From ‘Maximize Your Life’ to ‘Edgy Enlightenment’

Rebranding My YouTube Channel

My new YouTube logo for Edgy Enlightenment, with a burning self-help book in the pupil. Generated by DALL-E 3.

In 2016, I started out with my channel, “Maximize Your Life,” a channel as focused as a cat in a laser pointer factory. Seriously, I dipped my toes in everything — music, tutorials, workouts, you name it. If YouTube were a buffet, my plate was stacked so high it defied gravity.

The Hot Mess That Was ‘Maximize Your Life’

Picture this: It’s 2016. I dive into YouTube like it’s the deep end of the pool, but I’m swimming with floaties. The channel “Maximize Your Life” was my ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ — a hodgepodge of tutorials, music experiments, vlogs, the ever-popular self-help gig, and God knows what more. My strategy was like playing darts while blindfolded; every once in a while you hit something, but mostly, you’re just poking holes in the wall.

I thought to myself, “Time to get serious. Let’s start owning the self-help space!” And boy, I was naive as a kid sneaking cookies before dinner. The substance? Stellar. The packaging? Imagine putting caviar in a Ziploc bag. Yeah, that bad. It didn’t do justice to the essence of the message, like putting a Picasso in a Dollar Store frame.

Even with that mess, I got it monetized though.

The old design. Screenshot taken by author.

The Chaos Called Life

Fast-forward a bit, and I became a dad — not once, but twice. Shoutout to all the parents who know that a crying baby is the ultimate vibe killer for recording. So the channel turned into this faceless entity. I opted for videos with talkovers and random images. Sometimes it worked, but let’s be honest — it was as engaging as a cardboard box.

I didn’t understand why it did not work, because I have seen channels that got thousands of views by just talking damn monotonously and showing some images. Why the fuck didn’t that work for me? Ah well, MUST BE THE ALGORITHM (love blaming that bitch for my fuck-ups).

I kept hitting this cycle where I’d burn out, crave the creative grind again, and then the whole merry-go-round would kick off anew. My subs didn’t know what to expect anymore. Many left, new came, some stayed, but I noticed I fucked up as I barely got any views while having 2K subs.

The Awakening

Then something magical happened. A cosmic slap from the Universe, maybe. I found my voice on Medium — raw, no fluff, the kind of content that doesn’t just tickle your brain but kicks it into gear. Just a few days ago it bloody hit me: YouTube needed that version of me. The unfiltered, the unapologetic, the real deal. That’s how “Edgy Enlightenment” came to life.

Edgy Enlightenment: The New Kid on the Block

From now on, the channel isn’t just another pretty face in the sea of feel-good, superficial crap that’s flooding YouTube. No, sir/ma’am. It’s about filling the gap between the fairy tale self-help junk and the stuff that makes you uncomfortable because it’s so damn true.

I’ve already set the tone with a killer video derived from my last Medium article, “The Problem with ‘Fake it Till You Make it’. You can watch the embodiment of the new era right here.

Life’s still chaos, so I accepted that. Even though I won’t be gracing the screen with my mug, trust me when I say I’m still the mastermind behind the vids that’ll mess with your head — in the best way possible.

Edgy Enlightenment is not for the faint of heart. This is the channel for those who are tired of the nonsense and want to grow without the extra layer of candy coating.