Interview with Meagan Wristen of MommyTravels
Location: Lantana, Texas
I met Meagan Wristen (MommyTravels) back when I joined Travelocity and became a Gnational Gnomad. Sadly, this travel influencer program was shutdown pre-pandemic, but happy to report we’ve remained friends since. Here are Meagan’s answers to our ‘How Content Creators Are Surviving the Pandemic‘ interview series:
How are you keeping busy during the pandemic?
We’ve been busy, yet not busy. In between trying to keep work coming in and somewhat homeschooling, I also bought a house and moved home. We now live in Texas, which has been my lifelong dream over the past 19 years. We are now in the middle unpacking and painting Eden’s room from red to yellow, no easy task.
Luckily for us, Texas is opening. We’ve been able to go out to eat a few times, Hello Taco Tuesday! And Noah was able to get a haircut. He was starting to look like a different person!
How are you making money? (please don’t feel like you need to be specific if it’s personal)
To be honest, like most travel bloggers I’ve taken a huge hit. I did have a few contracts pending when this madness started and I’ve fulfilled them. However, there’s been no “new” work in relation to travel just a few social media clients that I manage social for. I do have ads on my blog which typically do well but they are currently making no money.
In an attempt to increase income I’ve decided to launch a course to teach people how to use Pinterest. Pinterest was the main tool I used in building my own business. You can sign up for the course at https://boost-your-business-with-pinterest1.teachable.com/ in a few weeks. I’m still putting the final touches on it.
How has your routine changed?
We immediately switched to island time. I saw lots of people saying “stick to a schedule” and I thought, no thanks. We sleep in, we stay up late. I’ve been able to hang out with my kids one on one just like we do when we travel. One of the reasons I travel so much with my kids is because I want that quality time with them. Through travel, we’ve not just seen the world but built a tight-knit family unit. There’s nothing in this world I enjoy more than them and because of the pandemic, I’ve gotten to spend enormous amounts of time with them. You get one life and you need to spend it with the people you love and doing the things you enjoy.
Are you diversifying your content?
I already had over 150 recipes on my website but I had not promoted them. I spent a lot of time trying to gain traction on them and some have picked up page-views while others have fallen flat.
Will you continue being a content creator or go back to a traditional job?
This is a tough question and the truth is I don’t know. I will always continue Mommy Travels and I hope things turn around sooner rather than later. However, I am a single mom with three kids, one of which is finishing up his freshman year of college. So, I gotta make money. I’ve been applying for jobs and even paid someone to update my resume but the reality hardly anyone is hiring.
Keep an eye out for other content creator interviews as they go live by bookmarking the following link: ‘How Content Creators Are Surviving the Pandemic‘.
