Tag: new year

Listen to our BBC radio interview – oh, and it’s our birthday!!

Getting more than 1,000 subscribers, winning an award, and being asked to appear live on the radio are three things we didn’t think would EVER happen to our little channel – let alone that they would all take place in 2018!!!

Three years ago today (1 Jan 2016) I wrote our first blog post and launched ‘Life of Reilly.’

Before New Year’s Day 2016, I was planning on just uploading some videos to my personal YouTube channel but after reading two chapters of Steve Jobs’ biography I was inspired to start-up  a “proper website” – and brand – to see what might happen.

So, I nabbed Twitter and Facebook handles, bought the domain name, asked my brother-in-law Simon to teach me how to use WordPress and I made my New Year’s resolution official!!

After the excitement of publishing and promoting the blog post I suddenly felt sick – and it had nothing to do with the beers from NYE.

What had I just done?!!!! Now I actually had to follow my spontaneous, very public resolution through and make this blog happen, otherwise I’m that person who starts a blog but doesn’t see it through.

I also had a few other fears: would people care/like what I was going to write/produce; and, what if it doesn’t take off to a respectable level and I embarrass myself? I usually only compete when I know I’m going to succeed, whether it’s a game of pool or a job.

“Why can’t you make a successful blog without people needing to know about it?!!” I thought to myself.

Three Years On

Well, I’m now sat in exactly the same position as three years ago: on the bed, listening to the kids let off steam outside – while I try to write a blog post.

This time, I’m posting a link to a radio interview that we did live on BBC Radio Berkshire where we talked about winning a national award and the trips we have planned for 2019!! None of this would have happened if I didn’t hit publish three years ago, decide to take a risk and put myself out there.

Is this now such a successful vlog that we can quit our day jobs? No way, not even close.

Do we have people approach us to make videos for them? Yes!! This is new over the past six months and is amazing!

Are we prolific vloggers/bloggers? Nope, but that’s something we’re working on this year! We know we need to social media more, too!!

Do I wish we didn’t start the blog? Some days, but those initial fears of embarrassing ourselves etc have gone away. As it turns out, we’re always going to embarrass ourselves in our videos but that’s what makes the filming together as a family so much fun.

Right now we’re making content that we’re proud of and that people seem to like! We’re also still very new to this business and understand that it takes more than five years to really establish yourself online.

What are you trying to say?

What I’m trying to say, in a rambling way, is: if you’ve got an idea or ambition that you keep putting off – DO IT!!

My football club has the latin motto: Audere Est Facere: To Dare is to Do – if you don’t try, you’ll never succeed!

It might not take you to the fame and glory that you’ve daydreamed about but at least you’re on the right flightpath towards it!

And, hey, if you don’t reach your final destination, the layovers will provide experiences for you to grow as a person, learn some new skills, meet new people and hopefully live your life without a major regret.

We are not the finished article yet, but why not hit publish, go on an adventure and see what happens, too?!

Who knows, you might find yourself on the radio within three years?!! Have a listen below!!

Oh, and as we’re trying to promote ourselves better in 2019, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and why not give this post a share, if you think it will inspire someone?!

 

 

The start of something new – a family travel vlog

Ok, it’s New Year’s Day, the annual date in the calendar where everyone sets ambitious resolutions for the year ahead that they’ll never keep.

Within two weeks, all but one friend is back eating junk food in front of the TV and trying to find a way to cancel the gym membership without having to go in.

This year, I hope to be that one friend that keeps it going. Nope, I’m not going to stop eating and start getting fit (sorry wifey) but I am going to give travel blogging/vlogging a go and hope to keep going past January.

So, hi! I’m Dave. As you might’ve seen from our ‘About Us’ section, I’m a TV producer and university lecturer. I’m used to making reports for TV News (features usually – I’m more of a ‘Mr And Finally’ and Sport, rather than the man stood outside court) but, apart from some corporate work, I’ve never made anything under my own name for the internet.

Why now? Well, like Liam Neeson, I have a particular set of skills. I can shoot, edit, write and produce videos. I think YouTube videos and online content will soon overtake traditional TV as the place to showcase work.

I’m very interested in the future of online video content, so I’ll be partly using this site to feed into the academic research I’ll be doing with my university lecturer hat – mortar board – on (get used to the bad jokes), so that I can pass on what I learn.

Do I want to be the next Zoella? No, I’ve never actually seen her stuff, plus I don’t think people want to hear my views on make-up (is that what she does?).

Those that know me well, know that I like to find a bargain and will spend hours at a computer screen to try to save a few hundred quid. I’m totally that annoying person who’ll have bought the same TV, car or holiday for less than you’ve paid for it – I love a bargain – so I’ll be doing some of the hard work for you, when I can.

Seriously, how can you entertain toddlers on an 11-hour Trans-Atlantic flight?

Seriously, how can you entertain toddlers on an 11-hour Trans-Atlantic flight?

The main reason for me doing this, is that we love to travel as a family and we are always asked about it: How do you survive an 11-hour Trans-Atlantic flight with babies and toddlers? How do you travel around California? Where’s the best place to eat? How does a House Swap work? Where should we actually go in Los Angeles? Seriously, how do you survive an 11-hour Trans-Atlantic flight with babies and toddlers?

It came to me, when my wife said she wanted to ‘do’ Route One (from San Francisco to San Diego) last year. I searched for weeks for the best way to ‘do it’ but no-one had posted a practical article of timings or created a video which was entertaining and informative. So, I borrowed a mate’s DSLR (cheers, Brett), took a GoPro to California last summer and started shooting things as a vlogger for the first time, much to the annoyance of Alicia (Mrs R, you’ll get to know her soon) who was constantly telling me off for slowing everyone down the whole time!

What you’ll see on this site over the next few weeks (definitely), months (hopefully) and years (definitely, hopefully) will have grown from that one subject to many thousands of miles of travelling, filming, editing and exploring the world with my favourite people on the planet.

I’m not planning on producing a video or blog-post every week – it will be quality over quantity – so make sure you follow our Facebook and Twitter pages to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.

Future articles will be much more informative – and less indulgent – but I just wanted to lay it all out there for my first blog-post.

Right, time to get writing and editing. I hope you enjoy watching and reading about our travels and that you’ll let us know if/when you visit the same place as us, to find out if we were able to help you live the Life of Reilly.

Get in touch, if you have any ideas or places you think we should visit!

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