How to Make a Successful YouTube Channel as an Expat with Daniel Carrizalez 📹🌟 | Expat Experts 12

Episode Transcript:

Coming up in this video.

YouTube wants you to be successful so they can make money and you can make money as well as a creator making YouTube videos.

It was very like rough, it's like one day you're in school and speaking in Spanish and then the next day you're in a Canadian school.

People to monetize a channel okay within a 12 month period you have to have 4,000 hours of YouTube time to do this and 1,000 subscribers.

Okay so with this new YouTube channel I did it in 21 days.

Alright.

21 days man.

I have a British passport like you know and I'm in Venezuela, Caracas and like I said I have a life there so it was a very tough decision.

Actually which was a family owned business from my in-laws but that did not work out either and that lasted not even a few months maybe a year.

And we lost all the money that we saved from England. It was a very traumatic experience to say the least.

That was not the right approach okay and that's what entrepreneurship is in most cases.

Okay try to do something and then see why is this not working, why the views are not there, why the engagement is not there.

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This is Expat Experts.

[Music]

Welcome to this new episode of Expat Experts. Today we're recording from from Nafplio, Peloponnese, Greece with Daniel. Thank you for accepting the invitation and for welcoming you in your town.

I don't know if you consider Nafplio already your town or not.

I consider it my town, yes yes.

Cool. Daniel is half Venezuelan but born in UK as far as I understood. You lived in other countries. You are a composer, music composer.

Yes yes. But you have a very very interesting YouTube channel and social media channels called My Great Life. My Great Life style.

And yeah you have quite a lot of subscribers. I think in the second part of the episode we will dig a little bit more into your channel and why creating this whole part.

But I would say first of all let's dig a little bit on your expert part of life. How did you arrive here and why did you move through all these countries and your experiences.

As always a reminder to subscribe to the channels, to YouTube, to Spotify especially. And of course follow us on social media. Follow Daniel also. All the tags are always below the description of the episode as always. So with that said, we can start.

The Expat, episode 12 with Daniel Carrizales.

You were born in UK. I was born in the UK but I grew up in Venezuela and all my family is from Venezuela. So it's just one of those situations of being born in a country but not being raised there. So I left when I was a year old maybe. And then I returned to the UK when I was in my early 20s.

But in between you lived also in another country. But in between that I lived in Venezuela. My whole childhood is in Venezuela but as well I lived as a kid in Canada for a couple of years. Well like 4 years. And then went back to Venezuela again. And then I lived in the US before I went back to the UK. And I say go back to the UK because I was born there and I grew up with this idea of going to the place of my birth at some point.

You had some kind of connection. I had no connection whatsoever in the UK. But growing up in Venezuela it was this thing that you were born over there in Europe. It wasn't the most common thing to do. So even though some people have that type of background for me it always seemed like oh it's this thing over there in England that I would like to go. Not just to visit but to actually live there. I mean in the US and Canada you were a child when you moved here. In Canada I was a child. Yes I was.

I was between the ages of 5 to 8. So what's your family moving? My mom was moving. My mom and we moved as a family quite a while. And that's because my mom was studying at the time. So it was a situation like hey from Venezuela let's go to Canada because I'm going to be studying and working. My mom is a retired doctor psychiatrist. So it was one of those things like the whole family let's go to Canada. That's where I learned how to speak English from an early age. But then that's

kind of like stop the studies. And then we went back to Venezuela. So that's been a situation, always a movie. Going somewhere and then going back to the place of where we come from which is Venezuela.

And then, growing up in Venezuela, this idea that I wanted to go abroad because I knew how to speak English. But most importantly, going back to the place of my birth and like just go and check it out. You know?

Yeah, I get it. How less for you as a child, like, is back and forward?

Did it feel like something absolutely normal? Maybe the fact that you were always going back to Venezuela, you maintained some of the friends back there and even if you passed four years.

Yes, well, it's funny thing because when I went to Canada as a kid, I did not know any English or French because when we were in Canada, we had to learn English and French. It was quite like a culture shock. And it's back in the 80s. So if that means anything, you know, it was very rough.

It's like one day you're in school and speaking in Spanish and then the next day you're in a Canadian school. There was no process of integration. There was no. Yeah, no, I don't think I think that today there might be some more guided process. Yeah, something like, okay, somebody migrated from another country. You don't speak the language and all of this. And I had the same problem when I went back from Canada to Venezuela as well. I lost a little bit of the Spanish because I was full on immersing in the Canadian culture. I mean, I was playing ice hockey.

I was actually really hurt in a way that when I learned that we had to go back to Venezuela because I was playing ice hockey. That was a big thing. I was a kid that was really into it. So I'm like, well, I know that in Venezuela, we don't have ice hockey. So how is that going to happen? We don't have ice. Yeah. So we went back and then I lost a year in school because of that. I put it right properly in Spanish. So I had to do the critical. Yeah. Five to nine.

It was like when you start writing properly, when you start like, so it was hobby wise and probably school wise also. But maybe you're calling because you moved with your parents, but your family was still. Yes. In Venezuela. No, my family. No, everybody moves from Canada all the way back to Venezuela. So it's like my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister, like a whole family. So we're back to Venezuela again. And everybody has to readjust. So it's not just me. It's my mom. Okay.

in case you have to go back to work in Venezuela, whatever like that. The same. And it is a little bit of a

shock for everybody. It's not easy to just move with one...

Moving alone from one country to another and start all over again is one thing, with a family going back and forth.

And I can only imagine how hard that can be, now that I have kids myself.

Makes sense. Yeah.

What about USA? What's the conflict? So USA, America, came into the picture when I was in my early 20s.

Because it was like a stepping stone to go to England.

So I went to America first because it was a lot more affordable for me. From Venezuela, I go to America and

get some odd jobs to save some money in order to buy a ticket and get my life

in order, sort of speak financially, because from Venezuela, in terms of the economical situation...

And again, I'm talking about back in the day, back in the 90s. Late 90s.

Okay, so which was bad, but not as bad as it is now.

But still it's a real challenge for the average person to just be living in a country like Venezuela, save some money,

and buy a ticket to England. It means just...

It's not going to happen really, unless you're fortunate enough to have some cash in the back. So I went to America first. I got some...

Whatever jobs I could get.

I saved some money, and then from there I went to England, which is a lot more affordable. Especially when you're earning dollars, you just buy a ticket and go to England.

So it was like a stepping stone. It was a stepping stone, yeah, yes, yes. My family moved as well to to the States.

My mom moved to the States

many, many years.

After we lived in Venezuela, it's very complicated, but my mom and my sister and my brother, they left Venezuela eventually in the early 90s.

So they've been living there for many, many years, so for me it was like a no-brainer to just go and, you know,

show up in their home because I was left behind in Venezuela because I was studying. I had a life in Venezuela.

Like I was studying, I had a job actually, and life was actually quite good in Venezuela.

That's the funny thing that I tell people all the time, is not that I left Venezuela because Venezuela is a struggling third-world country.

I mean, that could be one of the reasons, but I left Venezuela because I had this British papers, because I was born there.

So I was between two worlds. Like I have everything that I need in Venezuela. I have girlfriends, friends, I like, you know, I have a job and everything.

Yes, it's this aspect of a difficult visa in a country like Venezuela or any South American country has.

But now I have these papers that says that I'm British because I was born there, so I cannot, you know, kind of like ignore that.

So I always, you know, had that in the back of my mind. I said, okay, I need to go to England and check it out because...

Something that I wanted to ask you about, the fact of being born in the UK gave you the papers? I don't get it, it's a nationality or which kind of...

Yes, yes, because I was born in the UK. I have a British birth certificate.

I was born when I was in Venezuela anyways. And I had all my papers. So for some reason, my parents never really got me a British passport or anything like that when I was a child. Because I'm Venezuelan. They could have, yeah. But because I'm Venezuelan from my family side.

And in papers, even in Venezuela, paper IDs and all of this, it just says that I'm born in London, that's it. But I'm Venezuelan.

So yeah, I have dual nationalities, but when I was in my early 20s...

I was looking for ways to get to England, and I wanted to fix those little things. Like have a British passport before I arrived, even though I could travel as a Venezuelan citizen to England and just show up there and go to the town hall and arrange all of that. Hey, what's up? I'm here. This is my name and this is my old birth certificate.

But I did all of that in Caracas actually, Venezuela. So I applied for my British passport in Venezuela and I was quite shocked at how quick the whole process was. Yeah. Yeah.

I wasn't expecting this. Yeah. So one day I'm like working. I used to work back in the day in a recording studio in Venezuela. And the embassy at the time was very close to the studio. And it was very convenient for me to just have my papers, have everything.

I would walk in distance to the embassy and apply for the thing. That's the picture, whatever, that's the papers. And then within a week, we'd go. And so it's quite surreal to just be in Venezuela like that. Never been to England. And go to the British embassy, whatever. And then just have my piece, like a British...

You're a little bit more complicated than the other.

Yeah. So I had a British passport, like, you know, and I'm in Venezuela, Caracas. And like I said, I have a life there. So it was a very tough decision to say like I cannot just ignore this. I mean, I could have. I just maybe go to England and just travel as a visitor, but I knew I wanted to leave Venezuela. And yeah.

Where was this step in the USA?

Houston, Texas. So I have a lot of family members that left Venezuela in the 90s and afterwards as well. But my mom left Venezuela and she's been in Houston, Texas. So for me, it's like, okay, I want to go to America, and obviously, yes, I arrived there. So I stayed with my brother at one point. And with my mother as well. And I just got whatever jobs I could get, like fast food restaurants.

And whatever, just like earn some money on the side.

Finally, not crash to the job.

Yes.

I mean, how long do you think for you to be able to?

I was a year between a year and two years in the States. It was a long transition because I live in in Houston, I adapted very, very quickly as well to the life in America and I wanted to meet people. And, you know, but because of visas and time that I'm allowed to stay, you know, it was very complicated. I have to go there's a period of a year or two that was in the States. And then I went back to Venezuela.

Because of visas and then at the same time, I was, I was changing my mind as well. I was not sure if I was going to be able to make it emotionally, not financially, because I was in America and I was working and I was having something going on. But I was missing as well. My, my, my old, my friends. And then, you know, and like I said, I had something going on in Venezuela. So it was very tough to give it up.

Especially at that age early 20s. And, you know, it was a full job as well in a recording studio. So I was already blessed. Venezuela, why I did I couldn't I can't say that I was unemployed or have any type of hardships in any way or shape or form to say like, I need to leave this country. And that was actually quite the opposite was not financially secure. But in terms of like what I was doing, I certainly felt very, very blessed. So it was a tough call.

Specifically being early 20s saying if you are in a bad situation, it's more easier. Yes. So at that point of time, you made that call?

So between those two years, what I what happened is that I went, I left Venezuela, I quit my job, I broke up with my girlfriend and all of this, you know, the whole thing. I was in Houston, and I was working in a McDonald's for a few months. And then they were kind enough to understand about me leaving

the country because of visa. And whatever. I don't want to get into the legalities of it all. But you know, I just had to leave the actual country. And they were okay with it. They're like, listen, I have to go back to Venezuela. They I don't think you can do that nowadays. In the States. I mean, like, show up like a tourist and just get a job. I'm sure it's much harder now. But I think what I had to do, and I, you know, because I spoke Spanish and English, it came in very handy. Because my manager in Houston, he doesn't know

how to speak Spanish, you know, the people that were working there, they're pretty much just Spanish speaking. And they don't speak any English. And even though I had no qualifications, no experience in the past, I managed to just get in. But they were very kind to say like, yeah, go back to Venezuela for a month or two, and then come back whenever you're ready. But in that process, when I go back to Venezuela, I still have that old job, so to speak, I'm hanging out in the studio with my friends and because it's music. And it's a it's a very

Back in the day, we were already around composing and I was not composing. I was working in a recording studio, just recording other people's music. Yeah, and I was in a band as well. So it was very, you know, it was an atmosphere that was like, okay, this is where I belong. So one minute, I'm working in McDonald's and then the next minute I'm back in Venezuela, you know, in my environment. Music like life and everything. So there was a process like that for two years until I went back to America.

And finally I had to make up my mind because I was not going to stay in the States. So I was like either stay in America, which is not going to happen because of the sign. This kind of thing. So it was either I go to the UK is something that I have in my mind for a very long time or I go back to Venezuela because I have more or less gone there. Yes, America was not a I was never a plan to stay in America for good. But I did meet people in America.

I met good friends, made good friends and everything. But I couldn't stay because of visa, you know, because I was old enough already, my mom could not apply like I have a kid. So yeah, so that was a good position to be in like okay, the Venezuela or England, which is the original plan. And eventually I managed to go to England. And then the same thing happened, by the way, once I arrived in England, it was like, okay, this is a shock. I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know anybody. I don't have enough money.

I only survived for a couple of weeks. And then I went back to Houston. Not because of visa issues, but because of money and the shock was that, okay, I don't know if I can actually make this happen. And that happened. It was kind of like the same process. A lot of back and forth. Not a lot, but a couple of times. Yes, I was just trained. Yes. I mean, at some point, I was in England, calling my friends back home in Venezuela saying, I can't do this. And I'm actually going back to Venezuela. So actually, I have given up already.

And in my mind, I actually called my friends, said I'm going back, do I still have a job, you know, all of this. And I did it actually. I actually gave up the whole idea of being in England. Even though I was there, it changed my life completely just being there. Because I went to the place where I was born. I was like, this is the house where I was born. This is the hospital. So for me, it was very important that. London? Yeah, London. I have to start off, also, because London is a very special city in itself. It's a beautiful city.

It has its own vibe, its own way of doing things. A lot of this war mentality also doesn't help people to make friends easily.

Yeah, but I didn't survive that long. I arrived in a couple of weeks and then I ran out of money very quickly. And I went back to Houston. And then from Houston, same story, you know, I don't want to be in Houston. I can't stay in Houston. I'm going back to Venezuela. That's what I did.

I wanted to repeat the whole cycle over again and then go back to Houston one more time and then go back to England. So there was a lot of back and forth. I was very afraid of just cutting or burning the ship, so to speak. Very, very hard. I wouldn't like to go through that again. Yeah.

Can you imagine? Sounds difficult. Yeah, it was. What is the trigger then? What is the moment that you say, OK, now I'm staying?

When I was in England, my second time when I went to England, that it was like my second time and probably the last chance that I had to just, OK, I'm here. I don't have any more money. And the first week I couldn't find a job. Second week, I was just OK, there's no way I'm going to survive another week here. I was living with an English family who were renting flat rooms for students and for people that were just from other countries.

And there was a two flatmates there. One of them said to me like they're looking for somebody to work in Starbucks, a coffee shop, obviously. And you know, and they're looking for people that you know you seem to be good for the job because you have worked already in McDonald's. So everything kind of like unfolded very quickly.

So at that point, I'm already like giving up on the idea that this might happen. And but I show up to Starbucks the next day. And I said, you know what, I have already qualifications. I have experience in the fast food industry, blah, blah, blah. Customer service and kind of like, again, the same issue is, OK, what's your status?

So I felt very empowered because of that. I said, I'm a British citizen, even though you don't look British or I don't sound British. So I could just get a job like that. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

And the reason why I got a job in the Starbucks shop is because it was nothing else at the time for me. It was just like I need something right now. So I got a job. I used a whole McDonald's experience because of that to get that job. And that was my you know, my first step in the right direction to get a life in England.

That was before I met my wife and I didn't last that much in that job, but that's where I met my wife, which I'm still married with to this day. So.

I believe it was very much. Yes, yes, it was very good. It was a good entry to England. And for me, it just, you know, earn money, be around other people. Yes, meet my wife at the time.

And I stayed there for more than 10 years. My daughter was born there in England from the fast forward very, very, very much. But yeah, I managed to actually get a life in England like from scratch, like just rebuild my life in the place where I was born, which is that was a big goal for me.

More emotional than more than anything else. Like, okay, I want to live here. I will always be a foreigner because I'm from Venezuela, but at least I can be here and like I have the papers, I have everything. I speak English.

And I can work. You know, just do what you know what immigrants do when they go to another country. Just get a life. Get a place to live and, you know, just find something to do with the skills that you have.

Excellent. I mean, we all do that a little bit. You know, like people, I suppose, you are going, when you're going to a place without having a job, that's the level that it balances, unbalances a little bit everything.

As soon as you balance that part, you can start building a life of like hobbies or friends or whatever, but if it ends up like, even if it's not so great, it marks your life. It's one of the reasons why people move to other countries, isn't it?

I mean, if you're going to go somewhere else, it's like either because you have a work offer or there's more job opportunities and all this, or you work online and you just want to go somewhere else and it's just a matter of like, "Can I go there?" Yes, how you're going to live. You know, that's the main question.

What about the composer part or when do you reconnect with the music in this whole? You have 10 years in UK but you enter through fast food? When it's like the jump or...?

So obviously, every person that goes to another country, either you have the qualifications or not, the truth of the matter is that most of the time, that can be degrees or these kind of things, are either, mean nothing in an foreign country or you need to get something that is still in Asia, something like that.

So for me in my case, I didn't do that when I went to America because I was just passing by, and I wasn't even allowed to work anyways. That's the reason why I got into McDonald's, because it was an easy job that I can get under the radar.

And when I went to England, I wanted to work in a recording studio and do some other things, but at the same time, I was just trying to explore different things. And again, I got the job in Starbucks very quickly just to get some quick cash and some money. I quit that job and eventually, I didn't last not even a year in that Starbucks job, it was very, very quick.

So I arrived, I got the job, I met my girlfriend, which is my wife right now, but I quit. And I got a job in a guitar shop in famous street in London called Tin Canale, Denmark Street where all the guitar shops are. And that was amazing for me, it was a good job because it's just guitar shop, yes its retail, but it's not just a shop, it's like a whole cultural thing in that street.

It reconnects you with music.

It connected me with music, and I met great people there. And it gave me the flexibility to reconnect with everything that I was part of in Venezuela. Like, I don't know, I'm working in a recording studio, at the time computers were coming along, the internet, I'm talking about early 2000. So I realized that you can actually do what I was doing back home in Venezuela, like the studio I can do it now with a computer at home. That was my goal, I think.

So it was like a transition, that's before Facebook or YouTube or anything like that. I sound like an old man already, but that transition when I was in England, working in a guitar shop and I can see what was happening with the internet and computers and having software on a laptop.

It kind of like made me reconsider the whole idea of working in a recording studio. Because recording studios were adapting the technology of computers and things like that, but now you can do this at home. And that really fascinated me.

So as soon as I got a computer at home with my wife, and I still remember going home and I had this software to make music, and I was just blown away that I could actually just come back from the guitar shop and just record my own playing. I used to go to a studio where I used to work in order to do this. You see what I mean? Now I'm doing it at home. So that was just, it completely changed everything.

It's a game changer, a hundred percent, I think, for everyone. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, you can tap into it and understand what's happening. So I lived through that transition of like no computers, no smartphones, nothing.

And then to be able to be in a country like England, from Venezuela, and then have access to computers, and very easily to afford it. It's much more affordable to have a computer in England than in Venezuela, even back then.

You know, like even with a job, at the time my wife was still working in Starbucks, and I'm working in a guitar shop. We're not well off, obviously, but we're living in London, we're like, "You know what, we need a computer." That's what people have nowadays.

They get us music software, and we're just like, "What is this?" What is this online thing that I can go now and check some stuff about music. I got a printer as well, and I was just printing all of this music stuff.

Because I still could not comprehend that you would have access to it all the time online, and I would just print it out like a maniac. I feel like it's going to go away, so let me just print all of these things that I'm just finding online.

And that's how I got back into the music slowly, but I was thinking more about doing it from home, and the next challenge was like, "How can I do that and earn money like that, and how can I go freelance in a way, or go solo?"

The next question that I wanted to ask would be because one thing is like, "Okay, I can do it at home, but of course there is a matter of talent involved. You are good or you are not."

But there is also a matter of in the music industry, there is a matter of context, there is a matter of being in the correct place at the correct time, or I'm clicking with something to be able to live out of it. Because there is nowadays thousands and millions of great musicians out there who have zero recognition right now.

How did that work for you? When is the moment that you are capable of saying, "Now I can live out of all this."

Yeah, okay, so once I'm living in England and I have a day job, then it varies because I kind of like chill out a little bit.

And for me, having a day job was good and bad at the same time. Because I'm now getting an income, I have a cool job, it's a guitar shop, I have a lot of flexibility, it's not a franchise, it's a family-owned business.

So it was a cool place to work, and the people that I was working with as well.

And again, even though it was retail, we were selling guitars and equipment for musicians and even studio stuff. The network of people that I managed to make in England was just, to me, was mind-blowing.

So I could just be in London and know people, and walk down the street and be around central London, and just feel like I have recreated that aspect of my life that I always wanted to create.

That sent something along, I guess.

So that was very important to me. So once I accomplished that, for me, I kind of like took the foot off the gas, so to speak, in terms of the career.

Like my dreams and goals, I was like, "Yeah, I want to be an entrepreneur online," or whatever.

So slowly, I tried to see how can I do this on my own, and how can I actually find ways to go from home. But it was not until I moved from the UK to Greece that I actually managed to accomplish that.

Because in England, I just, like I said, I was very comfortable. It was a terrible place to be in terms of like, I have a job, I have a girlfriend, I have everything I need.

Everything is too cold.

Everything is cool now, so there's no need for me to rock the boat.

In the meantime, my wife went from working in Starbucks to working in a school as a lab technician.

She actually went to study and became a teacher for secondary school.

So she actually transformed her career, kind of like at the same pace that when we met.

But I stayed the same. I stayed the same job. This is too precious to let it go, even though I cannot go anywhere higher.

It's one of those jobs that are either that or nothing.

And my wife did all of these other things. She became really successful in her own right to do all these things.

And I did a good job as a teacher in England with all these benefits and all these things.

But then we got married, and then my daughter was born in England.

And then that's when I decided to leave the UK here to Greece.

Not only because my wife is Greek, but because I have been here to Greece before.

And Greece is very similar to my culture, Venezuela.

- Is it? - Yes, very similar in terms of the warmth of the people.

It's much closer to my culture than England. Let's just put it that way.

So as soon as I have a family, and we're both foreigners living in the UK with a newborn baby, we don't have anybody around.

It's a tough thing for me anyways.

And as life is happening, I actually try to convince my wife and I actually manage to convince her to come back to Greece.

And then we can start over again from scratch based on my background. Like, "Well, I've done this before," you know? Like back and forth from one country to another, start over from scratch.

And that's a little bit of a challenge because now I'm married. I have a kid. I don't speak Greek.

I'm still learning to speak Greek, but I'm not good enough to just grow up.

At least not like now. Now I can speak fluently.

And we moved here, and then we had a job which was meant to be the main source of income.

Which was a coffee shop, you know. It's a family-owned business, so it was a great plan.

Come to Greece with your kid and your wife and just arrive to this job which was a family-owned business from my in-laws.

But that did not work out either. That lasted not even a few months, maybe a year.

And we lost all the money that we saved from England. It was a very traumatic experience, to say the least.

And from there I became a stay at home dad here in Greece, which was a foreign country to me at the time.

Without speaking the language and flat-robed.

And this is where I had to take stock of my skills and everything that I know.

And say, "How can I put this into good use?" Of course, we're working online.

So I had to go through some kind of like heavy trauma.

But I think we used that word because it's so overused on the internet.

But mid-life crisis I would like to say because I was around 35 years old and just became a father for the first time.

And I don't know what I'm doing. And now I'm in a foreign country, you know.

So a lot of questions being asked in your head.

Being a father, new father, it brings already a lot of questions.

It was everything together. It was everything together.

It was like, okay, baby born and then leave the country. So pretty much just cut everything.

And at this point there's no going back, by the way.

When we moved here to Greece, even though the first year was very, very hard, we wanted to go back at one point.

But we couldn't. It's just financially.

So I was going back to the old patterns of like, can I make it in another country?

Go maybe I have a second thought or things are not as easy as I thought it would be.

And then go back and then try to like...

Yeah, but you can do that when you're old.

Yeah, but not... yeah.

When you are able to do that, if your family is the place where you go back, when you are alone,

when you don't have a kid, when you don't have a wife.

But I met a lot of people like that, especially in England, a lot of people, especially in the city like London.

People that go there and study, they work for a little bit and then they realize that it's not what it is.

It's too much.

It's too much that they go back to Australia, whatever, you know.

A lot of people that I met from all over the place.

But you say one of the biggest things is that your wife is good.

So that.

It was, because my wife is Greek and because I have been to Greece as well.

But I wanted my kid to have family, like, you know, grandfather, grandfather, you know, an extended family.

That was very important for me as well.

But it's a price to pay for that.

And for me it was just be, you know, be unemployed.

That was very hard.

And that's how I started to work online.

That's good.

So you came here in 2010 as far as I remember. Yes. It's already 14 years here.

Quite a lot.

First year very rough.

But you said you have the coffee shop.

You didn't work.

Your part of the job.

Was it in Africa, the first place that you landed in Greece?

No, the coffee shop is in Elefsina.

Elefsina is a small town very close to Athens.

In the middle of Athens and Africa.

Is it between? Yes.

Is it between? So we arrived there because my wife is from there and that's where my in-laws live.

And we have a few aunts, well, I say a few aunts because I consider them as family as well and I know them for many, many years.

So I've been with my wife for just 2001.

Okay. So it's like many, many years.

Approximately half of my life.

So I met my Greek family from my wife's side for a long time.

From the first time I came here, I've been living in England.

And so yeah, Elefsina, that's where we are living in Elefsina.

Yes, it's not Nafi, it's a completely different vibe.

So my life is 100% different because I lived in this place in Nafi.

I've been living here only for four years.

Four years now. Yes.

Okay. And all of the other years were in Elefsina?

In Elefsina. I lived 10 years in Elefsina.

Okay. Yeah.

Why did you move to Nafi?

We loved it so much. We came here the first time, I don't remember when it was, but probably we've been here like three years, four years.

Living here in Greece and we'll come here for holidays.

Sometimes I would come here with my wife and my first-born daughter, the one that was born in England.

I have two daughters.

But at the time, it was just better.

And we'll come here for holidays and we just fell in love with the place.

And the idea of living in England, I was very into living the Greek dream, you know, the Greek island.

Because I didn't know much about Greece and I've only been to a Greek island in the summer for holidays.

My wife kept telling me, like it's really hard, it's not probably something that we want to do.

So she always tried to like wrap it a little bit.

Yeah. So when we came to Nafi, I'm like this is like living in a Greek island, but it's not an island.

Even though the Peloponnese could be said that it's technically an island.

But you know what I mean.

Yeah. Definitely. I mean, one of the things that we always recommend to people who come here is to greet the Greek and the Aragonites.

Some of the islands are overwritten right now from what they are.

And if you're coming off-season, everything's good.

Yes.

While the Peloponnese offers the same beaches, the same river, I don't want to risk the Peloponnese.

I don't want to sell it too hard, but I must say that for me, like already three years living in Athens,

coming here, it's a way of calming down.

So you escape a little bit.

Yeah. What part of Athens you live in?

In the Nehrographe.

Okay.

Which is okay, you know, you're close to the center, it's a calm neighborhood.

But Athens is still overwhelming.

Yes.

Like cities, a lot of people living here, a lot of traffic.

Here you come to have all the streets and without cars.

You get a little bit more calm because the old town, there is the Palamiri, you can go to the beach easily.

You can take a walk into the nature in no time.

But I don't know, like I'm still a very city person, maybe.

Yeah.

But it's not for everybody.

I mean, for me living here, you know, I mean we moved here in the midst of the pandemic in 2020,

right when the whole thing broke out.

But because it was a dream and I've been making it for many, many years, you know,

we were still very happy to be here even in a lockdown.

But it is a small town, you know, it's very easy to integrate, which is great for me.

But the only reason why we live here is because I work online.

That's a very important aspect of this lifestyle.

So during the years in NFCnet, how you managed to start doing everything online, to build your brand, to build your...

Yes, yes.

Well, I started to first try to look for ways to how can I make money with the music.

That was number one.

I tried to do other things on the side that did not work out or I just felt overwhelmed by it.

I guess most people that want to start working online, they want to do what others are doing, okay.

Like affiliate marketing or dropshipping or stuff that probably is not close to your heart.

So I certainly went down that route and it did not work out.

As soon as I realized how much goes into affiliate marketing or dropshipping or whatever it is,

I don't care about those things.

You know, I said, like, there's no way I'm going to do this online.

I'm not going to do that amount of effort.

So again, go back to the same thing.

Like I have to work with what I got and what is it that I have.

What is my knowledge, what is my expertise?

What do I know in this music?

And just try to use it as much as possible in a very specific way though.

And that's where the music composition comes into play because I like to compose.

I don't like to play in a band.

I don't like to tour.

I don't like to collaborate with other musicians.

I don't do none of those things.

I don't play in bars or anything like that.

I like to be at night with an app or guitar, nothing like that.

So I have to be at home using technology in order to compose music.

So I have to get very specific into the things that I wanted to do with the skills and my talents and my abilities.

What I tell people all the time, like, oh, what kind of work do I do when I work online?

What should I do? I'm a photographer.

Okay, but what type of photographer?

Are you a wedding photographer?

What exactly is it that you're specialized in?

How can you do that online?

Because it's not exactly what to do but what not to do.

Like I can give you a list of the things that I don't want to do as someone who's in the music niche.

And then I just like strip it down to just one thing, which is composition and the ability to do it from home or over the internet.

I cannot do it with a smartphone, which is fine.

It's not ideal, obviously, but I started that process back in 2013.

So I'm staying home that looking for ways to do something online.

And at the time, you know, watching a lot of YouTube videos and learning about composition,

not composition, but how to put the music together, but how to put the music online to sell it as a product.

So that's when that started.

And then from that, I started to do a YouTube channel talking about that.

So I created the music in order to earn money.

You can see that that's my daily job.

And then I created a YouTube channel documenting that process of how I do the music and monetize the music.

I just stay at home with that.

So that was my page online.

That's my first YouTube channel.

Cool.

And then, Nafio, maybe one of the biggest questions that you don't miss on this is language.

How difficult was it for you to learn Greek?

It was difficult.

I was learning since I was in England.

I even went to school in England after my guitar shop job, after work.

I would go to a place like probably twice a week or so, right before we move.

And I was always studying, but it's very hard.

There's no shortcut.

I mean, it's just so hard.

Spanish, that helps a lot with the Greek.

I mean, if I'm studying Greek or I'm connecting with a Greek language, the English means nothing.

Somehow in my brain, English is like, OK, this language is great, but if you're going to learn a language like Greek, you know, Spanish, or vice versa, then English does not really help.

But I did learn how to speak Greek very well over the years.

Obviously, I've been here for 14 years, but it's been a challenge because I work online and I work from home.

So I don't have a Greek co-worker.

You might have a horse, YouTube.

My wife speaks Greek.

Obviously, I have two kids.

My daughter Melina was born as well in 2018.

So she's six now.

There's a big gap between the kids.

So I have a 40-year-old daughter and a six-year-old daughter.

So there was a big gap because those years were trying to find a life here in Greece.

My wife managed to get a day job in Athens as an editor with a company that is editing books.

And because she speaks English and Greek very, very well, then obviously this kind of job is good for her.

A lot of foreigners are actually working in that company.

Like, English speaking.

So it's a cool place because we have met people that are living here in Greece as well.

That are British from Australia.

But a lot of British as well.

They live here in Greece because they have a job there.

And similar people like you and me.

Like, we're not from here, but we work here.

We're married to a Greek or whatever.

There's some connection there with the Greeks.

And there is still something that binds us here.

We are not fully disconnected.

No, no, no. Yeah, yeah.

But I learned the language, obviously, because we speak in the house, Greek.

We speak Greek, English, a little bit of Spanish.

I'm trying to incorporate the Spanish more into my household.

It's been very, very hard.

Because growing up, my daughter, my first daughter growing up here, I tried to speak a lot of Spanish, but I was learning Greek.

So it was very hard.

And she knows a little bit of Spanish, but it has come to the point that if I don't keep on talking Spanish, they're not going to be able to learn Spanish.

Unless they want to do it by themselves.

I speak Spanish with my mom and the people from Venezuela who are a long distance from me.

But that's it.

I mean, it was also part of being in a smaller place, a smaller city.

There's also the community of people, international people.

It's also smaller.

I don't know if there is a lot of people here.

Well, here, well, actually, not so because it's a tourist destination.

There's a lot of people from all over the place.

And I've seen also a little bit harder.

I did meet someone that is Greek that lived in Venezuela, funny enough.

I've never seen that.

So you'd be surprised.

I mean, there are a lot of stories out there and you might be able to connect with people.

But here there's a lot of people from all over the place that live here or that live here temporarily.

So, yeah.

But language has been a struggle for sure.

And now, OK, there has always been a struggle.

Yes.

I suffer with that.

I did German and Greek one after the other.

I went to Harvard with those languages.

It must be hard to speak in German.

It also helps a lot with Greek though.

Because the grammar is very similar, the whole leprosy, the whole neutral forms.

It's the same in German also.

So it helps a bit.

Cool.

So I would say before we jump into a little bit like the part of your new YouTube channel,

because it's not the composition one, although we can also talk about that one,

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about doing this kind of near section.

I'd say like in the episode where I want some recommendation.

The first one would be if there is any Greek band, any Greek song, music that you like,

that you would like everyone to know about it.

It's hard, man.

Actually, I have no idea.

I'm so old fashioned.

There were a few Greek songs back in the day.

I'm talking about 2010 when I arrived and before that, those years, 2009.

But now currently, I'm not really connected with what's happening in terms of Greek music.

And if I say something, my 40-year-old daughter is going to be...

I agree because you are saying all the time.

Oh my god, you just mentioned the worst band ever.

I'm still listening to Greek music, for example, and they are all here.

I do like to listen to Greek music, don't get me wrong.

There are a few bands that are quite old fashioned.

For example, Melises, that's a famous Greek band.

What are the ones?

There's another band called La Bou Hamouerta, which is from these guys from...

I can't remember their name now, but they are into the boom-bap, kind of like hip-hop, Greek.

Active Members is the name of the band.

Active Members is something that I was introduced by a friend, by my coup baros.

He's a Greek, and I don't know how you say that in English, but I believe that in Spanish it is Padrino de Boda.

Godfather.

Godfather, yeah.

So he was into that.

But these are all bands, Active Members, and that kind of...

Old music is good music, right.

I like that, yeah.

I'm also more into the old music than the new music.

And I think I like...

Maybe you're 14 years old. Godfather will not be happy with my music either, I think.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cool.

I'm here in Naplio. Any recommendation for everyone?

I mean, restaurant, bar, coffee place, any places you say, "Here, it's nice."

Listen, there's very different places here in Naplio when it comes to food and drinks.

Here in the old town you're going to find many, many places, and I can't say one specific one.

Okay?

But when it comes to just having a coffee, I'm a little bit of an old-fashioned guy as well.

Like, I like a gloopy, more traditional.

And I don't know if it's because I'm aging, but you know, there's so many trendy coffee shops, that they're great.

Okay?

But at the same time they're so hip, I feel a little bit sometimes that it might not be my scene anymore.

But I take the kids.

I take my daughters, and they can have something like an ice cream or whatever.

Any place, there's not a specific one, but there's plenty of places here.

I mean, it's one of the things that there are so many.

We're spoiled for choices here.

But my style is a little bit more old-fashioned, more low-key, like a meso de horillo or a cafe mío.

You know, like a little bit more traditional, yeah.

And nature-wise, now we will talk about if you walk a lot.

Yes, yeah.

Is there any place here around that you say, "Okay, this is..."

Yeah, yeah.

If you come here, you need to visit the other places.

Yeah, if you come to Napa, you go from the path, which is from Arbaña Beach, all the way to Carafano Beach.

I did a video about that.

That's like five kilometers, roughly.

It's a long walk, but it's a safe path to walk.

Not a hike. It's not like a hard-pour hike, but it's something that is definitely a must.

Must do.

Cool.

Yeah. And I like to go there on a regular basis, yeah.

Nice.

So with that recommendation, I would say we jump to the second part.

Yes.

Hello, everyone.

I hope you are enjoying this episode until here.

wanted to ask a favor of all of you and follow us in social media. You can find the links for

Instagram, TikTok and Facebook here in the episode description and also in the episodes in Spotify

and Apple Podcasts. So it will be a great favor if you follow us. Also we post a little bit more

content in there so you get a little bit extra information on how the podcast is done and produced.

The Expert - How to succeed with a YouTube channel.

The Expert - How to create content for YouTube.

Second part, as I was saying, like you have YouTube channels, but you have now quite successful YouTube

channels for your life here in Greece. But you said you had other YouTube channels before that.

Yeah, yeah. You created content for quite some time. It's like, yes, how did all of it start?

So once I started to work online, once I started to work with the music online, I created a YouTube

channel really quickly. For the simple reason that I was at home and stayed at home, that

because I became unemployed when this business here in Greece did not work out very well.

And I needed an outlet beyond the music. So my wife is the one who recommended me to actually

open a YouTube channel and talk about what I was doing with the music. Because she will come back

from her nine to five. I will be all day at the house with my daughter taking care of her.

And I will be doing the music as well. So whenever she will come back from work, you know,

I needed to release a lot of what I was doing, especially when it comes out to the work.

But my life in general, like my days, like, hey, I'm here in the house and I'm doing all this.

You said like, you know what, it's very interesting what you're saying. And obviously

I will get very pumped about what I was doing with the music and all of that.

But maybe she was not the audience. I mean, she put it very blunt. Yeah, like very blunt,

like, okay, maybe you should say these things or put it somewhere where some other people that

actually care about my wife doesn't want to listen to me about talk about what music am I working on

or anything like that. So that was the original idea that I will maybe she's right. Maybe I can't

create something because I love videos and I always had a passion for video making and for

home movies behind the scenes. I always had like an inclination for that not to be a creator myself.

But I always loved this type of footage and all camped recorders. But I never really considered

it to become a content creator. So I started that YouTube channel talking about my life here in

Greece. I stayed on that with music for a living. And that's my first YouTube channel. And from there

became a coach and someone who can educate other music composers on how to make music and license

their music. So I made the music licensing industry. I compose music for content creators,

TV, films, documentaries, and all the rest. So by creating the YouTube channel talking about

how I do what I do online living here in Greece, I became a coach just by creating content and

educating people. So there was a lot of blogs about that. My life in Greece as I say I'm on

that I'm doing this music track, you know, and I fell in love with YouTube right there and then.

And that's back in 2016. That YouTube channel grew very, very slowly, but it was such a small niche.

But it became very successful as well. I still run that YouTube channel. But from there I

ventured to different areas as well on the creation of entrepreneurship and mindset.

Because it's something that has helped me become someone that works online. Because of whatever

else happened at the time. We located from the UK here to Greece and being unemployed and staying

on that and Slack group, all of these things. I have to really not only figure out how to make the

music, but as well get my mindset really where I needed to be. It's not as simple as just like I

want to work online and that's it. There's a lot of things that need to be done internally. So

whenever I was studying about online entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship or business or how to make money,

everything was leading me to the path of self-development and personal development

and mindset. So wherever I would buy a book about how to make money online or all the classic books

about earning money online from, you know, from big people from back in the day. It all goes back down

to personal development and mindset and all this. So I was a little bit frustrated to be quite honest

because I wanted the tactics. But the reality is that you still have to do a lot of work internally

in order to work for yourself. It is not easy. It's not a walk in the park. And that's why you need to

to know exactly what you want and be so sure of your abilities. And whatever failure happens,

then how are you going to conquer them? It's not a question that if it's going to happen or not,

it will happen. The question is like, what are you going to do about it? So I tried to put that

content in the music YouTube channel as much as possible. Some people resonated with that. It was

very hard for me to just talk about the music and this is how you do it. It has to do a lot with the

mindset and personal development, which is a hard thing to do with musicians. But musicians and artists

have a lot of packages because I'm one and I understand that's how I'm coming from experience.

And because, you know, it's like, okay, there's no way I can do music. I can do my art. I can earn

money with my art. I have a musician or a photographer or a painter or an author or whatever

it is. It's very hard. So in order to overcome that, there's a lot of work that needs to be done.

And I know that because I had to do that. So when I did that and I actually saw some success with

the music, then I started to document that and share that with on YouTube. And then I create a

small audience. People were asking me questions. I said, well, what's the next thing? I have no idea

what this thing is online. I mean, I don't know about email marketing, about online courses,

how to post something. I have no idea about anything of that sort. So I learned along the way.

Yeah, well, the information is out there for you. So eventually I learned about email marketing,

about how to build an email base, how to do landing pages and funnels and all of those

boring terminologies that is out there in the online space. I read all the books. At one point,

I hired coach and everything. I launched a course. I've never done a course before. My wife plays a

big role in all of this because she's the one who has always pushed me to do something based on what

I am good at. And because sometimes we need somebody from the outside to tell us like, hey,

you're more than this. Why don't you do this and learn about that? So she's the one who told me

about very specific things. Like, okay, now you have a YouTube channel. Why don't you build an

email list? And like that, I did not know what an email list is for once. Like I had no idea and I

did not want to know anything about it. But eventually I learned about an email list. What

is it and how can we, you know, build a small list, a small following beyond a YouTube channel

and all of that? And yeah, you know, and I built a business from the ground up teaching about music.

So it transitioned from being a YouTube channel for you to be more like a documentation place where

you documented your process and how you arrived to do it? What happened is when you create content,

eventually people are going to ask you something. So whatever it is, and in my case, it was the music.

Naturally people were asking how do I make the music? How do I actually earn the money with the

music? Okay, so they just want to cut to the chase. So you know, you give them exactly what

they need to do, but then there's so many things in between and that they might need guidance with.

Okay, but again, I go back to the psychology. There's a lot of baggage. So a lot of people that

want to do, for example, money with musical, with anything, quite frankly. But they usually don't have

the support of their spouse. That's number one. Okay. And number two, they're very secure. So

they're not really willing to invest money, either by the course or a book or even invest time to

learn and put that into practice. So the YouTube channel was just a natural evolution of what was

happening in the online space. And I invite anybody to actually create any content of any sort and

people eventually will be asking you about something. Especially if you can resonate

with someone else. You just need one person. The moment that I got emails and messages that I

take it, I jump on a Skype call. Skype, sorry, back then. There was no zoom. This is my knowledge.

Can we jump on a Skype so you can tell me about the music production? Like I don't know this person.

Some random guy that saw my videos on YouTube talking about music licensing.

And I'm like, yeah, let's just get on my Skype call. We got on Skype call. Then the first time that I saw

somebody that I've talked to this person that I have never met before in my life, but I just watched

one of my YouTube videos and he's writing questions. He asked questions he has written and I can see

through the video that he actually writing down the answers that I'm giving him. So I'm teaching

and I was like, okay, obviously this knowledge to me is so obvious. It's a no-brainer. You have to do

the same. And this other person on the other side of the camera is actually writing the answer. To

me this is like common sense, but this is because that's something that I do. Okay that's the knowledge

that I have that you have to have it. So at that point, obviously I can't do this anymore like this.

I have to charge eventually. And then you create a course and then you have customers and then I,

you know, it's a business. It's an online business. Very successful online business in the music licensing

space. And from there I developed a passion for entrepreneurship. So I actually fell in love with

email marketing, funnels, landing pages, and position and all that. So that became a passion. And I

realized that I can actually do something with that. I really love that aspect of entrepreneurship

as much as I love to make the music. And yes, people were asking me, so how do you create the

courses? Now I have musicians asking me, how do you create the courses? You need to do a course to

learn how to do the courses. So how do you do the courses? How do you do the landing pages? Where do

you sell the courses and all of this? So I'm like, okay, I have a passion for this as well. I really

like this. And because entrepreneurship really is really tied up together to mindset and personal

development, and somebody that would say otherwise it is not really, it's not really truthful because

anybody that's successful in anything, they have a strong mindset and they have invested some type of

time and effort in their own personal growth. At least my experience and everything that I try to

learn from other people that are way ahead of me, this has been always the case. So developing a

love for entrepreneurship and trying to teach other people how to set up their own online

businesses is something that became like a next stepping stone. So now you're not only doing the

thing, you're teaching about doing the thing, but now you're teaching about teaching how to do the

thing. Which is kind of a weird thing, it's very cheesy in the online space. It almost becomes a

little bit weird. This is where people get very apprehensive and almost skeptical. Like this is a

scam. But anyways, I started to do that as well. I launched another separate YouTube channel for

to talk about that. And then as well other things, like now I'm teaching about, hey this is how I

build this online business, very successful. Talking about mining the music that I do and teaching

about the music. And that became very, it was a slow process of growing that channel because it's

the business space. And it was through the same lens. I work from home, I do music, I live in Greece,

but I'm teaching about the business. And yeah personal development, in a way. Like what is

personal development? Well investing yourself, right? You know, your habits, your positive things. I

don't want to like again, I don't want to sound so cheesy, like wake up at five in the morning and

meditate for five hours or anything like that. But just do things that the average person does not do.

So anyways that YouTube channel did not go very very well. And I run that for a little bit. That's

parallel to everything else that I was doing because I love to create content. I managed to do something.

I managed to like coach people and actually teach about the business and all of that. But I was stuck

just on entrepreneurship. And I did not like that, right? Because my life is not just working online.

My life is living here in Greece. And that's the birth of this new YouTube channel which is

My Greek Lifestyle. Which is pretty much my life here in Greece describing everything that I just

do with a different thought. And it comes from kind of a barn. Or like not a barn but like okay,

I'm always with the same barriers of music and business or creation entrepreneurship. And now I

want to do something refreshing for myself. It's also part of it that it's niche, I think. Because

like you create the YouTube channel that talks about life in general. Okay, it's very difficult,

right? But when you do it like about music licensing, about entrepreneurship, about your life in

Greece that gives you a set of people who are really interested in there. The people who is

really interested in there will arrive one way or the other. Yeah, well the thing is with content

creation is that people will be drawn to you not just because of the content but because of the

person that you are. And I learned that very well with music licensing with the stop music licensing

YouTube channel. That people were coming to me to learn about music because of the story. Because I

relocated from the UK here to Greece and I was a stay at home dad, right? Working from home and

trying to make it speed with the music. That was a story. And that's what resonated with people and

even though you might not be a stay at home dad or you don't have kids they really resonated with that.

They kind of like found something in there. Like I want to learn from this guy. That's how I became

the go-to guy in that region. However, in that channel I'm still talking about lifestyle.

Because I'm talking about stay at home dad. I've never divorced myself from that idea.

Like I'm a stay at home dad and I'm living in a foreign country and I'm flat broke trying to make

it speed. So check it out. This is what I'm doing. This is my studio. All right. So it's a lifestyle.

That works really well in that space. Yes, it was very niche now but still people were

drawn to it because of the mindset. Because I'm always saying this because of the client's feedback.

Right? Because this is how I acquire clients in not only through the courses but as well

one-on-one coaching. So a lot of the one-on-one coaches became a form of therapy so to speak.

Okay therapy meaning that okay let's just get it's not just how to mix the music and how to produce it

but you know why you want to do these things and tell me more about why you're struggling why it's

not happening. It's like okay if you're making money online or if you have a business and it's

not working like just tell me why it's not working. Right? There's a deeper meaning for why things are

not moving in the right direction and it's usually something that we have to peel the thing and get

to the bottom of it and usually there is something that you're not looking at. So with music that

happens quite a lot and that is a big part of that content. You know I cannot just open a youtube

channel and talk about this is how you mix the music. This is how you make the music and this is how you sell it.

Right? So in fact that in fact in that youtube channel I have very little to do it. It's just my

face talking. Okay so it's more than it's very important for you personally. Yes the connection.

I think that's part of it in general like nowadays the content. If the people doesn't connect doesn't

recognize you as a person. If they recognize you like kind of like semi-coated and mini-coated that

exists there but it's talking and nothing else you don't know anything about this person at all.

You don't build this connection. I think it scares people especially when you talk about business. The

part of scamming. The part if you don't show that you are someone that you are as human as the other

person who's looking from the other side. I think that content creation is something that I will

always be doing because I love to create content. When I started to create the second youtube channel

or a third youtube channel I have created actually a couple of them before I created my Greek Lifestyle

which is the latest channel. My greater wonder there was about business and mindset but I was so

niched down into you know marketing and you know funnels and all this which I'm very passionate

about. I was not talking about the lifestyle so much and whenever I talk about the lifestyle

it just seemed a little bit like it was not focusing on so it was not the right approach.

Okay and that's what entrepreneurship is in most cases. Okay try to do something and then see

why is this not working why the views are not there why the engagement is not there. I already

have a successful youtube channel in a certain particular niche. Now I'm talking about it but

in this niche which is business why am I hitting the numbers? Okay so that happened and then I

created another separate youtube channel in Spanish trying to go back to my roots and speak

in Spanish about uh yeah like Venezuela. Many many years ago living in a foreign country. Tell that

story of how I work online and how this is happening and then as I really considered doing it in Spanish

and I did launch it in Spanish and I uploaded like five videos. The response was really good

but I didn't know there was still something missing and I can't put my finger on it.

Okay and then I was not happy with that and I just decided to create a new youtube channel

which is my greek lifestyle and we're just talking about all of these things but just through a

different presentation a different package. Okay and it's just about my greek lifestyle telling

the same all the things that I do under one umbrella which is a guy who left Venezuela many

years ago to go to England to come here to Greece and doing what I do today which is work online

and the things that I do today is pretty much the things that I just mentioned you say called the

creation coaching and all of the rest and this is just under the umbrella of my greek lifestyle

which is a youtube channel that is now three months old but very quickly you know not only

this has been a success but it has just opened so many doors and so many opportunities that

I just I'm still blown away and it's just by just changing one thing. Yeah this click you know it's

like drying suit. So now I'm talking to people in the beginning when I started my greek lifestyle

youtube channel it was like okay how can I help people experience Greece as a true look that's my

position and then when I started to create youtube videos and then I offer services on my website

like I help people either relocate to Greece or things that they want to want to know about

Greece obviously I'm not a immigration officer or none of that thing but I can tell people like how

things are really give them a little bit of direction where to go you know and things that

they need to do and that's something that I offer on my website and this is something that I set up

very very quickly so I launched my youtube channel my greek lifestyle and immediately I launched a

website as well my greeklifestal.com which is okay this is what I do because of my background in

business okay so I'm not going to create a youtube channel without having a website or a home to

action or none of those things because I just think that what's the point yes you need to have

an idea of how to monetize from day one okay so when people try to do something online then it's

like okay so where's the business idea how can you please earn money even though this is a labor of

lust it's a passion I still need to know how I'm going to earn money with my greek lifestyle

and I know a lot of people that might watch this or some people that they don't have that mentality

of business or how to earn money with the online space if you don't see that as a

as an essential part of what you want to do online that you're never going to earn money

okay and earning money online is something that a lot of people want to do but

they're not willing to actually go through the thought process of how they're going to actually

do that what is what you're selling yeah it's not a charity there's not a charity even though I

earn a living somehow doing something else because as soon as I started the YouTube channel

I immediately got some comments I thought you're only doing this because about Greece because you

want to earn some money or some place with this content because it is very easy to just go down

the beach and go like hey what's up I'm living here in Greece and I work online right it's very

easy to me because I've been doing that since 2016 when I was living in in Lassina anyways

but I was doing it through the lens of the music though now I'm talking about my life in Greece and

it's called my greek lifestyle so it's a little bit different now and I presented differently

but it's the same thing it's like hey I'm here this is what I do I'm going home to make music

and I'm shooting a YouTube video as well and I was coaching somebody yesterday about business so it's

all these things together all morphed but presented under a different front in a way so what happened

is that I need to know what's going to happen with the content and the content needs to lead

to something it has to be like something that I can offer somebody else it's not just for fun

because I will do this thing for fun anyways but there has to be some kind of transaction

because otherwise that has no no value and you know it's a lot of time and then I said I'm only

about that but it has to have some value so for example with my greek lifestyle a youtube channel

the first thing and the most obvious thing that you monetize is the youtube channel itself that's

how you earn money you create content and youtube wants you to be successful so they can make money

and you can make money as well as a creator making youtube videos okay so that's the first step the

second step is obviously through services and like what was mentioned in like in person meetings

which I have had already a few in three months okay and the funny thing is that the people that

want to meet up or they want to hit me up on on soup call it's not about relocating degrees

but it's about how to work online so they are they are clicking for that but in the from the other

they should be probably in the other website yeah well the thing is that I now have condensed

it's not condensed I have now pretty much just everything under my greek lifestyle it has like

slowly formed the transition obviously this is just three months old as I'm talking about this

right now okay but originally was just like help people experience reasonable local which is still

true but because I'm reconnecting uh with a different connected with a different audience I should say

as soon as I mentioned that I do music and a whole bunch of people came and said like hey I

want to learn more about the music so this audience did not found my other youtube channel about the

music because that's just about the music but now that I'm talking about Greece and lifestyle

because it's a greek lifestyle and it's my greek lifestyle but that doesn't mean that I'm you know

eating a souvlaki or dancing greeks good music you're doing the local thing you're not doing

the marketing thing yeah promoting Greece so I'm talking about the good side of Greece of course

in the greek lifestyle and everything that Greece has to offer as a country uh but at the same time

I'm talking about what I do and how can I help somebody either come to Greece and visit Greece

and do the things that you would want to do here in Greece not just as a tourist but you know

but a lot of things as soon as I mentioned little things that you cannot find this is what I said

to content creators that people want to put themselves out there you need to tell the whole

story so as soon as I said I make music and this is how I run a living this is my data

then people start getting me up I want to learn about the music how do I do it like oh finally

you mentioned that because I have already a course in a business that is running go there that's the

music I have other people that said to me like I want to learn how to work online I have no idea

of what to do I know that you're doing something how do I do that okay this is what you need to

learn about this is the thing that you need to do okay how do we do this well you know you have a

smartphone you have the internet this is what you need to do okay and this is what happened then I

have other people that come and say like I'm going to Greece and you know I don't speak Greek but I

was born in Australia and my family is Greek and you know looking to go and retire in Greece

and I don't know anything about Greece apart from what tourists know you know okay let me tell you

a few things Greece this is the way it works so it's kind of like a it's like a mix of things

but at the same time in its essence it's just living in Greece as a foreigner and that's my

position and helping people see how life is here in Greece and it's just been I'm just feeling like

god smacked of what's happening just by changing a little bit of the approach and presenting myself

in a different way always bringing it back down to my Greek lifestyle so if we're talking about

business I just as a content creator I try to bring it down to Greece because it all started

when I moved to Greece okay because it's the origin yeah could I have started working online

when I was in the UK absolutely but I did okay so it has to do with that and nowadays I want to teach

people as well how to do YouTube videos for example or YouTube or a YouTube channel okay because not

only because I've been doing YouTube videos for for many many years but now because the success of

this new YouTube channel you know I know exactly what somebody has to do and so YouTube gives you

a whole month a whole year 12 months in order to monetize a channel okay 12 months to monetize

a channel and have one thousand view you have a YouTube channel don't you okay so you know about this

so 12 months in order to monetize a channel okay within a 12 month period you have to have

4 000 hours of YouTube time to do this and 1 000 subscribers okay so with this new YouTube channel

I did in 21 days all right okay 21 days man that's like five videos and that's 1 000 views

so as a YouTuber I said to myself okay these numbers are insane and I see other people online

saying like oh how to monetize a YouTube channel in four months or whatever so yes if you do

something there's no way I'm not going to teach somebody else how to do that even if that is

something as simple as how to create a YouTube channel I'm not out there promoting myself as a

YouTube expert but I know how to do YouTube videos and I know how to position things because

of what I've just said here in the conversation that we were having not just because of the music

licensing YouTube channel but because of the other YouTube channels that did not go very well both

the business one and the Spanish ones until I found this one and said like you know what

this is the one where I can actually talk about the same things with a different twist but it's

the same thing really so now people can hit me up with whatever they want to talk about and

when it comes up to the business I can only teach somebody how to do business online by

doing the things that I have done nothing else so I don't teach people how to do dropshipping

or affiliate marketing even though I have affiliate things based on what I use for my

monetization of it but I don't do crypto or forex or dropshipping or none of those things

so I even teach whatever you have learned whatever I've learned yes like pretty much

and what I'm really focusing on is building a personal brand and all I'm pressing through

the personal brand in the story which is what most people are are lacking on because not everybody

wants to talk on camera that's a big issue yeah cool I would say timing wise just ask one night

question if you want uh and it's how do you balance your personal life and and you know

because this is also about mental health and I think this is a typical question

when it comes to content creation yes it's a lot of power it's a lot of mitigation we invest time

into these things how do you find the balance in your personal life you have two kids or wife

my green life style doesn't exist without having the life outside of the creation of the world I

suppose also yes so if life life is life you know I am on a certain age that I feel that

I don't have time for anything really okay meaning that all I do is family and work and those two

things are very tied together because I work from home so at the moment as I am recording this with

you I'm creating videos every single day for my Greek lifestyle it's a daily vlog it's not a daily

vlog channel but I have decided to go daily for the last month I don't even keep track now

and the reason why is because when I started a YouTube channel I released a video a week

see what happens and then it's like what the hell this is going somewhere so I want to make

sure that that fire is properly you know yeah so I decided to go uh more aggressive with the content

creation which is daily vlog for many many reasons number one because as a content creator if you

create content very sporadically especially with something that is new you lose that edge and you

start to have second thoughts you feel like the content might not be where it needs to be and

even though I create content for other things like the music licensing and all of that this

is something that is new and that's something that I really want to take care of and I want

to be able to to really make sure that it has a strong foundation from the beginning

so creating videos every single day is that easy

but it's something that I can do uh and I've done it before back in the day I am the other

channel I did it quite a lot especially the with the pandemic hit okay I was doing daily vlog about

the music though and I'm like hey I'm vlogging but I'm doing the music I'm here in this new place

with fun go out blah blah blah and that was like a daily vlog for many many months and before I

started my Greek lifestyle YouTube channel I did as well like daily videos for like a month or two

in that same channel stop music licensing YouTube channel so it's something that I have already done

back before it's not something that is new to me uh with this one though it's much more fun

because I'm not talking just about the music I'm not talking just about the business I'm talking

literally about lifestyle which is something that a lot of content creators want to spread out or

go into when they are so niche now I know for a fact that a lot of fitness is influence or fitness

content creators are talking about weight loss and just become healthier they want to transition

into lifestyle which is just their life like hey I'm going to the gym hey this is where I'm meeting

today they want to have that but they became famous or known for just this is how you lose weight you

do this thing and they slowly become very like okay I don't want to do that and for me the Greek

lifestyle YouTube channel is the perfect channel for me to just you know today I could be talking

to you about the five things that you shouldn't do when you come to Greece you know that could be

very seo strong and people like oh my god and I started that but then the next vlog the next day

I'm going for a swim and it still fits the content and the reason why I want to do it every single day

for a period of time I'm not going to do it forever but as it is as of course now

it's because you want to create as much content as possible so in this case YouTube and Google

understand that there's something happening because obviously the platform wants you to succeed

so they can make money with the app you can make money with the app as a content creator and they

can push your videos so if you're not creating content then the YouTube is going to say like

well you know what's going on here why would they invest in you if you're investing so a lot of

people are very apprehensive when it comes to the amount of content that you need to create

either on YouTube, Instagram or whatever the platform choices that you do the platform

wants you to create content YouTube is not going to say to me you're creating too many videos

okay the only people that say that is people around you that when they see you that you're going to

hardcore they're going to say something like listen you need to find balance and that there

is no balance the balance is what you do so I'm recording this vlog like I'm going to create a

vlog from this like when I met you here I recorded a little bit I'll probably record more a little

bit when we finish this interview and come all the way back that's a piece of content that somebody

might be interested in saying okay this guy created a video about an interview talking about X-mas

it's all about the framing it's all about how you presented it and what's what's in there for the

audience okay but at the same time I'm doing it very selfish as well so I found the creation in

the dog for the audience I created it for myself because I need to see it I need to hear it

it's a little bit weird but because when you create content you're a content creator

sometimes people think that you're doing it for the audience and what the audience wants

and I believe that is about what you want also right if it's not if you're incapable of listening

to me what you produce not it'll be like this okay okay of course you put it out there for the

audience you're not interested in what you're doing this is probably not going yeah well listen

there's an element as well of sharing okay obviously we want to create content to connect

with other people to share and yes earn money with that either with youtube ads or with a course or a

coaching program or a service or a book or a merch whatever it is okay but at the same time

if you go deeper into the psyche of a content creator yes they do like to talk okay we just

under the word mentioning right now so if that's a skill that somebody has or something that you

already have and you're going to be doing it then you might as well just get in front of the camera

and do it just find a focus you know and talk about whatever you're passionate about and that's

the homework okay what are you passionate about and how could you frame it get some bullet points

and off you go so the balance between creating content and what i do for a living with the music

and all the other things that are happening in my life it's all mixed up together there's no

distinction okay so before i came here i was just having a siesta a nap okay but i never have naps

in the summertime or in the winter time it's one of the things that i want to incorporate in my

greek lifestyle though because it's part of the greek lifestyle right having sex but today because

i've done my my work already wrong and i was going to be too as well i was a little bit more chill

i was like you know what i'm gonna be uh marking and you know i have some free time just gonna have

lunch i'm gonna go for a siesta and wait for you for you to call me and and that's part of the life

so today is a different day tomorrow is a different day though and but it's always the same what content

i'm gonna release what's happening with the music because i need to compose music to always so i'm

always publishing i'm always uploading so but the music is so fun so one thing feeds the other so if

i get a little bit like too much with the content too much video too much video editing i'm always

having the music like okay that's so fun but i don't do that music for fun though the music

is like the intention is like is this gonna be a product for somebody else and the music has to

create a revenue if it doesn't create revenue there's a big issue you know because it is a

business if i create youtube videos and there's no views there is a problem you see what i mean yeah

so it all goes down to that but the balance is just uh for me anyways it's part of that lifestyle

this is what i'm trying to convey with this new youtube channel my new lifestyle and yes it's hard

work i work seven seven days a week really but that doesn't mean that i'm not going to go to the

beach you know i mean i could finish here and that this this could be work and this to me is

related to work okay because i've created a piece of content i'm talking to you and even though i

might not earn something from this right now the monetary form it still feeds the thing right

whatever that is you know and it's part of a bigger thing which people are not really willing

to do as well that investment you know when you have that in that mindset that okay i'm doing this

but what i'm getting in return that employee mentality like okay i'm showing up for this

paycheque and i'm doing only this and then what's my allowance you know working online and creating

content and running an online business and working online completely like a digital no man or extra

or whatever especially when you live in a country that you don't have employment here you know

you're you're relying on yourself and you really have to do a lot of things that there's no guarantee

cool um thanks a lot for all your time um you know where to find him right now like my greek lifestyle

uh i don't know if you want to use the platform also for the other channels but well you can find

everything under my greek lifestyle.com and my greek lifestyle on youtube cool yeah so yeah check

it out of course as always give a subscribe to daniel give a subscribe to me follow him like

check all the videos if you are in this moment of your life that you want to start creating

content online you want to create a business even if you are a musician maybe whatever it is

you have someone now to to get in touch with so uh thanks a lot again my pleasure my pleasure my

pleasure thank you so much you've been listening to expat experts the podcast that takes you around

the world through the stories of those who've lived it subscribe now to youtube and your

favorite podcast platform and stay tuned for more inspiring interviews