How to Build a Successful YouTube Career and Brand After College With Natalie Barbu: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 218
“Once I found my passion, and I realized I could turn it into a job, that was a huge game changer.”
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At 23 years old, Natalie Barbu is a YouTuber, Podcaster, and Business Owner. After graduating from NC State in 2018 with a degree in Industrial Engineering, Natalie worked in the corporate world for 9 months before she quit her job and decided to pursue YouTube full-time. In addition to being a full-time YouTuber, Natalie now offers consulting services to help build her clients’ personal brand.
Natalie started her YouTube channel for fun about 8 years ago, before most people were really on the platform, and before anyone knew what a YouTuber was (it really wasn’t even a thing back then). Natalie recorded on her webcam with no editing, and she posted sporadically. When she got to college, she started posting more consistently about fashion and makeup, but when she pivoted and started posting more about her life and her college experience in vlog-style videos, her channel really started to take off. By her senior year of college, she was uploading twice a week.
“I wanted to be their friend, not just someone they watched on YouTube.”
Once Natalie started opening up about her life almost like her own reality tv show, her channel skyrocketed. Instead of doing videos that were trending, she was creating videos about things that interested her. By opening up, she found a demographic of viewers that were her age, that she could probably be friends with in real life, and that found her content relatable. Not many YouTubers talked about their major or degree, and to niche down even further, there aren’t a lot of girls in engineering. Natalie was really able to hone in on young women looking to get into engineering. By using what made her unique, Natalie was able to attract and retain an audience that grew through stages of life with her. Even after college, she is still gaining subscribers by being true to herself.
“You really have so much power in just being real, being yourself, being authentic, and people will like that, because people can see authenticity and realness.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- Be consistent. Posting frequently helps your YouTube algorithm. The more you post, the more people will get to know you and look forward to seeing your channel. The more videos you have out there, the more chances you have that people will see one. Your first video might not be great, but the more you do it, the better you will get.
- How to pitch yourself to brands: Find out who the PR person is (try to find a name!). Make it short and sweet: explain why you love the brand and what you can do for them. Include your demographic for followers, and how your audience will help that brand. Make it seem like they need you, not that you need them. Only work with the brands that you genuinely love.
- Be authentic. This seems like a huge theme lately! But Natalie’s authenticity is what made her so relatable with her audience. Embrace what is unique or weird about you, because someone is probably searching for it. Make yourself searchable to people looking to find content they can relate to.
Connect with Natalie Barbu:
The Real Reel: Natalie Barbu’s Podcast
Mentioned In the Episode:
Videos:
How I Take Notes with my iPad Pro as an Engineering Student
ALL ABOUT ENGINEERING: What It’s Really Like to be an Engineering Student | Natalie Barbu
WORK MORNING ROUTINE: get ready with me for work
FULL WEEK OF WORKOUTS: Workout with Me
Equipment:
Camera: Canon G7x
Tools:
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
FACEBOOK GROUP
Podcast Music Credit: Boop by x50 @x50music
Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs youtu.be/o52xQkQWzyU
*Erika Vieira is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com.
**Disclaimers: all opinions are my own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in the description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the podcast at no extra cost.
