Barbara Sofie talks about Creativity & Energy as a Youtuber
With 1 million followers, Barbara is a successful influencer on Instagram. His energy and imagination allow him to regularly share new, innovative and exciting vlogs with her beloved Hendrik and we at FIV were lucky enough to have an exclusive interview with Barbara!
Inspiration and Creative Ideas to Become a Successful Influencerin
FIV: Hey, Barbara! You once said that it’s all about entertainment, which is why you always have to come up with new things. Is that easy for you or do you sometimes have problems being creative and conjuring up new ideas all the time?
Barbara: Hey 🙂 I wish! Always being creative at the push of a button is almost impossible, especially if you’ve been doing social media for so long. When I started my channel almost 7 years ago, I was almost bursting with ideas. Youtube was still a blank page when it came to beauty and lifestyle topics and accordingly everything was new and exciting for the audience, but also for the creators. With the years the videos on the platform exploded and it became more and more difficult to deliver something really new and original. One does not want to repeat oneself constantly or copy others. But even today it is not impossible to deliver real inspiration despite the abundance. For me, it is only really important to consciously allow myself longer breaks from shooting from time to time. Usually the best ideas come exactly at that point.
FIV: Speaking of creative ideas. Your videos are very diverse. From beauty to fashion to lifestyle. Where do you get your ideas for videos from or what is your inspiration behind them?
Barbara: That’s very different: Some ideas come directly from my viewers, some came to me spontaneously, but videos inspired me to make other videos or photos. Sometimes I sit down consciously and think about video ideas, research also gladly times on Pinterest or Instagram. This works more or less well…rather less when I think about it xD The best ideas I really have when I don’t think about them so consciously and especially not under pressure. That’s why breaks are so important. You get more distance and a clear head for new ideas.
Youtuber job: advices, experiences, regrets & challenges
FIV: YouTube is your profession, and in every profession you don’t feel like it. Do you actually stand behind every video idea or do you sometimes have the feeling that you would rather do something different at that moment?
Barbara: I think every influencer has content online that he would never put online these days. To delete these mostly rather old videos is a pity, because they belong somewhere to the whole process. You learn from them, and at the time I put them online, I was behind it. Now it’s not necessarily like that anymore, but that’s ok…at least I grew up with the time and the videos and my opinion from then is not always necessarily my opinion from today.
FIV: Your wide reach as a successful influencer means you can do a lot for young people. Was that also one of the reasons why you talked so openly about your eating disorder in one of your videos to help people?
Barbara: Hmm…good question. I think there are several reasons why I moved to the videos. To want to help those affected in a very concrete way, of course. One often feels so alone with such problems. It would probably have helped me to watch such a video at that time. But I also think that talking about it was a kind of “therapy” for myself. At least I seemed to have a great need to get the story off my chest. I don’t regret being so open, by the way.
I think social media platforms like Instagram can promote eating disorders…especially in times when it’s so easy to completely change your body with a few swipes.
FIV: On your blog you wrote that it’s time for a change, but that doesn’t mean that you want to quit YouTube. What was the trigger that caused you to need a change from your main channel on YouTube?
Barbara: This year in summer, I will make Youtube for seven years. At some point you simply want to try something different. If this will be the blog in the long run, I don’t know…meanwhile I don’t think so. But last year my husband and I founded a new Youtube channel where we regularly log out of our lives (Barbara&Hendrik Vlogs). It’s really a lot of fun for both of us, the spectators celebrate it and somehow it’s very easy. This year I will also start writing my first book and I’m really looking forward to the new challenge!
FIV: YouTube has made a lot possible for you, because besides great people you can also get to know great places all over the world. Is that actually relaxation for you when you ice or is it a lot of work for you when you have to keep your 1 million followers up to date?
Barbara: The many journeys is one of the most beautiful things that my channels have made possible for me. As a teenager I didn’t get around much, but I always wanted to see the whole world. That’s why I really appreciate it. But of course: most trips are work rather than holidays. That’s nothing I’d ever “grumble” about: For us influencers, work and private life merge very strongly, since private life is often what one publishes and it somehow determines work. It’s a bit of an interaction, like the deal you just make.
FIV: Everyone has a few sins that haunt them from the past. With 6 years of YouTube experience this is certainly nothing new for you. What was the video for you that you’re most ashamed of to this day? Did you also delete it out of shame or do you think that this contributed to your development as a successful YouTuberin?
Barbara: I see every day of my life as part of my development that has contributed to what I am today. So I don’t regret anything about that either. Not even the few videos I deleted, because “mistakes” are simply part of life. The only important thing is to learn from them. By the way: What I deleted are all my Primark Hauls and a few Q&A’s in which I gave too much personal information about my place of residence and so on. That was still at the very beginning of YouTube when I hardly had range…was still a bit stupid xD
FIV: It’s no secret that YouTuber earn money with their videos. That’s why many people are now only interested in getting enough calls to earn as much money as possible as quickly as possible. But you come from the time of YouTube, where it was not the most important to make a profit. What was the reason for you to put yourself in front of the camera and open your own channel?
Barbara: That’s right. When I started Youtube, none of us Youtubers ever thought about being able to do social media full-time. There was simply no such thing yet and companies have not yet become aware of this medium. To be honest, I didn’t even know in the first months that adSense could be switched in front of your Youtube videos (at that time anyone could do that, now the hurdle is a little bigger). So the first months I didn’t earn a single cent with my videos and even in the months after that the income wasn’t such that one could live on it. But I had something much more valuable than money from it: fun and real joy in creating! If you are a creative person who likes to communicate, Youtube is a great platform to get into conversation. It was just a very cool hobby. The fact that over time this has become a well-paid profession is for me a bit like winning the lottery and I am very grateful for it.
