@tiara1972 said....
MOO-Thoughts, observations & questions this morning:
1. Getting started on van life takes some up front investment. I wonder if the van was purchased with cash and by whom? If not, I wonder who holds the loan? It appears a 2012 Transit Van generally runs between around 7k to 13k, depending on mileage and condition. Outside of the van, supplies, customization, etc all take money. I believe they funded this trip together and/or were generously supported by their parents.
It appears both fathers owned their own businesses, so it may have been a goal or value to support this for their kids.
2. While having enough money and a decent budget to carry out a trip like this is important, (we saved 10k for a family of 4 for a 6000 mile round trip for a month on the road), they had done something similar before in a car and had a general sense of that, and I think I remember her father saying they had money. Without more information, I am not sure money was the main source of contention...it could be, tho...many people argue over money even when they have plenty.
3. The social influencer part of this confounds me a bit. Building a base following (say 5k active followers on the low end) is hard to get to by itself. To maintain and grow that takes an awful lot of time (often years) and work. There should be signs of that PRIOR to thinking one could make a living off it UNLESS sponsored by a number of companies prior to the trip.
Do we know if they had company sponsors?
If they were well sponsored, they could have made money from the sponsor, or have been gifted important supplies to market and make commission from along the way.
Also note, that in my experience, sponsors often include deadlines for posts and links used, including specific expectations for influencers, it can cause pressure. It could also be hard to meet these expectations if juggling more than one sponsor over a specific timeframe.
4. Whether it is true or not, Brian gives some insight on their plan during the bodycam vid, as I recall. I think he said they were headed to see g-ma best friend and then to Portland to do a stint at a World Wide Opportunity on an Organic Farm (otherwise known as WWOOFing) and then land in California. Don't know much beyond that...it is all quite a curious and exasperating case to try to figure out without more information to comb thru.
MOO and just wanted to share with this amazing group!
Couldn't find your original post, so I copied and pasted the above to reference.
My ex and I had van life type trips, although we only spent overnights while on the road to our destinations, otherwise it was motels for us. Customized van, plenty of space for two people. This was many years ago, so it's far different in a lot of aspects.
I believe it started as a idea for Gabby, BL was on board with it. I read that Gabby sold her car to help purchase this van, hence why it was in her name only.
I'm also under the impression that they both worked jobs to save money for this trip and to afford the custom touches inside of the van.
I've joined many of the social media sites over the years but have since dropped all but FB, so when people leave twitter posts here I don't have access. Instagram, tictok, and whatever else is it out there needs follower's. The more follower's, the more likely it would be to get sponsors.
For twitter it is my understanding that a minimum of 10,000 followers will get you a sponsor. At this level (it really feels more like a game of chance than a job imo) you would most likely start receiving products (related to the sponsors) but no money. Again the more follower's the more you can achieve.
Yes I think it takes time, a lot of follower's, interesting content, and sponsor's to really start earning money. It feels almost like a fantasy world and reaching certain goals to increase sponsorship.
This vanlife trip for Gabby was about getting follower's, so she would have to project things that would be interesting enough to other's to make money. Yes, it does sound like a lot more work and time to achieve any success. It would require sustaining interesting content.
What Gabby was doing doesn't seem achievable during this actual trip. What she should have been doing it getting a lot of content, bringing it home and adding content little by little to get the followers.
It sounds as though she was trying to put in the work while she was on the trip, sort of on the fly as she went along. That had to be consuming, especially when you think back to the August 12th day of the cop stop and the abuse. Six hours sitting in a coffee shop with a impatient human being as your companion, tempers would definitely flare, and make a really unpleasant trip.
I'm sure the fighting increased as they went along. I hope this answers somewhat what social influencing is and how people become successes doing it or failing at it.
Does this sound like a enjoyable trip that Gabby had hoped for? She needed guidance and it doesn't seem like she had that and she definitely didn't have a supportive partner either, imo sorry this is so lengthy...
