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Creating a Thriving Personal Brand w/ YouTube - A Journal & A Personal Guide.

Valier

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Let's get this started with a basic introduction.

Hi, I'm James. 19 y/o from the UK, chose not to go university since there wasn't any subject I wanted to study that would suit my direction in life. The big goal is to be semi-retired by 30, but that's okay if I don't get there, I'm focusing on the process and journey above all else.

I recently started up my new business which if you are a FLF INSIDERS, you can find my thread here:

So then, what's this about a personal brand & a YouTube channel?
I came to a realisation that I wish I had come to a few years back: a personal brand is an incredibly powerful thing. Especially in business, and especially if you are trying to go fastlane.

With just 100 loyal fans you can do so much to promote your other side hustles, and/or monetise that audience.

This realisation drove me to conclude that I wanted to start building up my own personal brand - right now, with no hesitation, and do my absolute best to get this thing up and running because let's all be clear here: the odds are not in my favour. There are so many channels out there, that it's damn near impossible to be seen amongst the crowd...
or is it?

A Guide as well as Documentation

The purpose of this thread is to not only document my process and journey, but also provide a guide for what is working/isn't working and how you can learn from whatever mistakes I make.

Provide value above all else, as always.

Keeping it Honest and Real
Like in my INSIDERS thread, I want to be entirely transparent with everyone and keep it as real & as honest as I can.

If one day I decide to just quit the whole thing I will document it on here. I'm in this till I either succeed, pivot, or quit, and you'll have a clear picture on where this process will take me, and where I may have gone wrong/gone right.

What's Been Done So Far...
I already have my channel up and running, and as a matter of fact, you can check out my first video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6CGNoynDI


How the First Video Went.
Keeping up with the theme of transparency: I was very nervous when recording and releasing this video.

I've done a lot of acting throughout my childhood - teenage years, and making this video was more nerve wrecking to me than any audition that I've done in the past. But this is the first barrier that people will face if you're trying to make it on this platform: THE FEAR OF POSTING YOUR FIRST VIDEO.

Once I posted that video, I felt a slight sense of relief. I sent a few messages out to some close friends who I had told I was starting this channel up, and they went on to watch it. And a few of them shared the video on their Instagram stories.

Let me be clear here: I was too nervous to post this video on my social media. That's why I just DM'd some friends, in the hopes that I can land maybe 80 views on the video to get me started off.

But once some of these friends posted it to their story something amazing happened: other people started sharing it on their story. Some of these people were friends, but there were also some that I hadn't spoken to or seen in a while that shared it. I even had some really kind messages about how they found the video really helpful and well done.

I really didn't think it was a great video at first. I thought it was bad, and kinda boring because the nerves really stopped me from bringing the energy to the screen that I usually could do with acting. My only intention was to post the first video no matter how nervous I felt about it.

After I felt that positive feedback, I finally made the leap and posted it to my own socials. In total the video sits at around 260 views, 32 likes, and 8 comments. I was more than impressed by that as a debut video - I genuinely didn't think it would surpass 100. I earned about 35 subscribers in total from that video, and a few new followers on my Instagram.

The Goals.
My goal isn't really to be 'internet famous' or anything like that. It's simply to get a personal brand started up, have my name put out there, share some genuine advice from someone who is passionate about entrepreneurship, and self development (no 'woo-woo' selling my $1500+ course shit), and see where it goes.

If you're looking for some specific targeted goals, here's my main objective for the year:
Reach 1,000 subscribers by 2021.

That's all. For now. The reason why I say this is that the subscriber count is really just a vanity metric. I'm more interested in improving things like watch time, and Click-Through-Rate (CTR) - y'know, the metrics that actually count. But until I have some data from my own videos to work off, I can't set those targets as of right now.

My aim is to post once a week. Although it may be once every two weeks every so often. Truth is, I'm balancing three things here: the channel is one thing, the full time job is another, and my other side hustle which I've been working super hard on is the third. Ideally, the latter two are working hand-in-hand, but that doesn't deviate from the fact that my full time job as an estate agent has some ungodly hours that can really eat into free time.

But again, all will be documented here.

Conclusion
That's about it for now.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me them.

And most importantly: ALL feedback is appreciated, the good, the bad, the ugly. All of it.

Have a wonderful weekend folks
 
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Andy Black

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Let's get this started with a basic introduction.

Hi, I'm James. 19 y/o from the UK, chose not to go university since there wasn't any subject I wanted to study that would suit my direction in life. The big goal is to be semi-retired by 30, but that's okay if I don't get there, I'm focusing on the process and journey above all else.

I recently started up my new business which if you are a FLF INSIDERS, you can find my thread here:

So then, what's this about a personal brand & a YouTube channel?
I came to a realisation that I wish I had come to a few years back: a personal brand is an incredibly powerful thing. Especially in business, and especially if you are trying to go fastlane.

With just 100 loyal fans you can do so much to promote your other side hustles, and/or monetise that audience.

This realisation drove me to conclude that I wanted to start building up my own personal brand - right now, with no hesitation, and do my absolute best to get this thing up and running because let's all be clear here: the odds are not in my favour. There are so many channels out there, that it's damn near impossible to be seen amongst the crowd...
or is it?

A Guide as well as Documentation

The purpose of this thread is to not only document my process and journey, but also provide a guide for what is working/isn't working and how you can learn from whatever mistakes I make.

Provide value above all else, as always.

Keeping it Honest and Real
Like in my INSIDERS thread, I want to be entirely transparent with everyone and keep it as real & as honest as I can.

If one day I decide to just quit the whole thing I will document it on here. I'm in this till I either succeed, pivot, or quit, and you'll have a clear picture on where this process will take me, and where I may have gone wrong/gone right.

What's Been Done So Far...
I already have my channel up and running, and as a matter of fact, you can check out my first video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg6CGNoynDI


How the First Video Went.
Keeping up with the theme of transparency: I was very nervous when recording and releasing this video.

I've done a lot of acting throughout my childhood - teenage years, and making this video was more nerve wrecking to me than any audition that I've done in the past. But this is the first barrier that people will face if you're trying to make it on this platform: THE FEAR OF POSTING YOUR FIRST VIDEO.

Once I posted that video, I felt a slight sense of relief. I sent a few messages out to some close friends who I had told I was starting this channel up, and they went on to watch it. And a few of them shared the video on their Instagram stories.

Let me be clear here: I was too nervous to post this video on my social media. That's why I just DM'd some friends, in the hopes that I can land maybe 80 views on the video to get me started off.

But once some of these friends posted it to their story something amazing happened: other people started sharing it on their story. Some of these people were friends, but there were also some that I hadn't spoken to or seen in a while that shared it. I even had some really kind messages about how they found the video really helpful and well done.

I really didn't think it was a great video at first. I thought it was bad, and kinda boring because the nerves really stopped me from bringing the energy to the screen that I usually could do with acting. My only intention was to post the first video no matter how nervous I felt about it.

After I felt that positive feedback, I finally made the leap and posted it to my own socials. In total the video sits at around 260 views, 32 likes, and 8 comments. I was more than impressed by that as a debut video - I genuinely didn't think it would surpass 100. I earned about 35 subscribers in total from that video, and a few new followers on my Instagram.

The Goals.
My goal isn't really to be 'internet famous' or anything like that. It's simply to get a personal brand started up, have my name put out there, share some genuine advice from someone who is passionate about entrepreneurship, and self development (no 'woo-woo' selling my $1500+ course shit), and see where it goes.

If you're looking for some specific targeted goals, here's my main objective for the year:
Reach 1,000 subscribers by 2021.

That's all. For now. The reason why I say this is that the subscriber count is really just a vanity metric. I'm more interested in improving things like watch time, and Click-Through-Rate (CTR) - y'know, the metrics that actually count. But until I have some data from my own videos to work off, I can't set those targets as of right now.

My aim is to post once a week. Although it may be once every two weeks every so often. Truth is, I'm balancing three things here: the channel is one thing, the full time job is another, and my other side hustle which I've been working super hard on is the third. Ideally, the latter two are working hand-in-hand, but that doesn't deviate from the fact that my full time job as an estate agent has some ungodly hours that can really eat into free time.

But again, all will be documented here.

Conclusion
That's about it for now.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me them.

And most importantly: ALL feedback is appreciated, the good, the bad, the ugly. All of it.

Have a wonderful weekend folks
Fair play for putting yourself out there.

I watched the first minute or so of the video. I think a more positive body language might help? You appear to be trying to act casual? I know it’s easy to be self-conscious on camera. One of my tricks is to think of who I’m helping.

Check out the second post here for my first ever talking head video:

And the first post here is a talking head video of me giving talking head video tips:
 

Valier

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I watched the first minute or so of the video. I think a more positive body language might help? You appear to be trying to act casual? I know it’s easy to be self-conscious on camera. One of my tricks is to think of who I’m helping.

Damn... hit the nail right on the head with that one.

Perhaps that also explains the lack of energy. In an attempt to cover up the nerves, I tried to have a more relaxed body language which translates to less energy. Cheers for that, Andy!

I've had a few peeks at your Youtube thread as well, but haven't had the time to have a good read through - I'll get to that as soon as possible. Thanks a ton :)
 

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Damn... hit the nail right on the head with that one.

Perhaps that also explains the lack of energy. In an attempt to cover up the nerves, I tried to have a more relaxed body language which translates to less energy. Cheers for that, Andy!

I've had a few peeks at your Youtube thread as well, but haven't had the time to have a good read through - I'll get to that as soon as possible. Thanks a ton :)
Use the nerves. Even stand up to have even more energy. Go into “panto mode” and go over the top (in places).

When you look back on it you’ll realise it looks more like you’d expect a presenter to look, and doesn’t look as odd as you think it will.
 
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Valier

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I think you’ll learn good things and pick up good skills working on your personal branding videos.

Just consider this though:

Ah, yes - I had already considered this because it is a very good point, and I posed the dilemma to myself of should I do something big first and then build the personal brand? Or should I just go for it?

I concluded that waiting to give myself permission probably wasn’t the right thing to do because my intention with the channel is not to position myself as an ‘expert’. After all, I haven’t don’t shit yet.

But rather, the point of the channel is to share things as I go along, i.e I’m attending one networking event every week for a year, and midway through the year I’m going to make a video on it and explain what I’ve learnt, and how the challenge was overall.

I don’t want to come across as a ‘life coach’ or anything like that but rather somebody that’s working to figure things out along the way - and bring my audience along for the ride.
 

Andy Black

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Ah, yes - I had already considered this because it is a very good point, and I posed the dilemma to myself of should I do something big first and then build the personal brand? Or should I just go for it?

I concluded that waiting to give myself permission probably wasn’t the right thing to do because my intention with the channel is not to position myself as an ‘expert’. After all, I haven’t don’t shit yet.

But rather, the point of the channel is to share things as I go along, i.e I’m attending one networking event every week for a year, and midway through the year I’m going to make a video on it and explain what I’ve learnt, and how the challenge was overall.

I don’t want to come across as a ‘life coach’ or anything like that but rather somebody that’s working to figure things out along the way - and bring my audience along for the ride.
I think that’s valid. Document your journey.

Look at some of my recent progress threads. I’m not proclaiming I’m an expert, I’m documenting me figuring it out.
 
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Valier

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Update 1. The Two Metrics that Matter Over EVERYTHING.

The Second Video is Out
Already had it scheduled for today - and it's officially out:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Gpr7PEnbs&feature=youtu.be



Had a really fun time creating that video - it's all about the business model of some of these 'online gurus' when it comes to selling their courses + programs, and how their marketing can be incredibly deceiving and taking advantage of people in a vulnerable position financially.

Check it out if that interests you. But more importantly...

Researching the Algorithm
So I've been doing quite a bit of research and have found some amazing videos that can help you if you're trying to understand how to grow on Youtube.

The overall rule at the moment is this: the Youtube Algorithm is Your God.

Youtube's algorithm is what decides whether or not your video should be suggested to other users on the platform. It's like God passing a judgment over your video - if the algorithm favours you, you'll get some good views, and if the algorithm loves you, then you'll have a "viral" video.

But what does the algorithm even look for?

The Two Metrics That Matter the Most
Watch time.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR from now on).

These two single metrics will give the algorithm a good enough idea of how much they want your video to be promoted.

Watch time is the total amount of time, on average that viewers spend watching your video.

Click-Through-Rate is how many people who have seen your youtube video appear on their search/suggested videos/any other location on Youtube (otherwise known as impressions) and have actually clicked on your video from there.

These two single metrics explain what the algorithm favours.


I will create another post with a little more information. But check out these amazing videos that are incredibly insightful for growing a Youtube channel:

This guy explains how one of his videos went viral (side note: that viral video is now at 42MILLION views).
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHsa9DqmId8


Here is a video by Devin Nash:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNpgKkjTpU


Seriously, this guy has some awesome videos on business, but some gold dust on building a Youtube channel/personal brand. I highly recommend you go through some of his videos.

Here is a good look into how Mr.Beast (the fastest growing Youtuber at the moment) managed to build his success:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ-ogw8AZ3o
 

Valier

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Update 1. The Two Metrics that Matter Over EVERYTHING.

The Second Video is Out
Already had it scheduled for today - and it's officially out:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Gpr7PEnbs&feature=youtu.be



Had a really fun time creating that video - it's all about the business model of some of these 'online gurus' when it comes to selling their courses + programs, and how their marketing can be incredibly deceiving and taking advantage of people in a vulnerable position financially.

Check it out if that interests you. But more importantly...

Researching the Algorithm
So I've been doing quite a bit of research and have found some amazing videos that can help you if you're trying to understand how to grow on Youtube.

The overall rule at the moment is this: the Youtube Algorithm is Your God.

Youtube's algorithm is what decides whether or not your video should be suggested to other users on the platform. It's like God passing a judgment over your video - if the algorithm favours you, you'll get some good views, and if the algorithm loves you, then you'll have a "viral" video.

But what does the algorithm even look for?

The Two Metrics That Matter the Most
Watch time.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR from now on).

These two single metrics will give the algorithm a good enough idea of how much they want your video to be promoted.

Watch time is the total amount of time, on average that viewers spend watching your video.

Click-Through-Rate is how many people who have seen your youtube video appear on their search/suggested videos/any other location on Youtube (otherwise known as impressions) and have actually clicked on your video from there.

These two single metrics explain what the algorithm favours.


I will create another post with a little more information. But check out these amazing videos that are incredibly insightful for growing a Youtube channel:

This guy explains how one of his videos went viral (side note: that viral video is now at 42MILLION views).
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHsa9DqmId8


Here is a video by Devin Nash:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNpgKkjTpU


Seriously, this guy has some awesome videos on business, but some gold dust on building a Youtube channel/personal brand. I highly recommend you go through some of his videos.

Here is a good look into how Mr.Beast (the fastest growing Youtuber at the moment) managed to build his success:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ-ogw8AZ3o
Update 1. continued...

So, let's take a look at one of the first few most important aspects of creating a Youtube video:

Your Content is 5th on the list of priorities.
Yup... the actual content itself is not that important to YouTube - or to phrase this in a better way that doesn't sound like I'm recommending you to post garbage content: your content is irrelevant if nobody is going to see it.


Unfortunately, the YouTube Algorithm hasn't got a way of detecting how good a video is - and after all, that's incredibly subjective to begin with. But let's assume you have a really good video, how do you get the algorithm to promote it?

Improving CTR w/ Thumbnails

Yes - one of the most important ways of doing this are YouTube thumbnails.

Here's a good way of finding some good thumbnails:
1) Find your favourite YouTube channel that has some mild success,
2) Sort their videos by MOST POPULAR
3) Identify any of their videos that clearly 'broke' the YouTube algorithm, and have a good look at the thumbnails that were used
.

Graham Stephan's most popular video on how he purchased his Tesla, has a thumbnail with the title "The $78 Tesla" slapped right on accompanied with a picture of him in front of his Tesla, arms wide, mouth open.

It's designed to get your curiosity. It breaks your pattern. It gets you thinking "I wonder what that is all about...?"

Something that I've been doing is when I get the temptation to click on a suggested YouTube video that is unrelated to what I am trying to do - I study what they did to entice me to click that video in the first place. These are the best types of videos to study because whatever the creator did with just a thumbnail/title was enough to break you out of your pattern, and cause you to engage with their video instead.

While researching Mr.Beasts channel, I found myself clicking all sorts of videos that I hadn’t intended to watch, simply because of the clever ways in which the Thumbnail had been designed.

Analysing My Own Thumbnails
From now on I'm going to take a much better look at my own thumbnails - and they have to be able to spark a sense of curiosity that breaks somebody's patterns.

In the next part of this continued update, I'll talk about Titles on YouTube - and what my research indicated about the importance of titling your video when increasing CTR as well as looking at my own titles and what I feel like I could have improved upon - even though I only have two videos up at the moment anyway.
 

Valier

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Update 2. Prioritising Searchable Content When Starting.

Third video is out!
Took me a little longer because of work commitments, but it's finally done:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bglIiiGj8Bs


Now, a few things that I've been learning that I now realise are incredibly important for starting out a channel.

The Problem w/ Watch Time & CTR as a New Youtuber
Whilst watch time and CTR are incredibly important for the algorithm to begin spreading your content to a wider audience - it's not hard to imagine that as a new Youtuber you are going to STRUGGLE to achieve getting substantial watch time (will just abbreviate this to WT) & CTR.

It makes sense - you don't have a following, nobody is really paying attention to your stuff, therefore making it harder for people to see your video, let alone watch it.

The Exception
The only exceptions I can think of for this are people that leverage a previous fan base and take that traffic into their channel. (Think celebrities coming to Youtube like Zac Efron, Jack Black, etc)

A Solution
From the research that I have done, it seems like one of the best ways to solve this problem of not having an initial fan base is to create searchable content.

In other words, this is content that is not necessarily discovered by Youtube suggesting your video, but by users who actually search for it.

If you are a tech channel for example, you may create videos that review new bits of technology that comes out, or -even better- niche bits of technology that people are still searching for reviews on. If you are a gaming channel, you may do the same for a new game.

The idea behind this is to create content that is 'ever-green' on the platform, in other words it exists 'forever' on the platform. If you've done your research right (we'll touch on that in just a second) then your video should come up each time someone searches "[insert x product] review". This one video gives people the chance to discover your channel.

If your content is good, then some of the people who have discovered you there, will go on to subscribing/watching your other videos.

Where I Went Wrong...
My second video (and to be completely fair, my third video) are not really good searchable content...

Nobody is searching for "The Rise of Fake Guru's". But there will be people searching for something like "Is Dan Lok a Scam?"/"Are Online Courses Worth It?" etc.

With my first video, I'm still getting views everyday from it (albeit 1-2 views), and I can see from the analytics that a lot of these recent viewers are coming from Youtube's suggestions.

But what does Youtube even use to determine whether or not your content comes up in a search...?

Keywords
To those of you who are familiar with SEO will already be aware of how Youtube uses keywords to determine where your video is going to show up.

The algorithm will scour your video's title, and description, and tags (but we'll talk about tags a little later because I found a video that may suggest tags don't actually do anything).

For example: you search up "The Rise of Fake Guru's", and my video will likely be within the top 5 suggested (I always recommend using Chrome's incognito mode to get the most honest search results from Youtube).

Pretty simple stuff...

So how do you begin researching?

Researching Keywords + a VERY Powerful Tool for Youtube
I struggle with this myself.

And it seems like the best choice is a balance between keywords that are searched often, but have a low amount of competition.

The two most powerful tools you can use right NOW are: TubeBuddy OR VidIQ (these are chrome extensions)

You have to pick one. But generally, they do the same thing. I am personally using VidIQ, and it seems like an even split between which one people prefer so just make a choice and go with it.

Vid IQ does a lot of things, one of the things it can do is help with researching keywords - the traffic a keyword gets, and the competition that exists for that keyword.

Here is a great video by VidIQ themselves explaining what to look out for, and how to do this:
View: https://youtu.be/T3nU2laBHnA



Moving Forward...
I'm going to be paying more attention to creating searchable content from now on.

The same rules still apply to the thumbnail and title of course - they can't be boring, they do have to be somewhat interesting (enough to want to make you click) yet still searchable.

We'll have to see how my videos do with this in mind, and go from there. But I highly recommend using VidIQ, it helps so so much with creating videos.
 
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Tubs

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Good stuff, I really liked the fake guru video.

Idk much about getting big on youtube so I can't give much feedback on tags and thumbnails and stuff.
One piece of feedback I'll give is that audio could be improved, get the clips all at the same volume. Wasn't too big of a deal, but some clips were quieter than others.

Editing is looking on point, so keep up the good work with that.

Subbed to your channel and following the thread. Keep up the good work!
 

Valier

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Good stuff, I really liked the fake guru video.

Idk much about getting big on youtube so I can't give much feedback on tags and thumbnails and stuff.
One piece of feedback I'll give is that audio could be improved, get the clips all at the same volume. Wasn't too big of a deal, but some clips were quieter than others.

Editing is looking on point, so keep up the good work with that.

Subbed to your channel and following the thread. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for taking the time to watch & subscribing Tubs!

And yeah - totally agree. I think I just figured out how to equalise the volume of all the clips so that shouldn't be a problem for future videos!
 

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Update 3. A Slow Grind, and Case Studies.

Drum roll... the fourth video is out!
Definitely one of my best. Been learning a few new editing tricks that I'm putting into practice. I also scripted this video, unlike my others... so the game is definitely stepping up!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRHBrJziE-Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRHBrJziE-Y

Also some important observations, arguments, and case studies to note:

It's a Slow Grind...
Youtube is definitely a process... I already knew this, but after four videos in it really does sink in that you just have to keep going with it, learning from the data that you get, and keep making improvements from there. And if it’s clear it’s not working out, you may have to call it quits.

But with that being said, I’ve done a little research on some newer channels and there's one thing I keep noticing:


Poor Quality, (and an overall lack of care).
If you ever have the time, browse through this subreddit where you'll see different new youtubers post their content: r/advertiseyoutube

It's insane how many I come across (especially in the gaming niche) where their videos are just lengthy piles of nothing. The editing is bad, the audio quality is either terrible or it's non-existent, video quality is poor, etc etc. There's nothing that makes these people stand out in what is already an insanely over crowded market.

Personal finance is no different. Ever since Graham Stephan got big, I've seen a surge of people who are essentially doing exactly what Graham is doing. The same editing, same thumbnail, and overall talking about the same stuff.

It’s not like what they’re actually talking about is bad with most of these guys, it’s just that there’s nothing special about it.

Does that mean that niches like personal finance/gaming are impossible to break through? Absolutely no.

Check out a guy on YouTube called Andrei Jikh. Another personal finance youtuber. He’s had his channel up for 1 year, and has had it grow to almost half a million subscribers.

If you just click on one of his videos, you’ll see exactly why that is.

Andrei has amazing editing, a unique personality that he lets shine through, and he adds his own little twist of ‘magic’ to all of his videos – quite literally. It’s different, it stands out. And I predict that Andrei will dominate the personal finance niche in the next year or two.


How this relates to my own channel.
Four videos in, and I’m starting to get a better sense of where I see the content of this cannel going.

I really like creating ‘documentary-style’ videos, just like my recent one. Where the video has a sense of narrative, it’s split into parts, the music has that ‘documentary’ feel, and the scripts also adapt that narrative/story-telling style.

But that also means that I won’t be able to post more than 1 video a week (at least not until I get some help with editing).

Initially that made me fearful because, after all, people are constantly going on about how you should be ‘posting consistently’. And then I noted a few examples of channels that defy this rule:

Case Studies:
One: Internet Historian.
Two: Bill Wurtz.
Three: Kurzgesagt.

(there are definitely more, but these are the ones that I am most familiar with).

All of these channels take a much longer time to post videos, and yet they still get ridiculous views.

Why?

Let’s take Internet Historian (one of my favourites) as an example. Here’s a post he made on a subreddit that is based around helping new youtubers: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewTubers/comments/aefl08 View: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewTubers/comments/aefl08/advice_from_a_larger_channel/


It’s a great read if you’re interested, but I wanted to boil it down to some key points:


Creating a ‘Catalogue’ of Videos:
One thing he seems to stress the most in this post is creating a ‘catalogue’ of videos.

And I think both his channel and the others I’ve mentioned are great examples of doing this. When I first watched the Internet Historian, I couldn’t stop binging his other videos. They were incredibly entertaining, it was clear he put a lot of thought and effort into them, and they all had a sense of narrative, and story, that made them very fun to watch.

Quality Over Quantity
Although I think there’s a balance that needs to be made, he makes a great point about the quality of his videos being a priority.

The whole reason I (and others) binged his videos, is because they know they are getting good quality content from each one. Good jokes, the same-style of editing, an interesting narrative, etc etc.


Applying this Mentality
With my future videos I also want to prioritise content, a sense of narrative/story, and build up a ‘catalogue’ of videos, that have a good sense of re-watchability, and could potentially spark a binge watch of my channel.

There’s a lot more to be said on this subject, but I’ll leave this update here for now!
 
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Update 4. A Word of Caution.


Anotha’ one
Fifth video finished up and released – decided to take a dive into the data broker industry. Pretty interesting stuff…

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ2l-kk5ihk


Now a couple thoughts and some important things to note if you personally decide to go down this route:



THIS IS NOT FASTLANE (yet).
This is the ‘fastlane forum’ and since we’re all here to create businesses that fulfils the CENTS framework as best as possible, it’s important to note:

Youtube is not Fastlane. (At least, not the type of channel that I am creating).

Because this channel is centred around building a ‘personal brand’ it mostly requires my face to be in it, and if we’re going to be uploading videos regularly, then that means a lot my time will have to be traded in for creating these videos.

With that being said, here are a couple of my plans to make this channel more Fastlane – meaning less trading of my time for money, whilst keeping up the quality and still growing the channel:


Time Spent Editing
Without a doubt, the longest stage in the process of making my videos is the editing.

One video can take anywhere from 20-30 hours to make (roughly speaking). Granted, I am still new to editing, and so I’m learning things along the way which makes me a pretty slow editor at the moment.

I’m sure I’ll get faster at editing as I continue practicing, but even then, the amount of time I spend editing isn’t going to work if we’re trying to Fastlane this thing.

For now, I don’t have much of a choice, but it is absolutely my goal to hire an editor that knows how to edit in a similar style to what I’m currently doing – and do an even better job of it!


Other Income Streams
This was always a plan from the start, but I should have mentioned it already:

I don’t plan on monetising my videos using just Youtube ads.

Thankfully there are a few other ways that I can expand the channel’s capability to generate money:

First, I’m able to generate traffic to my other business (www.quidemy.com) and convert that traffic into buying customers.

Second, I think I’ll be setting up a ‘patreon’ account – at least whilst we’re still starting out. For those that don’t know, Patreon is a donation platform that lets people donate money on a monthly basis to content creators, usually with a little incentive from the creator. It’s not the greatest way of generating revenue from the channel, but it can certainly be helpful at the start if there are fans willing to donate money in return for the content.

Third, courses. Online courses are incredibly profitable. But of course, I’m not trying to sell some garbage snake oil stuff, so the courses that I do create for the channel must be actually informative and provide an extreme amount of value. Usually to do that, it will require leveraging my own experience… which is pretty small atm. I’m still thinking of ideas, but if this channel goes far, I definitely can see myself creating a course on exactly how I did it, and how you can potentially replicate those results. Time will tell for this one. Oh, and I’m not going to be shoving these courses down people’s throats – they may get an occasional mention in a video here and there, but it will never detract from creating good free content for the channel.

Fourth, merchandise. A little on the fence with this one, but if there’s something of genuine good quality that I can see myself creating (merchandise-wise) then why not? Again, this is something for the future, but definitely worth thinking about.

Fifth, affiliate marketing. Low on the list because it isn’t incredibly profitable – but affiliate links in the description have been proven to add a little bit of revenue to Youtuber’s careers, so again, why not? Of course, all the links that I have in the description are for products that I use myself, and that I genuinely think will help my audience.

I have some other ideas in mind as well, but that’s for another time. Out of these methods the most ‘fastlane’ ones are taking viewers to my other business, creating online courses, and merchandise. Assuming that I’ve set up processes behind each of these that allow them to run with little-no effort, then they have the greatest chance of allowing me to generate more money from the channel, whilst still keeping my efforts needed to do so fairly low.

As always, all of these things require a lot of upfront effort first before they become more passive, but as long as I can put in that work and sacrifice at the start, I believe it can really work out.


***


That’s about all for this update. By the next one, I’ll begin to recap how the channel has been going so far along with plans for the future.

Till then!
 

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[MILESTONE] Update 5. The Journey So Far…

The Best One to Date
Been sitting on this video idea for a while – and I finally got down to business and finished it up. Hands down the best video on the channel so far, super proud of this one

View: https://youtu.be/dmLTLkCBSN8


Now time for a recap of how this journey has gone since starting on January 27th:

Recap in Numbers
After 2 months at the time of making this post, here is where the channel currently stands:

Total Impressions: 9,700
Subscribers: 132
Channel Views: 1,900
Watch Time: 165.7
Average view duration: 5:09


My Best Performing Video

In views, my “Is University Worth it Anymore?” video has done the best. But this will soon be overtaken by my “The Rise of Fake Guru’s” video.

The Fake Guru video has by far outperformed the other videos on my channel. With a total watch time of 74.2 hours (which accounts for 44.78% of the total watch time on the channel), and an average watch time of 8:11. It has also gained me an increase of 28 subscribers.

It has been consistently getting views since its release, and has really begun to climb – which is a pleasant surprise, considering I thought this video hadn’t done very well when first publishing.

I actually believe that I did do a good job of targeting keywords with this video, contrary to my previous thoughts.

“Exposing” fake gurus has become a bit of a niche of its own right now (see channels like Coffeezilla, and Mike Winnet as examples).

And targeting a fairly niche topic with some good keywords is actually one of the best ways of picking up an audience (at least from my observations and research).

I can see from my analytics that I have been ranking in some of these terms, and been recommended on some other more popular videos around “fake gurus”.


My Worst Performing Video
Contrary to the Fake Guru video, my worst performing vid has been “The Insane Story of Instagram”.

And I think I saw this coming even as I was creating the video.

At the time I was fairly stressed out as I began working full time at the estate agency (which I am no longer working for, which is a topic for another time), along with that I pressured myself to get this video done in a single week. Not great.

The actual vid is subpar when comparing it to the others (with the exception of my Universtity video). Even so, I tried targeting the keywords for “story of Instagram”, which unsurprisingly I didn’t do well in…

The only reason it even hit over 100 views is because I promoted it on the Instagram subreddit (a tactic that I will talk about in a bit)

Looks like I’m going to have to take some lessons from @Andy Black when it comes to finding keywords to target.

So let’s now talk about what has/hasn’t been working:


My Not-So-Secret “weapons” to Getting Views & Subscribers as a Beginner.
Now, given that I am currently not doing the best job when it comes to keyword targeting, and generating views organically on Youtube, all of my videos have reached above 100 views, with almost all except one getting over 200 views.

“How is that” I hear you ask?

Well, it’s been primarily by tapping into different audiences via external (not YouTube organically promoting the video) means . Here are some examples:

1)On my Instagram I have always posted whenever I am releasing a new video, along with a teaser of the video to get people interested. Doing this has definitely allowed my channel to gain traction, especially when people have been kind enough to share it. This has definitely helped me gain subscribers at the start of my channel, and continues to bring in views. It’s also been really nice when someone who I haven’t spoken to in a while messages me with support for the videos – so that’s an added bonus.

2) Posting to relevant subreddits. I started doing this with my “Story of Instagram” video. I went to the Instagram subreddit, and created a post with a title along the lines of “this is the story of Instagram’s creation – thought you guys might like it”.

The post didn’t even do that well, but it got enough people curious to click – and thankfully gained me more views than it would have initially as well as gaining me an extra subscriber. But by far one of the best videos this has worked on has been my “Data Brokers” video, which ironically was shared on a subreddit by someone else. But I will come to this in a second.

It’s important to note that you should only do this if you are actually posting content that you think is actually valuable, and not just spam.

3)Other relevant communities. Admittedly, the Fastlane Forum has also gained traction to my channel, which I knew would be a side effect of creating this thread. But I have made it at utmost importance to provide value throughout this thread, and make it interesting to read, and as non-spammy as possible.

Doing the same with other “niche” communities you may have access to can also help, especially if you already have credibility built with them.

4) Other YouTube Channels. So, there is now a common tactic of changing your channel name to a format like “[insert your name] – investing videos”, and then commenting on other channels that are relevant to that content, and then if your comment rises to the top of the video, people will see the “investing videos” part of your name, and will (hopefully) be curious enough to click and check out your channel.

This tactic has become fairly common right now, and if you check out some personal finance channels, you will find many others replicating the tactic. Now I personally tried this at the start of my channel, by calling myself “James Jani – Business & Self Development Videos”, and I managed to rank at the top of various different videos of Youtubers that I watch.

But I have to say, that this did not work that well for me. I didn’t see any particular influx of traffic to the channel, if any. And so I ended up changing the channel back to its original name.

But with a recent video on a channel from a Youtuber that genuinely inspired me to create my own channel, I commented along the lines of “Been watching you since [old video that I discovered him from] and wanted to say you genuinely inspired me to start my own channel”.

And very shortly, I started gaining a huge influx in viewers, subscribers, and comments.

An influx that I hadn’t seen before. This all happened on my “Data Broker” video, which deserves its own story on how that video managed to go from something that I thought completely bombed, to getting well above the average amount of views for my channel.

Having said this though I will once more emphasise: DO NOT SPAM. Only post a comment like this if it is GENUINELY true. I’m not just saying that for etiquette reasons. YouTube’s algorithms have ways of spotting if you are just spamming this stuff, and will block you from commenting. Honesty and value first, always.


The Explosive Video

After posting the “Data Brokers” video and sharing it on my Instagram, I noticed that it wasn’t doing that well.

Referring back to my tactics I made the decision to post it to /r/Privacy as I think it was very relevant to that sub reddit’s content – unfortunately I had issues with keeping the video up, and it was eventually taken down. And that was that. I sort of didn’t think much of it…

And then a surge in viewers started occurring – far more than I had been expecting. Realising that something must have happened, I watched as the view count started to surpass what I tend to average around those hours after releasing a video.

And finally, someone commented saying that they found the video posted to the “/r/bitcoin” subreddit.

From there I went to check it, and alas: it was true. The video was on the “hot” page of the subreddit, with around 14 upvotes, if memory serves me correct.

In some sort of ironic twist, after my failed post to the /r/privacy subreddit, another person who I assume must have found the vid enjoyable enough went to post it to a community they thought would be more interested in it.

And if that wasn’t enough, the very next day a Youtuber that had inspired me to make my channel posted a video, and I thought “hell, why not just comment and let him know that he inspired me to create my channel” – of course, I knew that this would definitely gain traction to my channel if the comment landed to the top comments on that video… which it did.

And just like that another influx in viewers started coming to the channel, and along with them came more subscribers.

Before that video I had around 80 subscribers, after these two incidents occurred, I now sit at 132 subscribers. Quite the leap for a beginner, I think.


The Plan Moving Forward
We’re off to a good start, and I don’t intend on stopping. I love making these videos, and I’m starting to get some good ideas on how I’m going to monetise this channel – as opposed to just asking for donations via Patreon or PayPal.

One thing that I definitely want to improve is my average view duration. For many of my videos, with the exception of the “Fake Guru” video, this duration has remained low and typically 4 minutes or below (which considering that all my videos are above 10 minutes, I think it can definitely be improved).

Doing this will also get me closer to achieving 4,000 hours total watch time on my channel (the amount needed to begin putting ads on my videos).

I think I have also settled on the “style” of my videos being in documentary fashion, with somewhat of a narrative, and I’ve consequently changed the banner of my channel to reflect this.

Being in quarantine has also allowed me to continue focusing all my attention on the channel which has been great so far, and I can afford to do so at the moment.

And if you’re following this thread, I want to thank you dearly. It feels like we’re only getting started with this journey, so onwards we go!
 

Valier

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Update 6. Growing...

My Tribute to The Millionaire Fastlane
7th video wrapped up and published. This one was heavily inspired by the man himself @MJ DeMarco and I consider it a tribute to the lessons I’ve learnt from TMF and Unscripted .

View: https://youtu.be/6mRbDEtDoyA


Anyway, I’ll keep this update short as there isn’t a huge amount to report on.



Exponential Growth
So, I’ve seen a huge growth in the channel since posting the last video – which received an amazing reception after its release! We’re now at 214 subscribers at the time of writing this.

Although it’s nothing crazy, it’s amazing to think that there are 214 different people who have tuned in to my content and thought it was worth subscribing to. Positive market feedback definitely does feel great .

My Instagram has also been gaining some new followers from the channel.

But let’s talk about monetisation:

Patreon & Donations
I now also have my Patreon and Paypal.me link set up – in fact, we received our first donation after the last video!

One of my subscribers made a one-time donation of 20p, and although that isn’t anything life-changing, it’s still awesome to see that even with a small fan-base someone was willing to make a donation.

My Patreon tiers have also been created, three different tiers are as follows:

32242

For now, donations and Patrons will be my main method of monetising the channel – that is, until I can start running ads, and until I release some courses (more info on this to come, it’s in the works )


***
That’s about all for now, my next video is going to be a pretty risky move – but if my plan works out, then it may very well be the video that takes this channel to new heights.

We’ll just have to see till then…
 
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Update 6. Growing...

My Tribute to The Millionaire Fastlane
7th video wrapped up and published. This one was heavily inspired by the man himself @MJ DeMarco and I consider it a tribute to the lessons I’ve learnt from TMF and Unscripted .

View: https://youtu.be/6mRbDEtDoyA


Anyway, I’ll keep this update short as there isn’t a huge amount to report on.



Exponential Growth
So, I’ve seen a huge growth in the channel since posting the last video – which received an amazing reception after its release! We’re now at 214 subscribers at the time of writing this.

Although it’s nothing crazy, it’s amazing to think that there are 214 different people who have tuned in to my content and thought it was worth subscribing to. Positive market feedback definitely does feel great .

My Instagram has also been gaining some new followers from the channel.

But let’s talk about monetisation:

Patreon & Donations
I now also have my Patreon and Paypal.me link set up – in fact, we received our first donation after the last video!

One of my subscribers made a one-time donation of 20p, and although that isn’t anything life-changing, it’s still awesome to see that even with a small fan-base someone was willing to make a donation.

My Patreon tiers have also been created, three different tiers are as follows:

View attachment 32242

For now, donations and Patrons will be my main method of monetising the channel – that is, until I can start running ads, and until I release some courses (more info on this to come, it’s in the works )


***
That’s about all for now, my next video is going to be a pretty risky move – but if my plan works out, then it may very well be the video that takes this channel to new heights.

We’ll just have to see till then…

First, I just want to say congratulations to you! The fact that you're executing and making it happen, kudos. The video is also very well done, serious props. Gave you a subscribe to help support!

The other reason I wanted to pop in here though: I would encourage you to maybe think twice about monetizing this early. Instead of asking people to pay for your content, give it to them for free... Well, kind of for free. Start building your email list and provide exclusive content that way - these videos also create their own lead magnets - i know it's more work but you could relatively easily summarize this video into an "action plan" or "set of steps" that you can encourage people to opt into. First, it's a lot easier to convince someone to give you their email rather than their money. Second, that email list will be absolute gold for you later down the line. Not only will it allow you to sell your course that you say you're working on, but it will A) prove useful for generating new content ideas as you can always ask your subscribers what they want and create conversations B) it allows you to sell any products you choose -your course but also anything you choose that is relevant to your niche/topic (think affiliate offers, SaaS companies, your top favorite books on audible/Amazon etc) C) no matter what happens, you own that list D) by having your own list, you can email people when you release videos - if they're subscribed or not, you're pushing people to YouTubes platform (which they like) and you're bumping your video as well by making sure everyone's seeing it.

EDIT: Also, this really gives you the CONTROL in this situation - otherwise you're dependent on YouTube ads, Patreon, etc.

Anyway, just food for thought! Regardless, keep up the good work.
 

Valier

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First, I just want to say congratulations to you! The fact that you're executing and making it happen, kudos. The video is also very well done, serious props. Gave you a subscribe to help support!

The other reason I wanted to pop in here though: I would encourage you to maybe think twice about monetizing this early. Instead of asking people to pay for your content, give it to them for free... Well, kind of for free. Start building your email list and provide exclusive content that way - these videos also create their own lead magnets - i know it's more work but you could relatively easily summarize this video into an "action plan" or "set of steps" that you can encourage people to opt into. First, it's a lot easier to convince someone to give you their email rather than their money. Second, that email list will be absolute gold for you later down the line. Not only will it allow you to sell your course that you say you're working on, but it will A) prove useful for generating new content ideas as you can always ask your subscribers what they want and create conversations B) it allows you to sell any products you choose -your course but also anything you choose that is relevant to your niche/topic (think affiliate offers, SaaS companies, your top favorite books on audible/Amazon etc) C) no matter what happens, you own that list D) by having your own list, you can email people when you release videos - if they're subscribed or not, you're pushing people to YouTubes platform (which they like) and you're bumping your video as well by making sure everyone's seeing it.

EDIT: Also, this really gives you the CONTROL in this situation - otherwise you're dependent on YouTube ads, Patreon, etc.

Anyway, just food for thought! Regardless, keep up the good work.

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

This has definitely given me something to think about.

I'll keep the Patreon page up, but I'm not going to be heavily pushing it to my viewers - I want it primarily to be about letting certain viewers financially support the channel if they so choose to do.

But as for creating an email list - you are absolutely right!

Although I have been quite hesitant about starting a mailing list for fear that I will not be able to keep up with sending out emails. But this is just laziness - I know I can easily put together a small email that either expands on the video, or gives a little story that I found during the making of the video (and maybe a lesson I learnt from that story?).

This is a great idea! Thanks again, buddy :)
 

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Valier

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wow, your growth is absolutely insane!

It just backs up the fact that quality is everything with youtube. Hope you keep updating us with this!

The next update will be uploaded today...

Things have been absoloutely insane, and I've been trying to make sense of it all. I intended to make the next update after the next video upload, but I've got no choice but to make one now, for sure.

Keep an eye out for it in a few hours, my friend
 
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The next update will be uploaded today...

Things have been absoloutely insane, and I've been trying to make sense of it all. I intended to make the next update after the next video upload, but I've got no choice but to make one now, for sure.

Keep an eye out for it in a few hours, my friend

You've motivated me to get off my a$$ and start making videos that's for sure and I'm in a similar niche. I'm definitely getting my second video done in the next week.

Make some room on your wall for that YouTube plaque soon btw haha
 

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I have just come across this thread. Created an account just so I could comment. Really really interesting stuff thank you for sharing your journey. I have recently started doing some YouTube videos so it has been very insightful. I see that your channel has blown up, looks like the guru video maybe went viral somehow? Looking forward to you sharing the secret haha
 

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Valier, is it possible to share how much you make from Youtube ads?
I don't entirely trust those 'how much Youtube pays me' videos.

Thanks! :p
 
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As someone who's never dabbled with Youtube before - around how much would you say that the earnings are for this? Your video that went viral for example, are we talking 20 bucks or 500?
 

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[MILESTONE] Update 7. The Algorithm Answered My Prayers, Insanity Ensued…

“Wait.. what’s going on? Has it finally happened? Has the algorithm picked up one of my videos?"
Those were the first thoughts I had that morning… just before sh*t hit the fan, and everything changed.​

33038


An Early Update
My intentions were always to post updates on this thread after the release of a new video.

But with what’s been happening in the last few weeks – things have had to change.

On my last post I reported we were at 214 subscribers, and labelled this as “exponential growth”.

Now, roughly a month after that post, the channel stands at 20,092 subscribers.

And for those of you just following this thread right now, I know what you’re thinking: “what the f*ck? How??” – at least, I know that’s what I was thinking.

I’ve had heart palpitations over the last few days because of the craziness that has just ensued, which meant I was up late in the evening unable to sleep, and lost my appetite due to the sheer adrenaline that has kept my body in a 24/7 alert state.

But today I woke up and things were better, I felt more focused, calmer, and ready to make this post as well as taking this YouTube channel to a whole new level.

This one is a long post, but I think it’s necessary.

Without further ado, here’s what happened since the last post, and my explanations as to why it happened:


The Algorithm Takes Notice
About maybe two weeks ago, I woke up and ran through my usual morning routine – and upon checking the channel stats, I noticed a sudden increase in views per hour to the channel.

Overnight, my average viewers to the channel (per hour) went from 1-6 to 20-40.

“Huh??” was the immediate thought. Initially I assumed that someone may have posted the video somewhere online, on a subreddit maybe, which must have brought some surplus traffic to the channel.

But then I checked the analytics and saw that the views were coming from “browse features” – meaning the video was being shown on the homepage/recommended tab for audiences.

Even then I was so shocked and surprise to see the influx of viewers… it blew my mind like nothing else.

But then things continued to snowball…


My First “Viral” Video
It continued to grow, hour by hour, day-by-day - more and more average views on the channel per hour, more comments (some very endearing ones too) started pouring in.

The “Fake Guru” video was, of course, the main powerhouse. The algorithm had picked it up and started pushing it out to a bunch of people… but gradually i.e I would have maybe an average of 100 views per hour on the fake guru video, and then after a day it would suddenly shoot up to 500 views per hour, then the next day it would suddenly shoot up to 1,000… etc etc. Currently the video averages about 1.5k views per hour (I’ll explain what this pattern is all about in just a moment).

To cut the long story short, at the time of writing this the video stands at 208.4K views.

What’s even better is the fact that I have set the channel up in such a way that I wanted to create a “catalogue” of videos (as mentioned in my previous post), and so once they finish watching one video, my audience would be curious to watch another – which in this case, was my “toxic world of self-help” video (makes sense, considering the topics of self help and fake gurus can be closely related).

The Self-Help video is at 63.7k views right now, the Money video is currently at 36.4k. And the others are in the thousands – tens of thousands. Yeah… pretty insane…

So, I want this to emphasise how powerful the “catalogue” concept is when building a YouTube channel. Everyone is told to pump out content like crazy, but someone who commented on my video made an amazing point: if your favourite artist was releasing an album every three month, would they really be that special anymore?

The principles of abundance vs scarcity play a part here. When something is abundant it has seemingly less value because after all, there’s plenty of it. But when it’s scarce, it’s far more valuable (I think I already mentioned this on the last post). But when a channel that posts once a month, people are far more inclined to think “Oh! I know that they’re not going to post a video for a long while now, and I know what I’m about to get is high quality”, which not only urges them to click the video, but also entices them to watch right through to the end.

Notice those two factors? “urges them to click the video”, and “entices them to watch right through to the end” – two factors that the YouTube algorithm heavily prioritises.

Not only that, but if all the content on your channel is on par with the same level of quality as that video, they’re more inclined to binge watch, meaning more views (that make up for the long gaps between uploads), and in my personal opinion a more loyal fan that trusts your work far more than the YouTuber that’s uploading 24/7. Pretty cool, right?


So, What About the Sudden Increases In Average Views Per Hour Every Day?
As I mentioned: once the algorithm picked up my video, I would get a consistent number of views per hour, then after a day, that average number would suddenly shoot up (not gradually), it would quite literally just shoot up.

I wish I could find the video that explains this, but here’s why:

From what I’ve heard/seen with my own eyes, once the algorithm picks up your video it will begin to split test it against someone else’s video to an audience of let’s say 100.

So it’s: Video A VS Video B.

Based on whichever video does better during this split test (calculated by looking at the click through rate, watch time, engagement rate, etc) it will then progress the video on to the next split test to an audience of let’s say 1,000.

If Vid A won, then it becomes Vid A VD Vid C.

And the trend continues until your video eventually gets beaten, and from there on the views start to stagnate and return to normal (it doesn’t necessarily die out, it’s just that the algorithm stops pushing it out as much).

I wish I saved the screenshots of this taking place live, because seeing it in person is far more powerful than just writing about it.

This also explains why you will suddenly get recommended a video that seems a little irrelevant to your interests – because that video has beaten enough split tests to be spread to a completely new audience.


Other Consequences of a Viral Video, and an Exploding Channel.
A few many other incredible things happened once the algorithm picked up my video – stuff that seriously blows my F*cking mind:
  • Last post I mentioned a Patreon account. That account now has 12 amazing Patrons, and I gross £47 a month from that at the moment.

  • I also received donations on my one-time donation link which has totalled since the last post to £133

  • My Instagram has blown the hell up. Before everything went crazy I had about 400 and something followers. Now I’m at 986 followers, I’ve got hundreds of message requests that I’m trying my best to get back to… although it is quite overwhelming, as someone that ghosted social media quite a lot (more on how this is all changing in a bit)

  • I’ve had a few “companies” approach me via email requesting video editing services, and an opportunity to have a zoom call with them – which I’m going to get back to. But I am most likely going to decline all of them (depending on the offer) due to the fact that I have built a strong momentum with the channel, and the best long-term strategy here is to ride that momentum out as much as possible. But this has given me a great idea in the far future for expanding the channel out and creating a media company that takes on clients and creates incredible content for companies (i.e presentations, advertising material, etc, that are designed to engage and hook employees/potential customers). If the channel continues to put out amazing content, then the channel itself becomes marketing material.

  • I even had the former CMO of Just Eats, Ash Ali, reach out to me via email congratulating me on my videos, and saying that it touches on many of the things discussed in his new book “The Unfair Advantage” – and that he would love to send me a free copy of it. To which I, of course, agreed to. What’s even more crazy is the fact that I attended a networking event (a few months back) days before making my first video that had Ash as the headline speaker!! (I don’t even think he knows this… crazy).

  • I’ve had many people reach out offering to work with me for free – which I’ve explained to them that I am incredibly grateful for the offer, and as soon as I start to create a bit more of a process with how I want to run the channel, and the community of followers I will start looking at how I can bring in outside help (paid, of course).

  • I’ve had several others reach out to me offering for me to go on their podcasts. I still need to respond to them, but I haven’t gotten round to it yet.

  • Others who have reached out to me have given me amazing tips on growing my social media pages, on improving my video production (in terms of the lighting of the videos when my face is present). It’s so mesmerising to have all of this advice & support, and they all do it for free. Incredible…

You can imagine that since the last post, going from slow and steady growth to the F*cking insanity that has happened over the last 2-3 weeks, this has been overwhelming.

So… now let’s talk about the future plans:


Main Priority
At the end of the day, one crucial thing has allowed all of this to happen: having good quality content.

Yes, I targeted a niche subject that was rising in popularity with the Fake Guru video, but many others have done a video on the same subject – and yet my video is perhaps one of the most viewed when it comes to this subject (with the exception of Coffeezilla’s – a YouTuber that exposes guru’s- videos).

If the video wasn’t edited good enough, researched well enough, and presented well enough, this wouldn’t have happened. People wouldn’t have wanted to click to see more videos and binge the channel, people wouldn’t have bothered leaving incredible comments about how much they’ve enjoyed the content.

And so, my main priority is and will always be to put out great quality content.

Oh, and if my audience has been enjoying the content from the last few videos… they have no F*cking clue what is about to hit them with future videos.

I’ve learnt even more editing techniques, tried to make better scripts, etc. The game is going to be stepping up to a whole new level. And I have a “mastermind” plan for how to get this next video to be another banger and go viral (but more on this when the video gets finished).

But of course, as per the title of this thread, we’re trying to build a thriving personal brand. And so, I think it’s time that I tell you guys how we’re going to be changing our old ghosting on social media ways to creating some flourishing social media accounts


Social Media Presence.
So, the Instagram is popping off right now, I’m currently trying to reply to as many people as possible who message me – something that I’m doing that I think is incredibly effective is I send voice messages in my responses.

It’s quicker than typing a message, and it adds a whole new level of interaction with my audience. I can only imagine what it would be like watching someone that I love on YouTube respond to me with a personalised voice message. I’d be very impressed. So, I think it’s a tactic that I should absolutely adopt.

And it’s been a fascinating experience!

Some of my audience have responded to my voice messages with their own voice messages, and it’s so amazing to hear what my “fans” sound like.

I’m also going to be expanding to Twitter, and eventually, TikTok. I think Twitter is great to post re-purposed content and potentially have it blow up – and I think TikTok is such an untapped market at the moment for my niche, relative to other platforms, and I think it can bring a younger audience to the channel ( we can have both a mature and younger audience combined together… why not?). Still need to study how TikTok works and what sort of content I can put on there that could possibly do well… I’ve had someone on Instagram reach out to me who’s had a viral video on TikTok before, and I think I’ll set up a zoom call with him to get to know more.

Also, I’m going to be working on my LinkedIn for the sake of building more professional relations with people that may be in the entertainment/film/video production industry (all a part of a greater vision I have for the channel and business that I will not share for now because I don’t want to get too ahead of myself… although I will be executing on this vision right from the get-go because my God, this goes far bigger than just a YouTube channel, and I’m slowly starting to realise this).

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn – “James Jani”.


What Type of Personal Brand I’m Trying to Build
Rightly said by a few people in this thread, and in my older “Quidemy” thread.

A personal brand is just who YOU are at the end of the day, it isn’t really “built” per say, it’s your reputation.

So here’s the sort of reputation I’m hoping to translate through to my socials:

Most important to me is being someone genuine and relatable to my audience. No flexing content or anything of the sort.

Much more down-to-earth advice, and a documentation of my journey. I’ve been getting quite a bit of advice from some of the people that have reached out to me regarding how to execute content that displays this in the best way possible.

I think Ben Francis (founder of Gym Shark) does a brilliant job of this on his YouTube channel – he’s a super inspirational businessman, and has built up an incredible company at only 27 years old, definitely someone I look up to.

And I do intend to start distributing content to all my social channels, with teasers of videos and other such videos in the aim of increasing my reach to new audiences drastically.

Gary V has quite an amazing guide on this that I have saved somewhere, but I’m definitely going to be digging it up as soon as possible and executing on it.


Now, Time To Talk Money…
Let me just say, I don’t even care that much about the money right now, I have an amazing vision for where this channel/business can go, and that is what is motivating me to get up in the morning and work non-stop at this.

I’m super F*cking pumped.

But with that being said, the numbers and the potential earnings of this channel are… incredible, to say the least.

And when I started doing the maths, my heart really started beating like crazy.

In the upcoming months I hope to release a course on video editing - something that many people have been asking for in my comments and messages (the market is sending clear signals to me, that’s for sure). And so I hope to release a “beta”/MVP version of the video editing course soon,

At the start the course will be priced pretty cheaply (I’m thinking like £30), but over time I’m looking to get feedback from the customers about what they like, don’t like, what they find confusing, what they want to see more of, etc and continuing to develop the course until it hits the right sort of quality that is worth charging anywhere between £100 - £300 for (which is a fair price in comparison to other video editing courses on the market).

But what I want to do is create a course that is on the same level of quality as a “masterclass” course – if you haven’t seen how masterclass create their courses, I highly recommend looking at the trailers on YouTube… they’re incredible, to say the least.

I’m confident I can create perhaps one of the best video editing courses to exist in the market within 2 years time.

Also, the course encompasses EVERYHTNG, to take someone from a complete beginner to a pro (with that being said, I’m not a pro myself, and hence why the course will be in a constant state of development as I grow my skills as a video editor along the way) so when the MVP version is realeased it will go over the foundations, then down the line I will release another expansion that covers things like animations and what not, and then another expansion down the line that will introduce other elements, etc etc.

Now let’s look at the numbers, and why this is something insanely profitable:

Let’s assume that we get 1,000,000 views a month to the channel (so not necessarily on ONE video, on the channel as an entirety), a VERY plausible number considering the fact that I’ve received about 180k views in the last 48 hours, and that’s only been the last three months (imagine in 1 – 2 years time if I continue producing quality content, which I have every intention on doing!).

Let’s say we convert 1% of that audience.

That’s 10,000 customers.

If the course is £150, then that translates to £1.5 Million in revenue…

If we convert .5%, that’s still £750,000….

A month.

Yeah… easy to see why I was getting a bunch of heart palpitations when I started running the maths.

That doesn’t even include things like ad revenue (we’ll talk about that in just a second), other products (i.e I want to make a course on starting up a YouTube channel once the channel gets even bigger), sponsorships, donations, etc etc…

The opportunity here is beyond ridiculous…

As for ad revenue: I’ve started monetising my videos, and I’m just waiting to see what my CPM is (how much I get paid per thousand views), which is taking YouTube a little while to process the data for me to see.

I’ll probably expand on this in a later post, but your CPM on YouTube depends on many factors, but one of the biggest factors is your niche.

Gaming channels suffer low CPM due to the nature of their audiences likely being teens who don’t have money to spend on the ads that are presented to them. They’re likely going to have a CPM of £1 - £2.

But when it comes to the finance, business, entrepreneurship niche… things get a little more interesting.

Of course, I can’t confirm this for my own channel yet (and as soon as I do get confirmation, I will post about it), but some personal finance/entrepreneurship/business channels get reportedly a cpm that can range from £6 - £15.

So, if their channel gets 100,000 views every month, then they potentially earn between £600 - £1,500 a month). These aren’t crazy numbers, but then again, that’s only if they get 100,000 views a month.

If that number is 1Million, then the earnings are more like £6,000 - £15,000 in revenue.

Much better.

Again, without confirmation of CPM on my own videos, I’m not going to comment on it further – but it’s definitely worth noting that earnings potential could be huge when it comes to ad revenue as well.

***

Conclusion
A lot has happened in a very short period of time.

A lot. And I’m still trying to comprehend it.

But I wanted to say that I’m glad my videos have set people down a better path when it comes to business and entrepreneurship, I’ve put quite a few people on MJ’s works now, and I’ve got more of my audience thinking about solutions to problems, and not just blindly chasing money.

At this point, I have no idea what’s going to happen, who knows? Maybe the whole thing crashes and burns…?

But I don’t know about that…

I think I have something special in my hands right now, and you can bet everything that I’m going to work my a$$ off to make it into a reality, including that big vision I have that I will expand on in the future.

We’re only getting started.

Till the next update.
 
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Last edited:

Valier

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As someone who's never dabbled with Youtube before - around how much would you say that the earnings are for this? Your video that went viral for example, are we talking 20 bucks or 500?

As soon as YouTube starts giving me the stats for this, I'm going ot post it here!
 

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