This week on the SHIPSHAPE podcast, we speak to Taylor Francis. Taylor is best known as the face behind Taylor’s Travels: a YouTube channel which has garnered over 200,000 subscribers since it was founded just a few years ago. Speaking to us from Ontario Canada, Taylor regales us with stories from her van-lifer and waitressing days, to some of the trickiest fixes of her boat, through to extraordinary Caribbean travels and, of course, one of life’s most complex adventures: navigating social media and modern-day relationships.

Check out her YouTube for more!

Transcript ——

Farah [00:00:09] Hello and welcome to the Shipshape Podcast, a series of podcasts where we meet amazing people and talk about their experiences, personal, technical.

 

Farah [00:00:21] Related to the maritime world. Come and dive in. Dive in. Diving.

 

Merrill [00:00:42] Today on the Shipshape podcast, we have Taylor Francis. Taylor is the producer of Taylor’s Travels, a YouTube channel that has over 200,000 subscribers. And we’re going to get to hear her take on how she’s become such a success. The host today is Merrill Charette. I’m a Liveaboard on a Ta-Shing Tashiba 36 in Boston, Massachusetts, and Ali.

 

Ali [00:01:05] I’m a former i liveaboard in boston, Massachusetts, but currently coming to you from paris, france, covering things from the land.

 

Ali [00:01:13] Wishing I was on the water.

 

Merrill [00:01:15] So, taylor, where are you coming from? How’s everything going?

 

Taylor [00:01:19] Things are going really well. I’m actually coming in from Ontario, Canada, just spending some time at home, visiting family and stuff during the hurricane season.

 

Merrill [00:01:29] So when you come home after your travels, you got a ton of stories to tell everyone, huh?

 

Taylor [00:01:34] Yeah. There’s no shortage of stories and experiences. And sometimes it’s hard too, because, like, you don’t want to seem like you’re, like, talking about all these amazing things that you’ve done and like, trying to sound like something you’re not. But then at the same time, I’m like, Wow, I have so many amazing stories to share. Like, I’m so excited to tell everyone about what’s gone on this season.

 

Merrill [00:01:56] Mm hmm. So I guess we’re going to get into it all. But you did Vanlife. You’ve been doing boat life for some time. You know, when you first decided to live this eclectic lifestyle. What did your parents think of this?

 

Taylor [00:02:11] So my parents have always been very, very supportive of me. Like, when I bought the camper van, I was only 18 and drove across Canada on my own. And so my mom always calls me her little gypsy child. And so they’ve always been really good about that. And we have a very close relationship. So I’m always keeping in touch with them. They always know what I’m doing, where I’m going and keeping an eye on me and making sure I’m safe.

 

Ali [00:02:35] And what’s the first thing you do when you get back on land?

 

Taylor [00:02:38] Tim Hortons If I’m back in Canada, the first thing I do is grab a Tim Hortons coffee.

 

Merrill [00:02:45] So, you know, you obviously will start from the beginning. You grew up sailing right, with your family, you know, but the idea of all sudden, you know, doing vanlife and going across the country, like what sparked that? You know, obviously there’s some type of madness, right?

 

Taylor [00:03:03] Yeah, absolutely. I think just from a very young age, I’ve never really felt like society’s normal standards really aligned with me. And, you know, in high school and stuff, it was a big push to like find out your career and and pick a education and go to school. And I really had no desire to do any of that. And I knew that and I was strong in that. I just had such a strong desire to travel because I grew up in such a small town, really hadn’t been many places before, and just wanted to get out and see the world. And I’m terrified of that. So I didn’t want to start out my twenties in a bunch of school debt and through kind of Instagram and stuff, the van life thing was starting to kind of ramp up and there’s a couple of different people that I follow. One in particular that was hugely inspirational for me was Brianna Media. She has an Instagram and does the van life thing in the desert. And I was just so blown away by that, like seeing that back then when I was 17, it was like, Wow, this is possible. Like people can live like this. And so bought the van and did that. But obviously at that time, social media was not my forte. I wasn’t making any income doing that and I just waitressed I just did waitressing because I knew it was a great job that you could do basically anywhere in the world. Like everybody needs to eat food, you can waitress and it’s decent enough money. And yeah, I was able to save up for the van and the motorcycle and my first boat all from just doing waitressing.

 

Merrill [00:04:46] So you did all this type of stuff. Did you do any like traveling before the van? Like, did you travel the world before? Like were that a little bit?

 

Taylor [00:04:55] So actually, the first time I had ever left Canada, I was 14. Travel down to Belize because I have some family down there. And then just I had just been on like little vacations to resorts in Mexico and stuff. And then my best friend and I decided to do this big trip to Thailand and that it was a month long backpacking trip. But that was just hugely mind opening to go to such a foreign place and have such a culture shock. And I think we both kind of definitely got the travel bug from that.

 

Merrill [00:05:31] Is it like a long distance trail that you were doing or.

 

Taylor [00:05:34] We kind of went all over. So we flew in to Bangkok and then we mostly did trains and busses and stuff to get around, but we wanted to see a lot of the country. And so yeah, we would take trains and busses. We went up north to Chiang Mai and then we went out to the islands like Topanga own Hotel, and I feel like we got a very good view because we went to many different parts and areas of the country. It was like we were just in one place and you got to see some areas that were a bit more raw than others and getting outside of just that tourist trap kind of thing and going off the beaten path and finding things out for yourself a little bit rather than doing it with like a tour or something, I think was what really kind of got us motivated to continue doing things like that.

 

Ali [00:06:26] Yeah, and I certainly like a bubble. I feel like they can keep you and they’ll show you what they want you to see. But when you hear things on your own terms, it totally changes.

 

Taylor [00:06:36] Absolutely.

 

Ali [00:06:37] So a question I have is when did things shift from, you know, waitressing and like testing out the waters, so to speak, to actually becoming something even monetize? Like was there a specific thing, video or moment that where you noticed, oh, this is happening?

 

Taylor [00:07:00] Yeah, definitely. So I had purchased my first sailboat, which I still have, and it’s just on Lake Huron here in Ontario and lived aboard that and worked at the restaurant there for like a whole season and then tried to make a couple of YouTube videos with my friend. And they were just God awful. Like we had no idea what we were doing, but it was just for fun. Like we weren’t trying to make anything serious out of it, but put those out there and ended up somehow getting in contact with another YouTube channel. And so Sailing Doodles reached out to me and had seen the videos. They were looking for crew and just somebody who kind of had a bit of sailing experience and had a little bit of editing experience. And so I have always been very artistic and I’ve always loved photography, always loved editing, and I’ve always kind of had a passion for that. And yeah, so invited to go on an eight month sailing trip and I said yes. And so that was kind of where it all began. And being exposed to that YouTube sailing world and kind of coming in with somebody who’s already very big in the YouTube world and has a successful channel was just an amazing learning platform to be able to see how everything works and just kind of opened up this whole new world to me that I didn’t really realize was there. And then that shifted in towards me being able to start my own YouTube channel. And luckily enough, I was actually able to monetize with my first video because I had a lot of following come over from that channel that because I left and I was kind of doing my own thing and a lot of them wanted to just see, continue seeing what my adventures were and what I was doing so was very, very lucky and very blessed to have had that kind of start to this career. And yeah, I definitely feel very lucky to have had that opportunity.

 

Ali [00:09:02] What was the most surprising thing, like sort of getting to see behind the scenes before? I mean, I want to say I think like the spinoff show of like another show and the Internet and.

 

Taylor [00:09:15] Yeah.

 

Ali [00:09:15] But what did you find most surprising about how things operate when you know it’s something that’s being made for social media?

 

Taylor [00:09:24] I think the biggest shock to me initially was just how much people recognize you when you’re in a sailing area. Like every marina we went to, they recognized sailing through those channel. And I was just like, whoa. Like, I had no idea all these people were this interested in this. Not like you’d actually get recognized walking around. And then it was kind of like, Whoa, like this. You start to realize that it is going out to the whole world and it’s it’s a bigger picture of thing. And so I think that was very eye opening, just seeing kind of the reach and the exposure that is actually there.

 

Merrill [00:10:02] So it seems like you do editing, but you also have like the whole boat and you’ve done the van live, so you have to be mechanical at the same time. So how does that factor into everything? Are you just really good at fixing things?

 

Taylor [00:10:14] Well, it definitely kind of runs in the family. So my father is like mechanical genius. You know, He’s been working on things his whole life and I’m the youngest and I have two older brothers. So growing up it was always like cars, things in. The driveway, boats being fixed. They’re always working on stuff. And luckily I my father is the kind of person who it’s not like just because I’m a girl, I can’t do what the guys are doing. And so he was very welcoming and inviting for me to join the boys and take part in what they’re doing, get my hands dirty, turn some wrenches. And so I think growing up with that kind of influence in my life and having very strong, capable mechanical men in my life to kind of show me the way has given me like a good base level. I’m definitely not a genius or like mechanical expert by any means. But growing up with that, there’s definitely some basic knowledge that is kind of lingering there from all of that.

 

Merrill [00:11:16] So does both stand for bust out another thousand?

 

Taylor [00:11:19] Absolutely. And that rings true for sure.

 

Merrill [00:11:23] What’s been the biggest repair that you’ve had to face? Like what was the most challenging thing that you’ve had to do so far?

 

Taylor [00:11:31] So definitely the most challenging thing was repowering. So putting in a new engine. You know, my first season with the boat crews down the east coast of the US and towards the end, once I finally made it to Florida, it blew a head gasket. And so the big trouble with that and it was such a kind of complicated situation, was being Canadian. I had spent my time in the U.S. and so I had to leave and my boat was broken and I physically couldn’t be there for another six months. And so there was really no option of me doing it myself unless I wanted to wait six months and then still have to do all the repairs. And then that’s a lot of time off and a lot of time away from content and filming and keeping the ball rolling. So it was a lot of decision making. And basically the two options were, you know, rebuild that engine, which is already very old, not so great engine that has been tinkered into by all the previous owners or, you know, get a new one. And so when I was weighing the options, basically my galley is completely fiberglass in all around the engine. And so even if I wanted to rebuild the old engine, they would have had to have cut out the galley, removed it and removed the engine. They couldn’t have rebuilt it in place. So at that point, with all those expenses of doing that and all that work, it’s like, why wouldn’t I just get a new engine? It’s the right thing to do. It’s going to give me the peace of mind in the future if I’m not just going to be holding my breath and waiting for something to go wrong again. And now that I’ve come through that and been able to have that replaced, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. It gives me so much peace of mind and sailing, you know, without that being a concern. You’ve got enough to worry about alone when you’re sailing and having a reliable engine that just fires up. When you turn the key and doesn’t give you any issues is amazing.

 

Merrill [00:13:35] So when you blew this head gasket, were you like, you know, cruising along and I’ll send you heard like an explosion and you were like, Oh, what the hell could that be?

 

Taylor [00:13:43] It was more of a slow and steady kind of deterioration. Over the course of the time that I was cruising, there were a lot of different issues, and overheating was a big one that kept happening. And there was a ton of like kind of hairy situations where I’m about to I’m waiting for a bridge to open and also the engine overheats and I have to shut it down and there’s traffic coming and I’m having to anchor in the middle of the channel and figure things out. And so that was kind of happening on a regular basis. And then finally, when I got into Florida and it had just overheated and there were multiple different factors, like there was a little bit of air that I kept having to bleed out and I would do that and then it would be fine for a month or a couple of weeks and it wouldn’t overheat and then all of a sudden it would come back again. And so I always like my pre checks kind of when I’m about to go kind of check the fluid, check the oil, check to go and check all that. And so I just happened to like pick my head in there and the coolant was just totally black and filled with oil. And then you look out underneath and there’s coolant and oil just leaking out of everything. And so at that point it was like, I give up trying to like Frankenstein this thing to work and trying to like, do all these little things just to get it to work for another week or another two weeks until it craps about again. And yeah, so that was kind of the final straw finding that and realizing that like this engine is not going to be getting me anywhere.

 

Merrill [00:15:20] Yeah, I’m sure your heart was pounding looking at that.

 

Taylor [00:15:23] Oh, yeah. I had a little bit of a cry and just the frustration and so tired of everything going wrong because that is definitely a theme of. Out life is it’s always breaking and something always has to be fixed then. And it had been a lot of that. You know, your first year on a boat, you’re kind of dealing with a lot of different bugs and just kind of chasing down problems and getting used to the boat and figuring things out. And so that alone. And then to have that kind of final straw that was like, man, I just want to give up. Like.

 

Merrill [00:15:55] I always found it fascinating. That shit seems to go wrong, right? When you needed to work the most.

 

Taylor [00:16:04] 110%. Yeah.

 

Merrill [00:16:07] So with all the work that you’ve done on the boat and refitting it and all of that, how you know, what’s your take on how there’s so much technology and all the, the things that are being produced, You know, like all the new engines for the most part are like, not only do you need to know mechanical, but you also need to know technology and all of that. How does that factor into everything?

 

Taylor [00:16:28] And that was a big part of the decision of what engine I was going to go with to replace it. And so originally I was very heart set on getting a brand new yanmar. I mean, most people in the boating industry know Yanmar It’s very good name, they’re good engines. And then I was kind of steered away from that because of the new engines and everything being electronic, right? And so if you have a problem, it’s hard to diagnose yourself. You need to hire a technician to come plug in their computer and diagnose it that way. And it’s very difficult to find those specific parts for those engines when you’re cruising all the world. And so in that aspect, it was like, well, I know something is going to go wrong again, and eventually something always does. And when, if and when it does, I want it to be simple enough for me to be able to work on it and diagnosis. And so that was where a couple of my friends who also have YouTube channels and are in the boating world steered me towards better marine engines because they’re basically just a mariano’s Kubota tractor engine. And so they’re very just simple and mechanical and straightforward and you can pretty much get parts for them wherever you are in the world. Like a lot of the parts are pretty universal. So you could go into an old tractor store or something and be able to find the boat that you need. And so that was kind of the biggest thing that led me towards, you know, keep it simple, stupid like that. Just don’t. Sometimes with all the new technology in certain cases, it’s great to have that stuff like autopilot and your your navigation and your chart plotter and things like that. But when it comes to the mechanical side of things, I definitely say like, keep it mechanical.

 

Ali [00:18:12] I think that’s really good advice. I mean, a lot of people get caught up then I don’t know why and to stick with what they know or what they know. And like you said, yeah, and I’m really familiar with everybody, but, you know, can you get somebody to fix that particular engine like in the Philippines?

 

Taylor [00:18:32] Maybe not exactly. Yeah.

 

Merrill [00:18:35] So where have you taken your boat to tell us some of your travels?

 

Taylor [00:18:39] Yeah. So this past season, once you got the new engine fix up the big refit like solar, our solar panels, batteries, chart butter, everything. She was good to go. And so went from the US to the Bahamas, Bahamas to Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, BVI, Dominica, Grenada and then ended off in Grenada to leave the boat there for hurricane season.

 

Ali [00:19:07] And of all of those, which was your favorite and which was your least favorite thing to now?

 

Taylor [00:19:12] I would say most favorite was Dominica. It was absolutely stunning. Just like huge mountains and lush jungle and waterfall. And the people were so welcoming and kind and it kind of it felt more remote. Like the people who were there were like the sailors and the locals. And it wasn’t so much like heavy tourism and like yacht charters and things like that. It felt more like that old fashioned cruiser community where you’re like really out there and just absolutely loved that place. Can’t wait to go back. But least favorite, I would probably say the British Virgin Islands, actually just the heavy traffic and all of the charter boats and the anchorages aren’t great. You pretty much always have to catch a mooring ball and pay for that. And so for the people who aren’t chartering and for the people who are liveaboard and cruisers, it’s it’s so commercialized almost. That kind of takes away from the whole reason of why we’re coming here and doing this is to is to have that raw sailing life. And so and also my boat drug over a reef. And I broke the rudder in half there. So not too fond memories of that place.

 

Ali [00:20:38] That has nothing to do with that, you know? Yeah.

 

Taylor [00:20:40] Yeah. Might have tainted my view a little bit.

 

Merrill [00:20:44] Oh. In terms of cruising. Right. How affordable really is it?

 

Taylor [00:20:49] I you know, that’s a very broad question, right? Depending on what kind of cruiser you are. So I would say there’s just to oversimplify it, there’s kind of two categories. And there’s the real salty sailors who are anchoring everywhere, never seeing in a marina and are mostly self-sufficient, like have water makers and things like that. And then there’s kind of the group who are I’d say I fit more into this group, like a bit of both. Like anchoring when we can stay in a marina, when we can kind of a bit of a balance of both. And I’d say, you know, obviously being a real true, salty sailor and wanting to kind of rough it out is obviously going to be more affordable. You know, if you’re in free anchorages all the time, you’re never paying for that. Basically, your costs are for fuel. And, you know, sometimes if you have to pay for water, if you don’t have a water maker and like basic necessities like food and groceries and alcohol, things like that, like you can keep it on a very tight budget if you’re roughing it, which gets very tiring. And I don’t think long term that is very sustainable. And then on the other hand, if you’re kind of doing a bit of both, like anchoring when you can, trying to save money when you can, and then also, you know what? Spending a little bit of money on a marina when you need it and you just want to plug in to shore power and have a safe place to be, or if there’s not great anchorages or anything, instead of suffering out there in a really, really anchorage and being miserable, you know, you spend a bit of money, get into a marina and you’re happy. And so I think the two ways of doing it, you can be very, very affordable. But mostly the thing that crosses over into both of those categories, that is the biggest expense is everything breaking all the time. So just the repairs and parts and tools and dealing with all of the things that break gets very, very expensive. And so if you’ve got a good boat and you want to rough it and you’re fixing stuff yourself, great again, more affordable. If you’re in the category where, you know, maybe you’re hiring people to fix things for you or you’re not capable or you’re just not interested in doing it, you want a professional to do it, things like that. When things go wrong, that’s where it kind of makes those two groups very different. And because that expensive than paying for somebody to help and do those things really kind of makes it very expensive.

 

Merrill [00:23:17] Yeah, those service providers can really jack you up.

 

Taylor [00:23:21] Mhm.

 

Merrill [00:23:22] So before we get into kind of how you managed to like balance social media, I got to ask you, what’s better the journey or the destination.

 

Taylor [00:23:31] Oh good question. Mhm. I don’t think I can pick one. I think both for different reasons, like the journey, more for the adrenaline and that kind of crossing into new territory and that feeling that it gives you that kind of fills you up with excitement is for me is the journey. And then the destination is more like the calm and the relaxed and the enjoyment of actually being there. And so I think equally both are very enjoyable. I don’t think I could pick one or the other that’s allowed. It’s okay. I say both the journey and the destination.

 

Ali [00:24:12] It sounds like it’s like the calm after the storm rather than the crackly garments, like you’ve been through the storm and now it’s time to enjoy.

 

Taylor [00:24:21] Yep.

 

Ali [00:24:22] So, Marielle, do you want to move on to or. I’d like to move on to the business. Yeah.

 

Merrill [00:24:28] We got this alley.

 

Ali [00:24:30] We both have it now, but yeah, so one of my the first things that came to mind after watching your videos and our Instagram, which I’m like, so impressed with when a following. I mean, thank you. Yeah, of course. Are you still like, oh my gosh. Or does it kind of feel like this is life now?

 

Taylor [00:24:55] Totally. No, it’s it’s weird to me all the time. Like, especially when I come back home and I’m in the small town that I grew up in and it’s like, you know, my following is three times the population of this entire town. And like, when you put it into that perspective, it’s like, so weird. But the funny thing, you know, with the social media thing is there’s such a disconnect and it almost doesn’t feel real because you can see that number on a screen and I guess in some way easier to process or like it doesn’t really feel real. But then if you were to picture all of those people and say, like an auditorium or something. And all of those people in one space. And it’s like, Whoa. And so that’s where I mean, most of the year I’m pretty isolated and I’m just kind of living my life and filming it. And it’s not like I’m doing it for a crowd or anything like that. And I don’t really see the followers side of things as much. And then that’s where it comes in to, like things like the Annapolis boat show where I went to that last year and I’ll be going into it again this year. It’s like shell shocking because you’re actually getting to face to face meet the people who are following you and actually get that physical view of the people that support you and that it’s still blows my mind. Like, I can’t believe that people even want to support me at all.

 

Merrill [00:26:16] Yeah, I was just at the Newport Boat show and they had a booth there for you to start. And it’s like I walk over and everyone’s like, Let me take a photo with all you know. And it was pretty wild. There are a few pirate looking dudes there, a few of the old salty, you know, Shipwrights. Yeah, it was a pretty wild time. And then talking to them, I was just like, Man, you guys are all just liveaboard, right?

 

Taylor [00:26:43] Yeah. And that’s the funny thing, you know, It’s like we’re all just people at the end of the day. And. And then it’s funny to have kind of, like, a situation like the boat show, I’d say like your 15 seconds of fame where it’s like all these people wanting to take pictures with you and all of a sudden you feel like a an effortless celebrity or something. And then once that’s gone, you go back to totally just living your life and doing your thing and not having that exposure. So it’s this is definitely weird mentally, and I don’t even think I’ve fully grasp it yet.

 

Ali [00:27:15] MM Yeah, that sounds like a lot to process. I mean, I feel like as a liveaboard or as a cruiser sailor, 99% of the time you’re alone or just with other people are doing the same exact thing as Yeah, right.

 

Taylor [00:27:32] So exactly.

 

Ali [00:27:33] And people are like, oh my God, like this is very, very different.

 

Merrill [00:27:39] It definitely blew me away of how many YouTube stars there actually are, and each one has their own like unique niche. Right. So. Well, what is yours?

 

Taylor [00:27:50] I would say mine is, is kind of the young female aspect. And so when I first got into the sailing world, the majority of everybody that I met and sailing around and all the cruisers that I met were of a certain age group that was not mine. And so I really started to like noticed that all the time. And so I think potentially that’s kind of the avenue of my channel that people find interesting is that I am a young person and I am a young woman, and I’ve worked hard to kind of make this happen for myself. And a lot of the channels are couples and things like that. And I’ve recently got into a relationship myself, but kind of where it started from was like just this young woman trying to take on the world and do what she wants to do. And I would like to hope that that is inspiring to people.

 

Merrill [00:28:46] Have you seen more women come into sailing since you started?

 

Taylor [00:28:51] Absolutely, yeah. And there’s been a huge influx. I think, honestly, because of COVID, a lot of people are able to work remotely now. And so a lot of I’ve noticed, even just in the last two years, that there’s been a huge influx of younger age cruisers out there. And this past season actually bodyboarding with some other young cruisers and meeting up with so many of them. It really opened up my eyes to like how many people there are, like us doing this right now, lot more than there was, you know, a few years ago. And so that’s really, really great to see, like seeing younger people kind of taking on this this thing that is very much people see it as like a retirement thing. And so to see young people like taking that on and going out and doing it is amazing And seeing more women feeling capable enough to do that as well is just amazing.

 

Merrill [00:29:46] So when you are planning your travels, right, because you have like season 1 to 3. So how does your success as a YouTuber affect, you know, what you do and what you decide to like, where you decide to travel and whatnot?

 

Taylor [00:30:02] I think honestly, like because it’s Taylor’s travels and although I am like predominantly Sailing channel, I have a few other avenues of traveling like the motorcycle and the camper van and things that my channel is a bit more broad. So I’m most of the time I’m just flying by the seat of my pants and wherever I’m going is where I’m going and wherever, you know, like the plan is to go to the boat show, okay, I’m going to go to the boat show and then I’m going to go back to the boat or whatever. And so. Very much loosely planned. I don’t have anything structured. I don’t have anything organized. And that’s kind of the beauty actually, of I guess the success for my YouTube channel is it has allowed me to have more freedom in that and has allowed me to continue flying by the seat of my pants and just trying to figure it out as I go.

 

Merrill [00:30:52] Do you have a team working with you, like make and like editing these videos and producing all of it? Just you, just me and how demanding of a job is that?

 

Taylor [00:31:03] It’s very demanding. In the last season when I was sailing and it was my first season really sailing my boat through the Caribbean and doing these bigger sails with the new engine and all of this new stuff, It’s just consumed all of my time. The boat and then also continuing to film. So if we want to go out and go spearfishing or like do something fun that we can film, then we’re out filming that and then, you know, come back after exhausting day. The last thing I want to do is edit, like, I just want to go to sleep and then the next day we have to sail. And then anytime I’m sailing or any time I’m offshore, anything like that, I’m a write off. Like, I can’t cannot look at a laptop screen if I’m on the boat underway and we’re sailing. Nor do I have the time. Like, I’m too busy sailing the boat to be able to work. And so this past season I definitely struggled a lot to keep up the content because I was just in over my head with everything that was going on in the moment, sailing and just keeping things going. And now that I’m I’m back and having a little bit of a break on land, I’ve been able to really focus and crush some videos and get them out. But it’s definitely a very difficult juggling act, cruising and trying to edit videos, trying to keep up with other social media like Instagram and all these things. And, you know, really it’s the job of like five people, like having a social media manager, having being a photographer or videographer and being an editor. And so it’s very much tasking and demanding, and I am guilty of having pretty poor time management skills. So yeah, it’s a challenge, but at the same time, I absolutely love it. So it’s not like, Oh, I have to go to work or I have to do this thing and it’s like so terrible. I actually love editing. I really enjoy doing it and it makes me so happy to make these videos. It’s just the time balancing act definitely gets very difficult sometimes.

 

Merrill [00:33:04] Yeah, when I was talking to all the influencers, I was like, How big is your team? I ask like each one of them and you know, they’re all like, Oh yeah, it’s kind of just me and I have to work like 8 hours a day doing it. I was like, Whoa, that sounds pretty intense. We lucked out with the podcast. We got a good group of people, so that’s awesome. So what’s the process? Well, I guess I feel like it’s so hard to be like, good with recording video, you know, like, how do you manage to stay on top of it? I feel like it can drag out like, you know.

 

Taylor [00:33:37] Yeah, I’ve definitely been through like a few kind of creative slumps before, definitely with filming. But I mean, luckily with my background and having always really had an interest and passion for photography and videography and things like that, I guess kind of comes natural to me. But the difficult thing with the sailing content is keeping it fresh. And because at the end of the day, it’s all kind of the same thing. You’re sailing from place to place. Like there’s only so much sailing footage that you can do. And so finding new ways of capturing that is really fun. Like, you know, 360 cameras or, you know, doing different angles and really doing that has been something that I’ve had a lot of fun with, just trying to do things differently than I normally would, you know, And because it’s very easy to get stale and to just kind of like pan the camera around and like here is the sailing. And so, yeah, just getting really creative with like different cameras, different camera angles and experimenting around with that kind of keeps it fresh and like not so stale. But I’ve definitely been through some creative slumps and like, especially when I’m having a hard time sailing and if things are going wrong and the weather’s crap and there’s times where I’m just like, I’m not even going to bother picking up the camera today. And you know what? That’s okay.

 

Ali [00:34:55] Absolutely. Yeah. There are tons of times where it’s like you’re in bad weather and people are like, I want to see you in bad weather. And it’s like, I can’t pick up the camera in bad weather because I’m too busy making sure that I stay alive.

 

Taylor [00:35:09] So exactly the amount of like amazing content I haven’t filmed is just through the roof. Sure.

 

Ali [00:35:18] I know it doesn’t kill you.

 

Taylor [00:35:21] It does. It really know. And then after the fact, you’re like that. And that’s just a regret.

 

Ali [00:35:29] I think is is a good segue. What we brought up before about social media and your personal life and what to share or not to share. Where do you draw the line? I have a million questions, but maybe you can just start out this what your experience has been like?

 

Taylor [00:35:47] Yeah, I think especially again, being from a small town and not really, I didn’t necessarily like push myself to be in the social media world like it very much happened organically and I took that chance and I and I ran with it. But, you know, by no means am I like a social media person. Like I actually joke around with my friends all the time that I’m like the worst social media YouTuber ever because I can’t even keep up with, like the trends in TikTok and, you know, things like that. And so coming from that kind of, I guess, inexperience with the whole YouTube thing and then being thrown full blown into it. It was definitely difficult to find that line of, okay, so now I’m just filming my life and I kind of just film everything I do. And, you know, most people go home from work and they’re done their day and they’re not thinking about work and they just hang out with their family. And for me, like, it’s a very weird thing having yourself as a business and because you can’t really turn it off, you’re always thinking about it. If I’m not filming something, I’m feeling guilty for not filming something. If I’m editing and I’m thinking about all the other things I have to do. And so you never really shut it off. And so that’s where I’ve come into more of the routine of, you know, when I’m sailing and I’m on my boat and I’m in my van, I’m doing my adventures, I’m all about filming that. But when I come back from hurricane season and I’m at home with my family, I don’t film anything. Like, I want to keep that this place kind of sacred, you know, for me and my family. And, you know, not everybody wants to be on YouTube or wants to be in the social media world. So like some of my very close friends and my family, like, I almost want to protect them from that. And I don’t I almost don’t want them to be a part of that. And so that’s really nice for me to just put the camera down, not worry about things, be myself with the people that I love. And that is very refreshing and kind of gives me the motivation to get back to it. Like when I’m back at the boat after having that time to just relax and be myself with my friends and my family, I feel rejuvenated and motivated again to then continue filming and sharing like it helps ease that burnout of feeling like you’re sharing everything and not having that balance. It kind of gives a little bit more balance to that, I think.

 

Merrill [00:38:14] I one time I was talking to one of like the higher ups of Boeing and I’m like, you know, how do you take care of all these planes? And he was like, Well, the secret is to go to almost the point of failure and then replace it. And I mean, it’s very much similar to burn out, right? It’s like if you go to the point where you’re burned out, you’re so screwed. Right? Then it’s like knowing when you’re starting to feel that and when it’s come too far that you’re like, okay, I got a pause and it’s okay to do that, right? Because, you know, you got to continue to be like, put it out stuff. It’s your business.

 

Taylor [00:38:51] So absolutely. Yeah.

 

Ali [00:38:53] I mean, say you’re not just balancing yourself, right? And you’re in the same relationship that I saw recently, and I’m very happy for you.

 

Taylor [00:39:01] Thank you.

 

Ali [00:39:02] One enjoyed watching that. I saw that one thing, one YouTube video. He said, like, you know, I never thought I was completely against it and I never thought I’d be in and around my husband like, the same way. I can’t, you know, like you will never see him anywhere, ever. So I feel like you’re lucky in a way that at least you know, your boyfriend or like, Well, I have to.

 

Taylor [00:39:28] Yeah, definitely very lucky. And like, that was again, like back to that whole like, where do you draw the line thing? And I shared a little bit about this in that video, but just, you know, navigating a new relationship like for anybody aside from like completely take the YouTube social media thing out of the equation, having just a new relationship that you’re trying to balance is very difficult and not difficult. It’s new. You’re figuring things out, you’re having fun. And so then adding like that YouTube into the mix is definitely a little awkward. Yeah, that’s.

 

Ali [00:40:01] The whole idea of like, Yeah, yeah.

 

Taylor [00:40:04] Yeah. And so but you know what? He has been amazing and has actually helped me so much with filming things and has really opened up to the idea of it all. And he has been amazing. Like he has helped me film so many things and now he’s even maybe inspired to start his own little YouTube thing like that. That’s changed. He’s doing very well. Yeah, I feel very, very lucky to have been blessed. With a partner who’s willing to work with me on this, and he wholeheartedly supports me through everything. And he’s like my biggest fan. And so it’s really special to have that and to have kind of gotten to this point now where, you know, we’re comfortable in the relationship and now sharing that isn’t so much of an awkward line to cross.

 

Merrill [00:40:52] So you’re only 23 and you know, most people at 23 have like absolutely no direction. I mean, I feel like I was there once. So it’s like, what are some of like you have any, like big goals that you want to do over the next few years or like, you know, what’s the future hold?

 

Taylor [00:41:11] That’s a good question. Honestly, again, like I’m such a live in the moment person that I really struggle with looking at the future. And it’s not until the opportunities are right in front of my face that I even have any idea what I’m doing. But as far as goals, I, I don’t necessarily have any like huge sailing goals. Like, I would love to cross an ocean at some point, but I don’t want to do it on my boat and I don’t want to be the captain, like for an ocean crossing. For a first experience like that, I think I would really learn more and gain more confidence and just have more of a great experience if I were crew for an ocean crossing. So potentially doing something like that would be probably a big goal. Like every sailor always wants to like have that under their belt. And so that’s definitely something that I would love to do at some point. But again, my boat, just to just say it to the boat for it and I also like as much as I have confidence in myself and I mean, I know that the boat could do it and I know that I could do it, but it’s the matter of like stress, time, money, aggravation and all of that. And so, you know, if I could do it on somebody else’s boat and get the best of the experiences and learn a lot, then I think I would be more capable and set up for doing that again, Being the captain of my own boat, just kind of I like to like, get experience doing things first. And, you know, I’m as much as I have confidence sailing and I’ve done a lot of this, I still like, I guess, know my limitations. And I always air on the side of caution and I’m always like more safety and like practical and realism rather than like, adventurous as I am. I’m not pure adventure. Like, yeah, I’m going to go do it. I don’t care if I’m out there for 30 days and I get the boat, get smashed to smithereens, I’m going to do it. Like I definitely have a more conservative view on that. Yeah, and other big goals, I really don’t know. I’m I’m always kind of wherever the wind takes me.

 

Merrill [00:43:17] So when we talk about like maritime and boating, I mean, it is pretty expansive and what that covers, it goes from like oil rigs to aquaculture to sailing to all these different facets. And not a lot of people really communicate between the different like kind of segments of it. And they all have their unique perspective on kind of like the ocean or like boating. Could you talk a little bit about what your like view of maritime is or maybe like the state of the oceans or stuff like that?

 

Taylor [00:43:50] Yeah, definitely. I think no matter what, I guess genre of the maritime world that you’re in, I think the one thing that all of us kind of share is that the ocean is extremely humbling and you can’t have a big ego and go out there because Mother Nature is going to check you pretty quick. And so I think everybody who is involved in working with the ocean has that deep respect that we all share and that kind of knowing that the ocean is it’s a force and many times it’s a force like not to be reckoned with. And it’s extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. And you go through, you know, sometimes hell and back with the experiences that you have, just trying to live on the ocean. And so I think that’s why there’s such a good camaraderie between, you know, whether you’re a sailor or, you know, working on a tanker, you can all kind of have that similar camaraderie of how difficult it can be and how dangerous it can be, but also how beautiful and how amazing it can be. And as far as the state of the oceans and the way things are environmentally, I would say is I’ve noticed in certain areas more than others that I’ve sailed to just the obviously like plastic and pollution and for the most part offshore and like sailing not near land. I personally haven’t really experienced that much like trash, like seeing it in the water, like maybe very, very few occurrences of that. But then when you’re sailing into areas that. Our closer to land that have bays and harbors and lagoons like the trash and the pollution in the water is is very bad in some areas. And it’s very sad to see, and especially as a person who’s coming into these countries who isn’t from these countries, it’s kind of like I guess it’s easy to be judgmental and be like, why aren’t you guys doing anything about this? Or like, why are you just littering trash into the water? And, you know, for some areas it’s just like they don’t know any different and they’ve grown up that way and they don’t necessarily know that that’s a bad thing. And so as far as the state of the oceans in that, I think everybody really has a lot to learn and a lot to kind of process in what we can do to counteract some of the negative things that are happening. And a lot of it just comes down to education and helping people to understand what the ocean does for us and what the ocean gives us and how we can kind of give back to that. You know what I mean? Mm hmm.

 

Merrill [00:46:32] Yeah. I mean, I like to think and I tell people all the time that if you kind of look at the ocean like nations have been built off air and you know all of that, But we’re very much at the beginning of the beginning, Right. Not a lot of people know about the ocean that much. And by it’s becoming more and more aware. And that’s why a lot of these like channels are doing, you know, creating awareness. And it’s that that will ultimately kind of change how society sees that. But another point that you were getting at, right, about just how humbling the ocean is. There’s a quote where it’s like there’s nothing more enticing, disenchanted and enslaving than a life at sea.

 

Taylor [00:47:16] That is accurate. That is very, very accurate. I like that quote.

 

Merrill [00:47:21] Hmm. Well, as we wrap this up, what type of tips and advice would you give a younger person that’s thinking about like, you know, living this alternative lifestyle, exploring all of that?

 

Taylor [00:47:34] Yeah, I’d say tip number one would be just to get yourself out there and, you know, insert yourself into the sailing world. And that doesn’t necessarily mean going out and buying a boat, you know, that can be taking sailing courses at your local, you know, wherever is local to you or hopping aboard a friend’s boat or, you know, there’s things like cruise seeker and things like that to where you can go and crew on other people’s though because I think honestly the best way to learn and to get into it is by being crew. You know, you can’t just jump on and say, I’m the captain now. And so if you’re a younger person wanting to get into it and don’t really know how to kind of bridge that gap of how do I kind of jump in headfirst, just put yourself out there and gain experience. However that might be, whether it’s sailing a little Hobie Cat around the lake or something. Just gain experience, get yourself out there, gain more knowledge of it. Another tip is watching YouTubers like as silly as that sounds. Before I even started YouTubing and when I was going to buy my first boat at 19 years old, I was watching all the YouTube channels. And you know what? I actually learned a lot and I saw a lot from the realities, like the things that they were working on and and everything they were doing. It was really eye opening and it’s inspiring. Like you want to keep the inspiration going, you want to be excited about it. And so honestly, watching YouTubers kind of gives you that motivation and helps you learn something along the way. And it’s fun. And then I’d say the last tip be especially for women, don’t be afraid of the things that you don’t know, because this is what I always say. Like when I find a big thing that is preventing, I’d say, some women from really wanting to pursue the sailing on their own is the mechanical side of things. And so, you know, a lot of women don’t necessarily feel comfortable or capable to get tackling that. And so they’re like, well, you know, maybe if I get a boyfriend someday I can do it or maybe whatever. And so, you know, at the end of the day, with my brothers and even my boyfriend and being on the boat around men who are mechanical when they don’t know something, they Google it, you know. End of the day, that’s what happens. And there is no there’s nothing about mechanics that men are necessarily better at it than women are, that women can’t understand it. And obviously, there’s some physical things like sometimes I can’t like pull an injector because I don’t have the physical strength, but, you know, there’s really nothing to be scared of or intimidated of with that mechanical side of things and or even just anything that you don’t feel like, you know, because you just learn. And there’s nothing that says that a woman can’t learn that and can’t do that. It’s just a matter of how much you want and how interested you are and. So, yeah, just don’t be afraid of the things you don’t know. Don’t be afraid to learn. Don’t stop yourself from learning because you’re going through all the what ifs in your head.

 

Ali [00:50:37] I love that. I think that’s really well said, really eloquently put. I’ve run into a lot of women who have sort of hit these hurdles of like, I just can’t do it. And it’s like, why can’t you do it? And they’re just scared, really. And I mean, iconic scares me a little bit. Like, I don’t like dealing with AC power right now.

 

Taylor [00:51:03] I feel you. Yeah.

 

Ali [00:51:05] But. But it’s doable. Everyone can do it. You know, it’s sometimes it’s a matter of strength that there are men that can’t pull that thing out either.

 

Taylor [00:51:13] Exactly. Totally.

 

Merrill [00:51:15] Well, any repair on my boat? I have, like, a panic attack, and I’m like, Oh, my God. And I have this, like, thing where if I don’t know it, I’m just, like, terrified of it.

 

Ali [00:51:23] Totally.

 

Taylor [00:51:24] I mean, I. I’m the same way, right? And that’s thing just normalizing that. But, like, it’s okay to be afraid and it’s okay to not know something. Like in the YouTube, especially with, like a lot of the commenters and stuff, there’s a lot of armchair sailors who love to tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong and all those things. And it’s like, You know what? There’s nothing wrong with not knowing because that’s how you figure it out. Like at the end of the day, that not knowing is what gets you to becoming more experienced and being confident, because eventually you’re going to have to figure it out. Right. Like, there’s no reason to, like, stigmatize that or be afraid of that or think that it’s like bad that somebody doesn’t know how to use a voltmeter. Like it’s okay.

 

Ali [00:52:06] Right.

 

Merrill [00:52:07] Well, Taylor, I thought those were very eloquent tips, and it was great to have the opportunity to talk to you and hear your story and all of that.

 

Taylor [00:52:16] Yeah, you guys as well. Thank you so much for having. It’s been it’s been a pleasure.

 

Farah [00:52:40] Check back every Tuesday for our latest episode and be sure to like, share and subscribe to ship shaped up for.