2 months we spent there we spotted so much wildlife, this is one of the native Dingos patrolling the beach.
8 - This is Fraser Islands west coast, none of the tours go to this side of the island, which made it such a peaceful experience. Fraser truly is a beautiful place!
9 - The Whitsunday Islands, home to the famous Whitehaven Beach. We got dropped of by a small boat and spent 2 nights camping on the island, during the day the beach was full of day trippers, but in the evening we were the only people on the island..
10 - Sunset on Whitehaven beach, an empty beach and a warm beer (next time we will take a cool box) perfection! We had so much fun here that we would recommend it to anyone travelling in Oz.
11 - Cape Hillsborough, a small area near Airlie Beach. If you go to the beach in the early hours of the morning just as the sun is rising, you will be greeted by a group of kangaroos and wallabies! They all seem to love the attention and pose for the camera like professionals.
12 - Finally we have Noosa, our current base. An up and coming beach town with a beautiful river system running around it (also great views of the mountains as you can see above).
The year ahead will be quite different, as we head up to the rainforest's of Cairns, then into the dusty red outback. We can't wait to see the real and raw Australia!
Thanks for joining us on this epic adventure!! ✌
Cheers for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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How To Use Canva: Simple Guide To Creating Blog Graphics
Canva is a great free design tool, and there are so many cool ways to use it as a blogger..
How to use Canva: Simple guide to creating blog graphics.
Canva is such an awesome tool for bloggers. It makes me feel like I can create really cool graphics despite being a design-challenged person...
This guide will help those who have never used canva, or who are new to it and just want a walk-through.
Here are a few examples:
First things first, head over to canva.
You will need to set-up an account. You could log in via your facebook but I created an account linked to my email address.
After signing up/logging in, you find yourself on a page which will show your designs (once you begin creating them).
1. Template
Along the top you can see a small sample of the many templates you can design from on canva. If you press MORE you can see the full range. On this guide we are going to create a Pinterest canva, one the most common things any blogger might create who wants to make a splash on Pinterest.
PRO TIP: High quality images, or simple colours, used as the canva background, with a short, readable textual overlay, are generally the most successful pin types which get the most re-pins and appreciation on Pinterest.
You will find the pinterest template by clicking MORE and you will find it in SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS.
This will open your blank design in a seperate window.
2. Colours
On the left-hand bar you will see already created template designs under LAYOUTS. I selected one to demonstrate. There a few good free options but also some paid. You can choose one and then edit the colours/fonts to your liking. I am going to head to the BACKGROUND tab on the left though, and use a block colour background as opposed to a pre-set design.
You can use an image of your own choice, by clicking UPLOADS or use the stock photography (some free, some cheap) on canva by clicking ELEMENTS, and then PHOTOS.
I chose the colour blue just as its heavily associated with Canva. I then adjusted the colour making it lighter. You can change the entire colour by clicking on the design, and then the circle showing the current colour. You could also use the pre-set free background styles on offer on the left.
Next, you're going to want to add text.
3. Text
To do so select TEXT on the left. A number of pre-set designs appear, but just above that is the option to add a large heading, a sub-heading and some text body. I have decided to use a pre-set text design, which is free.
I have selected the different text bits, and altered the text. There are two separate text boxes, as you can see the fonts are in two different sizes as part of the design. To alter them individually you click on each one to bring up the editing box, where you can change colour, size, font, and text content.
4. Style
I often like to add a shape to my pinterest designs, which I find in the ELEMENTS tab under SHAPES. I then edit the added shape, lower it in transparency, maybe alter the colour, and click BACK to create a nice boxed shaped background for the text box.
When I am happy with the design I will give it a title (where it says SEE AND EXPLORE) and then download it, clicking on image: for web (JPG). It might pop up asking if you want to save the file etc, and you can then choose where to save it. Or it may just download to your computers download folder automatically.
When you then want to use it on Pinterest it is already in the correct and most desirable dimensions.
There are so many other things you can create on canva. We also created our resume's on there. And for the blog, we create our website thumbnails, as well as youtube thumbnails, twitter graphics and facebook header images!
A Few More Tips For Using Canva:
You can use your existing designs again, if you want to use the same template but just edit some details, by heading to YOUR DESIGNS, finding the canva you want, and clicking on the arrow in the right-hand top corner, and selecting COPY.
You can upload your own logo, or watermark, to add some personal branding to a canva, by just uploading it to your photos where it will stay for all future canva creations.
You can adjust the filter on the background images you use, by just clicking FILTERS on the editing box after you put the image onto your canva. Especially useful here is adjusting the brightness and saturation if you want to bring out your text overlay more strongly.
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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![Sell Out or Miss Out? [The Travel Blogger Problem]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/535a8b5ee4b00a1a8a7975e6/1457676982866-0T252YNAFSCEZ5B7J0US/IMG_0326.JPG)
Sell Out or Miss Out? [The Travel Blogger Problem]
It's a problem most of them neither care about, but..
I can see this post being received in a couple of ways. They’ll be a few who will agree with me, nod their head in sage agreement. Some might agree even though they are kind of the subject of the blog. Then they’ll be some who are downright offended.
And I welcome them into the discussion.
Sell Out or Miss Out? - The Travel Blogger Problem
Travel blogs have gained popularity and thus commercial value in recent years. As a result, there is a trend toward a formulaic style of travel blog, designed to market the blogger as a good salesperson, in response to what is supposedly commercially appealing. They use their blog as a way to sell themselves, doing what it takes to get freebies, press-trips, product placements and sponsorship deals. Cause’ obviously that’s the only way to afford travel right?
Photo of attractive individual in a perfectly photographed shot, check! ‘As seen on…’ various websites, check! A tagline about your unique approach to travel, check! I get it, any travel blog aiming for the big-time needs bold branding, and wants to demonstrate their gravitas by highlighting their total online domination.
But since when did a travel blog become less about great content, genuinely useful tips and above all, storytelling, and more about marketing, bragging, image, and money?
Blogging grew from a niche hobby people were embarrassed to admit to, to a fully-fledged business model, with successful blogs on every topic out there in the world wide webs. Over time amidst the rise in blogging popularity, a dumbing-down of sorts has occurred. People begin a blog with the express purpose of it becoming their job. Now with thousands of travel blogs out there, bloggers end up rehashing (side-note: check out South Park episode, '#REHASH') content shared by other blogs, barely making any effort to cultivate an original voice. They become a content pumping machine without much regard for quality.
Admittedly, some people think there isn’t an original thought in existence these days, so what hope does the blogging world have?
But in pushing for the further commodification of our blogs, are we not also bastardizing what can and should be a beautiful expression of life-changing adventure?
Definitely loving that I got to use the word ‘bastardizing’ there.
Maybe I am bringing too much of my own prejudices into this. Maybe I am just envious of the success of others. Maybe I have to accept the fact that anyone can start a blog, and that they certainly won’t all care about content as much as I do. Maybe I am just a hateful individual who vomits in their mouth several times a day whilst looking at other travel blogs. Maybe. But I do believe it’s a positive thing that many of us are able to make a living off of our talents, because some of us are actually talented. Then again I know why I began blogging, with no thought of money in mind, and I always remind myself that each time I write. I always ask myself if I actually believe in what I am sharing, and I always do, considering I write a travel blog not advertising copy.
THE UN-RELATABLE TRAVEL BLOG
Often when visiting the more popular blogs (and the ones trying to be), I am made to feel like I just can't join this group of people who are generally quite pleasing on the eye. The back of my head with its curly ginger locks looking at a view just isn't that aspirational. My hairs really average. A focus on image and appearance is understandable in the fashion/beauty blogger realm, but ours?
Well, I suppose people can't help if they are attractive, but then again there is a widespread attack of the filters and overly posed photography across many travel blogs.
When I see articles pop up on pinterest, or see a blogger has made it onto some trashy news site, my attention is often drawn to the appearance of the bloggers, not their ‘amazing’ story. That’s because they look like frickin’ supermodels.
Our best attempt at a piss-take model shot haha!
They don’t look anything like I do when I’ve just hiked 3 hours up out of a rainforest, or even just walked 2 minutes to the shop in the Australian heat. I rarely see much of the sweat and sun-tan lotion combination that is the key everyday look of the average pale traveller in hot exotic land (disclaimer: this is not pitch for free sun-lotion).
Even on the blogs created by so-called relatable budget travellers, it can still feel like they are pandering to being a marketable product void of edge and self-awareness.
I can’t imagine Christopher McCandless posing up a storm whilst listing his achievements boldly and intimidatingly, alienating those regular folk who just want to read a well-told story and look at some pretty pictures. Nor can I imagine him purporting to be unique or special, as if he is doing something nobody else is doing or has done, when in reality, there are a lot of travellers out there (not all of whom travel into the Alaskan wilderness and eventually die). Very few travellers ever blog about it, some just travel, embrace it, enjoy it and don’t feel the need to try and make money out of it.
Of course its great to share and be proud of your achievements, if you put in the hours being creative, you deserve the joy of sharing that. But when your achievements all lead back to numbers and figures, then you just aren't that relatable any-more as a travel blogger. Just remember how it felt that day you had 1 visitor and then that day you had 100. That's still pretty cool. And much more a common occurrence for most bloggers.
Others, like us at NomaderHowFar.com decide to share things. In a selfish sort of way, we like to believe our words make a difference. We write out of compulsion and love, whilst also hoping to find some modicum of an audience, to engage people, and potentially inspire them. But I cringe at the idea of ever representing ourselves as anything other than normal people.
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GAINING FINANCIAL FREEDOM THROUGH BLOGGING
We are not against the idea of travel bloggers earning an income via blogging which enables them to keep travelling. But of course when they do, it kinda takes them further away from the members of their audience who aren’t being paid to travel.
We are naturally very open to the idea of making an income from our blog. Why? Because obviously we don’t want to spend our entire travel life going from one short-term and uninspiring job to the next. It’s often quite demoralizing. And let’s face it, if a company wishes to pay for my lifestyle of choice, then I am not going to throw it back in their faces. But I also won’t compromise my world view for a payday.
But a major reason why it might be nice to earn a bit, is because we bloody love creating. We love writing, taking photo’s and making movies.
Whitehaven Beach was an amazing place, this is the view in the evening when all the tours leave!
We pour love into all that we do, but money (or the lack of it) won’t alter the way we do things. Even though the short-term jobs we take on, pull us away from our creativity and temporarily ground us, blogging is still the thing we do most evenings and weekends, out of pure passion. It has been for two years, and we have never made a penny from doing it. But its a priceless collection of memories for us, and the connections and conversations we have as a result, are pretty awesome too.
Some of the bloggers that I genuinely do put on a pedestal, are not the ones that everyone would immediately recognize by name. They are the ones who found success naturally and over time, their own small pocket of opportunities and travel experiences, which does technically mean their blog is also a business. But the humble manner, and content-focused way in which they conduct themselves, is done with so much more elegance and integrity, it feels right to aspire to them.
It’s refreshing to witness their success via their continued creativity and engagement with their audience, as opposed to seeing them shout from the social media rooftops, just how great they and their blog are.
WHEN EMULATING SUCCESS ANNIHILATES INDIVIDUALITY
I suppose it is a double-edged sword. We witness bloggers gain commercial success, we look at the way they sell themselves, and we copy them.
We all dream the same dream and end up resembling a queue for the X-factor auditions; we all have our own life stories of hardship and how travelling is the dream we just have to live out. And the other edge is that we try to write stuff which will be frequently clicked and read, based on the algorithms of trends, social media sites and hashtags. We create differently, we alter our natural output, do some nipping, tucking and censoring, occasionally raising feathers with attention-grabbing posts when we believe it will equal clicks.
We iron out the kinks of our own individuality, because we think it’s the only way we can be successful.
Conversely, we over-push the thing about us that we believe is unique, and thus create a vast distance between story-teller and reader.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO THE TRAVEL BLOGGER PROBLEM?
So you want to make a living travel blogging but you don’t want to compromise your integrity? Well, that might be a bit tricky. The marketplace for bloggers is a competitive world, and the advertisers and companies helping them make money, are pretty much all looking for the same thing; a marketable blogger of the aspirational kind, who can get high traffic that will provide a return on their investment.
If you can get high-traffic and commercial success whilst being your completely honest self, to the nth degree, then more power to you.
If you have the passion for storytelling, but still decide to follow the blueprint of others, and focus on the money, then you need to regain perspective on not just blogging, but the thing you are blogging about; travel. The truth and purity of that dream, the purpose behind it, goes way beyond your blog.
Long-term travel is something people have done and will continue to do for a long time. They will have amazing, challenging and complex experiences, and yet, many of them won’t make a commercially successful blog in the process. They won’t sell out, and they will certainly not miss out.
For more food for thought, check this this awesome piece 'Travel Bloggers are Lying to You'
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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Our Goals for 2016: Growth and Travel Plans
Its a very British thing to do, play down your goals and...
Our Goals for 2016: Growth and Travel Plans
Originally we had a wix site, which was shocking. Then we moved over to squarespace. This was our first blog post ever. Bless...
The first year we just wrote about preparing to travel, because it's what we were living and breathing. The second year we started sharing our travel stories, as we hit the road in Australia. Now into our third year, we want to take things to the next level.
Yep, that was what our website used to look like...
We love our blog. We love being creative, and communicative, and love the interaction and inspiration. We simply wouldn't blog and make videos if we didn't enjoy it. But we'd like it to expand in ways that are even more creative and engaging.
Its a very British thing to do, play down your goals and achievements. We wouldn't want to seem a bit over-zealous or hopeful, or as if we actually have self-confidence and self-belief. We succeed but we do it quietly, most of us anyway...But we are not defined by the culture in which we grew up in, being international travellers, people of the world, so I am going to step out from the shy, reserved trope of an English person and be bold and honest with you.
We want big things for nomaderhowfar.com this year. And we want to continue enjoying Australia, and see the rest of this ginormous place.
We want to increase page views, partner up with companies, causes and brands that we believe in, feature more guest bloggers, and feature on other websites.
We want to try out new cool relevant travel products (we have our first product review coming soon).
I want to get published somewhere other than on our website, as much as we love it and our audience. I love writing and reaching readers who i can interact with, so writing on some other platforms seems the right way to go.
I want to work in social media, building great followings for other bloggers and companies, having learned so much in the past two years about consistent and quality social media strategy.
Taran wants his videos to gain a broader audience. He spends hours creating these beautiful visual stories, hours editing the footage and hours sharing it, and it deserves a bigger audience. Especially with some of the absolute shit that people in their millions watch every day. I may be bias but I am the first person to say if I think his video isn't right, and he'll be the first to tell me he doesn't like something I've done.
We want to keep producing original, topical and personal content. Sharing our travel stories, and our thoughts on all manner of topics that we care about.
We want to get some more stunning shots and footage on our go-pro and our newer canon addition.
We hope to meet some of our fellow blogging comrades and nomads.
I want to finish, publish and release my e-book on minimalism. On the back of that release I'd like to create a consulting service designed to aid people with introducing minimalism into their lives.
We both want to continue to travel Australia, meet its awesome residents, as well as our fellow travellers from all over the world.
Maybe it seems like we are hoping for too much, that our goals for the blog are cliched or predictable. But we are encouraged toward these goals by the fact that we have witnessed a steady consistent growth in audience and page views. February saw a record-high of 12,000 page views. We get so excited to see that more and more people are hopefully being guided or inspired by our content. And that is what drives us.
At the core of all our goals is that fact that we obviously love travel, it is what we do, what we gave up our previous lives in England for, so we would like to keep doing it, capturing it, and sharing it, for as long as possibly can.
Blogging goes hand-in-hand with our nomadic lifestyle, so we hope this beautiful partnership only grows in 2016.
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
Want More?!
Taran & Makoto here, together we form Nomader How Far photography.
Check out my photo journals