What I learned by starting a YouTube channel (it’s not what you think)
This year I decided to start a new YouTube channel. It’s my second. The first was for my podcast, and I started that as an afterthought.
I wanted to see what would happen if I started a brand new channel focused on personal finance and posted to videos to it every single day. How fast would it grow? What would I learn from it?
I learned a couple of things: one is that I did not enjoy posting every single day — so after 25 videos I started on an every few days or more schedule instead. I also learned that the channel wouldn’t grow as much as I hoped. At first I was getting these little batches of subscribers — funny that they always came in bunches. But then that cooled and I got stuck at 16 (update: 17 now!).
But the biggest impact on me was far more interesting than anything to do with subscribers and followers and monetization. And I wouldn’t trade it for any of those things (I mean, probably not?).
My voice
One difference from posting podcast videos vs this new channel is that I actually edit the FrugalBC videos quite a bit. I try to do this somewhat minimally, but still to a much greater degree than my podcasts, which I just want to be one long-form conversation.
The first few were painful. I couldn’t believe how poorly I was speaking when I wasn’t speaking to someone. I’d made a lot of improvements to my voice since starting the podcast, and I went from sounding like a guy who shouldn’t be anywhere near a microphone to a somewhat legit podcaster. Only took me 40+ episodes.
But wouldn’t you know it, that didn’t entirely translate to speaking to a camera directly (in the podcast, I only do this with my short intro which is somewhat rehearsed).
Something happened as I edited videos. I found myself thinking about the editing before I spoke. I noticed I was tending to edit out fewer ums and ahs, and instead just silent space. I edit some of it out, but I’ve noticed myself doing this while I’m speaking. Letting in space for a little silence. That’s led to a huge improvement in my voice.
Acceptance
My voice is something that’s always troubled me. It’s the same for everyone. I mean, just about EVERYONE. I’ve interviewed national and world-touring singers (and listened to interviews with plenty more) and I always ask about vocal comfort. When did they become comfortable with their voice? The answer is always the same, and surprising to me: a couple of years ago.
World-touring singers! And only recently they got used to their voice. One musician was opera-trained, and toured the world and played large musical festivals, and that was her answer to me. She has the kind of voice that knocks you over. And she experienced discomfort with her voice, even in the midst of a successful musical career.
I could make equal arguments for that being depressing and inspiring, but mostly I choose inspiring. Everyone else hates their voice too, or at least had a long runway for getting used to it. This paved a nice path for me to learn to find comfort in my own voice too.
But part of that comfort comes from working on it. I’ve pretty much asked every radio personality I know about vocal training and they all kind of told me in a variety of ways the same thing: it’s about being comfortable with your voice.
This always frustrated me: well sure, but how do I get there? I remember one telling me “your voice is fine! Relax!” Today I get why he said that to me, but at the time I just shook my head in frustration.
Creating a YouTube channel, one in which I need to edit myself, I realize is a path to get there. I remember someone in the martial arts telling me a story of a young student asking him the secret to getting really good at martial arts. He said he’d tell him the secret. Told him to lean in really close. Then he told him: keep showing up.
I remember a cyclist, who once trained with the national development team and was a teammate of an eventual Tour de France rider, told me something similar about cycling training. Just focus on putting in miles. In other words, keep showing up.
It’s a way of saying you can’t do the thing without doing the thing. For all the talk about smart training and optimization, a lot of that can come later. First you just need to start getting in the reps
Launch ugly
Most people are afraid to launch YouTube channels (and businesses!) because they don’t think they have everything just right. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of “launch ugly” for that very reason — because it’s never perfect.
This applies to many things. I’ve heard people say they’re afraid to go to yoga class, for example, because they think everyone else will look great doing while they will look silly. You won’t. Everyone there was a beginner once, and no one would expect you to look like anything but. I’ve never once thought, “oh look at that dummy beginner.” Anytime I see a beginner, I remember being in their shoes.
The only way to start is to start. That takes getting over our ego.
After interviewing multiple entrepreneurs over the years, one relevant thing here become apparent. The business I interviewed them about was rarely the business they started. It almost always looked differently than they envisioned in the beginning. Sometimes in small ways, sometimes in very big ways.
The same seems to go for most YouTube channels. They didn’t start out as the polished product you see today — I’ve looked back at a few, gone to their very first videos, and they always look like completely amateurish compared to their latest videos.
The same goes for my podcast. The early episodes are painful to listne to compared to my recent episodes. I learned along the way, and made incremental improvements along the way.
And, the same has also been true of my newest YouTube channel. I’ve made small, incremental improvements to the channel — particularly my speaking voice — since starting.
That’s carried over to my voice in real life. I find I can deliver much more effectively now than when I started my channel.
I won’t lie — I definitely started my newest YouTube channel as a new entrepreneurial experiment. Could I get monetized and make some money on this thing?
Instead, I benefited from changing my thinking on production, and also improving my own voice, something I’d longed for since I can remember. To me at least, that’s something far more valuable.
B.C. Kowalski is a journalist, podcaster, YouTuber, and blogger among other things. He is a noted Spock enthusiast.
