YouTube is quickly becoming the easiest way to build a brand from scratch. All you need to do is show up and provide value to people.
Where else could you find a platform that allows you to show up, shoot videos, provide loads of value, and make money? Very few platforms can do this as efficiently as YouTube.
YouTube has quickly been growing since the Coronavirus lockdowns, helping the platform reach $6.9 billion in quarter 4 of 2020. Alphabet (YouTube's parent company) made 46% more revenue compared to 2019 quarter-four that generated $4.7 billion.
The lockdowns have shown that YouTube can withstand one of the most stressful periods in recent history
AND THRIVE...
We're not going to go off on a limb and say that starting a YouTube channel is insanely easy. However, if you provide value and know how to market yourself correctly, it's relatively simple to put yourself on the internet compared to your other options.
Yes, you might need to buy some camera, lighting, and audio equipment as you're starting.
But, are you going to rub your pennies and hope that you're going to get a free handout just by sitting all day and daydreaming about ideas that mean absolutely nothing until you put your foot down and do it?
Imagine the possibilities of YouTube, assuming you put all of your efforts into it…
Let's say you have 100,000 subscribers, thousands of diehard fans, and 25,000 subscribers on your email list.
It will be effortless to spread your message, help others, promote yourself, and make money.
You can make YouTube a hobby; however, like most of us, we are trying to turn this into a full-time business.
Once you start making money from YouTube, it will be easy for you to quit the job you hate or drop out of school, the two paths society tells us to follow.
Screw conformity because YouTube can become the first step into freedom, AKA entrepreneurship!
For all you know... there could be a million people dying to hear your message, but your procrastination brain has kicked in and prevented you from making the rational decision!
So yes… You should be starting a YouTube business, especially if you are contemplating it.
We will explain why you should start ASAP (no excuses.)
Commit to Starting Your YouTube Business
Shut the fuck up and start your channel RIGHT NOW.
We don't care if you suck on camera and don't have enough money to buy the right equipment. Just start ESPECIALLY if you know that you have wisdom or entertainment to show the internet.
Whatever you tell yourself, make sure you don't stop once you start.
We see too many people starting a channel, posting once a month, and wondering why they're not getting views. How do you expect anyone to know who you are just by posting one video?
This is not TikTok, where you can post one video and go viral; YouTube is in its own world of social media platforms.
Attracting new viewers and subscribers is hard, but that's why YouTube is so great.
The harder YouTube is, the less likely an average normie will want to sit down and start creating, which will give you less competition and potentially more money!
You need to be posting frequently and consistently if you want to see ANY results. The reason why most of you are falling is that you're too lazy at posting new content.
Odds are you're going to be somewhat disappointed with your initial growth on YouTube, not because you suck (you'll get better soon at making content, don't worry), but because building a successful YouTube channel is usually a slow process.
Pushing through with your channel by showing up each day and putting effort into your new creative endeavor is the mindset you need to have.
Ask any content creator, and they will probably tell you they spent more time on YouTube with a few thousand subscribers compared to hundreds of thousands.
Despite the difficulty of creating and managing a successful YouTube channel, it should be seen as an opportunity, especially if you've been planning out what you want to do for content.
So come up with a plan and execute. If you're serious about YouTube, this may be the most critical section of this article because understanding the mindset necessary for success is what brings success to you.
Get the drawing board out, wipe off the dust, start writing up ideas to provide value to your future audience, and commit to the process.
Here are the steps you need to take to start your channel ASAP
- Purchase equipment you need depending on the budget you currently have.
- Decide what your value proposition will be (the value to plan to give your viewers.)
- Design a banner for your channel
- Shoot a trailer for your channel explaining who you are and what you provide (this is not mandatory until later, unless you're ready to give a full 1-minute breakdown of yourself and what you provide.)
- Design mockup thumbnails using software like Canva or Photoshop.
- Set up an email capture page to slowly start developing your list of future customers.
Understand What YouTube Stats It Takes To Grow
Building up a successful YouTube channel will also require at the very least a basic understanding of what causes a channel to grow.
Most people will get caught up in views, likes, and subs, but we're here to tell you that is secondary.
Those metrics only really count for providing social proof to others.
Watch time, click-through rate, and audience retention are the metrics you should be watching.
You can find these metrics through the YouTube Studio.
These are the stats that the YouTube Algorithm is looking for primarily.
By appealing to the Holy YouTube Algorithm, your channel should move a lot quicker in terms of growth.
Soon enough, you'll have that high subscriber count that everyone wants, and you'll get to show it off.
Learn Some Basic Video Editing Skills
Some of the most famous YouTubers of all time don't use any special effects at all. Instead, they simply spend the time to cut their footage up to help tell their story.
Casey Neistat is an excellent example of this. The only edited elements you'll find in his content are cuts, titles, and music that fits the mood.
You'll also notice that a majority of his footage barely lasts several seconds before cutting to the next shot.
This bouncing pace of jump cuts keeps your attention engaged and always wandering next. With these simple tools, you can create content that can earn millions of views.
This can be done with the most basic video editors on the market. Even something as dull as iMovie will grant you the powers of Casey Neistat.
Regarding video editing software, iMovie is truly the bottom of the barrel, and it's free. You can cut your clips and add titles just like the rest of the successful vloggers on YouTube.
Anyone telling you that you need crazy production and editing abilities doesn't know what they're talking about.
It has been done over and over again by a variety of YouTubers, no need to psych yourself out.
For those who are more interested in special effects and more wild-like editing abilities, we highly suggest you look into programs like Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects.
Premiere Pro is a video editing software that is somewhat difficult to grasp in terms of understanding but is undoubtedly one of the more powerful video editors out there.
After effects handles complex animation needs, but it is an entirely different beast that can be far more complicated than Premiere Pro, requiring more learning time.
If you can master these two programs, special effects and higher-end animation can be a spectacular thing to watch.
Either way, whether you choose to keep things simple or go over the top and have crazy animations and special effects that grab people's attention, you become successful on YouTube with time and effort.
Networking With Other YouTubers Is CRUCIAL
Starting on YouTube is hard enough as it is, once you've built up a short portfolio worth of content and you're in a rhythm of uploading videos each week, you should be attempting to collaborate with other channels.
Of course, you won't be creating a video with PewDiePie anytime soon, but look around for those with similar subscriber counts.
You need to be building up your digital network as soon as possible.
Remember the old saying?
It's not what you know; it's who you know.
Don't disregard being an expert in your field, but you need to be pushing towards collaboration with other creators around your current level within your niche.
This gives both you and the other content creator a chance to appeal to a whole new audience, bringing in massive amounts of subscribers within a short time.
Collaboration is simply the most significant move you can make towards bringing new waves of viewers to your channel (aside from making a video that gets a million views).
Whichever niche or sphere you are in, you should be plotting your way to becoming a significant influence in your corner of the internet.
Make better videos than everyone else in your niche and get them to want to come and collaborate with you eventually.
If you're good at what you do and you have an exciting personality, rising to the top is not as difficult as it seems.
Networking also gets you into places you usually might not have access to.
Perhaps there's a special event that only specific content creators are invited to?
Time to make friends with them.
Or maybe even having the chance to collaborate with people who are further along the YouTube journey? The chance to do things like that is usually only due to being a well-networked individual in your sphere.
You should go any chance you get to meet more people and get in the face of their viewers.
How to Make Money On YouTube
Want to make a quick buck from YouTube?
Screw that! Let's build a full-time passive business!
YouTube is not just a social media platform. It's hands down the best free marketing tool on the internet.
Sure, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest exist, but none of these platforms, except maybe Facebook can beat YouTube. However, a platform like Facebook does not have the organic reach capabilities as YouTube.
Let's cut the BS and give you an essential guide on how you can start making money on YouTube.
First things first, you need to start your channel. Then, after you start your channel, you need to figure out what you will be specializing in that people want to watch.
You can gauge whether or not people want to watch you by the videos currently posting on YouTube. Your key is to look for videos that are surrounded by active communities.
Think of it this way… YouTube is a large ocean. The fishermen are the content creators, and the fish are the viewers.
As a fisherman, you should be actively looking for large schools of fish and figure out how you're going to catch them. The value you provide is what is going to bait your viewers into watching the video.
How do you find the right bait for your viewers? By studying them very intensely the same way a fisherman would do, he figures out ways to catch a boatload of fish.
As a content creator, you need to understand your viewers' stories, struggles, beliefs, and what they want to achieve in life. If you can do this, not only will you be able to attract new viewers and subscribers to your channel, you will also be able to collect email leads (if you have an email capture page set up.)
It would be best if you also studied your competitors. How are they providing value to their viewers? What aspect of their content needs improvement? What does their audience want to see that the creator either does not notice or refuses to address?
Find the right bait, and all of the schools of fish will swim your way instead of to your competitor's boats. Your goal as a new content creator is to establish a competitive advantage.
Rip off and duplicate your channel with a fresh twist. People get sick of seeing the same content for months.
Every channel has a shelf life. Your goal is to be the new content creator everyone within your space is talking about.
Now, let's say you found the right community, new subscribers and viewers are flowing in, your channel is attracting thousands of leads to your email list…
The next thing you need to do is figure out what kind of service or product you will be selling for a price.
You have limitless options as a creator, whether that's consulting, software, courses, merchandise, events, coaching, you name it!
Figure out what you're good at and start figuring out ways to sell it!
Before you create the product, make sure you have an audience and if you do have an audience, make sure they want it. The last thing you want to do is create a product that has low demand!
Either way, creating the product/service is the easiest part. The hardest thing to do as a businessman is to collect an audience and figure out what they want.
Once you know what your audience wants, that's when you start creating your product/service and selling it.
How do you know if your audience wants your product? Look at your YouTube comments, use the community tab to ask questions about what you could potentially be selling, and WRITE EMAILS...
Take Full Advantage Of Your Email List
Now, let's go back to the emails you collected… We're hoping that you have started sending emails to your contacts…
If you haven't, that's fine! We'll explain how you can write emails that get SALES…
The skill behind writing emails is called copywriting.
It can be summed up as writing text that can be used for sales and describing products and services in a way that encourages a buyer to open their wallets.
Writing to your email list can become a complex and exciting process with all sorts of automation, but we will break down the basics here…
Essentially when you take your viewers away from YouTube, you want to continue providing content to them.
By writing emails to the list of your subscribers outside of your YouTube channel, you can begin to sell your products and services and start a business empire.
To create an email worth reading, you need to have some structure, but not too much that you don't have the ability to write freely.
The structure we use here is a method by Russell Brunson in his book dotcom secrets, called: Hook, Story, Offer.
- The first part is the "hook".
You need to 'hook' your audience with an eye-catching subject line and opening lines of the email.
Ask yourself, what would your subscribers be shocked by if you were creating an intriguing opening line for your email?
- Next is the "story," this will be the body of your email.
YouTube is all about telling a story through video. Writing emails is all the same, except it's through text instead.
Get creative, get personal (or as unique as you are comfortable with), and tell your readers a story they will remember for the rest of the day.
An excellent way to create a story is to teach your readers something interesting about your niche and tell them a story of why it's important.
- Next is the "offer," this will conclude your email and pitch an offer to the audience.
The offer in an email usually comes by creating a lead magnet and linking it in the description or comment section.
That might look something like this:
"And if you want to find out more about how I did this, click here, and I'll show you how!"
You would hyperlink the 'click here' with the landing page you want your audience to see.
Writing emails is a crucial skill in your sales funnel.
No one can take away your email list. You can download all your leads who are subscribed to you and move anywhere without an issue.
Whereas with something like YouTube, they can technically ban you, take down your videos, and disqualify your content from being monetized.
Your email list?
That can't be touched.
Conclusion
If you’re contemplating whether or not you should start a YouTube channel…
JUST DO IT!
The worst that can happen is that you fail… (eye roll)
Overall, committing to a YouTube channel and an upload schedule is no trivial task. It should not be underestimated.
Yet, you have the opportunity of a lifetime to leave the rat race and live the kind of life you want to live.
By involving yourself in content that you and your viewers are interested in, you can create something successful.
Of course, to fully live the life you want requires you to be paid well for your time so you can leave your old job.
So making money on YouTube is imperative.
This can be done in many ways but primarily by networking with other content creators, growing your audience, and setting up sales funnels outside of YouTube is how you can live a life of freedom.
Recognize that this takes a high level of commitment, treat it like your new career.
If you're starting, you may have to hustle on the side a bit to pay the bills while you build your YouTube empire, but it's all possible.
Every successful YouTube content creator started from the same place.
At absolute zero…
If you're still stuck, and you can't seem to figure out how to grow your channel further, download our 4 pillars to YouTube Content Creation to figure out which style of content creation is for you!
