The End of an Era

Hey friends,

It’s all over.

I’ve just had my last session of this Part Time YouTuber Academy. I’ve officially spent 6 weeks thinking and talking about YouTube all day, every day. So I thought I’d share my main takeaways.

1. YouTube is really hard to start – Lots of people get over the difficulties of starting, but everyone struggles. So if you’re worried that uploading videos isn’t for you – I can tell you with certainty that literally hundreds of people feel the same way. The only difference is that some feel the fear, and do it anyways. So basically, being scared isn’t enough reason to not get started.
2. Everyone suffers with perfectionism – Every one of our students thinks their videos aren’t good enough. The lighting is wrong, they’re speaking too fast or too slow, their editing is plain and they don’t look amazing. You don’t get over this feeling, you just learn to ignore it. The only way to improve on YouTube is to create videos in the first place, there’s no way around it. So you publish videos you hate, until you publish videos you love.
3. Publishing videos isn’t as hard as you think it is – I know this seems to go against my first point. It is hard, but definitely not as hard as you’re making it out to be in your head. All those concerns about what people will think quickly disappear when you realise that really, no-one cares about you and your videos that much. Trust me and hundreds of other YouTubers, the fear of judgement isn’t that bad after you post.
4. Accountability is ridiculously important – This is perhaps the single best thing you can do for YouTube success. Someone to make you film and publish when you’re not feeling like it, to make you realise that your fears are probably stupid and that your videos are definitely not as bad as you think they are.
5. YouTube is a marathon not a sprint – There’s pros and cons to this. It’s not easy to grow fast. You should probably write off months or years of silent work, little engagement and few subscribers. It’s hard to keep going with no feedback, and this is where many people stop. But the silver lining here is that when you’re at your worst quality – there’s not a lot of people there to see you. You can produce and improve in silence. By the time there are a significant amount of people watching, you’ll be much better.

If you’re someone who’s been considering starting this YouTube thing, you might enjoy my friend Cam’s FREE workshop. He’s lead 5 guest workshops for my course across the previous 2 cohorts, and he’ll be teaching you how to become confident on camera and how to get fast at filming videos. You can sign up to the Film Your First Video Workshop here.

And if you’re interested in starting YouTube, or taking it more seriously, click here to get my free 7-day Part-Time YouTuber Crash Course email series. I’ll send you an email each day with some top tips for getting started with YouTube, and I’ll let you know in a few months when the next cohort of the Part-Time YouTuber Academy opens up (it’ll be sometime in June probably).

Have a great week!

Ali

xx

❤️ My Favourite Things This Week

1. Continuing to play World of Warcraft – I’m fully embracing being a wasteman. I’ve gone so far as to betray Apple products and have ordered an Alienware PC which should arrive at some point. I’m more excited than I was for my Tesla. Follow me on Twitch please.
2. Book – I’ve been continuing my obsession with the Rosie Project series and am now listening to the second audiobook, the Rosie Effect. The author, a professor with autism describes how he navigates his marriage.

✍️ Quote of the Week

“Most events in life can be categorized in one of two ways: a good time, or a good story. “

From Long Story Short – Margot Leitman. Resurfaced using Readwise.

🎬 This Week’s Videos