Judy Gutierrez Travis: Starting an Online Business from Home
Popularly known as ‘itsjudyslife’, ‘itsjudystime’ and ‘itsmommyslife’ on YouTube, Judy Travis is a make-up guru, social entrepreneur and also a mom of three who reached stardom by creating an online business through social media. She is an American of Filipino decent while her husband, Benji Travis, also an American, is of Japanese-Irish decent. Both of them record their daily lives on camera and upload it onto YouTube. According to richcelebs.com, her net worth is estimated at $1.1 Million in 2015 (that’s a staggering 53 million Pesos!). So how did she build an online empire while working from home?
- Start a YouTube Channel
To begin a career through social media, you need a platform to showcase your talent and skill. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and web blogs are good places to start. In this case, Judy is a beauty geek who started uploading make-up and hair tutorials since her university days back in 2008. As she is immensely passionate about sharing her thoughts on beauty and make-up, her YouTube subscribers naturally increased in followers. As her videos became more popular, she joined to be a YouTube partner whereby she is able to earn a stable income. As her fanbase grew, she created a Spanish-language channel to cater to her Hispanic viewers. She explained: “We noticed we have a huge Hispanic demographic and thought, “Why not?!”
- Upload videos consistently
She uploads one video to her channel ‘itsjudyslife’ daily. Just within a year, her estimated earnings are from $45.3k to $725.3k. (from 2.2 million pesos to 347 million pesos). To date, her content for daily vlogs (video blogs) range from the shenanigans of her three children, family life, food, travelling and basically anything under the sun. Viewers are attracted to her videos, mainly because they are entertaining and relatable to females who juggle between work and family lives. Judy sets an example for new mothers around the world and is also an inspiration to young girls.
- Create good content
As a beauty guru, Judy shops for make-up and beauty products, tests them out on camera and gives her feedback on it. She goes to her local drugstore and high-end make-up stores to purchase beauty essentials to complete her product reviews. If you reside in Philippines, you can shop for more using BDO credit cards rewards for beauty, make-up and clothing purchases. Credit cards are beneficial to beauty gurus, as they usually purchase in bulk. The shopping points you earn will translate into rewards and cashbacks as well. In her interview with Tubefilter, she said: “I do a lot of first impression makeup reviews where I test out a product throughout the day. This way, you see the product in action and the camera never lies! Also, my videos are typically simple and straight to the point.” After recording the videos, she finds editing to be the most time-consuming process. Judy uses MacBook Air’s Final Cut Pro X for editing purposes after shooting with her DSLR and digital camera for ‘itsjudystime’ and ‘itsjudyslife’ channels respectively. Not to mention, it is important to deliver value to the viewers and not to be solely motivated by money. Once you have a good content, the numbers will follow.
- Run Google ads on your videos
The main source of income for Judy will have to be from YouTube and her profit gained from Google advertisements running on her daily vlogs. According to her interview with workathomewoman.com, she revealed that “YouTube has a profit share model where they split the revenue from the Google ads that run on your videos. Another popular way to make money on YouTube is by brand sponsorships of products or services.” In fact, there are a couple of ways to generate money from YouTube. By enabling AdSense and turning on account monetization, you can get 55% revenue from the advertisements displayed on your videos. However, it is advisable to read through YouTube’s terms and conditions thoroughly before agreeing to run Google Ads. With that, you will receive credit for the monthly revenue in each video. Based on investopedia.com, Google will issue a payment to your bank account once you have accumulated $100 in earnings.
- Brand Sponsorship
Once you have made your name in the YouTube community, it is not out of the ordinary to receive products from renowned brands as gifts and tokens. Some companies also seek YouTubers to provide online reviews for their new products. Besides being a company’s marketing strategy, these online entrepreneurs will get the latest freebies. What can go wrong with that? Judy mentioned: “Most of my reviews are on brand new products, typically from drugstores, because that’s what my viewers like to see. When a brand approaches me, I will usually test out the product for several weeks before I agree to do a video. Most of my sponsored videos are the exact same style as non-sponsored videos.”
- Network
Working from home does not mean that you can’t increase your network. Connecting with likeminded individuals will broaden your outlook on life and you’ll gain more friends around the world too! Opportunities will arise once you have a wide network and you must be ready to seize it. As a beauty guru and a YouTube entrepreneur, Judy increased her network by interacting with her fans, communicating with the YouTube community as well as joining beauty functions, conferences and events. Despite rising to fame and fortune, Benji and Judy widen their network by giving back to charities. ‘Dancember’ is an initiative to raise funds around the globe to be donated to the needy. Throughout the month of December every year, they get YouTube celebrities to dance with them and upload a portion of it on their videos. Last year, this initiative managed to raise $221,000 for an American charity Convoy of Hope – Children’s Feeding Initiative. People around the world are involved in this initiative, not just the YouTube community but also common folks who donated for this cause.
- Get support from family
Judy juggles being a mother of three, an online social entrepreneur, a wife and also a daughter. How does she do it all? She gives credit to her supportive husband and family for her success. She said: “They have been there since the beginning to help any way I needed and now with being a new mother; they help to provide me time to focus on my work.” Getting your family members and close loved ones on board with your projects are beneficial to your future success. Initial expenses and capital are hard to avoid, so your spouse/ family members must be understanding and financially supportive of your endeavours. If you are an aspiring beauty guru, you need to invest on the right products when you shop. BDO credit card application is open to all Filipino shopaholics out there who want to gain more out of each Peso. This will save more money in the bank than you can imagine. Without emotional, physical and financial support from others, the path towards reaching your goals might be lonelier and harder to attain. So start sharing your dreams with your loved ones today!
Short bio
Studying Business & Commerce in Monash University Malaysia, Stephanie Tiow currently interns at iMoney and aspires to provide readers with a comprehensible perspective on finance and money-related decisions through the eye of a consumer.
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