Hi, welcome back to my Master Class
I'm Simon, and in this Master Class so far, and this is the final one in the series
so far we've talked about longer videos, regular videos and batched production
which seems, and it is, quite a bit of work.
But the good news is YouTube doesn't have to be a solo venture.
So how might you want to work with others to get the help that you need?
YouTube Creator Academy
Master Class Hires and Partnerships
So those who have watched my YouTube channels know it is not just me.
There are people behind the scenes as well helping me get out videos every day.
Even if I optimized everything with a daily video schedule
I really could never do it all myself.
I'm sure there are people out there who do daily videos every day
but when it's educational stuff there's a lot of research time
that goes into each and every one.
So, for me, it would just be impossible unless there were 10 of me.
So when I first started on YouTube I found a partner to run the channel with.
This is something that happens all the time in business, people go out and be like,
"Hey you want to start a business together?" And they go off and do it.
And I basically said, "Hey, you want to start a YouTube together?"
And we went off and did that.
So from my perspective, starting a channel with a friend
or someone you know or an acquaintance, it's got a whole bunch of advantages
and I want to take you through a few of them because I really think
if you're thinking of doing an ambitious channel
you don't have a lot of money to get started
having a partner can be a really great way to go.
So first of all there's splitting the workload
and kinda the most basic way that can happen is you have two hosts on a channel.
That doesn't mean you're hosting a video together
but it could mean that maybe one of you hosts a video on a Monday
and one of you hosts a video on a Thursday.
That way ... I talked about regularity previously ...
That way you're getting those two videos out a week on one channel
which we know is important.
But you're only doing the work of one person
so that's a great way that you can work with a partner.
Or maybe you're interested in presenting, like me, and you're not an expert in research
or editing or working with video, all that stuff.
Maybe you can find someone who is an expert in that.
Or maybe you're an expert producer and you want to find someone who can
present your videos for you.
Now, of course, the main disadvantage of all of this is financial.
If you have a partner, you are splitting the benefits with them
so that advertising revenue that comes in, half or whatever you agree to
goes to that other person.
But personally, for me, having a partner on my channels
has been absolutely the best decision that I've made as a YouTuber
and has been worth giving up half for.
And another clear advantage has to be cost.
If you want to work with someone who's got great skills, normally it's really expensive
to go out and hire someone who's really good at something.
If you want to present videos, hiring a super-skilled video producer
is really expensive, and there's not a lot of YouTube channels with money backing them
that they can afford to go out and pay someone, especially from the beginning.
But if you find a business partner who's willing to take the risk with you
then they might have those skills that you can bring on board to your team.
And another advantage is kind of a softer one
but it's accountability.
I've talked a lot in this series about the value of having regular videos
and longer videos and all of this stuff
but sometimes if it's just you it can be really hard.
You can be like, "Oh I was going to fill out the video on Thursday but I didn't."
But if you've got someone else on board who's your partner
then they can be like, "Hey man, aren't we doing that video on this Thursday?
We should be getting on that."
And it just adds that accountability so it's less easy to skip out.
So now you might wonder where would you want to look
to find a partner.
Personally I'd recommend that you look to friends and people you know first.
If it's a passion of yours, then chances are there are other people
who have that passion as well.
And another option is to just reach out to people who you might want to work with.
This is exactly what I did, Today I Found Out had a website
long before it had a YouTube channel
and I basically just sent them a contact email form
being like "Hey, you guys ever thought of getting some of your stuff onto YouTube?"
And well, here we are, a few years later.
Now on the other hand is the idea of paying people to help you out.
I mentioned earlier that hiring a really high-skilled video producer person
can be really expensive, but you don't have to start there.
When I was first starting, one of the first people I hired
was a virtual assistant halfway round the world
and they do a lot of things that I described in previous episodes
they format my descriptions, they help me with tags, they do all of this stuff
and it can be really super affordable and it's an easy place to start.
You could look at websites like Upwork or Freelancer or Guru.com
These are all places where you could potentially find a virtual assistant
at a super reasonable rate who can help you out with
some of the more mundane stuff of running a YouTube channel.
And then as I went on, the next person I got was someone to edit the videos
so when I'm reading a script or going through a video
I make a ton of mistakes, and you see the little jump cuts?
Someone else... First I spent hours and hours doing this
and then I was like I should really get someone else to do that
and as the channel grew to a point where that was affordable
I was like ok, so I found someone to just chop up the video.
And as my channel grew, I brought more people on just like this
to help me get more content out.
And now today, as our processes have evolved
we're even got someone who's working with advertisers to bring us more money
into the channel through sponsorships and that helps pay for all of this stuff.
And I know at this point, you might be thinking
this is something that only big channels can afford
and maybe you're not quite there yet.
But I do think it's a good thing to keep in mind as you grow
and as you do start growing that pressure will increase to get more stuff done
and just a reminder that when that happens, finding people to work with can be
a really great way to take some of that pressure off.
So, this was actually my final lesson in this Master Class series
and I really hope that you enjoyed spending some time with me learning a bit
about being a YouTube creator, basically the stuff I've learned over the last few years.
I'm glad I got a chance to share it with you all
and this stuff made a big difference to me so I hope it makes a big difference
to you as well.
I'd also of course like to thank the YouTube Creators channel
for letting me come on here and share some of this stuff.
So subscribe to them for more great Master Classes
from other creators.
There were some in the past which I watched before doing this, they're fantastic
and more to come. And if you want to see more of me
please find the link to my stuff below, and as always thanks for watching.