In this live TGIM coaching session, Evan Carmichael and guest Alex from Toronto Dance Salsa answer a Mastermind member’s question about how a YouTuber can take a two‑week vacation to California without harming channel growth. They outline a step‑by‑step approach: (1) pre‑record and schedule videos ahead of the break; (2) continue creating informal, low‑effort content while traveling to keep the audience engaged; (3) openly announce the vacation to viewers, setting expectations and optionally sharing brief “miss you” updates; (4) schedule the time off during slower business periods to minimize missed opportunities. Throughout, they stress avoiding stress, maintaining authenticity, and using the trip as fresh content that can even boost followership.
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And we're live! Alright, welcome everybody, another quick Monday TGIM session. This is Alex from Toronto Dance Salsa, and I got a question from one of our Mastermind members that we wanted to make a video on. How do you take a vacation? So she's a YouTuber, she's building up her channel, she's had some success, she's committed to it, she's doing almost a video a day now on the channel, and she wants to take a 2-week vacation to go to California over Christmas and is worried about the channel. I think it's something that we can all relate to, right? You want to build your business, you want to see it grow, but you also need a break and you want to relax and take it easy a little bit. So how to balance those two? And so we're going to give our advice on what she can do.
Starting with me.
Alex goes first.
Yeah, I think it's— I mean, I'm not too familiar with her work. It has to do with It has to do with, she talks about herself, I guess, and a little bit about growing yourself. It's California for 2 weeks. I think it's, you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone. You take a trip, you announce it to your followers that you're going there, and you shoot a couple of videos. It's going to be great as sort of a kind of new area that you're going to film. It's going to give a refresh to your blog. I'm imagining that you regularly record your videos in one location or maybe a couple familiar locations. So having that change, followers with you and more value, I think it's going to increase people, uh, followership for your blog and for your YouTube channel. So that's my—
Followership. Followership is the word to increase your followership. That's a big— we can make that, we could trend that. Yeah. Okay, so a couple of tips. One, uh, make the videos ahead of time. This is something I can resonate with. I've done a number of trips to California, and I'm actually not here next week. I'm not here next week. Uh, I'm not here next week. I'm going to, uh, Microsoft, new client. I have to go do a tour of their facilities, and so I'm missing my video filming day, which is always on a Wednesday. And so what I'm doing is this week I'm going to be filming not all the pieces but a number of the pieces ahead of time. So do a little bit more planning, preparation have it done ahead of time, that usually helps. Two, I always film while I'm away. I don't let it become this huge beast that you don't do a vacation because you're so busy working. It's always a more personal note and the editing is always less. When I go to see Microsoft, I think they're in Seattle, I'm going to be filming some of my— I'm thinking the espressos in the morning, I usually do it either from the hotel room or walking, like I'm walking on the way to get to their head office, I'll do it just walking and talking. And so it's not a set piece like I usually do, but it's different, like it's variety. It's good not to just be always in the same setting like you talked about, right? And people don't expect as much in terms of editing and perfectionism. I know you're a perfectionist, at least the person asked the question, super perfectionist. People don't expect that same level of quality when you're away, as long as you You don't try to put up a front. You don't, you don't try to pretend like you're still home in your usual recording settings, but you let people know, hey, I'm on vacation in California. Here's a quick message for you guys. And so you can do shorter videos, you can do less editing and film while you're away. And I think, you know, I try to use it as, um, I try to record enough in advance so that the ones that I'm doing on vacation don't feel like work. I don't feel like I have to go do these. Like, oh, I get to do a cool video in a different setting. I like it. It adds some fun. And then my last point was to make an announcement. And so, you know, if you're super— you don't want to do anything, you just want to chill and relax, then just tell your audience, listen, I'm going to be away for 2 weeks. Have a great Christmas. I'll see you back. We're starting it up again in January, or whatever it is, right? You can make that announcement. And then even if you feel like adding, like you miss it, It's good to miss your business every now and then, right? If you miss it, you could always pull up your phone and say, "Hey guys, I miss you guys." "I'm thinking of you." "I'm thinking of you here from California." And whatever message you have that you want to give, you can always add that in. People won't expect it, but it's a great addition in. I think the key though is making sure that you're not overwhelmed and feeling like you're not enjoying your vacation, you're stressed out, because that kind of defeats the purpose. Those are my quick thoughts. You got anything else?
No, I thought that was great, yeah.
I guess the last thought, this isn't always manageable, but plan it around the slow times in business.
Yeah.
Right, so this is probably a good time for you to go away, right? December, it's gonna be slower down. Whatever business you have, you wanna plan around the season so you're not missing out on important things, right? If you're getting tons of email, you're getting tons of comments, and you're not checking it, and you're trying not to check it, it's gonna be really hard, 'cause you're gonna wanna check and see, ah, what's happening, and get in on the details. So that's it. Thank you, Alex, Travel Dance Salsa. Welcome. We're doing a fist bump. I hit your chest. That was great. That was great.
I loved it.
And for those of you watching who don't know about the Mastermind group, you can check it out in the link in the description. Have an amazing Monday, and we'll talk to you soon. Stop.
