Transcription
Has God been nudging you to start a YouTube channel? I have a feeling the answer is yes, or you would not have clicked on this video. But you might be like me, and you already have a YouTube channel, and you're feeling a pull to go deeper with your audience. And this is not a marketing strategy. This is an actual invitation from God. A little whisper saying, "I need you to share more of your stories, your wisdom, your experiences so that you can connect with certain people out there." I was able to grow a successful business and start a YouTube channel 5 years ago because I said yes to that nudge. Today, we're going to dig into the truth about what it means to feel called to start a YouTube channel, and why, even though it feels scary and maybe even a little crazy, it's time to start. And we're actually going to talk about how to start.
So, the first thing you have to embrace is God does not want you to waste your gifts. Let me show you what I mean. Imagine you have all the ingredients of your family's favorite recipe, the one they ask you to make all the time, but you just keep shoving these ingredients into the pantry and you never take them out and actually make the meal. So, your family never gets to enjoy it. That is what it's like when you take what God has given you, your gifts, your stories, your experiences that he wanted you to share to help someone, and you just keep it to yourself. And you might have been thinking about it. You might have been taking notes, collecting ideas, watching other videos for inspiration, but if you never actually talk about it and post it, you're never going to reach those people God wants you to connect with.
So, what are these gifts, you might ask? Maybe you're thinking you have nothing to share that would help anybody. And that's what's crazy is it's not always these talents that we think of, like being able to sing or act or perform in some way. Sometimes it's a struggle that we overcame, and because we were able to overcome it, we can help someone else going through something similar get through it a lot faster. I have a student in my program, and she's got a successful YouTube channel. She's a health coach, but she's got this amazing gift of talking to people when we are anxious, when we are feeling distant from God. She's able to make the big picture look so crystal clear, make you feel better. She is now incorporating her faith into her existing content strategy. Now, that doesn't mean that's what you should do. Everybody is going to do this a little bit differently, depending on what our gifts are, what we're called to do. And you may start with just talking about that thing that you're good at and eventually going deeper with your audience if you feel that nudge to do that.
Now, sometimes you do have these gifts, and they come so easily to you, you don't even realize they're a gift. You take them for granted because they just aren't that big of a deal to you. That just happens. Sometimes that may be how parenting comes so easy for you, or how you're such an organized person. Maybe you're a great gardener. And I know you're thinking, "Well, that's not really something I can share to go deep with somebody." But that's where you start. I remember it was the summer of 2019, and I wanted to start a business, but I had no idea what I was going to talk about. I was gonna post about something and just hope that it would flourish, and I could be able to stay home and work from home, but I could not figure out what in the world I was going to talk about. Well, half my life was in television and video.
"I'm Virginia K. And for some reason, it just never connected because back then, people really weren't posting videos that I could actually teach people how to share their stories on video, how to record videos, how to post videos, and get them so that people would actually want to watch them." It took someone else showing me, "Hello, this is what lights you up. This is what you're so good at." So ask yourself, what is it you're so good at? What is it people ask you about that you're like, "Really? You don't know how to do this?" Because that is probably a big clue. Or ask yourself, what have I overcome that has changed my life, and I feel if I help somebody else overcome a similar situation, I can bless them in some way. Ding, ding, ding. That's a gift. And everybody has gifts. If you don't believe me, look at Romans 12:6. "We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us." All of us have gifts. It's just we have to identify what they are.
But here's the really scary part. Saying yes is scary. Actually doing it is even scarier because I know if you're like me, you don't feel prepared to go and do this thing. And you're not going to, because the only way to get clear on exactly how to do it is to start taking action now. I have got some massively cringey videos out there of me trying to figure it out. But I just kept going. It's really what you have to do is you have to come up with a plan and just tell yourself you have to figure out one part of that plan each time you go to post a video. Maybe the first thing is you're going to figure out what your first five videos are going to be about. And if you need help with that, I actually have a freebie that I have linked below that's going to help you come up with your first five videos on your channel that God asked you to start.
The next thing you have to address is those lies that creep into our mind, like, "You have nothing important to say." "You're not an influencer." "People are going to think you are so into yourself if you do this." "You're too old." All of these are little lies that the enemy wants us to believe so that we don't take that step and actually share our gifts with the world. When it comes to you think you're too old, I said yes to that nudge when I was 45 years old. I'm 51 now. And one of the things that hit me hard was when someone posted on Instagram how old Noah was when he built the ark and the floods came. I thought Noah was maybe in his 40s. Oh no. Noah was 600. He was 600 years old. Hold on. I got more for you. Abraham was 75 when God told him he would be the father of nations. He was 100 when Isaac was born. Sarah was 99. And let's talk about Moses. He was actually in his 80s when he led the Israelites out of Egypt. If you think you're too old, I'm thinking we're just getting started. If God is asking us to do something at this age, that means he's got big plans for us. And we've got a lot of experiences that we can share with other people. And just like all the people I just listed, they didn't feel like they were ready either. But if you read their stories, God was equipping them for their great moment the entire time, like from the very beginning. So if you are feeling the nudge, that means God has already equipped you. You just don't see it yet. But you're going to read Philippians 1:6. "And I am certain that God who began the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Well, that hasn't happened yet. So if we're still here, he is still using us. It does not matter how old you are.
Now, I know that you're worried you're going to mess up, or you're going to your video is going to flop. But one of the things I had to adjust when I first started posting videos was I couldn't tie it to the views. I couldn't tie it to the subscriber count. I had to tie it to the comments, specific comments. So, if someone messaged me or commented that they were touched by my video, or they learned something, or they thanked me for a takeaway, I won the day. That's all I had to do was know that my video was helping one person out there. And even if they didn't comment, if I put all I had into it, thinking of how I could help this one person, then I know I did my job, and that is what got me through it. And if your purpose is to connect with people and help other people, it's not necessarily to go viral or grow this huge channel. So you can throw that out, and you can just focus on who are you helping, and what are you going to help them with, and how are you going to do it?
And even though I had come from a background of video and news, this was nerve-wracking to me because I was used to sharing certain types of stories, not talking about myself, not being all by myself. But what I found was video is extremely therapeutic. You get to know yourself in ways you never thought possible, and you only continue to get better. If you've been on my channel for a bit, you may remember I did this 21-day long challenge on my YouTube channel last year. And that challenge really helped me grow spiritually, emotionally, on camera. Look at it as a journey of not just helping other people, but also helping yourself. It's also going to be a journey that's going to help you get closer to God because you are following the fear and trusting that he's going to catch you on the other side.
So, how are you going to do this? How are you going to start? What are you going to talk about in your first video? Let me give you an assignment to make this so easy for you. It's the same assignment I give members of my program. This is YouTube school. I want you just to tell your story. I don't want you to think about having to edit. I want you to record this on your phone, and I want you to just stand or sit, whatever's most comfortable, in front of a window. And I just want you to tell your story and why you're starting your channel, or why you want to start talking about something new on your channel. What is this feeling? What is this calling that you have? And who is it that you want to help? This is not just for the audience, though. This is for you, because it's going to help you relax. Take all the pressure off of having to have this perfect video, and just talk and be you. And I guarantee you, you are going to be so thankful you did it. You might cringe a little bit, but it's going to help you say, "I did it. Did the first video, or I talked about that thing for the first time. I know I can do it, and I can keep going."
That's kind of what this video is. I know that I shared in my challenge, I mentioned I talked about God for the first time on my video. I know it sounds so small, but it was a really big deal to me. But it showed me that you can do this. That you don't have to be the Christian that knows everything to help people. You can be the clueless Christian, and you can share that with people and encourage them as you figure it out along the way. That's kind of what I'm doing today. It's the first video dedicated to a topic like this, but I have felt this calling, this nudge, it's embarrassing to say, for well over a year, well over a year. And I'm just now doing it because it doesn't go away. When God starts nudging you, whispering to you, saying, "I need you to share this. I need you to do this." He doesn't just give up. So, you might as well say yes and trust him that he's going to help you figure it out along the way.
I'm actually considering doing a challenge similar to last year with a little bit of a twist. And it will be for those who are really wanting to start their YouTube channel or start talking about something specific on their existing channel to reach and help other people. Comment below. Give me your ideas on this challenge if you think we should do one. And we're gonna do it. We're doing it. We're doing it. Oh my gosh. I did the video. I did the video.