Traveling Videos

This is part 4 in a series of blog that is sort of out of order, and I do apologize.  At first, I thought, I will mention these videos in case writing is not really their thing, and that’s it.  Actually, I am really having fun with this series, and I wanted to continue with it for a while.  I know it has been a month since I wrote the first one, but as usual, life got in the way, and I sort of wanted this series to transition me off of the controversial posts, as I am saying goodbye to them.  Not even Trump’s latest thing with Putin is driving me back to these posts.  Let someone else have them.

So, today, I am tackling the travel video, and the different types of them.  The reason behind writing this as a separate post is this is a broad subject.  You can do all sorts of things with this type of video.  I love watching them, and like my last post, there are some posters I do watch, and I will mention them, although it is not as many as the family videos.  First, a PSA that bears repeating:

Protect yourself.  Post your videos after you come back.  When posting while on vacation, you are giving thieves notice that your home is an open banquet for your goodies.  You know thieves love goodies.  In fact, do not post your address.  Be very careful.

Amusement/fun videos

I love these videos.  These are the “try it before you get there” videos.  They can give you a plethora of information of what at a theme park, popular vacation destination, or this is “what your getaway looks like and this is what you get to do”.  I am going to give you two different perspectives on this type of video and the first one is POV or Point of View.  POV is that, your point of view.  Say you are on a roller coaster, and you want to show the path and which direction the car is going.  Do not point the camera on you.  This is showing your reaction.  Point it on the track.  Be careful to hang on tight to your camera, but make sure that you are securely in your seat.  In either case safety is always best.  For that reason, Universal Studios Orlando do not allow you to film on rides.  The other reason is what I mentioned in an earlier post, they are protecting their IP (intellectual property).  Disney does not have that restriction or at least they do not enforce it. 

The person who I watch the most is Spokesmayne.  He posts a video almost every evening live from either Walt Disney World or Universal Studios Orlando. (in fact, I am waiting on him now).  He gives me my Disney fix until I am able to take a trip (hopefully in 2019), and with the equipment he uses, I feel like I am right there with him and his girlfriend, Jennifer.

Another channel I watch, although not as much is ResortTV1.  They do pretty much what Chris does, but the only thing I do not like about this channel is in the middle, they have to mention sponsorships, and that is sort of a turn off for me.  Yes, when you get as many views as they do, people tend to notice, and want to sponsor you to bring in others to their shop, but I am usually there to see what is in the parks, how long it is going to be there, so I can make plans.

Informational Videos

I have not talked about these videos, but they serve as a purpose as well. Sometimes it is news, showing what is around the parks, food reviews, and general information. 

For these videos, I turn to Dis Unplugged.  They give news on what is going on in the parks, the company (both Disney and Universal Studios), Food reviews of the eating places and resorts, and sometimes legal stuff. (I like what Pete Werner of Dis Unplugged says, “boring legal stuff).  This help me as a 2 unit stock owner of Walt Disney, and as a fan of Disney.  But I mostly listen to them for travel advice.  They also cover the cruise line industry on their other channel, Dreams Unlimited.

A word for the wise on both of these types of videos, I mentioned equipment.  You do not need a fancy camera to start out with.  In the case of Dreams Unlimited and Dis Unplugged, they are professionals, so they feel that they need the equipment to give you the best quality videos.  This is their job.  If you are taking family vacation shots, a simple phone camera or your click and shoot camera will do nicely.

Another warning do not let Google take control over your vacation photos and turn them into a video.  I did when I took my cruise.  I had to edit because there were a couple of unflattering photos that made into the video.  Photos is not the best way to have a video in my opinion.  Photos do not show the whole picture of what you are looking at.  It is best that if you are taking a video, you do the editing.  You can control what in it, the music, and the tone of the video.

One of my "Animals from my cruise
in January 2018 (c) 2018 P.Lynne Designs

Now for some more tips on travel videos. 

1.    Do show the adventure.  If you want to show your child surfboarding for the first time, do it.  If you want to show you eating a strange new food from the Fiji Islands, do it.  If you want to show the tour of your stateroom from a cruise ship, do it.  It shows that you had fun, you have learned from your trip something new and different, and if that the person viewing it may want that same experience.

2.    Do not show all the fun.  If you want to inform about something that happened to you, and you do not want people to have that same mistake, put it in.  In my last trip video, I gave a warning about tour guides in Jamaica and how some tour guides may want to take you to Indian shop owners instead of Jamaican shop owners.  Nothing is wrong with it if that is what you want, but I and my friend wanted to give back to the people who were born on the island vs. an immigrant. Our tour guide took us to the Indians instead of the native shop owner.

3.    Have a clear video.  It does not matter what your camera equipment is if your picture is not clear enough.  Try not to have a grainy video.

4.    Have narration.  I like to know what I am looking at when I view a video.  If you do not have narration through the video, at least have an introduction.  This goes back to another reason why you can edit the video when you get home.  You can add in the introduction. At that time, you can say when you were there and what was happening. Also, in the introduction, mention the places you went to and what you did there.  Do not haphazard put up a video.  Give it some order.

An array of pumpkins makes
a great video opportunity
(c) 2014 P. Lynne Designs

5.    Finally, have fun on vacation.  People do not have to see every aspect of your vacation unless it is necessary. Sometimes it is necessary to “unplug” for dinner when there is a security measure involved. For example, both Disney and Universal do not like you to have your camera out while you are walking through their gates.  Once through the gates, you are free to take as many photos and videos as possible, except for the riding rule and Universal, as mentioned earlier.

Takeaway Moment:

The first rule of vacation is to have fun. It is nice to see vacation videos, but have fun just being you. Unplugging helps sometimes.  Remember the POV video and the information video and take care of you and your equipment for safety factors.  Equipment can be replaced, but you cannot. One thing I did not cover is be mindful of others around you.  you are in a public place and there are some people who do not like being photographed or videotaped.  Also, use a panning shot show what is around the area that you are in.  Highlight when you can.  Also remember that these videos are for memories first, public second.  Your child may not remember the moment, but you have it on video, so they can.  Last remember to use good lighting, keep the camera focused, and narrate often.  This ends part 4 of this series. God bless.

Protect yourself from Unwanted Viewers

It is important to protect yourself
and your family and still produce good, quality videos
.  Photo by Bromium

This is third in a series of vlogging, which is something I have been meaning to update from the last time I wrote about this topic.  If you had not had a chance to view them, I have written about videos you should be doing to get the most views on your channel if you have on or plan on starting one for 2018.  Today, I want to talk about how to protect you and your family once the viewers start watching your video channel.  I talk about YouTube mainly, but this applies to any platform out there: Facebook Live (and a new feature, Facebook Watch), Instagram and IGTV, Twitter, and many others.

Going Viral

It is important to know when your video is a one-hit wonder or when it goes viral, which I will go into more in just a bit.  Truth be told, not every video you make is going to get to that point, where the moment someone mentions your name, you are elevated to that of a Justin Bieber, a Kardashian, or even a Logan Paul.

Going viral is the newest thing for getting views, but not everyone has what it takes to go there.  When you do, it is a good sensation when a viewer recognizes you, and according to most of the YouTubers I have mentioned in my last post, most viewers are sweet, and they only wanted to thank you for brightening up their day or giving them the information, they needed for a problem that needed to be solved.  Going viral is the video that people talk about at the office (did you see that video where…).  It can be politically charged, cute, or thought-provoking.  It starts with something in the video that is out of the ordinary.  I will get to more on that subject in a different post.  Know this: once you have that video that gets people talking, be prepared to go into protection mode.    

Why give this advice?

My channel has only 158 viewers, so I have not gotten to that point where a viewer recognizes me.  So, why am I giving you this advice?  Perhaps, I may be talking you into creating a channel of your own, or you may want to see what’s out there for you.  I am not in your head, but I could be.  Safety may be one of your concerns, and if that is the case, keep reading.  Call it a preventive measure.

Addressing the situation

One of the most common things between me and popular YouTubers out there is location.  We do not give out our real addresses. We give general locations of where we are, such as a city and state.  Nothing else.  It is for our own protection.  You may have noticed that even in my blog posts, and I mention my city, I say Central Ohio, that’s it.  No city.  It is the same with my videos.  Yes, I am in the phone book, and at one time, I had an unlisted number, until I became a business person.  Now, I have a phone number that rings into the same line as my home phone, and I use my cell phone as well.  I currently do, only because of a couple of things I need it for.  One day, I will switch to just my mobile phone.

The reason I protect myself is I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night and finding someone standing over me or come home to an empty house. 

If you do not mind viewers sending you mail, set up a PO box to receive that mail, especially if you are in the phone book.  The PO box also protects you from having threats sent to your mailbox.  Set your phone number to private if you have a landline phone or do not give out your number at all.

Traveling

I never post pictures, videos, and blog post while on vacation.  (Although I accidentally posted family pictures on my IG (Instagram) account the evening of July 4^th, I did not give the location of what city I was in). Again, for safety reasons, plus this is a good opportunity for being “Off the Grid” for a day or a week to enjoy yourself, and not let your social media accounts dictate how you want to spend your vacation or a shopping trip.  When you go shopping that is for you and only you, enjoy the moment.  Your viewers will understand.

Take the time after your trip to edit, refine, and post as though you are on the trip now.  In videos and posts before your trip, do. not mention when you are going, unless you want a person to visit the same place.  I do not mind, but I also post after the fact too.  Same goes if you do travel videos.

Family

This is tricky because there are some rules that you can set while at the same time, you can also protect your children as well.

Since I do not have children of my own, but I do have nieces and nephews.  One particular situation that comes to mind is the year after I started my YouTube channel.  I did not know what I want to create at the time, but I found my sister’s children doing something very fascinating.  My nephew was 2 and my niece was 1 at the time (they are now 11 and almost 10), and I was making a video of me interacting with them, especially my niece, who had gotten to the point of walking pretty good.  She toddled over to me, and said, “Ta Da”, which was her favorite word to say. (And the only thing I could understand her to say at the time.)

Anyway, after that, I uploaded it, errors and all.  My sister saw the video and was furious with me.  She was screaming to the point of telling me that she did not want their father, her ex-boyfriend, to see the video. I screamed back, “my camera, my channel, and I will post what I want.”  This was in 2009 when YouTube did not give a care in the world about what the guidelines for this sort of stuff, as long as you post it. (Translation: Before Google bought it).

I reluctantly took it down, and I thought that it was a missed opportunity for me to get views on it, but not so fast.  Did I get permission?  Just because they were my niece and nephew, that does not give me the right to make a video. They were family, but not my children.  You have to ask these two questions: 1. Do you want/or can your children be in the video/picture? If the answer is no, move on.  Do not ask why and do not beg them to give permission.   2. Can I post this on YouTube/Vimeo/Facebook Live/IGTV with you in it?  If the answer is again, no, edit the scene and take the person out.  Do not blur their face.

Last name protection

A couple of family video channels I watch do not give out their last name for their own safety, but it is easy to find them on Google.  I did a little experiment and looked up their YouTube channel name, and Google had the full information, including the last name.  I will not give the channel name and who I looked up since they do not want it revealed.

When I introduce myself on my channel, I only give my first name, but I do not give out anything else, such as my marital status, age, and as mentioned earlier, my location.  I really do not care if you find out my last name or not.  It is listed as part of me being a business owner, and it is needed for legal purposes.  I am very proud of my last name.

I am not going to tell you one way or another on giving out your last name.  If you want protection, that is for the PO box address. 

Speaking of that, if you do show packages you receive on camera, you may want your address to stay anonymous. Use a sharpie or some other black marker or tape to cover up the address.  It is a good idea to cover up the sender’s address as well.

So, these are the tips I and other YouTubers use in order to be safe when making videos. I hope you keep these tips in mind when you create your first video.  I have sprinkled little takeaway moments throughout the piece, so, there are none in this portion of the post.  Remember, be safe no matter what you do in life.  Do not let anyone stop your dreams or your joy.  You got this. God Bless You and your family.  

More Videos to Increase Viewership

Photo and Title by P.Lynne Designs

In part 1 last month, I covered different types of videos that are popular on YouTube RIGHT NOW.  These videos include The Haul and unboxing shopping videos, food videos (cooking and Muckbong), and ASMR (sound stimulating).  These are the videos that seem to get the most viewership, and allows the creator to see 100, 1000, or even 100,000 viewers and subscribers.  Remember, the more viewers and subs you have, more likely you will see revenue in the form of money, sponsorship, and free product to trying and to review.  If you have not read the post, you can start here.

If you have read it, I will give you the rest of the list. So here we go.

Come with me Videos

By Videezy

These are the “this is what is in “X” store”, the “I came in here to buy “this” product, but here is what else they have”, and the popular, “what’s new in my store” video.  Now, I have a disclaimer to this type of video.  Most store chains do not like videos being shot in their stores by customer, unless you get permission. Let me explain what “getting permission” means to the average employee, “Call our corporate office”.  I am sorry, but when you are planning out a video, calling corporate is the last thing on your mind.  When you are first starting out, the best thing to do is shop in a specific location all the time.  The employees will see you coming, and you can begin talking to them casually and gaining trust.  Eventually, they will come around, and you can explain your business, or do like Romana of Cherish Treasures did and know someone who works for these stores.

Here are some the reasons they do not like them.  For one, they are afraid that you are the competition trying to find out store secrets.  Another is something called IP placement.  IP stands for Intellectual Property.  In other words, our old friend copyright.  I have several posts on this, so I do not have to explain how careful you have to be when roaming around the store with a video camera.  The last thing is the safety of their customers.  My advice to you if you decide to take on the come with me video is go during a time of day when there is less people or during a time when employees are most likely to be busy with another customer.  They also have security roaming around.  Stick to only your purchases.  And lastly, have fun and do not stress about it if an employee ask you to put the camera away.  Also, taping on your phone helps, it makes you look like you are viewing your messages.

Daily videos

By Suspicious Observers  

These are the videos where you can document your day.  Some people do straight talk about what happened during the course of their day while others will show it.  This type of video are for people who start off with their lifestyle video channel (crafts, food, etc…) then when they gain viewers, the creator will launch channel with everyday living.  Sometimes, the creator will start off with daily vlogs, then launch their niche channel, and gain a whole new set of viewers.

Family videos

By Twitter

These videos are a hybrid of the daily videos, only it involves a whole family.  I watch quite a few of these, like Holden It Down, who talks about hair, adopting her kids (she has 2, Elizabeth and Edgar), and family life.   I have mentioned these families before:

• Cullen and Katie Husband and Wife (Cullen and Katie) who has 2 additional channels, Katie on the Flip Side, and a podcast channel, Don’t Tell Mom, and have 2 children, Macey Gaines and Brooks, and dogs, Adabelle and Emma; Cats Whitaker forgot the other cat’s name.
• JK Today, featuring Katie’s Brother-in-law and Sister, Jay and Kelley, and their three kids, Madelyn, Bennett, and Emily, dog Socca, and cat Snuggles.
• GabeBabeTV , Husband and wife (Gabrielle and Chad Sr.) with their children, Ceej (Chad Jr) and Reagan), dog, Oscar,  who have 4 additional channels; The Gabe Fix, Chad Life, Ceej Life, and Let’s Make Out- A Podcast channel.
• Britt’s Space (formally The Nive Nulls)- formerly married mom (Brittany) of 3 (Audrianna, Kiland, and Maddox).
• Samika Vlogs – Husband and wife (Sam and Jennika) with 3 children (Noah, Penelope (PJ), and Ezra).
• LaVigne Life - Husband and wife (Jerry Jr. and Dee) who has 8 additional channels, including 2 channels featuring their kids, Jerry III and Jorden.
• Daily Davidsons Husband and wife (TJ and Tiffany) with 4 children; Jaden, Chance, Carter, and soon to be born baby girl.
• AprilJustinTV - Husband and Wife (April and Justin) with 2 sons, Liam and Jacob (Jake), two other channels; Cooking with April and AprilAthena7
• Naptural85 -  Husband and wife (Whitney and Felipe) with 2 children, Olivia and Theo, cat, Chubs, has 1 other channel, Whitney White.

Yes, I watch them a lot.

Takeaway Moment:

You can have a lot of fun with these videos without making them boring.  Unlike the others, where you can show something new and different each time you put a video.  All of these videos, except a couple have gotten their viewers first, then branched off to their different channels.  For example, Gabe Flower-Rader of GabebabeTV and The Gabe Fix talks about fashion, her favorites products of the month, and recently started talking about her progress with her latest pregnancy and birth of their baby girl, Reagan Elizabeth (her and Chad also have a son named Chad Jr. (Ceej)).  The point is to always to switch it up, so your audience will not get bored, unsub, and move on. One other tip: remember to edit.  Some viewers do not like it when you have an extra long video (the average with all these family videos is around 10-15 minutes in length).  More specialized videos can go a little longer.

I hope you take a look at all these channels and show them some love.  This post is not sponsored by any of these channels and the ones mentioned part 1.  I love watching them and seeing the children grow, which some I have been watching since some of these children were babies, so I feel like I am part of their family.  I have never met any of these families in person.

In my next post, I will talk about how I and these YouTubers protect ourselves from people showing up on their front porch.  Until then, be safe, and God Bless You.

Lost in Transition|| Update on Businss

Hire an Entrepreneur

As she decides on what to do next on her life’s journey, she contemplates on if this is the correct path that she has for herself.  After all, she is an entrepreneur.  She was trained to go beyond the job she spent years working on. 

By P.Lynne Designs

My work story

I was asked like most little girls about marriage and career.  I aspired to be an actress, teacher, nurse, and mommy.  By the time I was 16, the acting bug, as well as the dancing bug was in me, I hated to the sight of blood and guts, and I wanted to teach little children BEFORE Kindergarten.  (although I would have settled for any child who was shorter than my 5’ frame).

I graduated from high school, and even when I wanted to go to UCLA, I settled on going to Ohio State, only to be close to my parents.  I came home every other weekend because I had home tickets and was in the Block O cheering team.  I left Ohio State due to bad grades.

In January of the following year, I transferred to Columbus Technical Institute, now Columbus State Community College, studying Social Work, a major I was not happy with, but I turned that into the major I loved, with was Early Childhood Education, and a few years later, I returned back to Columbus State for a business major.

In between all of that, I learned about finance through a couple of jobs, I was a customer service rep for a computer company (CompuServe), and did more customer service call center calls for Bank One (now Chase), Chase Financial, and a couple of other call centers.  I was never good at it to make a full career out of it.  Finally, I graduated from Franklin University with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.  Along the way, I also picked up the crafting bug (from years of being creative in music, dance, and drama), and I started making cards, scrapbooks, albums, you name it in the crafting world, which some I held onto and others I let go of.  It was when I was working for a craft store (Archiver’s, a Memories store) that I finally realized that I need to make good of something that makes me happy.

You see, I would never be happy in a government type of job.  Sure, some do pay good money, and I am not against anyone getting a job with the government (state, city, county, or military), I felt that I was meant for more than getting a paycheck, which is what I would be doing.  The truth of the matter is I have tried to apply several times over the years, and never go one single interview.

So, what does that have to do with the title?

Good question.  Just joking.  Seriously, I wanted to give you a little hint of my background in what I think is a great little company, P. Lynne Designs I am building.  I have explained in a previous post (in fact several posts) of what my company is about.  First, it is a paper crafting company, specializing in cards, scrapbooks, and mini books.  I have an Etsy shop and a blog.  A shop is forthcoming by Autumn. 

Next, P. Lynne Designs is a stationery company, specializing in invitations, cards (yes, I meant to say that twice), and business products (business cards, resumes, and letterheads).  They are being designed in Photoshop and Illustrator (I finished a background of old paper 5 minutes ago).

Last, there’s freelancing in both graphic design and writing.  The graphic designs are the stationery and specialized products, while in writing, I also do some ghostwriting and guest writing for blog posts and research articles, as well as SEO writing.  I also do Virtual Assistance and social media for short and long-term projects.  My specializations in software are Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and Microsoft Office.  If there is a program you have, but you want me to work with that program, let me know ahead of time so I can prepare.  I also work with Paypal, Square, Wix, Webbly, YouTube,

and many others.

So, you see, I have quite a list of tasks I can help you within both personal and business. 

Takeaway moments

Do not be afraid to ask for someone to hire you.  After all, you need the work.  Preparing to make that happen takes work, and to some family members, like mine, it takes guts to tell a person to back off. It is no disrespect to that person and you may feel rotten about speaking up, but at the end of the day, you have to live with yourself.