How this Dane kickstarted his influencer lifestyle

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Say hello to Jonas Hornehøj – a 24-year-old Danish man that travels the world and is now an Instagram influencer. Before travelling the world, Jonas worked at a bar in Copenhagen. He raked in about $1800 per month in wages. But then something changed.

Jonas was tired of his routine – he was a traveller at heart, and he knew that he had to do something to get out of the daily grind. Jonas sold all of his belongings and began investing his life savings into the volatile market of digital assets (think B itcoin).

And then it hit him – he was trading and made more than enough to start travelling the world. Fast forward six months and this is him:

A Traveler’s Instagram Influencer Status

Jonas has been travelling for six months across South East Asia, accompanied by his girlfriend Alica, his camera, and his trustworthy drone. We asked him about his experiences so far:

It’s a tough but fulfilling lifestyle. Although my home’s half way across the world, we’re getting a real kick by travelling between the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. There are so many amazing places to see. They make for great scenery and the culture you experience is second-to-none!

Asking him what he did to amass his IG following so quickly:

I started playing around with my drone before we began travelling. Drone photography is a great niche to be in, and I wanted to leverage that in my pictures.

We completely agree. The photos snapped by Jonas have been featured in the likes of Metro, Beautiful Destinations (they have over 1 million Facebook followers!), and even got him to the front page of Lonely Planet. Humbly, Jonas doesn’t claim to be a social media expert.

Coupled with a small support team that helped me get more Instagram followers that loved travel, I managed to build an engaged audience and I couldn’t be happier. A lot of people tell me the quality and consistency of my photos are a huge factor in building my audience.

Since then Jonas’s Instagram has now amassed more than 14,000 followers – nothing short of incredible in such a short timeframe. Jonas began travelling in November last year, starting off with literally no audience following him.

Monthly Costs as an Instagram Influencer in Travel

With Jonas travelling the globe with his girlfriend, his escapades don’t necessarily come cheap. Jonas told us he spends between $2000-$3000 USD per month just to keep his travels up. That’s certainly not “little” by any means.

With such a hefty price tag carrying his monthly travels, Jonas supplements his lifestyle with gigs for hotels. The occasional free accommodation coupled with large retainers for photoshoots for hotels brings ‘home’ the bacon.

Videos like this show off what it takes for him to really establish himself as an Instagram influencer:

Tips and Tricks to Becoming an Instagram Influencer

We can learn a lot from Jonas. Not everybody’s destined to travel like he does – but there are serious ‘gram lessons we can pick up on:

Great Content Gets You Really, Really Far

A lot of Jonas’ posts look like they came straight out of a magazine. This takes serious skill. While it’s not really useful to suggest heading to a photography class – you do need a (trained) eye for great shots. Content is half the piece to the puzzle.

Captions Rule Everything Around Me

One thing most great Instagrammers have in common with their posts isn’t always quality. It’s the story behind each of their posts. A picture often speaks a thousand words. But sometimes you just need an amazing caption to accompany your snap. Jonas does this on every single one of his photos. He tells a story visually but also through text.

Choose Your Niche Carefully

Travelling isn’t for everyone. Jonas is a great example of a travel Instagram influencer – but you may be into fashion, or makeup. Whatever you want to do, it should be your passion. Without sounding too wise for his age, Jonas mentions:

I’ve realized extra about myself, concerning the world,  and about ‘actual life’.

We can only imagine Jonas is referring to finding yourself in your own niche, as he refers to not “substituting [his] expertise” with anything else.

Shoutouts

We’d like to thank Jonas for letting us cover his amazing story as an Instagram influencer.

You can follow his journey on Instagram: @thefreedomcomplex

“Thanks for featuring me! A big shoutout to my girlfriend, all my followers, and my friends at Upleap for helping me get to where I am.”

To learn more about some of the tools he used, including Upleap and Later, check out this article about the best social media tools you can leverage to help you grow into an Instagram influencer.

We Reviewed Upleap As Well

Jonas made use of Upleap to grow himself into an Instagram Influencer. If this is on your agenda, check out our Upleap Review to learn more!

💡 Related Post: How to share Instagram stories from more apps

 

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