Transcription
What is up everyone? Welcome back to my channel, the number one place for new coaches, content creators, and entrepreneurs.
Now, I have a question for you guys. Have you ever been petrified to get a hate comment, or have you actually gotten a hate comment yourself? Well, I'm here to tell you that I've been there. I myself have had an experience dealing with hate comments, ranging from people calling me an impostor or a fraudster, to derogatory comments, to comments from people who straight up just don't like me or like my content. That's why, as someone who's been a content creator for about a year now, I've had a good experience dealing with these hate comments that I really want to share with you. So if you want to learn how exactly I handle my hate comments, then keep on watching.
Now, first things first, I absolutely acknowledge the fact that hate comments suck. They sting, and as much as people are going to tell you to brush it off and move on, you are 100% entitled to feeling the pain that is associated with receiving a hate comment. However, even though dealing with the pain of receiving a hate comment is inevitable and it's always going to be there, how you train your mind and yourself to react to these hate comments is what matters at the end of the day.
Let me give you an example. For me, when I was starting my journey on YouTube, or in my business in general, a year ago, I was posting a lot of videos documenting my journey about how I was leaving the nine to five. I was giving advice on how other people could leave their nine to five, and I was also talking about me starting my business. And inevitably, I've received hate comments from people calling me an impostor, calling me a fraudster, and some people thinking that I was an internet MLM, and all of that. And even outside of the internet, I also had loved ones talk behind my back regarding my path and my decision of starting my business and being a content creator. And especially after leaving my nine to five without a backup plan, it seemed like a crazy idea, and a lot of people questioned whether or not I was an expert enough, or if I was good enough to be teaching what I was teaching on YouTube.
And at that point, I really had two options. I either treat these hate comments as truth and use that as an excuse to give up all the progress that I've made so far and stop all the activities that I was doing in order to build my business and reach my goals, or I could have taken option two, and that is simply see those hate comments and move on. Staying in my own lane, putting my head down and getting to work, and actually using these hate comments as fuel to keep me going. And later on in this video, I'm going to talk more about the specific mindset shifts and the specific ways to deal with these hate comments. But for now, just know that I chose option two, and now a year later, I have a YouTube channel that has almost 100,000 subscribers. I have a multiple six-figure business, and I have a huge tribe of people who believe in me, who trust me, who see me as an expert, and believe that I have the results that they want for themselves.
That's why if you are someone who is petrified to ever receiving hate, or you have received hate yourself, I want you to know that anyone who has the level of success that you desire for yourself are there for a reason, because they themselves have received the same amount of hate, but they reacted to it a lot differently. They reacted to it in a positive way, and they didn't let it impede their progress, and that's why they're at the top. So with that pep talk out of the way, let's just dive into the first tip that I have when dealing with hate comments.
And that is, what you generally will notice is the people who leave hate comments aren't really doing much themselves. And what I mean by that is, with my experience of dealing with hate comments time and time again, when I visit their profile, either on YouTube or on Instagram, or whatever social media platform it is, they generally aren't content creators themselves, or they don't even have a business yet. They have the most to say about how I create my content and how I run my business, which is very ironic. And what you'll eventually notice as well is the people who have the time to even leave hate comments on your business, on your content, and all of that, goes to show that they simply have a lot of time on their hands.
And one of my favorite sayings is that "Losers focus on winners, and winners focus on winning." And the reason why I love this quote is, really think about it. If you are a true winner and you really want to move forward with your goals, focus on your vision, you really don't have time to dampen someone else's success or critique someone else's projects, because you are simply so focused on your own. That's why over time, you really have to coach yourself and tell yourself that the people who have the most to say about something generally are the ones that are taking the least amount of action in their own lives.
This leads me to another quote that I want to mention that truly changed my mindset around dealing with hate comments, not just online, but offline as well. And this comes from Angie Lee. And what she says is that "The person who shows up deserves to be there." And I really wanted to share this quote with you because it is so true. Generally, it's always the people who aren't showing up in their own lives that have the most to say. But if you are someone who is showing up, going after your goals, going after your dream, you best believe that you deserve to be there.
And I really want to tie this back into my own life and into my own journey in hopes that it will inspire you. So in the beginning stages of my journey, some of you guys might know that I quit my job without a backup plan. I really had no idea what the heck I was doing. However, once I started to do content creation and I started to declare myself as a coach, a lot of people had a lot to say. People who were in the nine to fives, or people who are in the traditional path, still had a lot of critiques for me. They didn't really understand my business model. They didn't think that I was expert enough. They had all these things to say. However, fast forward a year later, I'm the one with the six-figure business. I'm the one with a thriving YouTube channel, versus all the people who had so many things to say, who had so much time to focus on my stuff. They're still where they were a year ago. And I'm not saying this to, you know, be on my high horse or throw shade at other people, but what I'm really trying to do is illustrate the fact that when you are focused on yourself, instead of focusing on other people's journey, you're going to be able to 10x the amount of progress that you can make.
That's why for me, when people have the time to leave me a hate comment, I feel bad for them because I know that if they had spent that time building their own businesses, building their own path to their own personal version of success, they would quickly be able to get there. But nope, they decide to spend their days leaving hate comments on action takers, people who are actually doing the damn thing.
On top of that, what you're going to notice is you're never going to see people like Gary V, Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, all these big entrepreneurs leave hate on other entrepreneurs or other content creators. It just doesn't happen because people who are actually successful in their lives do not have time to drag other people down. And time and time again, what you're always going to notice is that the people who have the most to say, the keyboard warriors, the trolls, when you visit their profiles or you do a little creeping on them, they haven't even taken the first step in doing what they're critiquing you about. That's why even though their comments may sting and it may hurt, just know that basically they're pretty much invalid, considering the fact that it's coming from someone who hasn't even showed up for themselves. That's why over time, what I've learned is that I never take advice from people who do not have the results that I'm looking for, or who have zero experience in doing the things that I am doing.
Now, at this point in the video, you've learned a lot regarding the mindset shifts you may need to make when dealing with haters in general. Now, the second portion of the video, I really want to go over some practical tips that you can do in order to deal with these hate comments that either come through your YouTube comment section, your DMs, or anywhere else.
Now, when you come across a hate comment, you have the following three options: The first is reply to it, the second one is ignore it, and the third is delete it.
Now, let's first talk about when to actually reply to hate comments, because if I'm going to be a mind reader here, some of you guys might be wondering, well, some hate comments, what if they're actually valid? What if it's actually constructive criticism? How do I tell the difference between hate versus feedback?
Now, let me explain the difference. For me, when something is a hate comment, it's generally something that's attacking you as a person. It is not objective, and the way that it's delivered is straight up rude. Versus when it's actual constructive feedback, generally it's delivered in a very loving way, or at least a very objective way, and it has nothing to do with your character. For instance, on my channel, I get a lot of feedback on my videos, particularly how fast the videos are, let's say. Now, on one hand, I get good constructive criticism from people who have said that my videos are a little bit too fast, and how they say it is, "Hey Vanessa, your videos are just a little bit too fast for me to understand. Next time, can you please consider slowing it down?" And in this case, I will either leave the comment in the comment section just to see if everyone else agrees with this person, or I also reply to this person, whether it's acknowledging them and telling them that I'm going to try my best to slow down my speech, or telling them how they can adjust their YouTube settings so that they can enjoy the video at their personal preference in terms of the pace.
Now, when someone is leaving feedback on your page, I personally think that as a content creator and as a business owner, it's really important to acknowledge them and to reply to these comments if you have the capacity to. And the reason for this is because as an owner, as a content creator, you really need to train yourself to not take things personally. And if it's feedback and it's constructive on your content, or on your customer service, or on any process that you have within your business, it's really important that you listen and you take this feedback and you implement it if you agree with it. For example, I truly believe that my content and my videos have gotten better and better, thanks to the feedback that you guys leave in the comment section below.
However, if this feedback is delivered to me in a very rude way, I then either delete it or block the person, depending on how savage that comment is. Let me give you an example. Giving me constructive and objective feedback on my audio, let's say, is one thing. But feeling the need to call me a bitch, a stupid person, an annoying person, or whatever else is another. Because that no longer has anything to do with the audio. You are now attacking me as a person, and that has nothing to do with the content that's being presented. And that's when I classify it as a hate comment, and that's where I will actually delete the comment or block the person.
Now, some of you guys might be wondering, why would you delete it? Why would you block them? You're giving them exactly what they want. You know, you're losing by doing this. They're winning. You know, don't you want to reply to their comment, put them in their place and argue? Well, trust me, my friend, I've gone that route. In the beginning of my journey, I used to reply to all of my hate comments so that I could prove my point, so that I could publicly defend myself. But what I realized over time is that it never works that way. And the reason why I say this is because what I noticed is that the people who take the time to leave a very rude hate comment, their intention from the get-go was to hurt you. It was never to have a one-on-one friendly conversation or debate. They are not looking for their opinion to be changed. And no matter how friendly you are with them, no matter how much you try to reason with them, no matter what type of points that you make, whether they're valid or invalid, you're never going to change their opinion because at the end of the day, their number one intention was never to have that conversation, and it was simply there to hurt you.
That's why as someone who's gone that route of playing whack-a-mole with hate comments, I'm here to tell you that it's not a good use of your time to engage in these conversations in the first place with people who are dead set in stone with their opinion. And the reason why I choose to delete these comments and even block people like this is because I need to protect my energy. And as a content creator and as a business owner, your energy is the most important thing that you have. You need to be able to protect it. And if someone is spewing negativity your way, simply delete it. Block them. This is your page. It's your business. You are the owner of your content. And if you don't want to see those things, then you don't have to see those things. You don't have to put yourself through that.
Now, of course, if it is a comment that is complaining about your products or your services, or true feedback on your customer service, or anything related to your business, do not block this person. Do not delete the comment. You're much better off replying to it in a cordial way, or directing this person to move the conversation privately. Because from a PR standpoint, you don't want to be that business owner that's just blocking people who give you feedback, so definitely don't go that route. But what I'm trying to say is that if it is a hate comment, true hate comments that is attacking you as a person, that is making you feel like crap, that is making your audience members feel like crap, it is your duty to be in control and remove that type of negativity from your space, not just for you, but for your community as well.
That being said, I do have a bonus tip for you. If you're at the level where you have a team or you have an intern or someone to help you monitor your comment section, make sure your team is removing these comment sections before they even get to you. In my case, I don't even see 80% of the hate that I get, whether it's coming through emails or coming through my YouTube comment section, because my team is really good at removing them the moment that they catch them. And therefore, my energy as a business owner and as a content creator is truly protected.
Now, speaking of protecting your energy so that you can show up for your audience and create consistent content, make sure you hit the notification bell, because in the next video, I'm actually gonna take you behind the scenes on how I batch create my videos. Specifically, I've challenged myself to batch create 24 videos, aka three months' worth of content, in just two weeks only. So make sure you hit the notification bell, because in the next video, I'm going to show you step-by-step how I'm going to plan for it. In the meantime, while you wait for that video, I post a lot of videos on business and social media, so make sure you check out these two videos that I have right here.
As always, I appreciate you. I hope you guys have a great day, a great week, and a great life, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye guys.