Anja Winter shares her journey from growing up in her hometown in Germany to becoming a “Teacher-Nomad” who has been travelling the world full time for 5 years and now makes over 6 figures a year teaching German online. She explains how she began teaching both German and English in Chiang Mai, Thailand in a traditional classroom setting and was able to re-connect with her passion for teaching. She then tells the story of how she began making videos for her students and eventually realized that the humor and creativity she used when teaching German had a much broader appeal and was able to grow her YouTube channel to over 340,000 subscribers. She breaks down the techniques she used to build her audience and makes specific tactical recommendations ranging from posting frequency to production quality to marketing strategies to attract new viewers. She then shares the moment when she first realized she could monetize her YouTube channel, and how she grew that from for her first $3 to a six-figure annual income. She then explains how she listened to the needs of her audience, and created multiple courses to fill those needs that she was then able to market and sell directly to her YouTube audience. She also talks about her travel life, why she has chosen to travel the world very slowly over the last 5 years, what her favorite travel destinations have been, and why she chose to join the Remote Year program to travel the world with a community of nomads for all of 2019.
Episode #20: Teaching German with Humor, Getting 340K Subscribers on YouTube, and Making 6 Figures a Year as a Teacher-Nomad with Anja Winter.
Episode Summary
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What You'll Learn
- How to Build an Audience on YouTube from 0 to over 340,000
- How to Travel the World Making 6-Figures/Year as a “Teacher-Nomad”
- How to Overcome the Biggest Challenge of Long-Term World Travel
Links From the Episode
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WORK TRAVEL PROGRAM MATT AND ANJA DID:
- Remote Year (Use this link to get $100 Credit)
OTHER WORK TRAVEL PROGRAMS MENTIONED:
- Hacker Paradise (Use this link to get $100 discount)
GET ANJA’S LATEST BOOK:
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
BOOK ANJA RECOMMENDS:
PEOPLE MENTIONED:
EVENTS MENTIONED:
APPs ANJA RECOMMENDS:
- Calm (Token: 1001lRna)
- Perfect Video
YOUTUBE CHANNELS ANJA WATCHES:
ANJA’S TOP 3 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS:
ANJA’S TOP 3 BUCKET LIST TRAVEL DESTINATIONS:
PLACE WHERE THE INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE:
PLACE WHERE ANJA IS FROM:
OTHER PLACES MENTIONED
Check Flight Prices to Any of These Destinations
CONTACT AND FOLLOW ANJA
Time Stamped Show Notes
[03:20] ANJA’s CHOICE TO DO THE REMOTE YEAR PROGRAM
- Matt and Anja Discuss the Remote Year Program
[05:05] ANJA’s PATH TO BECOMING A “TEACHER-NOMAD”
- Growing up in Germany and Getting Her Degree in Business
- Changing Course from Business to Education
- Traveling to Thailand and Running Out of Money
- Teaching English and German and Re-Connecting with Her True Passion
- Her Decision to Start Making Videos and Launch a YouTube Channel
[08:55] HOW ANJA BUILT AND GREW HER YOUTUBE CHANNEL to 340K+ SUSCRIBERS
- Accelerating audience growth by uploading videos daily
- Anja’s incorporation of humor to make learning fun and differentiate her content
- Her 4-year trajectory from 0 to 340K subscribers
[12:50] HOW ANJA MONETIZED HER YOUTUBE CHANNEL
- Realizing She Could Monetize her YouTube Audience
- Getting Donations From Her YouTube Audience
- Generating Revenue from YouTube Ads on Her Channel
- Selling an E-Book to Her YouTube Audience
- Selling Two Language Learning Courses to Her YouTube Audience
[17:50] HOW ANJA STRUCTURES HER DAY AND OPTIMIZES HER PRODUCTIVITY
- Anja’s Morning Routine
- The Importance of Not Checking Her Phone in the Morning
- Prioritizing Exercise, Meditation, and Creative Work in the Morning
- Scheduling Her Content Creation in Advance
[20:56] ANJA’S TRAVEL EXPERIENCE OVER THE LAST 5 YAERS
- Deciding Where to Travel and How Long to Stay
- Wanting to Learn Languages and Live on Different Continents
- Why Anja Travels and What She Gets Out of It
- The Value of Integrating into Nomadic Communities
- Learning About Herself Through Travel
- The Biggest Challenges of Long Term World Travel
- Anja’s Techniques for Overcoming Social Isolation
- The Important Value Proposition of Work-Travel Programs
[28:49] ANJA’S ADVICE FOR BUILDING AN AUDIENCE ON YOUTUBE FROM SCRATCH
- Try It and See if YouTube Feels Like the Right Platform for You
- Clearly Differentiate Your Content and Focus on a Niche
- Take it Seriously and Upload Daily
- Solicit Feedback and Take it Seriously
- The Importance of High Quality Content and Adding Real Value
- Marketing Your YouTube Videos With Paid Ads
[35:20] SCALING HER ONLINE TEACHING INTO A 6-FIGURE BUSINESS
- Motivation to Make More Money to Live in More Expensive Places
- Starting to Outsource on Fiverr
- Hiring Video Editors and Giving Preference to Digital Nomads
- Her Process for Creating Her Courses That Will Sell
- The Difference Between Her Two Courses
- Creating a New Travel Blog About Being a Teacher-Nomad
- Anja’s Biggest Entrepreneurial Challenge and How She Mitigates It
[43:07] THE LIGHTNING ROUND
- The #1 Book Anja Recommends
- The Top 2 Apps Anja Recommends
- The Top 2 YouTube Channels Anja Watches
- Anja’s Top 3 Travel Destinations
- Anja’s Top 3 Bucket List Destinations
- Advice Anja Would Give To Her 18-Year Old Self
About the Guest
Anja Winter
Anja Winter is a teacher-nomad and a location-independent entrepreneur originally from Germany. She decided to take her passion for language, people and video-based learning and build a YouTube channel called “Learn German with Anja”that now has more than 360k subscribers and over 30 million views. Her teaching methods incorporate games, interaction and humor, making her channel fun, engaging and highly entertaining, which keeps her students coming back daily. She has also launched a very successful self-study online course that teaches the German Sentence Structure in just 10 days. She now generates 6 figures a year from her online businesses and runs them completely remotely while traveling the world. Anja speaks 4 languages, has been a world traveler for 5 years and has been to 24 countries on 4 continents.
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