We Finally Found a Way to Make Our Creator Life Profitable

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Ad revenue and affiliate commissions weren’t cutting it. A travel agency partnership did—and opened up a whole new way to fund our travels.

As content creators, we all know how tough it is to actually afford this lifestyle. Ads barely cover a coffee, brand deals come and go, and affiliate links… well, let’s just say they rarely cover the airfare, even when the fucking Honey browser extension isn’t stealing our commissions.

The Lockwood family standing in Antarctica with snowy mountains in the background

Here’s the thing:

In early 2024, Erin and I stumbled into something that worked better than anything else we’ve tried since starting our channel in 2019. It wasn’t flashy, but it was real—and it completely changed the game.

Antarctica had always been at the top of my travel bucket list, but with prices ranging from $10,000–$25,000 per person before flights—and our videos always featuring our family of four—it just wasn’t in the cards.

 

Until it was.

I got a cold call from the head of a respected travel agency (yep, they still exist). He explained how creators could earn real referral income through a partnership, but when I mentioned Antarctica, he suggested starting with a hosted “influencer” trip. Within days, we had plans for a full group expedition along the coasts and islands of the White Continent.

The deal was simple:

  1. Erin and I would get to go on the trip at no cost

  2. We’d split commissions 3 ways (us/agency/agent)

  3. Our kids’ cost would come out of our commissions

  4. We’d continue to earn money from future referrals

 

We received over $50,000 in compensation for that trip—and the checks keep on coming.

A penny saved is a penny earned and by saving the $12,000 per person for a trip we already wanted to take, we saved $48,000 between the four of us. And after paying for our kids’ spots from our split, we still got a $5,000 check—enough to cover four international flights and all the extras. My pricey Antarctic dream? Completely free.

Interesting tidbit: had Erin and I been traveling sans-children, our cash commission check for the 20 guests we booked would have been $21,000.

Honestly, before this, I had no idea this kind of thing was even possible. Most people don’t, because nobody seems to talk about the behind-the-scenes side of these deals. But now that we’ve done it—and figured out what makes partnerships like this succeed (while others flop)—we want to extend the same opportunity to other creators who are in the same boat we were in. For the win-win.

But that hosted trip was just the start.

Here’s the crazy part: most of the money we’ve made since then hasn’t been from that Antarctica trip. It’s been from the ongoing commissions that followed.

To make that happen, we had to set up our own travel agency—no small feat. Between planning, branding, web app development, analytics, and compliance, it’s a full-time job for both of us. But that experience helped us create a referral program that makes it way faster and easier for creators like you to earn.

 

1. Affiliate Tracking That Actually Works

Ever sent hundreds (or thousands) of clicks through an affiliate link, only to look at your report and wonder where half of them went? Same.

Between the Honey scandal, shady tracking practices and “just trust us” reports, creators usually get the short end of the stick. Our system flips that.

We personally verify every referral source so you always get credit where it’s due. No black box. No guesswork. Just clarity.

 

2. Quality Over Quantity

We don’t do “fire and forget.” From onboarding to promotion, we personally brainstorm, track, and support every creator we partner with.

Each week, Erin and I review every performance report ourselves—making sure nothing’s missing and spotting new ways to help.

You’re not a stat in a dashboard. You’re a remote member of our team.

 

Example Weekly Affiliate Performance Report

Here’s an example of the performance reporting detail that you’ll receive from Erin or me each week:

Deal Name Est. Comm. Est. Close Date Stage
Robert Smith: Galapagos Islands $1,375 June 1, 2026 Quoting
Nicole Jackson: Nile River Cruise $675 April 1, 2026 Closed / Won
Lisa Johnson: Amazon Explorer $450 May 1, 2026 Deposit Paid
Maria Sanchez: East Asia Cruise $375 July 1, 2026 Quoting
Marcus Trudeau: 11-Day Antarctica $1,125 June 1, 2026 Closed / Lost

 Two Ways to Partner with ABC Trips

 

1. Influencer Trips

  • Work with us to ideate, plan, launch, and promote your own hosted trip(s).

  • From surveys to gauge audience interest, to destination selection, to full promo support—we advise you at every step.

  • You focus on creating content and building excitement; we handle the logistics, booking, and operations.

(Pro tip: most creators who’ve tried this elsewhere failed. We’ve cracked the code for choosing the right trips and making them work.)

2. Travel Referrals

  • Share your unique links with your audience.

  • Earn commissions on every booking we close.

  • Weekly performance reports and fast payouts.

 How It Works:

  1. You submit the interest form below.

  2. We hop on a quick Zoom to discuss.

  3. We sign our partnership agreement.

  4. We set up your links and promo plan.

  5. You start sharing with your audience.

  6. We provide weekly reports + support.

  7. We pay you 10 days after being paid.

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 Frequently-Asked Questions

  • Most of the trips that we feature and recommend for hosted experiences are high commission deals. It’s pretty common for these to pay a total commission (pre-split) of $500-1,500 or more per guest. Because most people prefer to travel with at least one other person, these can be very lucrative.

    Lower-paying activities, such as booking flights and hotels, budget cruises, etc. (basically, the things that are easy enough for travelers to book on their own) aren’t something we promote. It’s our trip packages that offer the most value to guests—and the most commissions for us.

    • We’re creators too—we’ve been where you are.

    • We know what works (and what doesn’t).

    • We’ve got insider access to premium trips your audience actually wants.

    • Our system is battle-tested, profitable, and creator-friendly.

  • Absolutely not. In fact, some of the most successful affiliates aren’t even content creators, but instead just people with a strong group of family, friends and acquaintances who admire their travel tastes and stories.

  • Nope. We’ve sold more one-off Antarctica bookings this year than we sold through our hosted trip last year, which is just one illustration of how valuable individual bookings can be.

    So if you prefer to just share referral links through your Instagram posts, YouTube episodes, and email campaigns, you still have plenty of income potential with our program.

  • Usually, the low-hanging fruit will be to offer a trip that aligns with your brand story. If you’re known for backpacking across Europe, let’s look in that space. If you focus on luxury travel, let’s find an equivalent experience. If you focus on Southeast Asia, we can come up with ideas that highlight your experience.

    The sky is the limit, but there are certainly considerations that can greatly impact the number of guests who will show interest and the value of potential commissions for your group. We’ll review these with you on our first call.

  • The travel agent assigned to each booking opportunity receives a slightly higher share of the commissions because they tend to do the most work throughout the relationship with each guest.

    Some larger trips are booked up to 2 years before the dates of travel, which can mean many months of providing quotes, facilitating bank transfers, answering questions, providing guidance, arranging travel insurance, and assisting with changes and issues along the way.

  • Absolutely—and if that’s your dream, you should totally do it.

    Just know that the easiest part is generating leads, while the harder parts are negotiating preferred vendor deals that make your offers compelling and competitive, maintaining industry compliance, paying for the enterprise software platforms, and tracking down the thousands of individual commission payments due from vendors.

    Our program makes things easy and lucrative for influencers who’d prefer to not take on another full-time job that requires additional team members for lower-level tasks.

 

Here’s Your Next Step (If You Want It)

If this sounds like something that could help you the way it helped us, we’d love to chat. No pressure—just fill out the quick interest form and we’ll share what this could look like for your audience.