Transcript:

Ross Borden (00:00):

How much do creators make?

Monet Hambrick (00:01):

I have made over $2 million in grand deals.

Ross Borden (00:05):

Wow.

Monet Hambrick (00:06):

My name is Monet. My platform is the traveling child, and I have been traveling with my kids literally since the day they were born.

Ross Borden (00:13):

Any sort of words of wisdom from your early days as a creator,

Monet Hambrick (00:18):

The amount of followers you have don’t mean as much as the quality of followers that you have because you can have 10 million followers and not be making any money at all.

Ross Borden (00:26):

What worked and what didn’t when you were out pitching? A

Monet Hambrick (00:30):

Lot of people sleep on.

Ross Borden (00:32):

This Is Creator, the podcast for Matador Network. I’m your host, Ross Borden, and I believe creators are the future of all global advertising. So join me as I sit down with top creators to hear about how they got started, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the tips you need to become a full-time creator. Monet, welcome.

Monet Hambrick (00:53):

Thank you for having me, Ross.

Ross Borden (00:56):

So for those who don’t follow you on social or know about your family and your history, give me a little brief overview of who you guys are, where you live, and how you got started in the early days and kind of where you’re at now.

Monet Hambrick (01:10):

Yeah, so my name is Monet. My platform is the traveling child, along with my husband James, our two daughters, Jordan and Kennedy, who are now eight and 10 years old. I started my platform back in 2016, been a full-time creator since 2018, and I have been traveling with my kids literally since the day they were born. As much as Kennedy took her first flight at 11 days old, so literally as soon as they were born, they both had their passports immediately. My eldest took her first international trip at eight months and my youngest took her first international trip at 10 weeks old. We went to Columbia while I was on maternity leave Back in the day when I was working in corporate America, got to take full advantage of not having to ask a boss for time off, but it’s been an amazing ride and yeah, oh my God, I can’t believe it’s been so long now. Eight years later, here I am.

Ross Borden (02:06):

Yeah, it’s incredible. So I would assume having the kids traveling that young, were you and James big travelers before you had children?

Monet Hambrick (02:15):

Yes, so we love to travel. I’m a first generation American, so being Jamaican, I had a passport from young as well. My family would always go back and forth to Jamaica, but James and I, we met in college my freshman year, so we’ve been together for 17 years and in college we actually studied abroad together in China. So me and him have loved to travel since we started dating and his aunt used to take him all over the world while he was growing up as well. So travel has always been instilled in us. And I had a exchange program in high school where I lived in Botswana for a summer with a family, and that sparked the travel in me for real, for real.

Ross Borden (03:00):

Were you nervous about that? I mean, high school kid going to Africa for the summer to stay with someone you’ve never met? That’s pretty badass for a young

Monet Hambrick (03:09):

Person, yes. Every day I just thank my parents so much because of course this was before smartphones with FaceTime and things like that on a completely different time zone. I would remember, I used to have to call them in the middle of the night on a phone card outside of my house not to disturb anyone, and that’s the only way I would be able to talk to them or going to an internet cafe. And I’m so thankful they allowed me that experience because it just, my independence, my ability to meet new people, my ability to learn how other people lived, it just made such an impact on me. And I know my parents were so nervous to send me, you’re sending your 15, 16-year-old daughter with people you’ve never met before. And especially as Jamaican parents, that’s not something that they would typically do. But I’m so glad they trusted the process and allowed me that experience because as I said, it’s made such a huge impact on me personally.

Ross Borden (04:10):

Yeah, it’s amazing. I always talk to people who have had discovered travel later in life, and that’s its own brand of amazing, but I feel like I don’t think I was doing adventures quite that big when I was quite that young, but I can speak for myself, that travel really formed, changed that my trajectory in life from traveling at a young age and made me curious about the world. And so I think it’s so awesome when parents give their kids that opportunity and also that trust because it’s not always an economic decision as much as I don’t know, are we sure about this? Is this safe or is she going to be homesick? There’s so many things to be concerned about.

Monet Hambrick (04:52):

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, I got a scholarship through this program I was in, and that’s the only reason I was able to go, but it truly made such an impact on me and even for my parents, I feel like me coming back, they realized the independence that I could have and how I could survive something like that on my own. And it helped me, I think also in high school, being able to do other things as well because then they really trusted me as well.

Ross Borden (05:17):

Where are your parents from in Jamaica? And you guys been back, I assume, to Jamaica a lot, or is that one of your places you go a lot?

Monet Hambrick (05:27):

Oh yes. So my mom’s from Kingston. My dad’s from St. Elizabeth. We have a home in Jamaica, so we’re there all the time. My dad is retired and he’s back and forth with Jamaica all the time. Three months here, three months there. And I go often as well.

Ross Borden (05:42):

What is that I, I’ve been in Jamaica only once and I’m dying to go back. I was in Port Antonio and we loved it. Okay.

Monet Hambrick (05:50):

I love Portland. Yes.

Ross Borden (05:51):

Yeah, I mean, I love that place. We had such an incredible time, but what is that city like?

Monet Hambrick (05:57):

Yeah, so first it’s nice to hear people talk about Portland. I feel like Torres only talk about Ria, Negri and Montego Bay, but St. Elizabeth we’re a parish on the southern coast of Jamaica and it’s amazing. So it’s small country town living. There are no movie theaters or any of the things that you would find in Kingston or anything like that, but we’re right on the coastline. So there’s the beach, like Treasure Beach. My dad’s originally from Alligator Pond, black River. So you have rivers, you have beaches, you have amazing seafood of course, and things that St. Elizabeth is known for, which you might know of Appleton. So if you’re familiar with that rum, that’s where the Appleton estate is. Ys falls. So there are a lot of things to do in St. Elizabeth, a Floyd’s Pelican bar, if you’ve never heard of it, that’s the bar that’s in the middle of the ocean. You take a boat to get there, you can have fresh food and seafood and be out in the water or be on the bar area, but there’s so much to do there. We don’t get as much love as the other parishes in Jamaica, but we definitely deserve it and it’s just cool vibes. But again, very country,

Ross Borden (07:13):

St. Elizabeth, I’m sold. That’s on my list now. I mean, the thing that I liked, and I’ve never even been to the more popular tourism spots in Jamaica, but the reason I love Portland was just the lazy town vibe around. Everyone’s so chill. There’s not a lot going on. There’s not a lot of people, but the nature was incredible. The food was incredible. So yeah, I got to go back and spend way more time in Jamaica.

Monet Hambrick (07:41):

Yes, you did.

Ross Borden (07:43):

And then, okay, so you’re like, you’re a young person, you’re already crushing travel, parents are from Jamaica, and then you go, why did you choose China for study abroad?

Monet Hambrick (07:54):

Both my husband and I majored in sports management, and we went in summer 2007. So we went and studied at Xingu University and we worked with the Olympic committee to see how they were preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ross Borden (08:07):

So

Monet Hambrick (08:07):

We got to go into meetings with the Olympic committee to see what exactly they were planning. We got to go to the venues to see the progress that they were making on building those venues. We got to go to the training facilities of the Chinese athletes. So it was quite an experience for people. That was our major. And then of course, we also got to do all the Toury stuff, which was great too. Our professor was actually from China, so it was perfect, and he literally took us everywhere he grew up there. But yeah, it was absolutely amazing.

Ross Borden (08:42):

Wow, that sounds like a very unique study abroad program. That sounds incredible.

Monet Hambrick (08:46):

Yes, it was.

Ross Borden (08:47):

Cool. And so then fast forward, I want to hear your previous life in the corporate world. What did you do after school? What was your career before you became a full-time creator?

Monet Hambrick (08:59):

Yeah, so originally I worked in sports. I worked in major league baseball for a little while, and then I got out of that. And I actually worked in recruiting for many years, seven years in recruiting. So I worked at a recruiting firm for a little while, and then I worked for a cruise line, and that was my last job before I went full time.

Ross Borden (09:22):

How did you start your Instagram account, the traveling child?

Monet Hambrick (09:27):

So actually it was my friend Paula who encouraged me to start it. I was on maternity leave with my second daughter, and as I said, with my first daughter, we would still travel. We went to Jamaica, we went to Italy, we went to Greece, we went to New York, we went to Chicago. We went to all these places before she was even two years old. And then when I had my second daughter, as I said, we were planning this trip to Columbia while I was going to be on maternity leave. We went to Cartena and my friend had came over and she was like, oh, you should really start an Instagram about your travels. And I was like, why? That’s stupid. And she was like, what do you mean? There’s all these parents that want to travel with their kids. They think it’s not possible, and here you are.

(10:15):

I’ve watched you for the last two years, travel everywhere with your daughter, and here you are going to Columbia with a 10 week old. You should really do this. And I was like, no, why would anybody follow me? And I felt like that would be so vain. People would just think like, oh, I’m just like, oh, look at me and my family going here, there, all these things. And she’s like, no, but you have so much knowledge on how to make it easier for parents, how to make it affordable. You’re not rich and you’re able to do all these things. And I think so many other parents would value that. So I sat on it for a little while and then I was like, okay, maybe she’s not wrong. I’ll see. And I opened up the account and I just started posting. And at first nobody was following my first year, after my first year online, I had maybe 800 followers.

(11:06):

And then it just kept growing and growing. And then the first brand reached out to me and was like, oh, we want you to use our product on your next trip and we’ll pay you to make some Instagram posts and add us to your blog post. And I was like, what? I didn’t even know people got paid from social media. I didn’t know anything about blogging. I didn’t know people made money from that. So I was just doing it to help people not make the same mistakes we made when we first started traveling with our kids. But then it got bigger and bigger and more and more brands started reaching out and then I quit my job.

Ross Borden (11:42):

So yeah, it’s an amazing story. I love it. So I mean, I think there’s a really important nugget in there that I hear a lot, 800 followers after a full year of posting. I feel like so many creators give up too early. They’re like, ah, it’s not working. And kind of think it’s either going to be not an overnight success, but certainly after six months you got a few thousand followers that are keeping you going, keeping you motivated. But you guys had less than a thousand after a full year of what was probably quite a bit of posting. So what’s your advice to people who are really, really getting started or haven’t even gotten started yet and are just thinking about it? Any sort of words of wisdom from your early days as a creator?

Monet Hambrick (12:31):

Yeah, I would say that especially now with reels and trending songs and audio and all this stuff, it’s really easy to get caught up in the trends and just doing everything that everyone else is doing. But I think something that helped me was, one, there were no really trends to follow them, but I just posted what I wanted to post and what I thought would be helpful. I was like, these are the things that I wish that I would’ve known before we went on this trip. And then using questions that people were constantly asking me to create content around, because if that’s what your audience is constantly asking, well then that’s obviously what they want to know. And I think that helped me a lot, but just not giving up. It’s very easy. I mean, half of those 800 people were just my friends and family. So it was people that I knew from college and stuff, and I so appreciative of their support. But it wasn’t, it was people that I was like, oh, hey, they saw me post on my personal page and then I came over. So

(13:33):

You have to be true to yourself, and you have to know that success doesn’t come overnight. But also I think people get so caught up in numbers and they think that that’s the only definition of success, and that’s not true at all. You can have 10 million followers and not be able to go full-time as a creator because you can have 10 million followers and not be making any money at all or not be making enough for full time income. So followers, the amount of followers you have don’t mean as much as the quality of followers that you have and the people that are really going to take something from your content and do something with the information that you gave them. So I think that’s

Ross Borden (14:20):

Totally

Monet Hambrick (14:21):

Something that’s really important to understand as well, because there’s lots of people that have way more followers than me, and my goal is not to have 20 million followers. It doesn’t matter. I just like the people that we connect with and then I’m able to build relationships with, but just keep going. You have to stay true to yourself because as soon as you start only doing things because of trends, then one, you’re not going to be happy. And if you want to stay in this profession for a long time and be successful and go full time doing what you love for work is absolutely amazing. And it’s by far the best thing I could ever imagine doing. But if you begin doing things that you are not happy with doing just to keep up with trends or to do this or that, you’re going to be as unhappy in this job as maybe you were in your previous job that you became an entrepreneur to leave.

Ross Borden (15:19):

Yeah, you’re just on a different kind of treadmill then, huh?

Monet Hambrick (15:22):

Exactly.

Ross Borden (15:23):

Very good point. I think, and I was going to ask you about that comment, just stay true to yourself. I think people are, it’s a more complex scene now than it was when you started. When did you start your account? 2016 or earlier

Monet Hambrick (15:40):

2016.

Ross Borden (15:40):

So Instagram then, I don’t even remember, but it was like photos and just filters. Yeah, no video, no reels, no stories. So I think it was a simpler time then in a lot of ways to be a creator. There was less to think about. You’re just like, post a photo, choose a filter, whatever. But I think that’s really good advice when you say stay true to yourself, because I think people get, it’s kind of the mix of people getting obsessed with the numbers and the views and the followers and then all the ways to get there with trends or reels and going viral or doing FYP or whatever Instagram calls it, being recommended to others and all the sort of hacks and shortcuts. And I find that those can be a major distraction to creators instead of just, like you said, building a really high quality audience and making content that you would make anyway, not because of it’s going to go viral, not because it’s going to hit the FYP or be a part of a trend, but just you think it’s good content. So I think that’s great advice.

Monet Hambrick (16:44):

And honestly, nine times out of 10 when your video does go viral, the followers that you get from those videos are not necessarily your core audience anyway. And in the long run, it doesn’t always end up helping. So as they say, slow and steady wins the race.

Ross Borden (17:02):

Yeah, for sure. It sounds like you had an amazing career before being a full-time creator. So what was that like? What was it like when you’re like, whoa, I could just fully quit my job and do this full-time one, a couple of questions around that moment. Was it pretty hectic when you were trying to balance being a creator and having a full-time job? And then when you and James sat down and were like, are we doing this for real, completely quitting everything and going all in? What was that decision like and how did, why did it happen when it happened?

Monet Hambrick (17:40):

So for one, I’m extremely risk averse, so quitting my job was the last thing that I wanted to do. But James is really supportive. My parents were really supportive and my mom reminds me that you’re not getting any younger, you’re only getting older. And the older you get, the harder it’s going to be to try new things like this. She’s like, now you’re young, you have a great track record in your career. If you quit and it doesn’t work out, you could just get another job. And I was like, oh, I guess you’re right. Yeah, I could just get another job. And she’s like, realistically, we’re not going to let our grandchildren starve. So if things didn’t work out and you needed a little bit of help for a little while, I’m not going to let my grandchildren star. And I mean having that support system, unfortunately not everyone has that.

(18:34):

So that’s something like I’m super blessed to have that support system, but at that point, when I chose to quit, I was making the same amount of money from my Instagram and blog that I was at my full-time job. So I had already replaced that income, at least equal amount. So I felt comfortable doing it that way. And then two, it was becoming harder for me to grow because of my job. I do have vacation days and I had responsibilities at work and I couldn’t always do things for my own business because my full-time job conflicted with

Ross Borden (19:12):

That. And

Monet Hambrick (19:13):

I thought to myself, well, if I don’t have my full-time job, what’s the trajectory that my own business can have versus what’s the trajectory that I can have keeping this career? And I felt as if my trajectory could be higher in my own business and I owed it to myself to bet on me for once. And as if it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out. Now James has never quit his job. He still works. He loves working. So he has his own his own job and he absolutely loves it. And obviously having that cushion of someone with their job as well made things a lot easier. So I had young kids a mortgage a lot riding on this, but I figured no time like now. And as my mom said, I could just get another job. But thankfully it worked out. And honestly, I felt as if soon as I quit, I got the biggest campaign I’d ever gotten. And I felt like it just opened up so many more doors because I could always say yes to things and I didn’t have to turn things down just because of my full-time job.

Ross Borden (20:18):

What was that campaign? What was the big one? That was great timing for making the leap?

Monet Hambrick (20:25):

It was with Alamo and it was to be one of their chief travel operators, something along that’s not exactly the name, but it was something along those lines. And basically I wrote for their website, they had a blog website I wrote for their website about trips, so writing articles, providing photography. And it was a year long campaign. It was my first year long partnership and it paid pretty decent money.

Ross Borden (20:51):

So I mean, you’re kind of a triple threat. So you’re a writer, a video creator, talent, obviously your kids, your family, amazing talent. We’ve worked with you at Matador. Your kids are fearless. I remember that your girls

Monet Hambrick (21:05):

Are absolutely. Oh my God, they’re so crazy that when they went hang gliding and then my daughter went on that thing that drops you straight down like 400 feet. That’s the

Ross Borden (21:13):

Video I saw

Monet Hambrick (21:13):

People to go on

Ross Borden (21:14):

Saw. Yeah, I think we had to cut that out of the video because the client was like, this is kind of nuts. She’s doing, it was like a rope bungee swing

Monet Hambrick (21:25):

Or something like that. She insane thing time of her

Ross Borden (21:27):

Life. Yeah, she’s absolutely fearless. What do you say to people? I was the same, maybe not to your extent in terms of traveling with kids that are days old, but I’ve traveled a lot, an 8-year-old and a 1-year-old, and the 8-year-old, he’s traveled a lot for his age at a very young age under two. We were going pretty far international trips and I had a lot of people that almost was offensive to me. They’re like, oh, too bad he’ll never remember it. And I was like, okay, whatever. Not going to, I’m going to let you have that. But what’s been incredible is he’s been to Africa a couple of times. He remembers the guide’s name, he remembers what we did, he remembers the animal we saw when we were at this specific lodge. He remembers specific people that were obviously very important to that trip. What’s your take on traveling with really, really young kids?

Monet Hambrick (22:30):

Yeah, I’ve gotten the same thing. You’re just wasting your money. You’re so stupid. Why do you spend so much money taking your kids to places they’ll never remember? I don’t know. Why do you send your kids to kindergarten? They’ll never remember that either. Then I know that’s rude, but still, that’s what I want to say to people. Sometimes I’m like, it’s not about whether they’ll remember every single detail, but it’s about the moment and how that shapes them to who they will become. And it’s about the moment too as a parent, seeing that happiness on your child’s face and knowing they’re having an amazing time. And to your point, one, kids remember way more things than we give them credit for. And two, there are certain moments in your life that you’ll just never forget. They just are so drilled into your head that you’ll remember them. And we took our girls to Kenya when they were two and four years old, and they remember that so well. And the moment that they remember the most is we saw five cheetahs take down a topi. So we saw a kill. Yes. Our guides were like, you don’t underst lucky. Understand how lucky you are. Exactly.

(23:37):

Until this day they both remember it because Kennedy is like, I was so scared. It wasn’t fair. They were eating him. He didn’t do anything. That’s what she remembers. And Jordan was like, yeah, they were just running so fast they remember and they were so young. And besides that, and of course there are certain aspects of travel that you can get from home, trying different foods, hearing different languages. You can do that at home too, of course. But being able to go different places, seeing how people live, speaking to people, it’s so much different than reading something in a book, watching something on tv. We went to Peru a few years ago, and Guinea pig is one of the things that they eat there and it’s like a delicacy. And we went, my oldest daughter, she’s super adventurous eater. She wants to try everything. She had Guinea pig while she was there.

(24:38):

She missed four days of school for that trip. And her teacher just had her do a PowerPoint presentation. And in the presentation she included the photo of her. Literally the Guinea pig gets on a stick and she’s holding it. And she was like, she ate Guinea pig. And the kids in the class are like, Ew, that’s so nasty. That’s weird. Why would you eat Guinea pig? You’re not supposed to eat that. And her teacher called me later that day and was like, I just want to tell you what happened in class today and how proud of Jordan I am. Kids were making fun of the fact that she ate Guinea pig. And she was like, just because you don’t eat something doesn’t mean that it’s weird. Everyone in the world eats different things. And if basically if you were born someplace else, you would eat something different.

(25:19):

And that is so true. I mean, a lot of things that we do come down to where we were born, who our parents are, and that shapes us so much. And being able to go in an environment, so unlike your own experience that not judge it, and then also stand up for those people when other people judge them, is something that me personally, I know that travel has instilled in my children in a way that me just telling them to behave that way at home would not have the same impact. And having that instilled in them from such a young age, they’ve been to six continents, they’ve seen how people live around the world. I think it’s just opened their mind in such a way that not traveling would not have done, especially at this age. So while they may not remember everything, I don’t remember everything, it still has made such a positive impact on them. So they’ll never remember everything. But I’m okay with that.

Ross Borden (26:27):

Best answer ever. I love that. I mean, it’s so badass that your daughter stood by it in the Guinea pig and was defended not just herself, but the whole culture of eating Guinea pig. So awesome. Cool. And so also, I just saw from your feed that you guys, the whole family was at the Olympics. Did you guys all go to the Olympics in Paris?

Monet Hambrick (26:48):

Yes, we did.

Ross Borden (26:50):

Tell me about that. How did that happen? Was that like a personal trip?

Monet Hambrick (26:53):

Yes. So my youngest daughter and I, every year I do a mommy and me trip with each of my daughters separately. So me and my youngest daughter were going to Italy for our mommy and me trip. That’s where she chose this year. And while I was planning it after we booked our flights and everything, I realized it’s during the Olympics and I mean Italy, Paris, they’re right there. They’re so

Ross Borden (27:16):

Close, they’re right there.

Monet Hambrick (27:17):

And I was like, oh my God, how cool would it be to go? And as a Jamaican huge track and field fan, I wanted to see Shelly Ann Frazier price run for the last time, and that’s what it was supposed to be surrounded about. There were tickets to the 100 meter women’s final. So we were honestly only supposed to go for a day. We were going to just go for the day, go to that event, and then go back on our trip. And then my husband was like, okay, the mommy and me trips are cool. I do daddy and daughter trips too, but the Olympics, you guys cannot go to the Olympics without us. And then so he was like, we’re coming too. I literally booked his flight the day before him and my oldest daughter joined us, shout out to points and miles, and then when I was talking to him, we decided, okay, let’s not just do one day, let’s just stay for the time. We did five nights and we went to swimming track and field gymnastics, basketball, soccer, and synchronized swimming.

Ross Borden (28:22):

Incredible. That sounds amazing. And I’m really happy for James and your other daughter that they didn’t get left at home with fomo. How do you guys do all this? So you said earlier, I mean, traveling as a family, obviously most of the time now you’re telling me you do, mommy and me trips with each daughter

Monet Hambrick (28:39):

Individually,

Ross Borden (28:40):

And you do girls trips and you do romantic trips with your husband.

Monet Hambrick (28:45):

Yes.

Ross Borden (28:47):

Is there one of those other trips every year, or do you plan years in advance? How do you pull that off?

Monet Hambrick (28:54):

That incredible. I’m definitely not a planner of years in advance at all, but no, every year. So my daughters, they switch this year, my oldest daughter, she had a shorter mommy and me trip, a three night trip. And then my younger daughter, she had a longer trip. So me and my oldest daughter, she asked to go to dc. She’s a history buff museum girl. That’s her thing. So we literally went to all the museums in DC and then my youngest daughter, she had a longer trip this year. She really wants to go to Iceland, but mommy hates driving and I begged her if we could please it as a family trip. So James could drive, could drive. She was kind enough to change it to Italy. But last year, me and her went to New York and my oldest daughter and I, we went to Japan.

(29:39):

But so I do that every year with them. It’s a great time for us to have one-on-one time. No compromises for them, they’re sisters, but they have such different personalities and interests and it’s just great to have that undivided attention towards them and for them to be able to do what they want to do on this trip. And then my husband and I, we need some alone time together. So we do a trip with just the two of us. And then I love my solo trips, so I do one of those this year I went to Nepal.

Ross Borden (30:11):

Wow.

Monet Hambrick (30:11):

Yeah.

Ross Borden (30:12):

And solo trips. I forgot solo trips

Monet Hambrick (30:13):

Too. Yeah. So we went unbelievable. So we went to India this year, actually did back, so we went to India as a family for spring break, and then my best friend was having her birthday trip in the UAE. So that was my girl’s trip for the year, but they were literally 10 days apart. And I was like, it makes no sense for me to fly all the way home to fly all the way back to that side of the world. So in those 10 days I went to Nepal solo, and then I met my girlfriend in Abu Dhabi and it was absolutely great, but I just love having that.

Ross Borden (30:47):

That was a power trip right there, India, Nepal, and then Abu Dhabi. It’s

Monet Hambrick (30:51):

Incredible. But having that time for different people in your lives and creating that space for all parts of you, I think is really important, especially as a mom. One thing for me, I never wanted to lose myself in motherhood. And I absolutely love my children, but they’re not the only part of me. And I want to still have space for my friends, for myself, for my husband, and for them of course as well. So I love those little different trips that I have.

Ross Borden (31:20):

Yeah, very inspiring. Well done. That’s awesome. I want to know, you kind of told us how you made the leap in that moment. It sounds like you had the support of your family, your partner, and then you had that big deal from Alamo that helped you make the leap. So that sounds like the stars aligned and it was the perfect time. I know everyone asks creators, how much do creators make? And so I won’t be so blunt as to say how much you make per year, but give people an idea maybe how much have you made, would you say, from brand deals throughout your career as a creator or your biggest month or your biggest deal? Maybe those three things if you’re willing to share.

Monet Hambrick (32:06):

Yeah. So since 2016, I have made over $2 million in brand deals. Wow. I know. I never in my life would’ve ever imagined. As I said, I never knew that bloggers Instagrammers made money when I started this. That was not my motivation at all. But I learned, I wouldn’t say rather quickly because as I said, the first year I didn’t even have many followers. But I learned that there is money to be made in influencing being a content creator. And there’s so many avenues as I’ve worked with you guys as talent, being in commercials, posting for Instagram, writing articles for different brands, and now there’s UGC content and that’s something that you can do as well, which you’re following doesn’t even matter. And my biggest deal has been $130,000, which it’s more than I made when I worked full

Ross Borden (33:08):

Time. That’s amazing. So can you share, if not the brand, can you share the industry or if you could share the brand, tell

Monet Hambrick (33:15):

Us. I cannot share the brand. You’re trying to get me in trouble. Ross,

Ross Borden (33:20):

We have these. I had to ask. I know. Everyone wants to know. Come on. Yes. What industry was that in? Was it airline, hotel? Not even in

Monet Hambrick (33:28):

Travel. This one was not in travel.

Ross Borden (33:32):

Oh, interesting.

Monet Hambrick (33:33):

Yeah, this one was not, Ooh,

Ross Borden (33:34):

Thickens now need more. This one was

Monet Hambrick (33:35):

Not in travel. Obviously everything can be tied into travel, but it was not a travel company.

Ross Borden (33:42):

Okay. Any more hints?

Monet Hambrick (33:45):

Want

Ross Borden (33:45):

More? That’s all I can hints give you. I’m sorry. Okay. Alright,

Monet Hambrick (33:46):

That’s all I can give you.

Ross Borden (33:49):

And then biggest month, so $2 million you’ve clocked from brand deals in your career. Unbelievable. And then biggest deal ever. One 30 K. What’s the biggest month if you know offhand that you’ve had?

Monet Hambrick (34:04):

I’m not 100% sure. I know that I’ve had 60 K months. I’m just can’t tell you if that was the highest.

Ross Borden (34:15):

Yeah,

Monet Hambrick (34:15):

But that’s obviously

Ross Borden (34:17):

Astronomically

Monet Hambrick (34:17):

High.

Ross Borden (34:19):

Yeah, that’s incredible. And a single deal was more than you were getting in your corporate job. That’s incredible.

Monet Hambrick (34:28):

Yes.

Ross Borden (34:29):

Do you feel, I’m sure your revenue as a creator has gone up steadily. I would imagine as your fallings gotten bigger, as you’ve gotten developed more as a creator, do you feel like it’s easier or harder to find brand deals now than it was back in the day when you started in 2018 when you made the leap? Do you think it’s like all the increased competition of there being so many creators has caused scarcity in brand deals? Or do you feel like the brand deals are just finding you more easily now with sort of the more developed creator world?

Monet Hambrick (35:08):

I definitely think that brand deals find me more easier now. When I first started, I was constantly pitching brands all the time and I don’t really have to pitch brands anymore. And to touch on the scarcity, that’s something that kind of bothers me in the creator industry, there’s just this mindset of scarcity. But I guarantee you there’s enough money for everybody. Brands are using creators so heavily. There is literally enough money for everyone. I’ve never been on any campaign where I was the only one doing the campaign. That’s not a thing. So there’s always multiple people doing campaigns and there’s

Ross Borden (35:52):

So this is more than enough for everyone. This idea, you get a deal, someone else isn’t getting a deal is just sort of fiction.

Monet Hambrick (35:58):

Yeah, I mean of course now they’re not hiring every single influencer for every single deal. But I mean, I know brands reach out to me and I’ll be like, oh, if you’re looking for more people, you should hit up my friend so-and-so because I think they’d be great for this too. And you know what, if that’s going to prevent me from getting something, well then so because I hope that other people, I know for a fact other people have recommended me for campaigns as well. So

(36:25):

There’s no harm in that. We can all help each other. I’ve had brands reach out to me for a campaign and they wanted my whole family to travel to a destination. And it was actually during the school year and my older daughter at that time, what she had going on, there was no way that she could take off from school. And my husband couldn’t take off from work. So I was like, well, since you’re willing to pay for four people, how about having another creator that’s my friend that has a child around the same age as my daughter. Would you be open to them coming as well? And we do it and then you get content from both of us and we get to go on a trip together? And they were like, oh yes, we would actually love that idea. That would be so great. And then both of us got paid and it was amazing.

Ross Borden (37:03):

Let’s talk about brand deals. When you did have to go find them, which you had to go out and pitch. Now they’re finding you, so obviously an amazing place to be. But what worked and what, when you were out pitching, how did you pitch? How did you find leads? Did you just cold email, cold call? What was producing results that got you to where you are now?

Monet Hambrick (37:28):

So won a lot of people sleep on LinkedIn. I used to find so many contacts on LinkedIn because if you think about it on social media, if you’re DMing brands, how many other people are DMing them? The person that is reading your DM is someone that’s on the social media team that’s responsible for making social media posts, not necessarily the person that’s responsible for hiring content creators. So I used to just go on LinkedIn, find the company that I wanted to work with, type in social media marketing or marketing manager or something like that, find the people. And then I would send them a message on LinkedIn and be like, oh, hi, my name is Monet, such and such. And I would get a lot of contacts that way because most content creators weren’t reaching out to brands that way. So they weren’t bombarded in that sense. So that was a good way. Also, going to different conferences for content creators is a great way that I met a lot of brands as well. Being able to see them one-on-one in person and build a relationship with them where some of those people, I never worked with them immediately afterwards they said that I was too small or I didn’t have this or I didn’t have that, but I built that relationship and then I could follow up with them every six months and then eventually they would want to work with

Ross Borden (38:43):

Me for other people who are creators with families and jobs or partners with jobs. How has that worked? Because when I look at your feed, I’m like, dang, they’re on the move nonstop. They’re going places all over the world. Are they homeschooled? How have you worked with that with No, absolutely not homeschooled. Absolutely. So are you just working around three day weekends and vacation breaks? And then how does it work with James and his career? I don’t want to get him in trouble, but

Monet Hambrick (39:13):

Yeah, no, that’s okay.

Ross Borden (39:14):

Post Covid world, everyone’s remote now.

Monet Hambrick (39:17):

That’s okay. His job has hired me before, so they know exactly what he does. The company he works for now is in the travel industry, and we have worked with brands that they work with and they have chosen our photos for the things to go on his company’s website. And he is in the photos, so they 100% they, they’re very aware. They’re very aware of what you’re doing. If we were trying to hide it, we’ve absolutely failed. They definitely know. And as I said, they’ve hired me for stuff before. So with that, for the girls, honestly, there are so many vacation days, things that they have that they miss maybe eight to 10 days of school every year for travel this year for spring break, they have the Friday, then the whole following next week, and then the Monday of the following week. So they literally have 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 days for spring break.

Ross Borden (40:18):

There’s

Monet Hambrick (40:18):

So many options for us to go to for Thanksgiving. They get the whole week of Thanksgiving off. So every year we normally travel for Thanksgiving.

Ross Borden (40:26):

I saw they’re doing that for our school for the first time ever. They’ve just given up on trying to do a short Thanksgiving week. It just give us the whole week. It’s fine. It’s

Monet Hambrick (40:33):

Just pointless. It just makes sense. For Thanksgiving break, we’ve gone to Morocco, we’ve done Cape Town last year, James and my oldest daughter, they did a daddy and daughter trip to Australia. There’s so many opportunities. And then with summer, summer is at least two months long. And then there are the three day weekends that we’ve taken and we’ve gone to local quicker trips. But there are so many days off that the kids have one I could never, ever homeschool. That is not for me, that’s not for my children. They love all their extracurricular activities. And then for James, unfortunately, sometimes he’s not able to come on every trip. And

Ross Borden (41:12):

So she’s got to sit home, watch the feed, and get the fomo and watch you guys exploring the world.

Monet Hambrick (41:17):

He picks and chooses what he really wants to come to. We went to Cape Town, he was like, of course I’m going to Cape Town. We went to India for my girl’s spring break this year. He went, but then sometimes we’ll go places where maybe he’s like, it’s not at the top of my bucket list. I’m okay if I miss it. And he’ll just be like, Hey, I don’t think I’m going to go on this one because I rather, I know maybe something else will come up and I’d rather go there

Ross Borden (41:44):

Instead. Right. Okay. Alright. I can literally talk to you all day. So I got rapid fire questions to close.

Monet Hambrick (41:51):

Okay. Okay.

Ross Borden (41:53):

One we’ve talked about, I mean, what has been an amazing career for you as a creator in your family? What all the things, it seems like the stars have aligned almost throughout. What’s a mistake that you’ve made as a creator and that you wouldn’t make again or that you learned from? Can you think of something where it didn’t go your way or you made a mistake?

Monet Hambrick (42:15):

Yes, early on you are just so excited that brands are reaching out to you. You sign anything because you don’t know any better. And I’ve definitely signed some contracts that were not in my favor. I’ve learned lots of new words now. Exactly what perpetuity, exclusivity, usage terms, all those things. And those are things that I didn’t understand at first. And I’ve definitely signed some contracts that I should not have

Ross Borden (42:42):

Signed. Yep. I feel you on that one. I was the same as an entrepreneur a long time ago. You now know termination and exclusivity. Those are the three things I look for right before the lawyers even see it.

Monet Hambrick (42:55):

Exactly.

Ross Borden (42:57):

And then I think with all the creators out there, there’s this idea that you need to find your niche and lean into that and find your audience through that niche. Did you do that or were you just doing your thing? Or is that good advice that a new creator especially needs to have a specific niche that they serve or they are specialized in?

Monet Hambrick (43:23):

So I think a niche is good, but I think sometimes that you have to niche down can be taken so heavily that it makes things so limiting. For me, that was something I heard all the time when I first started niche, niche, niche, you need to have a niche. You can’t just talk about whatever you want. And so at first, I only talked about family travel and that was it. Even though I did other types of travel, I go on solo trips, I go on trips with just my husband, I go on trips with my girlfriends and I was like, I can’t talk about those things. People only follow me for family travel. That’s all they want to see. They want to see kids and that’s it. And then I was like, but I’m not being true to myself and there’s so many other aspects of my life that I am willing to share.

(44:02):

And I remember I posted about my first solo trip and the feedback that I got was astounding. So many moms and moms people were like, oh my God, thank you so much for posting this. I never thought that I could do a solo trip. There’s all this mom guilt, there’s this. Oh, I think once I have kids, I solo travel now I don’t have kids, but I thought that once I had kids, I definitely couldn’t solo travel anymore and I didn’t want to give that up. To see you doing it is so encouraging. Things like that and seeing all those different aspects of my life and the travel. Yes, it’s travel, but it wasn’t have to be so hyper-focused. And I’m definitely not a lifestyle content creator at all. And even sometimes when I share things that don’t have to do with travel, just like my family in general, I don’t share as much, but I remember I used to be very hesitant.

(44:52):

I was like, people only follow you for travel. And then I started posting just what I want to post. And the receptionist always there. People are like, oh yeah, we’re so happy that you shared this moment with us too. I love to see the other aspects of your life. So again, not heavy into that type of content, but the community that you build, at the end of the day, most of them, for the most part are interested in you. And that’s why for content creators always say it’s about you. We’re not the only family that travels. There are 50 million people that you can follow that travel. And most people that follow us also follow other family travel creators too. That mindset of it can only be you like, no, but at the same time, people follow us for our own unique journey because we don’t homeschool. There are certain things that we do as a traveling family that other families don’t, where maybe their whole family is in the business, they homeschool their children. We don’t do that. So it’s a different perspective. I have other content creators that are my friends and they travel, but they only travel in RVs where that’s their main, it’s all different. So yeah, niche is cool, but I don’t think it’s end all be all.

Ross Borden (46:05):

Yeah, I agree. What about using a product or when you cold email someone on LinkedIn, were you ever like, Hey, we always use Alamo when we travel or I’m a Delta flyer or whatever it is. Do you think that’s important? I see some creators and I hear about creators like using a product service, going to a destination obviously could be another example, and then they sort of pitch the brand and say, look at my content. I actually have content about your brand to show you. Has that worked for you at all or have you ever done that?

Monet Hambrick (46:38):

Yeah, it’s worked for me sometimes, especially when my kids were younger, there were particular products that made travel for us so much easier. And I use them all the time and that is how I was like, oh, here’s an example of a post I’ve already made about your brand. I want to do a giveaway or I want to do this, or I want to promote it that way. I worked with Ergo baby quite a bit when my kids were younger because that was the only carrier that I ever used, and I had been using it since my oldest daughter was born. So yeah, it’s absolutely a great way, especially if it’s you want to work with brands first of all, that you really align with anyway, so

Ross Borden (47:17):

Cool. Alright. I always ask people this question, not just creators, but any travelers. If you had to live in three countries for the rest of your life and you could never go to any other countries, which three countries would you live in?

Monet Hambrick (47:31):

Okay, well, I’m going to say Jamaica, of course. Of course. Italy. I just love the food in Italy and probably, I mean, we’re excluding the United States, I assume probably

Ross Borden (47:46):

You can’t, no, you can’t exclude the United States. United States has to be on there. If it’s one of the three,

Monet Hambrick (47:53):

Well then can I give you four then? I would

Ross Borden (47:56):

Say, I’ll let you slide with four

Monet Hambrick (47:58):

South Africa and then the us. I mean I live

Ross Borden (48:02):

Here, South Africa, Italy, US, and Jamaica. It’s a solid lineup. Yeah. Nice. Cool. Alright, well we got to wrap up, but I want to make sure that anyone listening who’s not already following you on all of your channels, can you say again where they can follow you on every channel that you’re on?

Monet Hambrick (48:22):

I’m at the traveling child on everything that I have, and my website is www.thetravelingchild.co.

Ross Borden (48:32):

Perfect. Monet, thanks so much for joining. That was great.

Monet Hambrick (48:35):

Thank you for

Ross Borden (48:35):

Having me. Creator, the podcast is produced by Matador Network. We are a leading global travel publisher focused on travel and adventure. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe. Every week I interview a new top creator. New episodes are released every Tuesday on YouTube, apple Podcasts, Spotify and everywhere podcasts are found. Thanks for listening.