In April of this year, I started posting weekly videos on Youtube.
Over 1,400 subscribers later, I was able to monetize my channel.
Here are some lessons I learned (Thread)
Start with a narrow niche
Until I started making tutorials on Roam Research, I had no traction. For an entire month, I put out two Roam tutorials/week and finally was gaining some traction.
Look for ideas everywhere
I would search Reddit and the Roam Slack for questions people were asking and explain the answer to them. I would also search "Roam Research" on Twitter to see what questions people were asking.
The audience was *much* smaller in March.
Always end a video with a specific CTA
I always end my videos saying, 'if you liked this video about Roam Research, you might check out this playlist here for more tutorials or this video down here.'
This keeps people on Youtube longer and the algorithm will reward you.
You never know what's going to work
I was fresh out of ideas one week but had to get a video out. So I simply explained how I use the Reminders app on the iPhone.
That video now has over 30,000 views.
Act like a real person
If you look at any of my videos, I've responded to 99% of positive comments. Asking your audience questions can help you field more video ideas.
Plus, people like it when the person in the video responds.
Don't compare your results
When I started making Roam videos, @shuomi3 was at ~1k Subscribers. Now, he's over 10,000 and I'm at 1.44K.
It was really discouraging to see people tag Shu's videos on Slack and Twitter. Just once I was hoping someone would tag my channel.
Don't compare your results cont.
I could have let that get to me and cause me to stop making videos, or I could've leveraged it.
I saw questions people on Shu's channel were asking and used some of those for new video ideas.
If you're interested in starting a channel, my DMs are open!
If you haven't subscribed to my channel but want to get weekly videos on tech, productivity, and business, do so below!
I just finished "Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon.
It's a short book that teaches you how to have great ideas, find inspiration, and repurpose stuff that already works.
Here are 7 rules to follow if you want to find creative ideas in places you've never seen before:
1. Steal or not to steal
Stuff isn't "good" or "bad." There is only stuff worth stealing and stuff not worth stealing.
A failed company or a bad painting can influence you just as much as your favorite book. Anything can be used to invoke the muse if approached the right way.
2. You don't have to be original
Quoting Jonathan Lethem, Kleon writes, "When most people call something 'original', nine out of ten times they just don't know the original sources."
The Dark Knight Rises has similar themes as "A Tale of Two Cities."
There is no current scientific way to say what the heck happens in black holes, but we've developed theories that guide us in how to handle them (sorta).
We need to do the same thing with consciousness, and a lot of other mysteries that happen in our everyday life.
I wish there was a site that listed lots of big questions we still don't know the answer to and then provided some sort of pathway to help researchers/people get started and coming up with theories.
/0 Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) is the King of frameworks.
Frameworks, like mental models, help you assess situations and make better decisions. Here are the top 9 frameworks every entrepreneur should learn, from Shaan himself.
/1 Your To Do List Is Killing You, Ditch It
• Instead, ask yourself, 'What is one high impact thing I can do today?"
• Once that's done, everything else is just a cherry on top
• For all other tasks, use the Impact Matrix
/2 The Kickoff Doc - How to Launch a New Project
Step 1: Define winning (Good goal and hell yeah goal)
Step 2: Set anti goals (What don't you want to happen?)
Step 3: Run quick numbers (What does it take to get there?)
Step 4: Get one hour of momentum (Take action on the idea)
James Clear is a #1 NYT bestselling author and has over 800,000 people subscribed to his weekly newsletter.
From building better habits to creating a lifestyle, here are @JamesClear top tweets condensed into one thread.
• Aim to be great in 10 years.
• You don't need more time. You need to focus better.
• Focus on habits that have a high rate of return.
(Sleep 8+ hrs. per day, walk each day, drink more water, etc.)
• The ultimate productivity hack is saying no.
• Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.
• Most people lack clarity, not motivation.
• Your first will always be bad. Just put in the reps and watch it compound.