- Starting this YouTube channel
is easily one of the smartest decisions I ever made
that changed my life, changed my career
and allowed me to become a full-time creative pro.
So today I'm going to be giving you
my top 15 tips for new YouTubers.
Tip number one is don't get discouraged by the numbers.
I know that's easier said than done,
but when you're starting out as a YouTuber,
the reality is that you're a rookie, you're not a loser.
Think of YouTube like any other career,
or even consider treating it like a sport.
There's no reason for you to worry
about putting points on the board when you're still learning
how the game is played in the first place,
and when frankly, the competition
probably has been doing it for five or 10 years.
You don't have to grow fast at the start.
The most important thing is to start learning
how to find your voice and find your audience
and learn the rules of the game and the systems of YouTube.
And you're gonna do that by just making more content
and just taking your time.
You just gonna have to trust the process.
Tip number two is that gear does and does not matter,
at least when you're getting started.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by fancy camera gear,
especially when you see a lot of us,
full-time YouTubers who have really expensive setups,
and we talk a lot about the importance
of audio, video, and lighting.
And while all of those things are very important
to be able to produce very high quality videos,
the reality is that some of the most
successful YouTubers of all time
started with nothing more than a smartphone.
In fact, I believe Mr. Beast actually started
with a broken smartphone
and got all the way to 200,000 subscribers
with nothing more than that.
If you're gonna be thinking about gear,
make sure you're improving the quality
of your audio first with a good microphone,
because being able to get through a video
with bad audio is almost impossible.
We can forgive subpar video quality,
but not subpar audio quality.
After audio, maybe consider doing something about lighting.
This doesn't have to be super expensive.
Outdoor lighting works for a lot of beginners.
And then after that, you can worry about cameras and lenses,
and putting together a fancy backdrop.
The best way to be consistent
and to keep going when it comes to YouTube
is to keep it as simple as possible.
So don't stress out too much about gear
if you're just getting started.
Tip number three, quantity leads to quality.
Just like any other creative endeavor,
the reality is you have to just put in the reps.
You have to go ahead and put in some repetition.
Most people do not start out making high quality content.
It's very rare.
Not everyone has that gifted ability or talent.
I certainly sucked on camera
and just didn't know how to talk to a camera lens
like it was a person when I got started.
You could watch my earliest videos
and see how bad I was at it.
My advice is usually to make 100 crappy videos
with the goal of becoming 1% better
and learning from each of those videos as you go.
And that will help you with growth,
not in terms of views and subscribers,
but growth in becoming somebody
who can make quality content at some point.
It took me 100 crappy videos
to be able to find my voice and my confidence,
learn to be a faster and better editor,
and to really discover that I actually enjoy making videos
probably more than I enjoy most things.
So for a lot of us, we don't start out
making quality content.
In fact, Marques Brownlee, Mr. Beast, and PewDiePie
all had to make 100 crappy videos, and in most cases,
they didn't even get 1,000 subscribers out of it.
Mr. Beast got like 700 subscribers out of it.
Marques got like 78, and PewDiePie,
I think got like 2,500 subscribers
at their first 100 videos.
So if you're struggling
and you're not getting somewhere really, really fast,
don't worry about it because that's actually pretty normal.
Tip number four, focus on one thing at a time.
YouTube can be very overwhelming
and also can be pretty lonely.
A lot of people aren't gonna understand
what you're trying to do,
and you probably won't initially have
a lot of other friends who are content creators.
So if you're trying to do this,
I say you should take it one step at a time.
You're not gonna be perfect at everything all at once.
You're not gonna be able to do everything all at once
and still do the things you have to do in your life,
if you have a full-time job or if you're a student.
So the main thing is to just take this slow
and just go at your own pace
by focusing on getting better at one thing at a time.
Focus is a really great way to move forward,
but you should probably take it one thing at a time.
Tip number five, experimenting versus niching down.
Look, I'm a big fan of niche down,
step up your content and then blow up,
niche down, step up, blow up, I'm a big fan of that.
I made an entire video dedicated to this concept,
but that can be very challenging to do
when you don't have any experience
and you don't know what you want your content
and your channel to be all about, and that's okay.
I especially think that if you're very young
and very creative, you wanna do everything at once.
That can be confusing to your audience,
but you should still probably go ahead
and do it within your first 100 crappy videos
and get it out of your system.
For one thing, you'll stumble onto the thing
that is actually working for you,
and that you're actually good at
if you don't know what that is.
It lets you not feel stifled creatively
and you can find your voice.
And the thing is, once you start making a bunch
of different videos, you'll find that you enjoy
and like making some things more than others
and you won't feel bad about just getting rid of
and ditching that other content
to focus on what you like more
and what the audience likes more.
So niching down doesn't have
to be this really tough crucible.
It's not something you have to do before you get started.
You have plenty of room and time to experiment.
It's just not fair to expect an audience to commit to you
while you're still figuring out who you are.
So just keep that in mind.
Tip number six is about how we make quality videos
in the first place, because you might hear a bunch
of big YouTubers telling you just make quality content,
and they never tell you how to make quality content.
So let's do that.
First of all, a lot of people get confused
between value and quality.
In fact, it's not quality content
that gets us to click on a video in the first place
'cause we have no idea what the quality is
when we see a title and a thumbnail in YouTube.
So what we're actually clicking on a video for,
what gets you views on a video is value.
It's the perceived value that we are gonna get as viewers
when we start to watch something.
So you have to fight for our click
and you do that by presenting us value.
No matter how good the quality of something is,
if I'm not interested in it, I'll never know
'cause I won't be able to click on that video.
A lot of people, they have really great videos,
well-made videos, that actually just end up getting unseen
because they don't understand
what their audience actually cares about.
If you wanna make quality videos,
quality comes down to really three things,
good production values in terms of the visual quality,
the audio quality, the lighting,
those things are production quality.
Then you have the quality of the performance.
That's your ability to communicate your ideas
and your delivery and performance on camera,
things like your charisma.
And then finally, there's the personality
of the content creator or performer themselves.
Do people connect to you?
Do they relate to you?
Do they respect you?
So if you think about these three things,
these are the experience that we have
when we're watching somebody's content.
And that experience that we're having
is how we're going to rate the quality of a video.
So just remember, value is what we're interested in
and what gets our attention, what we want to see.
And then quality is what we're actually seeing.
It's about the viewer experience.
And if you do that, that leads to subscribers
and to building loyalty within the audience.
Value gets you views, quality gets you subscribers.
Then one day you get one of these.
Speaking of quality, that actually leads us
to today's sponsor.
This video is sponsored by my friends over at Storyblocks.
You might've noticed that I've actually been using
a lot more stock footage
to help me make my content just a little bit higher quality.
So that means you don't have to sit here
and be bored to tears when I talk to the camera
for 20 minutes straight,
because Storyblocks has over a million stock video assets,
including 4K footage, after effects templates,
and even audio and sound effects they can use
to take your videos to the next level.
Sometimes I just don't have the ability
to shoot the B-roll that I need,
but with Storyblocks' unlimited access plan,
I can always find the footage
that's going to help me tell a better story.
And Storyblocks is constantly updating their library
of stock footage, and they also make sure
that they're addressing inclusivity and diversity.
You sign up for the unlimited access plan
with my link in the description down below.
Thanks again to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video.
In fact, let's get back to that video.
So now that you know how to make quality content,
let's talk about being patient.
Patience is something that's very important.
The truth is that YouTube is hard.
Don't let a lot of people trying to be humble
convince you otherwise.
It's very hard to learn how to be good on camera.
It's very hard to learn how to edit a video,
how to write a script.
And it's very hard to keep doing this
when you're getting started
and you feel like nobody is watching.
So you have to be crazy, crazy patient
about the process of growing as a content creator.
This is rarely overnight success for anybody.
On average, it takes three to five years
to start to get some real traction on YouTube.
It's not abnormal for it to take that long
for someone to just get to 10,000 subscribers
if they ever get there at all.
90% of content creators never get to 10,000 subscribers.
And I'm convinced that it's because they quit
before they ever get there
'cause they're wildly impatient
and they expect overnight success.
Tip number nine is to focus more on your titles
and your thumbnails.
Believe it or not, the title and thumbnail of the video
has more to do with it getting views
than the quality of the video itself.
And you probably know this from firsthand experience
as a viewer and consumer of content on YouTube.
Regardless of what, you have to be convinced
to click on a video.
And the only way you get to make up your mind
is the title and the thumbnail.
You don't actually know how good the video is
until you click on it.
I think all of you should be spending a lot more time
trying to craft a good thumbnail
that will get someone's attention
and get them to stop scrolling in their phone.
That is your opportunity to get their attention.
But your title has to also be relevant to them,
so that's where things like knowing
and focusing on a core audience
and a type of subscriber actually can matter.
I crafted the title and thumbnail for this video
specifically to attract a new YouTuber.
So I told you that this video was for you,
and then I also showed you in the thumbnail
why this video would actually help you.
Tip number 10 is to be as consistent as you possibly can.
Consistency can be very hard
and can mean a lot of different things
to a lot of different people.
I think it's important not only to be consistent
in your upload frequency, but also consistent
in your message and in the brand
that you're building on YouTube.
But again, that can be confusing for a lot of people.
So what do I mean by that?
Well, sometimes when you're talking about one thing
and then you're talking about another
and there's no connection between the two,
that's inconsistent and confusing to a viewer,
and it's hard to ask someone for a commitment
to someone who's inconsistent all the time.
The same thing for taking huge long breaks between uploads.
That's also very difficult.
In order to get my first 10,000 subscribers,
I had to upload weekly videos
and mostly about the same thing for about a year.
And that's how I got my first 10,000 subscribers on YouTube
in just under a year, about 11 months, in 2013.
Because I was extra consistent,
and I also increased the frequency of my uploads,
it meant that by 2016,
I was able to grow to 10,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Now I'm not promising you that making 500
or 600 videos in like three years
is gonna get you a Silver Play Button.
That is not what I'm trying to tell you.
What I am trying to tell you is that consistency
is one of the foundations of success in anything you do,
whether it's YouTube, business, sports, relationships,
consistency is an important part of life.
And it's gonna be important part
of your career as a content creator.
Tip number 11 is that making money
on YouTube goes painfully slow.
In fact, I didn't make much money
from AdSense revenue directly from YouTube
those first three years,
which I'll make a video about that in the future.
I do very well now here on YouTube,
but that's something that took a long time.
If I was relying on that though,
I wouldn't have been able to survive.
So if you are thinking about doing YouTube,
you have to understand
that when you're just getting started,
you probably need your money to come from somewhere else,
whether it's a full-time or part-time job,
or if it's being a full-time freelancer, like I was,
you'll need something else to supplement your income
until YouTube is successful.
But even if it is, just remember that months go up
and down on YouTube with regards to views
and with regard to ad revenue,
and it's not something you have a lot of control over
like the amount of hours that you're working.
And AdSense revenue isn't always the best idea
in terms of relying on it.
Tip number 12, build a system for your success.
When it comes to YouTube, there's a lot of things
that you have to think about.
You have to think about video editing.
You have to think about filming,
you have to think about scheduling time to do all of this,
and you have to make it right size in your life.
You have to make it fit your lifestyle.
Some of you are already working a full-time job,
you might have a family, some of you might be in school,
you might be juggling a lot.
It's going to be impossible to build long-term success
or even get short term gains in YouTube
without building some kind of system
and some kind of set of routines
to help you get your work done.
So start thinking about how you can be more efficient,
start thinking about ways to plan out your filming
and editing days.
I actually made an entire video about what allows me
to be consistent with my YouTube videos
or what will help me be more consistent.
And you have to just account for the fact
that you also will have days where you're low energy
and that may not be a good time to film.
So you have to think about things like having videos
you filmed in batch recordings in advance
that you can just schedule and release
if you ever have a day when you're not feeling it.
This is going to really help you long-term
as a content creator.
Tip number 13, edit out anything that's not essential.
No one likes fluff, cut the fluff.
If it's not something that is educating your audience
or exciting your audience and entertaining them,
you don't really need it to be part of the video.
Don't make a video a minute longer than it needs to be.
Just cut anything that's non-essential.
Tip number 14, do not take shortcuts
when it comes to YouTube or anything else in life.
Look, you could be tempted
to try to do things like buying views and subscribers
or doing sub for sub, or trying to be part of communities
that try to create engagement pods for YouTube.
And all of those things are terrible ideas.
And if you try to take the shortcuts,
number one, you won't ever feel
like you earned your own success.
And number two, it can disqualify you
from being part of the YouTube Partner Program
and ever monetizing your channel.
Or if you're wildly successful, it could disqualify you
from getting your YouTube Creator Award.
You don't wanna get to 100,000 subscribers
and then not get this Silver Play Button
after getting 100,000 subscribers
because you cheated to get maybe one or 2,000 of them
to stop feeling less insecure about yourself
and make content.
Just have the confidence to believe
in the content you're making and your own growth.
And it's okay to grow slow.
You do not have to be an overnight success.
The truth is they don't really exist.
And finally tip number 15, just get started.
Every single year, there will be somebody who says
that this is too late to be successful on YouTube.
Every year someone will say it's too saturated
that you can't do YouTube gaming,
that you can't be a vlogger anymore,
that tech YouTube is too saturated.
There will always be an excuse
and there will always be people executing
and proving them wrong.
You just have to decide who you're going to be.
Are you gonna be somebody who makes excuses?
Are you gonna be somebody who is a success story
that we find out about three
or five years after you decided to grind?
I'm not gonna lie to you, it's gonna be a hard
and challenging road sometimes,
and you're not always gonna want to do it.
But it's absolutely worth it if you stick to it in the end,
and if you're enjoying the process along the way.
So just make it as fun and make it
as interesting as you possibly can by just being yourself.
I mean, it's not like I had the personality
to be a YouTuber.
Go watch my early videos, they were horrible.
And here I am today with over 500,000 subscribers.
If I can pull that off with my personality
and all of my flaws,
then you're probably gonna be all right.
There's also very little chance
that your first 100 crappy videos are as bad as mine.
Question of the day,
which tip did you find most helpful today?
Let me know in the comment section.
Thanks again to my friends at Storyblocks
for sponsoring this video.
If you did enjoy this video,
make sure you're watching the playlist
in the description down below
on how to grow as a new YouTuber.
Also, I know that most of you
probably have under 1,000 subscribers,
so make sure you're watching my video
on how to get your first 1,000 subscribers.
And I have another video
on how to get your first 4,000 hours of watch time.
All of that will be linked in the description down below.
As always, thank you so much for watching
and don't forget, go out there
and create something awesome today, take care.