From starting a West Ham blog in his childhood home to flying first class with The Points Guy, Liam Spencer’s career took off in unimaginable ways.
Everyone remembers their first time and The Points Guy’s Liam Spencer remembers his like it was yesterday. His first time flying first class, of course.
It was 2019 and 23-year-old Liam was filming a video for The Points Guy UK YouTube channel where he and his colleagues were reviewing four different classes on Lufthansa Airlines. After having to rough it in economy in previous videos, lucky Liam got to fly first class on the flight from Munich to New York.
Now, four years later, that video, “Flying with Lufthansa in all Four Classes,” has over 10 million views, making it the two-time Webby award-winning channel’s most-watched video to date.
At 23 years-old most people are working entry-level jobs, not flying first class, and running a YouTube channel that, at the time, had over 100,000 subscribers.
That’s probably what Spencer, now 27 and working as the Influencer Marketing Lead for The Points Guy (TPG), would have been doing too had he not unknowingly started his media career back in 2011.
As 15-year-old Spencer’s childhood dreams of playing for the West Ham football club began to die, his passion for the sport certainly did not. Rather than passively viewing games, Spencer took to Twitter to voice his hot takes on all things West Ham under the account @IronViews.
“I was seeing all these other accounts talking about West Ham and they’re not doing anything I couldn’t do, or talk about in a way that I think is interesting. I figured I’m just going to give it a go.”
What teenage Spencer didn’t see coming was just how rapidly the account would begin to grow. Quickly the account gained 15,000 followers, inspiring Spencer to expand Iron Views into a full-fledged website that included content on everything West Ham.
“It’s really tough when you’re 15–16 years old to get over peer pressure but if you care about something then just go out there and do it. I promise you by the time you’re an adult you will thank yourself so much for not listening to others.”
Liam Spencer
As Iron Views grew so did his connections in the sports industry which is how the Iron Views YouTube channel, where Spencer hosted weekly studio shows interviewing those adjacent to West Ham, came to be.
Spencer’s connections resulted in more than just a YouTube channel. While running Iron Views Spencer also took up freelancing covering boxing and darts leading him to interview boxing pros such as Tyson Fury.
All these connections and budding opportunities led him to one major life decision: not to go to university. Deciding not to pursue a higher education may seem like a big risk, but it wasn’t one he was stressed about taking.
“I’m a very big believer in positive thinking and an optimistic attitude. I think that, especially in the media industry, it’s all about the connections you make and following things that interest you. Not to say university can’t be great, but there are so many different routes in the industry you shouldn’t worry if you haven’t gone down the more traditional one.”
With great risk comes great reward and for Spencer it certainly did. Only three months after moving from his hometown in Surrey to London in 2016, Spencer landed a job as a social media manager for the Dream Team, the fantasy football section of The Sun.
At an age that most people spend weekdays hungover in classrooms, Spencer spent his in charge of managing all of the social media platforms for the Dream Team along with developing editorial direction for the brand.
Following his three years at The Sun, Spencer changed industries completely and now works in the travel sector for The Points Guy (TPG).
“When I first started I knew nothing about credit card points, aviation, or first-class flying. What I did know was how audiences online work. I got a real good sense of what makes people tick when it comes to content.”
Liam Spencer
Spencer has the stats to back him up. Since helping launch TPG UK, now rebranded as TPG Departures, the YouTube channel amassed more than 460,000 subscribers racking up millions of views per video.
Spencer never could have thought starting a website at 15 about a team he’s a die-hard fan of would lead him to manage major social media accounts and review top-of-the-line aircraft at 27. If there’s one lesson to be learned from his career so far, it’s to start with your passion and see where it takes you.
“Think about what you’re really interested in first. My entire career has stemmed from something I love: football. Even if what you love is something more niche, think about how you can make content in that area that’s different, stuff that’s interesting. We have so much access to people with the internet and social media so it’s just all about starting.”
Dozens of champagne and caviar-filled flights later, Spencer looks back with few regrets.
Featured image courtesy of Liam Spencer.