Starting a YouTube channel
And other things I feared
If you told me a year ago I started a YouTube channel in 2024, I wouldn't believed you, but here it is.
Perhaps it's a Belgian version of Tall Poppy Syndrome, or a negative stereotype of toxic-positive YouTube influencers, or just my awkwardness around presenting and talking to a camera.
Whatever the reason, starting a YouTube channel was nowhere to be found on any of my bucket lists, by far.
But after only being a few weeks in, and receiving a lot of feedback from viewers, it's been a very positive experience so far, that I can recommend everyone doing.
The weird thing that happens when you turn on the camera to record yourself.
We've all heard our voice on a recording and thought to ourselves, "is that how I really sound? Weird!"
I have always been fascinated by why that is, and even more so: why it often sparks awkwardness and being self-conscious.
I suppose staring at a camera and starting to talk, is even worse.
"How am I supposed to talk?"
"How do I usually talk?"
"Who even am I...?" 🤣
If you don't laugh with it, it can get paralyzing, I'm sure, but I soon realized there's nothing to fear.
The sooner you accept it will be awkward, the better.
See it as a fun experiment, and be curious about where it can take you.
But starting a YouTube channel can be a great path of self-development, especially for introverts like myself.
Yes, there are people to who it comes naturally to present and entertain, but I'm assuming it's not most of us. But that shouldn't stop you from doing it anyway, because it's a great opportunity to connect with people all over the world basically for free.
The business opportunity
It's seams odd to think that after nearly 20 years, people still don't think of YouTube as an incredible opportunity.
Yes, it's the home of an infinite amount of cat video's and meme accounts, but it's so much more than that.
Being an old millennial, I've never thought much of building a personal brand, but I strongly believe that it is the future for finding work and creating opportunities for yourself.
And YouTube is a great place to do it, if you can leave your own negative stereotypes behind and do it in your own unique way.
Because that's the whole point: bring yourself to the content and create a connection with an audience around a common interest.
I once had a talk with a salescoach, and I told him I'd never be good at sales, because I hate sales. To my surprise, he said "fine, don't sell then, just make content".
That's the opportunity of YouTube: share things on your own terms about things that genuinely interest you, and just see what happens.
How to get started?
People get hung up about what style of video they need to make or how to talk, but the painful reality is, you just need to start and accept it is going to be awkward.
If you've never played the trumpet before, you're not gonna know what style of trumpet-playing you'll have whenever you get good at it.
So it's pointless to think about that, you're just going to pick up the trumpet one day and start making horrible noises with it, and that's exactly how it supposed to be.
Yes, creating good YouTube video's requires a bunch of different skills, that I'm nowhere near of understanding yet.
But I'm not particularly worried about getting the best, I'm seeing it as a tool to develop myself and create opportunities.
Take a look at how I'm doing, and let me know in the comments!