Sometimes going broke is the best way to know what you want
My background is in Business. I studied "International Business Administration", but I’ve always had a passion for education. In fact, my idea was always: first I will make a lot of money in business and THEN, when I am older, I will teach, because that's what I really enjoy doing. In the end it turned out that I could do both at the same time: Teaching and making lots of money doing it.
After going broke in Thailand and many failed job applications in business, I got lucky. One day, I was sitting in a hostel when a new friend of mine walked in and told me about a teaching position at Chiang Mai University. I will never forget how he said "They are looking for a German teacher, you should go check it out." I went there, and they were like, "Yes, you can be our new German teacher, but we also need a new English teacher". I accepted both jobs, and my life was never the same again.
Talking to the universe
I have always had a vision for my life to do something great and be my own boss, and I didn't just want to settle for "normal". Before I started my Youtube Channel, I was broke in Chiang Mai, Thailand, surrounded by digital nomads living from their business, and I knew I wanted to also do my own thing. But I didn't know exactly what it would be. First I started a travel blog, then an LGBT blog... but none of them sparked my interest enough. So I actually started asking the universe to help me out. I even "prayed" thinking: "Please universe, give me something I can dedicate my life too." It turns out, the universe has always answered my questions. While teaching at Chiang Mai University, I also started teaching German online on italki.com which eventually sparked the idea for my own Youtube channel to better help my students with their pronunciation skills at home. I remember vividly, how one night, I was laying in bed and the idea of making videos popped in my head and I thought "this is it!" ... this is what I had been looking for.
My first video on Youtube
My first video went online on January 4, 2015. I borrowed the camera of a friend who was living in the same building. I taught myself how to edit with iMovie. I was super hyper and am still a bit embarrassed about that first video. But hey, don't they say... "If You're Not Embarrassed By The First Version Of Your Product, You’ve Launched Too Late" I can proudly say that I have not launched too late, because I am f*cking embarrassed by all my first videos. After my first few videos, I took a break, then I started uploading again when I was back in Germany and later on decided to start uploading daily. I still see the daily uploading a key to my success. Eventually, when I started to make money, I began to take it more seriously, and the numbers grew and grew until I developed a strong fanbase.
Listen to my Podcast with "the Maverick Show": Teaching German with Humor, Getting 340K Subscribers on YouTube, and Making 6 Figures a Year as a Teacher-Nomad with Anja Winter:
Get all the show notes and more info here
Watch my Presentation at the LangFest and Nomadcruise about “From 0 to 300k subscribers – My journey as a teacher nomad”
