Elayna Carausu and Riley Whitelum sailing story

If you have the spirit of an adventurer, you have also probably dreamt of leaving your job, packing and going abroad in search of sun and heat. But reality catches up with you and you realize that you have to make ends meet; then, you get back to work.

And what if we told you that you do not have to leave your job or exhaust all your savings to be able to travel permanently? If you display the right skills, you could start a career that allows you to visit various places while working.

If you`re into sailing, there`s no way you have missed Sailing La Vagabonde`s story. Elayna Carausu and Riley Whitelum will take you sailing around the world on their YouTube channel.

But, when they first took off on an adventure, this Australian couple had no idea how to sail, and yet, they did what not many people would even imagine, traveled the world by sailboat.

Today, the couple have converted their popularity into income via the crowdfunding website Patreon, which is commonly used by YouTube users to invite fans to donate money for each video posted. Their social media profile even caught the attention of a French boatbuilding company, and they offered them a brand new million-dollar catamaran at a discount rate the couple could pay with their social media income.

But how did they do it? And more important, can you do it?

Get (well) paid to give your opinion on boats, sailing equipment, hotels, or exotic destinations around the world… too good to be true? On the contrary. Companies are increasing their ads for “dream jobs” because they have everything to gain: a buzz, better customer relations, and especially a 3-in-1 employee who does not count his working hours. It`s a marketing strategy that has become necessary with the rise of Instagram and the professionalization of bloggers.

With a bit of luck, a dream job will be waiting for all the sailing addicts. But of course, a few requirements have to be fulfilled.

Instagram currently has one billion users worldwide, 80 million images are already uploaded daily, 3.5 billion Likes distributed.

So, how to stand out in this crowd?

Build up a large loyal audience of people who are interested in sailing, post quality content, use smart hashtags, be consistent.

Once you have built a considerable amount of followers, then you can start teaming up with brands.

You can get companies to pay you to sail by advertising on your blog/vlog and your social media accounts. It takes many forms, like sponsored blog posts, Instagram features, brand ambassadorship programs or newsletter mentions.

But it`s not all cupcakes and rainbows. You’re going to have to dedicate time and effort to it. You’re going to spend a lot of time in front of your computer. Your first work might suck. But you can only get better by doing it more and more. You might fail, but that`s OK. Failure is a teacher. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn, and move forward.

Are you ready for this adventure?