Watch Me Build a Startup [12 Month Progress Thread]

[Kirk84]

Updates from last week:

1. I entered an accountability agreement starting on June 11th with a friend to release one daily short-form video on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. This week I held up my end of this agreement, and we're keeping ourselves accountable through a WhatsApp Group.

2. As my goal is to up my YouTube game, I spent the last weeks looking for an editor. This week I have had three editors do test work for me and was able to identify a fast and capable video editor, which makes my life releasing videos so much easier. We agreed upon a weekly retainer for him to edit seven short-form videos and two standard videos (8-15 minutes). This will be paid for by my ok-ish performing business (see INSIDERS section) and, over time, will allow me to build something even better.

3. I released a YouTube Video yesterday, currently split-testing two thumbnails from a thumbnail designer using thumbnailtest.com (no affiliation).

View: https://youtu.be/wGZ67Vozb68


4. Scripted and recorded 11 shorts yesterday (to be released next week).

5. Scripted and recorded my next YouTube video today.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Kirk84]

26/7/2023

• Quick facts since the last update:
  • released one short a day
  • released 3 videos (10-15 min range) and fulfilled my goal of two videos a week
  • with the help of my editor, I have built a small buffer, so I have videos waiting to be released. This is meant to serve as a backup for weeks when I'm sick or on holiday or feeling down.
• I realized my videos perform poorly since I switched to my new thumbnail guy. I can see that the CTR has gone down from the 6-8 % range to 3-4 %. This isn't good, as the CTR is among the most critical factors for a new channel looking to grow it's audience. This is why, for now, I switched back to creating my own thumbnails. Not optimal, but necessary.
• I re-watched my latest videos after a couple of weeks and noticed that my delivery is bad. This is probably due to my current process of writing and then learning scripts to be able to speak freely. But as English is my third language my speaking skills are insufficient. I think I'm decent at writing and I'm already using AI-tools to improve my writing skills. But in order to improve my speaking skills I would need to
  • A) spend much more time learning my scripts, so I feel secure when speaking into the camera
  • B) speak more with native speakers so I improve my conversational skills
  • C) get help to improve my pronunciation and accent
    
    I will do all of these in the upcoming months and years but for the next videos, I'm switching back to using a teleprompter as I want to have perfect delivery with information-dense content. This of course is a crutch so I need to further improve my skills but for now I will focus on writing better scripts and most importantly: consistency

 

[James Klymus]

Thumbnails and video quality are really good. Only watched your latest but I see the potential. Good luck!

 

[Sega Saph]

Hello.
Where do you get money for living? Do you work?I think it is really important to show for others. Maybe firstly your fail was connected with such fact.
Thank you so much for sharing of your story. So helpful.
With regards.

 

[BellaPippin]

Nicely done! The accountability group will prove useful.

Can you elaborate a bit on what you agree on with the editor? I need to make short form videos and I’m very stuck coming up with things. And on top of that, you have to edit them. What do you ask from the editors and what kind of footage do you provide them with?! F Creative block!

 

[Kirk84]

Hello.
Where do you get money for living? Do you work?I think it is really important to show for others. Maybe firstly your fail was connected with such fact.
Thank you so much for sharing of your story. So helpful.
With regards.

I have a semi-working business that I cover in the INSIDERS section. Besides that I work as a startup consultant at a Tech University which I cover pretty much in every video I make. Maybe I need to elaborate on that further...

Nicely done! The accountability group will prove useful.

Can you elaborate a bit on what you agree on with the editor? I need to make short form videos and I’m very stuck coming up with things. And on top of that, you have to edit them. What do you ask from the editors and what kind of footage do you provide them with?! F Creative block!

My editor creates 7 shorts and 2 videos a week (10-15 minutes), and I'm paying him 280 USD a week for that.
Here's my process for shorts and videos:
- research video idea
- script video
- add annotations in script for editor
- record A-Roll (me talking into the camera)
- record B-Roll (me enacting scenes that I think support the video)
=> Share script, A-Roll and B-Roll material with editor and provide feedback if needed

Don't waste your time with writer's block / creative issues. Just follow through.
Let me know if you have further questions.

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[Kirk84]

2/9/2023

• I've been consistently uploading two videos per week since the last update
• My shorts production did fall short however
• I am very satisfied with my editor, who is fast and reliable
• I've had two videos cross the 1,000 views mark (not counting shorts) but also many failures with less than 100 views
• Reading from the teleprompter has made life much easier for me
• I'm still in search of my niche. Since my best-performing video is on AI, I will focus more on these topics as this is my background, and this is where I can compete with others very well.
• I constantly remind myself that it takes time to build something of value and learn the skills