Chances are that you are already familiar with the world-renowned Instagram accounts Gypsea_lust and Doyoutravel. Both travel accounts are incredibly popular, as Gypsea_lust has over 2.1 million online followers and Doyoutravel takes it up a notch with a total of 2.7 million followers.

Lauren Bullen is the creative mind behind Gypsea_lust and also plays an important role in the management of the account Doyoutravel, which was first created by her partner Jack Morris. We can say with ease that, with her enormous online following, there are plenty of lessons that you can learn from Lauren Bullen. That is why we dedicate this Creator Friday special to this power lady and have drawn three lessons on content creation from her work.

Where did it all start?

Lauren Bullen is an Australian content creator who has always had a passion for lifestyle and traveling and after her twin sister started an Instagram account with content concerning health, Lauren also desired to start doing something with Instagram.

In the early years of her life as a content creator, Lauren made a trip of three months through the USA and Canada with her best friend. She bought her first professional camera for this trip and coincidentally her friend wanted to improve on her photography and editing skills. So this trip served as a perfect opportunity for both friends to experiment with content creation. Lauren’s goal was to gain more followers on her Instagram account, so she tried to get as many reposts as possible on her pictures.

This may sound easy, but as many content creators know, it can be quite challenging to achieve. That is why her plans didn’t go as expected in the beginning. After her trip to North America, Lauren decided to travel to Asia for another few months. By then, she had approximately 2000 online followers. This was quite an amount of followers, but it was not enough to generate an income and Lauren noticed her budget decreasing by the day. Therefore she decided to return home to Australia and move to Cairns, North Queensland, where she continued to follow her passion and learn everything about photography and local tourism. This eventually led to her first job, which made her realize that her dream of earning money with her travels could become a reality one day. She received more and more assignments for her work as a content creator and started traveling to various places because of her work.

During an Instagram assignment in Fiji, she met Jack Morris, who later became her boyfriend. When the two creators got in a relationship, they decided to post pictures of their shared adventures. These pictures weren’t just some vacation snapshots, but images that would take your breath away. Beautiful locations, professionally posed, and perfectly edited. On top of their personal success, this couple is also responsible for a lot of local publicity. Many of their online followers often feel inspired by their images and desire to visit the same places that the couple has traveled to and captured in their content.

Because Lauren and Jack were able to convert their Instagram value to good marketing results for various companies, the two Instagram accounts of the couple eventually developed into a successfully operating business. In an interview, they have once mentioned that, for one single promotional post on their Instagram accounts, they can get paid up to €10,000. The couple currently runs their business from a true dream location in Bali. Therefore, if someone can tell you how to generate an income with your passion, it is this power couple.

What can you learn from Lauren Bullen?

#1 Be unique

When you look at the online content of Lauren Bullen, you not only see beautiful images but also a certain consistency in her work. Both Lauren and Jack work with specific themes based on the country they are staying in or the activities they participate in. Per theme, they design a unique format for editing the images, which they apply to a series of photographs. This not only ensures consistency in their content, but it also creates a balanced and neatly arranged overview of their account.

The way the couple edits their photographs is becoming increasingly popular, which is why many other creators copy this specific editing style. This shows how influential a properly executed style can be.

Something that Lauren and her partner perfectly incorporate in their work and photography is a clear focal point. In every picture on their accounts, there is one clear theme or subject that is highlighted. The aspect that they want to highlight in their pictures is usually centralized in the middle of the frame. Research shows that pictures with this setting usually score better than pictures without a clear focus and centralized highlight. This is because of the Instagram overview when you search for a specific hashtag. When using hashtags in your post, your picture will turn up in this overview, together with numerous other pictures. Therefore, you need to make sure that your picture stands out if you want as many people as possible to view your post. Pictures that are centralized in the frame and highlight the main element of the image in the middle of the frame usually stand out.

We challenge you, as a content creator, to analyze and create your own unique editing style and to think about how you can apply this style for a series of multiple posts, rather than just one single picture.

#2 Make it personal

Nowadays on Instagram, there are thousands of accounts with beautiful travel and landscape photography. In addition to Instagram, you can also find many other platforms that you can turn to for travel content. If you are a travel content creator, you need to make sure that you distinguish your work from all the other content that can be found online. When you think about what distinguishes your work from everything else and what will always make your work unique, there is only one answer: You! In general, pictures on Social Media work best when they have a personal touch to it.

For example, if we look at the picture below, you can see that Lauren used the beautiful scenery of Santorini, Greece, which serves as an amazing background. However, a picture of that scenery can be found anywhere on the internet. But because Lauren placed herself in the photograph she gave the entire image a personal and singular touch. This, in combination with her unique editing style of the picture, resulted in an enviable, gorgeous image.

#3 Jump at commercial opportunities

If you want to turn your passion for content creation into your profession, it is important to have a commercial mindset. Some creators argue that creativity and commercialism are two things that do not go hand in hand, but this isn't necessarily the truth. The trick is to find a happy medium in using your work for commercial purposes without losing your creativity.

Lauren Bullen is a great example of someone who handles this in a resourceful way. Various companies and organizations often approach her with business prepositions for the promotion of their products or services. To remain creative in her work, Lauren always edits her photographs herself in her unique style. This way she seizes commercial opportunities while remaining in creative control. In addition to this, Lauren noticed that many Instagram users used a similar style of editing. Therefore, she decided to convert her editing style into a preset on Adobe that people can purchase and apply to their pictures.

Per theme, she designed a different preset, like a summer collection, a fashion collection, a Bali collection, and a Cali collection. On a regular base, she designs more presets and adds them to the collection. This is a clever and inventive way to generate an income in addition to your standard work, without deviating too much from your core business as a content creator. You can check out Lauren’s presets using the following link: https://doyoutravelpresets.com

It is important to know when to jump at a certain opportunity for extra income. For example, if you are a visual artist that creates paintings, sculptures or maybe videos, you can think about giving online workshops in which you teach your followers the ins and outs of your art style. You can also apply this if you are a cook, a musician or, like Lauren Bullen, a photographer.

There are numerous options to generate an income with your work as a content creator. You can also use Uhmi to get you started with monetizing your online content. Want to learn more about this? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us and get your free advice on how to get started with Uhmi.