Tune in as I share my journey to creating a new Youtube channel! From planning, to posting to promoting, I’m taking you along as I learn about this new platform for The Wanderlover.
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Life Updates – The Ups and Downs
Oh my God, guys. So last week I recorded the episode, what to do when you feel like Nothing is working, and I talked about how I snapped my brand new longboard.
A bunch of my crypto assets were frozen, and shortly after the episode was released, I got hit with a giant tax bill for Q4 that I wasn’t prepared for and I wasn’t expecting. And when that happened I was like, oh my gosh, I wish I had included this in last week’s episode. But as they say, it all comes in threes. So I’m hoping that’s the last of it. I learned a lot of incredibly valuable lessons and this week it’s starting to trend upwards. We have new flights booked, new travel plans, new wins in business, and a new YouTube channel to give a quick update on our travel plans for the next few months.
In a few weeks time, I believe in three three weeks, February 12th, Ragz and I will be flying to North Sumatra to this island called Nias, where we will be of course, surfing in an even more remote kind of island village life, living similar to where we were last year in rote, but complete opposite direction. In Indonesia, we’re going to be in one of the most western islands, and the waves there are a lot bigger and a lot faster, so it’s going to be very different than the mellow baby waves. We’ve been surfing for the past few months in Batu Karas. I’m really excited to continue improving my longboarding skills and explore another island in Indonesia.
This was where rags was over Christmas break. So when I was in New York and Miami, he stayed in Indonesia and went to this other island. Absolutely loved it. So now we are going back and I’m just very grateful for the opportunity and the ability to pick up and move to a different destination when we feel like it is calling our names. In March, I will be flying to Malaysia for a few days to do a visa run, and after that we will be flying to Mexico. That is where we’re going to be based for the next few months from March to around maybe May, and we’ll be there for my friend’s wedding in the Caribbean in Habush.
And then we’ll be relocating to the Pacific coast where there are waves to a little town called Las Salita. It’s one of the best left-hander waves for longboarding, I would say, in the world. It just looks like it peels on and on and on for a few minutes, so I’m really excited to go there. I’ll be traveling with my longboard, really looking forward to Mexican food, practicing my Spanish once again, and of course taking my entire business with me and the ability to grow it as I am traveling. And for those of you new to this podcast, my life didn’t always look like this.
I used to work a corporate finance job when I was planning for my next long weekend where I could fit in a four to five day vacation to another country. And so now the ability to just go wherever I want and be able to stay for as long as I want to and really experience the culture, it’s something that I honestly can never get tired of. And this freedom is what I teach you in this podcast through the Wonderlover Community Courses and Coaching. So if this is something that you resonate with, follow the podcast, subscribe on YouTube, and join our free Facebook group. You can also watch our free masterclass in the episode description.
Introducing My New Youtube Channel!
This episode is going to be all about our new YouTube channel, or should I say a revival of a YouTube channel that I haven’t touched since four years ago when I kind of dabbled in it and I just have a bunch of random videos there. I am going to be super intentional with the episodes I released for you on a biweekly basis this year, and I want to just share with all of you what you can expect from the channel as well as my thought processes, workflows, and insights behind starting this in the first place.
So in all of my programs, I give you the support and the accountability and the space to dream bigger every single year. I encourage you to pursue self-growth, growth in your business, in your relationships, in your personal life, in your friendships, growth in every area always. We really want to step outside our comfort zones and recognize when we are in a new comfort zone that we created within ourselves. So the reason I’m starting YouTube in 2023 is because I feel like I have not mastered, but I have grown my other platforms to a place where they feel manageable.
Of course, I’m going to continue recording and sharing new episodes on the podcast for you guys every Monday. Of course, I’m going to continue sharing in my different programs, launching new offers. But in terms of connection and the amount of information I can share with you guys, a lot of times it has felt limited, limited by the number of characters I can write in my captions on Instagram, or the amount of time I can record a video on Instagram or you guys not being able to see me as I am talking to you, right? So with the audio only format on a podcast, it is somewhat limiting and sometimes I just wish that there was a way for me to express everything fully.
You can see my facial expressions, you can see my hand movement. And so YouTube has really been calling my name and it is another platform that I feel really ready to take on in my business this year. So when you feel like a new platform is calling your name or a new direction for growth is available to you, lean into it and really think what it can add to your business because you’re never going to have made it. There’s always going to be things you can improve and introduce to your business suite. My best clients have come from listeners of this podcast, and I’m confident that by sharing videos of my face, more educational content as well as behind the scenes content, I’m going to be attracting a bigger audience and even more aligned clients.
Shooting long form videos is also going to be a new challenge for me that I’m really excited to take on. And so by embarking on this and doing what is hard, I hope to also serve as a role model for my community that you can do what is hard. You can do hard things. I totally understand the fear, the paralysis behind turning on a camera and having to speak directly to it, right? Like not even to an audience in front of you, it’s to a camera and the self-doubt. This judgment, when you watch back the clips, you’re like, oh, I don’t like how I said that word. I don’t like how my hair looks in the frame.
Things like that are inevitably going to come up. But by practicing and by holding myself accountable to this, you can see the change in my channel, and I’m confident that you can do the same strategically. YouTube is just an incredibly powerful platform to be on. So if you have the capacity to also start your YouTube channel, do it. Give it a shot. The nature of the platform helps give every piece of content that you post onto your page the longevity that it deserves. So what I mean by that is Instagram and TikTok, all the videos you create, all the posts and photos and content that you create is more or less chronological.
Whereas if you post blog posts or if you post pins on Pinterest, those platforms on Google and Pinterest, the content is searchable. And same thing with YouTube. So once you post something, as long as it’s SEO optimized, and as long as people are searching for it, it has the potential to get discovered even years after you post so strategically. YouTube is just really powerful because your content is evergreen and it doesn’t die out. And this is another reason why I am spending so much effort into really prioritizing this for this year.
How To Start A Youtube Channel
Preparation
Now let me share with you how I prepared to the best of my ability starting the channel from the ground up. With my experience with introducing new platforms to my business, I wanted to be prepared for my YouTube channel, but not in a way where it’s overbearing and I put too much pressure on myself to perform, and it just all goes spiraling downwards because I know myself as a a business owner, if I have too many things I have to follow. My rebellious phase comes in and I’m like, I just don’t wanna do any of it. Raise your hand if you’re like that. Let me know if you can relate, because that’s just who I am and I honor that in my business.
So when I wanted to start a YouTube channel, I knew that I needed accountability and I knew that I needed direction. So the first thing I did was hire a YouTube manager who I said, I need help editing my videos, planning my videos, and posting my videos. I wanted to release new videos once every two weeks, so not every week, because to me that just feels a little unsustainable with everything going on. I didn’t want to stress myself out, and two weeks was the happy medium where I felt like I could share long form videos with all of you guys, but not be overwhelmed with everything that goes on in the other parts of my business.
So full disclaimer, when I started my Instagram, when I started my podcast, I did not have help. I didn’t have the luxury to hire help. I’m in a position now where I know there’s a lot more going on in my business and for me to fully dedicate to this platform, I needed someone else to help me. So you do not need to do this to be successful, but if you have the capacity to, it will make your life so much easier, even if there isn’t a direct return on investment. In the beginning, look at the bigger picture. What are the possibilities with YouTube? What are the possibilities one year down the line, two year down the line in terms of monetization, how much is your business going to grow when you introduce a platform like YouTube into your content space?
Equipment
After I mentally felt prepared to start recording, I purchased equipment to help with my YouTube channel. I wanted my videos to look professional. Same thing when I started a podcast. I invested in a podcasting microphone. I invested in a new vlogging camera. I have the white Sony ZV1F, and it’s really portable. I purchased a selfie stick with it, a tripod, and I’ve been carrying it around the world with me so far. So that means like New York, Miami, and then now to Indonesia, and I’ll be probably traveling with my podcast microphone and my vlogging camera everywhere I go.
Content Planning
The nature of my videos is also going to be 80% educational where I’m talking in front of the camera and maybe around 10 to 20% vlogging a mix of and audios. So the first video I had shared with all of you is 88 abundance affirmations to call in money, wealth, success, and freedom as an entrepreneur in 2023, I also plan to share videos of my travels of different digital nomad destinations. I didn’t want this to be front and center of my channel. I didn’t want it to be purely vlogs because I truly value being in the moment and not having to record every single thing in order to create content.
I love documenting on my stories, but I also think there is a really important distinction between sharing when you feel like sharing versus sharing and documenting when you feel forced to. And I never want a platform to feel unaligned with how I want to experience a new place or a new activity. So the nature of my videos is also going to be a lot more manageable for how I work, right? And that’s the beauty of running your online business. You can design what you want to do around your timeframe, around what you enjoy doing. So know that although this is how I’m going to be running my channel, take what you resonate with and apply it to your own, but also know you can be successful doing it completely differently.
As with any online business, there’s no cookie cutter roadmap to success. You need to create your own way to success. In regards to YouTube, I am at chapter one, and you guys have heard me say over and over again on this podcast, do not compare your chapter one to someone else’s, chapter 20, and that’s what I have or haven’t been doing. I have not been comparing my chapter one to anyone else’s. Chapter 20. I know that there are really good YouTubers out there. I know that there’s people with millions of subscribers who have been doing this for years and years and years. My first video probably sucked, and my next few are probably going to suck.But that is part of it, right? No one starts off as an expert.
Starting The Channel & Managing Expectations
And so if you are thinking about starting a channel this year and you want to compare your chapter one to my chapter one, I do want to impart some insight into what I am expecting. Some reality checks, if you are a new entrepreneur, some wisdom that may help if you are at chapter one. So first and foremost, I plan to stick with YouTube for years and years and years. There really is no end date similar to this podcast. When I commit to something I fully commit, it’s not trying it out.
It’s not seeing if this is a phase or if I will go viral in the first two or three months. I know that’s not how social media works. Social media favors consistency, and the more consistent you are, the more your opportunities and your income grow exponentially. I also know that I probably won’t see a direct return on investment for at least maybe a year. And that is okay, I’m not expecting to monetize this platform off the bat or even after the first few months. I know that after a year, more opportunities to monetize will be available to me, but that’s not what I’m chasing.
As I record, edit, publish these videos for the first 12 months, if I do go viral and I see increased opportunities for monetization within 12 months, then great, right? That could happen. But that is not my number one priority, and that’s not what I am forcing because I truly want the creation process to be front and center.
Promotion & Marketing
The next thing I am really focusing on for my YouTube channel is promoting it on every single platform I have and having my marketing strategy in place for each video. And what I mean by that is I plan to run YouTube ads. I plan to run Facebook ads to my videos.
I’m also going to be announcing my new videos on my Instagram, on my podcast, like this one, writing newsletters about my new podcast episodes, sharing it with my Facebook group, and really recognizing that publishing videos is one thing, but the marketing after it is a whole nother machine that you have to master. And of course this takes trial and error and learning what works for you. And you might be thinking, Ugh, but Danielle, like you already have an established business, you can afford to not see income from YouTube for the first year. You have your other platforms quote unquote established already.
And the thing is, I didn’t start with all of this when I first started my Instagram, same as with anyone else. That starts, I started at Zero when I first started this podcast. I started with zero listeners. I’ve just done this so many times and I’ve gone through the commitment and the consistency to build all of these up. I get questions all the time, like, how do I start a Facebook group when I have zero members? I started a Facebook group with zero members, right? Like I also have started so many things from chapter one. And now after moving forward with it, people now see me as being at chapter 20.
So this is why this episode is to really show you. I am at chapter one with my YouTube channel. And if you are at the same place, all you have to do is be consistent and continue growing this in one to two years. Introduce another platform, but you have everything that you need right now and you can get started. I promise you, you’re going to learn so much through the process, like things you probably can’t even conceptualize right now. And that is the beauty of embarking on something as a complete beginner. I swear, I like Chase the thrill of learning something new and just being a beginner at something, cuz that’s how I feel like I’m growing the most.
And if I can impart that on you through this one episode, then my job here is done. Let me know your thoughts and takeaways from this episode. Anything that you have learned, if you wanna take a screenshot, share it to Instagram Stories and share it with your followers, that would mean so much. And if you don’t subscribe to the Wanderlover YouTube channel already, I will include the link in the description so you can give us a subscribe. Thank you guys so much and I will see you in the next episode.
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