One of the main challenges for us creators
is to come up with new content ideas all the time.
So we can follow an upload schedule
and show up for our audience consistently.
The fear of lack of ideas is something that holds back
many new creators to even get started.
More often than not, this is caused
by not having the right tools or systems in place
to write down ideas when they come to you.
So in this video, I wanna show you my process
and how I keep track of my ideas,
what I use for my ideas and video content calendar.
So that, when it's time for me to create a new video,
I never run out of content ideas.
(upbeat music)
Now, this video is not about how to come up
with content ideas.
If you want a video like that,
then let me know in the comments below.
When I started uploading consistently to YouTube
almost a year ago, I was really afraid
that I would run out of content ideas really quickly.
But what I noticed
is that once you start taking this thing seriously,
then you kind of remain within that mindset
of constantly looking for new ideas for new videos,
and that's when they start coming to you.
So, you wanna make sure that you write them down
in that moment.
Ideas come to us in the weirdest
and most impractical moment.
In the shower, while we're making food,
or during exercise.
For me, it usually happens right when I go to bed
when my phone is out of reach.
But I know that if I don't write them down right away,
I will not remember them.
If you are a part time creator like me,
you don't have a lot of time to brainstorm ideas.
You know, we gotta be efficient with the time we have.
So, when we do sit down to work on our next video
or blog post, it's really helpful to have a pool of ideas
ready to go.
Ideally, it's not only a place
where you write down your ideas,
but where you can further brainstorm, script,
and schedule your ideas into your content pipeline
or content calendar,
even if you're not ready yet to fully execute that idea.
When I first started with my channel,
I had a very simple ideas list in Evernote,
basically just like a blank note
where I would just add dot points for each idea.
However, that wasn't very structured.
And if I wanted to expand on an idea
and write down a few more thoughts,
it would get messy really quickly.
Then, I started using Milanote,
which is a note-taking app I really loved.
It's basically a board where you can add notes,
images, To Dos, and you can move everything around freely.
I used it for probably the first six months
of uploading videos to my channel,
and I really enjoyed it.
Because you can build templates
that you can use for each video, which is really handy.
But I found that it wasn't ideal for scheduling content
or creating and filtering by content categories.
It also doesn't have an iPad app.
And I sometimes like working on my iPad
on ideas and scripts.
If you're interested in how I used Milanote
for my YouTube workflow, check out the video up here.
I still love using Milanote for visual planning.
So, if I need to create a mood board
for a photoshoot or other more visual tasks,
such as brand boards or storyboards,
I would always use Milanote for that.
For my YouTube ideas list and content pipeline,
I now use Notion.
Notion is a fantastic note-taking app that is very powerful.
And the best thing about Notion
is that it's free for personal use.
Because there's so much you can do,
I found it a bit scary and overwhelming at first.
But once I got used to it and set up my lists and templates,
I now really love it.
What I like about Notion is that your ideas lists
can be your content calendar at the same time,
because of all the additional infos you can add.
And you can switch between different views.
I don't wanna have to juggle seven different lists,
one for ideas, one for scheduling,
and one for scripting.
In Notion, you can have it all in one, which is great.
You can also create tags for your content,
add files, dates, and build templates
that you can use for each content piece.
Okay, let's jump into Notions
so I can show you how I have it all set up.
I will show you how I use it for YouTube,
but obviously, you can adapt it to any kind of content.
I, for example, have a similar set up for my newsletter,
but you can also use it for Instagram content or blogs.
Really, whatever your heart desires.
The template that I'm gonna show you
is linked in the description below.
It's really easy to set up,
but you can download it there in case you wanna use it
for your own content planning.
All right.
So now, we are here in Notion.
And this is basically my homepage
for everything relating to my channel.
I have all these different top level pages.
And I can go in here
and then there are a couple of sub pages,
and it can basically go deeper and deeper
into each of these notebooks, if you will.
You also have the sidebar here
where you can navigate between your notes.
But for this video, we're only gonna focus
on the YouTube Videos page.
And I have a copy up here
because mine is a little bit messy and I cleaned this up.
So, this is basically my simple set up
for my content calendar and for my ideas list.
So, the first column is the title of the video.
The second is the Status.
So where I say, it's at the idea stage,
or I'm scripting the video, filming, editing,
it's completed but not published yet,
or if it's up on the channel.
Then, I have the Content Category column
where I basically determine what content pillar
the video falls into.
The Publish Date.
This is where I schedule the videos
onto my content calendar.
And the video number,
which helps me with the order of the videos
and the sorting in this table.
And a Thumbnail column where I just mark off
for which videos I have already created thumbnails.
All right.
So down here, you see that these are all the videos
that are already published and up on my channel.
And then, up here are the video ideas
that I am currently working on.
All right.
So, if I have a new idea and I wanna add it to the table,
what I usually do is I just go in here
and I can do that on my phone, on my iPad,
or here on the computer.
And then, I just go to the bottom of the table
and I just throw in
a new video idea.
This, we'll mark this as idea.
Let's say this is related to productivity.
And we do wanna schedule that,
so I'm just gonna see what's the last video number.
So, 46.
So, the next one is 45.
So, this is 46 now.
And the last long form videos on the 21st of October,
so this would be scheduled for the 28th.
So now that we scheduled this year,
I wanna see what it looks like on the calendar itself.
And for that, I've created a YouTube Calendar view.
If we go over here, we see where all these videos
are placed on the calendar itself.
And I'm currently trying to have a long form video go up
every Thursday and a short on Sundays.
And then, you could go into each of these videos
from here as well.
But this is a really nice view
to sort of see what's coming up on the calendar.
All right, let's go back to the table.
Now, that we scheduled this video,
I now wanna work on one of the ideas
and add more notes into the video idea,
or start writing the script.
So for that, I would open this as a page.
Do full screen.
And then you see here,
these are basically the properties from the table.
So, the Status, Content Category.
You can change it in the table or over here.
And then down here,
I have two video templates available to me,
and this is a long form video.
So, I would go with this New YouTube Video template.
And then, this loads this template up.
The video template that I'm using
is basically a combination from templates
that I got from Ali Abdaal, from one of his Notion videos,
and from Matt D'Avella's Master YouTube course.
So, I sort of took inspiration from those two creators
and build my own template that works best for me.
And one really important section is the first one here,
which is the Initial notes.
So, when I add a video idea to this table
or to my ideas list,
then often I just wanna throw in a few random notes
that come to mind when the idea first comes up,
but I don't wanna start scripting yet.
So, this is where I would just throw in the random notes
that will then later help me build a story.
or write the script.
Then, I have a few other sections here
that help me structure the video,
identify the value of the video,
some title ideas, an opener text.
And then the different talking points,
which really helped me structure the video
into different sections.
And then, the Call to Action and Outro.
This is sort of like the outlining section of the video
before I go into the actual script.
Then, I have a section for tags and keywords.
So, what keywords do I want to target with this video.
Resources and Inspiration where I would add other videos
or articles that I've read.
You can all embed this here into your notes.
And then, down here is the Script section.
So this is the intro,
with you see this block with the red border here.
that is basically a Synced content block.
And that shows up in each of my different video pages,
because that's the intro.
That's always gonna be the same.
And that's where I edit this year as a synced block.
Then, I have this main portion of the video.
This is where I would start scripting it.
And I'd have different headlines, basically,
for A-Roll, B-Roll, B-Roll with voice over,
and B-Roll with graphics.
And then at the end,
then my final thoughts and my call to action,
which is basically the outro of the video.
And then down here, I have a Shotlist.
This is where I collect all the shots that I need
for B-Roll, A-Roll.
So, that I know what I need to create
and what I need to film.
Let me quickly show you what my Shorts template looks like.
So, we go here into the Short.
And then instead of New YouTube Video,
we click New Short.
And then it loads up the template.
And this is really, really simple.
So, it just has an Initial Notes section
before I script the video.
Just if I have some ideas I wanna add to this.
The Script, it's only a 30, 60 second video,
so I don't need a lot of sections for these notes.
And then, the Shotlist here at the bottom.
And that's basically the two different templates
that I work with within my ideas list or content calendar.
And what I really like as well
is that I have assigned different emojis to the template.
So, that way I can identify very easily in the table
if it's a short or a long form video.
And that also carries over here to the calendar itself.
All right.
And that's pretty much everything I wanted to show you
for creating an ideas list or content pipeline
here on Notion.
And that is my simple Notion set up
where I collect all my ideas,
and basically do all my content planning
for my YouTube channel.
I hope you found this helpful.
Again, I've included the link to my template
in the description below,
in case you wanna check that out
and use for your own content pipeline.
I'm also curious, do you currently have an ideas list?
And if yes, what are you using for it?
I'm kind of obsessed with anything
that can help me be more productive.
So, if there's anything that you think I should try out,
let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching, as always.
Like the video and subscribe to my channel.
Hit the notification bell and do all the things.
I say this so casually,
but I really do appreciate all the support.
It really makes a difference.
If you wanna learn more about the apps and tools I use
for my YouTube channel, check out the playlist up here.
I'm filming this to be on the last day of lockdown
here in Sydney.
So hopefully, I can bring you some more videos
from outside again, maybe a few vlogs.
Wouldn't that be exciting?
Thanks so much again.
Take care.