The young Tanya Khanijow shared her first travel vlog about 11 months ago, when she was still quite a novice in the field of travel vlogging.
Today, in less than a year, she has more than 36 thousand subscribers, travel vlogs from around the world, amazing stories of traveling alone, and the best part is – her videos get thousands of views within minutes of going live!
Tanya says that the urge to travel was always there, but the passion for making and sharing videos on YouTube became a natural progression a few years later as she was going on more trips, and felt it would be great to share her tips and travel stories with others.
Giving Up Her Job To Make Videos
I had a YouTube channel before I quit my job to pursue YouTube full-time. I quit my job to dedicate my time to making good quality videos. Of course I had doubts initially about how I would make a living without the financial security of a regular job.
Image Credit: Instagram
As you make more YouTube videos and as your audience grows, you make money from YouTube. But that was still a big IF for me.
Dedication, Consistency And Quality Helps
Even though I was insecure, I knew that if I’m consistent and dedicated and keep working towards improving my video quality, the channel will grow. Before I quit my corporate job, I started saving and kept a six to seven month target for monetizing my social platform.
The First Step To Full Time Travel Blogging Or Vlogging
Tanya says that if you’re starting out with a travel blog or vlog, you’ll need to travel on your own to generate information that you can share with others. This is a content driven job. So, unless you can travel, your content won’t be special. Save up some money before you start, or get a freelancing job that you can do on the go, so that you’re still earning something.
I did a photography assignment for a mutual friend’s friend. I also worked for 5-6 months as a Freelance Social Media manager for a client that earned me some extra monthly revenue. Thanks to my YouTube channel now, I’m not doing any jobs outside my own social media driven work.
As a full-time vlogger, Tanya has a well-managed routine – I exercise, do grocery, work 7-8 hours on editing, answering emails, travel planning and learning new things. It’s a lot of work but there’s nothing more satisfying than working on something of your own.
A typical travel day starts as early as 4 am and ends at 8 pm. I chalk out what all I need to cover in a day and make the videos. I try to catch up on sleep and wake up refreshed to make the most of my travel. A non-travel day involves lots of editing and planning future projects and doing something non-work related as well.
Choosing Where To Go
Image Credit: twitter
Tanya chooses her destination by where she would personally love to travel and understanding what the audience would be interested to see. Now that I make videos, I also try to visit places of interest that have an appeal to my audience. Sometimes my viewers also ask me about certain places, which I visit for them. But most often, I choose something that I always wanted to tick off my dynamic bucket list.
Tips If You’re Planning To Travel Alone On The Road
Tanya recommends personal safety over anything, even if that means spending a little extra at times. Be responsible about safety, personal belongings and things like the environment. Traveling solo can teach you to be a better person, become friendly, teach life hacks and make you more responsible towards all cultures and people. It’s a very enriching experience, so make sure you take care of yourself to experience it all.
Try This If You Want To Be A YouTuber
Tanya suggests you make atleast five videos every week consistently. See if you’re enjoying this and can do it regularly. Being a YouTuber means you have to make videos every day or week as long as you want to make money from this channel, without any excuses or delays. The lifestyle can be difficult at first and initially, it’s a lot of hard work.
- Choose a topic of interest.
- Create videos for the topic where you have expertise.
- Don’t think too much before starting – learning to make videos is a process, you’ll learn once you start.
- Create videos consistently.
- Up your quality.
- There may be some investment initially without any return, so be prepared.
Don’t Stress About Your First Video(s)
While her first video was not as professional as her later ones, Tanya doesn’t want to change it, because even though it wasn’t professional quality or wasn’t her best, it’s a great travel memory. It’s how she started her journey. Don’t expect to be perfect with your first video. It’s a journey of getting better over time and sometimes, the journey is better than the end destination, she says.
If you’re also passionate about travel, or some other area that you know you can share information about, and if you are somewhat familiar with social media, you too can start your own YouTube channel. As Tanya suggested, plan ahead, save up something, and give yourself some time to see whether or not you really want to do this. And as long as you’re enjoying it, maybe this is what you really want to do.
