Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesse Vincent.
Hi Jesse, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Kara and I (Jesse) the first 10 years of our marriage were like most couples working full time, me as a teacher and Kara as an office manager, then hanging out at home on the weekend. We would go to movies or hang out with local friends but did not do much to make our weekends special. 10 years ago Kara’s parents gave us their 1980’s 5th wheel camper and we started camping, which quickly led to us upgrading to our 5th wheel RV (Goldie). We realized how a quick weekend trip or adventure could recharge us for the upcoming week.
As we became more avid rivers like many we were sucked into youtube channels showing others living and loving a nomadic lifestyle. We noticed that most if not all were living full-time out of their campers and not working standard jobs like us. We loved the videos of the river lifestyle but they made it seem like full-time river living was the only way to enjoy riving. Probably close to five years ago after being inspired by others we decided to start our Youtube channel, Jaunt Junkies, to share our weekend adventures and love for river travel. The channel has become such a great way for us as a couple to share our adventures and also hopefully motivate others to get out and enjoy their weekend.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As with anything it has not always been smooth. For us, we are both what you would call introverts. To get in front of a camera and just start telling our stories still is not easy. Not only were we self-conscious about getting in front of the camera we still are self-conscious to even tell anyone about our channel. We have friends and family that still have no idea about the Jaunt Junkies. Being uncomfortable in front of the camera was one thing but not knowing how to do anything behind the camera or in editing was and at times still is a problem.
Everyone makes it look so easy but then that little red light starts flashing and everything changes. One time we were in Moab and had a full story planned out. Everything was ready and we had left the camera battery at home. Another time we lost a full video when the sd card corrupted. We have spoken to the camera when it was not recording, the list just goes on and on. Then comes acquiring viewers but also dealing with hateful comments online. Most people when they start their youtube journey actually tell people about their channel and what they are trying to do, not us. We have grown very organically without us talking about it in our personal lives.
Once we started getting some views and positivity from viewers the haters and trolls came out as well. Waking up to insulting comments about the way we look or content etc. Even though every comment left helps the channel in the algorithm, even the negative ones, it still hits you in the gut. As a school teacher, I have talked with students about online bullying, etc and I found myself obsessing and feeling negative as an adult just like my students do when it happens to them. There were times I felt if this was even worth it but then there would always be someone coming out of the ether with a positive comment about what we were doing. The ever-changing Youtube algorithm and pay structure has also been a challenge.
When we started you could become monetized as soon as you had 10,000 views. One month after becoming monetized Youtube changed the requirements to 1,000 subscribers and 10,000 minutes watched. It had taken us two years to become monetized and then have it ripped away. It took us another year to get to 1,000 subscribers and back to monetization. It is weird to look back at all of the challenges and how many times we thought, should we keep doing this or is it worth it?
What matters most to you?
What matters most to us? Enjoying your weekend is our mission statement because so many people are stuck in the rat race of work all week and repeat. We are full-time workers but we try to take advantage of our limited time off to have experiences that recharge us. So many people our age are fighting demons in their lives because they do not take the opportunity to enjoy little breaks.
They feel only big vacations matter but the grind between those vacations is overwhelming. Retirement is the goal for all of us but travel does not have to be something you do once you retire. We have learned how much more mentally and physically healthy we are doing this. If the channel disappeared tomorrow we would still be heading out and enjoying our weekend.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @jaunt_junkies
- Facebook: Jaunt Junkies
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/jauntjunkies
