How to Become a Travel Vlogger With a Camera and a Dream Featuring Travel Influencer Luke Damant | TNE043

In today's episode, we're joined by Luke Damant and Australian born world traveler was amassed, nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and 350,000 followers on TikTok.

Luke is known for his raw and unfiltered style of vlogging, which helps his audience easily relate to him. Having started off as just a kid with a dream Luke's built an empire in the travel space. Today, while he waits for the borders to reopen. Luke runs a successful marketing agency that aims to skyrocket your success on social media and generate leads for your business.

Oh, and did I mention he's only 20 years old.

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Transcript

Just a Kid With a Camera With Dreams of Culture Featuring Travel Influencer Luke Damant Transcript | TNE043

Host: Omar Mo

Guest: Luke Damant

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Intro-

You live in a day and age where anyone with a camera and a dream can become a world-known influencer if they put in the time, work and effort. So if you're listening to this and have had a dream to become an influencer or own an online business, what's stopping you. We're joined by Luke Damant and Australian born world traveler was amassed, nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and 350,000 followers on TikTok.

Luke is known for his raw and unfiltered style of vlogging, which helps his audience easily relate to him. Having started off as just a kid with a dream Luke's built an empire in the travel space. Today, while he waits for the borders to reopen. Luke runs a successful marketing agency that aims to skyrocket your success on social media and generate leads for your business.

Oh, and did I mention he's only 20 years old. Before we get started, I'd like to ask you to please hit that subscribe button and leave a rating or a review. Every subscriber, every review, gets us one step closer to becoming more visible and helping another person who needs this one bit of inspiration or that one bit of information to change their life forever.

Your review may just be the reason someone else gets their life changed. A real butterfly effect. With that being said, here we go. 

You're listening to The Nomadic Executive hosted by Omar from nomadables.com join Omar as he sits down and speaks with leading online entrepreneurs, remote workers and digital nomads about everything from business strategy to travel and lifestyle design. Together, we're here to help you achieve a life of happiness, health and freedom. And now here's your host, Omar Mo. 

Omar:

We’re inbred travelers. And on top of that, it's weird because like how much of Australia have you really seen?

Luke:

Not much at all. 

Omar:

And same goes for me, man. I barely seen any of America. 

Luke:

Yeah, exactly. I just have no interest in seeing Australia though. I don't have interest in seeing like America or New Zealand or even like parts of Europe, just because I feel culturally it's way too similar that it shouldn't be for West, like very similar, obviously there's different things in like European stuff, but I'm like really fascinated by like Asia in the middle East, because they’re completely different. And like that. 

Omar: 

So what drives you for travel is the cultural aspect. 

Luke: 

Yeah. And just experiencing new things and just saying different difference. I guess. I guess I get bored very easily. I always want like difference. 

Omar:

Let's dive into that a little bit there, and this is to really I guess satiate my own curiosity. Right. Because I like to know people's motivations behind things and especially when it comes to travel when it's something, so dear and near to my heart, um, what really drove you to start traveling at first? And I mean, you've been traveling for how long after I know the last few posts you were in India, how long?

Luke: 

I'd say a year sort of on and off. 

Omar:

Okay. So what really pushed you out to start traveling at first? 

Luke:

Initially, it was like when I was a kid. I was like filming vlogs and everything. And we just had that vision of like being a YouTuber. And then slowly, when I was like finishing school and realized that university wasn't really familiar or anything, I started watching a lot of like travel vlogs and just people living like in Bali and is living such a cool life and digital nomad kind of stuff like that.

And I was just like, look like if they can do it, why can't I like that's so cliche, but. Um, that's why I was like, look, I'm just gonna do that. See what happens. I left Australia in May of 2019, and I was like, I'd been working my ass off, like six months, not spending. I spent like $50 a week just on petrol to get to and from work. I wouldn't eat out or go clubbing or anything, just working my ass off.

And then I left Australia and I was like I made a, a running out of money coming back, working my ass off and doing it again or coming back home when I've established some sort of following or some business sort of thing. So that's when I took the vlogging like seriously when I reached India, which was the third country on that trip.

And then ended up having like 80k on YouTube. And then I was like, Oh, I sort of, I think I've reached one of my goals. Second, come back home. I was sort of homesick as well at that time that had been like six months of travel. 

Omar:

So at this point you have like what? 140k on YouTube? 

Luke:

Yeah, I think 150k now.

Omar:

And you started your actual YouTube channel when like May 2019? 

Luke:

I started posting consistently in May 2019, but I had posted like a vlog every month when I was like 17, 18. 

Omar:

So from that 17, 18 moment up until May 2019, before you started posting consistently, how many followers did you get between that or subscribers?

Luke:

Maybe like a thousand but I wasn't, I was in school still. I wasn't really taking it seriously. 

Omar:

So how did you like… and that's, that's a pretty hard task because you never meet and I've met some YouTubers that do it, like consistently. Like really consistently, you know, and these guys have been doing it for like three years. And finally, after three years, some video hits and they start reaching. And they're finally at like a hundred, 150k after three years. But years went from a thousand in May 2019 to like June this year, which is just slightly over a year and you had 140k, how'd you do it? 

Luke:

Uh, just consistency. Like for two months when I was in India, I just was filming every single day. Um, just consistently continually uploading videos.

And also I consumed a lot of content. I knew in the travel space as well, what was sort of trending and like food vlogs are huge in India. So I was doing a lot of food blogs, like I'm a digital marketer now, but I do understand greatly like the marketing sort of behind it all. Um, and I feel like it just blew up out of nowhere and yeah, I dunno. It just sort of happened. 

Omar:

That's cool. Congratulations. 

Luke:

Once you have that base, uh, some form of following, it's just compounding. It's easy just to continue off of that. And it's easy to get trending and focus on other platforms as well. 

Omar:

And you really love what you do as well. You know, like I,  from what I saw on TikTok, you were making straight like travel content, which I think especially now during like the crisis and all that, it's pretty tough to maintain and grow a following around, you know, but you've managed to do it, which I think is pretty awesome.

It really stood out because I could tell just from that content that you were making, that you really do have a deep seated love of travel and you come off as like this very humble kind of, yeah, travel is like my part of my life and stuff. But like the thing is, and from what I've seen from your content and stuff, like your life is travel, travel is you. And everything you do and everything that you do is for experiences seeing that, um, fix of like wonder and of adventure and of new experiences and cultures. Do I have that pin right? 

Luke:

That's exactly… Perfect. Took the words. Right out of my mouth.

Omar:

And I think it's easy for me to say it because I have that same feeling, you know, like,  the whole reason I ever got into digital marketing or the whole reason that I ever started this brand, or, um, started building a website or anything that I do, period in the past three, four years was all was nothing stems from making money or… Uh, trying to make a name of myself or something. It was all from that love of travel. 

Luke:

Yeah, exactly. I even, like I knew that going in and even there's comments on that, some of my early videos, when I was traveling in India, people like I had 50 K or something and people were saying, Oh, you should stop monetizing your videos.

And there's literally comments that me saying I don't do this for the money. Cause I know as soon as I start turning this into a business, it's going to be a whole different sort of path of how can I make money, et cetera. So I don't think I advertised until I reached 50 K, but there's there's comments like on my channel, in my videos of me saying, like, I do this for the love of travel and the love of content creation, not just to earn a buck.

Omar:

Yeah. That's, that's very noble and true, you know? And I think maybe that's even a reason that your followers kept coming back to you. Do you felt like, did you feel like that you built some sort of deep connection with the people that were subscribing to you? 

Luke:

Yeah, a hundred percent. 

Omar:

Give me, go ahead and give me some examples. Cause I'm really curious. I've. Okay. I have a decent following on tech talk, right? It's not, I have one 10th of the following that you do though. But to me, it's not really about the followers. I really haven't been making content much these days because I've been focusing on other things. I'll slowly get back into it 100%, but meeting somebody that has a following on YouTube, like the way that you do, I've never actually sat down and interviewed somebody like that and been able to share it with my audience. So I think it's an excellent moment to do this right now. So if you could give me some examples of the way that you've cultivated this sort of connection with your audience, that would be awesome to hear.

Luke:

Initially, when I was creating the video is like the first video I uploaded. Uh, it's so simple, but just responding to every single comment, every single damn it's hard now. I don't want on social media for the past few months, but, uh, I just get too many messages and comments at the moment. But especially when starting out, it's so simple.

Just actually care about the people. Think in your position, if you were commenting on a video of one of your favorite YouTubers and you don't get a respond or response, it's not going to, you're not going to be inclined. To again, comment, but sometimes if you get a response from your favorite YouTuber, you're like, Oh my God, Oh my God, maybe I'll comment again and he can respond. So like for the first 50,000 subscribers, I literally commented and respond to every single comment on my video. Every single damn I got every single comment on my Instagram. Like it takes time, but it's, I think that's how you actually build a genuine connection. Uh, with someone like personal connection.

And as you mentioned, it's not really about the qual… the quantity of followers. It's more, much more about the quality of… right. 

Omar:

So at this point, do you feel like you have people that kind of like look up to your content and like, look forward to your next piece of content and maybe reach out to you and say, Hey, your content helped me this way or did this for me or did that for me?

Luke:

Yeah. Well, I know for a fact that is true because I get messages. Uh, on, on a weekly basis, back when I was creating videos, it was on a daily basis of people saying like, you've inspired me to like, travel around, like, I love your videos. You're just, you know, blah, blah, blah. Like, it's awesome to hear that kind of, um, knowing that you're making some kind of positive impact to the world.

Omar:

So it made me sad. When, when you wrote on your Instagram, when I saw it, it was like ex traveler. And then I looked at your last post and it was like three months ago and I saw your YouTube and it was like three months ago. And I was just like, why did he stop? You know, like, why did you write something that's, it's almost fatalistic, like, I don't travel anymore and your entire, all your concepts, but yet here you are in TikTok making content. And even that isn't the last post on TikTok was from like three months ago. I think it was in July or September or something, but why, why are you in that position now where you're just like, I'm an ex traveler and you haven't made content in a while.

Luke:

I just thought it was funny just in my bio. Well, obviously with everything going on, there's a lot of restricting and stuff as an Australian on literally not allowed to leave the country unless I have an exemption, which has been incredibly hard to come by. And travel for me, especially back when it all was happening, travel in the foreseeable future just wasn't really on my radar, just because of how strict the rules were. And also coming back to Australia, you have to go into hotel quarantine for 14 days, which costs like a couple thousand dollars. Um, so yeah, I was just told to take a break. Yeah. But the thing is that I'm always thinking long-term like, I always just think five, 10 years down the track, not in the immediate future, but I know what I'm doing now with my marketing business is going to help me be able to travel and pump out even more content down the line when traveling does become a thing again, I'm not going to have to worry about funding. I'm going to be able to have like filmers with me, all that kind of stuff, um, to help me produce better content. 

Omar:

So how's your marketing business going now? 

Luke:

It's going good, it's going good. 

Omar:

Got in a few clients and whatnot. 

Luke:

Yeah. It's been tough with Corona. Everybody is sort of, uh, like obviously trying to save money. But it's also been a benefit because now everybody's on social media. So social media is a very powerful, powerful tool, but, um, yeah, we got four clients at the moment, so, um, yeah, that's helping and, um, it's just cool because especially when I travel, I have very low expenses.

I don't really spend much, but the money that I'm making through my agency now is easily going to be able to fund my travels when I'm traveling. 

Omar:

Yeah, that's awesome, man. Now you've got an online source of income coming in and you're just waiting out when the traveling starts. And when you do that, then you're going to be back on the road, making content for YouTube and Instagram.

So what does the future hold for you then? What's this vision that you see in your head? 

Luke:

Waiting for the government to let me travel. Until then is keep working at the business. Obviously scale that. But, um, like I'm a content creator, like from the bottom of my heart, that's what has gotten me into all this.

So just like content creation is, which is ironic because I haven't posted for a few months, but that is at the bottom of my core. That is who I am. So yeah. Everything just revolves around. Not really. Hmm…

Omar:

I think it's a content creation here. Do you have like any tips for content creation? Like I know for a lot of people, especially my audience, it's kind of hard going in front of a camera and, uh, you know, exposing yourself out to the world or like even simply talking into a camera one way.

Like, I think the reason that I do a podcast is because I get to have a conversation with somebody face to face, as opposed to like, you know, looking into a camera and just talking. So what kind of tips do you have for that? 

Luke:

Um, I get asked like a lot how to make videos. My number one tip is just to begin because it's… you just learn so much from actually doing the process.

But in terms of, if you're saying like, people are sort of scared to be on camera, if that thankfully like I'm naturally just calm, very comfortable on camera. Ironically, I consider myself an introvert. I don't really like big groups or anything, but as soon as the camera is in front of me, I get very comfortable, but I think, um, like if people are scared, but they really want like a career of vlogging or something like that, you have to really just weigh up the alternatives.

There's really only two options. And you're going to do, you're either going to get in front of a camera and succeed in the direction that you want to or not get in front of a camera and do something else that you then get a question. Or what if I did that? What if I. Did that. So there's only really two options.

It's up to you, which one you decide. Then it gets easier the more you do it, like I'm super comfortable on camera. And it, like when I was beginning, it was a little bit uncomfortable in certain situations, uncomfortable. But as soon as you sort of experienced it and all that, like it gets a lot easier.

Omar:

Yeah, I would think, I remember when I first started podcasting, I remember how weird it was. I got I'll sit there in front of a mic talking to somebody and I have to keep thinking in the back of my mind, I think what is something that really screwed me in the beginning? And I don't know, maybe if you can relate or not, but, um, there was a constant like, Oh yeah, I have to steer this podcast in some direction or do this, or do that, you know?

And when you do that, you're not really focusing on the actual person in front of you. So maybe, I guess in YouTube senses, you're not really focusing on the camera or focusing on actually enjoying the thing that you're doing. And, um, yeah. Then, then I realized that just made for really bad episodes. So as I slowly got more comfortable and I started really enjoying the person I was talking to rather than trying to make everything so perfectionist, it was really the unlock for me. 

Luke:

Yeah. Well that's like, my content is as raw as it gets. Usually, it's just like a couple of clips, no editing. Just cut in between some…

Omar:

So you know how to edit

Luke:

Well. I chuck it in premiere pro, but I don't add any effects half the time. It's just one clip that I can upload straight from my camera to YouTube. So, uh, it’s as raw as it gets really, and I think that's sort of, it's sort of my niche, I guess it's…

Omar:

You think that’s what people are looking for?

Luke:

None of that fancy editing. I just have a GoPro with a selfie stick that I walk around.

Omar:

So real authenticity is what you're saying. 

Luke:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Authenticity a hundred percent. 

Omar:

Yeah. Interesting. You hear about that all the time. You know, from like the really big ones, like Gary V blah, blah, blah, like be authentic, show yourself, but you never really think to do it yourself because you're so used to like Hollywood films showing these big, old edited movies, you know, like, but it's really in your living proof of it that.

If you really just, it's not so much about the quality or it's not so much about the production value of what you're doing. It's more about the message and who you are behind it. 

Luke:

Yeah, no, exactly. I think I, I guess it's, uh, my whole thing is like a personal brand. So people come to, um, watch me and watch me speak and share my experiences.

So if they're coming to see me, it shouldn't really matter. Uh, what. Like, obviously, if you're filling with a potato, it's not going to get anywhere. You don't need a 4k DSLR or whatever, you have to buy the best quality and you don't have to spend 5,000 on editing. Um, I'm not sure if they're just keeping it real and all that 

Omar:

Sick man. That's cool to meet an actual vlogger here too. 

Yeah. So have you decided what other countries you want to go to? I've seen that you've been to India and stuff. Have you been to New Zealand yet? Just out of curiosity. 

Luke:

No, I have not been to New Zealand. It does, doesn't really interest me. 

Omar:

Right. I think if, if you want to go to more Southeast Asia,

Luke:

Any part of Asia just fascinates me so much. I don't know what it is. It's just New Zealand. I actually did. Don't really have any interest in visiting maybe for like a snowboarding trip, but again, it's way too similar to Australia. I want things totally different to anything that I've experienced. And I think that's why I love India so much because the diversity in India, as well as just as always something going on.

And it's completely different to anything I sort of experienced before in Australia. 

Omar:

How was it stepping into India like that? I bet it was really hot. 

Luke:

Yeah. Well, I, I forgot that it was like some of the, so I rocked up in the end of May, which is the peak of summer. So going into Delhi, like…

Omar:

Don't tell me you showed up in a, in a coat and some sweats or something?

Luke:

No, actually, no, I had, I had shorts on. 

Omar:

Okay. So you knew, you knew ahead of time. 

Luke:

I just only wear really shorts and a t-shirt everywhere. I know how hard it was going to be, but I that's the thing though, all of my travel is just so unpredictable. I never plan anything. It's always just day by day, I just spontaneously just booked a flight to India. I didn't think about, it's funny that I mentioned this, but I didn't think about like airport scams or anything like that. And after my experience landing in India, now I have. Uh, I sort of, when I go through to new countries, I do look at like immigration and like scams that happened at the airport.

Omar:

Did you get scammed?

Luke:

Like, yeah, it was a bit of a crazy story.

Omar:

Let's hear it. Let's hear it. 

Luke:

I didn't lose any money or anything, but like I had just gotten off a flight from Thailand. And rock up to the airport. I had a hostel booked and I had a taxi driver book through the hostel and walk out like into Delhi, super hot, like the airports can air condition, but then stepping outside, it's like, Oh my goodness, it's something else.

And there's just so many people with like signs and people picking up the, uh, customers or whatever. I couldn't find my name anywhere. I walked around for like five minutes. Trying to find my name. And then I went to the KFC just to try and like, I didn't just want to stand out in heat as well as I know if I was just standing out, I'm obviously like a lost tourist victim.

Omar:

Vulnerable.

Luke:

Yeah. Vulnerable. So I went into KSC and um, asked someone there to borrow their phone. And I called my hostel. They didn't pick up. Um, had some food at KFC. I was vlogging at the time. Thankfully 

Omar:

Is the KFC, side note here, is the KFC different there than it is in Australia?

Luke:

Uh, no, it's like exactly the same 

Omar:

Really. Okay.

Luke:

I don't really eat fast food or anything like that

Omar:

Yeah. Probably not a good idea or not even that you just don't want to when you're in a country like that. 

Luke:

Yeah. Yeah. Like the food in India is incredible. I don't know why you'd go for fast food.

Omar:

KFC. Exactly. 

Luke:

Anyways, had another look for my driver, walked around for like five minutes. I'm like, fuck, like he's not here. Worst comes to worst, let's just go with someone that approaches me. Like what, like literally what is the worst that can happen? Like probably get like murdered or kidnapped, but there's like, he's just driving. There's nothing that can happen. He's just driving.

Omar:

That's a good attitude to have. 

Luke:

That was like. No. It's probably a bad attitude to have because that’s what screwed me over in end. I ended up going with this guy and, uh, it was like 700 rupees, which is like 14 Australian dollars or something. I'm like, well, yeah, that was the price that my original driver was going to cost.

Anyways. Like I knew from the start, there were like two guys in the, in the car, like in the front that knew each other. I'm like this isn't like usually how stuff goes. Anyways, go to another car, get taken. And I'm just with this one guy and he's like driving through, he's like asking me all these questions like, Oh, how much is your camera? And how much are your shoes and stuff? 

Omar:

What? Sketchy.

Luke:

Yeah, sketchy. And then he was saying, he was saying how busy it was cause it was school holidays anyways, ended up, um, apparently, my hotel, the road to my hostel was booked, uh, closed. So he had to go like diversion and then he said there was no way that we could get to it.

So let's go to a tourist center. And obviously like half of them are fake over there, the tourist centers. So we go to this tourist center trying to figure out what I can do because my hostels blocked off apparently. Um, and I spent like two hours in there calling up like different hotels and stuff. Um, and apparently they're all booked out there. So it was a  continuous…

Omar:

So it was a really elaborate scheme. 

Luke:

Yeah, it's really well thought out, but thankfully, like I didn't get caught out, but like I was calling the numbers on like booking.com and then somehow it'll get redirected to their friend. I didn't know this at the time, but then their friend would call and be like, Oh, like we're booked out called like 10 or like 20 of these hotels also at the time I didn't have a (inaudible) um, which obviously, so I was just lost out there. Um, Anyways, I was vlogging this whole time and they didn't really let me vlog inside of the tourist center because obviously if I go to on a film, they’re screwed, so I was going outside and just filming like short clips. And then after like two hours, I filmed one clip and then came back in and then apparently everything was okay. And they took me to my hostel. 

Omar:

So why did they change their mind?

Luke:

I think because I was filming everything. I'm filming. 

Omar:

That's a pro tip right there. If you're going to be in a third world country, if you want to avoid some scams, bring a GoPro with you. 

Luke:

Yeah. Just love it. So that's how I got saved, I guess.

Thankfully, they didn't take any money. They were trying to get me to buy all these tools and stuff, but that was a real, uh, welcoming to India

Omar:

That’s one hell of a way to get introduced to a country. That's for sure. So you spent a whole year there in India. 

Luke:

No, no. I spent, um, the first trip was about three months.

Um, went, uh, then I went home, came back for two days and then blew my hand up. 

Omar:

I think I saw that. That's how I found you, with the bloody hand. How did you do that? By the way? 

Luke:

Yes. Well, we were celebrating a festival called Diwali, which is just like a ton of follow-ups and stuff like that. But we were like playing fireworks and all that. And um, like all of them were kind of like you could, you lit it and you could tell that it was lit because it was just like fizz and you throw it away. Um, I did one that fizzed a little bit and then just stopped. So I'm like, all right, it's not lit. So I'm like still trying to light it and then bang.  

Omar:

Boom. Dang. How does your hand look now? Is it fine? 

Luke:

Yeah. It's okay. Well I lost my middle finger.

Omar:

That's fucking nuts, dude. What?

Luke:

It looked… fun. 

Omar:

I can't… Wait. So you lost your middle finger and you lost part of that finger. 

Luke:

Yeah. So middle finger’s gone and, uh, the tip of the index finger.

Omar:

That is nuts.

Luke:

And thumb was like, somehow, I still have a thumb that works. (inaudible)

Omar:

Off from a fireworks accident.

Luke:

It was a huge, like, it was one that it was like the biggest firecracker. 

Omar:

Uh, how did it feel afterwards? Like right after.

Luke: 

Right after. I didn't feel anything. I think I was just in shock. So no pain 

Omar:

Did you find your finger? 

Luke:

No, they'd been blown in like multiple pieces.

Omar:

Ah, that's fucking gnarly bro. Jesus. 

Luke:

And just to think how good it is now is just remarkable. I rock climb and go to the gym and everything.

Omar:

So everything is normal. 

Luke:

Yeah. Like you, it's not like. 

Omar:

Well, you know, I mean, as normal as a normal guy, 

Luke:

You like adapt to what you can and can't do, but pretty much 99% of things I can do.

Omar:

You go to India, get scammed, blow off a hand or blow off some fingers, come back and you're better than ever.

Luke:

Yeah. Then after I had, um, come home and done rehab and everything, I went back over and, uh, saw my surgeon. And uh, traveled around and then Corona hit. I can't get a break. Like I can never continuously travel everything. Just something always happens. 

Omar:

That was my original plan. And then leave again. But yeah. Here I am, you know, but I was very fortunate and there was a… I even remembered the scary thought that crossed my mind in sometime in April, I was just like, damn, if this really changes the world and what if no one ever gets to travel again, the way that we did, you know, and what if countries don't let us come in anymore, and travels are over that’s all of we know it. And at this point now, I think we both know it's not true. It's not going to happen. Like, there is just going to be a lot more precautions in the air, but you can already see people, like, at least where I am in Houston, there's tons of people going out without masks and no one really gives a shit anymore. You know? So traveling all that…. 

Luke:

My mom told me, said like a few months. Yeah. She was like, look, I'm so thankful that you took that year off to be able to travel because a lot of my friends like went to university and did work and they were going to travel afterwards, but like, thankfully I got a good chunk of that year to travel around and just experience that because I'm like, we don't know when travel is going, gonna, hopefully it's…

Omar:

What did your mom say about your hand? 

Luke:

Uh, as, uh, I dunno, she's, she's super chill about it 

Omar:

True Aussie. True Aussie. 

Luke:

She flew over actually she came over a few days after. And hung out with me while I was in hospital. But no. That's what a lot of Indians that mentioned, like, how did your mom like, uh, take, like, how did she react?

So well for like a lot of people said, like, their parents would like beat them, but I was just like, Oh, okay. 

Omar:

Beat them? That's pretty Indian. I guess 

Luke:

Like a firework’s blown up. Nothing worse can happen. What's the point of being… (inaudible)

Omar:

Beating them more.

You see, you seem to be hit, you know, what's awesome about that?

It's that you're, you're handling it so well from what I can see, and I can see there's so much gratitude that you carry with you and that you were able to do what you're able to do. And it's just, it's just fucking awesome to see that instead of like, I know some people that, or I've heard of some people, and I know some people personally that maybe had an injury or something and they were just, you know, like, Oh, my life's over like, fuck this, you know, like recently, and I haven't told anyone this yet on air at least, but, uh, I had a pretty, bad like a back injury, a spinal injury about, um, three or four months ago.

Well, some of my closest friends know, but that's about it, but it was during a lifting accident. And I basically like popped my spine and now my spine slid this way. And that's a pretty fucking big deal. Right. Breaking your spine, like that has to do a lot with walking. And I remember like, doing what everyone does whenever they're worried about a symptom or some shit, they start Googling it. And at the end of the day, you think you have cancer or something. Right. So I was doing that and I was like, Oh, like I can't walk anymore. Oh, I needed to shit in my back and stuff. And I kept reading this and I went to my doctor and they were just like, look, you got to stay healthy and you got to strengthen up your abs.

And if you do that, then you won't need surgery to like you're 60 or 70, and now it could have been fatalistic, you know, but. Like you, I was grateful, you know, and I had done nothing but been grateful since that I still have my own two feet to walk on. And that's massive for travelers like you and I. Yeah. So I can totally relate to the gratitude that you're feeling right now.

Luke:

No, it all comes down to like mindset at the end of the day. I mean, I got, if you're talking in my circumstance, like I blown my hand up, there's really only, again, two options I can choose that can be negative, dwell on it, just piss myself off and just be negative about it. Or like, I can look at the bright side number one, I was told, like, I'd only have my pinky left when I reached hospital.

So to wake up and have most of my hand, like a fully functional hand, I mean, how can you not be happy about that, but then also just go in with the right mindset, being grateful for it. Like I see people say like, do you regret it? I don't regret like anything in life. It was an experience. And it's probably made me again, just like super grateful, especially just knowing like, even when that happened, my friend messaged me. He was like, look like if this is such a shitty situation, but. There are billions of people around the world that would swap lives with you right now. And like that just made me realize there's so many people just across the world, especially in India, seeing some of the poverty that I’ve  seen, the, the fact that I'm living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, in one of the wealthiest, the wealthiest city in that country. And one of the wealthiest areas in that city, like I'm one, like I'm in the top 1% of the world, like if you will put it in a chart, I'm so lucky to have everything I have. So…

Omar:

Definitely. That's a fucking amazing attitude to have. 

Luke:

Yeah. Well, that's just the attitude I have of everything, like my mindset is, um…

Omar:

Mindset is key.

Luke:

Exactly a hundred percent 

Omar:

Your entire reality is, is the way it is because of the way that you think. And once you're able to control the way that you think everything around you changes. 

Luke:

Yeah. 

Omar:

It's crazy. Crazy psychological shit. But yeah, it's crazy. 

Luke:

I love psychology. In fact, If I went into university, psychology would be what I would study.

So I don't want to be a psychologist, but just to understand.

Omar:

At this point, I don't think you really need to worry about university anymore, do you? I mean, you, you've got a massive following on your social media channels and you're doing an agency with four clients and it's only going to go up both ways.

Luke:

Yeah. It just has never been an option for me. I knew very early when I was in high school, that university is not for me. I, especially if I wanted to go into like sort of a business kind of university for business or commerce is just not practical. You learn more from actually partaking in that sort of environment. So I know for a fact that I'm not going to go to university…

Omar:

Yeah, you can’t learn those things from a university.

Luke:

Yeah, exactly. 

Omar:

It's ironically enough, I ended up going to university for four years, but I'm never really going to do anything with my degree because it came to the same conclusion that you were at, you know, like, uh, I wanted to do something entrepreneurial online to travel, you know, so it's, it's funny. I think if there are any of my audience right now, that's listening to it. That's in this position of whether thinking about going to university or not. I would, if I were you at seriously, sit down and really think about what you want out of your life before you make any sort of decision, you know, because the way school systems are made, they're just plug and chug.

They throw you in and get some money off of you and you end up with a degree, but 80% of the time that you never even wanted.

Luke:

Exactly. I would usually say, if you're unsure, go on a gap year, but I don't think we can do that anymore.  

Omar:

Unfortunately. But you can still travel locally, you know? I mean, Australia is a beautiful place to travel locally and so is America I would think, or it is. Not I would think, but it is.

I've thought about like, I mean, you could camper van life in Australia, man, like, uh, but I mean, you're not. Yeah, it would be a different, it would be an experience to be a different way of living things, even though you’re more into the cultural aspect of travel. 

Luke:

Yeah. But no, that is something on my sort of bucket list to get like a four wheel drive or a camper van and just run around Australia for a bit and just live that camper van life

Um, that'd be super cool because it's the, I do say, I'm not like interested in other countries, but in Australia I am interested in because I've grown up there. I do want to see a lot of that, but not, um, at my age, like maybe when I'm older.

Omar:

You ever been to Byron? 

Luke:

Yeah, of course. 

Omar:

I love Byron. Byron is probably one of my favorite places.

Luke:

Yeah. It's so cool. It’s such a good vibe.

Omar:

Gnarly. Yeah. Fantastic. It's a vibe, man. That's I've never seen a vibe like that anywhere. Not even in California, but it's the closest thing that I've seen to it. 

Luke:

Yeah, no it's because everybody just goes in with expectation and, uh, The mind, the mindset of (inaudible) and they just bring good vibes and everyone's just got good vibes going. And it just turns out to be good vibes…

Omar:

It’s such like a collaborative effect, man, we will go in thinking with the good vibes and they leave to go and leaving with the good vibes. I spent a month there just one month and I ended up by the time I left, I looked like a fucking pirate. Like I had a new tattoo. I had my, I had my nose pierced by the time I left, I bought a new hat so I look like a fucking pirate and even messed up my eyes. So I had an eye patch for a couple of days. 

Great place.

Luke:

That’s so cool.

Omar:

Let's, let's round this podcast off before he gets too long over here. I know I could probably talk to you forever, cause I feel I can relate so much to you, you know, but I'm going to go ahead and ask you two questions here that I ask every person that I have on my show in one way or another. And that first question is going to be, if you had to give someone a lesson, someone that wants to follow in your footsteps of pure content creation,authentic content creation on all these platforms, right. And be their most authentic self in front of a camera and travel and live the life that you did. What piece of advice would you give them to get started? And now don't say something generic, like take the leap, say something like maybe that's actually the point. 

Luke:

Um, uh, that's hard because my number one tip would be to just start. 

Omar:

Take the leap. Yeah. Because everyone says that and I realized everyone knows that already. So there needs to be something actionable.

Luke:

Um, I mean, I think number one would be take the leap. Not that I'm not going to settle with that. 

Omar:

Go ahead

Luke:

Maybe you need to sort of have the self-awareness to realize what you actually want. You know, like there are a lot of aspects, uh, to my life. And I do only show like the best 1% of my life on social media. I can tell you some of the darkest times have been when I've been traveling alone, knowing that I'm so lonely out there.

Um, it's not all as glorious as it seems. This isn't just in my career, but in everyone's career, you know, with social media, everybody thinks, Oh, that's, that's why suicide rates, uh, so incredibly high at the moment because everybody sees on social media, all these people living their best life, but it's literally only 1% of their life.

They don't see the other 99% of all the bad things that are happening. 

Omar:

Do you show any of those dark moments in your own content?

Luke:

Like all in the videos, the like the raw videos, I show everything. But, um, like when I'm in India, in a hotel room by myself crying, I don't really show that just because…

Omar:

Yeah, I get it.

Luke:

Like, at some point you, I am trying to entertain an audience and I don’t like wanna give off bad vibes. But if I was usually I go off in that, if I was going to be a video, I have an idea for a video and whatever happens during that video, I just throw out. 

Omar:

Okay. Okay. And what if… that totally makes sense too, because I mean, some people wanted to see some things on camera that they give off good vibes rather than, you know, like people go to content usually on social media to a smile after a hard day or a, maybe you have a certain style of content that really makes them happier, you know? And then all of a sudden you start sitting there and you start getting this stream of negative vibes and really content that makes people sad that not only are you going to lose your audience, but I mean, you're just going to make them feel shittier too.

Who wants to do that?

Luke:

Now that you mentioned it sort of do I show like bad parts of my life? I mean, had on film, my hand accident, I really got on video and I made a whole video around that, but I spent weeks and weeks editing that one specific video sort of orientating it. Yeah, so I, I structured that video trying to sort of motivate people and let people understand how, uh, how grateful you are for having a life. If you're watching this video. Are you grateful that you have access to social media and have access to the internet, which is opening up opportunities to everybody?

Um, so like I do show the negatives, but usually it's structured in a way where I can take a positive out of it because I, I don't like negativity. I don't, I don't see the point in being…

Omar:

And that’s not just you.

Luke:

Yeah the bad things that happened to me. I don't re… like bad things don't really happen to me because I don't think they're bad. I think of the opportunity.

Omar:

As a learning experience 

Luke:

A hundred percent a learning experience. I mean, yeah. Bad things don't really happen to me because I don't really have that as a concept. Yeah. 

Omar:

That comes through in your content. You know, it's not like you're putting up a front that’s not showing anything bad that happens. Bad things per se, quote unquote, what someone would consider a bad event in your life. For example, blowing off your hand, like no one wants to blow off their hand, but that you still took that in a really positive, enlightening way. Right. And that still came through on your content and it was still very vulnerable, still very authentic. Right. So like, I think people fail to realize that. And they tend to just show all their positive parts and really highlight like those. But then that's what you end up with on Instagram. People that are just like showing off their cars that they earned after six years of hard work. But no one really shows the hard work that really took to get there, which is actually the content that people relate to, which ultimately actually gets you the followers and subscribers and people that love you in the first place.

Luke:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

Omar:

All right. And the final question here to finally wrap it all off, and I think this would be incredibly interesting to ask you seeing as how you went to India and you're into the all cultural experiences.

How do you feel like your perspective of life in people has changed ever since you went to go travel for the first time?

Luke:

Oh, it's changed immensely.

Uh, I think maybe the major thing is, um, like I never was a judgmental person, but, uh, people shouldn't be judging you just off of face value that there's so much context behind. Like even some of my closest friends don't really know me and know exactly what I'm doing. I have like so much stuff going on in, in my mind. And so many goals that I'm working towards that nobody actually really understands. So I think. Um, yeah, just probably not judging people just off of one or just in general, just not really judging people…

Omar:

(Inaudible) judgmental. Okay. 

Luke:

Yeah. And, um, like, especially being in India, like, and experiencing some of the poverty that I've seen and, uh, those people are just so happy over there.

Um, like it's cliche, but like money doesn't really buy happiness. You need to be loving what you're doing. 

Omar:

That's very true. Uh it's like, you don't need a certain amount of money to start being happy. Yeah. And I could go psychologically in here and let me just go off on a small little psychological aspect of why I think that is right, because I know you're into psychology.

So I seriously think that because we live in societies in Australia and America, where we're already given so much. That we're not really living in poverty, that we're not really having to fight for our basal resources, such as food, water, shelter, that we're more focused on things that on a psychological hierarchy, matter less, but we emphasize them more. So things like being in a social environment where you're accepted things like being loved things or be things like, like emotions, right? Those things obviously matter less to our body than being well fed and being in shelter and drinking water and all that.

Whereas in a third world country like India or countries in South America, like Brazil or Venezuela, those countries, they don't even have food, water, or shelter on a regular basis. On a daily basis, they're constantly fighting for that. Right. So those people. They're so focused on those, like basal needs that they don't have time to be depressed or they don't have time to really be bothered by, by their emotions or what other people feel like.

And that's why I feel like those people tend to be the happiest, you know, that's my perspective of it. What do you think? 

Luke:

No, you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly right. I think in the society that I've been brought up in, we've been brought up inn where we have the basic needs, like I'm never going to, ever in my life worry about if I'm going to eat again, or if I'm going to have shelter or water. Like that's just something I never, ever going to have to worry about just because of the life I've been brought up in.

And I heard someone mention it today. Like we live in such a privileged world that we're creating issues out of nothing. Like there are so many issues that just literally don't even matter when, um, by the so many things going on in the world. And back on to, as I mentioned, like suicide rates, especially in Sydney, uh, dramatically increasing, because I think people have found, uh, have not found, uh, a purpose because they've been brought up in such an easy life, they get put out in the real world and it sort of really hits them. Whereas, um, you don't hear about suicide rates in India or anything like that because these people have to work every single day to eat. Like if they don't work eight, some of them, if they don't work eight hours a day, they're literally not eating that night.

They don't have time to worry about that kind of stuff. They're just there to earn and live and get the basic needs. They need to survive. 

Omar:

Absolutely. I 100% agree with that. That's why I think when people would try to compare problems like suicide rates to, for example, someone not getting fed in Africa, I think it's completely an illegitimate, illegitimate, illegitimate, non legitimate comparison.

I don't think there's, they’re two things it's like comparing apples and oranges, right? There are two types of different problems, but they both cause stuff. 

Luke:

Yeah. 

Omar:

So like, yeah, maybe I, maybe I have all the food in the table in the world, but what about if I want to jump off a bridge tomorrow? Right? Why should that matter any less than the person who is not, might not have food on the table tonight, but doesn't feel like blowing their brains out. Right. And that, I think that's a really unfair comparison talking about suicide rates in general. And that's why I think mental health and all that, but that's a whole other tangent we'll go off on some other day.

On that Luke, thank you so much for coming on today. That was an awesome episode. Awesome talking to you, man. Really, really made me feel that lust for travel again from talking to you there. So thank you. 

Luke:

Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Outro-

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