How to survive being a small YouTube channel (the TRUTH about growth) — Transcript

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1. 0:00So, there is a phase at the beginning of
2. 0:01every creator's journey called the dead
3. 0:04zone.
4. 0:04>> Hello.
5. 0:05>> And this is where you're pouring your
6. 0:06heart and soul into every single video.
7. 0:09You're filming yourself, you're editing
8. 0:11for hours, you're trying to get
9. 0:12everything just right. And then after
10. 0:15all [music] that, when you finally
11. 0:16upload the video, silence. No views, no
12. 0:20comments, just nothing. And look, I've
13. 0:22been in this dead zone phase myself, and
14. 0:25I'll be honest with you, it is pretty
15. 0:27brutal. So, today I wanted to make this
16. 0:28video for anyone who is in that dead
17. 0:30zone right now to show you how you can
18. 0:32survive it, and also how to break out of
19. 0:34it as well.
20. 0:37>> [music]
21. 0:38>> Okay, so here's the thing. The hardest
22. 0:40part about being a small creator is not
23. 0:42making the videos. I mean, don't get me
24. 0:45wrong, making videos is hard. Coming up
25. 0:47with ideas is hard, editing is hard,
26. 0:49filming yourself for the first time is
27. 0:50hard. But the hardest part of all is
28. 0:52doing all of that stuff, and then
29. 0:54getting absolutely nothing back. And
30. 0:57this is where a lot of people really
31. 0:58start to struggle, myself included.
32. 1:00Because when you're spending hours
33. 1:01trying to make the best video that you
34. 1:03possibly can, and then YouTube basically
35. 1:05just goes, "Yeah, cool story, mate.
36. 1:07Here's 14 views." That can honestly feel
37. 1:10quite brutal. Like, I've posted videos
38. 1:12before that I was convinced would blow
39. 1:14up and, you know, change my entire life.
40. 1:17But then when I uploaded them, they
41. 1:18would just completely bomb. Which, it
42. 1:21hurts, you know. Let's just be honest
43. 1:22with each other, it's the worst feeling
44. 1:24ever. And this is why the dead zone at
45. 1:26the beginning of your journey is so
46. 1:28difficult. Because if your videos were
47. 1:30getting, you know, 100,000 views every
48. 1:32single time, then staying motivated
49. 1:34would be easy. You know, of course you'd
50. 1:36keep going. But the real test of being a
51. 1:38small creator is keeping going when
52. 1:41nobody is watching. So then, the
53. 1:43question is, how do we actually survive
54. 1:45this dead zone period? Well, I'm not
55. 1:48just going to sit here and tell you,
56. 1:49"Oh, just keep going or be consistent
57. 1:51and you'll make it eventually." Because
58. 1:53that's not really going to help you.
59. 1:55Instead, I want to show you how to use
60. 1:57the dead-zone to your advantage. Because
61. 1:59as weird as this sounds, being a small
62. 2:01creator actually gives [music] you a
63. 2:02crazy advantage that the big, successful
64. 2:05creators just don't have. And this
65. 2:08starts with understanding one really
66. 2:09important thing. Big creators are not
67. 2:12relatable in the same way that you are.
68. 2:14Because right now, you are way closer to
69. 2:17the awkward, messy, emotional part of
70. 2:19your journey that most big creators
71. 2:21can't really make videos about anymore.
72. 2:24And actually, let me give you a perfect
73. 2:25example of this. So, at the moment, I'm
74. 2:28trying to learn how to do a handstand.
75. 2:30So, naturally, I've been binge-watching
76. 2:32videos about how to do a handstand. And
77. 2:34I noticed that all of the top-performing
78. 2:36videos about handstands were not these
79. 2:38super professional, perfectly filmed
80. 2:40videos. They were actually videos like
81. 2:42this one with over 3 million views,
82. 2:45where the creator takes you on an
83. 2:46extremely authentic, realistic journey
84. 2:49of learning a handstand. Or this one
85. 2:51with almost a million views, which is
86. 2:53again, just a normal person documenting
87. 2:56their real-life journey. And this is so
88. 2:58interesting because there's something
89. 3:00weirdly compelling about watching
90. 3:02someone who is basically where you are,
91. 3:04or maybe just a few steps ahead of you,
92. 3:06trying to figure things out in
93. 3:07real-time. And that is the small creator
94. 3:10advantage. You can essentially lean into
95. 3:12the fact that you are a beginner. You
96. 3:14can lean into those more real, authentic
97. 3:17moments that people can truly resonate
98. 3:19with. For example, if you're building a
99. 3:21business, don't go and rent a
100. 3:23Lamborghini and pretend like you're some
101. 3:25millionaire entrepreneur on YouTube.
102. 3:27Instead, make a video about trying to
103. 3:29build a business while working a 9-to-5.
104. 3:32That is genuinely way more interesting.
105. 3:34And the idea is to stop trying to look
106. 3:36like a big creator, or stop trying to
107. 3:38compete with big creators, and instead,
108. 3:41own the fact that you are a small
109. 3:43creator, and make videos that only a
110. 3:45small creator could make. Okay, so now
111. 3:48let's make all of this really practical.
112. 3:50I want to give you a few very specific
113. 3:52types of videos that work extremely well
114. 3:55when you're still stuck in the dead
115. 3:57zone. And the first one is called the
116. 3:59how I framework. [music] Now, I actually
117. 4:01talked about this in a video I posted
118. 4:03last year, and people went crazy for it.
119. 4:06So, I've noticed that time and time and
120. 4:08time again that when small creators blow
121. 4:11up their channels, it's with a video
122. 4:13title that starts with how I and then
123. 4:15something interesting, impressive, or
124. 4:17unique that they've done themselves. In
125. 4:20fact, that fitness YouTuber that I
126. 4:22showed you earlier, literally all of his
127. 4:24top-performing videos start with how I.
128. 4:26It's actually kind of crazy, and I could
129. 4:28show you endless examples of this
130. 4:30working for small creators specifically.
131. 4:32Because again, it promises a personal,
132. 4:35relatable story. Now, the second thing
133. 4:37that you can experiment with to escape
134. 4:39the dead zone is something that I call
135. 4:41hyper-casual titles. And this is
136. 4:43something that I've only really started
137. 4:45seeing in the last couple of years. So,
138. 4:47this is where instead of making the
139. 4:48title sound super polished or
140. 4:50professional or YouTube-optimized, the
141. 4:53title almost feels like a message from a
142. 4:55friend. Like seriously, look at some of
143. 4:57these titles. It's almost like the
144. 4:59creator is talking to you directly. And
145. 5:01I think this works because it
146. 5:02immediately makes the video feel more
147. 5:04human before you've even clicked on it.
148. 5:06Now, I'm not saying you need to go as
149. 5:08casual as those examples, but I guess
150. 5:10the lesson is don't be afraid to add a
151. 5:12little personality or authenticity into
152. 5:15your titles and thumbnails. And the
153. 5:17third type of video that's working
154. 5:18really well right now is actually
155. 5:20challenge videos. Now, of course, I'm
156. 5:22not talking about these crazy Mr.
157. 5:24Beast-style challenges. I'm talking
158. 5:26about much smaller, more personal
159. 5:28challenges. So, for this idea, a basic
160. 5:30format you can use is I tried X for X
161. 5:33amount of time, here's what happened.
162. 5:35And this works so well because it
163. 5:37instantly gives the video an authentic
164. 5:39story, but it also builds up a lot of
165. 5:41curiosity as well. Because again, you're
166. 5:44leaning into the fact that you are a
167. 5:45beginner, which is extremely compelling.
168. 5:48In fact, I tried out this format with a
169. 5:50video I posted last month, and the video
170. 5:53did really well. People really seem to
171. 5:54resonate with it. Because at the end of
172. 5:56the day, people don't just want to see
173. 5:57the perfect result. They want to see the
174. 5:59messy, imperfect process of someone
175. 6:02actually trying to get there. And by the
176. 6:04way, if you want to watch that video I
177. 6:05just mentioned where I tell the crazy
178. 6:07story of how this YouTube channel
179. 6:09completely changed my life, then click
180. 6:12on to this video just up here, and
181. 6:14[music] I'll see you there.