Hi, I Started a YouTube Channel

Let’s be honest…

The image that you see above, I know I’ll regret it after a few weeks. It took me 5 minutes to create and upload it – so much effort for photo that is the face of my YouTube channel.

Truth be told, I’m not a fan of perfection. I’d rather publish and learn in that process instead of working to create a perfect product (article, video, ebook) and never launching it.

If you’ve read my articles before, you’d be familiar with my favourite motto:

“Start now, figure it out later.”

So here’s why I started a YouTube channel and what can you expect from it.

Some Things Cannot Be Said Here

I feel like I’m jumping between different personalities.

Twitter and Medium are similar, but LinkedIn is different.

It’s where I play it super safe because I have to be empathetic towards my audience who are primarily from India and I can't go all ‘quit your 9–5’ and speak about the creator economy there.

My Younger Self Agrees With This Decision

When I was a kid, we went for my summer holidays to my grandparents who live in a village in the state of Punjab close to the India-Pakistan border. The drive is over 8 hours long.

This one fine summer, when we reached, my dad turned and asked me,

“Did you realise you spoke the entire way?”

And that became a joke for years to come — even today. It’s also when I discovered I’m really talkative when I’m comfortable.

There’s so much to talk about! I want to be raw and talk about my experiences.

I want to talk about what it really felt like when I got fired from my first job and why I didn’t tell a soul about it for 3 years.

I want to talk about how I’m growing on the internet at the pace I am.

I want to talk about the breakthrough I’ve had with self-awareness, which I know can help many others.

A Message From the Universe?

I’m an introvert.

I’m socially awkward.

I don’t enjoy talking to new people at all.

But at the beginning of this year, I put a YouTube thumbnail on my vision board. I don’t want to show you my vision board yet because it also has my income goal and I’m shy about it, but I don’t know why I put a YouTube logo.

I’ve had the itch to be on YouTube without consciously knowing why I want to be there.

This is knowing that I should master one platform at a time and I have zero space to learn video editing (I’ve outsourced it). But there’s an inner voice which told me to do this and I’ve avoided it for too long (10 months).

And I cannot, anymore.

What Will I Talk About?

Honestly, I don’t know it entirely. Again, this is where we practise:

“Start now, figure it out later.”

My first YouTube video is about why I quit being an Instagram influencer.

I recorded one yesterday about how life has been without notifications for two years.

I’ll record one today around things to be aware of in the corporate sector.

I don’t know what my niche is yet but I know it’ll be around the creator economy, side hustles, and self-improvement. And whatever I talk about will ultimately circle around this one area — living with an intention.

Why YouTube

Whatever I talk about will ultimately circle around this one area — living with an intention.

Firstly, I’m terrified of public speaking. So I want to do it because it’s scary.

Secondly, I’m a big consumer of the platform.

And as I’m pushing out over 100 pieces of content a month anyway, I don’t think I'll have an issue figuring out what to talk about.

I have 400+ long-form articles to help me if I’m confused.

But since I’m a person who has a lot to say, so why not talk about it?

Equipment?

I don’t plan on investing in equipment any time soon.

I don’t even know how to use a professional camera… and I think today’s phone camera quality is just fine for starters.

I had a chat with Aurelius Tjin (a YouTuber with 300k+ subscribers) and he told me that starting out with a phone is perfect. Also, that’s how millionaire YouTuber Ali Abdaal started too.

So I’m using an iPhone 12 and I’ll buy a small mic soon for better audio quality.

I use the ring light which has a built-in stand for holding a phone, so works as a tripod too.

My Plans

I got 500 subscribers in under 48 hours, and I’m at 5000 views and counting right now.

This alone has motivated me to record more videos. I’m thinking two a week…

Also, while I’m drowning in dopamine right now, I’m aware that anything that does well (and doesn’t) online is impermanent. That’s the reason I work hard every single day to create something valuable again and again and not get attached to metrics

Marketing

I’m going to build this channel in public, mainly on Twitter. I will talk about what's working and what isn’t.

I’ll link new videos in my newsletter and talk about them on LinkedIn.

I don’t have hardcore SEO plans or something.

My priority right now is to create videos and get better at basic stuff like

• talking
• screen presence
• articulation and structure

Commitment

For anything to work out online, it helps to show up consistently for at least a year. For YouTube, that’s probably 2 or 3 years. So that’s my commitment to it.

If you read this article months later and see I’ve budged from my commitment, feel free to call me out.

Lastly

I’ve realised the process gets easier once you take the first step. I procrastinated on the first video for months, but since I’ve published it, it feels much better.

I don’t know who needs to hear this — but it’s okay to try and fail than to be scared and not try at all.

The worst thing is failing, that’s all. It’s not so bad, is it?

Being a beginner is a huge opportunity. You can dance without nobody watching. You can experiment to figure out what you enjoy and take that up (have your niche come to you).

It’s a beautiful place to be in and it humbles you.

Don’t wait for a new year to start a new thing. I did that, and it took me ten months to actually give it a shot.

The best time is always now.

Also — check out my first YouTube video here.

Please subscribe to my channel here. It costs $0 and a second of your time and would mean the world to me.

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