Dymphe is the creator of Dymabroad. She is a travel blogger and travel content creator on Instagram. Her business is all about creating travel content to help and inspire others in traveling, through helpful travel articles and photos of beautiful destinations.
What is Dymabroad all about?
Dymabroad is all about creating travel content. On my travel blog, I write articles related to travel. With this blog, I want to help people make their trips better. On my blog, you can find itineraries, travel guides, places for taking photos, and more. Besides that, I have an Instagram page with more than 86,000 followers where I post all kinds of travel content. Here I also focus on fashion by combining the outfits I wear with the destination that I visit. Also, I always want the photo to look like a story. Colors and backgrounds are very important in my photos.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your business?
Besides my travel business, I have a great interest in law. I studied law at a university in the city of Amsterdam and I did a lot of legal work at the same time. In the future, I want to combine Dymabroad with my own legal firm. My journey of how I started my current travel business started a few years ago. I wanted to travel more to see more beautiful destinations. Since then, I have traveled to lots of countries and I’ve learned a lot about traveling, travel photography, and trip planning.
One day I decided to create an Instagram page where I could share my trips with others. I found out that there are a lot of people who want to see my photos! Now I have thousands of followers who see my journeys and my community is constantly growing. Because I also learned a lot about traveling, I decided to create a travel blog to share information that makes traveling easier! This allows me to go more in-depth and highlight specific things about a destination.
How have the pandemic affected you or your new business?
For me, as a travel content creator, the pandemic might seem like a bad time, because traveling has almost completely stopped. However, during this time I could actually work a lot on my travel blog. I already had many photos and information of destinations I visited in the past. Because I couldn’t travel to create new photos, I had to focus on something else and this allowed me to spend all my time on my travel blog. During this time, I learned a lot about the technical aspects of websites, and at the same time, I wrote a lot of articles.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
The largest mistake I made was doing too much at the same time and in a short amount of time. At first, I wanted to get perfect results very fast for all the things I was doing. For example, I wanted to take a large number of photos quickly. Also, when I started my blog, I wanted my travel blog to be perfect and write lots of articles in a short amount of time. This led me to have very long days and I didn’t take breaks or had weekends.
When you’re starting your own business, it can be hard to stop working sometimes. Working without time off is sustainable for a short time, for example, if there’s one quick deadline, but it doesn’t work if you’re doing it for a longer time. What I learned from this is that it is better to create a schedule for working, focus on one task at the same time and also take time off.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
One thing that I do every day is reflecting on the work I did the previous day. That way I know what went well and what could have gone better. This allows me to constantly improve myself. I think reflecting is one of the most important things to do if you’re having your own business.
How do you manage running a business while traveling?
First, I always make sure to make a good schedule for when I am working while traveling. The days during which you travel are different from other days, so you should expect the amount of work and time during which you work to be different as well. With a good plan, you can accomplish more and you can make better predictions on what is possible to do in one day! Second, traveling is a large part of my business. When I go somewhere I go there to make content. For example, when I go to Paris, I take photos at the Eiffel Tower. Also, I learn a lot of things about the destinations that I visit that I can then use to write articles.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I am constantly learning new things for my business. In the world of blogging and social media, there are always new things that can be helpful or that you should know. For example, there are updates to Instagram that create new opportunities, such as Reels. Also, there are always updates in the way search engines rank your website. To keep getting the best results, it is important to know about the latest updates and know what you can do about it. I think it is important to always keep learning because that way you always get better at what you are doing.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
My most effective marketing strategy has been my own unique way of taking and editing photos. My photos always look very colorful and bright. Furthermore, I don’t just want to capture a photo, I want to capture a story at all the places that I visit. These things allowed me to grow my community on my Instagram page a lot. Furthermore, it helped me make my articles better because good photos make the reading experience of the articles more pleasant and it makes it easier to share the articles on social media.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
My best piece of advice for new entrepreneurs would be to never give up. It can be difficult to start a business and it can take a lot of time, but when you work hard you’ll get there eventually. You just have to go through with it, work a lot, never lose sight of your goal, and after a time you’ll succeed. Also, find something you love doing for your business! For example, photography is a passion of mine and it’s a large part of my business. This makes work a thing I love, instead of something that has to be done.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
The thing that helped a lot in being more productive is setting timers. I often work better if I have small goals within a short time frame. Setting a timer of, for example, 25 minutes, helps me to completely focus on one task and do it faster. Depending on the task I want to accomplish, I set the timer for a shorter or longer duration. For example, when I am doing short tasks, I may set the timer for 5 minutes only, and when I am doing a task that I know is larger, the timer might be for 1 hour.
What is your definition of success?
For me, success is when I am doing something that I love. You don’t have to have the best results when doing that, because when you love the thing you are working on you get the best result for yourself.
How do you personally overcome fear?
To overcome fear, I always think of the worst possible situation that could happen if I do something. Often this is something that isn’t that bad at all, or it is something that could later be fixed. Thinking about problems in this way, lets you see that potential positive outcomes are often worth doing something, despite the associated fear. Then you just have to do it!
How can readers get in touch with you?
Readers can get in touch with me by going to my travel blog dymabroad.com and they can see my travel photos on my Instagram page @dymabroad. On my blog, you can also find my travel articles, and you can subscribe to my newsletter to get updates on what I write.
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