ABOUT ME

Failure = Regret... BUT... Failure to Try = MORE REGRET

​I just did what everyone else thinks about doing... and I made it work; you can too!

If you're reading this you're probably like me a couple of years ago; you're looking for a change and how exactly to achieve this, you need info and guidance!

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YouTube was my way of escaping my 9-5 job in the UK. It gave me a way to see the world, to be in charge of my income, set my own work hours and I got to be creative and it's only getting easier to do this as more and more people turn to YouTube to be entertained (the pandemic aided this further).

This means there's even more demand for YouTube content than ever before. 

REMEMBER: DON'T WORRY, EVERYONE STARTS FROM ZERO

All YouTube is created equal

If you're like me, the first concern I had was that "I'm so far behind, I have zero subscribers, zero views, not even a channel".

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Well... everyone started this way. Every. Single. YouTube Channel. They all started from zero. Also, what else are you doing? If you're at home wanting change whether you try this or not, you're at home anyway, you might as well try... Failure = Regret BUT Failure to try = MORE REGRET.

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Have you ever said to yourself "If I'd started this a year ago I could be so much further towards my dream". I did, all the time! Guess what, you'll say that next year and the year after and the year after that too. START NOW!

STOP MAKING EXCUSES

The first thing I did when I was looking at starting YouTube was to make excuses... you probably do too. Here's some of mine, do they sound familiar?

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Excuse 1.

You need lots of expensive equipment and know how to edit to be successful.

This, I learnt was simply not true. Mr Beast for example, just a couple of years ago got to 250K + followers with just his smartphone and editing on an app! It's all about the idea, not the technology. He's currently at 55 million subs btw!

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Excuse 2.

Is this really a career, can I make money from it?

Well...yes. More now than ever before actually and it's only growing. As TV audiences dwindle more move to YouTube and the ads shown on your vids make you money. That won't change. It will start slow but you will make money.

If you said to someone you were going to be a mechanic and for the first year it's very little money but you learn a lot; they'd understand, it's part of the career ladder. Well, that's just like YouTube (only more people watch YouTube everyday than see a mechanic), for the first several months you won't make much but you'll learn a lot... then you'll make more and more until it's your full time job. 

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Excuse 3.

But you need to be a presenter or actor and be entertaining, I can't do that!

I was exactly the same and said exactly this! And the truth, no one is... at first. But after you get doing it you get better and better. Once you've made that first vid, edited it and seen how you could come across better and improve, your next video will be 100% better, then the next will be 100% better then that until before you know it, you're a pro.

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Excuse 4.

I have nothing to make a channel about

I hear this a lot and it's something I cover in my course and my students are always asking about this.

Actually, having no specialism is a "thing". If you want to learn to be better at something, then that journey towards learning that is your channel. The most searched "search-videos" ("How to" etc) are aimed at beginners. If you're a beginner too, show them how to do it through you learning and they follow your journey. Even vlogs about learning YouTube is a YouTube channel, your YouTube Channel could be about learning about Youtube! 

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Also, I have students who have made very successful YouTube channels without even showing their face or filming a thing... you read that right.

A great example is a list channel. A student of mine started a "Top 10" channel, these are very popular and shared a lot. "Top 10 plastic surgeries gone wrong"; "top 10 things that mean you're a 90s kid"; "Top 10 animal attacks" and such like. For this they found footage all over the internet, downloaded this, recut it into their own style, added titles and got a free voice generator for commentary... it's as simple as that! They didn't have to film anything, show their face or even use their voice and they were able to do this all from their home in their spare time until it blew up and now they do this from a beach in Bali... jealous much?

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HOW MY LIFE IS DIFFERENT NOW

As I lay by the pool in Thailand writing this page, looking back on the decision I (finally) made to give YouTube a try, I wonder what life would be like if I didn't take the plunge.

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My life wouldn't be bad. I'd have a job in the UK in an office somewhere making OK money I'm sure. I have a house and everything I need... and that's fine. But...

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THIS IS NOT A REHEARSAL PEOPLE, THIS IS YOUR ONLY LIFE

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That's something I say to people all the time when they work for 5 days a week unhappy to relax at the weekend or they work 48 week of the year to have 4 weeks off they enjoy... this is your ONLY life, just one. 

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When the day finally come when we're old and look back on life, will you remember that meeting at work you worked so hard for, that project for that boss that wen't well. Won't you look back and think "if i'd just tried and l took the leap it all could have been so much more exciting". Wasting my time not doing what I love every day is my biggest fear. 

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I understand some people have commitments like children and loved ones, many of my students do too and they're working on a side-hustle channel so they can have more free time to spend with their children and be able to take them away more to give them the life they didn't have.

Whatever your reason, whatever your drive, start now!