Last Updated on May 14, 2021
Jessica Lauren Vine has been building her following since the days of MySpace. She, along with her husband, four kids and a cat and a dog have been RVing around the United States since November 2017. Jessica shares travel tips on her social media and blogs at jessicalaurenvine.com.
So, tell us about the RV life. What led you to head out on the open road with your family back in 2017?
Sure. Yeah, so I was actually was raised as an RV kid from five to twelve so that was kind of normal life to me. So, with the combination of me being a nomadic child and my husband being in the army for eight years we both kind of weren’t impressed with staying in one spot. So, I was like why do we have this massive four-bedroom house that we want to leave all the time why don’t we just get an RV and just head out and see where we want to go and so far, so good.
What are some of your favorite places that you have visited over the last two years?
So, our favorite hands-down is the Grand Canyon. It was I mean besides from my experience there just looking at everyone else, my kids, and all the other people experience it you have people crying.
Like it was- like there was this one was like I wanted all my life to see the Grand Canyon so I think it’s not only the places that we see but the people that we see and the things we get to experience with strangers. That’s really cool.
When you decided to head out on the road, did you do any planning in terms of how you could integrate your experiences into your blog topics and influencer work or did that just happen organically?
Well I was thinking about this question of like how you became an influencer and I told my friend well I just kept talking and finally people started listening so I just keep talking. So, there’s really not been a plan it’s kind of just like we always said man we should have a reality show. If we had hidden cameras this would be a hoot so we just kind of bring people along and we’re like welcome to our life.
What have been some of the challenges you have faced maintaining your blog and copywriting services during your travels? Do you structure your day/week/month in a certain way to stay productive while on the move?
So, I am type A personality so I have a very specific process. So, I map out how much money I want to make each month, I map out how many visitors I want to have to my blog, you know, and is this a gross month or am I just kind of working on sustainability and then I say okay X amount of money. So, I map out that day, I make that that amount of money and I figure out do I want to have a working month where I work twenty days or do I want to have a not working month where I work a lot fifteen days and have off. So, at the beginning or at the end of the previous month I decide what kind of month I want to have the next month so I figure that out. And then that way if people say, you know, hey can you do this for me or that I already know yes, I can or no I can’t and I don’t feel pressured because I’ve already made my schedule.
Can you describe some of your favorite brand partnerships to-date?
Yeah! I love working with the Tailwind app for like Pinterest and Instagram. And also, OptinMonster they’ve been really great.
As an influencer and digital marketer, where do you see influencer marketing headed in the next several years? What are some of the strategies you are putting in place to adapt to these changes?
Well I mean ever since I’ve been a kid, I think my first experiences as an influencer on accident was whenever I was about twelve. I created a Yahoo club twenty years ago called, Advice You Need and I would just give advice to random adults about their life and they didn’t know how old I was.
And so, I would like to, you know, bring more awareness to mental health and, you know, helping people because a lot of time, you know, we know what to do but we don’t have some there to support us. And there’s actually a brand, Talk Space, that’s like a text therapist and I would love to be able to work with a brand like that so I could, you know, help more people understand that, you know, normal people like myself go to therapy. If you consider me normal, I don’t know. So, that’s my thought as far as business and I’ve got four kids so as far as that, you know, as personal life, you know, taking them around the U.S. and letting them figure out what they want to be and what they want to do when they grow up.
What advice would you give to aspiring bloggers and influencers?
So, there was actually a point whenever I had a very established blog, I actually erased it and started all over from scratch because I didn’t feel like it was my voice. It was kind of like I was trying to create content for people that I didn’t really feel like were my audience. It was just kind of more manufactured to make money and so I could not get behind that. So if – my biggest thing is never sell out because it’s worth it to wait for a company that you can get excited about and feel good about sharing to other people and it’s never to early to get started sharing your message even if you have no clue who the company you’re going to be working with is because I started having these companies reach out to me. I’m like oh I had no idea you could even find me so it’s never too early, you’ve never got too small of an audience, your story is worth it, somebody out there needs what you have to share.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
