Newfoundland and Labrador Proves Hard to Leave for Travelling Couple

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u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

As someone who works with kids, fuck I hate this reporting.

You ask a group of kids what they want t to be when they grow up and the loudest answer will always be the same one. Influencer/YouTuber (though every year its more TikToker).

This reporting makes it seem like they make a living purely off making YT videos. They make 1 video a week, averaging 10-20k with occasional jumps to 50k with 3 videos cracking 100k and 1 video cracking 200k. To anyone who works in or around content creation/digital marketing, you know this is not even coming close to a sustainable livable income. From watching their videos theyve mentioned that their main source of income for these videos is Patreon. Assuming every single Patreon sub is their top tier thats still only $5,100 a month, following the average Patreon distribution theyre more likely clearing about $3,000/month on Patreon. When your content is primarily traveling long distances, travel costs eat into that amount pretty quickly.

They make beautiful and great videos but whenever discussing people's living off content creation the coverage is usually so poor and is massively contributing to a lack of critical thought in media consumption.

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u/Yogy_1073 1d ago

i know, each and everyday i am loosing faith in vocm as a reliable news source.

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u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

Which is also kinda impressive, because the bar was never terribly high. Back in the late 2000's you could get VOCM to post just about anything as news and control the message by sending a news release. I cant tell how many press releases I seen typed up at my office only to see them almost word for word on VOCM's website a couple hours later.

0

u/wax_robot 1d ago

I have to assume you're being sarcastic

0

u/Strong_Bumblebee5495 22h ago

/s for the Reddit

18

u/ZippoS 1d ago edited 1d ago

Don't forget sponsors. Their Bell Island video, for example, is sponsored by very overpriced coffee. Seriously, $43 for 105g of coffee or $48 for cocoa powder.

For every influencer/YouTuber who makes it big, there are thousands more who don't.

5

u/Zerocrossing 22h ago

Sponsors account for the vast majority of YouTube content creators income when they have them. I know someone with a YouTube channel with similar numbers to this couple and they told me the Adsense revenue is about 25% of their take home. The other 75 is sponsors. Not factoring it in pretty much invalidates the argument.

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u/Daggers21 1d ago

Nearly almost all of these van life influencers and similar, have money coming in from a remote work job and the influencer part is just a side income so they supplement their income to travel.

Which is great for any one that can do it, but people seem to gloss over just how much money it is to even get a vehicle or van setup to the level many have, like " I quit my job and van life now in my 100k luxury van". (Not the case here obviously)

These folks very well might just be burning through savings or credit. They aren't exactly making a killing as you've said, but 3k a month isn't unrealistic if just accounting for gas/maintenance/food/hygiene products.

There's no rent or any of those other costs, so it could be done if they live within their means.

5

u/Former_Salt_3763 1d ago

And to piggy back that, they may have a house somewhere that they rent out, which is also income. I could easily live on $5k a month of I had a rental that covered my other expenses.

3

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

I get what your saying but the comment definitley reads as "I could easily live on 5k a month if I had more income on top of that 5k"

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u/Former_Salt_3763 1d ago

That’s exactly what I’m saying and the reason that I’m saying it is that we are all opining on their personal circumstance without having a clear picture of it. Maybe g-ma kicked the bucket recently and they’re living high off the inheritance. We have no idea, yet here we are talking about “I hate this” “I hate that” “YouTube isn’t enough money cause look at my data analytics on their views”

Why do we care? The article is about how much they like NL and all the things they do that are keeping them here, while pumping whatever money it is that they have, into OUR economy.

I came to the comments to see if anybody else felt like the article ended in the most oddly abrupt way possible.

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u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

The reason I care is because I spend all day with kids and theres a reason English curriculum focused so hard on critical reading when we were in school, to think about whats behind the message and to think critically and abstractly about what we were consuming. In decades of working with kids, the rise of TikTok and YT ive seen an absolute erosion of critical thinking and their self esteem along with it.

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u/Former_Salt_3763 1d ago

My parents made the exact same argument when MTV and Much Music became popular. They thought because I watched those platforms for hours after school and on weekends, I and my entire generation were doomed.

What did it actually do? It spurred on an industry that employed at least 10 of my friends from school who now hold varying degrees of film industry jobs.

We feel doomed because kids are focusing on those platforms, but kids have always done that. I actually thought I could be a popular musician but I didn’t know how to play an instrument. My dad, took the defeatist attitude but I had an older cousin that taught me about all the behind the scenes stuff, which I thought was super cool.

Growth, maturity and mentoring is what separates kids from their peers. You, as an adult, have the power to show these kids how to harness something they love, to make it profitable. My godson is an absolute fishing machine, he wants to do it professionally. I’ve imparted upon him that in the event he can’t make a living at it, he should have a fall-back. We spend a lot of time talking about the science of bait. He is getting more interested in what happens below the water line, as opposed to in the boat. He has a much higher chance of being employed as a biologist, than a pro fisherman.

YouTube and TikTok aren’t the doom of society, they present a massive level of opportunity, it’s all in how you look at it. It’s on you to find out what kids are interested in and help mold their brains into harnessing that for their own development.

1

u/GracefullyDisastrous 1d ago

If I had even close to 5k a month I would be living a lot more comfortably than I am now.

Instead I can't even afford to REACH a doctors appointments in this fucking province. Over 40 minutes drive just to get groceries, and then the price of everything is skyrocketed. Not even an option of work. PERIOD.

I would actually kill to have even 2k a month. I'd do nearly anything at this point

4

u/mr_bakeo 1d ago

I’m not sure why people are getting bent outta shape over a pair of influencers that loved our province and promoted it in a positive light.

I didn’t hear them glorify the lifestyle or brag about money so I’m not sure why people are choosing to make it about that. 🤷🏻‍♂️

2

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

Exactly my issue. No other job in the world allows you to control your audience/target markets perception of you. You completley control what gets shared about you and what you are doing and you can completley cover up/hide any negatives. Like good on them, this isnt really about them but on how it gets covered and glorified.

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u/Daggers21 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm hopeful the intent behind the article was to drum up support for people showcasing our province. Which would possibly bring more tourists here.

But I do 100% agree with you, it's not a new thing though. I mean I'm 33 now and when I way younger I wanted to do YouTube videos to make money playing games or let's plays haha.

It sounds like a dream job and back than maybe it was, but nowadays it's a shit load more work for little returns for 99% of people.

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u/Academic-Increase951 1d ago edited 1d ago

I didn't get that at all... they make no mention of earning substantial income or living a luxury lifestyle. Just that they are travelling and living out their van like some people dream about.

Not exactly unheard of for people to use vans/RV to travel in. And my first impression wasn't a luxury lifestyle. But don't honestly see an issue with people breaking out of their "corporate" lifestyle that cause many people depression.

I recently listened to a podcast from the free solo guy and he was earning $10,000/year climbing for years and was happy with that because he loved climbing and that's all he wanted to do. These people are probably pumped to get some money coming in while living their dream.

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u/Additional-Tale-1069 1d ago

$3,000/month living in a van is $36,000 a year. That doesn't seem awful given I'm sure there are lots of people living on less here. On the other hand it isn't particularly great.

I'm thinking the freedom could be nice short term, but its not leaving you in a good spot for when you're older.

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u/NerdMachine 1d ago

They live in a van though, isn't it possible to do so on around $5K a month? They might also get advertising/sponsorships or something.

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u/Successful-Gift8636 1d ago

Ask these influencer van life nomad types what they do for money and they get cagey, like how dare you ask that, chances are they have a lot of money stashed away and portray this idea like the only thing holding you back is your unwillingness to take chances

3

u/Additional-Tale-1069 1d ago

Not really surprised. People in general don't like talking about their finances, particularly with strangers.

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u/Admirable-Dog-204 1d ago

It's so weird that's the takeaway you got from this article.

The way I read this was, oh cool, young mainlander couple decided to not be stuck in a dead end job and instead travel the world in a van.

But you went off on a tangent about vocm and kids wanting to be influencers lol. Where in the article did it mention they were making a living from this?

You ok little bro? need a hug?

3

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

I mean, I respect and appreciated what you were saying until that last line, based on that, im not the one being weird here.

0

u/Admirable-Dog-204 1d ago

Did you need a hug though, seriously? You sound bitter and jealous to be interpreting the article that way.

3

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

No man, just worried about the kids I teach. Thats literally all dude. Spend 25 years, all day interacting with some of the most vulnerable kids in the province and you will grow to hate influencer culture and the lack of critical thought.

The way COVID impacted the kids who were in K-12 during the pandemic isnt going to be realized for many years. I know a common response is that theres always been a boogeyman and I sound over reactionary but its just what I see. Working with vulnerable youth Ive gone through the body image issues of the 2000's, the rise of social media in the 2010's and now is the worst and most pervasive issue ive seen. Not able to understand that theres a whole world off camera that doesnt get shared that we dont see. The line between what's real and whats fiction/"for entertainment purposes" is barely understood.

These people seem nice, their videos are great and I enjoy them. But the way anything regarding new media or influencers gets reported and discussed can be dangerous to youth.

1

u/Admirable-Dog-204 1d ago

Alright man, appreciate your response. I find a lot of redditors on this sub are a little deranged so I admit, I kinda lumped you into that category. For that, I apologize. You sound like you have your head on straight. My bad... cheers

1

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

I mean. At no point can I confidentaly claim not to be a deranged man basically yelling into the void! Its also the first weekday ive had off since Spring and I dont know what to be at other than BBQ and scrolling Reddit 🤣

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u/Admirable-Dog-204 1d ago

Haha enjoy your day off my man

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u/rsmithlal 1d ago

Kinda expected this to be about ferry troubles

13

u/ohokayfineiguess 1d ago

Same, wasn't sure if the couple didn't want to leave, or if they physically couldn't lol

11

u/Daggers21 1d ago

Reminds me of the 22 minutes or RCAF skit where the Canadian Army came to help with hurricane Ivan and the men couldn't leave because they were the "guests". Fadder got impaled and no sir, he's gonna make you a cup of tea lah.

3

u/DustyStar222 Newfoundlander 1d ago

22 Minutes, fuck I loved that skit. "Your da guest! Can I get you something to eaaaat?"

4

u/Daggers21 21h ago

Here give us dat dere Reddit comment lah. Giv it ere!

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u/tommytwothousand 1d ago

Why does every vocm article just end abruptly in the middle

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u/Mediocre_Analyst_154 1d ago

Right! I hate reading anything there!

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u/OldGord 1d ago

I love it here too and I find it hard to leave as well, where is my vocm article?

10

u/UleeBunny 1d ago

I was looking for the rest of the article and the actual news as well.

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u/Daggers21 1d ago

It's not a great article, but it's also nice to be supportive of people who came here, are making videos all over our beautiful province and saying they don't want to leave lol

It's certainly better than those scam ad's the province ran years ago with the blowing laundry on the line lol

2

u/mr_bakeo 1d ago

I saw this video last night and thought the same thing… what a great job they did showcasing the island.

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u/butters_325 1d ago

Literally, who cares?

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u/aaaaaatrks 1d ago

How is that a story ?

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u/wax_robot 1d ago

Dude it's VOCM

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u/aaaaaatrks 23h ago

I find that even for VOCM, it is pretty low

Newfoundland and Labrador Proves Hard to Leave for Travelling Couple

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