“If you are a creative, you like to create stuff anyway, so don’t dump your creations into your laptop for nothing! Challenge yourself and trust yourself. In your free time, just create something unique and put it online.You might be very surprised to discover that they are worth way more than what you thought they would be in just a couple of years!”

RickyLoca.

In the first of our Quit Your Average Day Job Series, we meet Elements author – Riccardo or better known internationally as RickyLoca. Based in Italy, he describes himself as a cat lover and freestyle frisbee-er with very messy hair. He’s also pretty damn good at making videos.

Check out his story from where he first started to where he is now, as a successful Author on Elements.

How did you first start selling on Envato Elements?

I have dedicated the last six years creating items to upload on VideoHive and last year I got contacted from the staff asking me if I wanted to join Elements. I was a bit skeptical at first but I ended up joining and well, it’s probably one of the best yes’s I’ve said so far!

When and why did you decide to take the plunge to work online?

My life changed the day I bought a ticket to Australia back in 2007. I was in travelling mode and thought that everything was possible. I was doing a lot of different jobs just to get a salary to invest in flight tickets and that led me to spend the following years going back and forth between Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.

During that time I met quite a few digital nomads that had their own online business and were living the dream – making money while travelling!

I decided that I should have given it a try and I found my way into stock footage, ended up in VideoHive where I uploaded my first time-lapse and here I am almost seven years later on Elements. So far, so good – I’m just not travelling as much as I did when I was younger!

What was the very first item that you sold? Tell us the story!

It doesn’t matter how much money you make on your first sale, you are going to celebrate like crazy because for some unknown reason the internet has given you some dollars!

I think that I’ve made my very first sale overnight, when I woke up and checked the balance I was like ‘wait, I was sleeping until 5 seconds ago, and overnight I’ve sold an item? While sleeping? Seriously??’ I love you internet!

Something clicks in your brain after your first online sale and believe me this is going to give you the motivation to create more and more everyday because.. who doesn’t like making some extras while sleeping?!

What has working from home/online with access to a global customer base enabled for your business?

You are free to create your own items and set your own goals, you make your own schedule. Technically, you only need a laptop and a good internet connection for this kind of job, so why not do it?

With internet, you can work from home, a co-working space or even under a palm tree sipping pina colada! You can work online in your free time, part-time or full-time, everything is pretty much up to you. I’d say that the word freedom sums it up pretty well!

Can you imagine working in a regular job now?

I don’t see regular jobs as something bad, it’s just a choice. I actually had a regular job when I started working online and I was creating items in my free time after work. It didn’t take long before I realized the potential that the internet has to offer, so I started to dedicate more time to it until it became a full-time job.

What have you learned since switching career paths?

I’m constantly developing new techniques and skills since the day I started working online. The industry is moving very fast and there are a lot of great talent out there, so competition is hard but there’s always something new to learn!

Also, being your own boss it’s not easy – you need to be good at time management and discipline yourself!

Also, what are your best-selling or favorite items to create now?

My best seller is an old time-lapse from 2012 that I shot in Bangkok, it’s the 5th most sold time-lapse on VideoHive with 499 sales!

I love shooting time-lapses but that category is a bit over-saturated and I don’t produce them as much as I did before – but I still time-lapse all the time whenever I travel!

I got into Trapcode Particular a couple of years ago and since then, I’ve started producing motion graphics. Now in 2019 – it’s all about After Effects projects!

What’s the most rewarding aspect about your work, now?

You craft your items 100% by yourself and unknown people from random places around the world are buying them.. it’s an incredible feeling that goes beyond the money.

I also have way more free time than before – and we all know that time is priceless!

You can check out RickyLoca’s full Elements portfolio here.

If you’re interested in becoming an Elements author and taking the next step, apply now! We can’t wait to see what you can do.

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*All photos have been supplied by Elements author, RickyLoca.