We were lucky to catch up with Gina Coleman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Motivation, and your “WHY.”
The first and last real job I had was back in 2016. Since then I’ve been self-employed with side jobs along the way, but I haven’t had the need to work for anyone else to make a living.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve always been an entrepreneur, looking for ways to be my own boss and succeed. I started working my first real job in 2013 as a graphic designer immediately after graduating college with a Bachelors in Graphic Design. In 2016, I started a YouTube channel after I lost that job, yes, my first and only job. I became a full time YouTuber from 2016 to 2020. In 2017, I started an off-road goggle company called Havoc Racing. That idea came from a fellow YouTuber who also became one of the co-owners of Havoc. We had approached another goggle company at the time, asking for free goggles in exchange for a promo on YouTube (this was back before social media influencing was a thing.) They rejected the idea and told us they only sponsor racers at the local track. They clearly didn’t understand the power of YouTube at the time and the amount of exposure we could have given them. Between us, we had over 1 million subscribers combined. That’s when the idea to start our own goggle company came to us. We ended up grouping with another YouTuber we were good friends with (there are 3 of us at this point) and decided to make 300 custom goggles with our brand name and our YouTube channel name on it – 100 goggles for each of us. We promoted it on YouTube and sold out in less than 3 months. That’s when we knew we had something. We put all our time into this company and built it from the ground up, promoting it in every video, and every social media platform. I created the entire brand from the logo to the website, and everything in between. To this day, we have never taken a loss on the company, and never needed a business loan. Come 2020, I took a step back from YouTube to focus on Havoc. in 2023, I ended up selling my portion of the company to the other two owners, took my money, and entered into Real Estate Investing. I figured that Real Estate could get me to my goal of being financially free a lot faster than Havoc, and I’d have something to pass down to my kids (a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old) in the future. I want to build an empire for my family. At the beginning of 2024, I created a new company just for real estate investing, and as of June 14th, I closed on my first investment property and will be looking for a second by the end of the year, or the beginning of 2025.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
My idea was to just put out as much content as possible, and be consistent with it. Over time, you will develop a style that’s yours, and better content. But to start, you’re not getting many views anyway, so it’s the best time to work out the kinks, and do what you like. Also, network and collab with others! As much as possible!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
After I lost my job in 2013, I had a choice to make: Find another job, or put all my time and effort into pursuing YouTube as my career to do what I truly loved – Riding motorcycles. There were times that were scary, not knowing if I was going to make enough to pay the bills, but I didn’t want to go back and work for someone else when I knew I had it in me to be my own boss.