Hey, I'm Chris Hau!

I’ve been a full-

time content creator for 10 years. On
any day of the week I wear many hats
as a photographer, videographer,
creative director, Youtuber,
Instagrammer, and creative
entrepreneur. I love creating things,
but I also love to travel, and I’ve found
a way to turn my skillset into
something that not only funds my
travels, but gets me travelling more,
and has allowed me to turn my
passion for travelling into a full-time
job.

Chris

In this course, learn Chris Hau's "secret sauce" to professional traveling.

This course guide summarizes everything we talk about in

the video. This is a digital file you can download and print
out or keep on your phone, tablet, or computer.
1
 CHAPTER 1
LESSON 2

The "NOTHING IS FREE" Philosophy

Start thinking in terms of “value.”
Value is defined as “the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.”
In this course, the value we’re talking about is economic value.
Ex: When I pitch a hotel on posting about them, if they give me a “free” night of
stay, there’s actually nothing free about this. The hotel has decided that my post
is worth something to them, likely publicity, awareness, brand alignment, and/or
content creation. In other words, my post has value. In exchange, they are
offering me something that is valuable to me: a free night of stay.
Like anything, if you want to get paid to do something, you have to do it for free first
to prove you can do it before someone will pay you to do it for them. You have to
invest in yourself.

2
 CHAPTER 2
LESSON 1

Approach #1: The Publication Approach

Start providing value to an already established travel publication that will pay you in
exchange for travel content (examples include a newspaper, magazine, or blog).
This approach is a good way to get started if you are truly new to the industry
because these companies already have the brand name to get in the door for free
travel perks. The good news is that the travel space is made up of mostly freelance
contributors, which means that anyone can break in if you have something of value
to offer. And because travel companies are used to working with freelancers, and in
many cases rely on them, it’s fairly easy to get in contact.
It might be worth pulling up a spreadsheet and making a list of all the publications
you want to pitch. Scour the internet and make this list and then start pitching
Anything you put in for free in the beginning will end up paying off later because
relationships are everything in the travel space — having a contact could turn into
getting a free meal, a free accommodation, and eventually even a free trip. A solid
relationship with a travel publication may start with you providing value for free, but
it could end up turning into an ongoing opportunity to get paid in exchange for
travel content on a freelance basis.

Companies to look into:

World Nomads
Patagonia

LESSON 2

Approach #2: The Portfolio Approach

The core of this approach is investing in your own vacations and taking time to build
up a portfolio. Start going on trips and using your vacations to document or build
content.
You can even do this without traveling: look at your local area with a new perspective
and start photographing, writing about, or making videos on the places you know
best.
Leverage everything in the name of building your craft which in turn builds your
value in the market.
No trip is a wasted trip for two reasons: one, you get to go on a trip, and two, you
have more opportunities to create visuals or stories to build up a portfolio.

3
 CHAPTER 2
LESSON 3
How Johnny Harris Got Started
Most creators will have a hybrid of the publication and portfolio
models.
Every journey starts with repetition — learning a skill and getting
better at it — so you need to make time to refine your craft, whether
that means becoming a full-time employee with a company where
you can build the skill, or doing it on the side as a hobby.
You have to trust that there is an economy for your craft.
When Vox came into being, Johnny applied to be on the video team,
animating stories for other journalists.
Make your first paid travel trip worth it so that you will get picked up
again for the next opportunity.
Producing borders moved Johnny from the publication route to a
portfolio route, which allowed him to go independent.
Johnny's takeaway is to find your value, refine it, and then pitch it.

LESSON 4
How Nathaniel Drew Got Started
For the first 4 years, Nathaniel wasn't making any money from publishing
content online.
Any opportunity to travel, he documented it and made it into a story.
Nathaniel built his skills by working in the film industry and learned a lot
from that experience.
He was proactive when looking for a job and showed what he could do,
which helped him to get on sets.
He kind of went the portfolio route and continued freelancing to keep his
freedom and flexibility.
Nathaniel thinks going to Mexico had an impact on his stories and visuals as
he was excited and inspired by the place, but ultimately you can't control
the timing or algorithms.
He always lived below his means and made sure to put aside money so that
he could take a big risk on something he cared a lot about.

LESSON 5
How Iz Harris Got Started
Iz started as a wedding filmmaker, where she refined her skills in
photography, filmmaking, and editing, and was pushed creatively to
tell the same story differently.
After that, she went into commercial filmmaking, where she learned
how to pitch herself to brands and built up a big portfolio.
It wasn't a profitable model at first, but Iz saw working for brands
for free as an investment, as she was learning more about
filmmaking and business.
Alongside building up a portfolio of work, Iz started documenting
her travels, to learn the art of speaking to the camera and guiding
the audience through a story.
Advice from Iz: Interact with as many brands as you can so you can
learn the landscape, even if they say no.
Iz recommends always being prepared for a potential pitch
meeting.

4
 CHAPTER 2
LESSON 6

A Breakdown of How You Can Actually Do This

Commissioned content
If you have a skill that could make something of value for a brand account, you
are in a good place to sell your content to the many brands that want it.
Commissioned content is solely about the brand or their product and is used
only on their media outlets.
Sponsored content
Luckily, you don't have to have a huge audience for a sponsored post to still have
some value. If your audience loves to travel and really respects what you have to
say, then there is value in that.
License your photos or videos
One thing I highly recommend is that you make sure that you own all your
original footage. You can license out that content to different people that you're
working with, but always make sure it's non-exclusive, which means that they
don't exclusively own that content. If the person hiring you insists on that, then
make sure you’re getting compensated fairly for that exclusivity.
Stock Photography or Videography
Check out Blackbox if you're interested in this option.
Writing blogs or articles
Sites like Medium are a great platform for honing the craft of writing for an
audience.
Teaching courses
If you’ve got a marketable skill, you can teach a course in that skill. In my case, I
have experience in photography so I taught a photography course when I was in
the Azores.
Airbnb Experiences
On this platform, experiences can be anything — from cooking an authentic
meal to taking a ride in a vintage car, to starting a petting zoo. You can also use
this platform for content creation skills — photographers commonly offer their
services for photoshoots, whether it’s for an hour or an afternoon.
Affiliate programs
If you’ve built up an audience, you can essentially create hyperlinks (in the
description of your YouTube videos, in your blogs, or on Instagram). And with
these hyperlinks, you’ll get a small kickback if someone purchases an item
through your link.

5
 CHAPTER 2
LESSON 7

Do You Actually Need a Following?

Remember, it isn't always about how big your brand is when it comes to working with
companies. It's about what you do, and what value you bring that brand and if
there's a good alignment of your brand with their brand.
I recommend you produce content as much and as often as you can, because you
never know when it’ll lead to a bigger opportunity. Even if you only get ten likes or
views on something, that’s ten people who consumed your content, and who might
start the ball rolling by sharing and spreading the word!
Make sure you understand the demographics of your audience, their purchase
intentions, and if that audience is a good fit for the content you're producing.
High quality work generally means you can get paid more for producing the content.
When you charge, you’re not just charging for production, you’re charging for the
potential eyeballs the content could reach.

LESSON 8

Gear? My Starting Kit

My camera kit
Sony mirrorless camera
Lenses:
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 or Sony 16-35mm f/4
24-70mm f/2.8
70-200mm with a 2x converter
Travel tripod
Sony Microphone
DJI DRONE
High-quality phone
Gimbal
Waterproof 360 camera

Editing setup
Macbook pro
iPad
iPhone
Premiere Pro or Final Cut for editing videos
Lightroom for editing photos
Presets

6
 CHAPTER 2
LESSON 9

Brief Overview of Camera Settings

The biggest goals when shooting any photo is to make sure:
your image is exposed properly
white balance is set
the thing you want to highlight is in focus
you have a nicely composed frame and shot
Here are a few things to research so you fully understand how to use your gear:
The exposure triangle
How to focus
Depth of field/aperture
How to expose my image
How to edit my photos
How to edit my videos
How to color my videos

To improve your phone photography, check out the

Moment camera app

LESSON 10

Homework
Make a list of all the things you’re really good at (think marketable skills and value!) Also,
make a list of things you might not be good at now but that you’d be willing to work
really hard at practicing to improve...

7
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 1

Finding the Right Contacts

The most important part about pitching is finding the right person to contact.
You really have to do your research and lock down specific names and titles.
You might want to look for hiring managers, communications teams, marketing
representatives.
If you work in production, it’s the producers and directors you want to contact
directly.
Your pitch has to show that you know and care about their brand, and then show
what kind of content or value you can offer them to make their brand even better.
Don’t try reaching out to big companies right away. Start small by trying to get a free
meal at a local restaurant, or email a local guide to jump on one of their experiences.
Typically, most companies have an email formula that will allow you to guess the
contacts’ email. So if you can tell that a company uses firstname DOT lastname @
companyname .com then you will most likely be able to connect the dots and fit the
marketing manager’s name and guess their email.
Another successful technique for reaching out to companies is to DM these
companies on their social media accounts. Be nice and approach them with a simple
DM like “Hi company, My name is ______. I have a marketing proposal I’d like to pass
along. Is there anyone from the marketing or PR department I can send it to?"

Help with email searches:

Clearbit is a google chrome extension that allows you to search for contacts and
then email them directly.
Google “best email finders” and then use whatever service works best for you.

8
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 2

How to Write A Successful Pitch

Keep your pitch brief and get to the point quickly, stating:
Who you are
What you’re offering
How your services can benefit the company/brand
What you need them to do in exchange
Avoid mass emails at all costs and make sure each email is specific and personalized
to address whoever it is you’re trying to contact.
If you have a mutual connection with the brand you’re trying to get in touch with,
mention the mutual connection in your email. Or better yet, have the mutual
connection introduce you via email to the contact you’re trying to connect with as
this builds trust.
If there is a chance you can go to a store or meet any of these people in person at
an event, build up the courage to knock on the door and pitch in person.
Before you send this pitch, make sure you check the spelling and grammar.
Always try and jump on a call if you can. My theory is that anyone who is serious
about working with you would be willing to jump on a call.
Even if you're not picked this time, check in from time to time — follow these people
on social media, Twitter, and any other place they can be found. Sometimes these
people post looking for help.

Instagram Pitch Template

Hi [Insert Brand Name]. [Insert authentic compliment about something the brand is
doing well]. Do you have a contact that we can reach out to at your marketing or PR
department? Would love to send a marketing proposal their way. I think we could add a
lot of value to your current marketing initiatives.

9
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 3

Media Kits
Media kits are tools used by media
outlets to pitch their value to Take a look at my very own media kit as
brands. inspiration.
A media kit highlights your skills,
numbers, and experience overall.
Your media kit doesn’t necessarily
have to be as comprehensive as
mine is, but it definitely needs to
showcase who you are, what you
can do, and who will be interested.

LESSON 4

How to Market Your Videos So They Get Seen

The first thing to do is to post to all your available social media platforms.
You have to make sure you customize your work for each one so it best suits the
platform you are posting on. Think about how people are discovering your
videos and optimize for that.
Another important part of getting your video seen is SEO.
Always try and make sure your title is concise but includes the keywords
necessary for people to find your videos. On top of that make sure your
description includes 1-2 lines explaining what the video is about using as many
of the important keywords necessary.
Tubebuddy and VidIQ are helpful for finding keywords.
Another thing you can try is Facebook Marketing. This is where you pay a little bit
for them to “boost” your post, which means that if all goes well with the algorithm,
they end up showing your video to more people than might typically see the content
you post.
You should also make sure that you have an aesthetic thumbnail and a catchy title.

10
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 5

Tourism Boards
These boards are selling people on the idea of travelling to their destination.
They always want to make sure when they bring in new media that the media
showcases them in a positive light and represents their country/city well.
How do tourism boards work?
First, you pitch them (and this is where a media kit really comes in handy).
If they resonate with your pitch, they have travel partners that they reach out to
that can set up a trip for you. These partners include car rentals, hotels,
restaurants, guides, unique experiences, and more.
Those travel partners all have PR departments and want to get featured in
articles, or videos so they can use that content to promote their business.
Those businesses will then offer their services to you, or the tourism board will
pay them to host you.
Tourism boards want a diverse portfolio of influencers, blog writers, traditional press,
and television to bring awareness to all the stories in that specific location. They
want to be everywhere and in emerging marketing channels.
The biggest takeaway I can share is to make it easy for the company to support you.
We had already bought tickets for the Azores, which meant we saved them money
on flights. It’s easier for the tourism board to want to support you if their expenses
are lower and you are committed to coming.
In my experience, it’s definitely easier to get subsidized travel when going to lesser-
known places. It means less competition, so it’s a good way to start pitching as you’re
just starting out.

11
 CHAPTER 3
LESSON 6

How to Get Invited Back

Relationships become especially important even after you’ve worked with a
company, brand, or tourism board, because if they like your work they may have
additional opportunities for you.
There was more value in landing Tourism Ottawa as a client and having them on our
website/roster than there was in getting paid more money at the time. If you're
playing the long-game strategy then it might be a good idea to be underpaid and
overdeliver.
Another way we’ve maintained relationships was to keep a very personal connection
with a tourism rep.

LESSON 7

Pitching as an Individual vs. As a Company

Right now, most of the directors from Tourism boards come from an old-school
method of working, and when I say old school, I mean they’re familiar with traditional
media—paid advertising, PR, magazines, TV. They’re used to working with teams or
big productions and they trust that method of generating content.
We're in a very transitional time because we’re working between a balance of new
media and an old-school mentality.
If you can work with a group, this could help you land bigger projects and potentially
get more funding.

LESSON 8
Homework
1. Build a list of places you want to go to.
2. Find out what experiences you want to pursue while there.
3. Finally, research contacts for these experiences.

12
 CHAPTER 4
LESSON 1

Landing Your First Free Experience

People in the travel space are busy and overrun with proposals, so locking down a
free experience often means efficiently communicating the value you can offer them.
This means summarizing as quickly as possible what you need from them and
what you are offering in return.
This also means being very upfront about numbers, which is how they are going
to be able to understand what they’re getting out of the deal.
Jump on a call once you have the value locked down and make sure to lay out the
numbers, show them the simple math, explain that it’s a win-win, and once they
understand that, they will be more likely to agree to work with you.
Now you can do this for anything so long as you’re essentially exchanging equal
value.
Be sure to lay out everything that goes into shooting those photos so they
understand why your services truly are of equal value.
Make note of all the things involved and then they will understand why it costs so
much. You want to be as specific as possible when explaining the value of your
services because these people don’t have time to be emailing back and forth with
lots of questions.

LESSON 2

So, What Do You Normally Charge For a Project?

A pro tip is to look into what other production companies in the area charge. Find
their charge pages on their website or email them for a quote if their rates aren’t
readily available.
Find out how much a videographer would charge for a half-day rate or a full-day
rate. And if your work looks similar to their work, that should give you an idea of
how much to charge.
Join different Facebook groups for content creators in the area and ask how much
people normally charge (but beware that this is a taboo area).
It’s important to know not only the value of your services but the value of your social
media following. An easy way to figure out the value of your following is to go to
Social BlueBook.
It's great to understand the people who are following you:
Does your following typically buy things?
Is your following more focused on buying expensive items or lower-priced items?
What is the main demographic?
What is the value of your skills, what is the value of your following, and then what is
the value of your contacts — where can you actually share? Consider, what does that
all cost?
13
 CHAPTER 4
LESSON 3

Strategies for Landing Free Accommodations

The way a hotel works is they often aren’t full to capacity. Those empty rooms don’t
make any money for the hotel. So reaching out with a proposal to offer marketing
material for a hotel when they have empty rooms makes a lot of sense for hotels.
Aim for the off-peak season and close to the travel date when they will be pretty
sure they will have empty rooms.
Don’t just bring your friends along because you want them there. Either you go
yourself or the people you’re bringing with you provide value to the project. This
could either be in the form of a model, producer, camera operator, drone operator,
photographer, etc.
Look for weaknesses in your chosen hotel's website, social media, and marketing,
and if you have the skills to help, present the hotel with an offer.

LESSON 4

Budgeting and Travel Estimates

The big thing about these tourism board trips is that while yes, technically they are
paying you, a lot of the payment comes in the form of them reimbursing you for the
expenses you incur while producing content for them.
That means getting a receipt for absolutely everything and keeping pictures or scans
of those receipts to then send to the company who will be reimbursing you.
I personally use an app called Wave Financial, which is an accounting software that
helps me handle everything from receipt scanning to invoicing to payment
processing.
Before you’ve even landed this trip, the company or tourism board or brand —
whomever you’re working for — might expect to see a travel estimate so they know
approximately how much they’ll have to dish out if they do decide to fund your
travels.
So if you’re compiling a travel estimate, this means you’re going to have to do all the
research upfront to determine approximately how much it’s going to cost for
accommodations, transportation, food, experiences — the whole package.

14
 CHAPTER 4
LESSON 5

Homework
For your previous assignment, you made a list of all the places you want to go and all the
experiences you want to have. Pick one of those places and build out an itinerary. Find
out exactly where you want to stay, what you want to do while there, where you want to
eat, and find out how much everything will cost. This is the foundation of your travel
estimate.

15
 CHAPTER 5
LESSON 1

Navigating Contracts
So typically, when I work with a tourism board or brand, the most important
elements are the deliverables that I am providing for that brand and then the use of
those deliverables by that brand.
In terms of a media release, in a perfect world, you would work very hard to get
everyone who ends up in your shots to sign that document, but it’s not always easy
to do. What I tend to go for is just filming each person real quickly on my phone so
that they’re saying to the camera, “I agree to give you the use of my likeness in your
content for promotion.” It’s still documented consent and is much faster and more
streamlined than having a bunch of people sign a bunch of forms.
Payment terms are a really big part of this contract, maybe even the biggest part.
You usually want to get paid fifty percent upfront for your total contracted amount
upon execution of the contract, and then get paid fifty percent once all the
deliverables are completed. That holds everybody accountable. And ideally, you
would also have a schedule included in this agreement, so that everything is laid out
in a timeline that everyone understands and deadlines are established.
Make sure you keep all the records of these signed agreements. You can use
different services, such as Adobe sign or Adobe Acrobat to make sure that you have
digital signatures that would hold up in court.

LESSON 2

How to Protect Yourself

Think carefully about your approach if a brand or tourism board violates the terms
of your contract.
Whether it’s a formal contract or simply an email, make sure that you’ve outlined the
deliverables, budget, and when you will get paid.
It’s always better to go to court as a corporation, rather than as an individual. So
consider incorporating your personal brand into your own personal corporation — it
doesn’t take much work beyond the general requirements to starting a business and
will protect you legally.
When it comes to your equipment, you definitely want to be sure there’s a backup.
Always have a backup camera — whether that’s a backup phone, an additional
camera, or bringing another person who has a camera.

16
 CHAPTER 5

LESSON 3

Contingency Plans for Weather

First off, make sure to ask the client if there’s an ideal look they’re going for. Most of
the time tourism boards want nice sunny weather and blue skies to showcase the
best their place has to offer. Of course, weather doesn’t always cooperate, so it’s
important to take that into account and have a plan in mind for how to work around
it.
Another aspect that’s important to keep in mind when it comes to weather is what
time of year you’re supposed to be showcasing.
I recommend always trying to work with clients to have contingency plans in place
and extra time in any given location, because even if everything else is perfectly lined
up, weather is completely unpredictable.

LESSON 4

Lessons I've Learned

1. When you’re getting paid to travel, sometimes things get a bit sticky when you’re
crossing a border, so if you can get the tourism board to organize a work visa for
you, that is ideal.
2. Always offer more value than you're asked for. The best way to get repeat business is
to offer more deliverables or give extra things for free outside of your contract.
Always be accommodating, and always offer more value when you can. At the end of
the day, giving them a little more doesn't cost you anything extra, and may end up
with bigger returns because you’ve established a positive relationship.
3. Continue to invest in your own vacations. Sometimes the best way to advance your
career is to invest back into your own work, and when you’re not working under
someone else’s parameters, you might find the content you produce is even better.

17
 CHAPTER 5

LESSON 5

My Current Strategies
First off, I always try to put it out into the world that we're looking to travel to new
locations. If certain brands see these posts and that we're interested in traveling to
their location, there might be a chance that they would want to bring us there. So
make it known that you want to do these things, tag the brands you want to work
with in posts, even if your posts aren’t pictures of their location.
If you buy a product, let's say it is your favorite travel water bottle, take some photos
of it and tag them, and make it known that you're interested in working with them in
that Instagram post.
You always want to try to create more win-win strategies. So think about every single
angle and every single thing that can lower expenses for a tourism board or another
brand, and then get another brand that isn't a competing brand involved. This way
you can create a full package to create as many win-win scenarios as possible.
Be open to working with a team as you become more established and find different
strategies to increase the chances of yourself working.

18
 CHAPTER 6
LESSON 1

How Travel Is Changing

I’ve seen that social media really has become more and more prominent in the travel
space. Social media is always changing, too, so my advice would be to just always go
where the eyeballs are.
Your phone has become a much more powerful tool, capable of generating quality
content and income. You don’t need to have super high-tech technology to create
good content.
Start noticing where marketing could be better and give suggestions to companies
to help them improve their marketing. There are so many travel companies that
don't have good photos. There are so many travel companies that could be doing a
better job at promoting whatever they're doing. So you can come in, maybe give
them a few suggestions and they might be more likely to hire you.

LESSON 2

Final Takeaways
First off, like anything, if you want to get paid to do something, you’ll have to practice!
Which means do it for free and build up a portfolio before you can get someone to
pay you to do it for them.
It’s going to take time, but it is possible.
Reach out to other local content creators too and start expanding your network.
Always follow through if you agree to terms of any kind.
Join points programs so you can save your travel clients money on flights, which is
usually one of the highest expenditures.
Above all, have something to say and a story to share. That’s what will get you results
and always keep building upon your next project.

19