I felt extremely unsettled after high school.Unlike many of my peers, I had no clue what I wanted to study and no strong calling. Nothing felt “right”.Not wanting to make the wrong decision, I went on a gap year, hoping to find enlightenment and figure out what I was supposed to do in the world.Spoiler alert: I didn’t find it.Not in the myriad of part-time jobs, not after three years of studying Business Management, and not in any of the random intern positions, either.Until I moved down to Cape Town in 2014 (on a whim), right after a breakup and quitting my job.With no real game plan and not wanting to sleep on my dad’s couch forever, I started lining up interviews for anything and everything.That led to me landing my first job in travel. It was the first industry to feel like “home”, and it’s been a gift that keeps on giving.After being hired as a Marketing Assistant and then entrusted with launching the brand’s blog, I realised I had found two more callings, furiously typing up a storm at 53 WPM and content marketing.In 2016, I quit my last full-time job and went all in on freelance writing. In between, I dabbled in a side gig, a travel blog for South Africans, that I used to document my travels while working remotely from Thailand, Vietnam, Sicily, Kenya, Indonesia and more.With my own personal sandbox, I got my first real taste of SEO.It’s been an immensely rewarding project that has taught me dozens of skills and given me an encyclopedic range of knowledge I would never have without it.From the bane of my existence (site speed) to basic coding, monetisation strategies, keyword research and the power of Pinterest.…It’s been a lot!While my travel blog grew and landed me press trips and paid opportunities with some of my favourite brands like Ford, Reunion Island Tourism and Cape Union Mart, my freelance writing business was also thriving.I landed gigs creating high-ranking content for brands like Neil Patel, Marketsplash, Skyscanner, Mailbird, Plann, and Elise Darma. Fast forward to 2024, and I’m a certified word wizard who writes blog posts your target audience actually wants to read, positions your brand as the go-to expert, and is void of generic fluff.Are you ready to say goodbye to boring content that struggles to rank? Let’s work together to create SEO-optimised content that builds authority and shows off your brand personality.Want to learn more? Visit www.laurenkmelnick.com to book a discovery call.Check out my blog, Wanderlust Movement (www.wanderlustmovement.org)