- So you wanna start a YouTube channel.
I know this is something that a lot of people
are trying to get into.
I've been on YouTube for a number of years.
I've grown my brand to over 500,000 subscribers
on the main channel.
And I've even started up my podcast again.
So when it comes to like starting up YouTube channels,
helping YouTube content creators grow,
it's something that I've done successfully for a long time.
And I can break it down to some very simple
and practical things.
I'm even gonna give you some tips when it comes to making
better quality content,
even as a beginner and some things you need to know about
efficient editing.
So you don't overwork yourself for very minimal results
when you're starting out.
So this is gonna be my best advice for new YouTubers
and small YouTubers on how to grow a YouTube channel.
And this is gonna be the no nonsense version.
So if you're looking for a cheerleader,
you're in the wrong place,
I'm gonna give it to you straight.
So go get a snack,
go ahead and strap in because it's about to get real.
One of the first things we have to address is expectations
versus reality.
You are probably not going who blow up on YouTube.
Yes, yes.
I know how dare I tell you that you're not gonna do it.
You're not gonna make it.
You're not gonna be the next viral sensation.
Like I said,
expectations versus reality.
Most YouTubers do fail.
Most of them fail.
90% of YouTubers never get to 10,000 subscribers.
And I'm gonna tell you exactly why.
The reason that most YouTubers fail
is because they have unrealistic expectations
because they don't know what success looks like.
You don't know what you don't know.
That's why you're watching this video.
And one of the things you need to know is that you can't
expect much when you're just trying to learn everything.
You don't know how to video edit yet.
You have no experience.
Why would that produce results?
You have no idea how to make thumbnails,
do design and branding.
You don't know how to optimize videos.
You probably don't know how to write headlines
and do copywriting.
You don't know how to do sound design and effects.
You know, you probably could benefit from Epidemic Sound
who's sponsoring today's video.
More on that later,
you don't know how lighting works or microphones or any
number of things.
You have to learn eight to 12 skills over the course of time
on YouTube, that by themselves,
any one of those skills could have been a career that pays
you 55 to $85,000 a year.
Well, Roberto,
you just talked me out of being a YouTuber and just getting
one of those jobs.
Well, I'm getting to that.
The point is you need to know this.
I'm gonna name three huge creators
you've probably heard of at least one of them.
And I'm gonna tell you the results that they got on YouTube
and what would've happened if they had quit early
and got discouraged.
So as of the making this video, MKBHD,
Marques Brownlee, he has 15 million subscribers.
Do you know what he got
out of his first 100 videos on YouTube?
78 subscribers, 100 videos, 78 subscribers.
Mr. Beast, who you've probably heard of
is probably as of the making
of this video right about to hit 100 million subscribers,
one of the most epic people of our lifetime.
His first 100 videos,
he got about 740 subscribers out of that.
PewDiePie who has been the biggest solo
YouTube content creator
competing with media companies with over 100,000, sorry,
100 million subscribers, his first 100 videos.
He didn't get 10,000 subscribers.
He didn't get 5,000 subscribers.
How many subscribers do you think you got?
He got 2,500 subscribers.
So expectations versus reality.
The fact is most of you are not going to get 1000 to 10,000
subscribers out of your first 100 videos,
because those are your introduction to being a content
creator and learning the basic concepts
of producing a good looking video, a good sounding video,
a well lit video and learning the basics
of video editing, of learning when to do jump cuts,
when to insert B-roll what color correction
and color grading is, what sound design is
and how to adjust your background music.
So it doesn't overpower your voice on video.
These are basic things that you're gonna have to learn
along the way,
and you're probably gonna have to make 100 crappy videos
in order for you to learn anything at all
about making even one good video.
Practice makes progress.
And so most YouTubers fail because they quit too early.
To get anywhere on YouTube on average,
it takes people making 500 plus videos,
and that can be daunting to do all of that work and see very
little results.
So let's talk about how you can get those results.
Just a tid bit faster, just a little bit faster,
but first let's go ahead and have a word
from our sponsor today.
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If you're trying to grow as a YouTube content creator,
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One of the things that makes or breaks your content is gonna
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And that's where Epidemic Sound comes in.
Epidemic Sound probably has one of the largest libraries of
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Thank you to Epidemic Sound for sponsoring this video
and for everything you do for content creators.
And now back to the video.
Since I talked about watch time and retention,
just now something I wanna do is I actually wanna help you
make better quality content in terms
of that watch time and retention,
because this is gonna help you get monetized on YouTube.
It's also gonna help you get subscribers.
In fact, let me tell you something
about turning viewers into subscribers.
And this is all gonna make sense to you.
If you can get somebody to watch your video
all the way to the end
or watch more than half of it, you have a much better
chance of turning that viewer into a subscriber
and into a loyal or active audience member.
Just keep in mind that when people subscribe
to your YouTube channel,
it is not a guarantee that they will have your videos
recommended on the YouTube homepage,
the next up after they watch a video or the suggested feed,
that is something that ha happens depending on
how much of your content they watch.
And that means watching videos to completion,
but also watching videos for a very, very long time,
because YouTube's goal is to keep people on YouTube,
as long as possible.
If you were wondering the secrets of the YouTube algorithm,
just walk backwards from gee,
what would keep people on YouTube as long as possible,
as long as you are contributing to that,
you're helping YouTube and Google's bottom line
and you will be rewarded accordingly.
You think it's an accident that your favorite creators are
making longer and longer videos,
but it's also not an accident that they're editing those
videos and producing those videos in a way that almost
ensures that you watch as much of the video as possible
and watch through the end.
And that's a big part of their content strategy,
but also a big part of their editing and the way that
they're producing their videos.
So when it comes to editing some of the things that will
really help you with retention and watch time
is first of all,
prioritizing your audio by having a good microphone.
That's as close to you as possible,
maybe sound treating your room in some way.
You can see that I've got
some of that sound treatment stuff going on,
and that's gonna eliminate the audio distractions.
You can also help with mood and tone
through background music,
again, good opportunity to grab Epidemic Sound,
and sometimes sound design.
When I talk about money or cash,
just having a cash register go off, that's sound design.
When I wanna pop up something on the screen,
having a plop or beep or a boop
that having that sound effect is going to actually
help make the video more engaging.
It's subtle little things,
also pattern interrupts on screen.
You don't have to be fancy and do animation on screen or
something like that and pop it up every three seconds.
Some people do that and it actually works,
people like Mr. Beast do that all the time,
but anything you can do at a basic level
to just make the experience of watching a video better
and make it something that doesn't feel painful,
that helps a long way.
Good lighting helps because that eliminates distractions
of not seeing a grainy dark hard to, you know, watch video,
having the video subject be properly in focus.
That's why we do spend money on good cameras is we do it for
the auto focus and the shallow depth of field.
The blurry background look, again,
you can make that affordable.
You can just go ahead and depending on what you do,
you can just buy a prime lens instead of a zoom lens.
You can get prime lenses for like under 500 bucks.
Sometimes you can get 'em used even cheaper.
You can get 'em for like 200 bucks.
And depending on how far away you can get,
you get the blurry background look.
You want a wireless microphone that makes it easier to make
content no matter how far away the camera is,
or lets you move around or do things
without affecting the audio.
Here's the good news.
You got wooden floors,
something I've learned about when I moved into this house,
guess what?
You can just go ahead and get a wireless lavaliere mic.
I use them from D80 microphones.
I'm gonna link to my gear in the description.
Those will be affiliate links.
You pay nothing extra.
I get a commission,
but I'm gonna put those affiliate links there.
Cause a lot of you, you don't know what to buy, so, okay,
let's go ahead and let's get some prime lenses that might be
affordable that you know,
are gonna let us get a good look for our videos.
Let's get some affordable lighting
so that those videos can be well lit.
So it's gonna be better produced.
Let's go ahead and get a good microphone.
So it's gonna be easier to edit and process the audio
and that's gonna be cheap.
D80, it's like 150,
160 for wireless microphone and it'll be the last one
you have to buy for a while.
So you'll be good to go probably for the first couple years
of your YouTube career with just a decent camera,
a good lens,
one good light and a decent wireless microphone.
You don't have to break the bank.
You don't have to go 10 grand in debt on gear
to start a YouTube channel.
And yeah, you could do it with your smartphone,
but I'm gonna be real with you.
I think that a good, you know, 1200, $1,500 investment
could put your video quality on par with a channel
that has 100,000 subscribers already.
And that could make a difference in launching your career.
But if you just need to get started and you need to not
be intimidated, make the best of your smartphone,
but I would invest in a wireless microphone for that,
you know, smartphone that just lets you get better audio,
if nothing else,
and maybe a light.
Now that you have good quality video going in
we can have good quality video going out.
And when it comes to editing,
you don't need to do all this fancy editing.
You don't have to do the Mr. Beast style of editing,
you don't have to do the Emma Chamberlain school of editing.
You can get, you know, tens of thousands,
hundreds of thousands,
millions of views on YouTube with simple jump cuts,
just simple jump cuts.
Okay?
Basic color correction that you can learn from just one
video tutorial,
you could learn the basics of color correction,
and then you could just make a preset for it
and set it and forget it.
If you're filming in the same room all the time
and you can be done with it,
you could learn that maybe in a weekend,
apply it to your video content,
have basically a template for it.
And then it's gonna be good all the time.
And it's not gonna take you hours and hours and hours
to edit your videos going forward.
This is gonna help you be consistent.
This is gonna help you have a good quality of videos.
This is gonna make things simple.
As for your audio learn and do a basic tutorial
on audio processing and you know,
just better overall audio.
And this is going to be something you can again,
probably get the basics of,
you won't have mastery in a weekend,
but you can take a weekend and you can learn
the basics of it.
And I promise you,
it's gonna be better for you to do that with your audio
than taking it straight out of camera
without a specialized microphone.
You also wanna get that microphone, like I said,
and that's gonna help you then go ahead,
get a free trial of Epidemic Sound
and go ahead and start adding some sound design
in terms of either low background music
and maybe a few sound effects where appropriate.
Some good sound design and you are good to go.
You have videos that are now on par with the top YouTubers
and you don't have to break the bank to do it.
And you don't have to do grueling editing sessions.
It's not a guarantee that just putting more time into an
individual video is gonna guarantee these massive results,
that expectation and the quality over quantity conversation,
without anyone ever telling you how to make quality videos
or be consistent at them is holding so many of you back.
And it's why you get discouraged after making dozens of
videos and never get to the point that professional creators
get to making hundreds of videos.
So if you wanna start a YouTube channel,
all of this is important, it all matters.
Now in terms of how much content you need.
I know people tell you quality over quantity,
quality over quantity,
and I'm tired of hearing it because that's not a realistic
piece of advice for a beginner.
What is I think the best advice
that I could give to a beginner is
learn how to make quality content
by making quantity content,
just like three of the biggest creators
who all made 100 videos,
two of them didn't even get a thousand subscribers doing it.
None of them got to 10,000 subscribers
after a hundred videos.
They had to learn the process of making good videos before
quality would ever come into the conversation.
And you can only do that through repetition and the faster
you go ahead and make those videos with the goal of don't
just upload the upload, get 1% better,
learn one new thing every time that you upload.
And by the time you get to a hundred uploads,
you've had a hundred lessons, a hundred practice runs,
and you should be able to see progress, not perfection,
but progress and not measured in how many views you got,
but in the abilities that grew you as a content creator.
Knowing more about audio after every upload,
knowing more about lighting after every video filming
session, knowing better and more confidently,
how to make judgment calls about your edits and your cuts
and what to keep and what to get rid of.
And again, my final piece of advice
when it comes to this is you do
need to probably niche down and pick something that you like
and enjoy doing.
You have to find something that you actually are good at
and confident in doing okay,
'cause those two things
are gonna be what hurts your endurance.
If you pick something you know you're not good at
and that you wish you were good at,
then it might hurt your confidence to just feel like the
progress is slow.
And if you don't even like it,
if you're not passionate about you're doing it for the money
or you're doing it because you think it'll go viral,
you'll burn out a lot quicker.
So you won't have a long career and you won't keep growing
'cause you won't be able to be consistent.
And it also has to be something that you figure out
how you are gonna make money
at at some point,
'cause you need to be able to afford to do this without it
compromising your living situation or making things awkward
with your family.
And then you also need to know that there is growth
in this niche.
You need to know that this is something people even would
want to watch. You know what holds small YouTubers back,
want to know the secret as to why
people don't grow on YouTube,
they often will make content that they haven't proven
they have no proof that anyone
would wanna watch these videos.
Don't upload a video that you can't say
there's an audience for.
You have to figure out that there's an audience for
something and you have to verify that.
And I'll probably make a dedicated video about that
and what's holding small YouTubers back.
But if you're making a video,
a piece of video that basically you don't know that
there's a hundred thousand,
a million people that have ever watched a video about that
and can watch a video from a stranger about that topic,
you probably need to do a little bit more research.
And again, when you're in your experimental phase,
it's fine to just make videos when you're in your
experimental phase.
I know it feels like I'm giving conflicting advice here,
but it's like,
there's a difference between trying to grow your skill level
and get comfortable on camera and just making,
if you wanna make random videos,
don't expect to grow while you're doing that,
use those random videos at throw away videos to learn and
expect nothing from the audience in for any of that.
Respect and just expect nothing from the audience.
When it's time to grow,
it's time to focus and treat it like a career,
treat it like a business,
treat it like something that you want to do
for the next 10 or 15 years
and make sure that you have your priorities in line.
Doing something you don't like for 10, 15 years,
not a good time, doing something you can't make money at
for 10 or 15 years, not a good time,
doing something for 10 or 15 years
to never get anybody to care about it
or pay attention to it, not a good time.
Doing something and knowing you are not
getting any better at it for 10 or 15 years.
Also not a good time.
And so that's my best advice.
That's my best advice from somebody
who's made over 1500 videos on this channel
over the last couple of years,
Grown an audience from zero to 500,000 subscribers.
My three years of making consistent content,
I made a couple hundred videos.
Interestingly enough, from 2013, 2016,
I grew from zero to a hundred thousand subscribers.
So I don't go viral.
I don't get millions of views on every upload,
but I do know how to be consistent.
And I do know what I'm talking about.
So there you go.
If you enjoyed this video and you found it helpful,
first of all,
leave me a comment and let me know what the most helpful
piece of advice was around this.
Also, if you enjoyed this video,
watch my playlist on other YouTube tips to help you grow.
Also watch my video on how to get monetized on YouTube
specifically if you're getting started,
because that will be important.
As always thank you so much for watching and don't forget.
Go out there and create something awesome today.
Take care.