Digital Nomad Jobs – Vlogger

How to become a vlogger

*I’m taking it as a given that you have already got the required equipment here, if not, before you proceed please read the following points:

  1. Buy the required equipment
  2. Continue reading

Film yourself/somewhere whilst talking about yourself/somewhere. Pretty straightforward stuff to be honest. I think I’m right in thinking there is a guy that plays computer games, talks about it and makes millions of pounds a year? That is quite baffling, but hey, if that’s all there is to it why not give it a go!?

Fair enough, there may be a little more to it than that, firstly you are going to need to think of something you can vlog about. Fortunately as a Digital Nomad you will hopefully have a world’s worth of material to choose from. You can track your progress around the planet, vlog about different foods, cultures or fashions. Whatever you want really, just make sure it’s something you are passionate about, if not you and your audience will get bored pretty flipping quick. Successful vlogs can make quite a lot of money and can run for years so you’ll need to vlog about something you’ll find worth getting out of bed for in 2 years time. Once you’ve decided on your subject matter you’ll need to join the masses and create a Youtube account and maybe a website. Try and pick a unique, catchy name that is easy for people to remember. Hopefully use this name as your web address so your millions of fans can easily find you online, think of the bigger picture, what name would look brilliant on your customised range of camera bags and selfie sticks? Digital Nomad Norman4345623Birminghamorange probably isn’t a good name. DigNomN isn’t much better to be fair but is a lot easier to remember.

As well as a Youtube channel and a website be sure to utilise the tried and tested social media accounts. Facebook, Twitter, all the other ones that cool people use now that their mother is on Facebook. If it’s free to use it’s free to use for shameless self promotion, that’s the Digital Nomad way.

Now the easy but dull part is over it’s time to start the harder but more exciting work, filming! It’s a good idea to try to record a few videos before you go uploading them, consider making a schedule and sticking to it with military precision. Decide what you are going to film, when and how, it’s understandable that as a digital nomad who works from anywhere you might not know exactly where you’ll be the day after tomorrow. Which is why it’s a good idea to build up a small library of videos to overcome these unforeseen circumstances. If you can film maybe 10 videos before you start uploading them you’re giving yourself pretty decent insurance to compensate for times when you’re travelling or unable to film.

With your plan in place it’s time to get the camera rolling, I’m no camera man to be honest, I couldn’t tell you how to cling film anything let alone record. How to get the correct sound levels? Shout or whisper? What lighting to use? Sun. Thankfully though, lots and lots of other people can! They even vlog about it, so if your after hints and tips on correct filming have a quick look online. If you’d rather learn for yourself, then do just that, practice. Spend a few days out and about with your camera, test it out in different lights and at different times of the day. Don’t neglect the audio capabilities, make sure the sound is audible and to a high standard, it’s no good having the most beautiful videos on the internet if they’re accompanied by an audio track that sounds like white noise. Consider investing in an external microphone if your device isn’t up to the job, these can be found cheap in a plethora of online shops.

Once you’ve pointed the camera, pressed the record button, spoken a bit about something and turned the camera off again you can edit it! Oh the joy! Hopefully you’ll have picked a device compatible with your laptop and this won’t be a problem at all. If you don’t have the software already search for one compatible with your device and get downloading, then practice. You can keep your editing simple or you can make it crazy, it all depends on the subject of your vlog I suppose. You probably won’t want a serene, calm edit of extreme sports for instance, you’re more likely to be after an adrenaline pumping, music backed montage of ‘TOTALLY AWESOME RADICAL’. Talking of musical backing, make sure any music you do use is either copyright free or royalty free, you don’t want to end up with angry letters from Mumford and Sons or Taylor Swift, I hear she does that a lot?

With your videos edited and all (legal) music added, upload them. Watch the money come rolling in? Not quite, take some time to think about your titles, thumbnails and avatar on Youtube. These are basically adverts for your videos, make them high quality, relevant and interesting. People are more likely to click on your videos than others if you can sell it to them. Have a look at other popular videos, don’t exactly steal there ideas but allow them to influence your own. Make the most of all the help you can get/borrow/observe. The more successful you can make your channel the quicker you can apply to become a Youtube partner, that way you too can live happily in the knowledge that every time someone loads your video they have to wait for a few seconds, cursing you before they can ‘Skip ad’. It’s a given that you’ve already been promoting yourself to the max over social media, now it’s time to get involved in the murky world of youtube commenting, be nice, avoid the trolls, get your name known. People will soon start recognising you and checking out your channel.

Training/qualifications

A degree in film making and a doctorate in social studies or none at all.

Basically as long as you can point a camera and talk a bit you are well on your way to becoming a vlogger. I suppose the further into it you get you may consider reading up on filming techniques or video editing skills but to begin with you just need the motivation. If you’re interested in further reading check out the advice readily available from a wealth of (non) experts through a quick google search.

Hardware/software

Vlogger hardware is obviously a recording device and a laptop. As the world needs everything faster, better and stronger than it did a few years ago you’re probably best going for a HD device. I can’t imagine you’ll get very far trying to convince people to watch grainy videos you shot on an old camera phone back in 2009 for instance. That said, an up side of the world needing everything faster, better and stronger is that everything can be purchased for pretty low prices. You can search Amazon and quickly find a device to suit all budgets. If you are serious about this, it’s probably worth shelling out for the best that you can afford, you’ll be competing with quite a few other vloggers after all.

Figure out what kind of vlogger you are going to be and factor that into your decision-making, if you are going to be a sit in your room ranter against the system vlogger you’ll probably just need a web cam, if you are the extreme outdoors vlogger you’ll need something rugged and if you fancy your chances as a travel vlogger maybe something with crystal clear recording capabilities.

Failing that, if you have a decent phone, just use that, can’t see why that won’t work?

Invest in a decent microphone if you need to.

Most newish laptops should be fine for editing and uploading videos, particularly if it’s a work laptop or not one that is steam-powered. Make sure it has all the required ports and inputs etc, is of a decent speed and can handle the software you will be using.

Vlogger software is more subjective, depends on what hardware you are using really. Some of the better free software available includes Windows Movie Maker, WeVideo, Lightworks, VSDC Free Video Editor and MPEG Streamclip. The more successful you become you may want to start looking at the paid for software or premium editions of the ones listed above, but for the beginner these should be fine. Tutorials for all of these programs can be found online on sites such as Wikihow, Youtube (obviously a vlogger or 58,000) and infiniteskills.

Where to find work online?

Anywhere that hosts videos really. You’ll be working for yourself so it’s going to need a bit of effort on your part to find the best sites to use, sites that will suit the type of vlog you are making. The go to site for work like this is obviously Youtube.

How much to charge?

I’m really not sure, this isn’t a job you can expect to make a lot/some/any money out of easily. It all depends on your views I suppose, the more popular you are the more money you’ll see. Vloggers can make very good money but it’s not easy to get to that level, you’ll need a solid channel offering good content videos that people are interested in. Good luck with that! Hopefully though, you’ll be rewarded for all of your hardwork and earn at least enough to cover your travel costs.

How well does it suit the Digital Nomad lifestyle?

Pretty well to be fair, being a vlogger doesn’t need to be a full-time job, if you’re already making money consider it as a hobby, that way any money made is a bonus. Vlogging around the world as a Digital Nomad could be great fun, it’s basically like being a tourist, you’d only be taking photos and telling people about when you got back anyway.

I’m not sure that you can Digital Nomad around the globe relying on income as a novice vlogger, you might need to look at other work to support yourself for a while whilst you get going but keep your fingers crossed, the camera turned on and your spirits high. I’ll be praying for you!

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