S8 E95: Listen To This When You’re Ready To Give Up On Yourself

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[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:00] YD: Welcome back everyone. My name is Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel photographer, writer storyteller, community builder, podcaster, an entrepreneur working with publications like National Geographic Traveler, the New York. Times B, B, C, travel and more traveling to some very interesting places around the world and producing stories that I'm very excited about.

[00:00:24] Travel Media Lab is our platform for helping you break into the travel media space where we share insights. Tips, advice and stories from people working in the industry. And today I want to talk to you about the one thing you need in order to succeed in a travel media career. So I'm, uh, currently here in Granada, Spain, uh, working on some things.

[00:00:51] And, uh, a few days ago I just interviewed sme. Benjamin, who is an editor-in-chief for full-time travel.com and a podcast episode with her is coming out in a few weeks. I'm super excited about it and I can't wait to share that one with you. on this podcast episode or in this interview that we just had, we talked about pitching, editing, publishing our stories.

[00:01:16] Diversifying revenue streams, which was amazing and I'm very excited to talk about that and also about what taking a chance on ourselves can lead to. So on the podcast, SME told the story of how an article she published on L magazine. Has led, to her story being optioned for a TV series development.

[00:01:42] How exciting is that? Think Netflix and white Lotes. Right? Super exciting. Uh, when I interviewed her, she said that, she pitched the story idea that she had to multiple publications for such a long time, and everybody said no for a variety of reasons, but she kept pitching the story because she believed in it until the editor at L Magazine finally said yes.

[00:02:06] And imagine what would've happened if she let it go, if she gave up on the story. Nobody wanted it. She got so many rejections. If she gave up on it, she would not have had the chance to now have her idea turned into a TV series, which by the way, you can get paid really handsomely. Well, for that kind of opportunity right now, you have to wait until that episode comes out to hear the whole story.

[00:02:31] I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail on that today, but the story that SME shared is such a great example of. What happens when you take a chance on yourself Right now, no one can teach you. No one can teach you how to believe in yourself. I can teach you how to pitch. I can teach you how to work with publications, with tourism boards.

[00:02:52] I can show you all the ins and outs of the travel media career. there is one thing that you must have. On your own. And that's only one prerequisite for success in this industry, and that is belief in yourself. It's a belief that your voice matters, that your creativity matters, that you are a photographer because you take photos that you are a writer.

[00:03:15] Because you put words on a page, right? Not because you've been published or you went to school for something, but because this is who you are, because this is what you want to do. Now, inside our inter Travel journalism group program, we do spend some time working through. Some of the things that make us believe otherwise, right?

[00:03:34] We work on imposter syndrome, we work on all the negative thoughts and fears that arise when we attempt to do something extraordinary. So we do have a process of working through all of that, and that process can help you get that believe in yourself, the crucial component for success, much stronger. So just know that if you have that belief in yourself.

[00:03:58] You've got what it takes, right? Because everything else is absolutely teachable. We can teach you everything else, but you have to have that believe in yourself. Here is actually what you don't need to get started in this career. You don't need to have a lot of. Followers on social media. I hear this all the time from people that the reason why they're hesitant about getting started, the reason why they think, uh, they might not be successful is because they don't have a lot of followers, whether it's TikTok or Instagram or any other social media.

[00:04:30] They think that editors are looking for some kind of numbers. When they're making their decision. And the the thing is that they're absolutely not right. When you're sending your pitch to an editor, they're evaluating it based on your idea and your idea alone, and also based on its fit with the publication.

[00:04:49] But they're definitely not looking you up on social and they're not seeing. How many followers you have, what is your engagement rate? When was the last post you, you posted? Right. It's not about that at all, and I just wanna debunk that myth because I hear it so often. It's, stopping so many people from pursuing this career path because they are afraid or they think that they don't have enough followers.

[00:05:11] To be successful, in the space. And that's absolutely not the case. You don't need lots of followers on social media. You also don't need to be of a certain age. This one really hits home for me so much because I'm about to turn 40. Okay? And by some standards, you know, by this time you should have accomplished X, Y, and Z and you should have everything figured out in your life.

[00:05:35] Whatever, whatever, right? I don't, and I don't think there are many people, on this earth who have everything figured out, especially by the time of. turning 40. But I do hear this sentiment a lot as well, that people are worried that they're past a certain age, uh, that they need to be in order to try something new, try their hand in getting published in working with publications and with magazines.

[00:06:01] And I want to debunk this hesitation or, or this, belief completely today as well, because that's absolutely not the case, right? You don't need to be 21 right out of college, in order to get started. You don't need to be 30 and having some experience in the industry in order to get started. You don't need to be.

[00:06:22] 55 or 70 have a whole bunch of experience in order to get started. Basically, what I'm trying to say here is that your age doesn't matter. Your age doesn't matter. All that matters is your ideas and what you want to say and who do you wanna tell it to, right? Which publications do you wanna work with?

[00:06:40] drives you? What is your curiosity? We work through all of that and more inside our program, but I just wanna leave you with this idea that your. Age or how old you are, doesn't matter, right? When you're sending that pitch to an editor, the email doesn't show how old you are. So the editor doesn't know.

[00:06:59] All they see is the idea, and that's what they're evaluating you on. So please don't let that hesitation stop you as well. I see so many people getting tripped up on this one. And finally, you also don't need to be published in order to get started. This is another big one that a lot of people feel, a requirement in order to get started in this career, and that's absolutely not the case. So many editors that I speak with on a regular basis always tell me that they're not looking for an established bylines. Bylines means, uh, your name on a publication, right by Yulia. That's a byline. They're not looking for bylines. When they get that pitch. Again, they're looking for the idea. How good is it?

[00:07:44] Is it a strong idea? Does it fit with our publication? Is it timely? Is it relevant? Right? of course, bylines help. if you already have some bylines, it's easier to get your food in the door, but that's not a prerequisite. uh, to getting your work published. So many editors are open to working with new and emerging writers.

[00:08:04] I just read another piece the other day from another industry insider who was saying that we need to open the industry much more than, how it is right now. Because the of the matter is that it's the same people who show up. on publication pages time and time again, right?

[00:08:20] Because people kind of tend to wanna work with the people that they know, but we need to keep opening the industry. We need to keep letting new people in, new ideas and new voices in and. One of those voices is yours. Okay? So you don't absolutely need to be published yet. In order to get started in this industry, what you need to have is believe in yourself so that you don't give up and you need to have, Ideas and you need to have curiosity and you need to have something to say, right? what do you want to talk about? What are the stories that you want to do? What drives you? What are you interested in? That type of stuff. So as long as you have that belief in yourself, and as long as you have that willingness to try, Something new.

[00:09:05] As long as you have willingness to learn from other people, then you will be successful in this industry. I've seen it time and time again. You know, so many students have already, gone through the program that I'm about to open again, and I know that this program works. I know that this method works because I've seen our students, get published and, go on to be successful in this industry.

[00:09:29] like you and I are getting. Published people like you and I are getting started in this industry, and so can you, right. We have a conversation, coming up with one of our students where we'll go into a lot more detail on, what she was able to accomplish in the program. what was her journey like?

[00:09:49] So stay tuned. Uh, the episode on that is gonna be coming out soon, the key here to, to remember is that if they could do it, if I could do it, then you can do it too. The only thing that you need in order to be successful is to have that belief in yourself. So listen to this conversation whenever you need that reminder that.

[00:10:11] If you believe in yourself, you'll be less likely to give up on your efforts, and eventually that persistence is going to pay off for you. It's absolutely going to pay off. You know that. I always say the only thing that separates the. You today and you tomorrow. Where some of your dreams are realized is taking action on those dreams, but you have to keep taking action.

[00:10:33] You have to consistently apply yourself. There is no way around that. If you don't reach out to people, if you don't pitch, if you don't put yourself in front of people who might be interested in what you have to say. Then nothing is going to happen for you. And you can do this. You absolutely can. but what you need to have is you need to have that belief in yourself.

[00:10:51] You need to have some support, some structure around you, somebody to guide you into this new career. just like with any other career, right? You need guidance, you need a network. You need connections, you need access to opportunities and all those things. But once you have that, once you apply yourself, then the rest, so to speak, is history.

[00:11:10] So keep going. You've got this. Remember that your voice matters, your creativity and your curiosity, the stories you want to tell, they're all absolutely valid. They have a right to exist and they matter, the world needs them. So don't give up. You never know where pursuing this path might take you. One day you might get something published and it might end up being a, idea that's being optioned for a Netflix, Netflix hit TV show development.

[00:11:40] You just never know, right? But you have to apply yourself. You have to put yourself out there in order for those opportunities to become available to you. All right, so hopefully this is a good reminder for you to just not give up, to keep going, and to remember that the only successful, only, uh, ingredient for success that you need in this career is believe in yourself.

[00:12:04] All right. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I want to remind you that enrollment for our six month group travel journalism program called Intro to Travel Journalism opens this may actually very soon. It opens on Monday, May 22nd, 2023. will be the only opportunity to join us this year. I won't be opening enrollment again until sometime next year, but I don't know when.

[00:12:30] So, If you want to start taking that action, if you want to start,getting that foundational knowledge of what it looks like to be in the industry, how does the pitching process works, how do you reach out to editors, how do you work with tourism boards, all of that good stuff. If you want to take action on that this year, this is the only opportunity to join us this year.

[00:12:51] And, in order to do that, you have to go to Travel Media Lab. Dot com slash class. To join our wait list because the only people will be sending all the information about the program and when it opens and how to enroll and all that good stuff is the people who sign up for the wait list. Okay? So travel media lab.com/class.

[00:13:14] So join the wait list and I hope you. Just remember that you have to believe in yourself. That's only ingredient that matters for you to be successful in this and frankly, many other industries as well. Thanks again for listening today. I really much enjoyed talking about this subject, and I'll see you next time.