How I Became a TRAVEL VLOGGER | Make Money Even if You're Just Starting Out as a YouTuber!

a lot of people work hard to make money

so they can travel the world but what if

you got paid to travel hey there i'm

kritika and i'm a full-time youtuber

since last year until before lockdown

happened and kept us all at home i

visited bali for new year's went on a

solo trip to singapore visited a

subscriber of mine in dubai when i hit

hundred thousand on youtube went to hong

kong and macau traveled to sikkim with a

sikumi's friend of mine visited the

beautiful country of czech republic

explored the expansive kazakhstan with a

bunch of content creators visited dubai

again with family welcome to 2020 in

pondicherry went to kolkata and

sundarbans at the start of the year

stayed in some stunning hotels traveled

to seattle to get an exclusive tour of

boeing and went to new york city and

boston you know what the best part is i

didn't actually pay to go on most of

those trips in fact i was actually being

paid to go on some of those trips you

want to know how well keep on watching

to find out

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if you told me a few years ago that i

could live a life of freedom where i

could travel the world and work from

anywhere and take videos and photos

which i anyway enjoy doing and get paid

to do that i would have thought you're

out of your mind but we're living in the

best time possible to make a living

online thanks to the internet and social

media it's become easier than ever to

make money online and a decent amount of

money at that the world is way more

accessible today than it was a few years

ago and we have information literally at

our fingertips and as long as you have a

laptop some basic equipment internet

connection and some skills you can make

a decent income online as a travel

vlogger or as a youtuber and content

creator in any capacity but you're

probably thinking

this must be easy for you because you

already have 250 000 subscribers but how

do i do this if i'm just starting today

and believe it or not three years ago i

had a full-time corporate job in fact i

worked in corporate jobs for almost four

years before i started doing any of this

and that's why i'm making this video

today because i honestly believe that

this kind of life is available to anyone

if you just put in the work and if you

have the right knowledge and in this

video i'm going to be sharing with you

what it takes to be a full-time

traveller and make a living online as a

content creator and social media

influencer even if you're just starting

out and basically share what has

actually worked for me i know traveling

may not be possible now because of koved

in fact i just got back from a short

trip of mine and i'm quarantining in my

room but if this is a life you want i

think you can start working towards it

right away so that when travel goes back

to normal you're all set first things

first if you want to be a travel blogger

you need to be traveling already this

sounds kind of counter-intuitive but

before brands and tourism boards and

hotels reach out to you and offer

sponsored stays you need to already be

traveling and creating content about it

so that even if you don't have a big

audience you already have a bank of

travel videos and travel content on your

channel whether it's youtube or

instagram so that when you pitch to

these hotels or travel companies they

know that you're already in this space

so when you're starting out especially

if you want to be a travel vlogger there

is an investment because apart from

equipment and stuff you also need to

invest in traveling but having said that

there are so many different ways in

which you can make your travel

affordable so firstly what i did was i

chose to go to budget places so i

visited vietnam thailand kerala goa and

all of these trips that i did were quite

budget trips i didn't really spend too

much money i found really affordable

hotels you can also look for hostels and

stuff like that and travel during off

season so that things are more

affordable and use local transportation

wherever it's possible so that you save

money another option which is not

something i did is you can do

couchsurfing where basically you go and

stay in someone's house so i haven't

really done that the only like closest

i've come to couchsurfing is staying at

a subscriber's place but there are

couchsurfing platforms where you can

find people who are willing to host you

so that's a great way to save money as

well the second point which is kind of

related to the first point is that you

need to have money saved so if you're

working a full-time job and you want to

eventually be a full-time travel blogger

and live a digital nomad lifestyle then

you need to start saving money right now

because before you decide to quit your

job i would suggest you have money saved

for at least 6 to 12 months of expenses

so in business terms i think this is

called runway time so the runway time is

basically the time a company has before

it runs out of cash so i would say that

your runway time should be 12 months

preferably but at least six months so

start saving money right away and the

way i did this was i made some huge

lifestyle changes and this is something

i think you will have to do if you want

to be a travel vlogger so i firstly

moved out of my apartment in mumbai at

the time i think i was paying 23 000

rupees in rent so once i quit my job

this was about three years ago i was

still living there for a few months but

then i thought i should just save money

so i moved back in with my parents and i

ended up saving so much money that way

also i kind of stopped eating out as

much so wherever possible i was saving

money and this is something i suggest

you do as well because as much money as

you have saved the longer you can

sustain your business without making an

income because it is kind of hard to

make money when you're just starting out

as a travel vlogger i know this sounds

kind of blur and not fun because the

whole travel vlogger digital nomad

lifestyle seems really fun but there are

like a lot of these sacrifices that you

have to make for the greater good and

you only start seeing returns after like

a year or two so you need to be patient

as well number three is to invest in

equipment now this is something which

really depends on what kind of videos

you want to make but when you're

starting out i really don't think you

need a fancy setup figure out what kind

of videos you want to make if you want

to do vlogs maybe your gopro is a good

place to start or a small vlogging

camera i'm currently using the sony zv1

which is a good camera as well but do

your research and figure out what

equipment you want don't go overboard

with it when you're starting out if

you're considering doing this seriously

and doing it full time definitely

consider saving some money to buy

equipment because you can start off with

your phones or whatever cameras you have

but if you really want to stand out it

does help if you have good equipment so

keep that in mind as well when you're

saving your money i have two videos on

my channel but i've spoken about my

youtube equipment one is the beginner

level and one is what i'm currently

using so i'll leave links to those down

below you can check them out next you're

going to need to learn some skills so if

you want to be a travel vlogger the

skills that you will really need are

videography editing and photography when

i started photography was something i've

always been good at because my dad was

quite into photography but i knew

nothing about videos and editing and i

had no idea how to edit videos so

everything i've learned is from the

internet and one great place where you

can learn all these skills is skillshare

who is also the sponsor for today's

video skillshare is an online learning

platform with thousands of inspiring

classes that fuel your creativity and

curiosity they have classes on lots of

fun and creative topics but if you're

looking to be a travel vlogger then they

have classes about vlogging about

youtube photography videography editing

videos and even business so i think all

of these are relevant to a travel

vlogger as a member you get unlimited

access to all their classes in fact i've

personally done so many editing and

youtube related classes on skillshare

one class i really enjoyed doing and

that i recommend you to do as well if

you're starting off on youtube is by

sorel amore who's one of my favorite

youtube creators and it's called youtube

success build an authentic channel

that's worth the follow as someone who

really enjoys sorel's content it was

quite nice to learn from her and she

covers topics like figuring out your

niche and stuff which i think is super

important when you're starting out if

you want to try out skillshare i have a

free trial link in the description below

the first thousand people to click on it

will get a free trial to skillshare

premium membership and after that it's

less than ten dollars a month for the

annual plan considering how christmas

and new year's are around the corner i

think the skillshare membership makes

for like the perfect gift whether you

want to gift it to yourself or to your

friends and family because like i said

they have tons of classes and i've

honestly learned so many things outside

of the youtube space as well like

illustrating and stuff so definitely

consider that and do check out my link

and do the free trial next you want to

figure out your niche now i know you

want to be a travel vlogger but even

within the travel vlogging space because

there are so many people doing this if

you're very specific about your niche it

definitely helps to stand out so even

within travel try to think of what kind

of travel you do are you into budget

travel are you like a solo traveler do

you like backpacking or are you more

into luxury travel or do you like

beaches or cities or mountains so try to

be as specific as you can be now i know

when you're starting out it's hard to

stick to that niche because you may be

doing a mix of things but try to keep

your niche in mind because in the future

if you want to work with five star

hotels and stuff and that's your end

goal then doing budget travel videos is

probably not going to help so you know

you need to keep that long-term vision

in mind as well and see what kind of

brands you want to be working with and

then think of what kind of content you

need to create this is something you

have to do long term so put in good

thought about your niche and what kind

of space you want to occupy within

travel also i've been working on

launching my own course and it's been

quite a time consuming process i've

spoken about it in the past as well but

before that happens i've also created

like this free course

which is one hour long and i've covered

so much information it's so value packed

and i wish i had something like that

when i started so hopefully by the time

this video goes live i think that should

be up as well so i'll leave a link to

that down below it's about youtubing so

if you're interested then definitely

check it out once you've got all this

figured out you need to actually start

creating content consistently this is

like the most cliche advice but i feel

like if you want to be serious and make

youtube your career you need to be

posting at least once a week especially

when you're starting out so be

consistent if you're on instagram then

try to post every single day on

instagram at least five times a week and

if you have a full-time job i would

suggest that you try to create as many

videos as possible when you do travel or

do weekend trips and stuff so for

example if you take like a week off and

go on a trip then try to do like maybe

seven videos one video every day so that

you have content for seven weeks so try

to be creative and make do with what you

have if you can't travel as much if your

budget doesn't permit that then just get

creative and tour your hometown or go to

like the neighboring city or do like

short day trips around your city itself

and you can also do videos like you know

packing tips and stuff like that at home

so there are countless things you can do

but the important thing is to be

consistent because there's no overnight

success nothing happens overnight for me

personally it took me like seven eight

months to get two thousand subscribers

so yeah initially you're not gonna see

rewards and i know that's disheartening

so you need to really have that passion

that drives you even when you're not

seeing success because that's probably

gonna be the case for the first few

months now those were some general tips

but now we're moving on to some

interesting parts which is about how you

can make money even when you're just

starting out so personally after i quit

my job i did have some money saved but i

also started looking for other freelance

gigs and stuff so that i can keep making

money while i'm traveling so that's the

first way you can make money doing

freelance work so within freelance just

figure out what skills you're good at

and try to get clients for that so if

you're good at writing you can do

writing jobs you can do photography

videography social media management even

website design and stuff like that so i

personally used to do writing so i used

to write travel related articles for

expedia singapore and stuff and i used

to get like 6 000 or 7 000 rupees per

article back then freelancing is a good

way to make money when you're just in

that transition phase where you quit

your job and you need like a side income

to sustain yourself a couple of places

where you can find these freelance jobs

websites like upwork and fiverr you can

put up your profile there and share

whatever skills you have and set up

packages so people can hire you on those

platforms another thing you can do is

find local hotels and airbnbs in the

city that you're living in and if you're

good at photography or videography you

can offer to take videos and photos for

them and maybe when you're just starting

out you'll probably uh not get paid for

it until you build a portfolio but i

think this is a good way to build a

portfolio and in return you can also ask

them for a free one night stay and vlog

that whole experience or something like

that and once you have a decent

portfolio you can honestly start

charging a good amount for these kind of

things so improve your videography

skills learn them online on cases like

skillshare and stuff and as you practice

and get better you can start charging a

good amount for these kind of projects

and another tip is that you can also

sort of do your research and see the

things brands are not good at and offer

to do that for them this usually works

with smaller brands but say there's like

a small boutique where you feel like the

social media could be so much better and

you can do a great job with that so

maybe you can reach out to them and

pitch them and say that you know i can

do your social media management and

these are the ideas i have and this is

how much i charge so that's a good way

to pitch to brands as well and you can

also have packages and start upselling

your work so for example if you're

working with a hotel just in return for

like a complimentary stay and you're

offering to give them photos and stuff

you can also tell them that you know for

10 000 rupees more i will also make like

a video and if you have a sample

portfolio in hand already i think brands

are more likely to say yes to that

another thing you can do is that when

you're traveling you can also offer to

volunteer at like hostels and stuff in

return for free stay so i know one of my

friends who did this she's an

instagramer truly nomadly and she i

think when she went to kyrgyzstan if i'm

not wrong she stayed in a hostel for

like a month and uh got free stay in

return for like a few hours of

volunteering at the hostel so this is

another great way to be able to travel

and reduce your expenses when you're

traveling or you can also start

marketing uh your skills and start

teaching people those things so for

example you know how to surf or do scuba

diving or you're a yoga instructor so

those are also things you can make money

off of even when you're traveling you

can just locally conduct those classes

and make some extra money so there are

countless ways in which you can make

money if you just put in some thought

and figure out what your skills are and

try to find a way to like sell those

skills and market them another way to

make money when you're starting out is

through affiliate marketing so what

affiliate marketing means is that if

you're an affiliate for a brand for

example amazon which i'm an affiliate

for every time i add a link to my

description which is an affiliate link

if someone clicks on that and buys that

product or any other product from amazon

i make a commission so this isn't really

too much effort from my end i'm just

adding those affiliate links all over my

channel my website and stuff but this is

a good way to make passive income over

time as you build an audience brands

will want to start working with you i

think once you cross 10 000 subscribers

in fact even before that if your

audience is very targeted and niche and

you're like a micro influencer so for

example you're in the aviation space and

all your content is just about aviation

so even if you have like six seven

thousand followers but all your

subscribers are very targeted aviation

enthusiasts then airlines and stuff will

want to work with you so i think from

the point of view of making money having

a niche is very important so once you

have around 10 000 subscribers that's

when you can expect brands to start

reaching out to you and if not you can

also start pitching to brands so there

are many different ways in which you can

work with brands so on instagram

depending on the budget of the brand you

can do insta stories you can do

instagram posts videos reels igtv or

like a package combination of these

things and on youtube you can do an

integrated video which is basically what

i did in this video with skillshare

where you talk about the brand for like

45 seconds to a minute or it could be a

dedicated video where the whole video is

about that brand in which case you can

charge the brand higher so those are a

few different ways in which you can work

with brands but when you're pitching to

brands which i think you should do when

you're starting out then i would suggest

figuring out how to pitch well to brands

because pitching is like an art in

itself i have my email pitch templates

which will be up on my store soon so

i'll add a link to that whenever it goes

up but even otherwise you can find

information online on how to reach out

to brands how to write like a good pitch

email to brands and focus more on what

value you can actually provide to the

brand and also keep in mind the budget

that the brand will have if you're

reaching out to like a smaller company

then they may not have big marketing

budgets so you may have to work with

like a smaller budget and when you're

starting out you may have to do like a

few complimentary barter deals as well

where you're basically doing work in

return for like a free product or a free

hotel stay or like a free trip i don't

recommend doing this when you have a

bigger audience but when you're starting

out

and have no experience of working with

brands this is a good way to like get

some brands on your media kit and your

portfolio so that when you do pitch to

other brands you look a little more

legit and once you have a bigger

audience there are so many different

ways in which you can make money i think

right now i make way more money than i

did at my corporate jobs so

if you are patient and keep creating

content consistently and keep growing

your audience over time it definitely

pays off in the long run so i've made

two different videos on my channel

explaining all my different revenue

streams so i'll leave links to those

videos down as well in case you want

more information on how to make money as

a content creator so those were my tips

i hope you found this video useful i'm

honestly living my dream life right now

and this is a life i didn't think was

possible honestly back when i had like a

corporate job so i really hope that this

video gave you an insight into how you

can also start doing what i'm doing and

if you have any questions leave them

down below in the comments also not to

discourage you but uh this whole thing

doesn't come easy even for me it was a

lot of effort i think i worked way

longer hours than i did at any of my

jobs and some of my jobs had like 14

hour work days and stuff so i work

pretty much seven days a week and it's

definitely not easy so i'm just saying

this to prepare you mentally because if

you wanna live this life especially

initially you're gonna have to put in

way more effort than the rewards you get

and that can be quite demotivating

sometimes because the rewards honestly

start coming much later on just a heads

up don't get discouraged keep creating

content consistently and just keep

focusing on improving your skills and

making better videos and i'm sure over

time you will find success so that's all

from me for this video i hope you

enjoyed it give this video a like leave

a comment subscribe to my channel press

the bell button and i will see you guys

next time bye