I quit my job and became a travel 'micro influencer.' Now I make money leading tours and see the world for free.

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Rhiannon Wood is a social media influencer who leads travel group trips around the world.

Courtesy of Rhiannon Wood Rhiannon Wood, 26, fell in love with traveling during her university's study abroad program in 2021.

After working minimum-wage jobs around the world, she took courses on how to monetize social media.

Today, she has about 60,000 Instagram followers and is building her own travel agency.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rhiannon Wood , a 26-year-old travel micro influencer who runs a social media business and leads group tours around the world.

It has been edited for length and clarity.

After graduating from the University of Birmingham in the UK in 2022, I knew I wanted to travel before settling into my journalism career.

I took odd jobs around the world to scratch the itch, but I didn't quite get back to the life I originally envisioned.

Instead, traveling around the world — and finding a way to monetize it online — became my full-time job.

I never thought that hosting group tours in Greece, Peru, and Georgia would be my business, but now I can't imagine it being anything else.

My now-60,000 Instagram followers make me a " micro influencer ," generally defined as an online creator with a follower count between 10,000 and 100,000.

I don't make a ton of money, as I'm only about two years in, but I make enough to live comfortably and continue building my business.