00:00:00if you can get these three things right,
00:00:01then you're completely off to the races
00:00:03and your channel will explode and you'll become a millionaire.
00:00:05So in this video,
00:00:06I'm gonna take my last six years of experience on YouTube
00:00:08and I'm gonna try and condense it into a three-part framework
00:00:11that I would follow if I was starting a YouTube channel
00:00:13completely from scratch today.
00:00:15So I call this framework the Part-Time YouTuber Blueprint
00:00:17because my course is called the Part-Time YouTuber Academy
00:00:19and I've taught this system to more than 2,300 students
00:00:22over the last three years.
00:00:23Now there's three levels to this framework.
00:00:25If you're new to making videos and in this context,
00:00:27I'm starting a YouTube channel with zero experience
00:00:29completely from scratch.
00:00:30We're gonna start with level one.
00:00:31Level one is get going.
00:00:32And this is like your first three videos.
00:00:35And if you're starting completely from scratch
00:00:36and you have zero experience,
00:00:37then a huge hurdle that holds people up
00:00:39from starting a YouTube channel
00:00:40is actually just not getting started
00:00:42with the thing in the first place.
00:00:43So what I'd be doing is I'd just be making three videos,
00:00:46maybe they're shorts, maybe they're videos
00:00:47I don't even edit.
00:00:48Maybe I'm just making them on my phone
00:00:49and speaking to the camera
00:00:50and uploading them to a new YouTube channel.
00:00:52I would create a channel or create maybe some channel art
00:00:54on Canva or something like that.
00:00:56And this is kind of like the first three dates
00:00:58that you go on someone if you're in the dating world.
00:01:00You know, you're kind of getting to know them.
00:01:02You're seeing if you vibe.
00:01:03And in those three videos,
00:01:04I get some pretty good insight into how I feel
00:01:06about making videos.
00:01:07I'm gonna be absolutely terrible at it
00:01:09because like with any skill,
00:01:10it takes ages to get good at the thing.
00:01:12But at least at the start,
00:01:13I've made some kind of effort in doing it.
00:01:15Like for example, if you're watching this right now
00:01:16and you haven't yet started a YouTube channel,
00:01:19I suspect the thing that's holding you back
00:01:20is probably overthinking.
00:01:22I suspect it's probably overthinking about your niche.
00:01:24What the hell do I make videos about?
00:01:25Why would anyone watch my content?
00:01:26Will people at my job respond poorly to the fact
00:01:28to have a YouTube channel?
00:01:29All of that overthinking just gets in the way of people.
00:01:31That's why level one is to get going
00:01:33and just make those first three videos.
00:01:34Because to be honest, YouTube is a lifestyle choice.
00:01:36What you're trying to do, what you're signing up for,
00:01:38if you're gonna take this seriously,
00:01:40is making videos every week for the next
00:01:42like several years of your life.
00:01:43And so it's worth flirting with it
00:01:45for these first three videos and just seeing how you feel.
00:01:47If you don't know anything at all
00:01:48about literally how to hold a camera, how to hold a phone,
00:01:50how to edit a video, how to make a thumbnail,
00:01:52how to start a YouTube channel,
00:01:53then there's loads of free content available on YouTube.
00:01:55Anyway, once you've gone on these first three dates,
00:01:57once you've made these first three videos,
00:01:59at that point you have a choice.
00:02:00And this is choice number one.
00:02:02This is, do you wanna be in a casual relationship
00:02:04with YouTube or do you wanna be
00:02:05in a serious relationship with YouTube?
00:02:07Now casual is like, oh, I'll make a video
00:02:08whenever I feel like it.
00:02:09Maybe I'll film a video on a holiday here and there.
00:02:11Serious is, I am committed to this.
00:02:13And that would be obviously the position that I would be in
00:02:15if I was starting YouTube completely from scratch.
00:02:16Today, I would actively decide, consciously commit
00:02:19to being in a serious relationship with YouTube.
00:02:22That means just like if you're in a serious relationship
00:02:24with a person in real life,
00:02:25you wanna try and see them at least once a week.
00:02:27I would wanna be committing to making
00:02:29at least one video a week
00:02:30because that to me is taking it seriously.
00:02:32A YouTube channel does not grow if you treat it casually.
00:02:34You cannot accidentally lock into just having
00:02:36a big profitable YouTube channel and that kind of stuff.
00:02:39You have to actively take it seriously.
00:02:40And then once I've committed to taking YouTube seriously,
00:02:42I'm now ready to go onto level two.
00:02:45Now level two is what I call get good.
00:02:47But I would say in brackets, get good enough.
00:02:49Because in level two,
00:02:50we're gonna be making our next seven videos.
00:02:52And the point of these seven videos is to get better
00:02:55at the craft of making videos.
00:02:57And the thing with YouTube is that there are a lot of skills
00:02:59wound up in being a good YouTuber
00:03:02or being a successful YouTuber.
00:03:03There's titles and thumbnails and filming
00:03:05and talking to a camera and like structuring your stuff
00:03:07and storytelling and being reasonable at public speaking.
00:03:10If you're gonna show your face
00:03:11and then being reasonable at research and writing
00:03:12and animation if you're not gonna show your face
00:03:14and then actually editing, which takes absolutely ages
00:03:16and understanding analytics.
00:03:17There are so many skills around what it takes
00:03:19to be an effective YouTuber.
00:03:20Again, in this model, we're starting completely from scratch.
00:03:22I don't know any of these skills.
00:03:23I don't know how to talk to a camera.
00:03:24Don't know how to edit a video.
00:03:25So I need to spend these next seven videos
00:03:27actively trying to improve the craft of making videos.
00:03:30Crucially at this point,
00:03:31I'm still not worrying about my niche.
00:03:32I don't give a toss what my niche is at this point
00:03:34because all I'm trying to do is get better
00:03:36at the craft of making videos.
00:03:37So my next seven videos in this get good enough stage
00:03:40are gonna be, I'm just making videos on whatever I feel like.
00:03:43Maybe I just absolutely freaking love
00:03:44these Stabilo pastel colored highlighters.
00:03:47So I might make a video about my favorite highlighter pens.
00:03:50Maybe I absolutely love this dbrand Ali Abdaal
00:03:53palettes collaboration phone case,
00:03:55and I can make a video reviewing that.
00:03:56Maybe I absolutely love this book
00:03:58that I have on my desk at all times,
00:03:59"Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon,
00:04:00so I can make a video reviewing the book.
00:04:02It does not matter what the video is about.
00:04:03What matters is that we're getting better
00:04:05at the craft of making videos,
00:04:06and we're not trying to overthink our niche at this point.
00:04:09And again, to use the relationship analogy,
00:04:11this is where you get to know each other a little bit better.
00:04:13You're learning more about the other person.
00:04:14They're learning more about you.
00:04:15And across these seven videos, and three plus seven equals 10,
00:04:18so 10 videos in level one and level two,
00:04:20across these 10 videos, you're getting to know the craft
00:04:23of making YouTube videos,
00:04:24but you're also learning a little bit about yourself.
00:04:26Maybe at this point, you're even having to confront
00:04:27your own emotions around like fear of what other people
00:04:29will think and judgment and self-doubt
00:04:31and all of these other emotional hurdles
00:04:33that can get in the way of us building a life that we love.
00:04:35And so I'd be making these seven videos
00:04:36on top of my other three,
00:04:37and I would just be uploading them to my YouTube channel.
00:04:40At this point, you might also wanna learn
00:04:41how to get better at editing.
00:04:42If you happen to use Final Cut,
00:04:43I have another course about this.
00:04:44It's completely free on Skillshare,
00:04:46or it's included for free as part of my
00:04:47part-time YouTuber Academy.
00:04:48If you want, that'll be linked down below as well.
00:04:50By the way, if you're enjoying this video so far,
00:04:51I would love it if you could give us a thumbs up.
00:04:53Apparently, it really helps for the YouTube algorithm.
00:04:54Anyway, once you've gotten beyond level two,
00:04:56at that point, you have to make the ultimate choice.
00:04:58And the ultimate choice is,
00:04:59do you wanna treat YouTube like a hobby,
00:05:01having made 10 videos?
00:05:02Or do you wanna treat YouTube like a business?
00:05:04And on the hobby to business spectrum,
00:05:05let's say hobby is zero and business is 10,
00:05:07where do you land on that spectrum?
00:05:09You're not allowed to pick five.
00:05:10And if you do decide at this point
00:05:11that you actually want to treat YouTube as a hobby,
00:05:13that's totally fine.
00:05:14But if you decide that you wanna lean
00:05:16towards the business end of the spectrum,
00:05:17if you decide like I would if I were in your position,
00:05:20that I wanna treat YouTube very seriously,
00:05:21and I wanna treat it like a business,
00:05:23and I wanna be a professional rather than an amateur
00:05:25when it comes to YouTube,
00:05:26that takes us on to level three.
00:05:27And level three is get smart.
00:05:29Now, at this point,
00:05:30we need to actually understand the game of YouTube.
00:05:33So far, these first 10 videos,
00:05:34we've just been trying to make videos that we enjoy.
00:05:36But to really grow a YouTube channel
00:05:37that can potentially change a life,
00:05:38we need to understand what is the game
00:05:39that we are trying to play.
00:05:40And there's basically three things.
00:05:42There's only three things that YouTube cares about
00:05:45when it comes to growing a YouTube channel.
00:05:47And if you can get these three things right,
00:05:49then you're completely off to the races
00:05:50and your channel will explode
00:05:51and you'll become a millionaire.
00:05:52And those three things are number one, click,
00:05:54number two, watch time, and number three, satisfaction.
00:05:57So firstly, the click.
00:05:59This is the importance of titles and thumbnails
00:06:02and idea generation and concept.
00:06:04No one is ever gonna watch your video
00:06:05unless they click on your video.
00:06:07And so the first step to success on YouTube
00:06:08is earning the click.
00:06:10Your titles and thumbnails and concepts
00:06:11need to be sufficiently intriguing
00:06:13that someone actually clicks on the video.
00:06:14Secondly, we have watch time.
00:06:16Now, the YouTube algorithm cares a lot
00:06:17about how much of your video someone has watched,
00:06:19'cause the YouTube algorithm is ultimately trying
00:06:21to serve the right video to the right viewer
00:06:23at the right time.
00:06:24And so if a viewer is watching a lot of your video,
00:06:26it means they're getting continuous value from that video.
00:06:28And so watch time is a great signal for the algorithm
00:06:30to then promote your video to more people
00:06:31that are similar to that viewer
00:06:33that watched it for a long time.
00:06:34So we've gotten people to click with our title and thumbnail.
00:06:36We've gotten people to watch the video
00:06:37with everything about the video actually being good.
00:06:39And then we wanna leave people satisfied.
00:06:41Now, increasingly the algorithm
00:06:43is talking a lot more about satisfaction.
00:06:45It's looking at signals,
00:06:46according to my YouTube partner manager,
00:06:47who I speak to very regularly,
00:06:48signals like likes and comments and things.
00:06:50But also YouTube has started putting these surveys
00:06:52for a percentage of their users
00:06:54that you might've seen when you're browsing YouTube.
00:06:56And they've got tons of other signals for viewer satisfaction.
00:06:58So it's not necessarily that you need to get people
00:07:00to watch 100% of your hour long video,
00:07:02but YouTube has good ways of knowing
00:07:04were people satisfied as a result of the video
00:07:06that they watched.
00:07:07So having understood the game,
00:07:08we now need to talk about strategy.
00:07:09And this is where we're allowed
00:07:11to start thinking about our niche.
00:07:12But at this point we have to think,
00:07:13okay, there are zillions of videos
00:07:15uploaded to YouTube every single day.
00:07:16And so your video needs to add enough value
00:07:18for the person on the other end to think
00:07:20that it's justified as an investment of time
00:07:22and attention on their part.
00:07:23You're not just competing with the other stuff
00:07:25that's on the side of YouTube in the suggested videos
00:07:27and watch this next.
00:07:28You're competing with their phone.
00:07:29You're competing with things happening in their real life.
00:07:31You're competing with every other distraction
00:07:33in this person's life.
00:07:34So this is where strategy comes in.
00:07:35And this is where it's really important
00:07:37to figure out what is our niche.
00:07:38Now, the way that I've been teaching this
00:07:40for the last three years on my YouTube Academy,
00:07:41I think makes a lot of sense.
00:07:42And that's, you know, the question of niche
00:07:44gets people focused on the wrong things.
00:07:47I think a niche is actually two things.
00:07:48It's a target and it's a value.
00:07:50So in the start of my YouTube journey in 2017,
00:07:52the target for my YouTube videos
00:07:53was people applying to medical school in the UK.
00:07:56And the value I was giving them
00:07:57was helping them get into medical school in the UK.
00:07:59And that is a very clear target
00:08:01and a very clear value proposition,
00:08:02which is how my channel grew in those initial days.
00:08:04Now in our YouTube Academy,
00:08:05we have a whole like two hour long session
00:08:07where we talk about how to figure out your target
00:08:08and your value proposition.
00:08:09But kind of long story short,
00:08:11basically what you wanna do is you wanna figure out
00:08:13what are your own interests and what are your own strengths
00:08:15and what are your own unfair or competitive advantages?
00:08:18And who are the people that you could potentially help
00:08:19or serve with your content?
00:08:21And then you kind of combine all those things
00:08:22and you make a few hypotheses about,
00:08:24okay, I could potentially be helping small business owners
00:08:27manage their accounts.
00:08:28Or I could be potentially helping dentists
00:08:31run better ads on Facebook.
00:08:32Or I could potentially be helping students in Indonesia
00:08:35get better at studying for their exams.
00:08:37Like whatever that target and value is,
00:08:39those are different niches that you could potentially enter
00:08:41with your YouTube channel.
00:08:42And so that answers the question
00:08:43of why should someone watch my videos?
00:08:44It's like the videos are targeted to that person
00:08:47and I'm giving value to that person.
00:08:48And therefore people are watching my videos
00:08:50for the value that they get.
00:08:51Whether it's entertainment or education or inspiration,
00:08:53there's always value that people wanna get from your videos,
00:08:55otherwise they wouldn't watch them.
00:08:56And then the next question we have to answer
00:08:58in the strategy piece is why would someone watch my videos
00:09:00rather than the other videos on this topic?
00:09:03Now, most niches that you might wanna go into on YouTube
00:09:05are kind of crowded.
00:09:07These days, productivity, personal development,
00:09:09all this kind of stuff, ridiculously crowded.
00:09:12And so you need a way of standing out in a crowded market.
00:09:14So again, the method that we teach for this,
00:09:15there's like two things to understand here.
00:09:17There's number one, the market, and number two, your edge.
00:09:19So firstly, we've got understanding the market.
00:09:21And here we wanna apply the principles
00:09:23that a business would use,
00:09:24which is why we're treating YouTube as a business.
00:09:26Let's say you wanted to start a new business.
00:09:27Let's say you decided I wanna open an Italian restaurant
00:09:30on my local high street.
00:09:32You wouldn't just decide to open an Italian restaurant
00:09:34on your local high street.
00:09:35You would do some market analysis.
00:09:36You would see what other Italian restaurants are there
00:09:39in my local area?
00:09:40What other restaurants are there in my local area?
00:09:41What are the coffee shops?
00:09:42What's the clientele like?
00:09:43What's the sort of income of people walking through the area?
00:09:46You'd be doing a lot of analysis before you pull the trigger
00:09:48and just randomly decide to open up an Italian restaurant.
00:09:50And so we'd analyze the market
00:09:51and then we'd figure out our competitive or authentic edge.
00:09:54And this isn't necessarily about being better.
00:09:56In fact, I think being better
00:09:57is like the worst way of doing this.
00:09:58Firstly, 'cause better is in the eye of the beholder
00:10:00and also just takes way more work.
00:10:01But there are loads of other domains
00:10:02in which you could stand out.
00:10:03For example, in terms of the depth of research
00:10:05you go into your videos, in terms of storytelling,
00:10:07in terms of editing,
00:10:08in terms of relatability and authenticity.
00:10:09Maybe you're a male in a female-dominated industry
00:10:11or female in a male-dominated industry.
00:10:13Maybe you're the only person of color
00:10:14who's making that kind of content.
00:10:15And so you're appealing to other people of color,
00:10:16just like you.
00:10:17And so there's loads of these different ways
00:10:18that you could stand out in the market.
00:10:20And you just need to figure out what is that?
00:10:21Like, what is the market and what is my edge?
00:10:23Now, once I figured out the strategy,
00:10:24the next problem I'm gonna run into
00:10:26is that it takes a large amount of time
00:10:28to do all of this stuff well,
00:10:29especially if I've got a full-time job,
00:10:31especially if I've got a family and friends
00:10:32and I wanna maintain my health and social life.
00:10:35It's hard to make the time to do YouTube well,
00:10:38unless of course you quit your job from day one
00:10:40and that kind of like.
00:10:40Again, I'm assuming if I start YouTube
00:10:42completely from scratch,
00:10:43I don't have the ability to quit my day job.
00:10:44And this is quite a lot to do.
00:10:45There's a lot of stuff you have to do to be good at YouTube.
00:10:47And it's really, really, really hard to do it
00:10:49in five to 10 hours a week.
00:10:51But what I've learned over the last six years,
00:10:52and I'd incorporate this kind of knowledge
00:10:54into my starting YouTube from scratch,
00:10:56is that if I build systems and leverage,
00:11:00then I actually can do YouTube
00:11:02in somewhere between five and 10 hours a week.
00:11:03And again, this is thinking like a business.
00:11:05It's like, if you go into any McDonald's
00:11:07anywhere in the world,
00:11:08you'll get basically an identical experience
00:11:10because the systems and processes
00:11:12that McDonald's have built are absolutely incredible.
00:11:14You can put any 16-year-old
00:11:15into any of the positions at McDonald's basically,
00:11:17and they'd give you the same result
00:11:18because the systems are so good.
00:11:19So what I'd be thinking is how do I build systems
00:11:21for my YouTube channel so that I can create valuable content
00:11:24that my audience finds interesting and useful within my niche
00:11:27that's strategically aligned to what I wanna do,
00:11:29but do it in a way
00:11:29that doesn't take up large amounts of time.
00:11:31Now, if you've gotten to the end of this video
00:11:32and you're interested in potentially building systems
00:11:34for your own YouTube channel and saving a lot of time,
00:11:36that's exactly what we teach on my part-time YouTuber Academy
00:11:39and we're gonna be doing a final life cohort of the course
00:11:41in April and May of 2023.
00:11:43So this is the last time we're doing a life cohort.
00:11:45I've done seven life cohorts for over 2,300 students
00:11:48in the last like two and a half years,
00:11:50but now it's kind of getting a bit boring.
00:11:51Firstly, because I've been saying the same stuff repeatedly
00:11:53for the last three years,
00:11:54but also now that this channel has grown
00:11:56and I'm about to publish my book
00:11:57and all this other stuff's happening,
00:11:58my life is going in a direction
00:12:00where running the live online courses
00:12:01is no longer compatible with other cool stuff
00:12:04that's happening, but basically the whole course
00:12:05is about how you build systems and processes
00:12:07and tools and templates to operationalize
00:12:09and scale a YouTube channel
00:12:10just as if you were treating it like a business.
00:12:12And I've been building these systems and tools for my channel
00:12:14for the last six years.
00:12:15I've taught it to 2,000 plus other students
00:12:16and so we'll teach that to you on this life course as well.
00:12:18And we've got some really cool looking graphs
00:12:19and testimonials as well from people who have taken the course
00:12:22in the last like two and a half years
00:12:23and whose channels have exploded
00:12:24and it's just super interesting to see.
00:12:26And the course has a 60 day, 100% satisfaction,
00:12:28money back guarantee.
00:12:29Also, I get that the course is pretty expensive
00:12:30because it's life and it takes a lot of effort
00:12:32from like me and like 10 other people in my team
00:12:34to make this happen.
00:12:35But for the last three years,
00:12:36we have been offering scholarships
00:12:37to people who are in financial difficulty
00:12:39who can't afford the price of the course.
00:12:41And this time, again,
00:12:41because it's the final life cohort that we're gonna do,
00:12:43we have doubled the amount of scholarship places
00:12:45that are available.
00:12:46So if you want to take YouTube seriously,
00:12:48but if you're in a financial situation
00:12:50that means you can't afford the price of the course,
00:12:51then you should absolutely apply for a scholarship.
00:12:53We spend a lot of time looking at these applications.
00:12:55The team spends ages reviewing them.
00:12:57And so if your application is good,
00:12:58you'll get a scholarship to the course
00:12:59and then you can join this community of 2,000 plus
00:13:02part-time YouTubers.
00:13:03It's absolutely sick.
00:13:03Anyway, that'll be linked down in the video description
00:13:05so you can check it out.
00:13:06And if you enjoyed this video,
00:13:07you might like to check out this video over here,
00:13:08which is my top 10 tips for beginner YouTubers.
00:13:11So that might be interesting for you.
00:13:12Thank you so much for watching.
00:13:13Have a great day and I'll see you in the next video.
00:13:14Bye-bye.