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

Hi, I’m Sandy, a German Travel Vlogger living in London. I’ve had my YouTube channel for over ten years and have been working on SandyMakesSense ‘seriously’ for 5. It’s just me, myself, and my cameras here. We travel all over the world and create videos that inspire viewers to go on that one trip they have always dreamt about. SandyMakesSense is my primary income and brand name. Makes sense, right? :P

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

Eleven years ago, I came to the UK as an au pair. That was when vlogging just started, and people like iJustine were the internet’s heroes. I quickly noticed a lot of funny differences between British and German people, so I started making vlogs about that :) Eventually, I moved into travel vlogging from there.

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

I honestly don’t brainstorm. Most ideas just come to me before I go to sleep, haha! But the majority of the content I make is influenced by my clients. I also get inspiration from those who I have the potential to work with for that month. I plan about four weeks normally :)

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

I use iMovie! (I know old school). I have Instagram and other socials to support my channel AND Lightroom as an income stream and for picture editing :)

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

My fears when I was starting is that I would get negative comments on YouTube. And I did! But eventually, you begin to understand they have cared enough to leave a comment, which is suitable for your engagement, and you start to ignore them.

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

I have been consistent in posting every week, a lot of trial and error, patience, and believing in myself and my content. What was hardest (and still is) for me, is not comparing myself to others. But every time I manage, it feels liberating :) The number one lesson I learned is not to take on too much work. Eventually, I had burned out because I was saying yes to everything. Think about what work that reflects your brand and also take some time for yourself :)

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

This is the most straightforward question. I wish somebody had told me this before:

Only do content that you are 100% passionate. NEVER do something because it’s trendy. Want to make videos about homemade cat food, your button collection, bathroom plants? GO FOR IT! :)

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How did you finally commit to X platform rather than your regular day job?

I had burned out. Simple as that. I wish I had been able to make the jump earlier but I was too scared.
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Tell us your best milestones in being a content creator.

My best milestone would be in 2018 when I won an award for the Best Social Campaign for my work with Rosetta Stone :) What a day!

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What are your marketing strategies to grow your brand?

Oh, that is hard. I guess cross-promotion, engaging with your followers and having a consistent look and feel to all your content across all platforms helps :)

How do you handle brand deals and sponsorships? 

All of my collaborations come from brands that reached out to me. I tried pitching, but I am not very good at it I think :) I thoroughly research the client, I make sure their product aligns with my brand and I negotiate a lot. Other things I consider is how often I would have posted Ads that month (you want a healthy balance) and general brand excitement. If this is a destination I have never been to before and I know that my viewers will love it, I might give this collab priority and shuffle a few others around for instance :) Always depends but one thing is for sure, working with clients is about 50% of the job :)