What Youtube REALLY Looks Like After 3 Years
“Youtube is a marathon not a sprint”
Ali Abdaal, Productivity-Business YouTuber, once said in his Part-Time Youtuber Academy that “If you create content every week over the next 2-3 years, your life WILL change.” Having joined his live cohort three years ago, I want to share whether this statement holds true.
I, like majority of Ali’s students, did NOT blow up. Starting a new channel from zero, I've since experience significant growth in my online presence for someone who could hardly gather 100 views on my videos. My follower count across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube has soared into the thousands, and I've even begun to earn some reoccurring income. Let’s break down my journey thus far.
TikTok
What I did. Although I started my online content creation journey on YouTube one of the things that I’ve learned is to expand my reach by cross posting to other platforms. I didn’t have any particular strategy except publish a long-form video and short-form video every week, but and post the short-form video in two other places - Instagram and Tiktok. And I am currently sitting on 25,000+ followers.
What happened. Does that necessarily mean that I get even half of those followers to view every post? No. What helped below this page up grow was when I posted about camera basics about shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Since then I’ve been doing more unboxing and talking more about camera gear and I haven’t been seeing as much growth. I thought that my audience would mostly be an Instagram and YouTube but it’s interesting to see that a lot of followers came from this platform. This is my most followed platform. And probably one of the most engaged, at least in the comments.
What I learned. Each platform is a different audience, treat it that way and meet the needs of the people where they are. With Tiktok it looks like a lot of beginners (and a couple of know-it-alls criticizing my content).
What I did. I created a short-form video tutorial on how to load LUTs (which are like presets for video) the Sony FX30 and this helped my Instagram my second most followed profile on social media, sitting at 6,400+ followers.
What happened. Now, although this was not where I thought I would get more photographer and videographer audience, at least to follow me and engage with me, this is where I spent more time, connecting with other creators in the space. I didn’t use this discord, nor did I collect anybody’s personal numbers to contact them. Who is here realize that you can get one of your favorite creators attention when you’re starting out because that as many people comments on Instagram. So if you’re very creator tends to comment back, you will be seen.
I was able to grow to at least 2000 followers, but unknowingly signing up for some kind of fake follower or incentivized grow tack hack from one of the sponsors from Think Media video conference. Yeah, that’s the same time. I was being more consistent with creating short form content, so perhaps the views compoundedDuring this time.
What I learned. Connect with other like-minded creators who are also in the trenches with you. Focus on the community rather than unhealthy comparisons. Be where your community is and cheer on others who are working just as hard if not harder than you are.
YouTube
What I did. A few weeks prior to joining Ali Abdaal’s live cohort, I committed to publishing a video every week until I get it to work. I posted about random things product reviews, minimalist lifestyle, and long distance relationship experiences.
What happened.
One of the first videos to get the most views was a cross rope product review. A lot of the views came from search over time, and eventually became suggested. But this was not part of a strategy, but rather just a desperate attempt to see you while would work on my channel. Most people start after their YouTube channel, thinking that they want to do everything and feel resistant to the idea of niching down, and the result of my “post about everything” strategy garnered plenty of views by chance. This was not sustainable.
So in an attempt to niche down on what felt personal and shareable I spent my first year of YouTube making content around my long distance relationship. I thought I could make more videos about that and enjoy it. But after my first year, I realized that nobody wants to take relationship advice from someone my age, nor search about long-distance relationships on YouTube. Plus I didn’t see a way to effectively monetize beyond Youtube Adsense.
In an attempt to grow my following even more, I spent my second year of YouTube going thru Think Media’s course, Video Ranking Academy. They teach a lot of the basics of what it takes to create content in the kind of mindset that you should have when creating content. Their main approach to growing on Youtube was from a search based approach, leading to more longevity on the platform, as opposed to trying to aim for the viral videos. But they also help promote improving your videos, and how to do that to audio, video, scripting, and structuring. For me, they helped me decide on niching down from long distance relationships to something more profitable, photography and video. I started creating more content in this niche and I started slowly getting more views until the end of the year when I started having one video blowup which was about switching from a $3500 camera to a new $1700 camera.
In my third of YouTube I started to focus on that search base content more but I realized how slow the views were even on some of the latest camera gear that I covered. As a newlywed, I set a goal of being full-time content creator before having a child so that I could I could have a better work life balance. I want to have more freedom in my daily schedule, but working full-time as a nurse, then coming home to work part-time on Youtube while still tending to needs of a newborn child with my wife doesn’t sound easy over a long period of time.
So in last quarter of my third year, I signed up for Derral Eves course, Channel Jumpstart. After reading his book, the YouTube formula, I was convinced that if there was one more course, one more method of growing on Youtube, he knew it. While many people are doing search based content, Derral Eves points out how 75% of views on Youtube is not search, but browse. This is how my channel blew up to 1000 subs, with a browse-based video (and unintentionally at that). And although I was sitting around 3100 subs, the latest videos were hardly averaging 100-200 views, but lately some of them are not reaching 3K views and higher.
Although Youtube has the least following out of the three, it is the only place where I am currently earning money from through their adsense program. And on top of this, I participate in the Amazon associate program where I am able to use affiliate links in my description.
Although I wasn’t getting much of any income from YouTube adsense with an average of $70-$90 a month and the Amazon affiliate link commissions were even more spread out throughout the year, the money didn’t look too promising.
It wasn’t until this last quarter that I start earning the most money and broke $2000. The me from last year would be so excited about this because I never thought I would be able to earn even $1000 in the near future with Youtube (at least with search-based content).
It was recently that I was also getting messages from different brands to feature their new products in exchange for video content.
What I Learned. A lot of the content we make can succeed if we package it well with the right topic, title and thumbnail, but also, go read the Youtube Formula.
Going into Year 4
Ali Abdaal's advice was right. Regular content creation can indeed change your life, but it requires patience, adaptability, and continuous learning. These past 2-3 years have definitely changed my life and I’ve seen significant growth to see promising rewards. However, I know that I need to push on at least two more years to see my goal of being a full-time content creator come to life. As I venture into my fourth year, I'm excited to see where this journey takes me next.
Here are the sources that I used during my Youtube journey of which some are affiliate links which help support me at no additional cost to you.
Ali Abdaal’s Part-Time Youtuber Academy (Affiliate)
Matt D’Avella’s Master Youtube
Think Media’s Video Ranking Academy
The Youtube Formula by Derral Eves (Affiliate)
Derral Eve’s Channel Jumpstart (Let them know I sent you)
