Why YouTube? (How one platform can change your life)
When I was a kid, I didn't have access to YouTube.
Not because my parents kept me from it - it just didn’t exist yet!
(In fact, I don’t think we even had a computer with internet until I was 12.)
In this blog post, I will share how this platform went from “nonexistent” to life-changing, in just a couple of years.
YouTube wasn't created until 2005 (when I was already 16 years old) and was officially launched to the public on December 15 of that year.
At this point, I was already making vlogs with my friends on a JVC video camera I'd bought for $300 after working all summer at the local lumberyard.
These vlogs weren't posted anywhere (probably for the best) and they were purely for our own entertainment.
At the time, the term "vlog" wasn't as established as it is today. Back then, I was "just filming" without knowing how to label it. (The first official use of the word "vlog" happened in 2002, just three years before YouTube launched.)
So, as you can imagine, "becoming a YouTuber" wasn't a career path that even existed for me growing up. (And standing behind a huge camera in some studio and work on a bigger production wasn't attractive to me.)
But I had other plans anyway.
I wanted to become a professional hockey player in the NHL (National Hockey League).
Fast forward to 2019: I was 30 years old, no longer playing ice hockey, and (unsurprisingly) hadn't made it to the NHL. I did play one season in NZIHL (New Zealand Ice Hockey League), which may be far from NHL, but it was still a great experience for a hockey geek like me.
Around this time, I'd been working as a Video Editor for two years at a web agency and decided to try freelancing. I had started a YouTube channel a bit earlier and I only had around 300 subscribers, but I knew that I wanted to invest more time in the platform (alongside my client work) and eventually work with YouTube full-time.
Now it's 2024. Five years have passed, and I can confidently say that I don't regret following my gut feeling. I've made over 700 videos, gained 5.5 million views on my channel, reached 17 500 subscribers, earned over $15 000 from YouTube Adsense alone (with half of that earned in the last 12 months), sold digital products, generated affiliate income, launched an online program about YouTube called "Streamlined Creator", done brand deals, and been invited to numerous podcasts, events, and forums to talk about YouTube and content creation.
And all this came from putting just six hours per week into my channel over a few years, while running my freelance business.
(I also tried growing my Instagram account by liking 100 000 posts, but that's a story for another day.)
It might sound like a lot of work to build a YouTube channel and my answer to that is: Yes, it IS a lot of work.
But if you're going to work 40 hours a week and face challenges regularly anyways, why not do that while pursuing your passion?
Jimmy Donaldson (better known as "MrBeast") currently runs the world's largest YouTube channel, and he once said this:
"Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain."
This mindset shift, in my opinion, is essential for success - not just on YouTube but with anything in life.
Turning views into income WILL take a lot of work, which is why I've approached it strategically, only investing six hours a week into my YouTube channel. I wanted to commit to something I knew I could maintain over multiple years, rather than focusing on "blowing up" or "going viral" (or any other short-term strategy).
I created a repeatable (and scalable) format to put my video ideas into, a streamlined process to produce this format efficiently each week, and a growth strategy for the channel that lets me gradually reduce client work as the channel grows and passive income rises.
For context, a traditional 40-hour workweek adds up to around 2000 working hours per year. Here's how much client work I've done each year as a freelancer over the past five years:
2020: 950 hours worked (963 hours charged)
2021: 776 hours worked (418 hours charged)
2022: 607,5 hours worked (577 hours charged)
2023: 454 hours worked (500 hours charged)
2024: 302 hours worked (302 hours charged)*
(*estimated result by the end of the year)
(Disclaimer: The difference between "hours worked" and "hours charged" reflects a mix of different billing models and process improvements over time.)
Thanks to the foundation I've built with my YouTube channel and the traffic it generates, I've been able to reduce my client workload over time while keeping my income stable.
(Next year, I'm estimating that I will reduce it even further while increasing my income by shifting from hourly work to revenue from digital products, course sales, affiliate marketing, and brand deals - all fueled by traffic from my YouTube channel and social media.)
This business strategy has given me the freedom to structure my weeks how I want, work wherever and whenever I want, and enjoy greater creative freedom by essentially turning myself into my biggest client.
But getting here required a lot of "trial and error", and I would lie if I told you that you can avoid that. You WILL most likely feel nervous, you WILL make mistakes, and you WILL create videos that don't turn out as you'd hope.
The key is often just to keep going (and keep improving), no matter what.
Every YouTube channel is different and every YouTube journey is different, so I can't give you a plug-and-play solution for your specific situation.
But if you commit to making it work and to doing whatever it takes, you will succeed eventually.
As Bill Gates once said:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
All you need to start is a device that you can create content with (laptop, iPad, phone) and an internet connection.
The rest is in your control.
The biggest reason people don't succeed with their channels is simply that they give up too early. YouTube as a platform favors those who continuously show up and consistently improve their content and messaging.
Unlike social media platforms, where views can spike quickly (but also drop just as fast), growing a YouTube channel is more like planting seeds 🌱 in a garden. It takes time to see results and understand what works, but when it does, the impact of that effort can last much longer.
Another difference is that YouTube primarily functions a search engine. By treating it as such and creating content people will continually search for and find valuable, it becomes genuinely difficult NOT to succeed.
A video can live much longer on YouTube than on social media, and views can grow exponentially if done right. Once you discover the "secret sauce" for your content, who your content is for, and what your audience enjoy watching, your channel's growth can pick up quickly.
YouTube WANTS you to get views. They WANT people to stay on the platform. All you need to do is to prove you deserve the reach, and the rest will follow naturally.
But to get that increased reach, there are a couple of boxes to check that will help you:
☑️ Figure out who your channel is for
☑️ Identify what separates you from other similar channels
☑️ Title videos in a way that creates questions in the peoples head
☑️ Design professional-looking thumbnails that sparks interest
☑️ Start your videos with a "hook" that get people curious but also confirms the title
☑️ Use storytelling and "open loops" to make people invested
☑️ Cut any parts of the video that don't add value to the video
☑️ Show up consistently over time
☑️ Regularly review your analytics to identify areas for improvement
If you check all these boxes, I'm confident you'll see your channel grow.
For more YouTube insights, I've created a 65-min crash course with my best practices from five years on YouTube, available on Gumroad and here on my website.
Thank you for reading this blog post!
Have a great day!
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You will get insights, resources, custom support, and experience from my 7 years on YouTube and we will go into detail on the systems I’ve used to generate over 5 million views.
Depending on when you read this, enrollment might be open or closed. If it is closed, I will put you on the waitlist for the next launch and let you know once I open the doors for the next cohort.
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