Introduction

You may fancy giving this YouTube lark a go for yourself. Or you may even have a channel already and be looking for ways to develop it. Either way, in this section I’ll share some of my personal experience on the whole process from idea generation to the finished product. These are all my own ideas and tips, so it’s not like I’m giving away any trade secrets, and many of them will be obvious anyway. But hopefully you can get something out of it that helps you, even in a small way. For everyone else, you’ll get a look ‘behind-the-scenes’ at all the layers of scrutiny that go into every single video (well, most of them anyway)…

I’ll kick off with four of the most fundamental points, but don’t worry, the lists don’t end here! Over the following pages, I’ll share my top tips and tricks for every stage of the process. And they all come from personal experience. I’m 100% self-taught, I’ve never done any courses on videography, editing, nothing! So I still make mistakes all the time, but I also go into a project with all of this floating around in my head, and for the first time, I’ve written it down for you. (I get asked about this all the time, so it’s good to finally get it all started!)

1. The Golden Rule: Just Be Yourself

The single best piece of advice I can give you is to just be yourself.

There are plenty of people out there who don’t like me, don't enjoy my videos, or simply can't stand my accent. Believe me I know because they tell me! And that is completely fine. If you are authentic, there will always be more than enough people who do connect with what you produce. You have a potential worldwide audience at your fingertips in this game. To paraphrase Field of Dreams - ‘build it and they will come’!

2. Be inspired, but don’t fall into the trap

When you first get started, it is completely natural to take inspiration from other creators you watch. You might even copy their style slightly. But you must develop this into your own distinct voice. If you don't, it can very quickly become cringeworthy.

I started out by copying the style of content I was watching at the time, and you may be able to spot those influences in my oldest videos. It’s natural. The good news is that finding your own rhythm also happens naturally over time. Not only that, but it is significantly easier to just be yourself than it is to try and mimic someone else. So in the long run you’ll be saving yourself a lot of unnecessary baggage.

We are all unique individuals in an overcrowded digital space. A copied video will never be as good as the original, and it will rarely be picked up by the algorithm. Film what you personally find interesting. Chances are, you aren’t alone, in fact I guarantee it.

It's also worth noting that in the travel genre especially, most creators I meet are very normal, down-to-earth, everyday people. Introverted more often than not. If you asked them if they ever envisioned doing this for a living, I bet almost all of them would say, ‘I am the absolute last person I thought would be doing this’. It’s certainly the case with me. Being the centre of attention has never come easily. Yet, here I am, talking to a camera for a living. Seriously, how did this even happen? It’s the beauty of YouTube I guess!

3. The obvious one…

This next point may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it gets overlooked: do something you are genuinely interested in.

I have travelled for longer than I care to remember; the only difference now is that I bring a camera along. Talking to my GoPro still feels weird, but it helps immensely that the underlying activity is something I’ve done a thousand times before.

In the travel genre, you will often find yourself filming in enclosed, public spaces. This is where you have to get creative with your filming and rely on the actual travel bit being second-nature. This frees you up mentally to solve creative problems on the go:

• ‘It’s getting dark—where can I find a well-lit spot to speak to the camera?’

• ‘This station is packed. Where can I film without encroaching on anyone's privacy?’

• ‘How can I best capture the atmosphere of this moment using just audio?’

• ‘What a beautiful scene! Which angle does it justice?’

• ‘How do I genuinely convey how exhausted I am right now?’

• ‘This shot is taking ages to set up, is it actually worth the wait?’

⚠️ Crucial Tip: When things start to go wrong, your natural instinct will be to turn the camera off. NEVER DO THIS. If anything, film more! The chaos, the missed trains, the frustrations. Even if it’s all your own fault, this is golden content. And the exact moments that make a video human and relatable. Don’t pretend to be an expert, just be you.

In a best-case scenario, your channel topic will completely envelop your life. Because of that, it is absolutely vital that you choose something you love. It’s just as well I genuinely love travelling, even if I’m not the biggest fan of airports these days!

4. Dealing with the ‘this feels completely WRONG’ phase

I am learning on the job every day. Before a trip, I still have a lingering feeling in the back of my mind that everything is going to go wrong. When it’s an expensive or complex itinerary, that anxiety is even louder.

My advice to anyone starting out is simple: start small. Your first handful of videos are going to be your training ground, and let’s face it, they probably won’t be very good. Don't waste a brilliant travel concept or an expensive plane ticket on your very first attempt. Use your early videos as a low-stakes opportunity to learn the practicalities of film-making.

If you go down the vlogging route, you will have to confront the dreaded hurdle of talking to a camera in public. The first time you do it, it will feel utterly bizarre, and that self-consciousness will cause you to stumble over your words.

My only consolation is that this still happens to us all. I have been known to repeat an intro ten times in a row, desperate to get it right. The funny thing is, when I get to the edit, I almost always end up using the very first take. Even if it isn’t technically perfect, it usually captures the most authentic energy.

Believe me, even the most effortless, natural-looking creators you watch are doing take after take after take. It is always better to have too much footage anyway! When it comes to editing your trip, choice is never a bad thing. And certainly better than nothing at all.

Coming up next are my top ten tips for every stage of the process…