(woosh)
- [Both] What up DK Gang?
- So today, we are back with another freakin' video.
- Yeah.
- Hey, what's up?
It's your girl, Tiarra Monet,
and I wanna say what's up to my royalties?
- Hey lovas,
you're watching How to be a YouTube Star 101 with me,
Essie Michelle.
- The year we got started was like 2015?
- I was inspired to start YouTube when I was about 17.
- I got started on YouTube in 2013.
- Our first video on YouTube
that we ever, ever shot was
a dancing video.
- To Bruno Mars.
- To Bruno Mars. - Uptown Funk.
- In his roommate's mom's house.
- I was bored.
I had no hobbies, no life.
One of my friends had bought me a digital camera
and I just started putting the camera in my little vanity,
and I would just talk to the camera and upload on YouTube,
and just do my hair, and just be silly.
- My first video was a hair review.
Hair bundles and hair weave
was a big thing for the black girls
and the black community.
- It's funny because we didn't actually
start making money on YouTube,
probably until the sixth or fifth video?
- Yeah.
- We were just doing it for fun.
- YouTube was kind of growing with us at the time.
So, every week or so, we'd get a new email like,
hey, we got this new feature,
now you can customize your thumbnail.
I got an email, and they were like,
hey, you're approved for the Monetization Program.
I'm like, okay.
Then, companies started reaching out to sponsor our videos.
Hair companies started reaching out.
Then I realized, this is serious.
This can literally be a job.
- Normally when we start to come up with an idea,
it's the night before, it's like 7 o'clock at night,
we just kinda map out a few options.
We just like, hey, this might be interesting,
or we can do something cool with this.
And it just kinda goes from there.
- I never had to think about
the type of content I would put up.
It wasn't intentional.
It was just like, this is me.
I was able to just literally be like,
hey, I saw Rihanna's new haircut,
and just shave the side of my head off in my mirror.
That was YouTube back then.
It was like, I'm inspired and I ain't got no money,
so I'm gonna do it at home
and I'm gonna show you how I did it.
If it come out right, you could do it too.
- We try to not put too many videos the same at once.
We also try not to put ourselves in a box.
Just one type of video.
- I try to see what type of content
is already getting the views,
and then I try to create videos based off of that.
- You have to be able to capture attention now so fast
because there's so much content.
That first 24 hours are so crucial.
Even down to the first hour,
you'll know if the video's gonna do well.
- The secret to being engaged with your followers
is actually being relatable,
and not coming off as somebody you're not.
Just being yourself pretty much.
- And interaction.
- Interaction.
- The eyeball (real-live) interaction.
They wanna see you.
They wanna talk to you.
They wanna see if you're really who you are on camera.
- I follow a lot of my core fans.
I feel like following them gets them excited.
I started liking a whole bunch of different friends' pages
or different friends' pictures.
Then, they all post it like,
oh my God, Essie liked my picture.
This is the best day of my life.
That just makes me feel so special.
Me? Little ol' me?
- I feel like if you come on YouTube and you're just like,
I wanna make money, I wanna be famous,
I wanna be around Chris Brown, I wanna do this.
If you literally have that intention,
people have done that and succeeded,
but I feel like it's a short-lived career.
- One misunderstanding that people may have with YouTubers
is that they think a lot of stuff
is just kind of given to us.
It's just one of those things
where it's still
a lot of work behind it,
but the people
may just not see it. - Hard work.
You don't see it as a real job.
It's kinda like, oh you have it easy.
You can just sit in front of that camera and talk.
No, little do you know, this is hard work.
- Right.
- I think the misconception that I don't agree with the most
is that we are on a different level.
We're just regular people.
We really just got blessed,
we got lucky to have people buy into us.
I make mistakes,
I stutter,
I sweat.
We're normal people.
We just sit in front of cameras and talk.
- One of the biggest misconceptions
that people have of YouTubers
is that they don't have real jobs
because I have a real job.
I actually work here for BET.
I'm a Digital Content Producer.
I love my job, and I don't wanna get rid of it.
I kind of like working for a real company,
and also having YouTube on the side.
- Have I ever thought of quitting YouTube?
Yes. I have quit YouTube.
I quit YouTube for maybe a year and a half.
It kind of got to be really ugly.
I had a lot of negativity just aimed at me.
I couldn't go certain places.
There's one year with YouTube
that I just became really ugly
for creators that were successful, I guess, on the platform.
So I quit.
That's when I started my own business
because I was just like, you know what?
If I don't have YouTube,
I need to have something outside of it,
and I don't know if I can live here and be mentally okay.
I don't know if I could live on this platform and be sane.
My mental health was way more important, and my safety.
So yeah, I quit, girl.
- I would just say the most important thing,
if you wanna gain a lot of subscribers on YouTube,
is probably just being yourself, being consistent,
because people really follow you
and watch you because of who you are.
And if you're not being yourself,
then people obviously sense that.
- If you plan out things the right way,
you'll always have time.
You don't want this to be a burden to you.
You don't want it to feel like a job.
You want it to be fun,
but you need a Content Calendar handy
to know when you're filming,
so that'll help you plan out your day.
- My main tips for people that wanna start
a YouTube channel is to just start.
A lot of people are scared to start.
I just feel like if you just, just do it.
Don't hold yourself back. Just do it.
Don't worry about equipment right now.
Just start with an iPhone.
Anything that you can find.
A lot of us have iPhones.
So, just take it, prop it up, start filming,
and you'll be good to go.
- Thank you guys for watching
How to be a YouTube Star 101 with De-arra.
- And Ken.
- With me, Essie Michelle.
- To girl T, and I'm signing off.
See you later. (kiss)
- And don't forget to catch more exclusive content on...
- BET.com
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