I’ve always been writing. I have notebooks full of poems from my teenage years and I was keeping some kind of a public diary on a Finnish ”social media site” even before Facebook, blogs, Instagram, etc were a thing.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
In my 20s I was studying English philology at the university in Finland. The idea was to become a language teacher, which my parents had been encouraging since I was a little kid. But it wasn’t my dream. After having severe burnout, I dropped out and moved to Helsinki to pursue a career in fashion.
But after working on an intense internship at a modeling agency, I realized this field wasn’t what I had thought, but very destructive for my well being. I got a decent job in sales at a big Nordic fitness company.
The idea was to be practical and combine this with my creative ambitions and proceed to write and social media marketing eventually. But then I met this Indian man and for our relationship to have a future I needed to move to India.
I didn’t feel too bad about giving up my job in Finland, because it never was THE dream job. And actually moving to India, where my now-husband has great financial stability, allowed me to go all-in to pursue those creative ambitions and my dream job in writing and filming, which I have been doing for the past few years.
2. When did you first decide that you wanted to create content and how did you start?
I’ve always been writing. I have notebooks full of poems from my teenage years and I was keeping some kind of a public diary on a Finnish ”social media site” even before Facebook, blogs, Instagram, etc were a thing.
I started amateur photography in my early 20s and was trying to start a blog a few times, but was always quickly demotivated when even most of my friends wouldn’t start reading it. I’ve been sharing posts on Instagram since 2013, but it never started growing before I came to India.
And even then the growth completely stopped at about 12k followers. And I find the platform a little too superficial for me because I especially love sharing stories and writing. So I haven’t been focusing on Instagram in the past couple of years really.
I’ve never been very comfortable talking on camera, but I needed to find a suitable platform to share my experiences and stories more in-depth.
YouTube isn’t a big thing in Finland but is huge in India, so I thought I could have a voice there and find a good audience too. I started vlogging seriously in January 2020 and have been on that path ever since.
3. Is vlogging and YouTube content creation a financially sustainable career?
My channel would still be considered quite small in India at this point by the number of subscribers. But I get a lot of views in most of my vlogs, even more than some vloggers with more than a lakh subscribers, which means that even at this point I’m able to get a pretty decent YouTube income.
I’m not doing any paid collaborations at this point, so my income is the ad revenue. I wouldn’t be able to live solely on it in Finland or other European countries. And perhaps not in India either if I was living alone.
So I wouldn’t necessarily recommend anyone trying to straightaway become a full-time vlogger unless they have lots of savings or someone else to financially support them. At this point, I also do freelance writing which has nothing to do with my social media.
Making YouTube financially sustainable usually takes months and months of relentless work, a very regular vlogging schedule, and having interesting ideas all the time. To be able to make a proper income out of it, you need lots of people spending thousands of hours watching your videos.
4. Who is your favorite creator and why?
I might not always agree with Karl Rock, but I love the content he creates. He’s very authentic and actually has something to say. He’s not trying to just please people to get as many subs as possible. He doesn’t seem to be in it just to make a lot of money.
I also love Currently Hannah, who is an Australian girl living in Japan. Her vlogs are so beautiful and interesting, but what impresses me the most are her superb technical skills in filming and creating the audio tracks.
I hope to combine Karl’s storytelling and Hannah’s videography in my own work one day too.
This is a specific niche, but I also want to mention the Indian channel Garden Up, which is really beautiful but especially very educational for us wannabe gardeners! A great example of how important it is to know your target audience and have a niche for your channel.
5. How and where do you find inspiration to churn out content?
I mostly talk about my own daily life and experiences living and traveling a lot in India (as a Finnish person). Since my niche isn’t a very limited one, I feel like there is a vast ocean of topics to address in my vlogs.
Some more light-hearted like cooking and traveling, some deeper, very important issues like women’s safety and education. Of course not all my ideas work to attract max amount of viewers, but pleasing people and max growth aren’t my goals and I want to use my channel for something important and also create content that matters to ME.
I do also always ask my husband’s opinion on my ideas and content, and if he’s clearly opposed to something, I don’t publish it. I’m very inspired by the people I follow on social media, but I never copy an idea directly. I also read a lot of newspapers and online sites to stay on top of current issues.
6. Which is your favorite book and why?
I read The Alchemist in 2012 during my burnout, and it encouraged me to follow my heart and trust my own intuition, not let other people set the direction of my life. I’ve been trying to go by the same guideline ever since.
My husband actually quoted my favorite part of the book in one of our very first conversations, when he was trying to convince me that I should travel to India.
7. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring creators?
Don’t do it for money or fame. If your heart isn’t in it, you won’t last long. Do it because you have something to say, you have a story, you have some great expertise, you want to inspire people, you have the passion and YOU believe in yourself.
Social media can be a ruthless, unwelcoming place, so you must believe in what you do. And then WORK for it. It won’t come easy. It requires a lot of continuous effort, trying and failing, and never giving up. And never ever compare yourself to the other creators.
Instagram ID - @johannanorth_
Johanna North, 32, vlogger and writer, wife and soon to be a mom from Finland, currently living in North Kerala with my Indian husband.
Johanna North
Interviewed By - Aditi Ashok
){kind=link}
0 Comments