it's 20 21. can you still make it on the
tubes why yes of course you can oh but i
feel like i'm too late to the party it's
never too late
you're right on time
what are other people gonna think oh who
cares what they think oh what where do i
even begin your journey begins
now hello swedish potatoes let's break
down how to start a channel in 2021.
thank you so much to best buy for
sponsoring this video they have
everything you need from gear to
lighting and even software to create
amazing vlogs i actually got my very
first camera from my local best buy
before you run out and go get a camera
come come that's it there's a lot we
need to chat about before hitting record
so get comfy grab a pen and paper get a
beverage if you want and let's dive into
it
to start there may be some mysteries or
questions around what it's really like
being a creator in this space if you
just create one video a week you spend
the rest of your week just
dilly-dallying twiddling your thumbs
doing whatever you want watching
k-dramas all day
i wish i really wish in reality it looks
a bit more like this where i'm spending
anywhere between 20 to over 30 hours
creating a video from start to finish
and that's just the content production
side of the business there's a business
business side to it that will save for a
future video every creator's workflow is
different but as with starting anything
new as we're starting a new business a
lot of time effort dedication
persistence perseverance hard work all
of the words that you can think of is
needed to
be successful and we're going to talk
about it all if you guys have seen at
least a minute of my content you already
know the very first question we're gonna
be asking ourselves
[Music]
i seen a video or two why are you doing
what you are doing
correct there are many reasons why you
would want to start a channel maybe you
genuinely love the craft maybe there's
something you're very passionate about
maybe you want to help people you want
to make the world a better place you
want to make money or start a business
whatever the reason is be brutally
honest with yourself because getting
clear on your why will help you
understand why it is you do anything
that you do as well as help you figure
out how to move forward so for example
if your big why is to make money and
there's absolutely no shame in wanting
to make money getting views would be
your highest priority and you do
everything in your power to maximize
views the extreme case of doing it for
the views i think we see it around us
every single day i'm not going to give
examples but my thoughts around that is
let's say that does happen you wake up
one day you have all the things you've
ever wanted in this world you have
millions and millions and millions of
followers
but are you really happy are you truly
fulfilled this is why getting clear
honor why earlier on will be massively
helpful which will help you in the
future whether the onslaught of positive
and not so positive emotions that will
inevitably find you as you start putting
yourself out there
in this world knowing your why is
as always the second thing is
personality yeah yes sweet sweet
personality a lot of people say you
either have it or you don't but i feel
like we all have our own unique
personalities we're all born with our
unique characteristics temperaments our
ways of seeing the world that deserves
to be shared with the world so whether
you're extroverted and loud or whether
you're introverted or quiet or whether
you're anything in between the matrix of
all of introversion extroversion i
really believe that there's room for all
of us to share our gifts with the world
and to thrive and grow
here and the most important lesson
that i'm still learning till this day
even this very moment as i'm filming
right now struggling with filming right
now is to just
let go of who you think you should be
and just be
your
self people come on to here to see you
for who you truly are not this polish
perfective version of you and it's just
it's something that's been so hard for
me to
just lean into who i truly am i found
over the years that the more i let go of
this ideal version of who i should be
the more that my channel grew and it's
just in moments like these that i also
need to constantly remind myself that
like yes when you truly create from your
heart and when you share things from
your soul people can see it they can
feel it and they really appreciate it so
thank you for coming to my ted talk
let's move on to the next point of
what kind of content should i start with
creating personally i found it to be the
most helpful when i have a very clear
idea of who i'm creating the content for
if i know who i'm creating for my
younger self just think of okay when i
was going through something like this
how did i feel and what would i have
needed to hear and through that it just
makes the scripting and filming process
super easy but if you're like i have no
idea who i want to create for that's
totally fine you can ask yourself what
kind of content or what type of content
do i want to create let's say you want
to create a self-care and productivity
related channel
hello the first thing that i would do is
find creators within this space that are
already creating content like that so
for example rowena i'd go to her channel
page i click on the video tab and i
would sort the videos by most popular so
from this
from the very top like two rows i can
see okay these are the videos that went
viral these are the videos that
performed well these are the videos that
got her on the map from here you can get
inspiration
not to copy to get inspiration for the
types of content that you can start with
creating if you were to do this across
five to ten creators within the space or
within the niche that you want to go
into you will start seeing patterns and
trends of what types of videos tend to
do well another thing is that if we go
back to the video tab and you just sort
things by either oldest video or newest
video this is a very interesting
snapshot into the lifetime of a
creator's channel when and how they
started how they grew and if when how
they've changed their content over the
years this exercise is a great way to
get inspiration and ideas for where to
start another thing you can do is to
treat this platform like the search
engine the massive search engine that it
is what do people search the most for
how to blank if i could go back in time
i create more easily searchable how-to
videos to start off my channel like this
era
of my channel alright once you've found
your why and figured out what types of
content you want to create what's next
it is creating content two things before
we start the first one is while i do
believe it'll be helpful and it's good
to look into how to monetize your
channel how to brand yourself how to
brand your channel which dream brands
you would want to work with now that
you're starting a channel which is
something i did when i first heard out
and i just reminded myself i was like
rowena hold your horses what is the most
important thing right now in this very
moment for you to do it is to create
let's not get overwhelmed or distracted
by all these other things focus the
first thing is focus the second thing is
consistency with posting out of all the
podcasts i've listened to all the videos
i watched from big creators medium
creators all creators is this is to be
consistent with posting i feel like one
video a week is a good cadence focus
consistency now we can talk about
production
content creation
take a deep breath it's an exciting time
don't let logistics overwhelm you from
having fun and creating from your heart
choose an environment that works for you
and make it easier for yourself for
example if you are too shy to vlog
outside and vlog in front of other
people just do it at home stay at home
this is why most of my videos is done in
my apartment and this is why the first
year of my videos i filmed like behind a
white wall one thing that is worth
noting right now is the importance of
the first five to ten seconds of your
video it's like imagine yourself
scrolling on here when you click a video
from a random person you don't know
within the first five to ten seconds
you'll decide whether you want to keep
watching or whether you want to click
out juiciest thing the most attention
grabbing the most like oh wow reaction
or like i don't know just it could be
clickbait it's whatever it is first five
to ten seconds is the most important so
think about this it's important to think
about this before you actually start
filming the video moving on to the
production section i broke the
production section down into one two
three
three parts to me this is the order that
i feel is the most important i know
people are going to want to fight me on
this but
hear me out let's start with lighting if
you have good natural lighting it just
significantly elevates the visuals of
your content right now this like soft
soft and direct sunlight gives you this
like soft focus glow that you can just
never replicate with harsh direct
sunlight or box slide or ring light
natural indirect light is best just
facing a window the only thing you need
to invest in is invest some time into
figuring out the pattern of the sun
and the way your windows are positioned
so that you know the optimal couple of
hours you can spend filming with soft
natural lighting but let's say you need
a film at night which i do have to
sometimes this is some packs ring light
i love that you can adjust the
brightness as well as the temperature
for how warm or cool you want it to be
in general i always play with the dial
to get the most natural look whenever
possible to make sure it's not too
bright or not too dim and it's not too
warm or too cool it really is like
playing around to get to the porch
that's just right and this specific ring
light has 448 super bright led lights
for bicolor illumination what this means
is that as you guys can see there's a
ring of cooler light that's more blue
and there's a ring of warmer lights
that's more yellow when i do film with
the ring light i'll turn on my light to
my all the lights in my apartment just
so it doesn't look like a black dungeon
behind me with just like one source of
light coming in the front next is camera
when it comes to cameras don't let the
desire or need to get the perfect gear
to get the perfect anything hold you
back from actually starting your channel
i feel like in this point in time our
phones are more than enough we already
have the tools we just need to do it but
if you want to elevate your content
visually i researched my face off and
landed on the canon g7x it was the best
point-and-shoot vlogging camera at that
time i still have a right here i drove
to my hometown's best buy and decided to
invest in this because to me using my
own money to buy a camera that was six
hundred dollars was going to make me
accountable for myself i use this
exclusively for the first three and a
half years of my channel until upgrading
to this camera that i have right now is
the canon m50 mark ii it's not bulky at
all compared to other mirrorless cameras
and it has this little screen next to it
that pops out sideways you can get fancy
with it by changing different lenses or
getting attachments and it can also take
vertical videos which is pretty cool in
this generation that we live in where a
lot of video is now being taken
vertically next
audio when it comes to audio and filming
indoors just be mindful of things like
echo or background noises you might
usually not notice for example the ac
fans washer dryer dishwasher anything
that could be background noise that you
wouldn't really think of so just be
mindful of that i just shut everything
off and i prefer a silent of an
environment as i can the mic that i have
on my camera right now is the shure vp83
shotgun mic it is a highly directional
mic that can clearly capture the sound
source like your beautiful voice while
rejecting unwanted noise from other
areas of the room this is really
important to get that like crisp and
clear sound that
we want when we're filming so
this
this is production yeah i'm sweating
profusely right now because the ac is
off and it's so hot outside
so that's that
next we're moving on to post-production
when i first started my channel it would
take me over 10 to 15 hours or even like
two three four solid days of editing
before i can export and like feel good
about it it might seem something that's
daunting
but
don't worry as with anything that we do
the more that you practice the more that
you do something the easier it will
become let me i think it's i think it's
time to start turning on the lights
in the beginning when you're starting
out with editing don't feel the need to
go crazy with animation or editing or
graphics keep it simple keep it basic
there's nothing wrong with that instead
focus more on the flow and the pacing of
the video don't go too fast don't go too
slow it's like again porridge in the
middle just the right pacing there is
like an art to pacing your videos so
that people don't get bored or it's it's
not too like fast that it feels like
anxiety inducing for them that's just
what to keep in mind but if you want to
elevate
your editing game adobe premiere pro is
a great option for video editing at any
skill level you can think of it as a
one-stop video editing application that
can produce any types of video
you want if you guys are interested in
any of the camera gear or software i
just mentioned they can all be found at
best buy and i'll link them all down
below it truly is an all-encompassing
vlogging starter pack with all the
essentials so again everything will link
down below now you guys know we we're
not gonna say goodbyes until we go a
little deeper i feel like in this day
and age being a creator is synonymous to
burning out i feel like it just it goes
hand in hand if this is the reality of
this is the future your potential future
how can we stay sane grounded and just
mentally healthy through it all
the first thing have fun the gauge for
how well you're doing should be how much
fun you're having this is something that
oh my god
i wish i wish i did this more when i
first started i feel like i was so
intense when i first started it should
be fun it should be a very beautiful
creative outpouring of your heart and
your soul it's like if i'm good vibes as
i'm filming
if i'm good vibes as i'm editing
and as you're watching you're going to
be like oh good vibes good vibes but if
i'm like super stressed and struggling
while i'm filming super stressed and
struggling when i'm editing and when you
watch it even though i may be talking
about positive things the underlying
energy it's like it's not good
so this is this is something that i'm
honestly still working on i know it's
impossible for us to be happy and to be
in a good place all the time
but i think if we strive to have fun if
we try to play if we strive to bring out
the child within when we are filming
when we are editing when we are
scripting when we do anything it doesn't
even need to be creating youtube videos
if we're able to
just treat everything more
light-heartedly and to have fun as a
society would be so much like we'd feel
so much lighter which brings us to the
second point of don't take yourself so
seriously i'm saying to this to myself
because i still take myself plenty
seriously ah i set not the best
foundation where i turn on the camera i
like turn on i feel like when i turn on
the camera i should just still be myself
you know i think that's like the state
that i'm aspiring to be in the very last
thing is to have patience be persistent
and keep trying new things basically
have a growth mindset know that nothing
happens overnight you can interview 10
creators and their path to getting to
where they are today where you see them
will be completely different completely
different like if there is a blueprint
for how to blow up and how to grow on
youtube so many more people will be
doing it already right so like there
isn't a defined way of you to do a b c d
e f g which is why
i feel like this is such an exciting
new frontier where you could
use all the tips i gave you and succeed
you can also use none of the tips i gave
you and just trust your gut and
instincts and still succeed yeah i just
feel like it's it's a beautiful time to
be alive to be able to create and to be
able to share your creations with people
in this way share your passion share
your joy share your life and be
potentially rewarded monetarily
by doing what you love
by just sharing your life i think that's
amazing if you really want something
you will make it happen and i believe in
you i believe in the potato fam yeah if
you guys have any questions leave them
down below maybe we'll make more videos
like this in the future thank you again
to best buy for sponsoring today's video
if you guys are looking for vlogging
gear they are the place to go like
when i got my baby g7x um and of course
all the products everything will be
linked down below and with that thank
you guys so much
and then i'll see you guys
next
in the next video bye