Everyone loves to travel, but not everyone knows how to make travelling fun and immersive quite like Lade Ibikunle. The travel and lifestyle influencer has built an engaged community and a thriving influencing career with her entertaining travel content.
PiggyVest spoke to her about the economics of travel influencing, growing her brand as an influencer, and her tips for travelling on a budget.
Hi Lade! You have had a fantastic year travelling across Africa as an influencer. How many countries did you visit last year?
Thank you. I travelled to three countries last year.
Did you always want to be an influencer?
Not really, but I’ve always wanted to be in the creative space.
How did you get into travel influencing specifically?
I was into fashion content creation until I stepped foot on a plane for the first time; it was for a trip to Ghana. That was when I knew I wanted to do travel influencing full-time. I want to be able to show people that you can travel no matter how little you think you have.
Was it expensive to kickstart your career as an influencer?
It relatively was, but I saved months and months ahead for my first major trip.
What would you say is the cheapest country you have visited?
That would be the Benin Republic.
What about the most expensive?
Definitely Morocco. It was just unnecessarily expensive!
Were there any countries you visited where you experienced culture shock in how they relate to money vs. us here in Nigeria?
Brahhh, that would be UAE. And I know you might be thinking Dubai, but no, ABU DHABI! I don’t think there’s any poor person in that city. That’s where the UAE’s creme de la creme resides. They made me realise how ‘poor’ I am.
Most of their taxis are BMWs, Mercedes, Rolls Royce and the like. Whenever I stepped out to the supermarket, I’d see babies being wheeled around in custom Dior, Burberry or Chanel strollers. They just walked around like they had no worries in this life.
I know branding is a big part of influencing, and it is expensive to create and maintain a brand. Do you budget for events, publicity and branding, or do you just wing it?
The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to branding as an influencer is not to go above your means. The worst place to be is famous and poor (go and ask Chef Dami). I make sure to invest in my business as an influencer, but that expense is largely based on my income.
I won’t max out my budget for the month to attend some star-studded event just in the name of ‘networking’. So, to answer your question, it can be expensive, but I make do because I budget appropriately.
I noticed that some of the most successful videos on your social media were videos where you were either influencing for a brand or just sharing your life. How do you decide what content to create for your brand?
I just go with my gut. That’s really the answer. The moment I start letting the algorithm, trends or even brands decide my content style, I start to lose myself and my community.
Speaking of influencing for brands, collaborations are a big part of influencing and a very important source of income. How do you choose the brands you work for?
I make sure the brands align with my brand. I need to have a clear idea of what the brand wants to achieve with a given brief and how they will measure its success. If it’s something that aligns with my style of content and what I can achieve, we are good to go.
Do you remember your first paid influencing gig?
Yes, it was like ₦2,000 [Laughs].
What are the biggest brands you have collaborated with?
I can’t name any specific brands due to confidentiality agreements, but hospitality brands have my heart and my account too.
Some people might not realise this, but not all collaborations are paid. How do you decide what unpaid collaborations to take on?
For unpaid collabs, I simply ask myself if it’s worth my time. If yes, I take it, if no, I let it go. Unpaid collaborations are not so bad as long as it’s beneficial to me. There are times I work unpaid for a brand just so I can beef up my portfolio, or our collaboration can put me on the radar of another brand I really want to work with. I simply think of it as interning.
Working as a travel influencer requires you to do a lot of saving, budgeting and planning. Do you have any tools you swear by that make your trips more affordable?
Yes, I use simple tips and tricks like travelling off-season, searching for flights in incognito mode and in the middle of the night, taking advantage of stopovers to explore another country for ‘free,’ and flying to the lesser-known state of a country to reduce flight ticket prices — for example, flying to Mombasa, Kenya instead of Nairobi, Kenya. You can still explore Nairobi by taking a train from Mombassa. This particular hack saved me about ₦300,00 in flight tickets.
Do you have a preferred method of saving?
I try my best to save 40% of what I earn.
You have also run a number of small businesses alongside your work as an influencer. Why did you decide to go into business?
Na money o. Layi Wasabi once said, “To become an ocean of wealth, you need to have streams of income.”
Are there any lessons you have learned working as an influencer that you have applied to your businesses?
Yes. Focus on your focus and play to your strengths.
The influencing industry in Nigeria has grown a lot in the last decade, but it is still a small and unstructured industry without a lot of financial security. Do you have a long-term savings/investment strategy for staying financially secure through your career and after?
Apart from investing in myself, not yet. I am still researching and on the lookout for a long-term investment plan for my life. Last last, I’ll go back to 9-5.
Are there any financial decisions you have made over the course of your career that you are very proud of?
Yes, saving in FX. [You can do this with PiggyVest’s Flex Naira feature.]
Were there any financial mistakes you made at the beginning of your journey that you wish you could correct now?
Not saving in FX early enough. I see the small FX that I have now growing robust, and I really wish I started long before I did.
What financial tips would you like to share with other young influencers who want to build a financially secure career in the industry?
Know your worth, add taxes and charge that. When you do, don’t forget to save and invest to build multiple streams of income.
