YouTube channel about Google Sheets / Apps - Script - Progress thread

[Timmy C]

Hi, I hope each one of you is doing well!

So here we are!
Today, that was exactly one year ago that I have released the first video of this journey on YouTube.

And that's how it looks now:

View attachment 51375

As you may know from my previous messages, I initially hoped to reach around 1000 subs by now (1 year of existence) and I can only observe that I am not quite there yet ... around 1/3 of it.

Nevertheless when I look back to my previous monthly summaries, I can also notice that there is actually non-linear progress and I keep hope to achieve higher goals:

Number of views:
- After 6 months: 6.1k
- After 12 months: 27.6k

Viewing time:
- After 6 months: 248 h
- After 12 months: 1343 h

It also seems, to me, that the algorithm does anyway not release the full potential of the channel from the start but more by stages or plateaux. From example on my side, I stagnated for a couple of months at ~30 subs/months and all of a sudden it increased to ~60 subs/months ... and stagnates again until now (and I can see similar trend with the viewing time which follows the same trend with around 1 sub/4h viewing time - strangely coinciding with the needs for monetization i.e. 1000 subs & 4000h).

So in one year into the "business":

- 61 videos published
- Instagram and Tik-Tok accounts created (just a few shorts published so far)
- Website created with a contact form (I had to learn WordPress from scratch)
- 2 contacts via the contact form of the website (I was actually expecting 0 now since I released it 1 month ago)
- Many hours in front of the microphone to improve my speaking video after video (this is not really my #1 strenght)
- Many hours spent on video editing with DaVinci Resolve ... still improving and getting faster at it with each new video
- Many hours spent on improving my knowledge about Google Sheets and all the Google suite

So all in all a lot experience and knowledge gained.

With this one year milestone, I am also wondering whether I should continue with this project or switch to something else. The problem is I want to continue because I see there still some growth possible (and I think a lot) but I am also wary of myself because I am more the type of person who can pushes something again and again even when it is hopeless.

I am definitely aware since the beginning that starting with a YouTube channel is not the really the best way to have the full control. And also that the subject I chose is also far to be one of the most attractive subjects. However I really want to continue but on the other hand I'd also like to try other things on the side (I have already released an app before this YouTube channel project, without big success).

I'd really like to know your thoughts about this. How do you know when it is time to stop and switch to something else? And do you think it's a good idea to explore other projects in parallel?

Although I have this question in mind, I don't really feel stuck since I still see many ways of improvement for the future of the channel:

- Improve my storytelling
- Adjust the subjects of the videos to better match customer searches (beginner full tutorial etc)
- Add a free pdf with a subscription to the newsletter
- Add a blogging page on the website with tips
- Better effects for the videos
- Etc

So that's it for this one year anniversary summary! If you have some questions about this journey, let me know!
Thanks for reading me!

I reckon you should keep going.

Write down on a piece of paper every way you can monetize this.

Then actively work to achieve it.

 

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[Cybom]

I reckon you should keep going.

Write down on a piece of paper every way you can monetize this.

Then actively work to achieve it.

Thanks @Timmy C ,

I have actually already made the exercise to think about what could be the options to monetize and here's what I am thinking about:

- Write a starter book for Google Sheets or another one for Google Apps Script. Publish with Amazon & promote with the channel and thanks to the credit the channel would gives to me
- Create files or templates to be sold either on Etsy (or similar platform) or my own website. From what I reviewed on Etsy, budget files are by far the most popular ones
- I could also sell a full course in video (for example on a platform like Udemy) but I am not really convinced by this one as I already provide quite a lot of free content on the channel
- More blury idea but I was thinking I could also develop either a browser extension or API with some link to Google Sheets ... but I'm far from being convinced that any useful tool hasn't been developed yet

Furthermore I haven't included some specific words (google sheets, spreadsheet etc) in the name of the channel on purpose, to be able to cover more topics/softwares if I want later. So I could maybe extend this list with more topics.

Congrats on your success so far!


I don't know, so I can't give any advice

Just my thought...it seems you got this going in good direction,
and have enough inspiration to continue and so many ways to improve.

So if you decide to pursue something else, you could still keep this going too, at least for a while, why not?
Or set some date and some goals, and then revisit and reconsider.

Btw.have you thought about how you'd earn from this?



Great suggestion, worth highlighting!

Thanks @FastNAwesome ,
I think you both finished to convince me I should continue!

Yes indeed that was a good suggestion although it did not work so well with the video I made from that suggestion, about ChatGPT. This was clearly my mistake though because the way I structured the video was not really optimized for this type of audience, without clear structure/message...

I'll have to give it another try. I was just reviewing google trend to find some topic but it looks like I lack a bit of imagination this evening. Most likely the most hot topic I could use right now on the channel is still AI ...

 

[Andy Black]

Thanks @Timmy C ,

I have actually already made the exercise to think about what could be the options to monetize and here's what I am thinking about:

- Write a starter book for Google Sheets or another one for Google Apps Script. Publish with Amazon & promote with the channel and thanks to the credit the channel would gives to me
- Create files or templates to be sold either on Etsy (or similar platform) or my own website. From what I reviewed on Etsy, budget files are by far the most popular ones
- I could also sell a full course in video (for example on a platform like Udemy) but I am not really convinced by this one as I already provide quite a lot of free content on the channel
- More blury idea but I was thinking I could also develop either a browser extension or API with some link to Google Sheets ... but I'm far from being convinced that any useful tool hasn't been developed yet

Furthermore I haven't included some specific words (google sheets, spreadsheet etc) in the name of the channel on purpose, to be able to cover more topics/softwares if I want later. So I could maybe extend this list with more topics.



Thanks @FastNAwesome ,
I think you both finished to convince me I should continue!

Yes indeed that was a good suggestion although it did not work so well with the video I made from that suggestion, about ChatGPT. This was clearly my mistake though because the way I structured the video was not really optimized for this type of audience, without clear structure/message...

I'll have to give it another try. I was just reviewing google trend to find some topic but it looks like I lack a bit of imagination this evening. Most likely the most hot topic I could use right now on the channel is still AI ...

What about getting clients who pay you to implement scripts for them? Do enough work and you'll find patterns and build up a library of scripts you implement the most. Then you can maybe sell them?

Do you have a CTA and a content upgrade for each video? (I don't yet do this myself but will get round to it.) What could accompany a video that people who watched would want?

 

[Cybom]

What about getting clients who pay you to implement scripts for them? Do enough work and you'll find patterns and build up a library of scripts you implement the most. Then you can maybe sell them?

Do you have a CTA and a content upgrade for each video? (I don't yet do this myself but will get round to it.) What could accompany a video that people who watched would want?

I've never though about selling code actually but I'm definitely digging this way too now!

For now I haven't proposed any CTA in the form of a free PDF or anything similar (this is the plan though) but I have only directly proposed to contact me through the website if any help was needed, at the end of my two latest videos. Of course I I have included a checkbox to a newsletter (not yet existing though) to allow me to recontact people in the contact form... Two peoples contacted me so far and they both left the checkbox checked.

I still need to block 1/2h to work on it but one of them asked me to help him create a file to plan a vacation house rental ... So maybe that's also an idea of template that would sell, who knows

Thanks Andy !

 

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[Andy Black]

I've never though about selling code actually but I'm definitely digging this way too now!

For now I haven't proposed any CTA in the form of a free PDF or anything similar (this is the plan though) but I have only directly proposed to contact me through the website if any help was needed, at the end of my two latest videos. Of course I I have included a checkbox to a newsletter (not yet existing though) to allow me to recontact people in the contact form... Two peoples contacted me so far and they both left the checkbox checked.

I still need to block 1/2h to work on it but one of them asked me to help him create a file to plan a vacation house rental ... So maybe that's also an idea of template that would sell, who knows

Thanks Andy !

Do videos of you writing useful wee scripts and say they can comment if they want a copy of the script?

Then reply saying where they can download and maybe asking a bit about what they're doing or what stage they're at with Google scripts etc.

 

[Genius01]

Hi, I hope each one of you is doing well!

So here we are!
Today, that was exactly one year ago that I have released the first video of this journey on YouTube.

And that's how it looks now:

View attachment 51375

As you may know from my previous messages, I initially hoped to reach around 1000 subs by now (1 year of existence) and I can only observe that I am not quite there yet ... around 1/3 of it.

Nevertheless when I look back to my previous monthly summaries, I can also notice that there is actually non-linear progress and I keep hope to achieve higher goals:

Number of views:
- After 6 months: 6.1k
- After 12 months: 27.6k

Viewing time:
- After 6 months: 248 h
- After 12 months: 1343 h

It also seems, to me, that the algorithm does anyway not release the full potential of the channel from the start but more by stages or plateaux. From example on my side, I stagnated for a couple of months at ~30 subs/months and all of a sudden it increased to ~60 subs/months ... and stagnates again until now (and I can see similar trend with the viewing time which follows the same trend with around 1 sub/4h viewing time - strangely coinciding with the needs for monetization i.e. 1000 subs & 4000h).

So in one year into the "business":

- 61 videos published
- Instagram and Tik-Tok accounts created (just a few shorts published so far)
- Website created with a contact form (I had to learn WordPress from scratch)
- 2 contacts via the contact form of the website (I was actually expecting 0 now since I released it 1 month ago)
- Many hours in front of the microphone to improve my speaking video after video (this is not really my #1 strenght)
- Many hours spent on video editing with DaVinci Resolve ... still improving and getting faster at it with each new video
- Many hours spent on improving my knowledge about Google Sheets and all the Google suite

So all in all a lot experience and knowledge gained.

With this one year milestone, I am also wondering whether I should continue with this project or switch to something else. The problem is I want to continue because I see there still some growth possible (and I think a lot) but I am also wary of myself because I am more the type of person who can pushes something again and again even when it is hopeless.

I am definitely aware since the beginning that starting with a YouTube channel is not the really the best way to have the full control. And also that the subject I chose is also far to be one of the most attractive subjects. However I really want to continue but on the other hand I'd also like to try other things on the side (I have already released an app before this YouTube channel project, without big success).

I'd really like to know your thoughts about this. How do you know when it is time to stop and switch to something else? And do you think it's a good idea to explore other projects in parallel?

Although I have this question in mind, I don't really feel stuck since I still see many ways of improvement for the future of the channel:

- Improve my storytelling
- Adjust the subjects of the videos to better match customer searches (beginner full tutorial etc)
- Add a free pdf with a subscription to the newsletter
- Add a blogging page on the website with tips
- Better effects for the videos
- Etc

So that's it for this one year anniversary summary! If you have some questions about this journey, let me know!
Thanks for reading me!

Please and please and please continue and don't stop.
What you're experiencing is the natural history of most successful youtubers from what I've seen.
The few ones you see that have good success in their first year are the exception not the rule, so don't be carried away by them and think you're not making progress.

Many successful youtubers channels don't take off until after their 2nd to 3rd year is completed, and then it skyrockets from there with hockeystick growth.
If you stop now you would have lost all the labour you've put in to get to this point.

So please and please just continue.

2 important things though:
1. Don't stop. And upload regularly. Persistence and consistency is key in youtube.

2. Keep improving your video technique and quality everyday or every week with each new video.
Study everything about making youtube videos that you can, and improve everything you can gradually from improving your thumbnails to your improving your choice of topics to make videos on via keyword research, to improving your titles and descriptions to increase click through rates and optimize visibility, and even to improving your retention rates in your videos when viewers click on it.
All of these improvements gradually add up and eventually snowball into something huge if you keep improving continuously.

Just don't stop please.
Wish you all the best.

 

[Cybom]

Do videos of you writing useful wee scripts and say they can comment if they want a copy of the script?

Then reply saying where they can download and maybe asking a bit about what they're doing or what stage they're at with Google scripts etc.

I was thinking about an "how to" pdf but your idea actually sounds much easier and faster to put in place !

Please and please and please continue and don't stop.
What you're experiencing is the natural history of most successful youtubers from what I've seen.
The few ones you see that have good success in their first year are the exception not the rule, so don't be carried away by them and think you're not making progress.

Many successful youtubers channels don't take off until after their 2nd to 3rd year is completed, and then it skyrockets from there with hockeystick growth.
If you stop now you would have lost all the labour you've put in to get to this point.

So please and please just continue.

2 important things though:
1. Don't stop. And upload regularly. Persistence and consistency is key in youtube.

2. Keep improving your video technique and quality everyday or every week with each new video.
Study everything about making youtube videos that you can, and improve everything you can gradually from improving your thumbnails to your improving your choice of topics to make videos on via keyword research, to improving your titles and descriptions to increase click through rates and optimize visibility, and even to improving your retention rates in your videos when viewers click on it.
All of these improvements gradually add up and eventually snowball into something huge if you keep improving continuously.

Just don't stop please.
Wish you all the best.

Woooooow thanks a lot for the encouragement!
I must admit it's easy to loose hope when I compare my channel progression to other ones after 1 full year but it looks like it's worth to continue so I'll keep going this journey.

Thanks a lot, I won't stop!

 

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[Cybom]

Hi everybody,

The progress is still on-going so here is the monthly update:



I have published 2 videos since the previous update. The latest one was the longest video I have ever made on the channel, close to 50 min :

- This video was inspired from a request I got from a viewer, via the contact form of the website
- I shared the file with this specific viewer
- At the end of the video, I proposed to share the file with anybody who would request it via the contact form.
(that's a first step for CTA but putting it only at the end of the video might not be the perfect move ...)
- The video itself allowed to reach a new peak in viewing time overall.

I did a quick calculation and with the 60+ videos from the channel, before this latest video, it is around 10h of video in total. So the latest video by itself increases the total video time by roughly 8% ... I think I really should keep this in mind and produce longer videos.

I am also trying to have a more regular planning of 1 video every 2 weeks. The next one is already ready and is also quite long around 40 min. I was not expecting it to be so long but I am getting quicker at editing so this was OK. This one will be more about the coding in Apps Script so I also proposed people to contact me if they need some help with their code at the end of the video ... so let's see if I get more contacts from this one.

 

[Cybom]

Hello all,

Here is the monthly update:



Volumes (viewing time and numbers of views) are still progressing a bit but for some reason the number of subscribers was a bit down this month ...

For this WE I prepared a new long video of 1h. This is a simple beginner guide for Google Sheets. From reviews from other channels, it should be quite a popular type of video so I'm really looking forward to see the results.

To follow this beginner tutorial, I am going to create a series of small videos (not longer than 5 min) with really basic how to's about Google Sheets tools or functions. The goal is double: give more credibility to the channel with more videos and of course increase the traffic to the channel and to the website. 2 videos / week (besides the regular video every 2 weeks) is the target.

On the website side, I helped 3 people this month who contacted me through the website contact form. No difficult problem, quite simple ones actually.

Thanks for reading the udpate !

 

[Cameraman]

Thanks for the update. It's great to see your consistency and determination.

for some reason the number of subscribers was a bit down this month

Don't worry about subscribers, the numbers will come in time. I also think there is a trend towards fewer people subscribing. People have become saturated with information.

On the website side, I helped 3 people this month who contacted me through the website contact form.

Solving peoples problems is always a good thing to do. Even if it doesn't make you any money it banks goodwill.

Keep it up.

 

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[Cybom]

Hi all,

Quick update of the month before Christmas:



As mentioned at the last update, I started and am continuing releasing short videos frequently. No big revolution for these ones, only basic quick tutorials but it keep some momentum on the channel.

I have also tried to rework some titles/thumbnails in a more "agressive" way to try increasing the click rate. I think I need to wait to see some result so I am trying to better track any change I do. I have applied this more aggressive principle to the video I released today (a longer - 30 min - video) and the start looks promising.

The video from today also had the attention of the owner of a similar but much bigger channel (around 23k subs). He left a nice comment under the video and contacted me by mail to have a call. I will accept the proposal, I'm quite curious to talk with him. In any case it feels great to get such feedback.

Thank you and Merry Christmas !

 

[Timmy C]

Hi all,

Quick update of the month before Christmas:

View attachment 53121

As mentioned at the last update, I started and am continuing releasing short videos frequently. No big revolution for these ones, only basic quick tutorials but it keep some momentum on the channel.

I have also tried to rework some titles/thumbnails in a more "agressive" way to try increasing the click rate. I think I need to wait to see some result so I am trying to better track any change I do. I have applied this more aggressive principle to the video I released today (a longer - 30 min - video) and the start looks promising.

The video from today also had the attention of the owner of a similar but much bigger channel (around 23k subs). He left a nice comment under the video and contacted me by mail to have a call. I will accept the proposal, I'm quite curious to talk with him. In any case it feels great to get such feedback.

Thank you and Merry Christmas !

Sounds like people are coming off the platform and engaging with you.

Sounds like your on the right track.

 

[Hassassin]

Hi all,

Quick update of the month before Christmas:

View attachment 53121

As mentioned at the last update, I started and am continuing releasing short videos frequently. No big revolution for these ones, only basic quick tutorials but it keep some momentum on the channel.

I have also tried to rework some titles/thumbnails in a more "agressive" way to try increasing the click rate. I think I need to wait to see some result so I am trying to better track any change I do. I have applied this more aggressive principle to the video I released today (a longer - 30 min - video) and the start looks promising.

The video from today also had the attention of the owner of a similar but much bigger channel (around 23k subs). He left a nice comment under the video and contacted me by mail to have a call. I will accept the proposal, I'm quite curious to talk with him. In any case it feels great to get such feedback.

Thank you and Merry Christmas !

Keep going! How have you progressed so far?

 

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[Cybom]

Keep going! How have you progressed so far?

Thank you Hassassin!

Well, not so much to say for the last month, I kept publishing 2x per week and still seeing the usual progress.
I made a video about the creation of a complex dialog box with HTML in Google Sheets and it was quite well received overall so let's see how it goes in the next months with this one.



Right now I am busy building as many short videos as I can so I get more time during the year for longer videos and also to work on the website ... It has not changed much since I've created it.

I haven't talked yet with the guy who contacted me (who has a similar channel) as he proposed some slots when I am either at work or on the way to work but I may be able to find some time by the end of the month ... let's see.

I am still focusing on being more aggressive with titles and thumbnails.. I think I can still progress there to improve the number of views.

Thanks!

 

[Cybom]

Hello all,

This month's summary is the story of how I refused 2 "business opportunities" ...
But first a look to the progression of the channel:



It's going quite well these latest weeks, nothing crazy but some progression in the viewing time and I got more comments (majority of positive comments) than I ever had with quite a few support requests (either on YouTube or the website).

But now let's come back to these 2 missed "business opportunites"

1) I finally had a call with the person who owns a similar channel, just muuuch bigger than mine. He actually wanted to know whether I was interested to provide on-site support to some of his clients closer to me geographically. I had to politely turn down the offer as I still have a job and don't have yet any structure (company) to provide services. Nevertheless I did not close the door for the future... He was really nice and I think he was genuinely interested in the content I propose on YouTube. We had a short talk and he was really open to answer some of my questions, definitely keeping the contact

2) Someone contacted me via the contact form of the website. As I understood he just founded a small business with a server and wanted to know whether I offer services to create Google Sheets files to extract data from the server. I also had to turn down the offer for the same reasons. I'm also not sure I have enough experience yet with this... I'm sure I can manage at the end but maybe not yet in the requested time frame. This is something where I already wanted to learn a bit more ... and even more now...


So all in all it's great that I am already being approached for those proposals. I was certainly not expecting that yet considering the channel is still really small and does not give a huge visibility. For now I'm not ready to dive fully into it yet, I need to grow a bit more and see what's really possible.

Perhaps I should start small with something feasible right now at my level like selling some elaborated templates on platforms like Etsy... just to move a small step forward and be less scared to move further...

Thanks for reading me and I'd be glad to read your thoughs/comments

 

[Cameraman]

Hello all,

This month's summary is the story of how I refused 2 "business opportunities" ...
But first a look to the progression of the channel:

View attachment 54415

It's going quite well these latest weeks, nothing crazy but some progression in the viewing time and I got more comments (majority of positive comments) than I ever had with quite a few support requests (either on YouTube or the website).

But now let's come back to these 2 missed "business opportunites"

1) I finally had a call with the person who owns a similar channel, just muuuch bigger than mine. He actually wanted to know whether I was interested to provide on-site support to some of his clients closer to me geographically. I had to politely turn down the offer as I still have a job and don't have yet any structure (company) to provide services. Nevertheless I did not close the door for the future... He was really nice and I think he was genuinely interested in the content I propose on YouTube. We had a short talk and he was really open to answer some of my questions, definitely keeping the contact

2) Someone contacted me via the contact form of the website. As I understood he just founded a small business with a server and wanted to know whether I offer services to create Google Sheets files to extract data from the server. I also had to turn down the offer for the same reasons. I'm also not sure I have enough experience yet with this... I'm sure I can manage at the end but maybe not yet in the requested time frame. This is something where I already wanted to learn a bit more ... and even more now...


So all in all it's great that I am already being approached for those proposals. I was certainly not expecting that yet considering the channel is still really small and does not give a huge visibility. For now I'm not ready to dive fully into it yet, I need to grow a bit more and see what's really possible.

Perhaps I should start small with something feasible right now at my level like selling some elaborated templates on platforms like Etsy... just to move a small step forward and be less scared to move further...

Thanks for reading me and I'd be glad to read your thoughs/comments

This looks like you are making good progress.

The first opportunity feels like a job in disguise, but I think you have handled it well. I like that you have gained a contact from this; it could build into something in the future.

The second opportunity looks like a job but it could be a good opportunity. Someone is willing to pay you to develop something in an area where you want to develop your skills. It could also grow in ways that you can't yet imagine. I would pursue this.

I usually receive several offers a week to do reviews on my YouTube channel, even though it's small; I'm only now approaching 40k subscribers. Most of these are from new start-ups with products of questionable value. I sometimes investigate further if I think they have a reasonable offer/product. But my golden rule is only to feature products that I buy or would buy myself.

Some of my best opportunities have come looking like a job. For example, I've created training videos and participated in webinars for companies as a result of my YouTube videos. These pay well for the hours, BUT they give me more credibility in the eyes of my audience. They also allow me to promote my books and make more sales as a result.

An important point to remember is that you will always underestimate your own skills and knowledge. You will only realise how good you are when you push yourself to do new things. Don't turn something down because you don't know how to do it (Google, ChatGPT and YouTube will help you learn). Only turn things down if you think they are the wrong opportunity or you are already too busy.

 

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[Cybom]

This looks like you are making good progress.

The first opportunity feels like a job in disguise, but I think you have handled it well. I like that you have gained a contact from this; it could build into something in the future.

Thank you @Cameraman
Yes it went through my mind as well that accepting this offer, I could be tied up to a schedule with less time for my own content... That would maybe not be the most clever move.

The second opportunity looks like a job but it could be a good opportunity. Someone is willing to pay you to develop something in an area where you want to develop your skills. It could also grow in ways that you can't yet imagine. I would pursue this.

I also feel this type of request could lead to something where I often need the same type of code with slight adjustments i.e. I could re-use some scripts for several requests with slight adjustments to gain time (and maybe at the end directly propose to sell some generic tools without additional work required on my side, as proposed few posts ago by @Andy Black )

I usually receive several offers a week to do reviews on my YouTube channel, even though it's small; I'm only now approaching 40k subscribers. Most of these are from new start-ups with products of questionable value. I sometimes investigate further if I think they have a reasonable offer/product. But my golden rule is only to feature products that I buy or would buy myself.

I can easily believe that with a channel of this size, you often get approached by scammers. I would not call a 40k subs channel small in my position though but I guess it's always a question of perspective

Fully agree with you regarding the added value of the product, the last thing I want is to ruin the reputation of the brand with promotion of shitty products for a few dollars ...

Some of my best opportunities have come looking like a job. For example, I've created training videos and participated in webinars for companies as a result of my YouTube videos. These pay well for the hours, BUT they give me more credibility in the eyes of my audience. They also allow me to promote my books and make more sales as a result.

It may comes like a job but still looks like ponctual missions without tying you up to a schedule for a longer period of time so that sounds like a good option to me. Do these companies allow you to mention them on your website? I see that quite often (logos at the bottom of the page) and I guess this brings a lot of credibility.

An important point to remember is that you will always underestimate your own skills and knowledge. You will only realise how good you are when you push yourself to do new things. Don't turn something down because you don't know how to do it (Google, ChatGPT and YouTube will help you learn). Only turn things down if you think they are the wrong opportunity or you are already too busy.

Eheh, sometimes I feel guilty about using ChatGPT and not being "more professional" going through all the documentation to find what I am looking for ... But then I'm like "OK the result will be the same but I will just spend 1/2 h more searching so let's go for it"

Thanks a lot @Cameraman !

 

[Cameraman]

Do these companies allow you to mention them on your website? I see that quite often (logos at the bottom of the page) and I guess this brings a lot of credibility.

I don't include logos on my website that say who I work with, but I suspect they will give permission if I ask.

I tend to promote events that I think my subscribers would enjoy or benefit from. For example, I have a couple of Webinars coming up, which are joint ventures between two leading companies in my niche. I have also agreed to promote these to my subscribers, which they are pleased about and want me to mention the companies involved. They are also busy promoting the events to their customers and through an agency.

When I do videos for companies, we usually agree in advance on how they want me to introduce myself. Some want me to use my name but say I am from their company. Some just want me to use my name.

I also have it written into my agreements with them that I'm free to work with other companies in the niche and continue to publish YouTube videos and articles giving my honest opinion. If I don't like a product feature, I am free to say in the reviews I publish, and again, this is something they encourage.

I don't know if any of this is helpful to you, but I hope it is.

I've been publishing regular (weekly) YouTube videos for about 6 years. It's quite a long time to be doing this, so that's why I say my channel is small. It's never taken off, but then I never started doing YouTube to become a YouTuber. I did it to promote my books and supplement them with videos I can link to as a way to explain things.

 

[Cybom]

I don't include logos on my website that say who I work with, but I suspect they will give permission if I ask.

I tend to promote events that I think my subscribers would enjoy or benefit from. For example, I have a couple of Webinars coming up, which are joint ventures between two leading companies in my niche. I have also agreed to promote these to my subscribers, which they are pleased about and want me to mention the companies involved. They are also busy promoting the events to their customers and through an agency.

When I do videos for companies, we usually agree in advance on how they want me to introduce myself. Some want me to use my name but say I am from their company. Some just want me to use my name.

I also have it written into my agreements with them that I'm free to work with other companies in the niche and continue to publish YouTube videos and articles giving my honest opinion. If I don't like a product feature, I am free to say in the reviews I publish, and again, this is something they encourage.

I don't know if any of this is helpful to you, but I hope it is.

I've been publishing regular (weekly) YouTube videos for about 6 years. It's quite a long time to be doing this, so that's why I say my channel is small. It's never taken off, but then I never started doing YouTube to become a YouTuber. I did it to promote my books and supplement them with videos I can link to as a way to explain things.

Thank you again!

It's not helping right now but I hope this will help in the future, it's interesting to know the way you approach companies. I only find it a bit strange that some of them want you to introduce yourself as being part of their company. I believe it is something quite easy to check for employees...

 

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[Cameraman]

Thank you again!

It's not helping right now but I hope this will help in the future, it's interesting to know the way you approach companies. I only find it a bit strange that some of them want you to introduce yourself as being part of their company. I believe it is something quite easy to check for employees...

It is, but if I have a contract with them to complete a piece of work, they employ me for that purpose; I'm just not a permanent employee. This was fairly standard practice when I had my project consultancy business. Only the major companies tend to introduce themselves as separate entities.

 

[FastNAwesome]

Nevertheless I did not close the door for the future... He was really nice and I think he was genuinely interested in the content I propose on YouTube. We had a short talk and he was really open to answer some of my questions, definitely keeping the contact

Awesome!

Good to stay in contact!
Contacts can wither away though.

So good to stay in touch from time to time.
Or maybe even find a way to work together to some extent that would be cool with you.

I'm also not sure I have enough experience yet with this... I'm sure I can manage at the end but maybe not yet in the requested time frame. This is something where I already wanted to learn a bit more ... and even more now...

Well, by definition you will only have experience with anything AFTER you've had experience with it.
And gotta start somewhere.

My ways of dealing with this as a web developer and programmer were:

- Offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee by not even getting paid until the work is done.
If the client was happy with a website or app - then they got to keep it - and pay me.

- Saying straight up - I don't have experience with what you require.
Surprisingly - sometimes this would result in prospects insisting to work with me!
Fully knowing I've not done it before and still be like "You'll figure it out!"

 

[Cybom]

Awesome!

Good to stay in contact!
Contacts can wither away though.

So good to stay in touch from time to time.
Or maybe even find a way to work together to some extent that would be cool with you.



Well, by definition you will only have experience with anything AFTER you've had experience with it.
And gotta start somewhere.

My ways of dealing with this as a web developer and programmer were:

- Offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee by not even getting paid until the work is done.
If the client was happy with a website or app - then they got to keep it - and pay me.

- Saying straight up - I don't have experience with what you require.
Surprisingly - sometimes this would result in prospects insisting to work with me!
Fully knowing I've not done it before and still be like "You'll figure it out!"

Thank you @FastNAwesome !

I agree with the 100% satisfaction, that sounds like the best way to bring confidence when starting.

I will also remember the "I don't have experience yet" tip. I think this is the type of answer that could be helpful quite often for me: not looking overconfident but still leaving the door open for business.

 

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[Cybom]

Hello all,

First a quick look at the progression of the channel as usual:



Quite a bit of progression this latest month, the video explaining how to retrieve the prices of small cryptos into Google Sheets is responsible for a great part of it as it "took off" the past few weeks (really wondering why )

So far I still manage to stick to the 2 videos / week rule which is good as well, reaching soon 100 videos published.

Awesome!

Good to stay in contact!
Contacts can wither away though.

So good to stay in touch from time to time.
Or maybe even find a way to work together to some extent that would be cool with you.



Well, by definition you will only have experience with anything AFTER you've had experience with it.
And gotta start somewhere.

My ways of dealing with this as a web developer and programmer were:

- Offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee by not even getting paid until the work is done.
If the client was happy with a website or app - then they got to keep it - and pay me.

- Saying straight up - I don't have experience with what you require.
Surprisingly - sometimes this would result in prospects insisting to work with me!
Fully knowing I've not done it before and still be like "You'll figure it out!"

The guy requesting help re-appeared saying that he really needed my help for his server. So I tried to apply this strategy but I'm afraid I pushed it a bit too much and scared him somehow because I haven't got any piece of news from him since then

Outside YouTube, I'm trying to take a bit more care of the website now. I have already added a article page and need to bring some upgrades:

- I have to put in place an effective cookie management banner. Right now I have one showing a message but not linked to anything actually since I'm not collecting data yet
- I have to write a first article
- I have to in place a newsletter (linked to this first article) system with effective unsubscription link to finally send some content to the mail list. It has grown quite a bit but I haven't used it for anything yet

I also feel more and more the need to step in progress an make a first sale. I think this will be one of my goals for the coming weeks. Nothing too fancy, just a template on Etsy or something similar that I could advertise on my website or the channel. I provide many Google Sheets templates for free but I could just propose some more elaborated version there.

Thank you!

 

[Andy Black]

Good work.

Is Etsy the place for Google sheet templates? I didn't expect that.

Are you getting anyone onto a free email list?

Also, I saw a video on LinkedIn where someone showed how to add a formula to row 1 and it would automatically apply to all rows in the sheet. Any idea what that might be, and any plans for you to post yo LinkedIn?

What's your YouTube channel? I may browse and see if there's better ways of doing some of the things I do.

 

[Cybom]

Good work.

Is Etsy the place for Google sheet templates? I didn't expect that.

Are you getting anyone onto a free email list?

Also, I saw a video on LinkedIn where someone showed how to add a formula to row 1 and it would automatically apply to all rows in the sheet. Any idea what that might be, and any plans for you to post yo LinkedIn?

What's your YouTube channel? I may browse and see if there's better ways of doing some of the things I do.

Thanks @Andy Black !

Yes you can find quite a few templates in Google Sheets on Etsy with really decent sales. I had the idea from another thread on the forum actually (selling digital products partially on Etsy / I didn't know this site before).

Right now I don't have a big list of emails, just around 15. However I already noticed someone did subscribed twice, most likely because he may have been surprised to not receive anything for a while.

I actually never thought about Linkedin (haven't changed job for a few years so I don't use it anymore) but that actually would make a lot of sense for this type of content. I'll check it! And regarding the formula auto copies, difficult to say like this but it might be with Apps Script or simply a formula copying the one from the first row if any ... Or it could also be something I ignore, not good for my impostor syndrome

My YouTube channel is there : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzHhweoIBu566yKIfLpLI-w

Thank you !

 

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[Andy Black]

Thanks @Andy Black !

Yes you can find quite a few templates in Google Sheets on Etsy with really decent sales. I had the idea from another thread on the forum actually (selling digital products partially on Etsy / I didn't know this site before).

Right now I don't have a big list of emails, just around 15. However I already noticed someone did subscribed twice, most likely because he may have been surprised to not receive anything for a while.

I actually never thought about Linkedin (haven't changed job for a few years so I don't use it anymore) but that actually would make a lot of sense for this type of content. I'll check it! And regarding the formula auto copies, difficult to say like this but it might be with Apps Script or simply a formula copying the one from the first row if any ... Or it could also be something I ignore, not good for my impostor syndrome

My YouTube channel is there : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzHhweoIBu566yKIfLpLI-w

Thank you !

I notice your highest viewed video has an English title.

 

[Cybom]

I notice your highest viewed video has an English title.

Yes indeed, I actually started adding English subtitles and titles after this video but it did not seem to make any big difference for the videos after this one. And the two videos I've tried to make fully in English did not have a big success so I left that a bit on the side for now.

 

[Cybom]

Hello,

This month went sooo fast, here is the update:



Regarding the English titles and subtitles, I catched up the delay I had on the videos. I used to spend a lot of time on the subtitles to get the best translation but I think this is not worth to spend so much time on it right now. So instead of that I added the Englisht titles and descriptions (that I cross-checked) and for the subtitles, I entirely "relied" on the automatic translation from YouTube. That's good enough for now and I can spend time on more other topics.

I worked a bit on the website and clarified the cookie banner. Simply I don't need it right now since I'm not using cookies for the statistics of the website (but I had to rework a bit the confidentiality policy). I still need to put in place a newsletter and figure out how to create an unsubscription link which is mandatory.

The owner of a channel similar to mine (but bigger) came back to me asking for some suggestion to handle the creation of a file with some script. I created quickly a file to share with him and explained how I would proceed ... He didn't come back to me afterwards but I saw he tried the file. So I don't know... maybe he just contacted me to unblock a situation for a paid work on his side and I somehow did that for free. At least I could work on an applied situation and learn.

I was also contacted by someone else to realize a script. I still don't have any structure for that but this time I followed the advice from @FastNAwesome and replied that I would like to work with him but don't have a structure yet (so also new as a service provider). Nevertheless I proposed to work on his project and see the rest later if the result was good for him. I may not be able to get a proper structure so fast ... so at the end I think I will just end up doing it for free

I scheduled a meeting with him this week and that's gonna be an experience for me in any case... And this is also good to force me to get out of my comfort zone and search how to get everything in place to be fully able to provide this kind of service in the future.

On the channel side, I've reach the 100th video and slowed down the pace to 1 video / week instead of 2 to have more time for other activities on the side (I also had more time during winter so that's why I challenged myself to publish 2 videos / week until the 100th).

So all in all not the time to try all the suggestions I already got here but I'm moving forward slowly...
Thanks for reading me and don't hesitate if you have other comments, always happy to read

 

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[Timmy C]

Hello,

This month went sooo fast, here is the update:

View attachment 55551

Regarding the English titles and subtitles, I catched up the delay I had on the videos. I used to spend a lot of time on the subtitles to get the best translation but I think this is not worth to spend so much time on it right now. So instead of that I added the Englisht titles and descriptions (that I cross-checked) and for the subtitles, I entirely "relied" on the automatic translation from YouTube. That's good enough for now and I can spend time on more other topics.

I worked a bit on the website and clarified the cookie banner. Simply I don't need it right now since I'm not using cookies for the statistics of the website (but I had to rework a bit the confidentiality policy). I still need to put in place a newsletter and figure out how to create an unsubscription link which is mandatory.

The owner of a channel similar to mine (but bigger) came back to me asking for some suggestion to handle the creation of a file with some script. I created quickly a file to share with him and explained how I would proceed ... He didn't come back to me afterwards but I saw he tried the file. So I don't know... maybe he just contacted me to unblock a situation for a paid work on his side and I somehow did that for free. At least I could work on an applied situation and learn.

I was also contacted by someone else to realize a script. I still don't have any structure for that but this time I followed the advice from @FastNAwesome and replied that I would like to work with him but don't have a structure yet (so also new as a service provider). Nevertheless I proposed to work on his project and see the rest later if the result was good for him. I may not be able to get a proper structure so fast ... so at the end I think I will just end up doing it for free

I scheduled a meeting with him this week and that's gonna be an experience for me in any case... And this is also good to force me to get out of my comfort zone and search how to get everything in place to be fully able to provide this kind of service in the future.

On the channel side, I've reach the 100th video and slowed down the pace to 1 video / week instead of 2 to have more time for other activities on the side (I also had more time during winter so that's why I challenged myself to publish 2 videos / week until the 100th).

So all in all not the time to try all the suggestions I already got here but I'm moving forward slowly...
Thanks for reading me and don't hesitate if you have other comments, always happy to read

Hey mate, how are you? I see you are still progressing with the channel which is good to see.

The question I have for you, and it is something I wasn't able to overcome with my own channel, is how are you going to turn this into a viable business, and how soon can you make sales?

My apologies, if this is already mentioned prior, I have tried to catch up on it all since I last checked in with you in the thread.

The issue for me was that the market I was serving was focused on entertainment/news, and not so much looking to buy anything from me or anyone else. I guess most people who watch youtube videos fit into this category as well.

For me, I seen this issue early, and created a website that had reviews of certain products as well as my own offferings to get people onto a email list, but the latest google update killed it in the water (commandment of control)

I guess for you, you are in a bit of a different position, as you are educating people who watch your stuff, so I think the scope for you to make this into a viable business is better than what I had.

I think you should try and make sales as soon as possible, and it's one thing I do not like about the ''influencer/youtubers/social media business model.

 

[Cybom]

Hey mate, how are you? I see you are still progressing with the channel which is good to see.

The question I have for you, and it is something I wasn't able to overcome with my own channel, is how are you going to turn this into a viable business, and how soon can you make sales?

My apologies, if this is already mentioned prior, I have tried to catch up on it all since I last checked in with you in the thread.

The issue for me was that the market I was serving was focused on entertainment/news, and not so much looking to buy anything from me or anyone else. I guess most people who watch youtube videos fit into this category as well.

For me, I seen this issue early, and created a website that had reviews of certain products as well as my own offferings to get people onto a email list, but the latest google update killed it in the water (commandment of control)

I guess for you, you are in a bit of a different position, as you are educating people who watch your stuff, so I think the scope for you to make this into a viable business is better than what I had.

I think you should try and make sales as soon as possible, and it's one thing I do not like about the ''influencer/youtubers/social media business model.

Hey @Timmy C ,

Quite good, hope you're doing great too!

Sorry to hear your project did not go as planned. Did you completely completely drop it or still exploring alternative ways to turn it into business?

Talking about business, on my side, most of the opportunities I get are requests to write some dedicated files in Apps Script to automate tasks. People find me thanks to the channel and contact me through the contact form of the website. Overall I notice many people are interested to learn but at the end many of them don't have the time or miss motivation to do the work by themselves.

I had a call this week with someone asking me to create a script to automate the creation of a specific file for real estate management. I'm working on it this WE. For now it's only direct service of course but there could be opportunity to propose the same file to multiple people ... or also other files for different niches.

Let's see where we can go from there ... but I agree with you I need to face the next step and get things in place to make a sale. That's a big next step for me that I have in mind.

Thank you !