The Randal Osché Podcast: Season 1 | Episode 10
Join us on The Randall Osché Podcast as Taylor Deer shares her inspiring journey from a structured corporate life in America to becoming a full-time luxury and adventure travel blogger. Discover how she navigated the challenges of establishing a successful blog and the passion required to succeed in the travel blogging industry. Taylor opens up about the societal and cultural differences she explored through her travels and her transformative path to professional freedom and personal growth.
What You'll Learn:
Taylor’s transition from a traditional corporate environment to a full-time travel blogger.
Her approach to overcoming the common obstacles bloggers face and creating high-quality, engaging content.
The cultural insights Taylor gained between American and European travel perspectives.
Strategies that Taylor uses, like effective content planning and audience engagement, to maintain a successful travel blog.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, Podcast Index, Podcasts Addict, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Find Taylor Here:
Looking to jumpstart your travels, Taylor Recommends:
Connect with Randall:
Referenced Books:
Nomad Capitalist by Andrew Henderson
“Go where you are treated best.”
Andrew Henderson
The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream by Paulo Coelho
Highlights
Passion and Patience: Success in travel blogging requires genuine passion and significant patience, as it takes time to see financial returns.
Focus on High-Value Activities: Use the Pareto principle to concentrate on the 20% of actions that yield 80% of results, maximizing productivity.
Continuous Learning: Invest in education about blogging and social media to achieve growth and attract opportunities like brand partnerships.
Adapt and Persist: Embrace changing norms and stay resilient despite initial skepticism, as alternative career paths are becoming more accepted.
SHOW NOTES
01:15 Meet Taylor Deer: The Journey of a Luxury Adventure Blogger
20:56 Investing in Your Blogging Career: Courses and Learning
24:55 Exploring Travel Perspectives and Cultural Differences
26:07 Embracing a Nomadic Lifestyle: Insights and Reflections
28:37 The Gap Year Experience: A Missed Opportunity for Many
30:27 Challenging Traditional Life Paths: A Millennial's Perspective
33:53 The Power of Starting Young: Advice to My Younger Self
Questions this episode has Randall pondering:
How can Americans adopt a travel culture similar to Europeans, where travel is more common at a younger age? What cultural or systemic factors currently hinder Americans from embracing travel as often?
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments!
And that's it for today's conversation here on the Randall Osché podcast. Thank you so much for joining us and we hope that you've enjoyed listening as much as we've enjoyed recording it.
Many many thanks to our guests today for sharing their knowledge, their experience and their life lessons. If you found today's conversation insightful, interesting, inspiring, please join our growing community by subscribing. Randall Osché podcast on your favorite podcast platform, and never ever miss another episode.
We'd love to hear your feedback. So keep the community alive by sharing your takeaways from today's episode and use the hashtag Randall O'Shea podcast. Your feedback and interaction fuels our continued efforts to build a safe space for meaningful, long form conversations. So thank you so much for the support until next time, stay curious, stay inspired and keep the conversation going.
The Randall Osché Podcast - Taylor Deer (Episode 10)
[00:00:00] Taylor: Multiple people will say the same thing, like travel blogging is not something you go into with the intention of making money right away. You have to be passionate about it and you have to be very patient.
[00:00:11] AI: Hello, and welcome to the Randall O'Shea podcast, where we create a safe space for meaningful and thought provoking conversations. We have long form interviews with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, artists, and change makers in order to deconstruct their journeys and to pass out valuable life lessons and life changing perspectives for listeners like yourself.
[00:00:34] AI: So that you can, as Randall says, learn their lessons without their scars. So, whether you're tuning in on your daily commute, or during a workout, or cooking dinner, we are happy to have you join us. So, take a seat, relax, grab a cup of tea, and join the conversation. Now, let's dive into this week's episode.
[00:00:59] Speaker: You made it
[00:01:15] Randall: Taylor Deer, welcome to the show. For those of the listeners who don't know you yet, why don't you go ahead and take a few moments to introduce yourself?
[00:01:23] Taylor: Well, thank you for having me. My name is Taylor. I am the Travel blogger behind brown eyed flower child. It's a luxury adventure travel blog. I've been doing it or I've had my blog since 2018. I have a former history working in corporate America and PR, communications, marketing. So how I started this was I was not happy working in a cubicle nine to five.
[00:01:53] Taylor: I just knew that there was something more for me. So that's why I started my blog. I love to write. I'm very creative, or at least I think I am. And I just love connecting with people, seeing the world and sharing my travels and hopefully inspiring people to see the world for themselves.
[00:02:12] Randall: Uh, You've certainly inspired me. Which is facts because Taylor and I actually first met because I was an aspiring travel and food blogger at one point. And I recognize that the best way to learn how to do a thing is to reach out and talk to people who are already doing the thing better than you are.
[00:02:28] Randall: So Taylor and I had a conversation a couple years ago at this point and she kind of helped me along my journey as well. So shout out to you and appreciate that.
[00:02:38] Randall: Bunch of questions here just based on your opening. In no particular order. So don't mind me. How'd you come up with the name for the blog and website?
[00:02:47] Taylor: So it's funny because a lot of people are like, it's very woo woo. And you're not that woo woo. But at the time I was very into yoga and I thought that I was going to do yoga and travel. I do have a 200 hour certification. But that's actually not why my name is brown eyed flower child. So the whole thing is that I created the blog so that people could see the world through my eyes.
[00:03:11] Taylor: I have brown eyes, obviously. And yeah, the whole flower child thing. It's more just like, I love nature. When I'm out in a beautiful place, I get very excited the way a child does. So that's more of the reason why my name is that versus like anything, you know, spiritual. Or hippie or whatever.
[00:03:31] Randall: Makes sense. Makes sense. And I think too, what you do I know you do it, like this is your job, but I see the world through your eyes, right? I follow you on Instagram, I read your blog and your newsletter. And I'm like, wow. The thing too, that impresses me about what you do is how thorough you are and I think one of the things that I recognize with people are like, Oh, I want to be a blogger or influencer but they don't approach it like a career or like a job.
[00:03:58] Randall: They approach it like a hobby, and one of the things I really appreciate about the work that you do is it looks like a business, right? It's just not cursory. Like I'm traveling and taking pretty pictures. You can tell that there's infrastructure behind what you're doing and a thought process behind what you're doing that looks like a business.
[00:04:15] Randall: And, you know, kudos to you for making that happen.
[00:04:18] Taylor: Thank you.
[00:04:19] Randall: You're welcome. So we covered the name, but you also in your opening said luxury travel, correct?
[00:04:25] Taylor: So I consider myself like luxury adventure becauseI do like staying at nicer places and showcasing that I do think at least for me and my, you know, from my own experiences.
[00:04:37] Taylor: Staying at luxury properties and getting that experience. It does add to my travels, especially being in my thirties. But I also, I climbed Kilimanjaro, soI do like to get dirty. I do like to have a good time. I'm not someone who just could sit by a pool with a drink all day. I need to be doing something.
[00:04:56] Taylor: I need to be going on a hike, snorkeling. I just, I love adventure. I love obviously seeing the world, like I've mentioned, and just having fun memories to look back on. So, well, okay, so one of the reasons why I truly fell in love with luxury travel was right before I started my blog, I was actually doing work for A family member's travel agency and she invited me on a fam trip, it's kind of like a hosted trip that travel agents go on and it was to Ireland and I remember staying at the Ashford castle there and it was such an incredible experiencing at this medieval castle.
[00:05:36] Taylor: And. I remember we went on this like Falcon run and we went horseback riding and I was like, Oh, this is just so much fun. It's so different than anything I've experienced before. So that's kind of where I wanted my blog to go towards, if that makes sense versus just like, When people think luxury, they think you know, you're just kind of sitting pretty by a pool all day.
[00:05:57] Taylor: Whereas I don't believe that that's how it should be
[00:06:00] Randall: Right. So I have a question for you. Of course, because that's my job. I should stop saying that. So you stay at luxury places. You stay at nice places that have the amenities around there, right? So maybe a resort property, but you don't sit your butt at the resort property for the entire trip, right? What to you is the perfect balance? Or is there a balance between enjoying the property, enjoying the location, of where you're staying versus going on the adventures, going on the hikes, et cetera?
[00:06:31] Randall: How do you balance that? Could it be trip to trip? Like one trip is just staying at a resort. The other trip is adventure. Or do you try to do a little both on each trip?
[00:06:41] Taylor: I try to mix in both on each trip. It also depends on the property, because there's luxury hotels that aren't necessarily a resort where you would, you know, like, for instance, when I've stayed at like the Four Seasons Anguilla, I wanted to be at that property the whole time.
[00:06:56] Taylor: They had enough to do just there. I felt like I didn't really need to go off the property even though I wanted to, because I wanted to see Anguilla, butwhen I'm, I'm trying to think of like, so I stayed at a property on the French Riviera and, you know, it was just an urban luxury hotel, not necessarily a place that I would spend a full day at.
[00:07:17] Taylor: They had a pool, they had a nice restaurant, but it was nice enough where like, my room overlooked the beach and I enjoyed that. I enjoyed staying in a nice clean place. Being able to have like a nice shower at night. But I didn't feel like I had to stay there.
[00:07:32] Taylor: Yeah, it just added to the experience.
[00:07:34] Randall: Yeah, I feel the same the same sort of way. I like to travel, like flights and buses and trains, all that can be exciting and fun. It's also like stressful. So sometimes you just need to be like, we're staying here today or for the afternoon or for the morning.
[00:07:52] Randall: And I can find enjoyment and just relax, like just sitting there, but I can't do that either for an entire week. But if the property is nice. Regardless if it's a resort or just a nice hotel, I like to experience it, right? But again, not overdo it, I suppose.
[00:08:07] Randall: Yeah. We're jumping around here, but you also mentioned left corporate America because you didn't like it. So I want to know what you didn't like about it.
[00:08:18] Taylor: So I don't know, I'm going to sound like one of those typical travel influencers that, are like, I left my nine to five, but it actually goes a little bit deeper than that.
[00:08:28] Taylor: I'm going to be honest with you. So when I graduated college,I graduated in public relations and I just was kind of like, Oh, you know, like I have to get a nine to five, got to work in a cubicle, got to work at a big PR agency in New York city. that's the route I have to go. Like there was no other route, in places like Europe and in other countries, people that are fresh out of university or college or even high school. They're encouraged to travel to find themselves. Whereas here in the U S it's more just like, get out and work, you know, start this whole journey. So I did that. I did PR for a year. I was working at a really, it was a very stressful job.
[00:09:07] Taylor: It was at a med PR agency. And I was very underpaid. And working more hours than I should have been working, not really having a lunch break. I was just very miserable. And I was just like, I just feel like there is something better. So I switched over to corporate marketing and I did like that job.
[00:09:24] Taylor: I stayed there for a few years and I actually became the influencer manager there. So I know what it's like to work on both sides and the people that I was working with, they actually inspired me. Saw what they were doing. And I was like, Whoa, like, this is so cool. people are making a living off of this.
[00:09:39] Taylor: They're able to create their own schedules. I just felt like I was missing out on something. I did have some good times in corporate America. Like I did meet a lot of good people. I learned a lot. But it just, I felt like it wasn't for me. I ended up becoming, I don't know, a little depressed just being in a cubicle from nine to five and I don't know, I just felt like that there was more, more for me out there and also my aunt at the time who works at the luxury travel agency, she even told me to, she was like, you know, like, I see that you're starting to travel and you like to write, you're very creative.
[00:10:10] Taylor: There's people that are doing what I'm doing now, and they're making a living off of it. I feel like there's something more for you out there. So that's kind of how I, was inspired to leave corporate.
[00:10:20] Randall: Yeah how long did it take you to start making a living doing what you're doing?
[00:10:26] Taylor: It took me a while.
[00:10:29] Taylor: I'm going to be quite honest about that. This is not, and multiple people will say the same thing, like travel blogging is not something you go into with the intention of making money right away. You have to be passionate about it and you have to be very patient. In 2020, there were a lot of people who, you know, obviously joined TikTok and became like TikTok influencers and some of them went viral, like right away, you know, doing little dances and whatnot.
[00:10:55] Taylor: And now some of them are making millions of dollars, only being in this for a few years, but I feel like that's just not reality for most people. It does require a lot of work. It does require a lot of patience and you do need to diversify your income, which a lot of people don't know when they're first getting into this.
[00:11:15] Taylor: So like when I first started out, I was doing some freelance work and I was really focused on Instagram at the time. I just thought that I needed to have like all these Instagram followers in order to be successful. But I quickly learned after being shadow banned for no reason that I needed to diversify my income and start focusing more on my blog.
[00:11:35] Taylor: And what's nice about the blog is that once you're eligible to join an ad network, you are getting a sustainable income every month. So that was something I was longing for versus, you know, doing Instagram and waiting for my next brand collaboration or sending out all these pitches and hoping someone will get back to me.
[00:11:53] Taylor: I like the stability.
[00:11:55] Randall: Yeah. Didn't I just see that you joined a new ad network?
[00:11:58] Taylor: Yeah. So one of the main goals especially for travel bloggers, it's for also other niches too, is to get on media vine, you have to have 50, 000 unique sessions, which is around 60, 000 unique viewers per month.
[00:12:13] Taylor: It's very hard to get there because Google, just like Instagram also has an algorithm and things are also seasonal, especially in travel. So it's not the easiest to get there, but I was recently qualified for it and I got accepted. So I'm very excited about it.
[00:12:28] Randall: Congratulations.
[00:12:29] Randall: I'm sensing a theme here like passion and patience. So how long did it take you from when you recognize that's what you wanted? How long did it take you to get to this point of being accepted into that ad network?
[00:12:40] Taylor: I've had a lot of like learning lessons with all of this.
[00:12:45] Taylor: Instagram, I don't know if this is the right way to say it, but Instagram could be, or social media in general, could be almost like a drug for a lot of people where, you know, that something's not working for you if you're not, getting the income that You used to get or get that you're hoping to get.
[00:13:02] Taylor: But you're still somehow sucked into it, still spending more time than you should be on it. And that held me up for a while. I'm going to admit, I did do very well with Instagram, like in 2021 was like my best year for Instagram. There were months where I made five figures in one month, which was really awesome.
[00:13:18] Taylor: But in like mid 2022. That's when I was like things are really slow. I feel like I'm still not earning a sustainable income and I and something needs to change. I don't want to go back to corporate and then I have a lot of friends that have been Actual blogging like SEO and everything for quite a few years and I saw that they were making really good money.
[00:13:38] Taylor: They're like, listen, you got to take a step back from Instagram if you really want to be serious about blogging. So I didn't really start taking my blog seriously the way I am now until a year and a half ago.
[00:13:51] Randall: And when you say seriously, so how would you define the influencer that you were before that year and a half ago?
[00:13:59] Randall: How would you define yourself today?
[00:14:03] Taylor: So I live and breathe my blog now. I was not doing that before. I'm constantly thinking of ways to come up with new, blog posts and to create content silos to diversify my traffic sources. It may sound a little weird, but I'm constantly like looking at my Google analytics, seeing what I could fix, what I could do better.
[00:14:25] Taylor: I'm spending hours and hours on my blog, the way you would at a corporate job, for instance, whereas I was definitely not doing that in previous years,
[00:14:35] Randall: Are you spending more time on everything now, or has that time shifted? So like, we'll just say 40 hours, right? Say you spent 40 hours before, or say you spend 40 hours now.
[00:14:46] Randall: Is that a larger portion of that 40 hours spent on your blog, or as before you were maybe doing 20 hours total and not spending any time on your blog?
[00:14:54] Taylor: I would be lucky if I got a blog post out a week or even like a few times during the month. When you're a travel blogger and you're looking to make a decent income, you need to be producing content consistently, like more than once a week.
[00:15:11] Taylor: I'm learning that I can't. It's very hard for me to do more than two blog posts a week. I just can't, if I want it to be good and I want it to be high quality. And then also doing content silos as well, like niching. That's also something I wasn't thinking about beforehand. So like pre 2023, I was just, you know, kind of all over the place, like spending more time on Instagram hoping I'm getting all these brand collaborations and press trips.
[00:15:36] Taylor: And it's also an ego thing too, with social media. I just kept feeling like I had to grow my following and get all these likes and followers. And it's just, it's so saturated now. And it's like, even if you are doing well and you do have like hundreds of thousands of followers, like I know so many people who have that and they still have to have a corporate job or something else that is, you know, keeping them above ground because there's just so many influencers and creators for brands to choose from now.
[00:16:06] Taylor: Sorry if I'm going off on a tangent, but
[00:16:08] Randall: this is why we're here.
[00:16:09] Taylor: So yeah, I just kind of had a wake up call and I was like, you know, like I'm not getting any younger. I don't want to go back to my corporate job. I need stability and the blog is something that has provided stability for a lot of people.
[00:16:22] Randall: Have you heard of the Pareto principle?
[00:16:24] Taylor: No I haven't.
[00:16:25] Randall: So Pareto principle, I could probably get into the origin of it, but I don't want to mess it up. So I'm not going to do that. But the Pareto principle.
[00:16:33] Randall: Pareto is somebody's last name, of course. It's basically, he had proven out that 80 percent of the results of something come from 20 percent of your actions. So, you need to identify what 20 percent of your actions are producing 80 percent of your results. And focus on that 20%. And then as you keep doing that, the Pareto principle still applies because out of that 20% it's gonna be 20/80 again.
[00:17:01] Taylor: Mm-Hmm. .
[00:17:02] Randall: And then you keep refining it and you'll keep I always like high value activities. The highest value activities to me would be the 20% of those activities that are producing 80% of your results and whatever job you have or whatever business that you're in, that's going to apply.
[00:17:17] Randall: So I think it's important that again, for whatever business you're in, there's a lot you could do, right? I talk about it all the time, you can be busy, but are you being productive? And that's where the Pareto principle comes in. if you're focusing on the 20 percent that's producing 80 percent of the results, that's being productive.
[00:17:32] Randall: But if you're not doing that and you're doing everything expecting results, that's just being busy. Nobody wants that.
[00:17:38] Taylor:
[00:17:38] Randall: When you were in corporate? What was the, final straw? What was the thing that was, like, the last day where,maybe it wasn't the last day that you were there, but, the last moment where you were like, I'm done with this.
[00:17:49] Taylor: Gosh, it's a long story, but remember how I was saying that, I worked at that one job where I was an influencer manager, and that's kind of inspired me to do what I'm doing now.
[00:17:59] Taylor: So I grew out of that job mainly because I wanted to make more money. So, I left and got another job at a medical supply company, which is totally opposite of me and what my interests are. I just kind of took it for the money. I was only there for three months because I was completely miserable.
[00:18:17] Taylor: And I left that job and I really just want to work for myself. But I didn't know this was in 2017, the year before I started doing what I'm doing now, I was like, you know, I don't really know what I want to do. I didn't really know much about blogging or, how to make money from being a content creator and influencer.
[00:18:34] Taylor: So I kind of went through a little crisis for a bit. I was just like, Oh, I don't know. I had my yoga certification, so I'm like, do I just like open up a yoga studio? What do I do? Something needs to happen fast. I was kind of in a panic mode. But then I ended up getting another corporate job.
[00:18:49] Taylor: It's funny cause I left the medical supply company like May that year, and I pretty much had the whole summer off and I traveled a lot that summer, which helped me create content for my blog that I would start. But I ended up getting another corporate job at a women's retail brand and I was really excited about it.
[00:19:07] Taylor: I do like fashion too. So I was like, oh, this is perfect. It was in communications. At the time was more into marketing. And when I started that job I liked it. It was cool. There was nothing for me to really complain about, but I was bored with what I was doing. And I think at that point, I was just traveling a lot and, you know, I was following a lot of people on Instagram and I'm like, what am I doing here?
[00:19:31] Taylor: I see people living the life I really want to live and they're making money from it. They're doing very well. I'm not passionate about this. I felt very stuck. So I was there for a full year. And then that's when I was like, I know things at work started to get very slow too and they were having some layoffs and I was like, you know what, let me leave now before things get worse.
[00:19:51] Taylor: Sothat's when I left.
[00:19:52] Randall: Yeah. And that was your last corporate job.
[00:19:55] Taylor: That was my last corporate job. Yep.
[00:19:57] Randall: What gave you the confidence to like you said, your internal dialogue was I see other people living their best lives and apparently making money from it, but I'm here doing this thing.
[00:20:10] Randall: What gave you the confidence to think that you could also be them living your best life, making money doing it?
[00:20:17] Taylor: The thing withcontent creators, I mean, now it's different because I feel like so many people are trying to be content creators, but back then, you know, there were a decent amount of people that were doing it.
[00:20:26] Taylor: And I was like, you know, these people are people like myself, they're not celebrities. And I don't know,I was just very inspired by their journeys. And that's why I was like, Oh, you know, if they could do it, I could do it. I just need to be serious about it. And when I quit the medical supply job, I was not ready.
[00:20:43] Taylor: I just wasn't. But when I quit the clothing company, that's when I was like, I am ready for this. I am ready to start taking this seriously. I kind of have a direction of where I want to go. So when I left that job, I got very serious. I purchased a ton of courses, digital courses on how to make money blogging, how to make money on Instagram, affiliate marketing courses Pinterest.
[00:21:06] Taylor: And yeah, just kind of took it from there. And then a month later, that's when my Instagram started to really grow, within six months, I was at 10, 000 followers and that's when I started getting brand partnerships and I was like, okay, like I'm getting work from this. This looks positive.
[00:21:20] Taylor: It looks like something that I could continue with. So that's what gave me the confidence to continue on.
[00:21:27] Randall: There's always a cost of education and that cost is. It could be sweat equity, it could be money, right? But there's always a cost to education. So in your case, instead of trying to figure out everything on your own and trial and error and taking more time, you realize where you were at and where you wanted to be.
[00:21:45] Randall: And there was a skills gap there, right? So you decided to purchase these courses. To expedite your learning curve so you go further faster and instead of sweat equity, you invested money into learning, right? Yeah.
[00:21:59] Randall: There's a lot of garbage out there. Like there's a lot of people selling stuff that haven't done the thing that are saying they did the thing that can coach you to achieve something that they haven't accomplished themselves.
[00:22:09] Randall: And it's like, come again. So how did you, decide what you were going to learn and how did you decide what was worth you paying for and what wasn't? And did you have any bad experiences with buying any of the courses?
[00:22:23] Taylor: Yeah, so back then courses and coaching wasn't as saturated as it is now. I feel like nowadays. You have a ton of people that just didn't want to be at their corporate job that wanted to quit, live like the digital nomad life.
[00:22:37] Taylor: And they just kind of like, I'm just going to be a coach, teach myself, all these things, even though I have no experience in it. And, you know, it's kind of scam people into joining their $5,000 mastermind. But back then there were people that I they were the people that I was looking up to that actually succeeded in what I wanted to do.
[00:22:55] Taylor: And that's how I knew that, they would be good people to learn from. Yeah, so I never really had any bad experiences. I'm still part of all their Facebook groups and I still learn a lot from being in their Facebook groups and also through emailing them and whatnot. So when I worked in corporate, I did save a lot of money.
[00:23:15] Taylor: I also was still living home with my parents and that helped me. So I didn't feel bad about investing. I was kind of in the mindset and a lot of people were telling me as well,you know, what you invest in, what you get out of it. So I do think that if you're starting a business or if you're going into what I'm doing, like blogging or content creation, you do need to invest.
[00:23:35] Taylor: You do need to learn from the people that are doing what you want to do.
[00:23:39] Randall: This is one of the things I learned when I tried to start a business several years ago, but I was trying to do it without investing money. Yeah, it was so silly, and then after, still, struggling to do what I wanted to do I wasn't getting anywhere.
[00:23:54] Randall: And then I finally invested in what I was doing. And it was like, of course, like now it works. Now I have a business, now I have a product that I can sell and since that day I was like, investing in your business, that's business 101.There's a lot of people out there that I don't want to buy the camera or I don't want to buy the subscription.
[00:24:10] Randall: I shouldn't have to do that. It's like, no, you do have to do that. And that's what I mean. when we opened up the conversation about when I look at you it is obvious, you have a business because of how robust your, your presence is. Right. and the work that you do and that's why you're successful.
[00:24:24] Randall: That's why you can do this full time. And other people are just out there trying to do it, but don't invest, don't have the infrastructure.
[00:24:30] AI: Let's take a quick break from today's episode. If you're enjoying the conversation, please take a moment to look us up. You can find Randall on Instagram at Randall O'Shea, that's spelled at R A N D A L L O S C H E.
[00:24:49] AI: And you can catch the show notes and other resources at randallosche.com and now back to the episode.
[00:24:55] Randall: So you mentioned earlier about how Europeans, right? That once they graduate, they're like high school or graduate college, that they're, encouraged to travel and you, being to Europe a couple of times myself, like it's much easier to do there than here.
[00:25:13] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:25:13] Randall: Like, yes, America's big, but still to travel the same, distance in Europe is more accessible, easier, and more affordable. Yeah. Yeah, than to do that in America, like I don't quite understand that. So if any listeners know, the reason, feel free to comment and let me know because I don't know.
[00:25:31] Randall: But that's a perspective that you have, I'm assuming, because you've traveled, you've met people from other places. So my question is, how as American has your perception of the world changed from before you were an experienced traveler to like now after you're an experienced traveler.
[00:25:51] Taylor: This is like a really deep question, actually. My perception of the world has definitely changed. I mean, okay,
[00:25:58] Randall: I chat GPT some questions. This is one of them, but I think it was a good question. So you can answer this, you can answer it however you want, but let me, I'll give you sort of my shot at it.
[00:26:07] Randall: Right. So I read a book a couple of years ago called Nomad Capitalist. And the number one thing to remember from the book is go to where you're treated best. And the premise is a lot of people, especially in America, you grow up in a town, you might go away to college, but then you go back to the town and then that's where you raise your family.
[00:26:27] Randall: And like being from a small town in Pennsylvania, that's what I see a lot of my high school classmates have done nothing wrong with that, but not necessarily what I want to do. Yeah. I think that's just sort of an American cultural thing. Yeah. But having left that town, having gone to college, even though it wasn't far away, having worked in a city, then moved. One of the experience that has shaped me as well, like I had a job, it was a crummy corporate job, but it gave me the opportunity to travel around the East coast.
[00:26:55] Randall: And just traveling to different cities around the East Coast, changed my perspective of how things work differently in different cities, right? I remember quite vividly, I was in Washington, D. C. I was in my 20s, and I was walking down the sidewalk, after I left the office for the day.
[00:27:11] Randall: And I was like, I feel great. I feel great. Why do I feel great? And then, it just kind of hit me.it's so diverse, everything, you have access to everything. there's every nationality of person is walking on the sidewalk and everybody's getting along. You can go to any type of food that you want to get.
[00:27:29] Randall: It's like hustle and bustle in the best way. And I've never like experienced that in a work setting before, but because I traveled for work a little bit, I was able to have that. And I realized that I liked it. Right. So now that I know that I like it, I can pursue those kinds of things.
[00:27:45] Randall: And then you know, relatively recently, I've been able to, travel to Europe you know, a bunch over the last, two years. And, I think that, culturally, that place, like, say, Portugal, Spain I don't know if it treats me better, but I think it aligns better with the lifestyle that I want to lead.
[00:28:01] Randall: And if I didn't go there, I wouldn't have known that.
[00:28:05] Randall: That's how, my perception has changed of the world. There's different ways of doing things other places. And if you live here in, say, the United States, Perhaps, this isn't the place that is most aligned with how you want to live your life.
[00:28:19] Randall: So, go pursue somewhere else or, maybe you're in Europe or, you know, Africa or somewhere and,that place doesn't align with you. And if you have the ability, go check out other places or, and it doesn't have to be a different continent, it could be a different town, right? So that's, sort of like my take on the question.
[00:28:37] Randall: Yeah.
[00:28:37] Taylor: Yeah, so getting back to the whole taking that gap year. So I didn't really start to travel the way I'm traveling now until my mid to upper 20s. And a lot of the people that do take that gap year, they're in their early 20s, like fresh out of college.
[00:28:53] Taylor: Some even fresh out of high school. And I just like, you know, I'll go to some places and for instance, last year I was in Australia and I did this tour to the Great Barrier Reef. It was me and a bunch of 22 year olds. And I got into a conversation with a few of them and they were telling me that they were on their gap year.
[00:29:07] Taylor: A lot of them were Europeans. And I was like, you know what? Like, gosh, like you guys are having so much fun. Like you guys are, I mean, I stay in luxury hotels, but they were like staying in hostels and stuff. They're like, yeah, we're going to go out and party again tonight till like two in the morning. And, you know, like, I don't know how long I'll be here.
[00:29:21] Taylor: I don't have a flight back yet, but maybe I'll go to Vietnam for two weeks. And I was like, gosh, I really wish I did that. I really, really wish someone would have told me to do this, but no one did. And it just wasn't even in my mind at that age. I was just kind of like, you know. Yeah, college is great.
[00:29:37] Taylor: I did have a great 4 years at college. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade them for the world. I met so many great people. But, you know, like, I came back to my hometown, which is outside of New York City got a job in New York. I'm supposed to, you know. Work that, go out on the weekends, but it just really wasn't fulfilling me.
[00:29:57] Taylor: And yeah, I'm just fascinated by that. I wish I would see more Americans doing that. I feel like a lot of Americans don't really start to travel until they start making money until they hit their mid to upper twenties. And at that point, like, yeah, you could obviously still enjoy travel.
[00:30:10] Taylor: You could obviously still do that. You know, staying in hostels and whatnot, but as you get older, I just feel like, we were talking about,convenience. I rather pay the extra money to be comfortable somewhere or to, sleep in a nice bed.
[00:30:24] Randall: Our values have changed as you get older, right?
[00:30:27] Randall: Yes.
[00:30:27] Taylor: Another thing I noticed too just from American society to like European and Australian societies.I feel like there's less pressure for people to settle down and get married and live that typical, white picket fence, cookie cutter lifestyle.
[00:30:42] Taylor: I mean, people obviously do that in Europe and in Australia, New Zealand. But I just feel like they don't care as much like they're living their life like they're just less stressed about that. Whereas I feel like here, it's definitely I don't know.
[00:30:56] Randall: I was just a couple weeks ago. I was at a friend's wedding and I met up with some people that I went to college with and we're friends, but we don't see each other that often.
[00:31:04] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:31:04] Randall: And we all sort of had a similar conversation. And one of the things that my buddy had said was like basically how Americans think of, I hate to generalize, but I think it's pretty general.
[00:31:17] Randall: I think a lot of people would agree with this, that, you go to high school, you go to college you meet somebody, you get married, you have kids, you work for 30 years and you retire. And I'm a millennial, you're a millennial. I feel like the millennial generation was just like, you go to college to go to college.
[00:31:35] Randall: And there was varying degrees of how you made that decision, but it was very much so. Like this is what you're doing. If not, you're not going to be successful. And I have a different opinion on that now. But that's not uncommon. It's not uncommon conversation that I have.
[00:31:50] Randall: There was this sort of ingrained in our cultural DNA, this is what you're supposed to do. And you had actually mentioned it earlier in the podcast about. You got the nine to five becausethat's what you thought you needed to do. I did the same thing.
[00:32:02] Randall: I went to college because I thought that's what I had to do. There wasn't an assessment of like, Oh, what do I want to do? How do I want to spend my time? How do I want to spend this tuition money that I'm going to have to pay back over several years? And then it was just like, Oh, I work at a company for 30 years and I keep working harder.
[00:32:17] Randall: And getting more responsibility and hopefully getting more pay. But I also learned the hard way cost of education, it doesn't work that way.
[00:32:24] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:32:24] Randall: So I would agree. It's very much part of American, society to do that.
[00:32:29] Taylor: Yeah, I also think it's how you're raised too and where you're brought up, because I was brought up in a very traditional Italian American family where, you know, like my parents got married at 25 and my mom works a corporate job and, I was I don't know
[00:32:44] Taylor: I guess like the rule breaker in my family. My parents were very supportive, especially my dad, cause my dad's a business owner, but they didn't necessarily understand my reasoning behind all of it. And so, I was judged by people that I was close with, like close friends and family at first, but you know, like now, especially since 2020, when a lot of people lost their jobs and started to, do what I'm doing now, I think it's definitely getting more normalized.
[00:33:09] Randall: And I think too,when we were making those decisions, access to information, while we had the internet, the internet wasn't what the internet is today.
[00:33:16] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:33:17] Randall: And there was no making money on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube, I don't think like those weren't options that were available to us. If I'm a teenager, I'm trying to figure out how to have a YouTube channel. And I'm doing that today.
[00:33:30] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:33:31] Randall: I was actually a kid from the UK Gabriel, he interviewed me, he reached out to me and he's like, you want to be on my podcast?
[00:33:37] Randall: So he's trying to build a podcast and make money from that. I'm like, kudos to you, dude. I'm significantly older than he is, butwe're both on the same journey. He actually has more episodes out than I do. Not that I'm competing with a teenager, but Hey, so I like to ask this question.
[00:33:53] Randall: I think that this segues nicely, this isn't a question about regret. I don't anticipate that you would have regret. And I think you just said that you don't. But knowing what you know now about how your passion aligns with how you make money and knowing what you know now about how the world works, what advice would you give to your younger self?
[00:34:14] Taylor: I think about this all the time.
[00:34:16] Randall: Same.
[00:34:16] Taylor: Yeah. So honestly, knowing what I know now, I would have, so have you heard of like Contiki or EF Ultimate Break?They're like big group trips, Yeah. I've
[00:34:27] Randall: heard of a group trip. Yes.
[00:34:29] Taylor: So knowing what I know now and like, I always had the travel bug was always in me, but I just didn't grow up with a traveling family.
[00:34:35] Taylor: So I really didn't get my passport until I hit 20, which is kind of a later age for, you know, to just start getting out there and seeing the world. I knew that I wanted to study abroad. So that's actually how I fell in love with travel. So I don't regret that, but. When you are in college, you have so much time off, like, for summer, you're out in, early May, you don't go back until, mid to end of August.
[00:34:58] Taylor: I would have signed up for one of their trips and gone to Europe or Japan or, South America or something. When I was in college, I wish I would have been exposed to the world, even outside of Europe, outside of, a developed country. Like, I wish I saw that earlier and I just kind of wish I would have started traveling a lot sooner.
[00:35:18] Taylor: I think, I don't know, my perception of things would have been a lot different. I also probably could have even started blogging a lot sooner. And like the people that started blogging and doing Instagram in like, 2013, 2014, even if they're not getting the numbers or the visibility that they once got, they're still so established and they're still making so much money and doing so well.
[00:35:38] Taylor: If I would have known that, I would have done that much sooner.
[00:35:41] Randall: Yeah. It reminds me of an investment term. I've spent many years in wealth management and my number one piece of advice is trying to make complex things simple. It's about if you're talking about investment results, it's about time in the market, not time in the market.
[00:35:56] Randall: So like you said, the people that have spent more time doing it, they're getting better results even though they might not be as popular as competent just because they have so many miles underneath their blogging belts at this time. I haven't thought about this for a while, but I was in my,I think my last year of college.
[00:36:13] Randall: So my second senior year for me and one of my professors was like, Oh there's a semester abroad that you can do or it was one of those mini semesters in between semesters, whatever they called those, you could go to France. I was like, Oh, that's super dope.
[00:36:26] Randall: I should do that. But I just found out about this. Yeah. But I feel like, nobody told me that this was a thing. I've been here for four years already, like four and a half. how did I not know? And I remember that was. Again, I didn't think about this until now, but that was probably the first moment in my life that I was like, Oh, I could do this.
[00:36:44] Randall: I should do this. I'm interested in doing this.
[00:36:46] Randall: But then life happens. Right. And then I didn't until several years later. So said again, what would be the piece of advice to your younger self? Do it sooner.
[00:36:54] Taylor: Yeah. So I would tell myself to get out of my comfort zone.
[00:36:57] Taylor: Go on these group trips, even if it's by yourself. Cause there's so many solo travelers that go on these group trips. It's a great way to meet people. It gets you out of your comfort zone. Growing up I was very shy and timid even through my earlier twenties. I really didn't start getting out of my shell until I started doing what I'm doing now.
[00:37:14] Taylor: And that's because I had to show up on social media, show my face, talk, doing what I'm doing now. And also solo traveling too, you do have to interact with people that you don't know. So I would tell myself to start traveling, you know, during those breaks, when I had the opportunity to, yeah.
[00:37:31] Randall: So like as a woman traveler, do you think you approach that differently than I would approach it traveling solo?
[00:37:37] Taylor: Yes. It's a lot easier for me to travel in Europe or in Canada or Australia than it is for me to go to Africa or you know, somewhere that's more That's not, you know, Europe or North America.
[00:37:53] Taylor: But I have gone to Guatemala by myself. I've gone to Peru by myself. And I do approach it more with caution, but I feel like those are the trips where I've actually grown because
[00:38:06] Taylor: those were the trips that kind of like just made me nervous and like really got me out of my shell. And I don't know, there was just like a lot more planning required. And I learned like places are definitely safer than what you think, but you obviously have to be more cautious.
[00:38:19] Randall: As a male, I don't necessarily take any precautions, but as a female traveler, if you go on solo trips, do you do anything that you think is a bit more cautious or do you go out of your way other than some like additional planning?
[00:38:33] Taylor: When I'm traveling by myself, I don't really go wandering around alone at night. Unless I'm with somebody and we're going to get drinks or whatnot, if I do go, I obviously go out to dinner by myself when I'm traveling alone, butI usually will stay in the more lively areas or like, I'll get a taxi or an Uber but I don't go just like wandering around.
[00:38:51] Taylor: I'm also not someone who likes to go to like, bars or nightclubs by myself. There's a lot of people that do that and have a great experience, but I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable doing that alone. So those two things. I'm trying to think of a time where like most of the time I've Knock on wood have felt very safe traveling alone.
[00:39:09] Taylor: Oh, another thing too, sometimes like there'll be a hike I'm interested in doing, but I'll read up on something like, Oh, don't do this alone. and then I won't that'll turn me off. So
[00:39:18] Randall: yeah, that's that's wise. So a little bit of extra planning.
[00:39:21] Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. And I also try to inform my family back home. About my whereabouts and stuff.
[00:39:26] Randall: Yeah, so I don't share my location with anybody on my phone, but when I travel, my parents, I know that they like to see where I'm at and I also know like from their home, they like to see that I'm in Spain, right?
[00:39:38] Randall: I know that they like that. And I also do it as a safety precaution a little bit for me. And then I know that they're going to be worried and I know that I'm traveling, I'm not going to be constantly checking in with them, but yeah, they have, if they listen to this, they've abused the privilege.
[00:39:51] Randall: So they no longer get it because they'll be like, Oh, can't see you. Where are you at? And be like, Oh, we saw you went to the bank today after you returned back home. It's like, stop it. Yeah. Like, just because it's there doesn't mean you're allowed to say, yeah, mom, dad, that's why you've lost the privilege.
[00:40:08] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:40:09] Randall: A couple I suppose, like quick questions here that I'd like to ask before we wrap up. Cause I know that we're running a little bit over what's the most influential book you've ever read?
[00:40:18] Taylor: I'd have to say The Alchemist. Like, I read it during a very, very rough time in my life.
[00:40:24] Taylor: I was like around 24, 25 ish, and just didn't really feel like I had a direction in life, and I was just feeling very depressed and down, and I don't know. It just kind of like saved me in a way. I know that's kind of cliche to say, but that also was kind of what sparked me to like get into travel and to do the things I'm passionate about.
[00:40:43] Randall: Yeah. I would second the reading of the alchemist. Great story. It's a great read, but it also has like a great message, right? It does.
[00:40:51] Taylor: Yep.
[00:40:51] Randall: Yeah, anything else before we wrap up that you'd like to cover? I have just one last question, but we'll land on that, but before we do anything you'd like to add, talk about clarify,
[00:41:00] Taylor: This is just like a piece of advice I could give to people. likethere's something you're passionate about and that you think you have a chance of being successful at, just go for it.
[00:41:07] Taylor: There's so much missed talent in this world, just because people feel like they need to stay in something they feel like they need to stay in a corporate job, or they feel like they need to, I don't know, just, you know, Be in something because society says so or they just feel like they have to even if you don't make it or even if it's something that you actually don't care to do. I think it's very worth it to give it a try.
[00:41:29] Randall: Yeah, I would agree. I say this to myself many times. It's like I'm gonna do this
[00:41:33] Taylor: Yeah.
[00:41:33] Randall: If it means I'm successful or I'm living under a bridge, that's the point of where I'm at, right.And there's a lot of, room in between success, how you define success and living underneath a bridge.
[00:41:46] Randall: But I think it is a funny way to think about it, but it's true. Like also quite vivid.
[00:41:50] Randall: With that said, how do you define success?
[00:41:53] Taylor: To me, success is when you're doing something that you're passionate and that you truly love to do, that you worked hard for, and you're able to live the life that you want to live comfortably.
[00:42:05] Taylor: That's how I define success. So for instance, for me, it was doing what I'm doing now, being able to pay my bills. And also being able to travel on top of that. Yeah.
[00:42:14] Randall: What is the most unexpected, but good unexpected thing that has come of your new career and lifestyle?
[00:42:22] Taylor: I think for me, I'm not an overnight success and in this industry, like in the online world in general, people are chasing quick money.
[00:42:31] Taylor: And part of me is happy that I didn't just go viral randomly. There's so much I learned in this whole process and it really helped me grow as a person too. I kept saying to myself throughout the journey, I'm not where I thought I'd be.
[00:42:44] Taylor: And like, I feel like I'm working so hard and things aren't working out. But I do feel like if you are someone who is passionate about something, like I've said, and you don't give up, you will succeed. You will get to where you need to be. Maybe not in the timeline that you wanted it to be in, but it'll happen.
[00:43:02] Randall: Persistence pays.
[00:43:03] Taylor: Yes, I agree.
[00:43:04] Randall: So overnight successes? Yes, they happen, but the majority of people that we look at as being successful, they weren't overnight successes. They put in their 10,000 hours or more to get to where they are.
[00:43:16] Randall: Like, just because you see them where they're at now. You don't see all the work that they put in to get there.
[00:43:21] Randall: What was the moment where you realizethat you were able to stop that internal, dialogue. Of like, Oh, I'm not where I wanted to be at this point.
[00:43:29] Randall: When did that change for you to be like, I am where I thought I wanted to be. And I love it.
[00:43:36] Taylor: I would have to say honestly, this year, recently, just getting onto media, but I was like, wow, you know, I've made it to this point. This was the big goal for me. The payment's a lot higher than the previous ad network that I was on. And it's just going to make my life better from here. So
[00:43:51] Randall: Good for you. And before we wrap up people want to check you out and follow you, where should they go find you?
[00:43:56] Taylor: So you could find me on my blog.
[00:43:58] Taylor: That's where I have all of my travel guides. It's browneyedflowerchild.com. And then you could follow me on my journeys and even in my personal life. 'cause I do share some personal stuff on my Instagram, which is at brown dot I dot flower dot child.
[00:44:14] Randall: Excellent. And we'll put those in the show notes for everybody as well.
[00:44:17] Randall: And do you have any trips coming up or projects that you're working on that you'd like to share?
[00:44:22] Taylor: Yeah, so my birthday is at the end of next month. So I like to do a Europe trip, European summer is like one of my favorite trips that I go on every year. So I'm going to be going to a couple of Greek islands, the Albanian Riviera, and then back to Italy.
[00:44:37] Taylor: I go to Italy every year. So that's why I said back to Italy, but yeah, that's my next trip. Projects that I'm working on is I want to double my blog traffic and also diversify the ways I'm getting traffic. Like Google's been a little crazy lately. I don't know if anyone's heard about that, but that's a whole nother story.
[00:44:55] Taylor: So like, I want to learn how to market myself more on Facebook and social media and Yeah. Like just being more of a resource for people. Excellent.
[00:45:05] Randall: Well
[00:45:05] Randall: Taylor Deer, thank you for joining me today. I'm really grateful that you took time to chat with me. I learned a lot from your journey. I learned a lot about your business from before our first conversation and during our conversation today and wish you nothing but continued success and increased traffic to your blog.
[00:45:24] Taylor: Thank you so much, Randall, for having me. It was definitely a pleasure talking about my journey with you. And I wish you all the success with your podcast and everything else that you're doing, you're doing such cool stuff and yeah. I hope to speak again soon.
[00:45:38] Randall: Yeah. Thanks.
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