With my photography, it’s easy for me to find inspiration in everyday life. For BrickBanter.com, there is always something new happening in the LEGO world. Being, LEGO Masters TV series from all around the world for us to write about, new set releases, reviews and just write about something fun. There are 6 of us who write in the blog, which helps share the workload so we don’t get burnt out, plus our personalities are perfect for each person's specialty.
1. Tell us about your background and journey. When did you first decide that you wanted to create content and how did you start?
Many years ago I studied film and television broadcasting. After finishing the course, I took a job in the finance industry, just until I could find something in the television industry. But, it didn’t happen. After about 7-years of working a mundane 9-5 job, I wanted to be creative again.
I started playing around with stop motion animation, using LEGO. I filmed a couple of very shot test videos, just to work out how to do it. This was at the same time Instagram introduced video to their app. At the time, you couldn’t import video from the camera roll, it all had to be filmed within the app.
I found myself shooting animation within the Instagram app, tapping the record button quickly to capture each frame. The videos were ok considering this and meant that I was the only person with LEGO animations on Instagram. I would also share these videos on YouTube.
I posted regularly, each video I tried something new, trying to make each video better than the last. As I did this, a following grew. Within 6 months I was contacted by Regal Cinemas in the U.S to make a campaign video for a popcorn promotion. So I really stepped up my quality for this! They loved the final video, so much that they hired me again when the first LEGO Movie came out. I ended up making them 3X 30second videos, which when put together would tell a full story.
I put this video on my YouTube. Then one day, something happened. This 1-minute 30-second video started to get lots of views. And I mean A lot! It was at this point my views and subscriptions grew, and I stepped up my game even more. That video now has over 7-million views on YouTube which can be found here.
But it wasn’t only my YouTube that was growing, my Instagram was as well. When you followed someone on Instagram, it uses to suggest 3 ‘similar’ accounts to follow. And I got lucky! When people would follow @LEGO, it would suggest my account @CheepJokes, followed by @Disney & @StarWars! This resulted in a massive follower spike for my account.
As years went on, I did more influencer advertising and got nominated for the 2017 Mumbrella Influencer Of The Year Award. Which I won!
These days, I have moved away from animation as it’s quite time-consuming, and focus on in-person interviews. I also have a blog BrickBanter.com, which and my team write about all things LEGO-related.
3. Is vlogging and YouTube content creation a financially sustainable career?
It can be. For me, it’s always been a little bit of pocket money. I believe if you start vlogging and YouTubing to make money, you won't be successful. It means you are doing it for the wrong reasons.
You should be doing it because you enjoy it and because you love creating content and want to share it with the world. If it’s good, you might get followers. If you’re lucky, you make money.
What a lot of people don’t realize is the time and skill it takes to become successful. Sure, some might get lucky with a ‘viral video’. But it’s slim.
Start small, learn as you go, and be consistent. It might take a month, a year, possibly several years to grow a following. Just make sure you are enjoying it.
4. Who is your favorite creator and why?
I have a few for different reasons.
‘First We Feast’ I enjoy it because it’s not your usual interview. It puts celebrities in an uncomfortable situation where they let their guard down. The questions are also not generic like other interviews.
Tiago Catarino – Also a LEGO YouTuber. Tiago is a great example of YouTube's success. He started 1.5 years ago and grew quickly. He put out a new video daily for a year, his content is high quality, and it hit a place in the market for both skilled and novice builders.
5. How and where do you find inspiration to churn out content?
I just do what I enjoy. With my photography, it’s easy for me to find inspiration in everyday life. For BrickBanter.com, there is always something new happening in the LEGO world. Being, LEGO Masters TV series from all around the world for us to write about, new set releases, reviews and just write about something fun. There are 6 of us who write in the blog, which helps share the workload so we don’t get burnt out, plus our personalities are perfect for each person's specialty.
6. What does your typical day look like?
I still have a day job, and that’s probably the only consistent part of my day. I work 2 full days a week, and 3 evenings. So generally speaking I have my days ‘free’. When I say free, it’s usually working on something for BrickBanter. After the team write an article, it’s my job to tidy it up, add the photos and SEO information, create the thumbnails, and post to socials.
It can be quite time-consuming. The best part is, the timing is flexible for the most part. Quite often LEGO will send me new releases that we need to review for the site. So I’ll be at home building those, then taking photos for the article.
So my weeks are mixed, which keeps it fun!
7. Which is your favorite book and why?
I’m actually not much of a reader. I enjoy watching TV and movies. After studying TV and film, and learning to become a writer, changes the way you watch shows. You begin to analyze them a lot more, listening to dialogue differently to learn new techniques.
8. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring creators?
Do it because you enjoy it. Just because you see so many people online calling themselves influencers and content creators, doesn’t make it easy for fun.
In reality, those who are good at it, worked hard to achieve it.
- Learn how to use a camera, still, and video.
- Learn how to edit your footage.
- Learn how to share your content.
This includes socials media. You’ll find YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook can all have different ratios for content depending on where you share it. For example, Instagram has a feed, stories, IGTV, and reels. That’s four different ratios, four sets of rules within the same app. What works on one platform, might not work on the other. Start small, learn as you go, and always keep improving.
Andrew Morrey - Entrepreneur & Founder - Brick Banter (LEGO News, Reviews & LEGO Masters Recaps)
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