How do you become a Full-time Travel Videographer

So you want to be a Travel Videographer or Content Creator Digital Nomad. What does a travel videographer do? Travel the world and get paid for producing Videos or product your own content that you monetize on. Sounds like the living the dream. In many ways it is. I’ve lived abroad as a Travel Videographer through a variety a Freelance work and Online Revenue Streams for the past 10 years prior to the Covid 19 outbreak. Being able to produce Videos from anywhere and get paid in a strong currency like the US Dollar from anywhere offers the benefit of time and location freedom. I’ve lived in Taiwan, Thailand,  Malaysia, and even Mexico and visited and lived in many destinations like Japan, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia in between. Relocating myself out of Vancouver and to these destinations in Asia gave me a rich cultural experience, inspiration to shoot video, and in some cases a cost of living that was 1/3 of what I was paying in Vancouver (one of the most expensive cities to living in the world).

There is a significant difference between traveling to a destination for a 1 week versus basing yourself in another country for a month to a year. The Travel videographer lifestyle is about living in a different destinations, trying different foods, making new friends abroad, enjoying local benefits, learning a new language, building a business, building your own schedule, and of course creating amazing Videos.

How do you become a Travel Videographer?

Learn Video and Audio

Well you need to learn video. This is your foundation and bread and butter. Where do you start? Do you need to go and spend a lot of money and go to a film school? I didn’t and I don’t recommend it. It’s too slow and the curriculums can’t keep up with the pace of technology. I recommend starting with Youtube, Vimeo Video School, or Online Schools like Skillshare or Udemy. I already spent a good amount of my life and money in university and my MBA. I self-taught myself video Online and then later on I started attending photography and Videography workshops. I then travelled to Asia and practiced and shot a lot of Video and posted to Youtube. These days your have short form video platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram, & Youtube shorts you can start with just your phone. I made mistakes and experimented. Whichever method you choose practice and shoot a lot. Get feedback and give adapting your setup and see what works to build a following. I’ve also got a collection of over 35 related online courses on Udemy for you to deep dive. 

Get Good Gear

You need the right tools for the job. That means a good camera or 2, high quality lenses for different situations, a stabilization system, an a good audio system. There are different types of camera’s better suited for different situations like drones for aerials and a good mirrorless or SLR camera (primary or A camera) for shooting Client interviews or stock footage. An action camera like a Gopro can help as a B camera or a camera to capture underwater shots or even vlog with a smaller footprint. Lenses will last longer than a camera body so not a bad idea to invest in a good lens.

These day we have so many camera’s to choose from. That is why I created a Free Gear Guide for the past 2 years, where I share the gear I use and how I use it. I learned later on it’s not enough to just know video. You need to learn to produce high quality audio as well. You may need these skills and abilities if you are to create Youtube videos or talking head videos. I created a Video Production Course using my camera the Panasonic GH6 to teach people these skills. It covered pretty much all the knowledge I learned consuming myself in the Video world.

We have specialty camera’s like drones, gopro’s, mirrorless camera’s, and gimbal stabilized camera’s like DJI Osmo that each produce some form of amazing video. Where can you learn to operate and film amazing Videos with all these devices. Film schools cannot keep up with this pace of change. 

What about Money?

To make money you need to invest the time in your gear and skill. You can make money by doing video jobs for clients. How do you find clients? Many ways. Build a website and promote your services. Put your Video reel or past work up there! If you don’t have a video reel then shoot for free to build up that portfolio. You need to do some marketing for people outside of your network to find you. You also need to use social media to share your work and build an awareness that you are the person that does video. Put yourself out there.

You can also work for an existing company or team if you want to build up experience and not work alone and have a stable income.

Create a Youtube Channel and start creating videos about anything from food, travel videos, or nightlife. Post every week and try to improve on each video. Eventually you will build up an audience and subscribers and earn a small income. You can also shoot stock footage and license them on stock agencies.

All these things do take time. If you’re working in a job then slowly spend time on doing these activities so you can transition out of your job. I put all in an moved to Taiwan and eventually Thailand. These countries are a lot cheaper and have plenty of inspirational scenery. Without the pressure of expensive costs you have less pressure and the freedom to improve your craft and build up your assets which is your footage collection and skill.

Online & Offline Business

The business side of Video doesn’t get coverage from these film schools or workshops. Their job is to teach you video most likely to become a film crew member. They aren’t going to teach you how to set up an International Freelance business, how to monetize your footage, or teach you online marketing.  To become a travel videographer you need at a minimum a website or facebook page and a youtube channel or some platform to showcase your portfolio. A travel videographer doesn’t just depend on freelancing though. You need to set up Online Revenue streams. The good thing is that video camera’s produce digital files which can be exchanged on the Internet. I put out tons of Youtube Videos before i got discovered by a stock footage agency. That was a major breakthrough for me to realize I could monetize off of short video clips on the Internet. There was a steep learning curve to learn how to scale this. I produced 2 courses to teach this business model called stock footage. It took some time, but the rewards for me were time and location freedom. I could produce stock footage from any country and put them on multiple agencies and sell them an unlimited number of times. With the high demand for AI to train on videos Stock footage agencies like Pond 5, Adobestock, & Shutterstock are rewarding artists for assets that are used to train AI.

Stock footage is not the end game. You need to diversify your revenues streams because the reality is passive revenue streams for all their benefits can be unstable. You need to be able to create other products or offer online services. For example, I’ve set up my website to offer remote video editing service, online courses, and even direct subscriptions to my footage collection. I also offer other digital products that I’ve created to solve one of my own problems like the Final Cut Pro X Sharpening tool. You need an understanding of online tools and platforms to host your video files, exchange money, online marketing, and create new digital products. I created a free resource page listing all the experts I follow, software, and tools I used to get where I am.  I created 2 courses to teach the Online and Offline Business side of Videography. One is called How to start an Online Video Business and the other is the Business of Video and Photography.

One other great way to start using your content to earn is called referral or affiliate marketing. You can share videos of services that you use and provide a link to the service. One example is how I use the wise visa multi-currency card on my travels. I will create a Youtube video of me actually using the service and share my link. You would be amazed at how effective this can be.

Traveling and living abroad

Living abroad is not for everyone, but there a lot of benefits to do so. The living costs are usually lower than western cities like Vancouver Canada. In Taiwan I could live on a $1000 Us quite comfortably, and in Chiang Mai Thailand probably about $800US. These foreign destinations still have a better or comparable Internet and workspace infrastructure making this a great starting point. In destinations like Chiang Mai there is a strong organic community of Internet Entrepreneurs to share and exchange knowledge with. I learned a lot about Online marketing during my time there. Once you are in Thailand you are a cheap flight from exotic destinations like Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, or Cambodia. You can leverage the low costs to buy you time, build up your business, and video collection at a lower cost than you could abroad. Personally I’ve felt more inspired to shoot new footage when I’m in a fresh location. If you’re basing yourself in a location for a month or longer you’re able to do more than just the usual tourist attractions. You’ll get to know local areas, and won’t be as rushed to film everything quickly. I’ve created a living guide for Digital Nomads around the world for a month or longer because I believe it is a great starting point for anyone’s Entrepreneur journey.

The Next Step

If you’re serious about taking the next step you can sign up for my mailing list to receive more information about this lifestyle along with my Gear Guide. I’m also available for 1 on 1 coaching sessions through Skillshare Superpeer where you can ask me anything on the subject.

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