If you've been thinking of starting a YouTube channel for a while now, but you're really
worried that you've just missed the boat completely and that 2020 is just too late to be starting
a channel because of how crowded and competitive YouTube is.
Then please watch right to the end because I am going to set you straight on all of that.
Hello and welcome back to the channel or if this your first time here.
Hello, my name is Kat Elizabeth.
I am a personal branding coach and video creator obviously and I'm really excited about today's
topic in particular because I started my own YouTube channel less than two years ago and
really at the time it already looked like YouTube was very crowded and competitive and
like how, how is there any chance that I could have success on YouTube?
But as we're going to talk about in this video today, there is more to success than just
having tons and tons of subscribers and if you have a really good strategy, then I personally
believe spoiler alert, but it's never too late to start.
First of all, I just wanted to have a chat about the wrong reasons for starting a YouTube
channel.
The reasons that are definitely going to end up like disappointing you and making you frustrated
and feeling like a failure.
So first of all starting it just because you want to become famous.
I'm really sorry, but it's not that easy to become YouTube famous.
And a lot of the people who do that have been at it for a very long time or if they started
recently, they had extra help.
They probably had a team of people working with them with strategy and advertising and
marketing and they've helped them sort of shoot to the top of like the YouTube charts.
But starting it purely for the reason of becoming famous is not enough.
So if that is your reasoning, you can turn this off right now if you're still watching.
And another reason that is the wrong reason to start YouTube is that you're really hoping
for very fast results.
So you're really hoping that it's just going to turn your entire life business or personal
brand around overnight.
I'm here to tell you again that YouTube is a slow burn and it takes a lot of consistency
and a longterm commitment to showing up regularly for you to really start seeing the results.
And while it happens at a different pace for everyone, because it depends on the niche
that you're in, I can still tell you that the majority of people, let's say 99.9% of
people on YouTube have to start at the bottom and you start by getting your first 10 subscribers
and then you know, your first hundred, then your first a thousand and so on.
Finally, I don't want you to start a YouTube channel if it's, if you think it's just gonna
be really easy because it's not, it does involve some work.
Obviously you can just throw a video together and Chuck it out there, but the chances of
someone seeing that video are really slim unless you've gone to some effort to research
the topic you're going to be talking about, make sure that your keywords are right, like
you're trying to optimize the video so people find you in search.
If your video is really low quality and they're not edited - like you, you just kind of ramble
and you talk about yourself, the entire thing.
You know, people who don't know you aren't going to want to invest in watching those
videos.
So you have to keep in mind that YouTube is really about the viewer and not about you.
And so that means that sometimes it can be tedious and it can take a while to build any
sort of momentum and some days you don't feel like doing the work.
So please only commit if you know that realistically it's going to be a bit of work and it's not
always going to be super fun.
But keep in mind that a lot of the process is fun and if you can find a way to make it
fun and to enjoy the process and not make it feel like a job, then obviously that is
the key.
But enough on all of this negativity, I want to give you seven reasons that now, today,
whenever it is you're watching, this is an amazing time to start a YouTube channel, right?
And number one is personal growth.
I know that sounds like a strange reason, but you will honestly learn so much from creating
a YouTube channel.
It has been a, you know, a bootcamp in marketing.
For me in storytelling I've, you know, it's like the editing, the relationship building,
like honestly it is and also the commitment to showing up regularly when I am someone
who often will get bored and drop a project, you know, before it's complete.
If you really have made a longterm commitment to YouTube, you are going to see so much personal
growth throughout that process and it's incredibly rewarding.
Number two is it's an amazing way to build a portfolio.
Now a portfolio might sound strange because you know like you might be thinking, well
I'm not a video like professional videographer or a professional editor, so who cares about
having these videos?
But it's a portfolio of your work in general.
And so if you really think strategically about who you're trying to impress with your videos
and who you're trying to teach and make sure you're doing it in a way that really makes
you look fantastic, it is a portfolio of the storytelling ability of all of your expertise,
of your speaking and your teaching ability.
Because you know, obviously I'll do you know, video creation skills as well, but it's just
amazing over time to be able to like open up the night.
I see this vault of this incredible content that you've created and be like, yes I did
that and that you just never know how that is going to help you in some way.
When you are pitching to other clients, you know, trying to win over customers.
When you kind of get another job, get a speaking opportunity, this portfolio could be invaluable
to you.
So don't discount that brace.
And number three is huge.
It's to get discovered.
And while I know I said that yet, if you don't probably not going and reach hundreds of thousands
of people in short period of time, you can get discovered by people who didn't know you
from a bar of soap before and who potentially want to work with you.
And like that is the beauty of YouTube.
Like it only takes a few people who are really your people, you know, to be impressed by
your work and really it can take one person, but if they discover you and you're the person
that they've been waiting for to solve their problem, whatever that problem may be, well
you've just like basically created an opportunity for yourself out of thin air and it probably
didn't cost you anything as well.
So if you've been really frustrated with the lack of growth that you're seeing on places
like Facebook and the Instagram, I highly recommend giving YouTube a go because it is
a search engine and it means that if you do the work to get found, you will grow.
Um, whereas with Instagram and Facebook it's like kind of putting things out into there,
you know, out there into the world and hoping that people see it, but there is much less
control you have over those results.
Number four is that YouTube is a lead generating machine.
So I talked about, you know, you're getting found on YouTube, which is really important,
but the like the even more important part of that process is that if you get someone
to find you and then sign up for your freebie for whatever optimist it is that you're offering,
because that means you get people onto your email list and suddenly you haven't leveraged
like suddenly you actually have a marketing machine.
So where you know, if you're going to use Facebook or Instagram ad, it's going to cost
you for every single download of your thing.
With YouTube, it is completely free.
And what's even better is that it tends to gain momentum over time.
So you know, you could have a video that you created a year ago, two years ago, still generating
leads for you while you sleep.
Whereas you know with Facebook that's only happening if you keep paying for the ads.
So it is like a completely different business model and again is not something where you
can get those immediate results.
Unlike Facebook where you know, you click go, go and you know that you're, you know,
immediately in front of all these people.
But if you do the work in time, it's going to have this incredible return on investment
and you're just going to keep building momentum.
And like before you know it, you actually have like a legit sales funnel on your hands
with no ad spend.
Number five is about making an impact.
Like, because YouTube is this incredible platform to get in front of people that you know, know
you or don't know you, but I'm ready to listen to your message to learn from you.
Like you actually have the opportunity to make a real difference here in someone's life.
And I mean, I think that is, that is priceless.
I feel like that's what so many of us are trying to do with our careers and with our
lives and you know, with everything that we create.
But sometimes it can be really frustrating.
Like for instance, as a creative, you know as an actor you feel like you can only make
a difference if someone gives you a role and then you get to perform in that thing and
then finally people see it.
Well YouTube allows you to take that back into your own hands and start making a difference
today and you know it might start with one person and that could lead to 10 to a hundred
to a thousand to 10,000 people.
So if you really are interested in making a difference and building a platform where
you can actually share your message basically unfiltered that YouTube is an incredible place
to do that.
Number six is about educating your audience and this is really important if you are a
business owner because often there are things that we need out potential class customers
or clients to know before they're actually going to want to work with us.
Sometimes it's educating them in the process of how you do business so that you don't have
to explain it to them when they actually get in touch with you.
Sometimes it's about raising their awareness about you know, the problems that they have
as a whole of you know, what they might be doing wrong and why they need extra guidance.
Sometimes it's giving them actual quick win lessons, so teaching them something that immediately
makes their life or business work better so that you start to become, you know, the authority
in that field and they go into start thinking of you as the person to go to when they have
some sort of problem that they need fixed.
Reason number seven is a bit of a different one and I don't know, it may be, it's not
important to everyone, but it's important to me and it's about creating a legacy.
So it's everything that you're creating on YouTube is something that can exist for a
really long time to come.
One day YouTube may shut down, you and I want to move your videos somewhere else.
But you know like where not many of us are probably going to write a book in a lifetime.
Although that's something, it's definitely on my list, but it's, it's a big one.
Right now we already have an opportunity to create something lasting that could potentially
make a difference in someone's life that's from another generation to yours.
And I think that is just so cool and where so much of the work that we do, and especially
on social media, because our posts have such a short lifespan, a lot of the work that we
create is very short lived.
And sometimes it's the same, like if you work with clients, you'll, you know, this is just
my example as a copywriter.
I'll create some words for them.
They'll put it on their website and within a couple of years the business is shifting.
They've rewritten the copy and it's gone.
And all the work that you did, it's just, it's disappeared into nothingness.
Whereas I'm finding that even though I'm only two years into my YouTube journey, I love
that I can look back and say these tangible things that I created that are gonna live
on potentially past my own lifetime.
And I just think that is such a cool bonus to creating a YouTube channel.
So long story short, I really believe the, the pros, the cons of YouTube.
In fact, I don't think there are downfalls.
It's just that you have to be aware that it's a long game.
It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of commitment and some days are tougher than
others.
Some days you are doing the work and you put a video out there that you're really proud
of and it just doesn't get a great response.
It doesn't get seen by that many people.
Maybe it never ends up ranking and search.
So only your subscribers see it and not really any new people.
And on those days I just have to remind myself that the work that I am creating is able to
help someone in some way.
And even if it was just one person who was helped by that video, then I see that, you
know, it was totally worth it.
And in time you will start to have more and more people reach out to you probably.
And you know, whether it's dams or emails or comments, basically just saying thank you.
Like that video made a difference and it doesn't matter whether you're an entertainer or an
educator, whatever it is you're using YouTube for, you do have this incredible opportunity
to change someone's life in even a really small way.
And I think that is a really beautiful thing.
So can I just tell you right now that you've, you have been thinking about creating a YouTube
channel for a long time now or even just a few weeks.
Can you just go for it?
Don't wait, don't, don't get too stuck up in the details.
Like don't be thinking about how can I create the perfect, you know, like videos before
I make this thing.
Trust me when I say it's better to just create a whole bunch of imperfect videos and put
them out there and learn from the experience then to keep working in the background and
not launch the channel until you're ready.
Because I don't think you're ever really ready.
I wish I'd just started my YouTube channel earlier before I was ready.
I spent probably a good six months just studying.
And while I learned a lot from theory, I didn't learn nearly as much from the theory as I
did from just creating videos, putting them out there and seeing how my audience responded
to them.
So stop waiting and just take some action right now and please, if you want to channel,
come back here and just like link it, follow me so I can check it out.
Like I want to celebrate with you for doing such a big thing.
Thanks so much for watching.
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Give this video a thumbs up and just comment below.
If you've got something out of it, let me know if you're thinking about starting a channel
and I will see you on the next video.
Bye.