Life Lessons From One Year Of Doing YouTube
What's that they say about the journey of a thousand miles?
One year ago today, I posted my first YouTube video. Man, what a ride it’s been! I shared my thank you’s on social media yesterday, with all of my family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, internet friends, and all the beautiful strangers and anonymous supporters who have been so kind to me, showering me with support and love all the way through.
Why I Started
I was two months into a permanent move to Lagos Nigeria, and I was having a hard time finding the right places to get things. Flour, salons, shoes, clothes, spices, reliable delivery services, trustworthy Instagram shops…things I’d have no trouble finding at home in Nairobi. My husband (bless his heart) and his family were doing their best to make sure I was comfortable, but I just missed the convenience of knowing where to find stuff. On my own. I also longed to have conversations with people who could relate to my experience of uprooting your life (by choice or otherwise), to live in a totally new country, with no friends, no relatives, new life, new everything.
So I thought I’d create a platform for people like me, where we would share experiences and find an extensive database of service providers based on the African city or country you were in. A place that would make the expatriate/migrant life a little easier. I called it Migrate, and the tagline was “Home Wherever You Are”. Beautiful and rather visionary, right?
From Whiteboarding to YouTube
Well, I needed a video that would be the introduction to this platform, a pitch deck if I could call it that. So first I tried out a couple of whiteboarding software. Those turned out to be quite the headache; the free versions had very limited functionalities, and the premium ones were asking for a brick-tonne of dollars I did not have.
Frustrated after many a trial, I opted for what I thought would be the easy way out, and decided to use the little footage I already had, to create the pitch and make it more personable.
Scripting the video was easy, editing it, not so much. The closest I had gotten to video editing was when I used to create user manuals as a Business Systems Analyst in my corporate days, but that was just me screen recording on my laptop and adding text instructions to the recorded video. Editing for YouTube was completely new territory for me, a whole new level to the game, never charted before. As a result, it took hours of watching Davinci Resolve tutorial videos on YouTube, and then more hours of researching, importing, cutting, pasting, deleting, copying, installing. It was a lot! But I was determined to make something that would be of great quality, worth watching.
The plan was to post that video and then get into the real work, which would be posting weekly blog posts on the website, listing interested vendors and service providers, and doing standard YouTube sit-down videos, discussing my experiences, and giving advice to anyone who would be interested.
But when I finally posted that video on Youtube and people watched it, the general consensus was that good-quality scripted storytelling, was the type of content they wanted to see. So just like that, I knew I had to pivot even before I had truly started out. Which brings me to lesson number one.
1. Listen to your audience/target market
Sure, that idea you have might be the best thing the world has seen after sliced bread, but if the market you’re looking to break into is asking for boflo, find a uniquely creative way to package your idea to look like boflo. Or, just give them boflo.
2. Just Start
You don’t need fancy equipment, you don’t need to have a sackload of cash. You don’t need to wait for the weather to be perfect, or for your pimple to disappear. You just need to start. This applies to anything — whether you’re thinking about starting a business, applying for a new job, enrolling in a course, trying out a new hobby, going on a trip, shooting your shot…just start. Taking that first step is the most important leap of faith.
3. Improvise and Keep Learning
One year in and I still use my cranky old Android phone to record my videos. What my phone cannot provide, I supplement with stock videos and memes, among other things.
I am constantly looking for new techniques, tips and tricks on how to better my craft and hone my skills. Always on the lookout for cool edits on YouTube videos, Netflix, Showmax, anything new, fresh, professional, that I can incorporate into my own videos.
It’s sink or swim, in this world we live in. And if you’re not finding ways to constantly improve yourself and better your skills, you’ll drown.
4. Consistency and Discipline Will Always Beat Talent
This is probably the biggest lesson that doing Youtube has taught me. See, I gained 400+ subscribers from that first video. I had already recorded all of the sit-down content I was going to post, but pivoting to a new idea meant tossing all of that out of the window, and starting afresh. It needed time, I was eager to please, and I wanted to keep the momentum going. Two videos in, I started to crack under the pressure to keep up, so it was no surprise that I suffered a huge burnout and disappeared for about a month.
When I came back, the content was still the same, but the unforgiving almighty algorithm had moved on, and so had some of my viewers. Since then, I have struggled to maintain consistency on the platform and my numbers have severely suffered for it. It has never quite been the same since.
The best creators, the best business people, the most successful individuals we have on this earth, are those who have mastered the power of consistency. If you want to be one of them, put in the work consistently even on days when it’s hard and you just want to drink cocktails and binge. Write that newsletter every Wednesday without fail, even if no one is reading. Hit that gym every day even when it seems like that FUPA is forever chained to your destiny. Do quality work even when it feels like no one is watching. Work your ass off on that business, even when the numbers don’t seem to be flowing in. Because if you keep showing up consistently, with discipline and determination, it will pay off. 1000% guaranteed.
5. Be Afraid, But Do It Anyway
I don’t think I will ever get over the mini-panic attack I get right before I hit publish, when I’m uploading a video or a blog post. Is the work good enough? What will people say? What will people think? Did I say something too controversial? Will this be the video that brings about my cancellation? The floor looks dirty in that section. Was my voice too loud in this part? Ugh. I have an eye booger in that scene. Was my untidy bed showing in the background? Did I have spinach stuck in my teeth and I didn’t see?
I question myself and think about not publishing it. Every time.
But you know, it’s nothing compared to the immense feeling of pride and satisfaction I get after hitting publish and seeing my completed work finally out there for the world to see. And serving the purpose it was created for.
I have learned that our fears and insecurities will always be at the back of our minds, whispering nonsense, telling us we’re not good enough, among many other false things. The key is to find a way to rise above them and put yourself out there, scared, flaws and all.
6. Do It For Yourself
Finally, you owe it to yourself to create something you’re proud of. Something you can call your own. It can be as small as making yourself a cup of coffee every morning to lift your mood. Or as big as buying a parcel of land in your name. Whatever you decide to do, do it because investing in yourself is the best investment you can ever make. You, my dear, are the best asset you have.
So, go ye and conquer! And let’s do this again on 22 February 2023. Yeah? Maybe then I’ll have 3500 subscribers, living my best life in a new country, thriving and praising the Lord for his faithfulness and favor. And maybe you will finally be doing that thing you’ve wanted to do for a while but never really got the courage to do, but are now doing it because you read this and I encouraged you to do it, so you did it. Yeah?