I’m about to get REAL honest about the realities of YouTube. So here’s what YouTubers are NOT telling you about starting a YouTube channel… and it might be hard to hear.
What YouTubers are NOT Telling You | This might be hard to hear
Want to watch the video version of this post? I’ve got you covered!
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I want to really pull back the curtain on what YouTubers aren't telling you!
YouTubers definitely aren’t telling you everything, so I want to fill you in on the missing pieces here. From the process of being a YouTuber, having a channel, and even more “secrets” that people don’t talk about enough.
YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint
If you don’t fully grasp the idea that YouTube is a marathon, you’re going to give up really really quickly. This honestly stands true for most social media platforms, but it’s especially important to remember on YouTube.
At first, you’re going to put a LOT more work into your channel than you get in rewards. (My husband is feeling this right now with his channel, and it makes it really difficult to put in the time and effort.) But to succeed on YouTube, you NEED to be in it for the long haul. Most of the YouTubers who you will see have been growing their channels for a long time.
The difference between YouTube and a marathon is that YouTube doesn’t have a finish line. There are always more subscribers to gain, more views to get, and everything else.
Creator burnout is REAL
As a creator on YouTube, you’ll find yourself burning out… a lot, if I’m honest. I just posted a video about how burned out I feel making tutorial content. And that isn’t the first time I’ve felt that way!
You might get really tired of creating the type of content you create. Or, you'll be burned out from the actual process of content creation. You might even just feel burned out from the rat race that is YouTube. In other words, burnout WILL happen to you. And I guarantee that will happen more than one time.
I believe that comparison is one of the main things causing burnout.
The nature of YouTube as a job means that you’re constantly doing research and looking at other channels. You’ll see someone who is creating better content than you. You may even see someone who creates less quality content than you and has more subscribers. And that will help lead to burnout.
Any advice I have here doesn't matter because I guarantee that you’ll still get burned out. But if you're in this for the long haul, you'll eventually get over it. Expect that cycle to happen!
Thumbnails and Titles are KEY to getting discovered on the platform
I don’t think we put enough emphasis on the importance of thumbnails and titles here! Now, if you completely rock your thumbnail and title game but your video isn’t great, then your video still won’t do well.
But YouTubers don’t tell you enough that thumbnails and titles are the reason your video gets found, clicked on, and then pushed by the platform.
Not everybody is made for YouTube…
I think you can learn the things you need to learn to do well on YouTube. But I DON’T think everybody has the personality, the camera presence, and other stuff to be a YouTuber.
That’s a HARD truth that we don't say enough. Not everybody is cut out to be on camera. And that has nothing to do with looks, and everything to do with being able to captivate people on a camera.
It’s about understanding what other people want – and not everybody is going to figure out how to translate that via video!
There are DEFINITELY people on YouTube who have been here awhile and have subscribers who don’t have good camera presence. So you can still do it if you aren’t great on camera – you just have to figure out what your weaknesses are and work around them.
You have to LOVE the game
If you’re on YouTube and want your channel to grow, then you HAVE to be in love with the game. You can’t just be in love with the final result – you have to love the game through and through.
You literally cannot only be in love with the final result and expect to get through the marathon. Showing up on video, executing ideas, and putting them into the world are all part of growing, and you have to love it!
I hope this was helpful for you, and maybe even helped you decide whether or not dedicating time to this platform is right for you.
