• Josh Cahill on inspiring local content creators 

One of the key currencies in the digital world is content, especially content that can inspire others to invest time or money in an experience. Popular YouTube airline critic and aviation vlogger Josh Cahill conducted a workshop titled ‘Inspire SriLanka’ on 11 March at the Courtyard by Marriott, Colombo. Cahill is one of the most-watched flight reviewers on YouTube and is best known for having organised Afghanistan’s first all-female flight together with Kam Air in February 2021 on a flight from Herat to Kabul, for which he received the Aviation Achievement Award.

Cahill conducted the workshop in collaboration with local creators – Sri Lanka’s YouTube Ambassadors and travel content creators Sheneller and Shehaan and online creator Hesh De Silva. Speaking about the workshop and his motivation for conducting such an activity for local content creators, Cahill shared that the workshop had been designed to not only inspire Sri Lankan creators but also to provide a space for networking and knowledge sharing. 

The workshop was notable in that it was conducted for free and the facilitators, including Cahill and the other creators involved, conducted the programme as a self-motivated initiative to share their lived experiences and also to provide some inspiration to further the Sri Lankan creator ecosystem. 

The workshop 

Cahill shared that, as had been discussed at the workshop, he had hoped to inspire local creators at various stages in their creator journey, which was partially why he had chosen applicants who were both starting out and also creators who had some momentum going to take part. He noted that as someone who had also started from scratch, he felt that he had something to share in terms of what it took to get started in the creator market. 

“You don’t need much to become a successful content creator. Anyone with a GoPro or smartphone can shoot and upload content. The only thing limiting you is yourself. Put in the hard work and results will follow,” he said, recalling how he himself had started as someone who did not have much, but always had a passion for travel – backpacking whenever he could and couch surfing. 

Commenting on his beginnings as a creator and the integrity of a creator, Cahill noted that when creating content, it was necessary to remain impartial in order to maintain credibility, since that was how you created trust between yourself and your audience. “If you accept freebies, it is harder to remain unbiased in your reviews. I am self-funded. This way, I can do an honest review and give constructive feedback to the airline. Prior to becoming a full-time content creator, I worked for an airline in China and saved up enough to pay for my own flights. Content creation was just a hobby of mine, but it eventually turned into a career,” he said.

One key piece of advice Cahill stressed was vital for aspiring creators was finding your niche and sticking to what you were good at. Speaking from his own experience, he said: “In my case, I have always had a huge sense of adventure and my biggest passion is aviation and aeroplanes. I just had to find a way to get airborne. That is how I ended up reviewing airlines.”

He also said that while it was important for aspiring creators to be open to new experiences, when finding your niche, you must also look into diversifying your content and always look to fill a gap in the market. He noted that it was necessary to look for opportunities and find sub-niches. “For example, last year I travelled to Nigeria in search of new aviation content. Africa is the second most populous continent and flying there is likely earning me over a thousand new subscribers.”

What to focus on for the future 

The facilitators all referred to the importance of building a personal brand. Team Shneller made note of the necessity of consistency and also having a positive outlook. They noted that while they had the passion and the drive to produce quality content, they had not always been so lucky, at least in the beginning, facing many challenges including the incredibly unfortunate travesty that had been the Easter Sunday bombings, which had happened just following a massive launch they had planned for their channel. 

They also noted the significance of executing with consistency and maintaining the value of their brand image: “Only work on projects that add value to your brand. You need to learn when to say ‘no’. Further, you need to invest all resources to execute despite uncertainty. Also, don’t be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone to do what is, in essence, your personal brand.”

The creators collectively echoed that while you could definitely make money, you must not look at content creation purely for the sake of making money. They stressed that if you kept going and if it was what you loved to do, the money would come. On a closing note, Cahill added that what he had hoped to achieve through his visit to Sri Lanka and through the workshop had been to support the incredibly talented creators emerging in Sri Lanka, noting that he saw great potential here and that he hoped to continue to support them in any way he could.