“I first heard the word ‘entrepreneur’ when I was in college, where I studied biomedical engineering. I never thought I’d actually become one,” Gabby Beckford, 26, said via CNBC.
Since that moment, she’s gone from a career in engineering to traveling the world as not only an entrepreneur but a full-time entrepreneur. And, the best part is that Gabby is paid.
CNBC reports that Gabby Beckford completely ditched her corporate engineering job to travel the world as a full-time content creator.
@packslight the daily salsa lessons in Parque Mexico tho 💃🏽 te amo CDMX #remotework #digitalnomad
Beckford shares that despite starting her career at age 23, it was actually her travel blog, Packs Light that truly ignited her passion.
“I found that writing Packs Light, the travel blog [that] I started in college, was what I most looked forward to each day,” said Beckford. “I realized then that I wanted to travel the world and create content for a living.”
Turning A Hobby Into A Lifestyle
While Packs Light didn’t really bring in much money at first, Gabby Beckford knew that writing and traveling the world were the two things that brought her the most joy. It wasn’t until about three years in that she began to actually see a real income from writing.
It was then that she decided to leave her job and take on blogging as a new career.
“In February 2020, after saving money and coming up with a plan, I quit my $69,000-per year engineering job to work full-time as a blogger and consultant,” Beckford said. “Last year, my gross income from Packs Light was over $170,000.”
Growing Her Income
Beckford was able to successfully leave her full-time job and use blogging, consulting, and various side hustles to reach the six-figure side of life.
To be clear, Beckford didn’t just up and leave her gig without a plan in motion. Thanks to scholarships and grants, she was able to graduate from college debt-free and knew that to leave her job, she needed to save up at least $15,000 to cover startup expenses and an emergency cushion.
“I took on side hustles doing virtual recruiting, dog-sitting, freelance writing, and social media managing for extra cash,” she explained. “I also lived at home with my parents – then with roommates – to save on rent.”
Once she reached her desired savings, Gabby Beckford went fully independent with her business, leveraging partnership campaigns to build her streams of income.
“My campaigns, which often consist of sponsored social media posts, blog content, and business-to-business marketing consultations make up the bulk of my business earnings,” Beckford shared. “I have supplementary streams of passive income.”
Those streams include Blog-ad income, paid membership communities, and digital products such as online courses for other aspiring digital nomads.
After a successful 2021, the goal this year is to double or even triple her earnings from last year.
