57% of Gen Z in America aspire to be social media influencers. The other 43% are either introverts or simply not enticed by the allure of lucrative brand deals, travel opportunities and flexible schedules. In an era where remote work is the norm, more young people are imagining a life where they swap weekly Teams meetings for personal storytelling through short-form video. For creative adventurers looking to make the most of their work-life balance, becoming a self-employed social media manager is an enticing alternative to climbing the corporate ladder, where work doesn’t need to be tied to a physical office.
For professionals like Yaiza Curtis – a UGC (user-generated content) creator and social media manager – as well as D’Arcy O’Neill and Emma Minty, specialists in Meta ads and social media strategy, working remotely has meant the ability to digital nomad their way through the world, experiencing new places without ditching the idea of a career. For Yaiza, travel is an essential part of what she does, proven by the fact that she was on her 16th flight of 2025 when I met up with her in February. Whether it’s Tenerife, Marbella, Amsterdam or Dubai, she said that “the better sunlight and locations all add to what I can give to a brand. My Instagram is also my portfolio, so visually travelling and being in multiple locations sells on social media.”
D’Arcy and Emma, co-owners of The Social Abyss, also take full advantage of remote work. In the summer, D’Arcy was working under his “desk umbrella,” sunbathing on the beach with his laptop much of the time. If there are no Jersey-based commitments for the next few months, they can pick up their lives and go wherever they want. “You could work out a way to work whilst continuously travelling,” D’Arcy added. “Everything’s online – we can speak to our clients from anywhere. The only problem is time zones, but if you’re willing to work in the evening, you could spend a couple of months further afield.” The pair are planning to live and work from Lisbon over the next few months, before continuing their travels across Europe.
While the freedom to travel is a huge perk, it’s definitely a highlight amongst the challenges of social media management. “When you’re self-employed, it’s not a case of clocking off at 5pm. You can’t stick to an eight hour daily routine,” Yaiza explained. “There’s no liberty to take a full day off because clients expect responses at all hours. If a message comes in, I have to deal with it immediately, whether it’s early morning, late at night, or the middle of a weekend. It’s a job that demands constant availability, and being online isn’t optional; it’s essential.”
The blurred line between work and personal time seems to be the price social media managers pay for self-employment and geographical freedom. Behind the scenes, their everyday routine mixes managing finances, client sales, troubleshooting technical breakdowns and shouldering an immense amount of screen time. “It’s more five-to-five than nine-to-five,” D’Arcy said, “sometimes you’re on your laptop at three o’clock in the morning editing something, after looking at a screen all day, and your brain’s fried.” Emma added, “there’s no point trying it if you’re not disciplined. It would fall to pieces straight away.”
“Social media is an ever-evolving landscape,” Yaiza pointed out, “the algorithm is fragile – what worked last month might not work this week.” The difficulties of navigating the numbers game was a sentiment shared by D’Arcy: “at the start, it was easy to get quite down about failures. But now we just see it as testing. You almost want to fail as fast as possible, so that you can figure out what’s good quicker. I actually love it when something bombs because then I can say, ‘right, that doesn’t work, let’s just move on.’”
Trials and experience have also allowed Emma and D’Arcy to find a niche within their business, tailored around their interests in the outdoors and travel. “When we started, we went very broad,” Emma explained. “Now we’re kind of going more into the outdoor, adventure and sustainability genre – things we’re passionate about, such as water sports, outdoor activities, retreats and travelling. We’ve got clients in Morocco, and heading further in this direction, that’s the dream.” For those in the industry, flexibility can be both a blessing and a curse – but for them, the perks of remote work definitely outweigh the cons.
