Jeb Brooks gets paid to travel around the world. Here’s how
Posted On August 11, 2022
How would you like to travel all over the world and get paid to do it?
Many of us would jump at that chance, but it wasn’t something Jeb Brooks set about to do initially. By finding an audience and honing his video skills to meet what that audience wants, he’s built a business in creating YouTube travel videos.
Brooks shared how it all came about in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” It started when Brooks, a frequent traveler with his consulting business, noticed there was a “tiny genre” of creators on YouTube posting videos about their experiences on long flights. So as he flew to Portugal for a conference, he decided to try his hand at making one.
From those humble beginnings, Brooks has built a YouTube presence that now has well over 400,000 subscribers and draws over 4 million views a month. You can find his YouTube page at jebbrooks.com.
“When I speak with most people in my real life, they say that travel is this unpleasant, terrible experience, that it’s become so painful and difficult. And I think there’s some truth to that,” Brooks said. “The irony is that I’ve made a whole business out of celebrating this aspect of the human experience in 2022 that most people really despise. It just goes to show you the way community can be built inside social media.”
Building that community is the key to turning a hobby into a business. If you’re able to build one big enough to hit certain metrics in terms of views and subscribers, you can monetize your YouTube page and capitalize on the ad revenue your page will draw to YouTube.
YouTube has a partner program that helps cultivate content creators, but Brooks says the best way to make better content is to pay attention to what the viewers are watching. “There’s so much data,” he said. “By reading it, you really get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.”
Brooks shared some other ideas on how to build an audience and = produce the kind of content that will keep it coming back:
- Build your community around people who share a passion.
- Remember you’re posting for your audience, not yourself.
- Track the most important metrics, particularly views and watch time.
- Keep your videos fast-paced — preferably a new shot or angle every one to four seconds.
- Watch other content on YouTube to hone your craft.
While Brooks has a passion for air travel, he also documents other types of trips – luxury motor coaches, trains, anything that gets travelers from Point A to Point B. He shared a couple of his “bucket list” travel trips, including a voyage on the Queen Mary II and a Project Sunrise flight.
Above all, while his hobby has become a business that more than pays for itself and occasionally gets recognized by air crews who watch his videos , Brooks says he still enjoys it. “I just really enjoy the process of creating the story,” he said.