Should you start a vlog? Is this right for you? What does it really take? Are just some of the unanswered questions most people have when they think about this first-person filmmaking lifestyle.

I´ve done my research to learn what are the ups and downs of this line of business, and to figure out why so many people can not do it, or dwell too much with it.

Here are some things you can think of and pay close attention to when it comes to being a vlogger and succeeding in this line of business.

Pros of Being a Vlogger

There are some really great and surprising things you can find along the way of becoming a vlogger.

¡It Can Be So Much Fun!

Yes! And it´s pretty easy too, once you get the hang of it.

Filming while you are at your friend´s birthday, going to the mall or the supermarket, or just going about your daily grind can make the usually boring tasks of your everyday life so more fun and entertaining. And you´ll get paid for it!

On the other hand, people engaging with your content makes it so rewarding and helps to motivate you to do even better next time.

You´ll also learn a ton about video making, which is a useful skill to have, especially nowadays.

Growth Without Limits

Things can get to a point which is almost impossible to imagine if you´d try to make it with a more conventional approach.

Lots of opportunities once you break through and you get an audience, basically the possibilities are endless.

Creating your own brand, maybe selling your products or services, launch your music career, whatever you may want is actually possible!

Plus! You can get so much free stuff. Many vloggers often receive products from different companies for you to try them out and eventually promote them. 

Work Outside the Office

Another great benefit from vlogging is that it´s totally independent of where you are, not only from what you´re doing.

A refreshing perspective you can take advantage of if you choose the online career path.

You can be on the street, on a trip to Mexico, or maybe in your own backyard, it doesn´t really matter, the whole world can be your background scene and you can make videos wherever you feel comfortable enough to do so.

Coolest Job Ever

I mean, who wouldn´t love to be a vlogger and travel around the world showing your day to day life and earning an income from just that! Right?

There are entire channels solely dedicated to showing how to travel and where you can stay, how much are you going to spend, and things like that.

You get sponsorships from hotels or restaurants, maybe a product or service you can show off to your audience, etc. You get the idea.

Nowadays people earn pretty decent salaries through vlogging, and in some cases a lot more than they would if they´d chosen a more conventional approach.

It´s Convenient

It is convenient to use your daily routines to create content and get paid for it, feels great just to even think about it.

Going to the supermarket, maybe paying your bills, looking for the kids at school, can be very tedious tasks at times, but imagine that you could make a video out of them, wouldn’t it be so much fun?

There´s no downside to it, you just have to embrace the opportunity of being able to show people how you live and earn money in the process.

Build Great Relationships

By helping people you´ll get one of the best rewards vlogging has, creating deeper connections with them.

You´re going to make some friends and meet more than a few interesting individuals you´ve probably won´t even hear of if it weren´t for the YouTube community.

The repercussions of making videos for the masses are limitless! You could deliver a motivational message that maybe would spread through the platform and could save someone´s marriage, or help them with a moment of crisis, being useful so they can make a change in their lives, etc.

Whatever you may think, is possible with vlogging!

Ageless Opportunity

Yap, YouTube, and the Vloggers community do not discriminate or even distinguish between ages.

For every person that makes videos on YouTube, there are a million more just like him/her that could relate to his/her content.

You can rest assured that no matter how old or young you are you can be a vlogger success if you do a few things right.

Apply the most basic principles of a good vlogger and YouTuber, concern only on being entertaining and/or helpful with the content you deliver.

Cons of Being a Vlogger

Now let’s talk about some of the counterparts that being a vlogger has.

Getting Discovered

It´s pretty hard to get discovered and expect that people may be interested in watching your you brush your teeth and go about your daily grind, at least not at first.

It would be better to do some actual SEO (Search Engine Optimization) before you even start filming, give some value first, be helpful and try to teach something new to your audience, then start vlogging and going about your life.

Focus on a certain topic and develop it through a series of videos. That way you´ll increase your chances of grabbing people´s attention.

High Competition

Most popular niches and audiences have been already covered by many experienced channels.

This is a common issue smaller channels go through, some of them want to teach people how to do something but there are hundreds of videos posted teaching the exact same thing and often time they do a really good job.

Try to know who´s your target audience and focus on them. Combine your topics and what you talk about with some keyword research and you´ll be ready right from the get-go.

Personality Based

Vlogging depends on personality and character. That itself discourages some people right from the start. Not everybody has an extrovert, funny, and charismatic personality to show off.

Although, there is something you can do about it in order to engage with your audience first and create your own viewership, and after that go for the daily vlogging type of content.

So, what you are going to do? You´ll create a niche focused channel.

If you create a niche channel and you make good videos with the best information possible on a certain topic you can add a ton of value and you won´t need a 10/10 personality to do so. If you help people out before you ask for their attention and you show them how you live they´ll remember.

Now, if you are really into vlogging itself, then think twice. The most successful vloggers of today´s world are very magnetic characters, strong personalities that kind of stand out from the crowd in one way or another.

The first approach it´s a lot more practical if you are just starting out. You can get better at being more empathetic and entertaining with time and practice. It´s something you can absolutely learn.

It Can Be Hard to Monetize

If you´re a pure vlogger that´s looking to entertain an audience and not a niche channel focused on providing value and useful information on specific topics then you´re going to have a tough time monetizing.

You´re maybe asking yourself, why is that?

Well, most vloggers do not have sponsorship or brand deals, millions of views, and a very large, loyal and engaged fan base. They are tiny to medium size channels that usually experience struggle when trying to monetize their audience.

It´s a lot easier for a niche channel that´s mainly focused on a product or maybe a service. The audience is already prompted for consumption and are much more engaged with the content.

A Big Commitment

Depending on your own schedule it can be a really hard hobby to maintain. Especially if you want to go daily, my god, this is something to consider.

It takes a lot of time and energy, even more than that at first. It is a huge commitment, you have to make time for it if you´re going for it on the side.

Maybe posting once a week and creating great quality videos would be the best choice, if you want to make it at this game.

Commit to it and make a real effort to get better one video at a time.

Final Thoughts

So, wrapping up, here are some insights I wanted to share with you before you get into vlogging and try to make a living with your videos.

The content is always more important than the camera, keep that in mind next time you think you need to do better than your iPhone.

What you need is to do better with your research, your studying, your speaking and the way you deliver your content.

Production value matters, and having a good camera setting is great, but the content is key and it is far more valuable. Whether is content that entertains or informs it´s always more important and a game changer.

Keep that in mind before committing to master the art of proper Vlogging.