Did We Just Become Best Friends?

Christine Lozada's Journey to Everyday Badassery - Leaving Corporate Life to Show us the World!

• Lydia Stutesman

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What does it take to turn your passion into a full-time career? Join us as we chat with Christine Lozada, the vibrant travel content creator behind "Where in the World is CL" and the motivational podcast "Everyday Badassery." Our inspiring meeting with Christine on a Virgin Voyages cruise at the Pink Agave restaurant sparked an engaging conversation about her journey from a stable nine-to-five job to the adventurous life of a travel influencer. Christine shares her insights on creating mesmerizing drone photography, building a dedicated audience, and motivating others to be just a bit more badass every day.

Discover the strategic world of travel influencing as Christine reveals her methods for partnering with top brands like Virgin Voyages. We explore traditional collaboration routes, the importance of influencer platforms like Jerne, and the financial intricacies of transitioning to a full-time content creator. Christine's honest take on the hustle and determination required will resonate with aspiring creators and offer practical advice for monetizing content through various revenue streams, from affiliate marketing to securing brand deals.

Finally, we dive into our shared passion for luxury travel and the unique appeal of Virgin Voyages. Reflecting on our unforgettable experiences, we consider the future sustainability of the cruise line amidst a competitive market. We also share our excitement about potential future adventures, including a whimsical trip to Vermont inspired by Mel Robbins. This episode is packed with travel inspiration, heartfelt stories, and actionable tips for anyone looking to turn their travel dreams into reality. Don’t miss it!

Follow Christine Here:

www.youtube.com/christinelozada

www.youtube.com/dronewithcl

www.instagram.com/christinelozada

www.twitter.com/christinelozada

www.whereintheworldiscl.com

www.christinelozada.com

www.facebook.com/christinelozada

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1201917

https://www.tiktok.com/@heychristinelozada

https://www.pinterest.com/christinelozada/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinelozada/

https://www.amazon.com/shop/whereintheworldiscl

https://www.threads.net/@christinelozada

https://www.facebook.com/everydaybadassery

https://www.instagram.com/badasserypodcast/

https://www.instagram.com/virginvoyagestips

https://www.tiktok.com/@virginvoyagestips

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedroneparty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/virginvoyagescruisetips

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Speaker 1:

Did we just become best friends, Christine Lozada. I think, that might be the case. I am so excited you're here today. I couldn't be more thrilled to record this podcast. I am so excited to tell my listeners how much you have inspired me to get my arse my badassery arse in gear to be more consistent with my podcasting. But first of all, how we have to start off. I always start every episode with how we met.

Speaker 1:

So, in our case, we actually did meet, because sometimes my guests I've never met before and then we're online together. It's the first time we've ever interacted, so it's so exciting. We were on the Virgin Voyages cruise this should not come as a surprise to anybody who follows you and I'm sitting in the wake. No, I lied, pink agave.

Speaker 1:

I'm sitting at our table in pink agave, and I see this gorgeous woman and her handsome companion, who the world has come to know as Meeple. But I see you with this 360 camera in your hand and I'm like, what is she doing with a 360 stick camera? And I'm like and I think I said something to the effect of like, are you a content creator or something Like, is that a 360 in your hand? And then, of course, we just started talking. I don't know if you fully remember.

Speaker 2:

I absolutely remember why Because I have to edit out every single 360 shot. So I've relived that moment many times at different angles.

Speaker 1:

I love it. And then you're like I'll take our picture. And then my husband was like, oh, where's our picture? And I'm like, well, we look like little specks, little beans, but we're there in the restaurant. And it was just funny because in my line of work, I obviously work in a high school and most people know, and I teach TV production and broadcast journalism, but the kids do it all. So a lot of times I don't have to know everything they do. They go on YouTube, they train themselves. They're amazing, right. It's like the school of YouTube university. And so I go okay, this is really cool, I've seen people use it. I go I'm going to buy one, but you guys got to go figure out how to use it. I don't want to know about it, I'm overwhelmed, right. So I still don't know how to use it, by the way, but I want to, I want to learn. So you inspire me on the daily.

Speaker 2:

I love that it's. It's not a camera to learn, but it's a very fun one to use once you get it.

Speaker 1:

I know, and so then we're sitting there at dinner and we're chit-chatting, and then, of course, you said follow me on YouTube. Like you can, you know, stay connected on the YouTube, which, for people who don't know yet what is your YouTube channel, it'll appear in the show notes too, because I have the co-host, ai, doing all my transcription for me.

Speaker 2:

My YouTube channel name is where in the world is CL, but it's youtubecom slash Christine Lozada, and that's where my travel YouTube channel is at.

Speaker 1:

And I noticed also today when I was looking at it, that you have a drone channel as well. I do so first of all, you also have a podcast, and what is the name of your podcast for people who want to listen to that?

Speaker 2:

My podcast is Everyday Badassery, which is a set of travel stories that are inspiring people to be 1% more badass today than they were yesterday.

Speaker 1:

I love that so much and now that we've got all the plugs out of the way because it'll, it'll appear nicely for me. Um, I first of all also very impressed with your drone skills, because that's another thing I also have in my studio is a drone that I do not know how to use and the kids do it all love.

Speaker 1:

Like it's a student-run production. I don't need to know about it, but I have to tell you, whatever you post a reel or anything with your drone photography, I am mesmerized. It just takes me to another place and I'm like, oh my god, I want to go there, and I think that's kind of the purpose, right, you're showing us places in the world that we may never experience. Well, think about us as travelers.

Speaker 2:

Why do we sit in the window seat of an airplane? Why do we bother hiking to the top of the mountain? Why do we pay $25 for the cocktail on a New York City rooftop? It's all for the view, and now, with a push of a button, you can do that. But there's no better shot that establishes and storytells about a place that you're in than a bird's eye view, and drones just make that way too fun and way too easy.

Speaker 1:

It is unbelievable. I love that you just said that, because you're right. I went to the top of the Empire State Building Even if I had a fear of heights. I would want to see this beautiful city in all its glory, exactly, okay. So I want to talk about Virgin voyages a little bit, because I think it is probably one of your favorite topics, right? I?

Speaker 2:

love.

Speaker 1:

Virgin voyages. I got off that cruise and I and I did a whole podcast about it. I literally have an episode where I just talked about everything I loved about it. I literally have an episode where I just talked about everything that I loved about it and I couldn't wait to get back on that ship. And then, when I realized you actually frequent that ship on the regular as a creator, can you talk to me? And if I ask you anything that is inappropriate or it's too personal, we can edit it out. But can you talk to me about your relationship with Virgin Voyages and how that came about?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a. It's a good question. A lot of people ask me that, and when I first experienced Virgin Voyages, it was just as a normal sailor, trying them out for the first time, really intrigued by the. They sailed differently, and that was in early 2022, when it was still people were wearing masks, required to wear masks on board, you had to have your COVID test before you came on, and it was. It was a different experience than it is now, obviously because there were fewer people and lots of restrictions, but on that first sailing, I absolutely fell in love.

Speaker 2:

I fell in love with the experience for all the reasons you talked about on the episode that I listened to and what I realized was I needed to be on Virgin Voyages a lot, and so, as a content creator, I went down the what I'll call a traditional route, which is as a travel influencer. How can you work with Virgin Voyages and their marketing team to be able to create content that lives on your channels, promoting them, and also lives on their channels, and that's a very traditional way of working with Virgin Voyages. Is it an easy way? No, because there's a million travel influencers who all want to go down this route and at that time I had actually partnered with somebody who was also a drone pilot. Someone who watches my drone channel had met up with me while I was flying drones on a project elsewhere somewhere in Sarasota, and he and I partnered together with Virgin Voyages on a traditional trip.

Speaker 2:

If there's a great way to get free travel and a little bit of money, it's through that route, which is why I immediately and part of the reason why I teach a lot of creators how to create is because I don't do anything like normal creators do, and that path is a normal path, but it's not a lucrative path. It's a great way to create a relationship with Virgin Voyages, but it's not a lucrative path. It's a great way to create a relationship with Virgin Voyages, but it's not a great way to make money, and so I instead went down a different route, partnering with a travel agent and sending my audience from my platform to book through us, and so that's the route that I went on instead.

Speaker 1:

Okay. Well, that just opens up more questions and curiosity for me, because I am I always call myself like if you could give me a title in a corporation, I would be the chief connections officer. So you need something and you need something. I'll connect you to the person. Maybe I can't do it myself, but I'll get you the right person. And you need something. I'll connect you to the person. Maybe I can't do it myself, but I'll get you the right person. So how do you break the barrier? How do you penetrate the Virgin Voyages marketing team to get in touch with somebody that actually responds to you to say hey, here I am, and did they require you to have a certain amount of followers?

Speaker 2:

That's a good question. I would say honestly, especially now, no-transcript out to them and work with them directly. I recommend doing it through Journey J-E-R-N-E, which is a influencer platform which many of my creator friends are a part of and enjoy, one that I am hesitant about because there's no better way to be paid very little slash nothing, than working through platforms like this, and so it's a way that you can get both free cruises, free hotel stays, free, fill in the blank with a lot of luxury things. And that is a primary way that Virgin Voyages works with creators now is they funnel them through that. It is very rare that they'll bring on singular one-offs with their marketing team working directly with people, given the volume of the amount of things they have going on, because, don't forget, they also have influencers named J-Lo, influencers named their virgin brand of rock stars right, of literal rock stars and musicians and artists, et cetera, of literal rock stars and musicians and artists, et cetera. And so their need for UCG, or user generated content creators, is a portion of their larger strategy and plan, but is by no means their main source of how they market, and so they work through the platforms now, and so if someone wanted to work with them.

Speaker 2:

I recommend doing that. And to answer your second question around do you need a following? Yes, and my following right now is way too small. Like, like I am a little itty, itty, itty bitty and like just to put that in perspective, my full following is somewhere around 86,000, anywhere from 250,000 views to half a million views per month across all the platforms. I am itty bitty, I'm too tiny for them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I, I'm glad you brought that up, because I think there is a growing community of what we're calling micro influencers and under 10,000 or less, you know, followers, and that's definitely where I fit in. But I'm also not in that part of my life where I'm going to say, yes, I'm going to transition out of my nine to five and become a content creator full-time because, unlike the average person, I actually know how much work it takes to create content, to edit content and yada, yada, yada. So, um, with that said, and and it's funny because my boss knows I have a podcast and I'm like I am not quitting my day job. I love my job. I'm actually one of those weird people who likes the stability of my nine to five and my 403B with my match, but eventually, yeah, could I do I dream of getting paid to travel? Yes, I love to travel, so I think that would be a dream, okay. To travel, yes, I love to travel, so I think that would be a dream, okay. So, in that, it's a good time to segue into the transition to full-time content creator.

Speaker 1:

So, you, I think I listened to an episode recently it was actually one in your series about podcasting, and it was an editing episode which caught my attention because you have a lot of episodes so I'm trying to catch up, but I'm also obsessed with other podcasters but, um, you know. So I listen as much as possible, but when we were talking about editing, I really keep things no frills. I keep it as simple as possible. If I stumble, I just keep going, but if I like really screw up and need to start over, fine. But I keep it very natural and I wing it a lot because I just don't want to spend that kind of time editing. It's one of those things if you're a perfectionist, it's a bad place to be. You know cause you you talked about how one episode used to take you hours to edit and now it's like minutes. Right, exactly, love it. So when you decided to leave your corporate life, your six figurefigure salary life, whatever you were doing before, what were you doing before?

Speaker 2:

My background. So after I went to UC Berkeley in California, I wanted to become a quote businesswoman, whatever that meant. Yeah, and I ended up becoming an intern for Walmartcom. What?

Speaker 1:

does that mean anyway? Yeah right, I was an intern at Walmartcom.

Speaker 2:

What does that mean anyway? Yeah right, I was an intern at Walmartcom. Loved it so much. I graduated from UC Berkeley early, went full-time marketing with Walmart, lived in San Francisco doing that for a long time and then eventually moved to New York City doing the same work for Amazon and then went to go be a remote employee one of the first remote employees in my opinion back in 2013, doing e-commerce work for yeah, before it was COVID cool to be remote.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, but basically I've been corporate world, mostly marketing, my entire life. That was what I used to do.

Speaker 1:

I remember you talking about that a little bit, because I thought I heard of Walmart Association, and then you mentioned internship, which I always tell my high school students is the most important thing you can do for yourself is secure a great internship in a company you're interested in or a field that sparks your joy. It's so true, really such a great pathway, and I know many people who have gone on to amazing employment opportunities because of internships. So I definitely think that is still important if you're getting your education, and for me it's a little difficult because I have a son who's 17. He's like I want to be a YouTuber, because what are they seeing?

Speaker 1:

They're seeing all these people, mr Beast, and all these YouTubers making all this money for all this fun stuff they're doing, not realizing the amount of work and the amount of time. It's true.

Speaker 2:

But even as a content creator, I never let go of the importance of interning. What does it mean to intern? It means you're create a relationship with a place that you want a longer relationship with. You are winding, doing things that you don't necessarily want to be doing. It's really hard work and you're doing it for what? Free and or pennies, like something less than what someone else is being paid or nothing at all, which I took that mindset of internship when I first started creating and there's a lot of places I hustled and I grind it hard, developing relationships while not necessarily getting paid for it.

Speaker 2:

Because, as a creator with zero following, when you first start right, your son started a YouTube channel. Everyone starts from zero. You've got to put in the work somewhere so that you can build the. What do you do as an intern? You build a resume as a content creator and you build a media kit so that eventually you can go after the big dogs, right, and you actually get paid and do all the things. But it always starts with the internship. I would say too many creators who first start off have a chip on their shoulder because they are watching other huge people who have already gone through the journey and expect to be paid from day one, or expect they expect something from day one, when it's like you have nothing to show.

Speaker 1:

That's what I couldn't believe. I said do you realize, back in the day when I entered, I entered for free. We did not get paid. There was no such thing as a paid internship. Now it's like you're bidding for the highest paid internship, like I have students that are in aerospace engineering and they're getting paid $25 an hour to go live in a fabulous new city and work in their dream career.

Speaker 2:

That's amazing.

Speaker 1:

Incredible. Well, they're also driving Teslas, but let's not talk about it. Why are the students driving nicer cars than I am? I do not know.

Speaker 2:

That's a different podcast altogether these days.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, I, I, I just love, love your candid. Um, I love that you're so candid with everything, you're open with everything you know, and I think my nosiest question for you and my curiosity is always around the financials, because I'm also a finance teacher and I'm like, how many months would I have to save up before I could even decide I was going to quit my job, let alone embark on such a new journey, did you meant? Obviously you mentally prepared for it because you were longing to do something that followed your passion. Obviously, you mentally prepared for it because you were longing to do something that followed your passion. But how did you prepare to leave a secure bi-weekly paycheck to?

Speaker 1:

do this full time.

Speaker 2:

It's a great question. I actually break this down in one of my episodes around jumping into full-time travel.

Speaker 1:

Tell me, because I have to hear about it. I'm going to listen to it.

Speaker 2:

Actually, I do it with another girl, helen of Helen and Tim travels. But it's not just a mental preparation that we talked about, but it's a financial preparation, because if you are going to jump into this journey, in the same way that you're launching any business, there's a huge investment in the beginning, both in learning and in equipment and in all the platforms that you'll need to support you. And so, mentally, where I started was when I became a remote employee. I basically could be anywhere in the world from 2013 until I left in 2020. I could be anywhere in the world as long as I was in Michigan for one week a month, so that meant I was traveling nonstop to lots of fun places all over the place, working remotely. That company gave me a humongous budget to just travel in and out of Michigan, a huge budget meaning in the tune of $25,000 a year just to travel in and out of Michigan. I built up my points during that time and I built up this idea of I can work from anywhere. And during that time, lots of people were asking me oh, I saw you in fill in the blank place. What's it like traveling there? Oh, I saw you. It's so-and-so like. I've always wanted to go there, what is it like? And I started making my first YouTube videos to answer people's questions that kept coming at me all the time. In the same way that you start a business, it's not just random, it's generally built around a need, and my need was people asking me the same questions over and over and over again, and so I was mentally starting to prepare myself for becoming a content creator, in having already traveled and having an audience ie my friends and family asking me the same questions on repeat.

Speaker 2:

Fast forward, as we were coming up on the pandemic, I was like I think I'm going to go full-time YouTube. This is before the pandemic. And I decided in January of 2020, I was like I'm going to go full-time. I went to go attend my first travel conference and then the pandemic happened and I was like, oh'm going to go full time. Like I went to go attend my first travel conference and then, uh, and then the pandemic happened and I was like, oh, wow, this is like the worst time to travel. It's the worst time to talk YouTube.

Speaker 2:

And what was interesting is, at that time, people have this misconception that it was the best time to be a travel YouTuber. And I was like no, youtube would be blasted if they were pushing travel content. They're encouraging people to go travel. No, our world was not okay with it at that time and so when I had the opportunity from my full-time job hey, do you want to be furloughed? I was like yes, like absolutely I want to try this YouTube thing. No-transcript, if you were to full-time travel, how much money do you actually need per month to be able to sustain that? And I started like creating my spreadsheets. Right, this is my Walmart.

Speaker 1:

Amazon dates of like what do I actually need?

Speaker 2:

That all fast forwarded into giving, being given the opportunity to leave my job and get severance, and I 100% took that and used that severance to give me a runway. All of that is to say you're asking about the financials. I made this much money for a long time. I made $0 for a long time. Why? Because I was interning, I was building my portfolio.

Speaker 2:

There are a lot of ways micro influencers can make money, but it's not easy, especially if you don't have a specific audience.

Speaker 2:

If you're a micro influencer around coffee cups and all you talk about is coffee cups, yeah, coffee cups are probably going to go sponsor you.

Speaker 2:

But if you're a micro influencer and that you don't have a big following, but you talk about coffee cups and AirPods and pickleball and pens and lots of things, it's really hard to get brands or places to work with you, right. And so I focus in on beach travel and I focus in on really really honing my audience in loving me because I am giving the most helpful tips. And so, instead of niching down on a specific product or place, I just focus on this theme of beach travel and being the most helpful travel YouTuber if you're going to that place, and I focused in on going deep on the content and focusing in on really serving my audience. And so I would say, because I created a loyal audience in the places I go to, they know like and trust me deeply for that destination. Yeah, so that's kind of a long way of saying that's how I built this, I feel like that is so important, like it's always about, I think, trust, respect and credibility.

Speaker 1:

So I don't trust you because I don't know you yet, but if I have some credibility after you start speaking and I like the things you say, then I start to trust you and then I really start to respect you, right? So I always said that with my students they don't know me yet, they don't trust me yet, but I'm going to give them reasons to trust me and I love that you said, you know, talked about the interning thing and learning, because even Mel Robbins, you know she said for a year she studied other people's podcasts.

Speaker 1:

She listened to other people's podcasts, she learned about everything it would take because she had wanted to do it for so long. Cause we look at her and we're like, oh my God, she's got this top rated podcast and millions of followers. It just happened overnight. Well, it didn't happen overnight. Obviously, she had a different level of celebrity and her world was a little more exposed.

Speaker 1:

Like I would never say to my husband tomorrow I'm quitting my job because I want to podcast full time, because we will be broke for at least a year, but it's okay.

Speaker 1:

If I ever did want to do that, there is a path. But I love that you mentioned the learning and the educational curve, because I tell, I tell my son the same thing Then get on YouTube, start watching some people you admire, start going way back to their early days and their journey and their first videos that probably suck. If they watch them, they'll cringe and learn about actually digital marketing, how these platforms run, seo. You know just all these things. And I said then you need to study, study the world of digital marketing, study the world of social media strategies. You need to actually study it and learn it. So, um, I think that's great advice. And when you were talking about specific places that you visit and if somebody wants to visit there, I was loving your video on Sarasota because I am such a I am such a bad Floridian, but I'm obsessed with manatees and I've lived in Florida all my life.

Speaker 1:

I am literally like manatee obsessed since I was in high school, and I have lived in Florida all my life, born and raised, and never been to Sarasota. So I was telling my husband we need to get out more road trips because Cocoa Beach is my happy place. So if I was going to do anything travel related on a beach, it would be the Cocoa Beach would be my thing. But I have not been to all these other beaches in Florida that are amazing beaches Cause, frankly, I just don't want to drive that far and Coco's like two and a half to three hours and it's easy. But I'm like, if I was going to take the journey, I would like to go to Sarasota, I'd like to go to Siesta Key, I would like to go to some of these other beaches, but then you had the moat was the moat marine aquarium or something? Or manatee, and I went oh my god, they have a live manatee camp. I'm putting that in my favorites today, watched your video on that today. I just stumbled across the picture of the manatee and I was like, oh my god, I'm so excited, I love that. Well, I just think that you are fabulous.

Speaker 1:

So, after our first interaction on virgin voyages. Of course, I have to like, join your facebook community, I have to join the virgin voyages cruise group for experts and whatever. Here's the funny thing I didn't start cruising until july 2022, so we're talking only two years. My friend took me on a cruise. She's years. My friend took me on a cruise. She's a gambler. She took me on a casino comp and we had the best time ever and I all I wanted was to be in the clear, crystal clear waters of the Bahamas, on the white sand beach.

Speaker 1:

So she took me for my birthday. And then I was hooked for the next birthday. It was a milestone, my 50th and that's when I said I really want to go. Virgin white is, can you take me? So that was my first sailing. I didn't meet you on that sailing. I met you on the second sailing because when I got off that ship I told my husband we are going again, like we have to go. He's not really a big fan of cruising per se. He doesn't love germs and people and crowds and kids and buffets so everything that he doesn't love about a typical cruise line. Virgin answered that. So I was like you have to go, you have to try it. So we had the best time ever. And then I was like we're going again. And so when I went this year for my birthday and you were on my sailing, I was so excited.

Speaker 2:

I was so excited. It was such a fun one. That was a fun sailing.

Speaker 1:

It was a fun sailing and somebody recently said to me this could be a little controversial. But somebody recently said to me that they think that cruise line is in trouble and I said for the long-term sustainability. I don't know if you've heard any rumblings about that. I first of all love the cruise line. So I'm first to defend, without any education at all, and I'm going to say I disagree only because I think there's always going to be that market for people who want to vacation without their children.

Speaker 1:

There's the. You know I always say I have my husband time, I have my family time, I have just me and the kids time. But that cruise line is so amazing and I think, as they expand their destinations, cruise line is so amazing.

Speaker 2:

And I think, as they expand their destinations, I feel it's only going to get better. I'm actually on the side that I don't think they're going to make it.

Speaker 1:

You don't think they're going to make it Really, because I'm an optimist. My Starbucks tumbler with iced coffee is always full, always half full.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love them. I'm going to love them until they go under, but I think they're either going to change in a way that you and I never want to go again, or they will go under one or the other.

Speaker 1:

Okay, because then that is a little controversial. So I was literally debating whether I brought it up or not, but I thought it's the magic of editing I could always take it out if we weren't comfortable talking about it, right.

Speaker 2:

Well, my argument for why it would go under is Virgin Voyages does cruising differently. So differently right, in the ways that you just talked about. It serves the person who doesn't like normal cruises but at the same time, like what is it about cruising that is so lucrative? Cruises, right, the big format cruises do huge volume, huge volume at insanely inexpensive prices, and it has the same customer coming back again and again and again and again and just pumping out the same product, product. Virgin Voyages does something so wildly different in that they're capturing the market of people who either want to try something different I normally sail with so-and-so, but I want to do something different and they're also capturing the person who doesn't normally cruise. But think about cruising behavior. Right, normal cruisers will cruise 12 times a year or like a lot, but how often are they sailing with Virgin Voyages? That price point isn't one that you can do all the time, especially being in Florida right now. The number of people who are oh yeah, I went on six Carnival cruises this year, no biggie. I'm considering going on a few more. It's not like that. The price point is way higher.

Speaker 2:

It's just a different model, and so there are a lot of things that work about Virgin Voyages, but you can even see a lot of the changes that they're making now to be able to stay, like keeping their head above water.

Speaker 2:

Everything from you know, like their happenings, cast their cruise directors.

Speaker 2:

You can only find them sometimes at the group parties, but mostly they're doing the private events that everyone is required to pay more money for, because they're trying to push people to pay more money when they're on the cruise, or even things like all of their prices are going up and the number of discounts and deals that they do now are going down significantly, and another example of a pricing model that I've seen as a change is they're going to try to create their Florida, their Miami sailings to be their kind of like gateway drug, like cheaper sailing to the Caribbean.

Speaker 2:

But they're going to try to make their new destinations their Greece, their Europe, their other locations, alaska, the more expensive sailings Like even if you look at the price point on the Panama canal cruise, like it's, it's close to like $16,000. Granted, it's for a long time, but if you look at price per night, per person, it's way higher, not just for that sailing, but way higher for Virgin Voyages versus any of the other cruise lines, and so there's no true opening price point that would appeal to normal cruisers, and so for that reason, I just think it's hard for them to stay above water over the long, long term For the long haul yeah, like the Royal Caribbean.

Speaker 1:

I think I'm just very naive to it all, because I watch real estate shows like Million Dollar Listing, and I see people still buying $20 million homes in Beverly Hills and I just feel like the people who always have money will always have money and they'll be able to cruise. I don't know, I guess it's just because I come from a different group, the casino comp group, and I'm not paying as much for my cruise, but I'm obviously spending money in the casino, right, coincidentally also winning a lot of money in the Virgin Voyages casino. I have to tell you, that has been one of my favorite casinos ever. Some great jackpots have been won. But overall, I do see your point because I am also very open-minded. Right, I want to experience it all to make a fair comparison, but I have yet to get on a carnival cruise line, I have to tell you uh, yeah, I totally skip it, but I'm listening to what you're missing out.

Speaker 2:

I'm listening to what you're saying, right?

Speaker 1:

now and I'm trying to remember. I just want to go, so I could just say why I will never go again. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I'll put this out there which is Meatball. My boyfriend had an opportunity to go on the newest Carnival cruise, the biggest brand new ship, and I was like, what's the date? Oh perfect, I cannot go that date because I'm traveling for a different project. I was like, what's the date? Oh perfect, I cannot go that date because I'm traveling for a different project. And on the first night he was calling me hey, can you please look into how can I potentially get off this ship and fly back? It's that bad Like he hated it and he has a very low threshold of like it doesn't need to be that nice, like I mean, he's from the Bronx, so he's totally down for life, very humble meatball.

Speaker 1:

I will say I love him. He's a humble guy. He could maybe be a little bougie with the champagne because he's got. You know, he's been influenced, even I, okay. So my casino host said you can have any bottle of wine you want at dinner. And I said, well, I don't really drink red wine and the white whites I drink are sweet and they're not really expensive. But I said if you're paying, I'm getting the most expensive glass of champagne on this menu. So I pulled Christine and I got the $25 glass of go away.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you got to do it, you have to do it. But if he doesn't like carnival, to me that says something. But actually, going back, I was trying to remember which sailing we were on together, because one of the sailings I was on, I had brought a friend who just purchased her $20 million house and she flew to Virgin Voyages on her private jet her owned private jet and did a rockstar suite experience Virgin voyages. And I was genuinely curious, because she sometimes cruises and she would. She just thought Virgin voyages was like whatever, like it wasn't bad, it wasn't great, it wasn't.

Speaker 2:

I don't think she'll ever do it again, but I just feel like, even though Virgin voyages is trying to appeal to a higher end clientele and even those that have money, like when I actually I brought, as I brought, a CEO of a very lucrative company recently on Virgin Voyages and he also thought it was like it was cool, like kind of whatever, but like this is the clientele that should be on board and I don't see any of them ever going back again versus I talk to my normal cruising friends. They're like oh yeah, I have all my cruises lined up for the year. I'm starting to buy 2025, 2026. Like it's part of the lifestyle, whereas these guys are more one-offs.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, yeah, and I can see that to your point only because when you're talking about like, for the average person who maybe has only been on carnival, they will think is the most luxurious thing you've ever seen in your life. But to a friend of mine who's a high roller gambler, they don't even have a high limits room for the high rollers. So there's different perspectives there. So I could definitely see that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah and each their own. Like I support and give a thumbs up to all of them, but that's just why I don't see Virgin Voyages winning in the long, long, long term.

Speaker 1:

Well, I did just go on Utopia of the Seas, the newest Royal Caribbean, and I loved the ship. I thought it was fabulous. I am going back again on 830. I take different girlfriends and then whoever is cruise approved can go again, go back on the waiting list. I love, I like to travel with different people and then steve okay, he favors virgin. I'm taking him on royal caribbean for the first time next year. The allure, because I love the allure of the seas, it's like my favorite royal ship, only because they play mama mia, like I booked that ship just because they have the Broadway show Mamma Mia.

Speaker 2:

That's so fun, but I'm weird.

Speaker 1:

I'm weird like that, I will. I will go. I hate the nickel and diming with the gratuities and the drink package and all that crap, but I will go because I am so easy going when it comes to travel. I'm just so happy to be going somewhere.

Speaker 1:

So happy to be away that I'm happy. I'm just always happy. I love that. So, all right. You said you did. You made $0 for a very long time. When did you start to see some money and where does it come from? Like, how do people actually get paid for their content? And I know you have. Some of your videos have 80,000 views. Some of them have 600 views. Where is the bulk of the income coming from? Only, if you don't mind me asking it, only feel comfortable with what you want to share.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's all good People ask me this question all the time and I would say the biggest misconception is that people think two things. They think one, it comes from one or two major sources, and the second misconception is that most people think it comes from ad revenue. If you get, if you get, half a million views on a video on YouTube, depending on the length of the video, you'll probably make like a couple thousand bucks, like literally nothing. If you want to just make money on YouTube ad revenue, you need videos every week with at least a million views every single time, and they need to be at least 10 minutes long, because for ad revenue it's around watch time, the number of minutes people are spending on the platform, and so ad revenue, whether from blog ad revenue, whether from YouTube ad revenue, whether from meta, facebook, instagram or from ad revenue TikTok ad revenue fill in the blank.

Speaker 2:

There's lots of places to get ad revenue on all the different platforms. That, yes, is a revenue stream, but is one of many of them. I would say one of the things about my travel is that because I am building this know, like and trust and I don't go in and create just one video, I have 50 Virgin Voyages videos. I have 50 Tulum videos. I have like 12 Zanzibar videos.

Speaker 1:

I recently saw that Tulum is dead. To you, you're never going back. Oh, I hate Tulum. I love that you said that, cause I was like, well, are we offending people in Tulum? Is she going to lose money? Because she just said that I'm looking at all the perspectives and you're like done. We're so done with Tulum. And I'm like, okay, good, I have never, I've never gone and I don't have to go now because I like know and trust Christine.

Speaker 2:

That right. But if I told you go, you would probably copy the same itinerary that I just did. You'd probably consider the same hotels I stayed at. That is an affiliate revenue source. If you go book the same hotel as me, I get a kickback from that hotel. If you go book the same tours as me, I get a kickback from those tours. And then fill in the blank that across all the places I've traveled, across the 250 to 500,000 people watching that every single month who are copying my travel. So affiliate revenue is a really big part of my revenue stream.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say now that now you're talking language. I understand, because I'm very, very interested in affiliate marketing, but I'm so overwhelmed by it and I'm just tired of scammers. So, but when you're talking about an actual affiliate link with paid commission, when somebody books a tour and yes, you're right, I would probably go if I don't know if there's one in your Sarasota video, but if I went to your Sarasota video and I clicked on your link to buy tickets that you know, um, the Marine place I forget the name aquarium, thank you. I don't know why I had that brain fart, but if I book that link and even if you just got, you know, $1 for every person who books through that link, that is affiliate revenue. So definitely understand that concept and it's definitely not just one person, right?

Speaker 2:

Like, think about that. I have, I don't know, something like over five to 600 YouTube videos on my travel channel. What about if someone buys a drone? That drone is not a $20 aquarium ticket, that drone is a $2,000 item. What about my Amazon curated lists? I have a whole drone curated list on Amazon, a whole Virgin Voyages one, a whole, fill in the blank. And I am sending thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to Amazon each month. How many thousands of dollars am I sending to Virgin Voyages? How many am I sending to the Hilton Playa del Carmen? How many am I sending to? This is across 500 videos, right?

Speaker 2:

This becomes a lot of different things everywhere. So, affiliate revenue, ad revenue, and I'll give one more example, which is super rare I will do this very rarely and it must be the perfect fit which is sponsorships, because all day, every day, like you know, someone will come in and be like if you just smoke this e-cigarette a couple of times in your channels and then promote us, we'll give you thousands and thousands and thousands of that huge money. And I'm like I don't, I don't smoke Like. That's just not a fit for me, and so that's not something I want to promote. Nor do I want to promote because I live sometimes, when I'm not drinking champagne a relatively healthy lifestyle, like that's just not a fit for me.

Speaker 2:

Um, I will take on, for example, like as part of my badassery series within my, within my podcast. I'm doing because so many people ask exactly what you're asking me now how do you create podcasts? How do you monetize? How do you set up these affiliates? How do you? How do you create podcasts? How do you monetize? How do you set up these affiliates? How do you create for hotels? And each of these that I'm talking about are one of 30 episodes that are going live on my podcast about how to create and monetize. So that podcast series is going live. And who's a good fit, a great sponsor, would be the affiliate platform, and so that affiliate platform where they aggregate over a hundred travel brands so you're not having to work individually with a hotel, individually with a tour company, individually, with fill in the blank, you can just plug in to one platform and then make affiliate revenue and track it all 100 brands through their platform.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I am so all about that. I'm going to be listening to that series because you know, I have to have a thousand downloads a month on my podcast to monetize, even just through Buzzsprout. Like, I pay for hosting, I pay for Riverside FM, I pay for Buzzsprout because I like to look at the data and the stats and eventually, when I'm more committed, I will get more consistent and I will start recording every week and then maybe I'll see a little more traction. But I love that you talked about the consistency. In that one episode I listened to recently, it's like, just start doing it, get it going be consistent. So, if I have, if I'm a person who's been following your journey for a long time and I've watched all your videos, I'm like when's the next one?

Speaker 1:

Like I know that every Thursday Mel Robbins podcast drops and I was had it on play this morning Cause I was like I gotta have it and she's talking about oh, it's the best episode today ever. You got to listen to it. But my other question I had for you was as a podcaster, surely there has to have been other podcasts you listened to or were inspired by? What podcasts are you listening to besides mine, of course, when you're not podcasting or listening to other things, do you have a favorite, like top three podcasts that you love and follow?

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's such a good question, I'm glad.

Speaker 1:

I gave you good questions, because if I gave you bad questions and you'd be like, oh, we're done with her, just like we're done with Tulum, we're done with her.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's so funny Actually, if I'm totally not the normal, well, the old me before I became a creator when I was in the corporate world. We try to think of something smart to say off the top of my head. That may or may not be true, but now I keep it 100. Like, I keep it super real.

Speaker 1:

Authentic, real. Who cares If you don't listen to any at all? Who cares?

Speaker 2:

That. So I used to listen to a lot of podcasts. I listened to Mel Robbins. I will listen to the podcasts of creators I know like, just so you know, like, give support or prepare for being on podcasts, for example, to understand the vibe of it Right now in this part of my journey, when I first was interning as a content creator, I would consume an insane amount of content from the standpoint of qualitatively trying to figure out what made sense for me and where I wanted to play finding my own voice.

Speaker 2:

Now that I have my own voice, I am super honed in on audio books, so I am listening to lots of audio books around learning, and so I'll just give one example of a book I'm listening to right now which is really shifting my mindset around. I'm a really strong marketer, but I don't really feel like I'm a really strong salesperson, so I'm listening to Sell Like Sirhan. Oh, I know we love Ryan Sirhan yeah, amazing book. He really, really changes my mindset around how I think about selling, and just one takeaway I have from it that I've been focused on recently is not just follow up but follow through. He talks a lot about follow up and follow through and really closing, closing the gap on something, um and so, as I prepare for doing group trips, group travel trips that's something I've taken with me anyway. Pot on the podcasting front Um, so many podcasts out there. I know there's so many good ones. I do listen to Mel Robbins. I did listen to Mel Robbins.

Speaker 1:

I just love her. I love her so much. It's funny because if I was a content creator, if I was going to do something fun as like a side project, which I'm actually tempted to do, I'd love your opinion on this. I told my husband we're going to go to Vermont because she lives in Vermont and I picked up little cues when she's talking about things she drives by on the way to her house and I was like we're going to go to Willoughby Donuts. I'm going to make content like we're looking for Mel Robbins. I'm going to go to Willoughby Donuts. I'm like have you seen Mel Robbins lately? When was the last time was she in here? What kind of donut did she actually be? Very fun and entertainment, like my search, manifesting my meeting of Mel Robbins.

Speaker 1:

I think that all that could be its own podcast in itself. That could be a mini series. But it's like you're in the world, is Mel Robbins? And I'm like I'm going to go stalker in Boston. I'm going to stalk her in a good way. So when I say stalking, I mean like you know, you know, you do, you know, I'm inspired by you kind of stalking. I think that would be a really fun series. I feel like so many that would be a fun series to go to all these cool places, like in the neighborhood where she talks about driving by I don't know. I think that would be a fun weekend away because I've never been to Vermont. Have you been to Vermont?

Speaker 2:

I have not been to Vermont.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God. No, I lied, I've been to Vermont, to Vermont, oh my.

Speaker 2:

God, I've been to Vermont.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I've been to Killington because I love skiing which I don't know if that counts as going to Vermont. First of all, if you're listening to this, because I have not gone down the whole YouTube rabbit hole putting my videos on. But one of the reasons I picked this podcasting platform is because I wanted the ability to have the video if I wanted it for later for YouTube, and I just you know I love the whole Zoom situation Like looks like a Zoom, you see everybody but also interview style and I could have up to eight people on at one time and I thought to myself like this would be so awesome.

Speaker 1:

So you and I go to Vermont and we're going to go try to find Mel Robbins, and then you can make a travel video about Vermont. You can make a travel video about Vermont. I mean, it just came to me, it's brilliant. We should totally do that.

Speaker 2:

Actually, from a creator and financial standpoint, this is. This is the way I would set up that trip standpoint. This is the way I would set up that trip. You would storyboard on this whole finding Mel Robbins story. I would reach out to the tourism board, tell them the types of places we're trying to go to so that they are funding our entire trip. Then I would give them a rate card of good, better and best, a little bit, a bunch, a lot of content with three different prices. If they want to hit my own platforms, hey, if you want me to hit that donut shop and actually make three tweets, 10 reels, five beautiful photos of it, then it will cost this much. If you want that, plus a blog post, plus a dedicated YouTube video, it's this. If you want us to podcast while we're in the shop, plus all of this, and do a live stream while we're there, then it costs this and I'm giving them that rate card. So I'd work with the tourism board.

Speaker 2:

I would separately if, like, let's say, we're going to I don't know some spa she goes to all the time I might reach out directly to that spa place and try to do some kind of partnership with them. At whatever hotel we stay at, I'll reach out to them. First, focusing on drone photography and videography Plus, if you want that, and a dedicated YouTube video and a dedicated blog posts. Here are the different prices for that and you can start to see how all of this is a monetized trip. And then, separately, I have all my own affiliate links going, so when the content launches, I am, over time, making money off of people who are watching this and being like I want to find Mel Robbins. She would probably hate this whole series of people finding her.

Speaker 1:

But the funny thing is, I mean, you just took it next level, you took that to the next level. I'm so about it, but I'm in, I'm in.

Speaker 2:

I think we should do it, but that's that's the way I think about, not just what you just said. Every single trip I do and like, that's what it looks like in terms of planning, pitching, creating rate cards, selling, like. But all of these things are a really great fit on both sides, which is also why, right Like Vermont, for me it's not beach travel.

Speaker 1:

My audience would be like I know, I know we're shaking things up. We're shaking things up because it's winter in Florida and the beaches are cold, so we might as if we're going to be cold, we might as well go somewhere cold. That's fabulous. I love that I can rationalize everything. But where I was going with this before I lost my train of thought and here was, I was going to say to the audience, if you're listening to this, first of all, christine, you are in amazing shape. Oh, thank you. I mean well, you're an athlete, I am not an athlete, so I appreciate other people who are athletic. I appreciate your love of pickleball, thank you. I am going to hold you to a pickleball lesson.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to come to Fort St Lucie and I'm going to get in a little tennis skirt, a pickleball skirt, whatever we're wearing these days on the pickleball courts, I will have my no girls allowed hat on, though Got to rep the brand, but you are in amazing shape. So when we were dancing on the pool at the pool party what party?

Speaker 2:

was that the first night?

Speaker 1:

that we were at wasn't pj party. It's the I don't know, but we were dancing and I'm like she's just in amazing shape. You're gorgeous, oh you're an amazing shape. Yes, you take care of yourself, you exercise, but you do something you love and you love pickleball and love pickleball. I'm sure you have some affiliate links and sponsorships or things you do with pickleball brands absolutely so that's awesome and, um, I think there's just so much that I could learn from you.

Speaker 1:

I'm not ready to take that leap into quitting my day job and becoming a full-time content creator, but do I love this idea of us partnering for this weekend in Vermont. I'm going to manifest it. I'm putting it on the vision board. I'm putting it on the vision board. I think it should happen. If for nothing else than a tutorial of how you monetize and plan a travel trip, I think that's amazing content, educational content even.

Speaker 2:

Well, even pickleball is one where it's like it's part of my lifestyle, which is why I've brought in sponsored brands who send me gear, who I get an affiliate kickback of anyone that buys the same outfits or gear or accessories as me. Right, and I encourage you not to quit and go full time in content creation but start to make it part of your lifestyle. Everything that I've talked about, about what I create around, are all around things I absolutely love and things I'm doing every single day. I play volleyball every day. I'm traveling all the time, I love flying drones. All of these passions I have. I love being on Virgin Voyages.

Speaker 2:

These are all just things I do normally, but I have turned my passions into profits and I think everyone, you included, can start with some small part of your life that you just love, that you want to share with others. Right, because all of this comes back to I serve my audience. First, I'm passionate about this thing, and so I'm talking to my audience about it, because I'm sharing my true love and passion for that in a very helpful way that serves them, and then I find the different ways to monetize it in a way that makes sense both for the tourism board the destination, the brand, the tour, the whatever it is, and then it just works for everybody, right? Like going back to the why I'm listening to sell like Sirhan, like selling in this, in this scenario, is not gross, it doesn't feel bad.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's a win-win for both partners, all sides. I'm sharing the things I love, but I'm happy it just so happens I'm creating monetized channels throughout the whole thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I I gotta tell you that's where I think I, I, me and I think other people could relate to this. People get a little overwhelmed, namely myself, because I go do we really need another travel content creator? Do we really need another influencer? Do I really need another person on the Royal Caribbean Utopia of the Seas talking about this new show, because it's already so saturated.

Speaker 2:

So that's where I always feel like I quit before I start, I would say to me 100,000% yes, because how many people have talked about the topics we are talking about today? Thousands. How many people look and sound exactly like you? Nobody. How many people have been on exactly like you? Nobody. How many people have been on your exact journey? Only you.

Speaker 2:

Your voice is so unique and so different than everybody else's, and a lot of people are dying to hear that story from you, that help from you, right? I even think about your amazing weight loss journey and how you did it. It doesn't look at all like mine. I used to be grossly unhealthy and overweight and I went through my own journey, and it looks different than everybody else's and yours, and not everyone can relate, not everyone can identify with somebody, but if someone can uniquely identify with and want to learn and go on the journey with you and go on the content creation journey with you, then then that is your audience, right? In the same way, like I don't appeal to everybody everybody.

Speaker 2:

I'm not trying to, though, but this is also why I don't think Virgin Voyages will win in the longterm. They don't appeal to the masses. I'm not a Mr Beast. I'm not trying to be either, like when I talked to him at a recent YouTube conference and we were shooting the shit in the hallway. I'm just like I'm listening to him talk about his audience. His audience is a lot of people right, it's huge, it's massive.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that overwhelms me. It's massive.

Speaker 2:

But you don't necessarily need that many people to be watching you to make an impact and change on someone's life, like even if just one person listens to today's podcast episode and this is why my podcast is about 1% changes. It's not about all of a sudden having this huge badass moment in your life. It's about making one small little tweak each day and that over time, like a 401k right, adds up to something really humongous later, right.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I feel like I'm 1% more badass today than yesterday just because I actually recorded a podcast today. Yes, yes.

Speaker 2:

You did the thing. Now just do one more. I would say that's a really big thing. That's like a 10% more. Yeah, do one more, 1%, right? Send an email to three people being like I would love for you to be on my radar for a future episode.

Speaker 1:

That's 1%. As we wrap up, I think the only thing that could make this conversation any better is if we had done this together, live on YouTube, on the verge of voyages together. But you know, I'm putting it on the vision board, I'm manifesting Vermont with Christine. No, we're doing it, we're doing it, I'm like it's so not in my wheelhouse.

Speaker 1:

Why it's going to be fabulous. Beaches are cold in Florida, so we're just going to keep in the theme we're going to be cold somewhere else. We're gonna do it. Um, yeah, no, I think it's going to be awesome, but if for nothing else, as a learning opportunity for me. You can, you can coach me through the process, right, you should come up. Oh listen, I am so going to be getting into that. Whatever that is, it's coming down the pipeline. I'm in, like I'm your biggest fan and your mom.

Speaker 1:

I'm your number one fan. Has your mom been on utopia this year yet, cause I know she loves Royal Caribbean? We are doing.

Speaker 2:

uh, the other one, first icon icon, and then the year after we will do utopia.

Speaker 1:

Okay, well, I want to thank you for your time today. Thank you for being with me, thank you for being my best friend today.

Speaker 2:

I love being your best friend today.

Speaker 1:

I know as well. It was funny because the podcast was called live laugh, lydia. And then another person that I have on the podcast. He was like Mike for Kara from start down. He goes. You did an episode Did we just become best friends? Casey Baker Cause I didn't know what to name that episode and we kind of became best friends after like two minutes on Instagram through a mutual following and he goes. But after talking to you for a couple of minutes I feel like we're best friends, like that's your thing. Did we just become best friends? Like it's a little long from the marketing perspective, but I just, you know, I went with it, so that's my thing. So hopefully we're going to be best friends again on November 22nd. On the valiant lady I hope. Soaliant Lady, I hope. So I hope so I hope so I'm very excited.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for being here today. Everybody go out there and follow when in the World is CL, where in the World is Christine Lozada, on all her platforms. Show her some love and book your travel through her links.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me it was fun, thank you.