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Supporting Simon

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Following Simon

Asking Simon

- Who are you?
I'm a Canadian photographer from Ottawa who got rid of everything to travel the world. I make vlogs sharing my ups and downs, and my adventures in vans, on motorbikes, and on sailboats.

- Who is Champ?
Champ is my handsome 14-year-old Labrador, who travelled almost everywhere with me for his whole life. He loves chin scratches, fetching sticks, and scarfing down cheeseburgers and pizza.

- What camera equipment do you use?
I use a Panasonic FZ2500, a DJI Mavic Pro, a Rode video micro with Deadcat, a Zihyun Crane 3 Axis Gimbal, as well as DIY tripods and lights.

- What are your vehicles?
I drove a 1992 Dodge Ram B350 camper van all over North America for about two years.
Travelling by motorcycle made for some unique trips. I explored the Canadian Maritimes (and deserts and backroads all over the continent) on a 2002 Kawasaki KL250 Super Sherpa dual sport bike, and also rode my 1999 Yamaha V-Star XVS1100 cruiser with a Champion Escort sidecar across my home country twice.
From land to water travels: I currently live and work on a 1979 Wharram Oro 47 catamaran.

- What are your plans with the boat?
I will fix it up, run it on nothing but green electric power, and sail off into the sunset. Stay tuned for the growing build and the adventures to come!

- How do you find all these cool places we see in the videos?

- How do you afford your lifestyle?
I live and travel economical by using free camping and mooring, cooking my own meals, thoroughly researching products and how-to’s online, practicing a DIY approach, and being as efficient as possible with my resources. I've struggled financially for most of my life, and although I'm blessed with helpful friends and family as well as being able-bodied, white and male, I don't subscribe to the belief that you need someone footing your bills in order to pursue your passion. So, I learned that you DO need to sacrifice comfort, consistency, safety, and a traditional career but that it IS possible, worth it, and the only lifestyle that makes me happy.
I make my income almost entirely by creating content for YouTube, but it's a tight budget. Ad revenue, business sponsors, affiliate links, Patreon, Paypal donations, and merchandise sales bring in about as much as a part-time job, and I'm able to make that work. When it isn't enough, I go back to regular work such as photography, videography or construction, but that takes the focus away from my own projects.

- How does your dog fit into this lifestyle?
It's really not as difficult as people seem to think. I spend most of the day with Champ anyways, since we enjoy similar things, like eating food and being outdoors. I let the constraint of bringing my dog with me help me make decisions about where I go and what I do, so I avoid places that ban dogs, and therefore spend more time in nature instead of in cities.

- How do you make it work as a digital nomad?
My electrical power set-up allows charging my camera and laptop to film and edit almost daily. For Internet access quick and reliable enough to upload my episodes a few at a time, I use coffee shops and libraries. I also use a data package on my phone (10GB), a WiFi antenna, and a WiFi booster.

[pocketchange]

Come on YouTube. Quite being so cheap. Help support the quality YouTubers. Always there to support you Simon

[jackdaniels]

YouTube needs competition. That is the only thing that will fix this.

[Digital_Notions]

Love this idea. The only one making money is YouTube, so if they won’t share, don’t let them put ads up. Very brave. Hope people step up and do the right thing.

[RobertHartung]

Good for you, don't let YouTube advertisers bully you to sanitize your channel and force you to create boring content as other creators have done.

[MrAllstar]

Simon is one of the most real Youtubers, for many reasons, love this bloke!!

[ImnotChuck.]

If more and more creators would do this, eventually YouTube would recognize that they are nothing without content.

[andrew]

I don't understand why you don't have so many more subscribers. Been watching since the van videos and saw your vanlife documentary before that!

[SilverTurtle]

I have been a subscriber of yours since you were in your van. I met you at the RTR couple years ago and always watched your ads as a way of helping out with your build. I get it I also don’t have ads on my videos.

[AccidentalSailorGirl]

You know, this is a good point. I have heard before I had monetized our channel (and one of the reasons I did) was because YouTube was still running ads over my channel, which when I heard this, my thinking was, well, might as well earn money from these ads.

[gabrielmariekingsley]

We love yeah Simon! Will keep checking here, instagram, and occasionally Facebook.

[VirgoVibe]

A couple other tubers I watch have just done the same thing. Good for you!

[TravelswithYoly]

My channel is 9 years old and not one of the 380 + videos has had an ad. Back in 2015, YouTube contacted me and tried to suggest that I should monetize my videos. I declined and apparently in a way that they were not happy with. Up until that time, almost every video of mine garnered views in the thousands. Then suddenly for reasons I can't explain, my views suddenly dropped dramatically such that for the last 2 or 3 years, they typically get views in the hundreds. The video quality had risen noticeably with better cameras, better editing and music and better background locations. So be careful what you say about Big Brother :-)

[JenShea]

Good for you Simon. (and yay for Yari). The boat looks beautiful!!

[greggtilghman]

Broke AF as most others are, I can't express how grateful I am for youtube for connecting me to these sailing channels but I think they are getting a bit greedy. If ads are featured in content that content should be supported BY THOSE ADS! Thank you Simon for the content, love watching your dream come together.

[stargatepioneer]

Simon, while I sincerely appreciate the fact that you are not supporting ads on YouTube, you might want ti reconsider this decision and here's why: if YouTube is NOT making anything off of your videos they will not make them as discoverable to new viewers / subscribers. They want to promote videos that make THEM money. So for pure SEO reasons you might want to put ads bad on your channel. Once again I LOVE watching no ads videos, but I'm not sure that's the best thing for your channel long term growth. Hit me up in private message if you'd like to discuss this further. ~SP

[ShawnPorter]

Hey Simon, I love your videos and have been along for the ride since the first van burnt down. I have always meant to show my support for what you are doing in Patreon but for whatever reasons never did. This video made me stop what I was doing and join your patreon. Thanks for sharing your journey and dreams.

[StaticCamperVan]

Without ads on your videos, youtube might not recommend your videos and channel to new viewers.
You’ve been a constant source of quality videos for so long, it’s upsetting to see it’s getting more difficult instead of easier now. Best of Luck!

[RogerBY]

If all small creators took ads off YouTube would be flipping the cushions on the couch for you guys. I have 2-3 small channels like I mean really small i'll take down the ads just cause Simon told me to #simontoldmeto

[shookman]

Hi Simon - I think this gesture is really awesome. However, one annoying thing to consider... I've heard that YouTube will de-prioritize any videos that turn off ads. So the annoying part is, even if you don't need the ad revenue, if you want to reach more people, you might want to leave ads on. Either way, I already found you :)

[davebuts]

Youtube is not so good now, good call with the adds mate. Why should youtube make money off your hard work, wish I could give more on patreon,  it's only $2 per video, but I hope my little amount helps. Its looking good mate. Have been with you a long time, have only just been a patreon in the last month. Just love the real feeling your videos give.
Dave UK