i got some surprises for stream today i think everyone's gonna like it it's funny i feel like
an actual teacher these days i drew out a lesson plan for today what's what's going on here cat
sends say taking his job seriously what is this gosh i love this blackboard scene it's so good
so today we're gonna talk about what my five biggest mistakes i've made as a vtuber are
if i can help you avoid at least some of the mistakes i made that'll help you grow faster
and help you guys get started now these aren't any any particular order in terms of importance
or anything like that but i scheduled them in a way that i think will flow the best number one
is networking there is a very right and a very wrong way of doing this and i kind of did this
the wrong way yeah number two is trying to fit in to the v tubing community number three using gear
or models to cover imperfections number four is streaming for myself and that's gonna that's gonna
be a little bit contested i know and then the last one is comparing to others and that's one that
everyone will always struggle with no matter where you are in your content creation journey trust me
trust me so we're gonna go ahead and start off with number one good old networking i started
off with probably the wrong way of networking and let me put this into context because i feel like
context is very very important here i started streaming as a v tuber back in october of 2020.
this was the height like the pinnacle of the among us collab era on twit like it was huge it was
ridiculous and so it was all about reaching out to people and trying to collab with people however
when you're first starting out guess what you have no idea who people are and they have no idea who
you are so what i did was i reached out to i know 70 80 people trying to get them to join an among
us game that was a really dumb idea you really need to form a relationship with someone before
you can start creating content with them because the vibe can get really bad really fast as it did
with my first among us collab it caused a lot of tension we didn't really end it on a good note
for that stream and that really kind of impressed upon me you can't just grab other streamers
because they kind of act like you or talk like you you really need to get to know them first i reach
out to people being like hey do you want to join my among us game you're bigger therefore i want
you in my game so that i can get the benefit bad idea don't do that don't be that kind of person
really it just makes you look like a giant jerk if you're approaching someone with the intent
of helping them and helping yourself everyone's going to want that there's no person who wouldn't
want that if you're both getting something out of it you're both going to be really invested
in it and that's great that's wonderful nick joey i feel like is a good example of how to do things
correctly so nick daley approached me uh asking for an interview that he wanted to do for a video
which was great for him it's good content and it was good for me because honestly getting
interviewed puts my name out there as well and it strokes my ego so it was a good value proposition
you know that was a very good interaction and it made me want to work with nick moore all right
let's go on to the second point here let's go on to number two because this kind of ties in
with number one this is what i would consider my second biggest mistake is trying to fit in
to the v tubing community there's a lot of stuff about the v tubing community that's great there's
also just a lot of stuff that i really don't enjoy if you're into that stuff great wonderful
more power to you there's nothing wrong with fitting into that community it just doesn't
work for me but in the beginning i really wanted success and i really strove for it so i tried to
fit into some of those molds and it was super uncomfortable i didn't like it everything
about it made my content worse that's why it's the biggest mistake i did not fit in that community
and you don't need to if you're streaming if you're a creator you get to build your
own community you get to decide what's okay and what's not and people who like those things will
find you you can be yourself and people will like you for you and honestly that feels so much better
so much more rewarding than having viewers show up just because you were a big person in the
community i want people here who can appreciate what i do those are likely like-minded people
and i can get along with them and we can have a good time to tie this back in you don't need to
fit into the v tubing community you can be a v tuber and not interact with it it's totally okay
if you want to interact with it more power to you that's great that's wonderful it's just as
valid to ignore it and do whatever the hell you want because you'll find people who like you for
you and i'm getting fired up today what's going on real this isn't a good teaching mood let's go okay
let's talk about number three using models or gear to cover mistakes i'm going to call imperfections
now there's the classic stereotype of people buying everything under the sun to try and make
their stream better and guess what it doesn't make you a better streamer i'm definitely not guilty
of this not at all my gear is way better than it probably needs to be for the size that i am
by spending money on the gear on the models i didn't have to learn how to do things correctly
a better microphone makes you sound better to a point if you're going from like a 20 mic to a 500
mic yeah it's gonna sound better with basically no effort do you know how to equalize it do you
know how to make it sound good in every situation do you know how to use it to the best no no you
don't you just heard the massive improvement of mic 1 from mic 2 and ran with it so i have
a shuri sm7b and a go xlr i have the standard high-end streaming setup i didn't even know how to
equalize my mic until like two months ago and i've owned this for almost a year yes it was a step
up but if i had equalized my old mic it might have sounded better than the really expensive mic when
i first got it because i knew how to make it sound better that's not a skill i learned immediately
you can do so much with what you have and the time where i really started to understand this
is back when i published the using free programs free apps to make a full-fledged video that video
turned out way better than i would have expected given my limited resources because i used a broken
down you know seven eight-year-old phone i only used free software and i turned a really crappy
phone microphone into a decent sound actually let's listen to that let's listen to that video
i will say though to make audio sound better and not like this here is what the phone audio sounds
like with no modification i got a cardboard box lined it with clothes towels and anything else
i could find and now it sounds like what you're listening to after some filters in davinci resolve
that's just with the limited time i had to make the video if i had really tried i probably could
have made that sound even better it looks super lame but it works there's a lot that i can do
for my current setup to improve it you just never know what you can improve until you try sure the
high-end gear can always help you but the skills you learn from using quote-unquote bad equipment
carry over into the expensive gear now we're going to talk about my live 2d model my first one was a
mistake and that might sound really weird to a lot of you buying a high-end model was such a bad idea
i could have had so much success by spending you know 100 bucks getting a set of really
nice pngs it was so in my head that live 2d was king that was the only way anyone could succeed
despite me knowing full and well that p and g tubers have done amazing things in the v tubing
scene the story time videos that use pngs guess what those people have millions of subscribers
millions of views they're doing just fine for themselves locking myself into buying this
really expensive model because i thought that was the way forward was a mistake i will say having a
high-end model is something that can improve your content but when i bought it and i think a lot of
people buy it way too early they don't recognize how to use it and i really didn't and in fact a
perfect example of this is me using the cat model for everything now everyone loves this cat i love
this cat the cat is great the cat is just gonna be the huge portion of the content from now on why
because i like it and you guys like it sure it might drive some other people away but i'm
enjoying using it and this model costs way less than the super high end model that i have this
is much more close to home it's of my actual cat it's something i'm much more attached to and feel
a lot more emotional about but i could have done that with png's as well and in fact my most
successful video of all time and it's crushing it right now my model doesn't even appear in it and
it's my best video high-end models can definitely help but the talent and skill to use models to use
pngs to use 3d models is so much more important and i really wish i had learned that lesson
earlier on get the model you need for the right reasons and by the way the right decision can
be not getting a model i personally feel that v tubers are too reliant on their models to make
content you are a youtuber streamer first and a virtual character second let's move on to number
four what is probably the most controversial point i'll make streaming for myself this is something
i think so many streamers do and obviously i did it or else it wouldn't be on this list a
lot of streamers focus entirely on what they want to do that's not without good reason if
you don't want to be doing something it's really hard to be motivated it's really hard to carry
that energy over but i think a lot of us take it a step too far most of us center things around what
game do i want to play what do i want to do on stream today what can i do on stream today and
this is just the world according to rayleis you're here for your community and i'm not saying that
you have to just be you know a meta slave you have to do what everyone else is doing you have to play
the new game you have to do this this and that there are things that your community wants that
maybe you're not as excited about but you could be excited about and honestly i feel that when you
really start to grow and when you start to get that audience is when you recognize that
if you do what you want for them then you're both getting the best of both worlds for me
obviously it's teaching you guys things i love being an educator not something i ever would have
thought of but i love doing this and it's helping you guys out it's giving you guys good information
you can find content that you love doing and that your community loves to consume now that's not
saying that you can't occasionally do something just for them or something just for yourself at
the end of the day the people who will let you make this your job are your community they're the
people who are going to be donating they're the people who are watching that are the people who
are giving you that sweet ad revenue you don't exist without your community which is why i'm
going to do a shame with shill those of you who aren't subscribed who are watching this stream you
should subscribe and like the stream i'd really appreciate it also consider becoming a member we
have five tiers now wink wink let's let's go on to i think the most relatable points of this entire
presentation and this is one that everyone will always do i'm no exception i will forever do this
everyone will forever do this but it's always good to have a nice reminder number five don't
compare to others it's what every streamer ever says i'm pretty sure i could look on twitter
right now and within five seconds of scrolling i would see someone saying this about streaming
it's not news it will never be news we all need to do it none of us do when you can break away for
a little while you realize how dumb it really is this you can't compare yourself to others because
you know you have no idea what their situation is what they have access to and compared to what you
have access to self-improvement is what's going to make you so much happier than comparing yourself
to other people because at the end of the day the only person you have any control over is yourself
just to read off the points one more time just for fun networking was the first mistake trying
to fit into a community i didn't belong in was the second using gear or models cover imperfections
was the third streaming for myself was the fourth and comparing myself to others was for the fifth