Transcription
If I were to start a new YouTube channel from absolute zero this year, knowing everything I know now after seven years of building my own channel to nearly a million subscribers, there are eight specific things that I would do differently to cut your growth time in half. And in this video, I'm going to share the exact blueprint, including the one mistake that 90% of new YouTubers are making that are keeping their channels stuck.
The first thing that I would do differently is I would spend less time picking a niche and more time thinking about my unique advantage. When you're starting out, you feel a lot of pressure to pick a niche. You pick one, and then you start molding yourself and all of your content to match that category. What you don't realize is happening is if you're not thinking it through, you end up creating a channel that doesn't actually feel authentic to you, and you burn out anyway in the long term because you're creating content that you don't even like. To prevent this from happening, you want to take a few steps back and actually think about what is the unique perspective that you have to share and that you feel passionate about sharing.
So what I would do is I would take some time in my brainstorming stage to think about five to 10 things that I've gone through in my life. Now, these things don't have to relate to each other. They don't have to be strategic. Don't even think about how you're going to package it. Just list down five to 10 things that you've gone through. For example, could it be the time that you decided to start a business, or the time that you made a really hard decision, or the time that you learned something that truly changed your perspective on life? Or it could be a little trivial thing like the time you lost a ton of weight. Whatever it is, write it down. And then under each story, I would actually write down what happened.
Now, if you're struggling with this exercise, specifically with writing out your stories, then let ChatGPT know what story you want to tell and ask it to pretend to be your storytelling or branding coach and ask you questions so that you can go deeper on that story. This is going to bring out some really high-quality answers, allow you to think about your story in a whole different perspective, and you're going to be not only so amazed by the result, but it's going to allow ChatGPT to give you a better idea of who you are as a person and what your unique advantage is. And then what I would do is I would feed all of these stories into ChatGPT and then tell ChatGPT that you're trying to create a new YouTube channel and that you want its help to figure out what are the underlying themes of all these stories. What kind of creator are you, and what kind of topics and content and videos can you share based on these stories by loading up the unique things that you've gone through in your life to ChatGPT and allowing ChatGPT to find the underlying themes and to actually uncover what is your unique perspective and advantage. Now you're going to be able to allow the niche to find you rather than you forcing yourself to fit a niche that someone else has that you might not even like or want.
Now, once you have a better idea of your unique advantage and the perspective that you want to offer on your channel, the next step is to determine your content structure. Now, this is where most creators fail because they start posting randomly, and then they wonder why they're not growing. So here are three specific things that I would make sure I have a good understanding of before I film my first video.
The first thing is having your content pillars. I would have around three to five that you can rotate between. Now, with the help of ChatGPT and sharing your stories, you should be able to uncover what those pillars are. So, for example, if you notice through sharing your stories with ChatGPT that you are someone that really values personal growth, then these could be examples of your pillars: practical systems, so actual habits and tools that helped you become someone who's growth-oriented; mental health and mindset, lessons and stories that have shaped you as a person that you want to share with your audience; book reviews, maybe through understanding your unique advantage. You're someone who really loves reading books and sharing what you've learned from those books. And then your last pillar could be challenges. Maybe it's a vlog series where you take up personal development challenges and you document it for other people to learn through you. Regardless of what it is, you definitely want to have a few pillars that you rotate between. This not only gives some variety on your channel, but it also allows you to not feel creatively stuck and not feel bored with one single topic.
The second thing to create structure around is your posting schedule. Now, I'm going to tell you that it's far better to post once every other week for 12 months because you can be consistent with it rather than posting the standard once a week, but only for a couple of months because you quickly burn out because your capacity doesn't allow for weekly uploads. So, when you're starting out, be realistic with your output because a lot of people underestimate how long and how much energy it takes to not just film, but also edit a single video. And so, definitely choose sustainability over anything else. And once you get the hang of it, you can then ramp up your uploads. Now, a way to get ahead of this, especially as a new channel, is to at least batch your first three to four videos. That way, you can always stay ahead.
Now, the third thing to create structure on is to understand what is the journey or transformation that you want people to go through because they watch your videos. So, for example, when someone finds my channel, they're likely at point A. They're very ambitious. They want to achieve big things, but they're a bit of a perfectionist, and they get easily overwhelmed. And because of that, they're afraid to make a mistake. And so, they haven't really taken the action that's necessary. By watching my videos, I want them to get to point B where they feel excited. They actually understand what is possible for them. They feel like they found a gem of advice. Like they cannot believe they stumbled on my channel because I gave them tangible tips that they can immediately execute on that they haven't necessarily heard anywhere else. And they also feel grateful that they found a creator that has very similar values to them. Which is why in a lot of my videos, I actually share little bits and pieces of my story because I want to make sure that the right people relate to me. Even if I'm sharing a video that's more meant to be educational or how-to. The reason why it's important to understand what is the point A to point B transformation that you want people to feel is because it's going to change the entire tone of your video when you film and when you edit. For example, if my goal is to allow people to feel like they got tangible tips to apply so that they can take the first step on the thing that they're so afraid of doing, then my editing style is going to be very tutorial-based. I'm going to show step by step, very screen flow-heavy. Or let's say if I want people to feel seen, then my tone and how I talk is likely going to be a lot slower, maybe with some lo-fi music in the background so they feel a little bit more relaxed. And so it really depends on what you want people to feel, what transformation you want them to go through because that's going to dictate the entire vibe of how you show up.
Now, speaking of vibe, one thing that's very important is picking the music for your video. And I think music is what really separates amateur creators from professional ones. So, I want to introduce you to the sponsor of today's video, Epidemic Sound. Epidemic Sound has one of the most extensive catalogs for music, including over 50,000 premium tracks and 200,000 sound effects that you can use restriction-free. I can easily search by mood if I want something energetic for an intro or maybe something more calming for a tutorial-heavy video. I can even reference music that I like from mainstream artists and find very similar restriction-free music that matches that vibe. In terms of my process, once there's a track or sound effect I really like, I will download it. Then I will upload that into my editor once my video is fully edited, and then I will lower the volume so that it's not too distracting in my video. By adding music alone as the final touch, my video suddenly goes from amateur to professional. And because all of the tracks that I get from Epidemic Sound are restriction-free, I never have to worry about losing monetization or getting a copyright strike. Now, if you're serious about starting your channel this year, do not overlook the power of music and sound. And if you want a 30-day free trial of Epidemic Sound, then click the link in my description box or in the comment section below.
Now, the third step of how to start a successful YouTube channel this year is to really understand how the YouTube algorithm works sooner rather than later. And this is a mistake I made because I don't think I actually fully understood the algorithm until maybe year three of my channel. And there are so many things I could have done differently in the beginning. Now, the YouTube algorithm really only cares about three things: Your click-through rate, so how many people are actually clicking on your video? Your watch time. How much of your video are people watching? And then viewer satisfaction. Do they like your videos enough to watch more of them? But here's something that most creators miss, and is understanding that every video operates on these three layers: The surface layer, which is your title and thumbnail. This should be packaged well enough for people to be curious to even want to click on your video. Then there's the value layer. This is what keeps people watching. In other words, it's whether or not you're delivering on the promise of that title and of that thumbnail. And then finally, there's the connection layer. Do they like you enough to want to hit subscribe and watch more videos of yours? This could be that they like how you communicate, or they like your story, or they relate to you. Whatever it is, there is something within your video that makes them want to watch more, and even subscribe to your channel so they don't miss any uploads that you have. The problem is that most creators focus on layer 1, which is the surface layer. They just think about the title and thumbnail, which is fair. And we'll also talk about this later in this video, as you can see from the chapters. But here's something that I would do differently when it comes to actually building fans for your channel.
Now, with any successful YouTube video, I find that there are four parts. The first part is the hook. Within the first 15 to 30 seconds, you should immediately validate that person's decision to click on your video. And how you can do this is follow the SPARK framework. So the S stands for specific audience call-out. If you actually listen and rewind to how I started this video with my hook, "If I were to start a new YouTube channel from absolute zero this year, knowing everything I know now after 7 years of building my own channel to nearly a million subscribers, there are eight specific things that I would do differently to cut your growth time in half," I was very specific on who this video is for, which is new YouTubers. This matches the title and thumbnail that I have. I do this by saying, "If I were to start a new YouTube channel this year, these are eight things that I would do differently." The P stands for problem. In my hook, I know that a problem most new YouTubers have is that it takes so long to grow their channel. And so, I tell you that the eight things that I'm going to teach you are going to cut your growth time in half. "There are eight specific things that I would do differently to cut your growth time in half." The A stands for audacious promise or transformation. And so the promise that I made in my hook is that you're going to cut your growth time in half. And indirectly, I also share with you that I've grown my YouTube channel to a million subscribers. And so you may feel like that's possible for you too. "After 7 years of building my own channel to nearly a million subscribers," R stands for results preview. So I'm teasing the result that you can get by watching my video. In my case, again, it's covered when I talk about how I can cut your growth time in half. And also alluding to the fact that you should trust me because I've built my channel to nearly a million subscribers. Finally, there's K, which is keep the curiosity alive. Don't give everything away within the first 15 seconds, but give enough away to keep people interested. In my case, I talk about the eight specific things that I would do differently. I don't tell you what those eight things are, but I call them out. And I also tell you that there is one crucial mistake that 90% of new creators are making that are keeping their channel stuck, "including the one mistake that 90% of new YouTubers are making that are keeping their channels stuck." That is the second way that I'm trying to pique your curiosity so that you keep watching to the point of this video. Now, just by following this SPARK framework, you're going to have a better hook than 95% of new YouTubers out there.
But now, you also want to think about the second part of what makes a successful YouTube video, which is the payoff. You want to make sure that people are getting value earlier than they expected in the video so that they don't click off. So, here's how you can frontload the value to maximize your watch time. The first one is try to put your best tip first or second. This is going to immediately make people feel like they clicked the right video. Now, it's harder if it's a video like this where I plan things out to be step by step in chronological order. So, instead, you also want to consider breaking down things in digestible pieces. I often break down things in steps so that people know it's in a certain order, or I have certain phases that I show throughout the video. For more complicated things that you're sharing, you also want to use the preview method where before you actually dive into the first step, you show them what the end result that they're going to get. For example, last week I did this video where I cover Poppy AI and how I use it to come up with content. And knowing the fact that I know many people are going to be overwhelmed by all the steps, I showed people the final result of what my Poppy board looks like before I started building so that people can be excited to build with me. What's also helpful to keep your viewer engaged is to signal progress. So let's say I share that there are seven steps or eight steps of how I would build a YouTube channel. I would constantly remind you that step one, step two, step three so that you feel like you're moving forward in the video.
Now, the third part of any successful YouTube video is the bridge. You want to almost create a universe for your channel. Making sure each video that you create blends seamlessly into the next so that you can increase your watch time. Meaning, the viewer is not just watching this video, but they're watching your next one or the last one. So, how you can do this is you want to reference past content that you've done naturally in your video. I literally just did this a minute ago where I talked about my Poppy AI video that I used as an example for this video. Now, for some of you, you might be interested in clicking that video next. The next thing you can consider is creating a series so that all your videos relate to each other. A good example is my YouTube course that I did back then where every single video was meant to feed into the next one. This not only gave me a lot of structure when I was planning my content, but it also increases bingeability. And now I have a wonderful playlist with all of the videos you need to start your YouTube channel with. You also want to make sure that at the end of your video, you're using your end screen strategically. Now, if you don't know what an end screen is, it's basically that little button that you can add so that people click on another video of yours. Now, back then, a mistake I made is I would just say, "Okay, bye. Please subscribe to my channel." And then I put a random video right there. But now, I'm a lot more strategic about this. At the end of almost every video, I tell people, "Hey, I will see you in this video next. And here's why you should watch this video." I cover this, this, this, this, and this. I do have this free YouTube course, which is a playlist that has all of these sections and me going way more in-depth. So, if you want to learn more, highly recommend you watch this next. And so, for example, in this video at the end, I'm likely going to tell you to check out one of my videos in my YouTube playlist because it's a natural progression after watching this one. The moment that I started doing this, I saw 10x more clicks to my next video compared to when I wasn't as intentional of picking what video the viewer should watch next and actually explaining why they should watch it. What you can also do to make people excited to be a part of your channel is to actually start planting seeds of what you're going to be creating next. This is very helpful for newer YouTubers who may not have a library of existing videos to promote. So, for example, what I could tell you in this video is that my next video that I'm going to be filming and working on is all about video editing. So, make sure you hit the notification bell to not miss that video. You see what I did there? What you could also do is casually in your video where it makes sense, you could say that, "Hey, I'm thinking of creating a more advanced video on this specific topic, comment the word X if you would like that video or like this video so that I know you guys are interested in it." This is now going to increase engagement on your video.
Now, moving on to the last component of what not just makes a successful YouTube video, but also a very successful YouTube channel is the relationship. Make people care about you as the creator. Now, there are a few ways to do this. The first one is to not just share information, but actually share your perspective and where that information is even coming from. So, one thing that I personally feel I could have done differently in this video is when I was talking about how to find not just a niche, but your unique advantage that actually came from my personal experience. I grew my YouTube channel pretty quickly, very successfully, but I pigeonholed myself into a niche that I didn't really like. And so, what ended up happening is years later, I actually burned down my multiple seven-figure business. I went on a one-year sabbatical, and now I'm back with a whole new perspective on how to do content. If I had shared that earlier on, some of you guys might have really resonated with that story and might have been more curious on the future videos I'm going to create about content creation with that perspective. The next way is to just be vulnerable about your stories or your journey. So for you, if you're starting a new YouTube channel, be honest about it. Tell people that you're new to this and share the lessons that you've learned and the mistakes that you've made from starting your channel. Or let's say you're starting a fitness channel. Rather than painting yourself as this expert that has everything together, share some stories of times that you failed or some mistakes that you made which led you to this place of wanting to create a YouTube channel so people can avoid the same mistakes you've made. Now, as your channel grows and develops, you can also infuse inside jokes in your videos that make people feel like they're part of your community, or at the most simplest form, respond to your channel comments. Even if it's one person commenting on your video or 500 people commenting on your video, slot some time to actually engage with your community. What I've learned in the last seven years of creating content on YouTube is that YouTube doesn't just reward creators for creating watchers. They reward creators who create fans. Fans who are consistently coming back to YouTube to watch your videos, that are
Engaging in the content, that are spending more time on the platform, not just watching your content, but other people's content because they love YouTube as a platform. And this is all because they watched your video and you changed their perspective.
Now, on to step four, and that is the first layer that we talked about, which is the surface layer. It's really nailing your title and your thumbnail. So, let's talk about titles first.
Now, the easiest way to do it, and I wish I did it this way when I first started my channel, was to just simply model what works rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. So, what I would do now is I would go over on my algorithm, my search bar, whatever I'm thinking of creating, and I will look at videos that have more views than the creator has subscribers. That's a really good indication that this video is outperforming their channel and there's clearly something that works. What you can also do is download a plugin like Vid IQ, which is going to tell you what videos are outliers on their channels or how many views they're getting per hour. This will help you easily identify videos that are doing extremely well for that person.
Now, once you've identified videos that are doing well for other people, you can now model the title. It doesn't matter if the title isn't within your niche, what matters is that you take the structure of that title. For example, there's this fitness creator that I like watching. Her name is Kelty, and she has this video where she reviews all the Aloe sets, and I noticed that it's actually doing well on her channel. So, what I could do is I could take the title structure and apply it to my niche. So, I could say, "I tried every YouTube hack. Here's what's actually worth it." The key here is that you're not copying, but you are applying the psychological triggers that are causing people to want to click that video and you're applying it to your unique niche and perspective.
Now, the other method rather than just modeling what you're seeing in your algorithm is actually following a very specific framework. And one framework that I developed is the drive framework for titles. So, D stands for desire. You want to understand what does the viewer want? And most people, they're wired to want one of three things: health, wealth, or relationships. Are you helping me make more money? Are you helping me save time? Are you helping me get healthy, fit, feel loved, feel connected? Are you helping me have better relationships, or increase my status in life? And by the way, later I'm going to show you how the drive framework fits together so that you can come up with a good title. The next is R. It's relatability. Who is this video for? Is it for a new YouTuber? Is it for someone at a certain age? Is it for anyone who's failed at business? Is it for someone who's trying to lose weight? You want to have an indication of who this video is perfect for. Then there's I, which is intrigue. This is the hook. This is what's going to get someone curious to want to click and learn more. How I like to create intrigue is one of four things. Maybe it's a secret. So maybe this is a framework or a secret tool that I have. Maybe it's something that feels counterintuitive. So for example, I could say how I posted less on my channel but actually grew more. So, it seems two very conflicting ideas which is going to cause someone to get curious and want to click. Maybe it's the behind the scenes, something that nobody really shares. So, this is the behind the scenes of how I'm building an $8 million business for example. Or this is the behind the scenes of why my startup failed. It doesn't always have to indicate success. It could be something that's deeply vulnerable as well. And then lastly, transformation. How I went from broke to six-figure business in less than 18 months. or how I went from being unemployed for 8 months to finally getting a job that's earning XX dollars. Whatever it is, you want to use one of these things to create intrigue. Next, there's V, which is value promise. What are they going to get by watching their video? Are they going to cut their time in half to get the desired results? For example, how to negotiate your salary in 10 minutes or less or five simple steps to stay in a calorie deficit and achieve your dream body. And then lastly, E stands for emotion. And how I like to evoke emotion in my title is one of these four things: fear, FOMO, urgency, and excitement.
Now, how the drive framework comes together is when you're thinking of a video, you want to think of hitting all five of these things to come up with your title. So, let's actually use the drive framework and create a title together. So, if my video idea is teaching someone how to edit videos, I'm going to think about D. What is the desire of someone wanting to learn? The desire may be that they want to actually save time and learn how to edit faster. And so I'll write that down. R is relatability. Who is this video for? It's more of a beginner-friendly video, so it's going to be for newer YouTubers. I is intrigue. So what's going to cause someone to want to click? The tool that I'm using, I think, is actually quite underrated. And so I'm going to say that it's a secret method or secret tool that I have. V is value promise. What is the outcome that someone's going to get? If their desire is to save time editing, then I'm going to promise that they're going to cut their editing time in half. And then E is emotion. You want someone to actually feel something when they see your title. So, I want my person to feel excited like they found something game-changing. And so, I'm going to say that it's game-changing.
Now, if I put all of these components together, this is the title that I'm thinking of: The editing secret new YouTubers use to cut time in half. Game-changing.
Now, when it comes to thumbnails, I have a whole video teaching you how to design thumbnails, but there really are three things that I wish I did differently when I started my channel. The first one is to not repeat my title in my thumbnail because I didn't realize that I actually had two unique opportunities to hook someone. If someone's not interested in the title, then at least I'll say something different in the thumbnail that may capture their attention. For example, if my video is the editing secret that new YouTubers are using to cut time in half, game-changing, then my thumbnail is not going to say the same thing. Instead, I might have these options: 8 hours to 47 minutes, which shows a drastic transformation or this changed everything so that it creates curiosity on what this is. The reason why this works is that the title clearly explains the benefit of why you should watch the video, but the thumbnail gives specific proof or intrigue. Now, you're giving viewers two reasons to click rather than just one, and you're tapping into various emotions.
The second rule of thumb for thumbnails is to keep it mobile-friendly, meaning you want to keep it readable. You ideally don't want to have more than five words in your video. And I know for me on my channel, that is something that I have to work on because I'm a very wordy person. So, for example, in my thumbnail, I'm not going to say the step-by-step tutorial because if someone's going through this video on mobile, it's just too much text. And the longer that someone has to spend reading your thumbnail, the less likely they're going to click on it. Now, instead of saying that it's a full tutorial, I might use the thumbnail and say, "Learn this in 10 minutes" or "Just in 10 minutes" to make it even more readable, especially on mobile. And how you can test this is when you're creating your thumbnails on Canva, you can easily just zoom out. And if you can't read your thumbnail clearly, then you definitely need to change it.
And then the last rule of thumb for thumbnails is to really think about contrast and ways to stand out. So, if there are so many videos about how to vlog on YouTube and I notice that everyone's using this white font, then I might change it up and use a yellow font instead so that I stand out in search. Or even within my thumbnail, if I notice that my background is too light and I'm using a white font, what I'll do is I'll actually make my background darker so that at least there's some contrast. I'll add some drop shadow in the text or I might even add an outline so that it stands out even more.
Now, beyond just modeling what works, whether it's the title or the thumbnail, the next step you want to consider is editing, but specifically editing for retention. A lot of people struggle with filming. And yes, you're going to make mistakes, you're going to stumble, and you're going to have long pauses. That's going to make your video less engaging. But how you fix all of that is through editing. Even for me, after seven years of being a creator, a lot of my videos, I mess up quite a bit. And if you don't believe me how many retakes it takes, listen to this: The first step is to research content. The first step is to figure out I'm not even joking. The first step is to figure out your video. The first step is but it doesn't seem like that when you watch the final product because I've mastered the art of retention editing. And the best tool that I've come across to help me with this is the script. So after I'm done filming my video, and by the way, I film my video in sections. So I'll never have one clip that's 3 hours long for my editing. After every paragraph, I stop record and then I start again. And in this video where I talk step by step on how I film my videos, I talk about this method more in depth. If you want to check it out, I'll link it in the description box below. But ultimately, once I upload all my clips into Descript, it's going to automatically transcribe everything. I find that text-based editing is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to edit videos because all you have to do is read your video like a Google doc. If you don't like something, you can strike it out and immediately it's going to be taken out of your video. But what makes Descript special is that if I select all of this text, I can easily with one click remove all of my retakes. The reason why I like filming in sections is number one, it the reason why I like filming in sections is number one, if I make a mistake, I don't have to The reason why I like filming in sections is number one, if I make a mistake, I don't have to refilm the entire video or forget what I said. I can also remove all of my filler words. And my favorite part is removing my word gaps. When I'm actually filming my video, I often pause because I have to remember what I need to say or I just speak really slow. And so on Descript, I'm able to delete any word gap that's over a certain amount of seconds. For me, I set it to 0.1 seconds. Descript will identify all of these word gaps, and then in one click, I can remove it all. This ultimately makes my video feel more fast-paced because there's less breath in between my words. So when I do send them over to my video editor, she's not combing through hours and hours of bloopers and I'm also not taking up too much space on my memory card. So when I do send them over to my video editor, she's not combing through hours and hours of bloopers and I'm also not taking up too much space on my memory card. And by making my video slightly more fast-paced, it's going to allow people to not get bored and click out. in Descript for key points that you're making in your video. You can also layer on text and sound effects. This way, your video becomes a lot more digestible and people understand and can retain the key points you're trying to make. To make your videos a lot more visually appealing, I also recommend layering in B-roll or screen share tutorials, all of which you can also do in Descript.
Now, make sure you do turn your notifications on because my next video is going to be an in-depth tutorial on how to use Descript so that you can trim your editing time in more than half. But if you can't wait for that video, make sure you click the link in my description box and use the code for a 30-day free trial of Descript.
Now, on to the sixth step that I would take if I were to rebuild my YouTube channel, and that is creating a content ecosystem. A big mistake that newer creators make is they treat every single video as a standalone piece of content, and they're not thinking about the bigger picture of their channel. What really successful and experienced creators do is that they make sure each video of theirs are a part of a larger experience. So, here are two ways that you can do this. The first one is to cross-pollinate your videos. In any video that you do, especially if you've already created a library or you're thinking of creating future videos, mention that. I'm pretty sure in this video I've mentioned at least three or four other videos of mine that you can watch. You can do this in a very natural and genuine way. For example, do you guys remember when I created a full-blown YouTube course? If you haven't, then make sure you click the link in my description box because in this playlist, there are so many more things that I break down step by step for you to learn. By referencing other videos that you've made, you're now inviting people to continue watching videos on your channel.
Now, of course, to execute this properly in your planning stages when you are coming up with video ideas, you want to make videos that actually complement each other, which leads me to my next advice, which is consider thinking of your videos in series. Creating more series is something that I really wish I did back then when I started my YouTube channel because it allows you, especially as a new creator, to still gain momentum, but also experiment at the same time. So, let's say if you're starting out and you're doing a video on topic one, then another video on topic two, then another video on topic three, you never really allow people to actually grow with you. If someone was really interested in topic one and actually wants to learn more, there's really no way for them to do that because you've already moved on to another topic. And so by doing that, you're really stunting your growth. But the problem is, as new creators, you don't really know what's working and what's not working, what you actually like creating, what you don't like creating. So by creating a series that's only going to last for a limited amount of time, you get the opportunity to create momentum on your channel while still testing different topics without committing to a single niche. For example, on my channel, I could say for the next month, I'm committed to creating an Instagram series where I'm going to have eight videos that breaks down all of the things that you need to know on how to grow on Instagram. Now, this allows me to actually attract the person that's interested in Instagram. If they see one video, they're going to be interested in the next one. So, I'm going to create more watch time on my channel. But because I was clear with my audience from the get-go that this is a limited series that's happening on my channel right now, once I'm done with that series, I can then move on to an entirely different topic. Maybe my next series is going to be my productivity series that's going to share all the systems I use to keep my business organized. This not only gives me structure when I'm planning my videos, it also allows me to stay accountable because I've told people about this series. And it also allows me to test different subjects while also pleasing my audience.
Now, the seventh step of something I do differently if I were to start my channel now is I would be more intentional of keeping my brand and business in mind. And this doesn't mean that you need to already have an existing business, but as you're building your channel, as you're creating videos, keep building a business in the back of your head. So, with every video that you're creating or as many videos as you're creating, extend that experience by offering a downloadable asset that someone could walk away with from watching your video. For example, imagine in this video I told you that there was a PDF that summarizes everything that you learned in this video, including specific prompts that you can plug into ChatGPT to actually help you build your channel step by step. Many of you will likely want to download that resource. And because you've downloaded that resource, I have you in my email list. And if my channel were to ever shut down, then at least I still have contact with you. And you can experience my brand in an entirely different way. So, what started as, let's say, a 10-minute video has now extended to an additional 30 or 60-minute experience with my brand.
Another thing that I wish I did earlier in my channel, and I actually don't think I started doing until this video, is to start building frameworks around your decision-making because that's going to allow you to become a much more recognizable creator with a lot of credibility when it comes to your videos. So, earlier in this video, I talked about my drive framework. I talked about the spark framework. By labeling how you make decisions, it's going to create a sense of authority, but also make it easier for people to remember you as the creator who truly made a difference. And by the way, this doesn't just apply to my niche that's within business and content creation. For example, let's say you're a beauty creator and you're showing someone a foundation method. Well, actually name the method so that someone associates that method with you. A really good example is this creator or this fitness person who literally called her workout 12330, which is putting your treadmill at 12 incline at three speed for 30 minutes. And that 12330 method became an entire phenomenon that a lot of people credit her for. In fact, it's become such a phenomenon that some people may not even recognize that this creator started it, but those who know know.
Now, finally, here's the eighth step, and this is actually something that I did, right? And that is having a one-year commitment to your channel. I remember when I quit my corporate job to start a YouTube channel, I realized that this was not something that was financially sustainable because I was making zero dollars. And so then I became a coffee barista. And during my coffee barista days, at my hardest moments, I told myself that I would give myself at least a year to make this channel work. Had I not done that, I would have given up many times. I would probably have given up by the fourth video because I realized that making videos was actually really hard and took a lot of time and energy. But because I had a one-year commitment rule, YouTube ended up changing my life because by the time that year ended, I had at least 10,000 subscribers on my channel. I believe I finally actually got monetized. And that was just the starting point of a beautiful journey with YouTube. And now I do YouTube full-time. Because of YouTube, I started not just one business but a second business. And so I highly recommend that when you are starting YouTube, don't have unrealistic expectations of when you are going to make it. The one thing I will tell you is that yes, social media is almost like a lottery system. But the more entries that you put in, the more chances you're going to win big. The person who's only uploading once a month, and by the way, if that's your capacity, that's better than zero, they have 12 chances to be seen. The person who's consistently uploading once a week, they have 52 chances to be seen. And so, the odds are in your favor when you stay consistent.
Now, if you're at this point of the video and you're yearning for more strategies, more tactics, more mindset shifts for me when it comes to starting your YouTube channel, I highly recommend that you watch my free YouTube course. It has all the videos you need to actually get started and succeed on YouTube. And so, I appreciate you. Thank you for watching this video and I will see you in this playlist.