6 YouTube Growth Lessons — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:00] I've always wanted to be a YouTuber. I've been obsessed with the idea since 2006. And over the past 15 years, I've had dozens of failed channels, hundreds of terrible videos, but thanks to that, I've also had over 50 million views in short and long-form content,

[00:13] from gaming to tech to marketing, you name it. With my 16th anniversary as a full-time content creator just past in February, I wanted to talk about the six things that actually matter to my growth. And no, I don't mean the same six generic stupid magic algorithm hacks every guru talks about.

[00:30] I'm talking real down-to-earth lessons and changes that I had to make to start succeeding on YouTube. The things that allowed me to do this as my job, support my family, pay rent, travel the world. And before you ask, yes, one of these tips is more important than the rest,

[00:44] and that is tip number six. So stick around to the end. But first, number one, a common trend that I see new traders struggling with, especially nowadays, is that they're uploading purely for the sake of uploading.

[00:56] For example, lots of new streamers hear the advice they need to make YouTube short. So they use those lazy websites that convert Twitch clips to vertical and post dozens of low-effort shorts that do nothing. Or worse, new creators know their long-form video isn't good enough, they know the thumbnail and the title need more work,

[01:11] but they say, shit, and post it anyway, because it feels good to post and pretend you're making progress. The problem is, YouTube is built around finding the best videos for the viewer. They test a video to a group, find who likes it the most in that group, and then will show your content to those people or people similar.

[01:29] This continues and slowly they expand this group adding in more fans as long as people enjoy it. This continues until you have a huge audience. By uploading content that isn't good enough or isn't aimed at the same audience,

[01:41] you're essentially breaking that system. You're breaking the chain that you're building. You're telling it that your audience didn't click and didn't enjoy it. You're sending negative signals and will have to work harder later to undo those signals.

[01:53] Of course, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that quantity isn't a factor. being regular on your uploads obviously helps that audience stay engaged as well, but there is a balance between quantity and quality where quality will always be more important.

[02:05] So, actionable tips, and this is where we listen up. When you're small, your goal isn't uploading every day or every week. We don't become YouTubers because we like the feeling of pressing the upload button. We do it because we have something we want to share with the world, something we love,

[02:19] and to achieve that, you need to push yourself outside of what's easy, what's simple, and your comfort zone to learn new skills. We're trying to create something that stands out amongst the mess of this platform.

[02:31] If you only upload once a month, you've carefully planned and engaged in title, thumbnail, and idea. That's better than uploading low-effort garbage every single day. I made a members-only video recently talking about how I kept delaying an upload

[02:43] because the thumbnail wasn't sitting right with me. And thankfully, I did, because when I finally landed on the thumbnail, it was completely different to my original packaging, but I was very happy with it, uploaded it, and the video performed incredibly well.

[02:55] If you want to watch that, I'll link it down below. My membership is just a dollar a month. My goal is to get 5,000 members so I can get a hair transplant. It's not going great, I'm at 100 members. Now there is something to be said about the idea that you'll improve faster if you upload more.

[03:09] After all MrBeast says it all the time that he a billionaire So of course you can trust him to tell you to upload a hundred shit videos so your hundred and first video goes viral It Mr Beast But the truth is and tip number two the majority of people have lost the ability to be reflective

[03:24] Not just while they work, but in life. New creators upload videos, shorts, make thumbnails and titles without ever asking why. You're editing a certain way or you're adding a certain something to your thumbnail and if you don't

[03:37] understand why you do something you will never improve, even if you upload a thousand videos. So how do we fix this? How do we become more reflective? I have a method called the curious toddler. Essentially while I'm working I constantly ask myself why I am doing something. Why are you

[03:53] adding that character to the thumbnail? Because it's easier to recognize to a potential viewer than my face. Okay but if it's all about recognition why are we including their legs? You're right, I guess I don't need to include the legs, I can focus just on the upper torso and face.

[04:07] Okay, so we're zooming in now, but why again? I guess I want my face to be really clear and recognizable at a glance when someone scans the thumbnail. If that's the case, why does it blend into the background when I zoom out like this?

[04:19] I think it's because the colors and the lighting is blending into the background. I guess I could add a drop shadow, maybe change the saturation, the brightness, or even add a blur to the background, and I think that'll probably help. By doing this, you'll not only end up with a better final product, but more importantly,

[04:33] you'll improve far quicker than someone who just uploads their first draft. It doesn't stop there either. You can do this active reflection while watching your favorite creators. You constantly need to be asking why they chose to do something.

[04:45] Then try to answer it yourself. And here's the spoiler. Even if you get the answer wrong, by questioning it and thinking about it, you're internalizing that decision and learning from it. So, actionable tips.

[04:57] Next time you're creating or even just watching, aka absorbing someone else's work, constantly ask yourself why. Become an active participant in your own life rather than passively meandering through everything.

[05:11] Okay, tip number three. This is the piece of advice that upsets most viewers, so try and listen with an open mind. Essentially, you don't matter. Nobody cares about you. But also, everyone totally wants to hear what you have to say. Look, content creation is brutal because you're essentially forced to lie to yourself and

[05:27] pretend your thoughts, opinions and ideas are not just interesting, but entertaining and valuable to a viewer. But also at the same time, you're forced to constantly remind yourself how little you matter in the grand scheme of things and how the slightest bit of ego will lose views to

[05:42] you. And no, I don't mean being overly confident in your video is going to make people hate you. I'm talking about thumbnails and titles. When we start out, we copy big creators who use their face in every thumbnail and get millions of views, right?

[05:55] So we slap ours on as well. Except much like the previous tip, if we actually asked why they use their face, we'd realize it's because Markiplier is one of the most well-known faces in the world. You and me?

[06:07] We don't fucking matter! Nobody knows us! When we create a thumbnail and title, our goal is to appeal to the largest TAM, Total Audience Metrics. And to do this, we need our packaging to be clear and understandable so that literally anyone who sees it understands what the video is about.

[06:22] Let's look at some examples. Here are two videos They have the same thumbnail but different titles One is Connor Plays Fear and Hunger The other is This is the Cruelest Game I Ever Finished which of these two options is clear and understandable but also more interesting and clickable

[06:37] Well, it's obviously B. The majority of people on YouTube don't know who Connor is, and they certainly don't know what Fear and Hunger is, so they won't click that video. They don't have any context to understand the value. However, by removing the game name and instead calling it the cruelest game ever,

[06:52] but it means anyone interested in gaming and finding out about a crazy, difficult, cruel game can now understand what the video is about. But more so, it raises questions such as, How is it so cruel?

[07:04] And it promises an answer because it says the video maker finished it, so they know they'll get to see the entire thing. I used this exact concept to get millions of views on my gaming channel. I played games in full, edited them down to a single watchable video,

[07:18] and then wrote a title or tagline that explained the game's unique premise in a way that made people excited to click and learn more. Tip number four, interestingly, is actually heavily related to learning that previous tip.

[07:30] Because I've been doing this for six years, most channels like mine die after two or three because creators get comfortable. They stop trying to improve. They don't adapt to their audience and content gets stale or boring. The reason this channel stuck around six years is because I've forced myself to learn new things,

[07:45] try new formats, and I've heavily focused on search content, which is much more sustainable for an education creator. I'm always trying to get outside my comfort zone. Specifically this year, one of my big goals is to start breaking away from my thumbnail branding because I want to reach a

[08:00] wider audience who don't know me. This video is not a great example, and I've tried in the past, but because my thumbnail format is so established, those videos tend to suffer when I try to change But I don't like being comfortable, so I'm going to push myself this year to do new formats,

[08:17] more difficult videos, and as I said, reach a wider audience. This means I might see a different view, which I already am. But I've done this long enough now that I know it's crucial to always push yourself to be uncomfortable.

[08:29] If you're creating something, whether it's a stream, video, or just a thumbnail, and you're not totally confident in creating it, that's a good feeling. That means you're learning and improving and pushing yourself. So many new creators try to escape from being uncomfortable by hiring editors or graphic artists

[08:45] or refusing to learn how to make something by themselves, and all this does is hurt you. So actionable tips. Seek out that feeling of discomfort. Say yes to trying things that seem utterly impossible and difficult, because even if you fall short, next time you'll be more likely to succeed having gained that new experience.

[09:02] I just flew to Vegas on a week's notice to give a talk at the biggest tech event in the world, is it a theme? I was shit scared to travel for 30 hours straight on no sleep and then give a tech talk to a few hundred people. But you know what? I pulled it off somehow because people told me I could.

[09:15] So I guess this is me telling you that you can do it too. You can do anything as long as you just stink out, get comfortable. Alright, the most important tip is still coming up. But first, for the love of God, don't chase trains. Don't make something because you think it will get you views or be easy.

[09:29] For two big reasons that I learned the hard way. First, viewers can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. I'm not kidding, it's like a sixth sense. The moment you start being inauthentic, people catch it immediately.

[09:41] They can tell if your heart isn into something or if you don really care about it And even if they aren conscious of it they will immediately stop engaging with your videos when they feel this It scary but you have to find a way to make what you love share your authentic self

[09:56] but also make that clickable and marketable for viewers. It's one of the hardest balancing acts, opening yourself up to be judged by millions and hope they like you for it. When I play indie games, I make a lot of dumb jokes about all sorts of crap,

[10:09] and for the longest time I cut those because I didn't think people would get them or like them. And then one day I stopped doing that and suddenly my audience was filled with people just like me.

[10:21] By hiding who I was, all I did was make it harder for the right people to find me. And the second reason you shouldn't chase trends or make what feels easy is because even if it does work and you get millions of views, it's soul-crushing and boring to do something you don't really care about.

[10:35] And when you later try and swap to what you actually enjoy, you lose all those original viewers because they were here for one thing and that's that trend you were chasing and you're doing another thing now. So actionable tips. Don't create for views. Create

[10:48] for yourself and take time building an audience over months and years who know what you're about and will stick with you for the long haul. Growing slowly but being sustainable for a long time is better than blowing up and losing everything within a few weeks. All right the most important

[11:02] One tip that I have learned, being a creator isn't measured in views or subscribers. It's not about the amount of videos you upload, it's not about the amount of time you've been live, it's not hours created, it's not TTR, it's not watch time or any other fucking metric.

[11:19] Being a YouTuber or creator is measured purely in years. This job or hobby is the ultimate marathon and it never ends. Every video you upload reminds you that you need to start working on the next upload,

[11:33] and thinking up the idea for the one after that, and the one after that. That's why so many people fail. Because not only is it a never-ending task on repeat, but it's also self-motivated,

[11:46] with very little return to the creator. When you start out, nobody is watching, thanking, or paying you. You need to just love creating, love the game. This is not a sprint, it doesn't happen quickly, but here is the secret.

[12:01] There is really only one way to fail at being a YouTuber, and that's to stop uploading. You can spend five years uploading and trying to improve your content before you blow up. In fact, many big creators do, and Bigger than Tibian is one of the largest strategy game channels on the platform,

[12:18] and he had five years of rough videos before he started to understand what worked. He could have given up two weeks in, 30 months in, or even five years in, but he didn't. And most importantly, he kept striving to improve and figure out what would work.

[12:33] And now, he gets to live his dream. If you love this, you won't give up, and you won't lazily upload. You'll push yourself to be more reflective. You'll push yourself outside of your comfort zone. That's really what this video is all about.

[12:45] If you want to watch awesome education content and buy my wife's dinner from the Macca's Dollar Menu, then you can become a member of the channel below the video, or you can just see how I monetized a new gaming channel in six uploads and got millions of views. I'll see you guys next week.

[12:57] Oh, and thanks for letting me do this as a job. It means a lot.