Influencers who leave well paid, essential jobs to travel the world/ make content

[Paramedia]

I seem to have been flooded with new accounts of white women in their 30’s/ 40’s who all seem to have similar stories of leaving teaching, medicine, corporate jobs, law to travel and create ‘content’ either with or without children whilst travelling.
Obviously I am a bit jealous, but I wonder why now? Ten years ago, people would be happy to have a two week holiday and then come back to work. Was that because there was no other ‘easy’ option such as influencing or that we were just happier in our jobs?
I wonder if it’s a mindset, I always hear ‘do what makes you happy’ and wonder ‘but we can’t all do that, all of the time?’. Someone has to be doing the watching, someone has to be working in those sectors and seeking the escapism that those accounts offer? So how do they, ‘the creators’, know that they will be the ones who make it, that their accounts will be the ones people engage with. Or are there enough people that all of the similar accounts can all be successful based on views alone?

I wonder if some of these women just want to take a long holiday/sabbatical and feel the need to try to justify it by dressing it up as being an 'influencer'. What I mean is that they are not dependent on income from influencing, they're just dipping a toe in the water to see if they can monetise it. But I suspect the majority do end up coming back and settling back into more stable jobs eventually.

In case I sound judgemental I'm not! If people can afford to take some time out of life to go travelling, I think that's great :)

Sorry but I don't understand why anyone bothers with " influencers".

Why are people so sheep like they need someone to " influence" them?

Perhaps if people used their own brains and judgement these " influencers" wouldn't be conning people into thinking they have any relevance.

Maybe they’re just sick of the grind - I know I am.

Not many of them will make enough to live on full time without sponsorship, selling something or millions of followers. These days youtube doesn’t pay as much apparently. But if they live cheaply they can make it work, maybe they’re renting out their place back home.

After Covid, many people decided to change their lives. Plus there is now better much technology to live and work remotely, or off grid etc. compared to 10 years ago so it makes it more possible.

And a lot of younger people are deciding to travel now, rather than wait for retirement.

It doesn’t mean they’ll do it forever, they may just be taking a few years out from their lives to travel and explore.

Good luck to them - I’d love to do the same (although without the youtube).

@OperationtimecomingupI see it more like the old fashioned glossy magazines but more relatable. Like you might see a beautiful beach in Thailand but seeing ‘Linda the former nurse’ there, having a great time with a less than perfect bikini body makes me think ‘I could do that, that could be me’ in a way that the glossy magazine never could. So rather than influencing it’s more ‘levelling’

Totally fine for them to do it, what baffles me is who is watching it I’ve never watched an influencer to my knowledge, I don’t use instagram or tik tok.

I don’t have time and it would never occur to me. And I’m on the internet a lot, reading etc.

@HornyHornersPinkyWinky but they can only do the same, because of the followers. I imagine for most people, the money would run out and they would have to come home. But the influencers are ‘stuck’ needing to keep making the content to do the things they want to do. The market is pretty saturated which is why most need an USP, such as travelling as a single mum or travelling as a disabled person.

I agree with you. I don't use Instagram and don't have TikTok so I never see any posts from vacuous airheads "influencers" and have no wish to.

I am influenced by properly tested research and consult Which? if I want to buy something expensive and read various reviews across a selection of different platforms (including mumsnet) for less expensive items.

Ten years ago, people would be happy to have a two week holiday and then come back to work. Was that because there was no other ‘easy’ option such as influencing or that we were just happier in our jobs?

Dropping out of s ociety and going to "find yourself" was a cliche a lot longer than a decade ago. See also, "sailing around the world". I really don't think it's true that 10 years ago, everyone was happy to come back to work after a fortnight's holiday - I certainly wasn't!

I always wonder about their longer term career plan and pension because I assume it's a rather time limited avenue. I guess time will tell!

Linda the former nurse’ there, having a great time with a less than perfect bikini body makes me think ‘I could do that, that could be me’

I guarantee they are not all having the constant great time they portray. It's very easy to take a photo in a 5 star hotel reception and pretend you are staying there instead of the two star around the corner. Sitting on a beach looks nice when you can't afford to go jet skiing. It's a fake life and a con in the hope they get enough followers to actually start getting sponsorship.

Look at all the restaurant owners that have so-called influencers looking for a free meal for 'exposure'. It's trying to live a life for nothing, and it rarely works.

I don't think being an 'influencer' is a job and frankly the way many behave is entitled. Reminds me of the socialite girls in the 90s.

Only a few weeks ago there was ski hire shop up here that was approached by an influencer....for them to demand £1700 for 2 days skiing!

I'm all for people travelling or doing as they please but pay your own way!

I know 1 woman who has done this. She has a very rich husband. I think that is common.

This. I used to work with someone who is now a moderately famous mummy influencer and she is very clear that it won’t be forever.

They don’t. I would imagine the statistics would show a very very low success rate and a lot of these people are not living the life they portray. Not for long anyway.

How do you 'not have time' if you're on the internet a lot? Surely you do have time you're just choosing to spend it elsewhere.

I can absolutely see why people want to do it. As someone said up thread it's people who want to escape the daily grind. In your 30s/40s you've got a long way to go until retirement. Being paid to enjoy yourself probably looks like a better option.

However, if it looks too good to be true it usually is. Not many people actually get to the point where they earn enough from it to replace their job, I wouldn't have thought. And actually it's probably a lot harder than it looks. It's not like taking the odd photo and uploading it

I have seen some of this on Instagram but less on YouTube.

I started a YouTube channel recently when I upped sticks and moved to a new life. It’s all about a quiet life, spending time outdoors, baking and gardening in my new home, the only thing I hope to influence is for more people to spend time in their garden! Definitely not in it for fame or money, which is much less than I earn from my p-t job anyway. I just like making pretty, calming videos.

This is definitely the case for some of them - and others end up in massive amounts of debt because they take out loans/finance deals while they're still working and then hope for sponsorship or monetisation to kick in before the bailiffs get sent after them.

Others just plain fake it - AI backgrounds to make it look like they're on a beach or a private jet... I live in a city where there are a lot of beautiful buildings and large expensive cars and in the past I've seen 'influencers' queueing to get their hangers on to photograph them sitting on the bonnet of someone else's car. I've even seen someone borrowing someone else's expensive cocktail at a rooftop bar to take a selfie with.

What baffles me is the person who films their nonsense. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I have even less respect for that person than the influencer. If someone asked me to follow them about with my phone all day I’d die laughing. What a waste of time!

I didn't go on a sabbatical or become an influencer; I retrained and started a new career. But fwiw, I didn't "leave" teaching, I escaped.

Can I ask how getting reviews from people on mumsnet is any different the to the views of an “influencer” (assuming it’s not a paid ad).
Its a personal opinion from a stranger you don’t know, just on a different platform.

I don’t follow any influencers, in fact my algorithm basically brings up amusing videos of bemused parents but if I was interested in a specific product I see where it would be helpful to watch a clip of someone’s experience with that thing.

Agree. It’s just that you didn’t see it unless you actually knew the person or your mother told you about her friend jeans daughter who had gone to live on a kibbutz . We are now able to see the lives of millions of people around the world. I’d say that’s the new thing not the behaviour. Humans arent doing anything particularly new.

Exactly. The Hippie Trail of the 70s comes to mind.

People forget that our way of life is relatively new in the scope of human history, and some people just aren’t aligned with it so choose a different path. Good luck to them.

Most of them will be back working in their office jobs in a few months when the money runs out.

I still look at other reviews.

For example, loads of posters recommended Halara for some stretchy jeans. I then looked up lots of reviews elsewhere before buying some, and am very pleased with them.

I suppose the option of how it’s funded is a new concept though. Women in their late 30s/40s did not have a way out of the grind prior to this, unless they had a lottery win or inheritance. It wasn’t possible for you to fund months on end of travel, and I think less socially acceptable too. Especially for mothers and less well off people. Nowadays lots of people are setting off with a one way ticket to east Asia and no set date to return with kids in tow, hoping to document their journey and to one day earn a living doing so.