Have you had that moment where late at night when you know you should be sleeping, but instead you’re sucked into YouTube’s ‘next up’ and you just keep saying to yourself ‘just one more’?
Yeah that one. Don’t lie, we all know we’ve been sucked into social media at some point when we should be focusing on something else. That’s what makes marketing so great. They know how to peak our interest just enough that we fall into the trap of endless social media. Well, I fell into that trap three years ago, searching through video after video around travel. I had considered getting back into YouTube and making more videos on my ‘Bucket List’. At the time I was working 9-5 as a manager of a mobile phone repair store and wanted to do something new. I was bored of working in a shop, training staff to be managers of their own, repairing water damaged devices and working on publishing a ‘how to’ book. I needed a change, and what better way to get inspiration than by going onto YouTube? That’s when I came across a video called “How to make a travel video – 10 Tips you need to know”. I bet you can see where this is going. The rabbit hole of tip videos on how to do something you have dreamed of doing for such a long time. Well I fell, and I fell deep. I began surfing through more and more travel videos, spending way too much time dreaming of how I could do something similar. That was my issue. I kept it as a dream instead of taking a leap of faith and doing something I enjoyed. The last holiday I’ve had was back in July 2016. Way too long ago if you ask me. Well I kept telling myself over and over I’m going to solo travel, that I’m going to save up and do it. But I never did.
Fast forward 2 years and I’m at home recovering from my motorbike accident. Time in the day ticked on, and day after day just simply passed by. I was in a rut that I couldn’t get out of. But then I started watching more and more YouTube travel videos, especially during the 2020 lockdown. Trying to experience things through other peoples eyes, mostly Lost LeBlanc, Mike Visuals and Kold. Along with other circumstances, I decided I wanted to experience things on my own. These videos had inspired me to create and that’s when I started to put the ‘Not Bucket List Journey’ together. A way for me to experience the world and achieve goals whilst creating memories and saving them in the format of a video which I could return to at any time.
I have been doing my NBLJ for a year now. And what a year it has been. Yes, there are times where I think I could have done more. But in fact when I look at what I have achieved? That’s priceless. I’ve met amazing and incredible people along the way, received opportunities I would never have had without the NBLJ and simply made incredible memories. I’ve:
- Done the ice bucket challenge to start the year afresh
- Created a time capsule where I’ve placed memento’s of my achievements
- Absolutely failed but had a laugh at pancake art
- Finally completed a game for the first time
- Completed a 24 hour stream
- Customised my AirPods and AirTags
- Played an early access game before launch
- Joined the National Youth Film Academy and signed up to write and film a short film shown in a London cinema. (I’m even getting to walk a red carpet!!!)
It’s been a year of so many experiences and they’ve all helped me to grow to who I am today.
That being said, last year in 2020 when I was guzzling through travel videos, I had an opportunity to purchase a lifetime subscription with the Lost Creator Academy. But I kept dwindling and dwindling on the idea and let it pass. I haven’t realised until recently, that it was one of my biggest mistake. You see, I’ve seen so many online courses and thought ‘oh it’s just one of those that re-shares information that can be found on YouTube’. Now I realise how wrong I had been. Why you ask? Well I almost made the same mistake this year. Black Friday had come around and once again an amazing offer had dropped on the Lost Creator Academy membership. I kept thinking and thinking on it but let it slip through my fingers once again. Or so I thought. I woke up on Tuesday the 30th to another email from Christian the creator of LCA that had me changing my mind. How you may ask? Well, that morning I was already regretting it and my one final chance laid within that email. Christian had extended the sale for that day only. Did he need to do it? No. Am I grateful he did? Incredibly. That day I had gone to work umm’ing and arr’ing on the idea again before going on my lunch and then I thought about it some more. (I opened that email too many times that day). When I came back, I knew what I needed to do and signed up for the course.
Did I have buyers remorse at first? Yes I did. I started to doubt myself briefly with what if’s. When I got home I opened up LCA and started the first topic. Instantly I felt like I was being welcomed by a creator that genuinely wanted to help, not some of those videos that you see on YouTube where you can tell they’re doing it solely for the money and views. So I continued and completed the welcoming topics and felt prepared for the main courses that I knew were to come. But that’s not even the best past. What do you mean you may ask? Well not only when you join LCA do you get the courses that breaks down so much of content creation, but you also get a community to interact with on Facebook. As expected it took a few days for me to join the group, but inside is such a wealth of knowledge and amazing people to interact with. You get to share your experiences, ask questions and plan meets/collaborations with other amazing people.
But to top it off is their member meet ups. Not only can you meet up around the world, but they host regular zoom calls. On my first week I got to join the December Zoom call meet up. And what a meet up it was. We got to hear not only Christian’s journeys, but also other creators who shared their’s. We started off with around 60+ members and after a while we broke off into our first group of four. In our groups we got to spend time talking and sharing more in depth with the group and network with others. In one of the groups of four I was very excited to be partnered with Christian, the creator of LCA and Lost LeBlanc. Something that’s been on my bucket list since the start. (I tried very hard not to scream. Think I did well. Though I won’t tick it off my list until I hopefully someday get to meet him in person). It was a pleasure to speak with Christian and other creators who I have now networked with. Not only did I network, but I’ve even got to join in with future projects and meet ups. After going through a few groups of fours, we then had 1 to 1 chats where we can speak individually to others. Overall the whole experience has been amazing and the community alone was worth the price.
Now that I have gotten to network with other like minded people, I have already started planning and interacting with people for future projects that I just cannot wait to share. I have some pretty exciting projects that I’m sure you’ll all love. But for now, I’m going to continue working on learning and sharing my journey and somewhere down the line, I’ll review how my experience with LCA has gone.
I just wanted to leave a note to say thank you to all those who have supported my journey this year. I appreciate each and everyone of you and hope that as you watch my journey, it brings a smile to your face.
Foxsley
Not Bucket List Journey 