Meet TheJonno57 (Jon Bachtold), YouTuber

TheJonno57 (Jon Bachtold) describes himself as a crazy guy who likes to mix comedy with serious topics. He says that his humor though is his kind of humor, which isn't always what's popular at the moment, but he's not gonna conform! Jon is a big believer in believing in oneself, having confidence, and abiding in faith.

Check out his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/THEJonno57. And follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

1. How do you get your ideas for what to make videos about?

For my show, "Jon Rants," inspiration for topics to convey will hit me at the most random times! I am always constantly writing down ideas in the note section on my phone. Also, I will sometimes receive ideas from my few, AMAZING fans and give my opinions on various subjects. I always try to be myself when I talk about anything. This isn't always seen as funny to everyone, but I am a big believer in being one's self! So, When someone watches a video of mine, I want them to get 100% me.

2. How frequently do you try to upload new stuff--and where do you share your videos in addition to YouTube?

I have two things that I upload on a consistent basis. Fridays, I upload the show "Jon Rants" where I give my opinion on certain topics. Mondays, I upload vlogs of really stupid crap that I do :P If someone is trying to find me on the interwebs, Twitter/Instagram is where I share most of the time: @Jonnob57 for both if anyone is wondering. Also, I share content on Facebook on the rare occasion I get on there.

3. Do you ever feel like you're making a video because you think it will help you gain more views/followers, or do you always make the videos you want to make, regardless of what others might like or not?

I have followers?

Now if I was really witty, I would have ended my statement there!

In a recent video of mine, Don't Care No More, I talked about how this year I'm going to not care what other think of me. So I this year I am focusing what God wants me to do and not what others want me to do. I have some "haters," if you will, that I feel like I have to appeal to, too. I'm going to not focus on what these individuals are saying and focus on doing what I feel is right!

4. When it comes to following other people on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, what tends to catch your interest?

People I like to watch are people with their own sense of humor. People who aren't scared to be themselves are always interesting for me to watch/follow. I also am a HUGE music fan. There are lots of bands I love to keep tabs on. So what catches my interest? Well, originality, confidence, and hilarity!

5. Do you find connections between your online projects and your day job (etc), or are they mostly pretty separate?

Being a Youtuber, I am constantly having to push my personality to the limit. This has helped my in the outside world with talking to strangers. Very awesome tool! However, knowing when to pull the camera out and when to live in the moment is a thing I am currently learning. Some things need to be an experience between friends, and other things need to be shared with the world! I don't want to end up being "that guy" if you know what I mean.

Thanks, Jon!

Meet Ella Eranthis, Adventurer and YouTuber

Ella Eranthis is the creator and host of a travel vlog which is located on YouTube at http://youtube.com/ella4tv. Her videos are unique and fun, and she takes viewers to a variety of interesting places, from Area 51 to Louisiana swamplands. Ella is interested in nature, art, and (of course) adventures. Visit her channel to watch as she takes road trips, visits cool hotels, and sees all sorts of urban and rural places. And learn more about Ella on Facebook.

In the video below, Ella meets a crocodile.

1. Where did you grow up, and did you travel a lot with your family when you were a child?

I traveled all the time, and it made for a very unstable childhood but also interesting. I got to know different cultures and customs, and these change with every place, and for me they changed every few years or months. I grew up mostly in Nigeria, Libya, England, and Spain with shorter stays in between in Greece, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and a few others... Love them all, but the hard thing was to leave all my friends behind with each move... and sometimes to never see them again.

2. What are some of the criteria you consider when choosing a travel destination?

Money and weather. I wait for the right time to get all the discounts. Some places are cheaper when off season. Las Vegas has the same hotel rooms go for 700% more for new year's, but the rooms are very cheap during the week many other months. As for weather, some places have rainy seasons. It would be difficult to film then, even if I do have waterproof equipment. Or if visited during the darker months in Alaska, how would I show its beauty then? Weather is very important.

3. What inspired you to start your YouTube travel channel?

Other than the fact that any time I see something awesome I want others to see it, too, and making videos is a great way to share, well, there is something else... I want to show what I learned in childhood: how different we all are. Different cultures, races, cuisines, fashions, customs, plants, animals, languages, religions--all this makes this planet interesting. I look at the picture of Earth as covered with flags, and it makes me happy. There is no one way for everybody, and what is normal in one country becomes strange in another. I love that because what would be the point of travel if we were all the same? (Yet all the time someone out there comes up with new recipe of "one way for everybody." Or there is this problem with tolerance...) We are all different, and places are different, and travel is fun because of it--this is basically the message of my channel. I film in the USA at the moment--an interesting and large country--but eventually I would love to show more.

4. How do you decide what places to feature in your videos?

If I feel excitement at the thought of going there, I know it will make a good video, so only that: the excitement factor.

5. Finally here's a two part question. What are some of the favorite places you've traveled so far, and where haven't you traveled yet but are hoping to visit?

Favorite places in videos so far: Extraterrestrial Highway and the Big Sur. Favorite place from childhood is a place I hope to visit again someday: Tenerife. And would also love to film: Greenland, Alaska, Ecuador (the rainforest there is so amazing!), Hawaii, Egypt, anywhere to film safari animals having fun in freedomland, any part of the Sahara desert, Monte Carlo, Paris, Tokyo, Dubai, Cayman Islands... Actually, to be honest I want to film almost the entire planet but would love to start with these places!

Thanks, Ella!

Meet Melody Beals, Musician, Songwriter, and Host of FlipCamWebisodes

She is a musician and a songwriter. She is an interviewer gone web designer. She is a mother. She is Melody Beals. Singing always came easy to her because she loved it more than most teens her age loved sports, or dating, or friends. Melody's mom would scream across the house as Melody was proudly singing whatever choir medley that was stuck in her head, "Life is not a musical, Melody!” And Melody would retaliate with, "Then why did you name me 'Melody,' Mom??!!!" It was an on-going battle.

Melody was born and bred in Austin, Texas, home of South by Southwest, the world's largest music festival. Her real dream was always to be a backup singer for a major act, but a lot of that is meeting the right people, which never happened. Her love for music never died, but she decided to take things in a different direction rather than performing. Her new website, flipcamwebisodes.com, launched March of 2013.

She interviews solo artists, instrumentalists, bands of all genres, people who have had YouTube Videos go viral, etc. As long as these artists are not on any major labels at the time of interview, she is taking them on! Her idea is really to give indie musicians the chance to shine because if this kind of thing were around 10 years ago, she would have wanted somebody to help her! Melody wants to give people a voice, a platform, bragging rights, or whatever the musicians want to do with it to help them along the way.

If there is anything that she wishes to create other than a place to promote other than their music, she has creatively designed her website to let each artist shine as an individual and as the person that they are. She wants to catch the artists before they make it big, so they can all look back someday to see where they started.

Keep up with Melody and her flipcam on Twitter and Facebook.

Note: The photo of Melody was taken by Stephanie Featheringill.

1. How did you get the idea to focus your website (mostly!) on flipcam interviews with bands/musicians?

It was kind of an accident really. I wanted to create a blog originally. I just wanted to write about the things that really interested me, such as indie music. But after thinking about it for a day or two, I knew that I would have to bring a LOT more to the table if I were going to actually get people to come to the blog. So I decided that I still wanted to be immersed into the music scene and I knew it would help the musicians out if I interviewed them, as well as it would help my site gain traffic. I chose to do the Flipcam interviews, well... because I already had a flip cam, haha!

I just hadn't seen anything like it. I wanted to create a place where anybody and everybody could be themselves without judgment and have it be a relaxed environment. I liked the idea of kind of having an amateur feeling so everybody could be at ease, and I would be able to travel to them to get the interview.

2. What are some key elements to a good interview, in your opinion?

I really like to try to ask musicians about their learning experiences. I think that it creates a place where they can talk about their trials, and it could really help other hopefuls out there who are trying to do the same things. For me a good interview is one where people who watch can walk away like they have either gotten a chuckle out of it, or REALLY learned from it. The Aly Tadros and Tom Meny interviews are great examples of that.

3. With such a busy music scene in Austin (and so many great artists accessible online, too), how do you choose the musicians to feature on your site?

I am in the most wonderful position ever with this! When I go to do an interview, I ask them who they would recommend for me to look into next. Then I go home and look them up. I only literally interview the people whose music I actually love. So when they get interviewed by me, it's like they already know I'm a huge fan. And not mentioning any names, but this has made things a little awkward at times, haha! I try not to geek out, but I'm human. I pick the people I want to know the most about first because that makes it so easy to strike up the conversation.

4. What's your own background in music, and what motivated you to start your site?

My background is singing and playing ukulele, guitar, and some piano. Most of it has been unprofessionally, as I never really kicked my ass into gear hard enough to get out there like I had always dreamed. I'm not good enough at the instruments to even call myself a beginner, but it gets me through when I write a flippin' sweet lyric. I really got into music about 15 years ago.

Having a daughter who is 4 years old really has made me stop and think about whether I want to go on tour with her at home with her daddy. I know that's crazy to think about... but it could happen. The site came to mind because I'd be working from home with my daughter, Harmony. It just seemed more feasible to create a website instead of running out the door four nights a week to band practice or performances. With this, I choose my schedule. I also don't take too kindly to the band life anymore, because if I'm spending time away from my daughter, then it better be worth it. Most of the bands I was involved in never really made it out of the garage anyway, so I am really paying attention to where I am spending my time.

5. What projects do you see yourself taking on in the next couple of years?

I see this growing and more people getting involved with wanting to be a part of it. I do not see any limits to it. I will not stop. New ideas come to me every single day about things I want to do and things I want to add. I think about the people I want to talk to and how I can help them out. I take time to listen to opinions and ideas, and will also take help (in return for mine) from anybody interested in what I have going on. Oddly, I have been getting into acting more which is crazy because I never really saw myself doing that! Opportunities keep knocking and it's a shit ton of fun! I have no idea what my next step will actually be, but I do know that ANYTHING is possible and I am open to ALL opportunities (within reason, lol).

Thank you so much for being the very first person to interview me!

Thanks, Melody!