If you have a desire to change what you're doing, for any reason
that calls for a possible pivot.
Every YouTuber has a life span.
I would say that has to be true.
A 'creative pivot' is a fancy word for changing your content
for changing direction.
When I started on YouTube, I did sketch comedy
and played every single character.
Did everything myself because no-one would help me.
And that pivoted to short films when people wanted to help
challenges when my audience was growing
vlogs when I got bored from that
and now tutorials to be able to give back to my audience.
Some of the reasons that I've pivoted in my personal career are
if you get burnt out of doing one type of content
if one type of content just isn't being received by an audience
all the way to being bored
and just wanting to try something else with your life.
Welcome to my studio, this is where I create everything.
I first realised it was time to pivot when I was making short films.
And when I wanted to focus on my YouTube channel
I realised that I had to be making content more frequently than once every two months.
So I decided to do the opposite and create a video every single day.
That's a pivot.
So my goal was to actually stop thinking about creating
and create every day.
In terms of views, it didn't blow up my channel overnight
but it did position me very well with brands.
So, I don't think my channel would be as strong today
if I hadn't made the decision to pivot to vlogging.
Before you pivot, you want to look at what your audience is into.
Your own personal motivations.
Where's your career going, what do you want to create?
And maybe most importantly
is there a market for what you're trying to create?
And if there is, how do you get to them?
When you pivot content
it's not just about changing your content for your audience.
You're creating new content for a new audience.
You're just bringing a lot of your old audience with you.
There's so many ways that you can break down what you're doing.
There's Analytics, there's comments.
You might not look at comments the way you'd initially think.
You're not looking for comments that say
"Yes, I'm excited about this," or "No, I don't want that."
You're looking for the constructive comments.
You're looking for the people who say "I really enjoyed this video, but..."
If that is rippled throughout your audience
you can build from that.
The way I've found to better increase my chances of a successful pivot
come down to creating a six-month or a one-year plan
so that I don't have the time in the middle ground to cheat myself.
I will see it through, even if it runs my channel into the ground
because I've made that choice.
And then, honestly, believing in your pivot more than anyone else
so that your enthusiasm can get other people interested and excited.
People don't know why they like something, so you need to tell them why they will.
Growing pains can be extremely hard
especially if they don't go the direction that you intended them to.
When I pivoted from doing challenges with my friends
to short films
in my mind, my momentum would stay the same
yet I would be introducing my audience to a higher level of content.
They didn't want that higher level of content.
So when I switched, they were like "Well, this isn't what we wanted,"
and my channel then stopped growing.
But I've also done pivots to get out of situations like that.
At one point, I was in this weird, black hole
where every time I'd upload, I would lose exactly a thousand subscribers.
But on days that I didn't, I would grow.
So I became a little fearful to upload
and I lost the power, as a creator, of my own platform
And that's when I decided to pivot to daily vlogging
which had the risk of losing people.
I ended up losing 76,000, but at some point, it did stop losing.
And I got my power back over my own channel.
I would say the hardest thing about pivoting is you don't know if it's gonna work.
It's a risk.
And it's not even a fifty-fifty risk.
You're taking what has traditionally worked
and changing it.
So, you've really got to plan, and you've got to figure out
how you're going to make it work in your long-term strategy.
But then again, not pivoting is an equally as big a risk.
It's change, it's uncomfortable.
What could go wrong?
The extreme is that you could lose your channel.
You could alienate yourself from a community.
You could lose loyalty.
But, then again, do you really want to create content
for an audience that doesn't really understand who you are?
Do you want to live a lie?
The answer's usually no.
Just follow your compass.
I'm sure that's on a coffee mug somewhere.
But, for real, just follow you heart.
Follow what you want to do.
Because that's what I've done, and I couldn't possibly be happier.