Have you ever had a big scary project you avoided for months, but then when you finally did it you realized it was actually fun and not as scary as you thought?
That was me with The YouTube.
I’m pretty late to the party when it comes to YouTube. I’ve been a staunch “words only” person since starting this blog back in 2016. But things have changed.
Now, everyone in the blogging industry, the travel industry, the online teaching industry, and all my assorted industries, says video content is where it’s at.
And even more importantly, many of you, my readers, have said that you want YouTube videos in the future. So with every sign in the universe shouting that it was time to get over my hangups and get on the YouTube train, I gave in.
I mapped out some video ideas back in January… I wrote myself a little script and even planned my outfits. I looked up some tutorials about how to set up a YouTube channel. And then promptly began avoiding it.
For some reason, sitting down and recording videos just felt so scary!
Writing 3000 words about a travel destination? No problem. Talking about it for 10 minutes in front of a camera? Can’t do it. No way. Too hard.
For months, I “ran out of time” and had to defer YouTube to the next month’s to-do list. I avoided. I procrastinated. I left sassy comments to myself in my planner. And it still never got done.
Until last week.
And here’s the crazy thing.
It was really fun! Recording the videos wasn’t nearly as scary as I expected! It turns out, I really enjoy talking about my passions! Who knew??
So it’s done. It’s now a thing. And I’m actually looking forward to making more videos in the future.
Here’s my big take-away from this whole experience and I hope this helps you too. If you have some glaring project on your to-do list that you keep ignoring because it scares you, take a stab at it this month. It probably isn’t as hard as you think it is, and you’ll feel great when it’s finally finished.
As of right now, my plan is to have two types of content on the channel: teaching online tips and travel destination videos. If that’s something you’re interested in, I’d love to have you as a subscriber!
[su_button url=”https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdHW_GQzWgGrVXcT7BGLyKw?” target=”blank” background=”#c4913a” color=”#000000″ size=”8″ wide=”no” center=”yes” radius=”0″ icon_color=”#000000″]Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel![/su_button]
Travel Updates
The Great Irish Road Trip
A few weeks ago, I took an amazing campervan van road trip around the Irish Coast. Alex and I have been toying with the idea of doing a few months in a van at some point, and we wanted to give it a bit of a trial run to see what we are getting ourselves into.
Also, camper vans are just super cool.
We booked our compact Volkswagen Caddy camper van with SpaceShipsUK and said farewell to Dublin.
For five days, we drove the Wild Atlantic Way – a spectacular oceanfront road along the rugged Irish cliffs.
The Cliffs of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher were obvious highlights of the road trip. But so many of my favorite moments happened between the major tourist attractions – on the winding roads so narrow we almost knocked off our side mirrors, in obscure camping grounds high up on the hill with beach views, in the tiny ancient towns where there seemed to be more sheep than people.
There is a detailed post about the trip in the works, but for now, you can head over to my Instagram page to see pictures and videos (The trip is saved in the highlight titled Ireland).
Cambridge, UK
After the Ireland road trip, we traveled from Ireland to the UK to visit Cambridge.
Guys, have you seen Cambridge? This town is beautiful! I feel like I’m walking through Hogwarts.
Here are a few fun facts about Cambridge
- The University of Cambridge dates back to 1209
- There are herds of cattle that roam free in the public parks.
- Cambridge is the most popular city in England for cyclists and the city is super bike-friendly
- When Lord Byron attended Trinity College in the early 1800s, he brought a bear with him as a pet since dogs weren’t allowed! [1]
Before I arrived here, a friend said that she felt smarter just being in Cambridge. I get that. And with campus and town as charming as this, I can see why people never want to leave.
What’s going on in the blogging world
What’s going on in the blogging world I guess I spoiled my big announcement in the intro of this post, but if you skipped down, guess what!
The See Nic Wander YouTube Channel is Live!
I can’t tell you what a relief it is to have this finally checked off my to-do list! I’ve been meaning to do a YouTube channel with teaching online tips and cool travel videos for basically ever, so getting everything set up feels really good.
Also, for those of you who are interested in starting your own YouTube channel. Setting it up was a piece of cake. Seriously, I think I had the whole channel set up in half an hour and I’m as non-YouTube savvy as they come.
Recording the videos and editing them was another story, but that’s because I have an annoying habit of touching my face every three seconds while filming so I had to do a lot of retakes. Live and learn.
You can check out my adorable little YouTube channel here!
Oh, and please feel free to send me a message if you think of a video you’d like to see in the future!
New Food and Drink Props on Etsy and TpT
Online English teachers, I’m spoiling you guys this month! A shiny new youtube channel AND new props? How marvelous!
The new Food and Drinks pack includes 62 food and drink illustrations that work perfectly in your online English classroom or any ESL classroom, for that matter. They aren’t branded for any particular company so you can use them no matter who you teach for.
Click the image below to learn more, and remember to share these props with the other awesome teachers in your life!
I Experimented With Instagram Giveaways
This was something else I’ve been avoiding because it’s scary, but again it turned out to be pretty easy!
For those of you who don’t know, an Instagram giveaway is when you raffle off something for free to your followers. To enter the contest, I asked people to follow both my See Nic Wander and my Teach and Wander Instagram accounts and tag a teacher friend in the giveaway photo.
After a few days, I shuffled up the names of all the people who entered and used a random number generator to select three winners. Each winner received my Classroom Basics Pack, my Mega Rewards Bundle, and my new Food and Drinks bundle for free!
I wanted to do an IG giveaway to boost follows on my Teach and Wander Prop page and to build a bit of buzz around my new food props.
Here’s what happened:
- My accounts grew by 52 followers
- I connected with dozens of online teachers through the comments and sharing on social media. I love having new accounts to follow and get inspiration.
Compared to paid Instagram promotions I’ve done, the giveaway was more successful. (You can read about what happened when I tried paid Instagram promotions in this post).
I liked how the people engaging with my posts were interested in the same things I am and not just random people Instagram targeted in some advertising algorithm.
So if you’re trying to sell a product or create a buzz for a new page, a giveaway could be a good strategy to consider.
New Posts on the Blog
Budget travel folks, I haven’t forgotten about you! Check out some of my new posts from August
- How I saved $3840 for Travel on a teacher salary (10 easy changes you can make too!)
- How to book cheap flights to anywhere in the world on Skyscanner (Because who doesn’t like saving money?)
What’s Coming Next
Up next, I’m so excited to explore more of the United Kingdom! This is only my second time visiting the UK so I have a lot of ground to cover! Do you have any suggestions for must-see places in the UK? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
As always, thanks for joining! It’s great to have you!
[1] Source: Pursey, Jack. “The Day Lord Byron Outsmarted Cambridge University.” Cambridge College Seminars. https://cambridgeseminarscollege.co.uk/blog/the-day-lord-byron-outsmarted-cambridge-university/
