Transcription
If God told you to start a YouTube channel or take your existing channel in a different direction, but you have no idea where to start, you're thinking of all the excuses in the world why you shouldn't start, this video is for you.
Now, this is only my second video since I said yes to going all-in on God's nudge. I kind of went halfway in, but now I'm all in. But I've been a video coach for over 5 years. So, I'm going to give you four simple steps to help you go all-in with your channel.
And by the way, I'm in the parking lot at Walmart because I am helping my dad move. I'm on the road in Alabama. And this just goes to show you that when you're all in, you're all in, even from the Walmart parking lot.
So, the first one I want to share with you is one that I wish I would have done sooner. And that is you need to confirm this calling. You need to get clear on it. It doesn't mean you're going to know everything, but it means that you are going to pray about it. And if I need to remind you, because I needed this reminder, Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Pray about every situation." Every situation. When you think that you're hearing God tell you to start a YouTube channel, you need to pray about it.
As I said in my last video about this, it doesn't mean that you are this perfect, you've got it together Christian. So, I'm talking to the people out there who may have been a little bit slacking in the prayer department. I know what that feels like because sometimes when you hear people say, "Oh, well, you need to pray about it." You're like, "Okay, but what do I say?" So, I'm going to give you my four C's that makes prayer so simple.
The first C is clarity. This is really going to help you when it comes to what are you going to talk about on camera? How are you going to talk about this on camera? And then the second C is courage. Because here's the thing. Yes, he asked you to do this, but he's not going to give you every step of the way in the beginning. You're going to have to take action before you go. And that's going to take courage.
Number three is covering. I'm telling you, even sometimes when it comes to production, like all of a sudden my camera cops out or the audio my microphone goes out. Sometimes I wonder, I wonder if this is the enemy trying to prevent me from actually making this happen. It can be your schedule that's so hectic. And that can be an easy way for you to get distracted, to make excuses. Kind of like me unexpectedly having to drive to Alabama, but I'm like, "Nope, we are doing this. We're going to make it happen because I know I was supposed to do it."
Then the fourth C is confidence. "Lord, give me confidence not in myself but in you. Remind me that I am equipped, chosen, and called. Help me to trust that if you led me here, you will also sustain me." If you feel called, he's already equipped you. He already knows exactly where this is going and how it's going to go down. You just don't. Unfortunately, that's where the scary part comes in. But we wouldn't be leaning on him if he gave us all the answers and if he gave us the big picture.
I was reminded of a book the other day by Samuel Chadwick. "The enemy laughs at our plans but trembles when we pray." He thinks that we are a joke when we are not praying and we're trying to do it by ourselves, but trembles when we pray because he knows that the power of God is now part of this. And that's the stuff that freaks him out. Not you just trying to do everything on your own to impress people.
Now, for this next step, I want to share with you a saying in gardening. It's sleep, creep, leap. The first year you get a plant, they usually sleep. It doesn't look like they're really doing much. The second year, they creep. They might grow a little bit, but you're still not really impressed. And then by the third year, they leap. They just explode the next season.
Well, that's kind of how I see how God was using me when he gave me this nudge because I said yes and then I felt like nothing was really happening. That was the sleep stage. Well, when I look back, I was establishing my roots, if you will, because I had been praying to no longer want to be on social media. It took me well over two years, but I finally said done. It was over a year ago. My business was built on Instagram. I had a very nice multi-six-figure business teaching Instagram video and I just felt like I was supposed to get off of it and so I did. And by doing that, I made room for me to go all-in on my YouTube channel. That is what really got me getting closer to going all-in to that nudge, but I hadn't done it yet.
So step two is that you have to trust God with the how this is going to happen. He's actually working in your heart right now. He's working on other people who are going to come along and help you with this, encourage you with this, and you don't even see it yet.
Step three, I knew that if I wanted to get comfortable sharing more personal stories, I had to just let go of the perfectionism and force myself to record no matter where I was, like I am doing today. And that got me more and more comfortable when I did a challenge last year and I started to share my faith just in little bullet points like a little PS. But that was my creep season. And it was because I took action. My channel tripled when I did that. My channel tripled with the right people when I did that. Even though I wasn't going all-in, I could see in my comments, these are the people God wants me to speak to. It's actually happening.
But I'm going to tell you right now, taking action isn't pretty. Taking action doesn't mean your schedule is just perfect or you have just the right equipment or you know exactly what you're going to say. Like this video makes me nervous. I'm sitting in my car at Walmart, but I told myself, we're taking action.
Have a few questions I'm going to ask you that's going to help you to make sure that you are right on track. So, the first question you need to ask yourself is, did you say yes to that thing he nudged you to do in the first place? Are you praying about it? Did you figure out a plan of how you're going to take action? Have you figured out anybody who can help you take that action?
Then you need to ask yourself, have you figured out who it is you want to speak to in your videos? And that means you're going to niche down. So, when I tell you that I saw the people in my comments, I started to see that they were people my age. They were people who had similar experiences as me. They were people of faith. So, and you'll see on my channel, I started to speak to people over 40, women over 40, and then I psed the faith at the end. I didn't go all-in on that, but I was supposed to. But at least I took action and I halfway niched down.
So, if you're not sure how to niche down, I have a whole video on how you can go through my niche distillery. But the first thing that you're going to do is you're going to pick the industry or market that you're in. So, let's say it's finance. Then, you're going to find a submarket. Let's say in that example, it's helping people get out of debt. The third thing you're going to do to niche down is figure out exactly who are you talking to. So maybe you're talking to teachers who are in debt. That would be a way of niching down from just talking to anybody about getting out of debt. Now you're talking to teachers who need to get out of debt.
Then the fourth question is, how are you helping them get that transformation of getting out of debt? So maybe you help them without them having to go get another job. You have got systems and budgets to help them do that. So, you see how that really niched you down to a very specific person. And don't be scared by that. It sounds like, oh, I might not get as many views, but let me tell you, when I went all-in on my niche, maybe my views were lower, but my comments, my engagement were higher because I'm speaking to that very specific person God called me to talk to.
So if I take myself through the niche distillery process, content marketing is the industry, then the submarket is YouTube, and then after that I'm speaking to people over 40. I use content strategy and faith to teach people how to grow their audiences, their community, and their business with YouTube. So, you see how I went from just taking teaching content marketing all the way down to no, I teach YouTube to people over 40 using content strategy and my faith to show people how they can do it, too. And once you do that, now you're ready for the fourth step.
So, remember back to our plants. So, I had my sleep time with them where it didn't feel like they were doing much. Then, I had the creep. And then if you look over at these hydrangeas, this is what it looks like when they finally reach the leap stage. They take off and you're going to take off, too. And that's going all the way in with God. But it might not be the way you think you'd take off. Because I'm not talking about virality. I'm not talking about what the world might see as success. I'm talking about success with your mission on your channel.
Not only are you going to be saying yes and talking to those very specific people and helping them. And you'll see them in the comments telling you, "I feel like you're speaking to me," but you're also going to sense a freedom like no other. Trust me, I've been doing YouTube for over five years. I've been doing video half my life. I've never felt this good about video creation as I do now because I know that I'm where I'm supposed to be. I know that he's with me and I know that exciting things are going to happen. I don't know what they are. I don't know where he's taking me. You're not going to know where he's taking you. But when you hit the leap phase, it means you did all of those things leading up to it. And now it's starting to get clearer and clearer. And even though it might still be scary, you've gotten used to the scary.
So, what season are you in with your God nudge for your channel? Are you a sleeper? Are you a creeper? Or are you leaping right now and going all-in with God? Let me know in the comments. And also I am going to do a challenge so that you can come to my channel and I will give you a lesson showing you exactly how you can start creating these videos, what you can talk about based on that nudge that God gave you. Until then, if you have not seen my other video about the truth behind God calling you to start a YouTube channel, watch this video right.