Who are you and what kind of content do you create?

Hi! My name is Rei, and I am the creator of the YouTube Shop With Me Channel  Reis World. The channel name is a little confusing for some people since I forgot to add an apostrophe when I named it, resulting in many people calling me Reis. LOL. It is just a simple combination of my name Rei with lousy grammar and World because my channel is my little world. My small channel has been around since June 16th of 2016.

The channel has been like a 2nd but enjoyable full-time job because I post multiple videos daily. I am a one-person show, filming, editing for YouTube, and trying to keep up with my other platforms such as Reis World Shop With Me on Facebook, and reisfunworld on Instagram.  My husband does come along with me quite often, though, and usually has his input on some of the stuff we find in stores. Most of the time, it’s humorous or just plain silly (he hates shopping, so he keeps himself entertained with his goofy observations). 

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Let's go down memory lane, tell us your backstory! 

My experience first started when my husband and I would take our son to his martial arts classes after school and have to wait outside because the gym was too packed to hang out inside. We had an hour to kill and had to bring our daughter with us who would want to look in the Toys R Us in the same parking lot. We began to do our little toy hunts, and lip gloss hauls and posts them on YouTube. This activity helped the time fly by, and instead of staring off into space while my son was doing his lesson, I was feeling pressed for time as I wanted to film everything I could find. 

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I began to add the prices and got a lot of backlash for it, and people were complaining about me saying the prices or including them in graphics was pointless.  Now oddly enough, it seems to be a trend or a staple when doing shopping videos. I was always looking for ways to improve from the beginning and am still learning today. I just keep the Walt Disney motto of “Keep Moving Forward” in my head for inspiration. 

How do you brainstorm ideas for your content and your advice in getting the creative juice flowing?

I don’t brainstorm. I just try to go to different places as often as possible, or I will even take cues from my subscribers and show some of the items they request. I usually walk into a store, take a look and round and start filming a little bit of everything but mostly newer items.

What are the tools and platforms you use to help with your brand?

I only use free editors like iMovie. I also try to keep up with other social media platforms, but 99.9% of my awesome followers come from Youtube and word of mouth.

What were your fears starting out? How did you handle it? 

When I started doing my shopping videos, shopping channels weren't a thing. There were a few, but they were not as big or famous a something like they are now. It was very awkward filming in the beginning. Mostly, people were staring me down in the store wondering why I was filming everything or talking to the camera like I was talking to a bunch of friends when no one was there. For the longest time, I had my husband come with me to keep me company and be like a security blanket of sorts. He never complained either, even when I would ask him to go with me after he got home from working all day, he gladly obliged. That was the most helpful thing for me to get used to doing my videos.

How did you build your brand to where it is now, take us through your process.

I just continued to work my butt off to post multiple videos every day and keep fresh content flowing. I am just thankful that my videos are getting around since I am not big on social media platforms or anything like that.  When I started doing seasonal and home decor, I noticed a massive increase in views, so my channel shifted to fill that niche.

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For someone who wants to get into content creation, what is your advice?

Just keep hustling, YouTube is a gamble. One video that you believe should get X number of views because you worked so hard on it may get only a couple of views, but the video you just quickly filmed and posted may get a lot of attention. 

Ignore negative comments, and remember you are in control of your channel. You do not have to do or share anything that you do not want to.

Tell us your best milestones in being a content creator.

I was so excited to receive my YouTube Silver Play Button when I passed 100,000 subscribers. It felt terrific to get an award for my hard work and dedication to my channel. I can’t put into words the pride I have in that award and how thankful I am to my followers for helping me achieve it. Also, I am grateful to my husband and kids for supporting me and put up with me, dragging them to all of the stores. 

What are your marketing strategies to grow your brand?

Like I said before, I just relied on people finding my channel on YouTube and followers spreading the word. I have a minimal following on my other social media platforms, so I just continue to post on YouTube. 

How do you handle brand deals and sponsorships? 

Sponsorship would help me a lot, but, real sponsorships have never approached me. I have had companies come to me with their products, but I haven’t had a monetary deal. I usually will show off a toy they send for free or a Halloween mask because we love those kinds of things. Especially Halloween! The condition being, I get to give an honest review without a script. 

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The companies that have come forward offering money have always turned down because they want me to read a script and lie about how great a product is, even if it is complete garbage. My honesty is not for sale, and many of my subscribers are now my close friends, and I would never willingly mislead any of them or lie to them.  However, I do keep my fingers crossed for the day a store or Halloween company approaches me with sponsorship. That would be awesome!