Now that we’ve gone over what setting targets looks like it’s time to move on. Remember, success is relative, and you need to be clear about why you’re in this. Everyone has a different definition of success and it’s critical you understand yours from the jump.
YouTube is a social network. Not a video platform.
How do you judge your progress and what determines whether you are successful or not?
First off, everyone will experience success in their own way. For some people gaining 100 subscribers will be success. For others gaining 100,000 subscribers will be considered success. In order to determine your progress it is beneficial to think of things on a smaller scale.
Let’s say that you have 300 subscribers. When you see that number on your YouTube channel, it may not seem that significant, right? How about this: try imagining all 300 of those people in one room exclusively to see you. Pretty crazy, right? To me, success cannot be measured by numbers. Statistics are just that: numbers that have accumulated that don’t mean much.
Success is how much you have influenced someone, how much you have helped someone, how much you have inspired someone.
Whether it is a community of 100 people or a community of 100,000 the most important part is that you have created an engaged and loyal community. Just keep in mind that “success” is relative.
Create content that you would want to watch.
A big mistake that a lot of early creators make is creating the type of content that they THINK will trend and doing it in a way that they think will be popular. If you do this, you’re instantly setting yourself up for failure.
Most likely, your attempts to cater to an audience will fail and even if it doesn’t, you will eventually burn out on creating content that you have little to no interest in.
Why not just create content that you would want to watch? That’s always the best bet. If you enjoy creating the content because it’s fun and exciting for you, that’s all the fuel you need to stay motivated, regardless of the numbers coming in.
There are thousands, if not millions of people that are interested in the same things that you are. Create content that you would watch, and sooner or later, the right people will start to find you.
Be inspired, but don’t compare.
We all have our favorite creators we love to watch who truly inspire us. The trouble comes when you begin to compare yourself to somebody else.
We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and comparing yours against others will more than likely bring you down. Keep in mind, a lot of the creators that you’re comparing yourself to have been doing this for a substantial amount of time, and have learned things that you have yet to learn.
The key is to be confident in yourself and true to yourself.
We all have our favorite creators we love to watch who truly inspire us. The trouble comes when you begin to compare yourself to somebody else.
Do not strive to be like someone else. Simply strive to be a better you, because there’s no one else quite like you. I know that sounds cliche, but it’s true.
In the next article we go over how to identify the right content type for your channel.
Chapter 4