What is up everyone?
Welcome back to my channel.
In today's video, we are going to be talking about YouTube.
Now, as I film this video, I'm currently starting at around 869 subscribers.
Can you believe it?
At the total, including this video, this will be my 16th video that I posted to date, and
my first video, I actually posted near end of July.
So it's already been four months since I started my YouTube journey.
It's really funny that I'm even filming this video because I remember wanting to start
a YouTube channel ever since I was in high school.
Back then, I had a Logitech camera or Logitech webcam, and I really wanted to start filming
videos.
But the one thing that was really preventing me from doing it was because I was scared,
I didn't think that it was the right time, and so I never did it.
I feel like every year after that, I've always wanted to start a YouTube channel and I just
for some reason never did.
I know for me, for so many years, starting a YouTube channel was always in the top five
of the goals that I always set for myself year after year.
It was really painful every time to kind of rewrite that goal because I would never actually
do it.
So that's why I wanted to create this video because I know that there's a handful of people
that probably have "Starting a YouTube channel" on their 2019 New Year's resolutions list.
So that's why in today's video, I'm going to give you four no bullshit tips and advice
on how I was able to not only start my YouTube channel, but also grow it to almost 1,000
subscribers to date.
Now the first advice that I have for you is to just start.
Just do it.
I know that this sounds really simple and basic as the first tip, but I promise you
that starting is actually one of the hardest parts of starting a YouTube channel.
Because for many of us, fear, procrastination, perfectionism are the main reasons why we
stop ourselves from actually starting.
If you're watching this video, really ask yourself, how long have you been wanting to
start a YouTube channel and are you actually going to make 2019 the year where you actually
do it and take action?
Because if you were me years go, then you're probably someone who is paralyzed with perfectionism.
What perfectionism is is feeling the need to have the right equipment, the right environment,
the right timing, the right season, to actually start.
But at the end of the day, those are all bullshit excuses that you're feeding to yourself because
you're scared of starting.
I'm actually going to share a personal story with you.
Right now, I'm actually in the same home that I lived in when I was in university.
During this time, I kept telling myself, "The moment that I move out of this home, I'm going
to start a YouTube channel."
When I graduated, I moved to Montreal, lived in my own apartment, and I still didn't start
because at the time, I was telling myself, "Oh wait, but I need the right equipment."
Now, I'm back in my home that I lived in in university, actually having a YouTube channel
that is almost at a thousand subscribers using just the same camera that I had back in university,
having a backdrop that I recently bought, and a stand from Amazon that costed me $15.
Those were the three things that I actually used to start my channel.
I still haven't invested in lighting.
I'm still using window lighting or daylight lighting or whatever you want to call it.
That goes to show that it doesn't matter what type of equipment or what type of timing or
what type of apartment you have, the key thing is that you actually need to start.
That's why I'm putting this as my number one tip because if you don't start, then the other
tips really don't matter.
Now the second piece of advice that I have ... ooh, what's going on here?
The second piece of advice that I have is to actually pinpoint and nail down your niche.
I think a mistake that's really easy to make, especially for people that are starting out,
is not having a niche and feeling the need to post all kinds of content.
For example, one day posting a make-up tutorial, the next day posting a food blog, then the
next day posting tips on business.
When you actually nail down your niche and actually create consistent content on a certain
subject, that's actually going to help you grow a lot faster.
Because when you're first starting out, you don't want to treat your channel like a buffet.
You want to treat your channel like a specialized restaurant, and I'm going to explain exactly
what I mean by that.
Now, think about it.
If you actually want to take out your boyfriend or your girlfriend to a nice seafood dinner,
you're not going to go to a buffet.
You're going to go to a specialized restaurant that is known for serving good seafood.
The same concept applies to YouTube channels.
You don't want to have your YouTube channel be a buffet where you have multiple different
types of content.
You want it to be a specialized restaurant so that you can be known for the content that
you serve and for people to actually trust you enough to subscribe because they know
that every week, you're going to pump out the content that they want.
Now, let's use me as a case study.
The moment that I actually change the cover banner of my YouTube channel to "Millennial's
Ultimate Guide to Self-Help" or something like that, like more tailored to self-help
for millennials, I actually started seeing an accelerated growth in my subscriber count.
The moment the I actually really refined my messaging on exactly who I serve and what
type of content that you should expect from me, which is business and mindset.
Even though I love make-up and I love fashion and I love all these different things, you'll
never really see that type of content on my channel because I have a niche and I'm going
to stay consistent and loyal to that niche.
This is important because when someone goes on my channel, they can automatically see
and know what to expect from me week after week in terms of content, and if this is something
that they're actually interested in, then they're more likely to subscribe.
Even think about your own habits.
Are you going to really follow someone who has a bunch of different random videos week
after week and you don't really know what to expect?
Probably not.
You're probably following make-up accounts or business accounts or finance accounts for
a specific reason, and that's why it's really important to think that way when you are starting
your channel.
The third piece of advice that I have for you is the really focus on posting educational
content that people are actually searching for.
I personally think that a mistake that a lot of people make when they're first starting
out on YouTube is they post vlogs about their life.
But let's be real here.
No one, other than your friends and your grandma, care about what you're doing everyday.
Because you have to keep in mind that YouTube is actually the second largest search engine
aside from Google, and that's why you need to actually create content that people are
searching for on the internet.
Now, I'm going to use myself as a case study again.
So, when I was in the position where I was debating whether to not to quit my corporate
job, I found that there were a lot of people that actually had this problem.
But unfortunately, on YouTube, there weren't that many videos that were talking about quitting
the nine to five.
Specifically, I noticed that there weren't a lot of millennials sharing their experiences
of leaving their corporate jobs.
However, in my real day to day life, I kept hearing conversations of my millennial friends
talking about how much they hate their jobs.
So then I thought to myself, wow, there is clearly a need in the market and not enough
supply to meet those demands.
That's why I created my Why I Quit My Job video three months ago.
Now, as you can see, with that video alone, I've dominated that topic.
If you actually search "quit my job millennial" on YouTube, I rank number one, and to date,
there is 7.5 know views on that video which is insane.
But that's because this method works.
If you are able to pinpoint content that people are actually searching for but there aren't
enough videos to actually fulfill that need, then there's definitely an opportunity for
you to come in, create that video, optimize your keywords, and have it rank first page.
Because at the end of the day, very similar to Google, people don't actually go to the
sixth page unless you're really bored and you're down the rabbit hole.
People usually go on the first or the second page and then they finish their search.
That's why it's really important to find videos that will actually make you rank higher in
search.
Again, key takeaway from this tip is that no one gives a shit about what you do every
day or what type of food you are eating.
What they care about is the value that they receive from your videos.
This is especially important when you're first starting out.
Of course, once you start developing more subscribers and you actually start building
a tribe that cares about you, then you can create those day to day vlogs or those fun
videos that you want to create.
But if you really want to be strategic about your YouTube channel, you really want to focus
on what value you can provide and how you can educate your audience so that they'll
want to learn more from you and stay subscribed.
Now my fourth and final tip is consistency.
If you actually want to grow your YouTube channel, you have to be consistent on the
platform.
Trust me, I get it.
This is probably one of the hardest things to master and the hardest thing to actually
implement.
When I first started, consistency was one of the hardest things for me.
I actually took two weeks or three-week breaks between my videos because I really couldn't
keep up with the planning, the filming, and the editing.
I also felt like because I was new and because I was starting that no one will really care
if I didn't post every week.
Well, I was completely wrong.
Because the moment that I actually started posting consistent content week after week,
no excuses, I saw so much growth in my channel.
I actually every time about a hundred new subscribers every two weeks, which means that
every month, I'm actually getting 200 new subscribers.
I know that if i continuously stay consistent, that number will actually grow.
Now, the key to staying consistent is a lot of planning and also a lot of organization.
I feel like this deserves a whole video in itself.
That's why next week, I'm going to actually upload a part two on this topic and I'm going
to show you exactly how I plan my content and also how I organize my days so that I
can stay consistent and keep up with YouTube.
But for now, all you really need to know is that in order to grow your YouTube channel
substantianally ... substantianally .. substantially, you need to stay consistent on the platform,
even if that's one video per week which really is only four videos a month.
It's something that I learned from Natasha, she is a content creator and also a coach,
I'm going to link her socials below, but what Natasha taught me is that you have to treat
your channel like a restaurant.
I know that I keep using these restaurant analogies but they're so great.
So think about your favorite restaurant.
Wouldn't it suck if you went to your restaurant one day and there was a "Closed" sign right
in front of the door.
Even though on Google, it tells you that it's open, that's a pretty shitty feeling when
you go to your favorite restaurant and it's closed.
Use this same analogy and apply it to starting a YouTube channel.
It really sucks when you aren't consistent because your audience is expecting you to
post a video week after week.
Again, I know, when you're first starting out, you're probably thinking, well who's
keeping tabs on me?
No one cares if they miss a week of my videos.
Trust me, I was there.
But you also have to think about it this way.
How can you expect anyone to take you seriously as a content creator if you can't even take
yourself seriously?
Really think about that.
The moment someone told me this was the moment I really kicked it into gear and started posting
week after week after week, no excuses, no delays, and consistently pumping out content.
Because I know that if I want you to take me seriously as a content creator, I need
to take myself seriously.
That's the truth.
But anyways, guys, as you can see, the sun is setting here in Vancouver and I guess it's
time to conclude the video.
Those were my four tips ... I can't right now, the sun is ... I'm just going to take
this off.
Those are my four tips on how you can actually grow and start your YouTube channel.
I have to say that I'm really thankful for all the people that have watched my videos
and have supported me because I know what it feels like to have so many fears around
starting a channel.
I've seriously been there.
This channel was maybe like six years in the making because I had so much anxiety of actually
starting.
But if you actually look at me and see me as kind of living proof that it is possible
even in 2018, even in 2019, because I know that a lot of people also stop themselves
because they think that YouTube is really competitive.
But what I think is that even if it is competitive, that shouldn't stop you from starting because
if you don't even start, then you'll never have a YouTube channel.
That's all I really have to say.
If you want more tips from me and if you want more support from me, then definitely join
The Fearless Boss Network.
It is a YouTube ... not YouTube ... it is a Facebook group that I recently started about
two and a half weeks ago.
There's already over 300 members in the group officially starting today which is awesome,
and in the group, it is a mastermind of millennials that just support each other and every week,
I not only hop on to train the members that are in the group based on the topics that
they want to get trained on, but I also invite guest speakers from different industries,
different careers, different business ventures, to interview and to also train members in
the group.
If you are someone who is aspiring to be an entrepreneur or you are an entrepreneur or
you're someone that's just a business boss, then definitely consider joining The Fearless
Boss Network.
I'm going to link how you can join in the description box and the comment section below,
and yeah, hopefully I'll see you in there.
But anyways, guys, it's always a pleasure to talk to you guys and I'll see you next
week.
Bye, guys.
Also, guys, I'm not done yet, I just wanted to show you the reality of starting a YouTube
channel.
This is really the equipment that I have.
I have this ... and please don't kill me because I have a messy room, but I have a backdrop
here that's literally falling apart and it barely fits the width of my screen so I have
to sit really close.
Then I have a meditation stool where I squat and I sit because this doesn't really go that
high.
Then I've got the stand that literally falls apart every time I try to use it, but it works
so that's why I keep with it.
Then I have the camera that I'm using right now, which is the Sony A5 1000.
I'll link how you can get it below, you can spot it on Amazon.
But this is really all I have, and then I have natural sunlight.
It's kind of annoying sometimes because as you can see, the sun is setting so that's
why the end of the video was so yellow, but you do what you can, right, and you want to
start scrappy.
Just start, that's the key.
Anyways, guys, thank you so much and I'll see you next time.