Nowadays, managing a popular YouTube channel can be much more than just a hobby. For countless business-savvy YouTubers, it has become a lucrative, full-time profession. One such YouTube “vlogger”, Rachel Levin, has made a major name for herself in YouTube’s beauty arena. Her channel, RCLBeauty101, has amassed an enormous following of over 14.6+ million loyal subscribers!
Home Business Magazine recently caught up with Levin and got the inside scoop on her journey with her über-popular YouTube channel. She went on to share helpful tips for aspiring vloggers, exclusive insight on her exciting new musical endeavors (including a just-released single!) and more!
HBM: You are known worldwide for your YouTube channel, RCLBeauty101. Tell us all about it!
RL: “I’ve been doing YouTube for 10 years! Which is crazy to think about. I started out doing makeup videos, then that evolved into comedy sketches, then life hacks, and it recently switched back to beauty videos!”
HBM: What inspired you to start your channel?
RL: “The other kids at my school weren’t the nicest to me, so I wouldn’t go home after school and hang out with people! That in itself gave me a lot of time to obsessively watch YouTube videos. Watching all the videos caused me to do literal makeup tutorials in the mirror every morning! The realization that I was talking to myself in the mirror is what inspired me to start a YouTube channel.”
HBM: Do you film and edit most of your videos at home or in a studio? If at home, what is one home office essential that you swear by?
RL: “I film and edit all of my videos in my house! I also live alone and don’t ever have people over, so I turned my dining room into a studio. One home office essential I swear by are those Pilot G2 pens. I didn’t realize how much I loved them until my assistant, Zoe, talked about them. They’re so inky it’s beautiful.”
HBM: What has been your greatest achievement thus far with the channel? The biggest challenge you have overcome?
RL: “My greatest achievement thus far is that my videos have been able to make people laugh. The fact that my videos can cause an emotional reaction in people in general is wild. The biggest challenge that I’ve had to overcome is not attaching my self worth to a number. It gets so easy to get lost in the numbers, especially when the words ‘relevant’ and ‘irrelevant’ exist. Everyone wants to always penalize everyone for going through ups and downs in their careers and that can cause a lot of emotional distress.”
HBM: What tips do you have for those who are aspiring to launch their own YouTube channel?
RL: “The only tip I have is to make sure you are only doing YouTube because you’re passionate about it. I’ve seen friends start channels for the sole purpose of becoming rich and famous and they can never keep up with the workload, because it’s truly a lot more work than people realize. Passion is definitely the only way to be able to successfully continue on with it!”
HBM: You also recently released a new music single, Myself. What inspired you to write the song?
RL: “I wanted to write a song to emphasize love but not in the sense that everyone would assume I am talking about. My followers are also at the age where they’re still finding themselves as well as finding their love for themselves, and I just wanted to make a song that would help them see that!”
HBM: How would you describe your music style?
RL: “I would say that I’m still evolving every song with my music style, so I’m still learning. I probably recorded 30 or so songs before I recorded ‘Myself’, so it will be fun to see what my music style evolves to in the future. For now, my current music style is pop!”
HBM: What are your biggest tips for those who want to get their start in singing?
RL: “Just go for it! There’s definitely a lot of nerves that come with launching a song, but after launching one the nerves completely disappeared once the song was out!”
HBM: What other projects do you have in the works?
RL: “I feel like I don’t realize just how many things I work on at once until I write everything down! Currently, my next projects that are coming out the soonest (outside of more music) are my book and a movie that I’m co-producing, which we’re going to start filming this year!”
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