Latest / Speak In Flow / From Camera Shy to YouTube Star: Fanny Camota’s Journey to 10K Subscribers

Transcript

From Camera Shy to YouTube Star: Fanny Camota’s Journey to 10K Subscribers · Speak In Flow

• 0:02
  Melinda Lee: Welcome, dear listeners to the speaking flow
• 0:04
  podcast where we share unique experiences to help you build
• 0:10
  your effective communication and leadership. Today, we have Fanny
• 0:14
  Comota. She's an editor, and she Hi, Bonnie Glad you're here.
• 0:20
  She's the editor in chief of living originally living richly
• 0:24
  on a budget. Yes. And she's also the author of two ebooks eat
• 0:28
  gluten free on a budget and also eat organic on a budget, and
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  she's a YouTuber. So she's doing a lot of content creation, and
• 0:37
  bringing finance education to you. And so I'm so glad you're
• 0:41
  here. And so let's just jump right in Fanny, I'm so curious,
• 0:44
  how did you get into this whole world anyways of budgeting,
• 0:48
  finance, and I love the concept of living richly on a budget,
• 0:53
  and then bringing that content to your listeners to the
• 0:55
  audience.
• 0:56
  Fanny Comota: Um, I've been, like blogging since like, 2006.
• 1:01
  So it's like, a long time. And then I went through like, after
• 1:07
  I was a wedding videographer first and then I was blogging
• 1:10
  the same time and and I I just started to work in. I was
• 1:16
  working in some marketing firms, and then I got kept getting laid
• 1:19
  off. And I was like, Oh, I'm, I need to somehow survive, like,
• 1:23
  because I was like, newly married and I'm like, Okay,
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  we're like living on one income and income we're gonna get
• 1:27
  through. And so I started a blog, living within a budget.
• 1:31
  And just because I went to learn how to save money and how to pay
• 1:34
  off debt, and back then it's like, everyone was just like,
• 1:40
  only like, certain voices out there as it's just like Dave
• 1:42
  Ramsey, and Suze Orman. But just like, What about, there's only
• 1:47
  like, one way to budget back then. I was like, What about
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  like, I want to create something more fun, like, I created like a
• 1:59
  more colourful, like budgeting worksheet, like a whole binder.
• 2:03
  And then I also did like a step by step system, because it was
• 2:06
  like everyone has like budget worksheets, or like back then it
• 2:09
  was just like Excel or something. But there was black
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  and white. So I created something more colourful, and
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  then also a guide to go along with because back then there's
• 2:18
  no really like a step by step guide that was together with
• 2:21
  some worksheets. So I started doing that. And then and then I
• 2:31
  started doing YouTube, like in 2020 12. And back then I never,
• 2:38
  I never wanted to be on camera, I have a degree in broadcasting.
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  And I always enjoyed being behind the camera. I didn't want
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  to be in front because I was very shy, I wasn't very
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  confident. And I just decided to try because I wanted to create
• 2:53
  some videos, I think before I wanted to do a cooking kind of
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  video thing. And I tried to work with someone else, but they just
• 2:59
  wanted me to like create all the content and they get to like all
• 3:02
  the attention like and I'm like, No, I don't do that. I'm like,
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  why am I coming with the recipes, and then you're gonna
• 3:06
  cook and it's gonna look like you did it yourself. And it's
• 3:09
  like, oh, like, that's not fair. So I was like, Okay, I have to
• 3:12
  do it, then I have to be the face. And so I started the first
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  video was doing sugar free Chai recipe. Back then I was going
• 3:23
  through like food allergy, so I had to make everything from
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  scratch. So had to relearn how to cook from scratch. Uh huh.
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  That was allergic to a bunch of things. So I had to control
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  everything. So I started creating that video and I didn't
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  have a tripod. And back then that the technology was
• 3:40
  different because your phone couldn't hold that much video. I
• 3:44
  don't know, if you remember back then 2011 2012. It's like you
• 3:47
  could film like a minute or so and then your your cartridge for
• 3:51
  your phone is folder ready? Or people started doing it on their
• 3:54
  computer or laptop instead? Because he is better anyway,
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  like, well.
• 4:01
  Melinda Lee: So I want to break this down. Because you're saying
• 4:04
  all this rich information. I just, I'm so inspired because
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  going back to when you were just trying to carve a niche for
• 4:11
  yourself and trying to figure out who am i What is this voice?
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  What am How am I going to stand out in terms of like you said
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  nobody had this the sheets on a budget are you like that
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  parallels to a lot of the leaders that our audience
• 4:27
  members when they're still trying to figure out your niche,
• 4:31
  figure out your expertise and because before you even speak
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  right before you even express yourself, you want to always be
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  mindful about like who am I? What is my niche or what is the
• 4:42
  what do I want to be known for? And so you ask, did you ask
• 4:45
  yourself some questions at the time? What is everybody else
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  doing? What are some of those questions that help you create
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  your niche? Did you look around and say nobody else is doing
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  this? I should do this?
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  Fanny Comota: Well, I think it's like I didn't really know I was
• 4:58
  doing well. In a couponing blog, I'm being honest, I didn't know
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  it's exhausting me for being blocked. So I started doing
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  that. And then also just like, I just just tried different things
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  until I don't like something that worked.
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  Melinda Lee: So okay, so then that's one of the key sometimes
• 5:14
  we don't know, at least you just, it sounds like you just
• 5:16
  kept on doing things.
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  Fanny Comota: I just kept trying different things. And even the
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  video like it took years to like, figure out that that
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  recipes was working for me. Like the first couple of videos was
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  really bad. I didn't know what I was saying. I was just like
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  rambling on and on. And there wasn't a guide back then, like
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  2012 and 2013. No, not many people are doing YouTube. So
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  it's not like you knew what to do. You're kind of like
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  stumbling. So I would watch my videos on like, Oh, I didn't
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  like how I did this and that. But after a certain amount of
• 5:46
  time of practice, then I started having a flow to it. And then,
• 5:50
  like speaking flow,
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  Melinda Lee: what was the thing that you didn't like about your
• 5:54
  videos? Like, what did you avoid about? Did you not like the way
• 5:57
  you look?
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  Fanny Comota: mannerisms? I just like, oh, I don't like how I
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  look and blah, blah, blah. And then after practising and
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  Nocturne doing so many times, just Yeah, anymore. I was like,
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  whatever, I put it out. If it flops it flops, I'm just
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  practising and even, it's actually good if you have a
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  small following, because it's like, oh, no one saw my video
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  anyway, because I'm just practising. And if it went bad,
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  like whatever I practice, and then next one becomes a little
• 6:21
  bit better. And then until I hit like, one, I did one and 2016
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  were like, I just had my son, I was so tired, but I was like I
• 6:30
  Instant Pot just came out on like, I want to show people how
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  to use Instant Pot. There's not many videos out there right now.
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  Right? So I just started filming, I did selfie mode on my
• 6:38
  phone. I didn't have makeup on and have a tripod, it wasn't
• 6:42
  polish, it was just like, I didn't know what's gonna stay. I
• 6:44
  just started picking it up, I start filming yourself, here's
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  how to use it in some pot. And then I really stood on Black
• 6:49
  Friday, and it like started picking up and I'm like, Oh my
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  gosh. But thing was like the video was like, really grainy.
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  It was like, Really, I shot it in the wrong setting. But didn't
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  matter because I almost deleted it. And then I was like, oh,
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  everyone's watching it. So I was like, Okay, this one's picking
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  up and now has a million views. And it's the content. It doesn't
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  matter. Like I didn't have makeup. I didn't know saying,
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  you know, like people connected to it because the content was
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  good. Like it just showed them how to use Instant Pot. So yeah,
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  and you're being real, like it was a
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  Melinda Lee: I think there's a part of it that people like
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  about that about just being you authentic you and not stage. And
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  I mean, it just is also authentic.
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  Fanny Comota: I think so it just it wasn't like I was trying to
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  get the content.
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  Melinda Lee: You got to do both. Yeah. So it wasn't Yeah, it was
• 7:42
  like good content plus you being you.
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  Fanny Comota: Yes. So I was like, Wow, this one is powerful.
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  Like YouTube is powerful. Like, I just didn't. I didn't I was
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  just blown away by I knew I always knew that video was
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  powerful. I fell in love with it. When I was like 15. I
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  started like learning about in high school and I start having
• 8:01
  some classes at school. And I'm like, Oh, this is so
• 8:04
  interesting. And I remember even when I went to college people
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  were like, Why are you to study video regularly. People didn't
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  understand Paul's like, I know, it's a powerful medium, because
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  it's like, it impacts people like you. You're demonstrating
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  something, and then people like can see how you're doing it. And
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  then it's like you're showing them in person. It's like
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  something so powerful now like, it's so big. It's like
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  everything is video, like every platform has video.
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  Melinda Lee: And 10,000
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  Fanny Comota: 1000 subscribers, it took a long time to build.
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  And that's a big milestone. I'm happy for us a lot of trying
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  over and over again. Almost, I almost gave up. It's like I
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  almost gave up so many times. It's like oh, never reach it.
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  I'm so close to it. I was like forget it. Like I give up and
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  when I almost gave up that's when it like hit.
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  Melinda Lee: Yeah. How many times like you over the so how
• 8:57
  many years? Has it been
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  Fanny Comota: 2012. So more than 10 years, more than 10 years? So
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  yeah, how many times you wanted to give up? You think a lot of
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  times, I was like what am I doing on YouTube was like, look
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  at all these people doing so much better than you know, like,
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  you kind of compare yourself or like, whatever, I have my own
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  path. And I have kids like I'm taking care of kids and trying
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  to do this at the same time when I want to have time. So yeah, I
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  was like, I'm not gonna I can't do that thing where people like
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  oh to every week, I can't do it. It's like so hard. It is. But I
• 9:30
  think I'm happy with the progress.
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  Melinda Lee: how much how many how many videos you do? A week
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  or a month?
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  Fanny Comota: I don't know. I'm not on a consistent basis where
• 9:41
  I took a little break because I was trying to figure out my
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  niche again. And the whole niche thing. Sometimes it's like, do I
• 9:48
  need to be in a niche I'm like in cooking and like saving
• 9:51
  money. But I feel like I can't put that constraint on myself.
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  It's like I have to just try different things and see what
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  works
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  Melinda Lee: Hmm, like you said, that's what you did. That's how
• 10:02
  you got successful in the first place, right? You're just
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  trying, sometimes we don't know what we're going to do. And but
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  then it's when you keep trying, you start to, you won't be able
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  to figure it out. If you don't try. There's nothing to figure
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  out because we're avoiding
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  Fanny Comota: it. You just have to.
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  Yeah, take just be confident enough to take a chance in being
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  like, I'm trying and even if it doesn't work out, I mean, if it
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  doesn't, like, have the success that I think I wanted to have,
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  it's still fine. Because I'm still like, practising, it's
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  still gonna get me to another level. Yeah. What do you so what
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  are you thinking about your videos and your YouTube channel?
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  Melinda Lee: The next phase? Are you trying to carve out another
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  niche or involving?
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  Fanny Comota: Yeah, I'm thinking about more like, going into,
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  like teaching people how to do videos more. And I'm thinking
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  about that kind of niche. Because I feel like there's not
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  a lot of people doing that, like teaching people how to film and
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  edit.
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  Melinda Lee: So do you film and all your videos?
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  Fanny Comota: I do.
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  Oh, God, I don't estimate it. So I film it myself.
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  Melinda Lee: Yeah, and then have you been able to make some money
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  and living off of it?
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  Fanny Comota: I did. And then but I think during the pandemic,
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  everything changed. Because like how the ad income advertisers
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  kind of pulled out from
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  Google. So I know, like YouTube, like the income drops a lot. So
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  it's like up and down as an online entrepreneur, like I was
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  making, like enough to pay rent before and then it goes up and
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  down. So yeah, kind of like you had to keep adjusting.
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  Melinda Lee: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Entrepreneurship. And that's
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  what it's about, right? I don't. I mean, even when you walk into
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  a retail store, Don't you notice, sometimes there's nobody
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  there. And then all of a sudden one person goes in, and then all
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  the other people go in into the retail store at the same time?
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  Have you ever noticed that phenomenon? Everybody comes
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  together? And then they all leave? Like, oh, yeah, yeah, me
• 12:00
  because my parents used to own a restaurant, and all the
• 12:02
  customers would come at the same time, and then they all leave
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  retail like that to the same thing with entrepreneurship,
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  you're gonna have these ups and downs and ups and downs. And,
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  and so it's more of a matter of when you go up, you don't come
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  so down. Trying to trying to keep the downward. You're gonna
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  go up and down. Like, there's no way out of it. Yeah. But the key
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  is, when we come down with our finances, trying not to go so
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  far, low in the finances before it goes back that, just know
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  that your finances will go up. You will you you will evolve you
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  if you don't, when you don't stop, right, you'll evolve your
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  you'll get it, you know, so just continue to try and you'll go
• 12:44
  back up. Yeah, with financing.
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  Fanny Comota: A lot of people like pivoting like after 10
• 12:51
  years to do something else.
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  Melinda Lee: So yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. When you're putting
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  out content, when you're putting out any information, if you're
• 12:59
  bored with it, it's not gonna work.
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  You got to be true to yourself, right? True to the passion of
• 13:06
  your content true to the passion of what you're bringing to the
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  world. And that's true for when we speak when we wonder whether
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  we're doing video or whether we're doing a presentation.
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  Yeah, dig deep, dig deep into your passion and finding out
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  like, so the fuel because your your energy is actually
• 13:24
  contagious. When you're happy delivering your content, that's
• 13:27
  what draws people in. People happiness is contagious. Also
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  sadness. If you're grumpy and irritated. You can see that in
• 13:37
  your content and maybe on YouTube is actually catchy.
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  That's fine. Right? It's, it depends, like, you know what
• 13:43
  your brand is? And so, so yeah, if you're feeling a little bit
• 13:47
  yeah, like you want to change, go find that you've done it
• 13:50
  before. You've done it before in terms of carving out the niche
• 13:53
  that makes you happy and mix and also puts out great content. And
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  so that's what people want to hear and love.
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  Fanny Comota: Yeah, so take them take a little break to figure
• 14:03
  out like when I'm which direction is going to know.
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  Melinda Lee: But also maybe the video maybe helping people on
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  video?
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  Fanny Comota: Yeah, I'm very passionate about video and video
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  production. i
• 14:15
  Melinda Lee: Yeah. Yeah,
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  Fanny Comota: I haven't ever taught before and, ya know,
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  Melinda Lee: and then when you're talking about it, just
• 14:22
  now I can hear it. You're like it's powerful. Video is powerful
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  is so key getting you know, because people get to see you.
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  They get to feel, and they almost feel like they may know
• 14:30
  you. Yeah, they feel like they know you. Yeah, yeah.
• 14:34
  Fanny Comota: And you think I want I want to say on your
• 14:36
  podcast is like, I started like not wanting to be on video and
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  now I am on YouTube. And now I have 10,000 subscribers and it's
• 14:43
  like, yeah, that can be you too. Like, it's like, you have to get
• 14:48
  over the fear and you have to just keep trying and you're
• 14:50
  gonna fall it's not gonna be perfect right away. You're not
• 14:52
  gonna get viral like the first video. It's like, you have to
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  keep trying and as you keep trying, everything builds up to
• 14:59
  like You build more confidence. Yeah. And there's like more of a
• 15:04
  flow. And I feel like now I know like, what I'm going to say and
• 15:08
  how it's going to be and how my shots are going to be. And it's
• 15:11
  easier as you keep going, keep going. And then it helped me. I
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  think, being on YouTube, just give me more confidence and just
• 15:19
  speaking in general, like, because it's like, oh, not
• 15:21
  afraid to do YouTube, like, whatever. Like I read speak in
• 15:24
  front of camera. puberty, hear me and I still see my daughter.
• 15:28
  Like, she watched me like so many times. And then when she
• 15:31
  did a video, and she was very smooth, I was like, Whoa, I was
• 15:34
  like, okay, she was like watching me like she she can
• 15:36
  that gets practice. Wow. Like, she's doing well. Like she could
• 15:40
  speak in front of camera too. And like, it was like, just
• 15:42
  shocked. I was like, the kids are watching you, you know?
• 15:45
  Melinda Lee: Yeah. Yeah, they're watching. Yeah, that's so cool.
• 15:50
  I'm so glad that you had her your your her role model. Yeah,
• 15:54
  for that. It'll help build her confidence too. Yeah. Yeah. To
• 15:59
  get herself out there. Well, I'm so thank you so much for sharing
• 16:02
  your inspirational story. What would you share to someone or
• 16:05
  say to someone, if they are afraid to start their videos?
• 16:10
  Fanny Comota: I think just go for it. If it's like a nudge
• 16:12
  that you keep feeling like I don't want to be on YouTube. I'm
• 16:15
  feeling like I know, like people want it. And then it's like,
• 16:19
  they don't ever try because they're scared. Right? Just the
• 16:22
  thing is, the technology is here you have the phone, there's a
• 16:25
  lot of editing programmes out. It's not like back then where
• 16:28
  it's so difficult. Like were 20 years ago, you had to buy $1,000
• 16:32
  camera, you had to get expensive computer and it was so hard to
• 16:35
  get a video out. Now, it's like you have no excuse. It's just
• 16:38
  like your fear, you have to get over the fear. And just start
• 16:42
  practising filming yourself, start talking to it. And just
• 16:45
  post it like so what, like, you know what, no one's gonna see it
• 16:48
  in the first, you know, when you first posted and I was gonna see
• 16:52
  it anyway. It's like, it's, you're just practising and over
• 16:55
  time, you're gonna build an audience, you're gonna build a
• 16:58
  connection, you're gonna hear from people talking to you like,
• 17:02
  oh, that video was so great. You know, like, I get comments, or
• 17:05
  like, that video really helped me and I'm like, Oh, really,
• 17:08
  it's like, it's like, okay, I have an impact or impact when
• 17:11
  you're doing video. You're connecting with them, you're
• 17:14
  helping them and it's like, they're hearing your voice, your
• 17:18
  voice matters. I think what I learned from this whole thing is
• 17:21
  like, My voice matters. Like before, I felt like, I didn't
• 17:24
  have a confidence because it was like, Oh, why do people want to
• 17:27
  hear from me, but then it's like, oh, I have a unique
• 17:30
  perspective. Also, there's not a lot of Asian people in the
• 17:34
  online space. Right? Like, it's like, when I'm in I was like,
• 17:37
  going to summit like, last month. I was like, only Asian
• 17:40
  person in there. Like, a couple years ago, and I was like, one
• 17:43
  of three Asian women. Like, there's not a lot of us. So it's
• 17:46
  like, there needs to be more, more of our voices out there. So
• 17:50
  go for it. Just try it doesn't like so what if it doesn't, you
• 17:53
  know, like, you don't know what to try. Don't like have to
• 17:56
  regret later when you're old. And you're like, I wish I did
• 17:59
  it. You know, just go for it doesn't matter.
• 18:02
  Melinda Lee: Right? I love that. Thank you. And you have a you
• 18:05
  have a planner, right?
• 18:07
  Fanny Comota: Yeah. Yeah, I have a YouTube planner on my blog as
• 18:11
  well. You can check it out. And we'll put it into the show
• 18:15
  notes. So then also my budgeting Made Easy worksheet and guide.
• 18:20
  Yeah, so helpful. Yeah.
• 18:22
  Melinda Lee: Thank you, Fanny. Thank you. That was really
• 18:24
  helpful and inspiration. I love your unique perspective and how
• 18:28
  you've overcome it. It's actually very, it's because you
• 18:31
  did it. And when you can do it and you're sharing this
• 18:34
  experience. I hope that people are also inspired by you and
• 18:38
  motivated to take action, especially if they have that
• 18:41
  nudge to start their videos. Yeah. Thank you so much. Oh,
• 18:44
  thank you so much. And reach out to Fannie if you actually want
• 18:48
  some more support with YouTube or budgeting and, and food and cooking.
• 18:54
  So thank you, Fanny. Take care, everyone. Until next time
• 18:58
  listeners. It's good to see you and be with you.
• 19:04
  All right. Bye.