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YouTube Creators Hub
Around the World in Videos: The Path to YouTube Success With Nick and Mathilde
00:35:16
In this YouTube Creators Hub podcast episode, Dusty Porter is joined by Nick and Mathilde from the popular YouTube channel Next Meridian Expedition. They discuss the inception and growth of their channel, which documents their world travels in their...
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- [00:02]
Dusty Porter
Welcome to the YouTube Creators Hub podcast where we help you conquer the Internet one video at a time. We cover everything from how to start a YouTube channel to how to make a video go viral. And now, here's your host, the one and only, Dusty Porter.
- [00:19]
Hello and welcome to this week's episode.
- [00:21]
Of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. My name's Dusty Porter. I host this show each and every Friday. I sit down with a wonderful creator each and every week and I chat with them about their journey on YouTube. So if you're someone thinking about starting a YouTube channel, or maybe you've just started, or trying to grow your channel, or maybe you're an established channel just trying to make money and turn this from a hobby to a full time gig, this is the show for you. You can go back, listen to over 400 interviews that I've done so far and all of them have a nugget. To help you push the needle Forward on your YouTube channel and your brand. I offer professional YouTube coaching. You can check it in the links below. We're brought to you by the fine folks over at TubeBuddy. So if you're looking for a tool and you've seen people do screencasts and you've seen different data metrics and things that they can do, they probably have a TubeBuddy browser extension installed. So check them out if you haven't already. You get a free 30 day trial down below. It helps out the show and it'll help you out in return. Also, we have one of the fastest growing YouTube communities over on our Discord server. I know there's a lot of masterminds out there and cohorts that you can pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to join. Listen, I have some offerings of that nature as well, but we have something here that's five bucks a month. That's it. Five bucks gets you in the door. You can chat with YouTube creators, over 160 of them now, alongside myself. Previous guests ask questions, share your most recent upload. If you're just looking for a place to rub elbows with wonderful creators, that's the place for you. And we also do a once a month mastermind call that I host on Zoom. We either do a deep dive on someone's channel, we do a Q and A, or cover a specific topic. Listen, it's the best bang for your buck in the whole YouTube educator space. And I'm not just saying that because it's here with our community. We have some of the best people on the planet in that group willing to Help each and every time you have a question. So check that out if you haven't already. Today we're joined by a couple, a duo who decided to travel the world and document everything on YouTube. They have a very successful community, very successful YouTube channel. And we chat about how they've gotten there and what they plan to do to even go beyond where they are now. So let's go ahead and jump into this week's conversation.
- [02:45]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. Dusty here, the host of the show, as always joined by two. We get a two for one special today, Nick and Matild from the YouTube channel. Again, the name of the channel, it has their names in it, but it's called Next Meridian Expedition. And I'm going to let them tell you guys the journey that they've been on and how they've captured it on YouTube, but just a little brief information about them. Again, I've already mentioned their names, but they left everything behind to go on a world tour in our in their Land Rover Defender Albatross. Seven continents so far, 88 countries, 300,000 kilometers traveled, all captured on their YouTube channel. Guys, how are you doing today?
- [03:28]
Nick
Very good, thank you, Dusty.
- [03:30]
Mathilde
Yeah, superb. Very excited to be here. Thank you, Dusty.
- [03:33]
Dusty Porter
So whose idea was it? Which one of you said to the other, okay, we're going to travel, but not only are we going to travel, we're going to capture the entire journey on video and grow this really cool community over on YouTube. How did this whole thing start?
- [03:49]
Mathilde
Well, bringing us right back to the beginning. Love it. It all started probably five years ago when we were on a road trip down the Balkans, so Croatia, Montenegro, and one night, sleeping in a tent, we said, gosh, we don't want to turn around, we just want to keep driving. Is it possible? Who does this? And so we didn't know what overlanding meant back then and we just started googling that night in the tent when we saw people were traveling for pretty cheap. I don't know if it's cheap, but for €15,000 a year. And we said, wow, okay, maybe we could do that. And so we turned back, went back to Paris, back to our jobs, and as the idea grew, we said, let's make it happen. And so it was a shared idea. Yeah.
- [04:30]
Nick
But the push for the YouTube channel, I think it was you, like, you had the spark of thinking, hey, maybe that could work. Let's try.
- [04:38]
Dusty Porter
Did you guys. The conversations early on about traveling, it sounded like both of you guys were on board doing that. But as far as the experience, as far as filming it, did you have any hesitations or anything that might have stopped you from doing it in the beginning, but you're obviously. You're glad that you did now. But were there any roadblocks early on with the filming and the capturing and all that? Mathilde, I'll let you go first with that one.
- [05:02]
Nick
Yeah, there were many roadblocks. The first one was that we had no idea what we were doing, but the head was there, the spirit was there. We already had traveled extensively, both Nick and I, separately and together, and. And every time we were traveling, even with our small iPhone videos and our small pictures, Nick was putting together a video for friends and family. And that was our ways of keeping memory. That was our way to keep memories. Not watching 200 pictures, but watching this one little video of our journey. It was nothing close to what we're doing right now, but I think it was already a start, something that existed. So when we left, Nick was like, let's do the same thing. Instead of just taking lots of pictures, let's do one episode every week. And he will keep memories for us. We will share it with friends and family. He was already on so many fronts in terms of the logistics and the planning of a trip like this one, and I'm pretty creative. So we decided I would give it a shot, and it worked out well, but it was a steep learning curve. So I think the first roadblock for us was to just put together a video that looks like something that can be published on YouTube.
- [06:13]
Dusty Porter
And just to follow that up, what was the first moment, or maybe the first video or the first conversation the both of you had together where you both were like, okay, this may actually work? What point in the journey did you look at each other and say, okay, we may have something pretty special here?
- [06:31]
Mathilde
That. That's a. That's. I feel like the moment we probably started our getting our first partners just before the departure.
- [06:42]
Nick
Oh, yeah.
- [06:43]
Mathilde
Is when we were like, okay, now we have to make these videos, because partners are giving us stuff, and in exchange, we have to make videos. And so we had a bit of our own passion of making videos and memories, but also then the homework of making the deadline fit. So because of that, we said, now we have to do it every Saturday. It's got to come out. And I think once we really started, we already had the Defender community. At least the Land Rover community is pretty strong. As soon as you publish a video with a Land Rover, automatically the community joins You. And that's what's powerful about land rovers. And so automatically we said, okay, there's all these people now that are saying, hey, I'm going to fill your trip. And so automatically you also feel like you have to give back.
- [07:26]
Dusty Porter
Do you have certain people who you've recognized in the comments that have been there since episode two, three, four, early on?
- [07:34]
Mathilde
Yes, definitely. And still they comment on Instagram.
- [07:37]
Nick
And the beauty is that we actually meet them because we travel all over the planet. We actually meet some of those people who tell you, oh, I was watching your first video where you geared up your vehicle to leave and you meet them like years after in Australia.
- [07:54]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, that is such a cool thing in that people who are creators are used to growing and maturing a community, but very few of them ever get to really meet and greet their community. But you guys, with the luxury of being able to go all over the world and travel to all of these really cool destinations, you're just by nature of sheer will going to be meeting up with some of these people. And so it's just such a neat journey that you guys have been on. Just quickly, this is not about YouTube. Well, first I want to ask this. Do you believe that YouTube has allowed you to do this for longer than you expected just because of the monetary ability to monetize this? And you've obviously gone beyond YouTube now with Patreon on other ways that you're monetizing and we'll talk about that. But would this whole thing even be possible without the platform that YouTube has provided for you guys?
- [08:44]
Nick
I think it's a very good question. We started on savings, so we didn't have a financial pressure for the first two years of the journey at least, but we would not be here speaking to you and still on the road at. We are almost at 3 years now if it was not for the YouTube revenues and all the associated ones. So it gave us the freedom of time, of slowing down our journey. When we saw it started working, we were not that much on our accounting anymore because we were pretty sharp and strict at the beginning of the journey. And so I think it was good to have a financial cushion at the beginning to be very relaxed about this YouTube thing. It was completely a side hobby just for friends and families and collecting memories. We didn't have to put any financial pressure on it. And then we could grow into making it more important as time went and as our savings were slowly decreasing.
- [09:39]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, I, I want to ask you guys this follow up question as well with the YouTube thing coinciding with the hobby. Was there ever, and has there been since then, stress with, okay, now that we're doing this and we have a community and we're. We have patrons and things like that, has there ever been a stress of now worrying about, oh, no, we want to make ends meet, we want to keep doing this thing, this journey? How have you guys navigated that?
- [10:07]
Mathilde
Yep. So from day one, we've always said the trip is the dream because all of this is a big dream for us, and we can't come home being like, oh, all we did is work, or all we did is stress. So we try to keep at least 70% of our week dedicated to the trip and being off the computers and the phones and actually enjoying the moment. It's not always easy. It's not always 70%. That's just a rough number. And then the rest is all work. And so today, because we have more followers and we have more responsibilities and more platforms, there is more work. And so it's hard sometimes to juggle between all of it. But without it, we would be home already and the trip would be finished.
- [10:53]
Nick
And I think it's fair to say that the YouTube journey also, in some ways, at least for me, helped me appreciate even more this journey around the world. We've seen a lot of things. We're, like, moving every day, and a lot of people are asking us, but don't you feel you're taking away from your visits and your encounters? No. That camera actually pushes us everywhere we arrive to think about, what's the angle, what's interesting here? And so we can't be bored. People be like, oh, no, another waterfall or another forest or another mountains. I don't say it never happens. But I said, this camera for the people who watch, we're like, okay, we need to find what's interesting here, and we find it even for us. And so it's expanding our journey in some ways. So there's stress, but there's a lot of positive impact.
- [11:40]
Dusty Porter
I love that looking through the lens of the camera gives you that just expandability. I love that. It's a great way of looking at it. Do you believe that putting a schedule together early on of, hey, we're going to release an episode every Saturday or Sunday or whatever you guys said. Do you believe that cadence and concept consistency has been a part of the success that you've seen?
- [12:03]
Mathilde
Yes, 100%. I think if you start slipping away, it's easier and easier for you to say, ah, nah, next week, or I'll just skip this video. So if you have a deadline and that's your homework, then it's done and automatically you become part of the rhythm and it's. It makes it a lot easier. I think Mathilde probably missed, because Matilda does all the YouTube probably missed three videos in practically three years. Three Saturdays, maybe four. And all the others were always published. It's. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but it has kept us going and to where we are today.
- [12:38]
Nick
And it's really some of the pressure. Like if you have to do it, then it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to go out. And I think that's really important. Otherwise you overthink it and you don't do anything.
- [12:49]
Dusty Porter
That is a big thing where perfection can really get in the way of production and creation and creativity, where you think that you have to have it a certain way, but knowing that getting it out there for the community is the most important thing. Yes, you have to balance making it good and quality, but you also have to also have to balance of. You have to get that episode out there and it keeps you accountable. Really good to hear you guys say that. Now, you mentioned that Matild does Most of the YouTube side of the editing or whatever it may be. How do you break down the tasks to where you make it to where Nick does this, and then Matilda, you do this. Who does what and how did you guys settle on those things?
- [13:27]
Mathilde
It came in naturally, but it took four months to settle in a rhythm. And that's the hardest part of traveling like this is everyone that asks us, we always tell them it's going to take a bit of time. For us, it took us four months to set in a rhythm. And that means how do we travel, who does what? And we naturally gave each other the homeworks or the tasks that just felt natural. So Mathilde had a better storytelling for YouTube. I was too much in the action and music. And so it didn't feel a connection with us that Nick and Mathilde is a lot more shown with Mathilde. So automatically YouTube became Mathilde Matilda's job. YouTube is a huge chunk of work. It's a lot of work to edit the video, probably 20 hours a week. And so I filled in everything else that took 20 hours. So Patreon, the mechanics, the itinerary, the Instagram, and of course we still help each other, but it just makes it easier if we have our own tasks. And that way we have our own deadlines, I guess. Our own. Yeah, yeah.
- [14:24]
Nick
Nick is a good multitasker I'm an awful multitasker. So it was very natural the way he was divided.
- [14:32]
Mathilde
Yeah.
- [14:32]
Dusty Porter
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is something that if I were to go back in time and, and could tell myself that as growing a business is that knowing what I'm good at, knowing what I should offload or delegate and know what I should keep in house as what I should do. You mentioned that the Patreon and you mentioned partners and ways that you guys are able to monetize now that gives you the ability to continue this trip. What are ways that you're monetizing now and how do you guys make money on the channel? Can you break down all of those buckets and just explain to the audience all of those things?
- [15:08]
Nick
So we have three buckets of revenue. One is YouTube ads and the classic YouTube revenue scheme. The second is partnerships, so brands that pay us to advertise for their products on the channel. And the third one is Patreon. I would say at this stage we're about like third. But obviously YouTube varies much more than a source of revenue like Patreon. Patreon is our safe honey pot that is like filling up every month and gradually increasing. So that's a great, I would say, source of comfort and safety net. The partners have been pretty good with us. We really narrowed them down to have. We have now two partners very regular on the channel. We're maybe bringing in a third one and they've been pretty good, but you never know when they can pull back. But so far we have those monthly contract with us, with them. So that's really nice. And YouTube comes and goes, as most know.
- [16:10]
Dusty Porter
Is there a number that you guys say to yourselves like each month that you want to be at, to be comfortable as far as, hey, between Patreon, YouTube and Revenue, you know, we need to be getting whatever that amount is there a number and can you share it with us and just in how close you guys are to that number each month?
- [16:29]
Mathilde
Yep. So when we first left, we were thinking if we could just get €500, okay US for the rest of the trip, we're happy. But the reality is that's not enough. So what for us is perfect is to have the break even number. And for us that would be around the 2,000 to €3,000 US mark. And we're at it since maybe six months. And because we have so many more ambition because we're traveling around and we have so much time to think of new creative ideas, there's more we want. And because of the New projects. We also need extra revenue. And so we do set ourselves new targets. We would love actually to make videos. Patreon and Instagram, our lifetime goal. And to do that, you need to replace two traditional salaries into this. And so we have the big goal, which is for the end of the trip, which would be two salaries, I'm going to guess, depending on where you're from. But from where we're from in France, that would be around, what, 4,000 US per month. So if we were each. Each. And. But that's. We're far from that. Very far from that. But if we finish the trip in two and a half years, we would love to have that as our goal. And that's what we're aiming for.
- [17:44]
Dusty Porter
How much longer do you guys see the trip? Like right now, you said. You just said two and a half years. So do you have planned out trips for two and a half more years?
- [17:54]
Mathilde
Yep. So technically we have to do the seven continents. So we've already done five. We're starting our sixth one in Asia. Now. Asia will take a year and a half. Africa probably a year. So that's why we still have two and a half to complete the project. And the project was supposed to be three years, but now it's going to be in total five. And because of the cushion of money, we also threw in a few side trips. So we will be starting in March, a motorbike trip that actually nobody knows yet. But you knew the Patreons do.
- [18:22]
Dusty Porter
Yep.
- [18:22]
Mathilde
So that's. That's something. We'll be starting in March and that will go in parallel to the car. And then we do these side trips. Matul goes hiking on the Jordan trail, and I go lead motorbike trips in remote locations like Mongolia, Madagascar, Peru, places like this. And so these are all things that bring revenue but also take more time out of the five years. So we might end up doing all this in six years.
- [18:45]
Dusty Porter
To me, this is such an interesting journey that you guys are going to go on. When five and six years is up, you both are going to be able to look back at this just catalog of just digital, just episodes of, just like a TV show of your life of, hey, this is where we started when we were gassing up for the first time and we went to all these places. And just to think that you're going to go through Asia in a year and a half and then Africa, all these different places. Yes, the money may not be there right now, but you've seen the trajectory of where it's going. And the kind of where it can be. And to me, it's so amazing that a platform like YouTube allows you to do this and capture this for free and provide this episodic content every week, weekend to these people as if they're watching cable TV back in the day of, like, Survivor or whatever it is. So I love the uniqueness of what you guys are doing. And just as a YouTube coach myself, I'm thinking of just so many things, of just, hey, you guys need to be getting merchandise and things out there that. So many things that you guys could be doing. And so it's so cool to hear these stories that you guys are creating. And when you have kids, one day you'll be able to share that with them and whatever it may be. So I don't know. You guys don't have kids yet, do you?
- [19:56]
Mathilde
Not yet.
- [19:57]
Dusty Porter
Okay. Okay. All right, so I didn't want. I didn't want to step on my toes there. All right, so what is something that you look back on thus far for the YouTube and content creation side of things, and you're like, man, I wish we would have done that sooner. We'll start with Nick, and then Mathilde will go to you.
- [20:16]
Mathilde
Good one. Oh, actually, I'll let you go first because.
- [20:18]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, go ahead, Matilda. That's fine.
- [20:20]
Mathilde
Yep.
- [20:21]
Nick
I think we really went into it, like, let's swing it. I remember editing the first video when we just left, and it was chaotic. I think I would have wished I had maybe trained a bit more before, but I think it's very much related to the way we travel. I think most people have maybe the luxury of learning as they're editing because they're in an office or in their home. I was in a car without regular Internet access, so I couldn't really just look things up. So I think I would have wished I had trained before leaving on the trip. And I guess the second one is an advice we got from a much bigger YouTuber than us. We met her about six months into the trip, and she told us, let's be honest, guys, you're not doing that for you anymore, so make that turn. And we were still in the mood of we're doing our videos on our journey. And at first we didn't quite want to accept what she was saying. We're like, yeah, we're doing it for us, and we do it for us, but it's different when you also address other people. And I think we could have taken that turn a bit earlier. This is not only for us. We have to make it clear, we have to make it much more framed so that someone comes out of nowhere, gets what you're doing and is enthusiastic about the project. And so maybe that's a good tip. Also, like to other creatives that start, make it also for the others.
- [21:48]
Mathilde
Good idea for sure. For me, honestly, because I'm doing the Instagram and the Patreon, I feel like if I just had a bit more marketing techniques or just revenue stream techniques, like I have all the ideas, I study business, but I just don't know sometimes how to apply them. And so that's something that would have been useful but. But at the same time, I'm happy with the trajectory we were on because if I knew all of that, I might have over pressured myself and the trip might have become a little bit more business oriented that we actually really enjoyed all the travels we've done and I'd love to keep it that way until the end. One thing is probably the Starlink as well. Gosh, we were going every Friday to in South America, Central America, trying to find good wi fi and upload a 10 gigabyte video. That took forever and it pulled us away from the trip. Now that we have Starlinks in South America, it's a game changer. So little things like that. Yeah.
- [22:44]
Dusty Porter
And I want to go back to what Mathilde said about realizing at some point that yes, you are still on a travel journey together and you want to experience things together and have fun. But you also, if you're doing this thing seriously and you're utilizing it to make money and people are supporting you, you then have to transfer that of, okay, now there's someone else on the other side of this thing. There's other people expecting things. There's other people, yes, you still want to be the creator and not let them deter what you're going for and determine how you create your content and your art. But you also have to know that there is someone on the other side of the lens and they are going to be watching and following and waiting for what you do. And there's a to that as well that you have to understand. What would be a tip that you guys would give on growing a Patreon or a membership? Because this is something that I do, other creators do. And Nick, since you tackle that, what would you say would be some things that you would say, oh, if you're trying to grow membership or you're trying to grow support this way, here's some things that I've learned along the way.
- [23:42]
Mathilde
Yep. I Think as long as you keep varied posts. So, for example, because we're on a world tour, we talk about the administration part, we talk about shipping, we talk about health insurance, we talk about maintenance, the vehicle, spare parts, crossing borders, all that stuff. So you gotta talk about multitudes of projects and you gotta share also downloadables. So we share all of our itinerary, all the spots we slept in in every country. We share documents, contacts and all that. Therefore, all types of people can join. People that want the storytelling of the encounters we meet of the Peruvian family we met, or they want to get more into the hard and harder info, which is all the contacts or the admin now to get it broadcasted out there. Patreon itself is not very good at it. There's no real marketing behind Patreon. The only way is to push it out via your marketing platform. So YouTube and Instagram, and that's what works the best. And sometimes giving a little bit, but not giving the full story is what gets people to subscribe. And so usually on Instagram we give half of the story, or on YouTube we give parts of the story, or we give part of our itinerary, but not the whole thing. And then people who are interested end up being curious and going on Patreon. But what's even weirder is that out of all our patreons, probably 90% did not even react to our posts because they're just here to finance, be helpful, and to keep watching these episodes as if they were a Netflix subscription. And so they just want to pay us to keep going and make videos. And the 10% care about the content.
- [25:25]
Dusty Porter
Interesting. And out of the four tiers that you have, from the lowest tier all the way up to the Highest tier of $91.50 a month, what percentage of people are supporting you at the higher tiers of the $22 and the $91.
- [25:40]
Mathilde
So at the 91, we've only got one person, but everyone is mostly at the. I don't see how you see what it is in US exchange there, but it's the €9 and the €19.
- [25:51]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, the 1050 and $22 per month tier. Okay. And being able to provide them with the downloadables, the deliverables, what are they getting and what are the. A lot of times, a lot of people who support me in the show that I do, this one here that you're listening to is when they join, like you said, they're just doing it to help me. They really enjoy me and what I'm providing them and they've listened to a lot of free content and they're just generous and they're like, oh, I'm gonna pay it as a subscription.
- [26:17]
Right.
- [26:17]
As I care about what Dusty's doing and I care about the things that. That he's providing and the value that he's providing me. And we even go beyond that sometimes and those people turn into coaching clients and there's just so many different things that, that I could do. Have you guys ever considered live streaming as far as, like, where you are in live streaming and doing Q&As, or do you guys do that currently?
- [26:38]
Nick
We don't do it currently. We didn't quite consider it. Done it once with patrons, but we were not really ready. It was like our first time trying that and it was not well prepared.
- [26:49]
Mathilde
Yeah, we did it a second time and it went better. But honestly, this. These are some of the things where we. This is what we were talking about earlier is we wished we knew a bit better or we had somebody maybe like you now that we hear that you're actually coaching and things that. That could help us guide a little bit on how to do it and why. Because sometimes when like others are doing it, but we don't really know why, so.
- [27:09]
Dusty Porter
Right. Interesting. I feel that live streaming would give you guys another platform to connect with your audience and then in turn improve the membership that you have and allow you to continue to elongate the journey. So the videos that you guys create are so well done and you can tell the progress of. I watched one of your first videos to one of your most recent videos and the progress of the editing and the progress of the storytelling, and that's what I want to transition into now. And Mathilde, you can tell me this. I watched the video that you did yesterday about the Australia, the Final Chapter, the continent that you're on currently. And the video did such a good job of. Of storytelling and recapping and doing the things that. That I think a video like this should do. Can you talk about the importance of being a storyteller and being able to capture all the things that are important for the audience as they're listening and watching and keeping them on the video? Because we all know how important watch time is.
- [28:03]
Nick
Oh, it's a hard one because I don't have the science behind it. But I've been doing it for long enough now that I have a few ideas. There's the classic. The people who show up on the video, the one who know you, they know you great. But that's not what you cater for when you build the story. You need to cater for everyone. So make sure, especially in the video where it's the last episode of Australia, make sure they understand that you've been traveling for nine months in Australia, that you didn't just Australia. We have a structure now, like a little summary of what the video will be about at the very beginning of the video. Catchy trailer kind of vibe. Then we have our own trailer for the channel that reminds everyone that we're doing a world tour. And then I try to start the video kind of giving them what the end point is. I didn't do it in the past, but I think it helps keeping people engaged. I've find there's a bit of a difference. They need to like from the beginning, get an idea of what they're going to get and get a little treat for it. Like you clicked, you stayed until here. You get a reward immediately. Like you clicked for a reason and you're going to get what you clicked for. And then we have this structure that we probably stole to someone on YouTube, but it's set the scene, set the challenge, all of your roadblocks, all of your challenges that go along the way, all of your steps, and then resolve the story, resolve the challenge, give them the answer. What's happening at the end of this video in Australia? We arrive at the last destination of our journey in Australia, and then the last step is move them forward. Especially in a journey like ours, it's pretty easy because we're always heading to a new destination. So in that video, we finished up the journey by putting our car into a container, ship it to Asia. And the next step is we take a flight to New Zealand and next episode will be in New Zealand. So I try to use that structure and for every video, have something very comprehensive that sets the scene, sets the challenge, drives the story, resolve. It leads somewhere else.
- [30:09]
Dusty Porter
You can tell that you've been doing this for a while, just hearing your inner thoughts of how you're taking the story from the beginning to the end and getting them there. And I think that what makes your channel unique is that it is one continuous journey. And maybe someone finds your Argentina video, but then they want to go back and watch the journey from the start. And I would assume you see a lot of people going back and watching. I do this. People do this with my podcast all the time. They'll go back and find me here. But they go back and listen to 300 more episodes and I think that's the cool Thing about the trip that you guys are on, but it's also.
- [30:43]
Nick
A trap in a way. We also noticed that some, maybe the new viewers that are not sold to the channel yet, they didn't really. That's something we just realized maybe they don't like the episode 157. It's. They're kind of jumping in a train that's already rolling. And so Nick also thought that we could stop putting the episode number to make each story one story. You see what I mean?
- [31:09]
Dusty Porter
Yes.
- [31:10]
Nick
And then people can go back. If they're sold to the channel and they like it, they have the opportunity to go back. We still have the episode number in the description, but that's something we're experimenting with now.
- [31:20]
Mathilde
Yeah. Because it's too many episodes and some people are saying, Gosh, there's 170. I have to catch up with all 25 to 30 minutes. That's a whole month of just non stop watching. So.
- [31:30]
Dusty Porter
Oh, gosh, that's actually a really good point. I guess podcasting is different than something like what you guys are doing, but you want them to get invested in that individual episode and then if they do like it and like you guys, they'll just have 150 or 200 more to go back and view if they want to, but feel like they're not being left out or there's something they're missing from that. So I do appreciate that detail there something you guys have learned along the way. That's great. Fun question, where's the. Where's your favorite place that you've been so far?
- [31:58]
Mathilde
We both have our answer. It's Argentina. We always say it. We love it.
- [32:01]
Nick
The food, the people, everything.
- [32:04]
Dusty Porter
Interesting, Interesting. So maybe one day you guys might be back more permanent is what you're telling me.
- [32:11]
Mathilde
Yeah.
- [32:12]
Dusty Porter
That's awesome. As far as what's next for the channel, as we close out today, what's next for the channel? Mathilde, we'll start with you and then Nick, we'll go to you.
- [32:22]
Nick
What's next for the channel? A new continent first, with lots of new challenges, I think, both individually and for the filming. Like new culture. You can't just rock up with a camera in the same way in one culture and another. So lots of adaptation and on an individual level, because, yeah, it comes with like different climates, harder logistics, languages. All of that is going to impact the channel as well. The fact that we don't speak the language in the Americas, we spoke Spanish almost brilliantly. So we could interact, we could do the subtitles ourselves. All of that is going to change in Asia, I would say. Yeah, that's this big turn for the new continent.
- [33:02]
Mathilde
Yeah. And for us, for the channel. As I was saying earlier, it's all about hitting some target milestones while we're traveling, keeping 70% of the travel, the fun, starting these new travels on the motorbike, doing these leading trips on hiking or horse riding or motorbike for myself and at the same time trying to make this a full time living and learning things we can from people like you or other travelers we meet. Because we're extremely excited about everything that's coming. Even if it's little work or a lot of work in most cases a lot of work. It's all exciting for us because if this can be a full time living.
- [33:39]
Dusty Porter
Then gosh, what a life. I could not say, I could not say it any better myself. I, I don't travel the world but I've been doing content creation and running my own business now for almost nine years. And I remember when I left my job I was working as a director of sports and activities at a YMCA and I had a teaching degree degree that I wanted to get and I realized then that I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to start my own thing. And you're right, the best way to put it is what a life. Because to think that you can do this and make money and travel and, and do these wonderful activities and have these beautiful adventures together is such a cool thing and I'm so happy for you guys and I'm so thankful that you're able to do what you're able to do and I want to encourage you listening to this right now again, I'll link their channel in the show notes of this episode but it's just Nick and Mathilde next Meridian expedition. They're not even at 200 video yet. They're almost, they're just almost at 52,000 subscribers. Great community over there. I encourage you to go watch one of their stories, one of their journeys and adventures they've been on. I think you'll find something out of it and just be able to listen to this episode and companion with that. So Nick and Mathilde, thank you guys so much. Safe travels on all of your journeys ahead and thanks again for joining me.
- [34:51]
Mathilde
Dusty, thanks a lot. This has been a great opportunity and you know what, since we are traveling the world, I don't know, we might cross paths with you guys.
- [34:58]
Dusty Porter
You've been listening to the YouTube Creators Podcast. We want to thank you and invite you to subscribe to the show as well as support us on Patreon for great perks such as having your YouTube channel featured on the show and a link on our website. Until next time, keep uploading those videos.