thank you so so much for 1,000 subscribers I I still can't believe that this day is already here and I I want to tell you exactly how I think I did it so that you can follow the steps if the steps sound like they're the right thing to do for you your channel your niche I can't believe I'm saying this I I'm really humbled by this experience in this video I'm going to take you on the Journey of going from 200 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers in nine days so if that sounds good to you let's go I've already said this in a video but I'm going to say it here because I think it's important to know that the first video I ever appeared on YouTube in was filmed 17 years ago and I did not have a channel myself until about 11 years ago where I posted one video there are two subscribers on that channel and that was the only video that I had posted in that era of my YouTube Journey that was until December of 2023 so last year I decided that I wanted to restart this YouTube journey I have a fulltime remote job where I do work in social media strategy and education and so I was hosting this Challenge in a group and the challenge was to create 300 pieces of content and have it posted across four Platforms in 14 days so it was during that challenge because I'd like to participate in the challenges that I am hosting that I started up a whole new YouTube channel so back in December of 2023 I posted a bunch of shorts and then I started doing a few long form videos and during that little stint that little era of my YouTube journey I probably earned about 134 subscribers so over the last n months up until September up until this month of 20124 I had around 134 subscribers give or take a couple here and there and I had decided in the beginning of September that I was going to start taking YouTube seriously I didn't think to document right away when I first started posting videos back on YouTube after that 9month Hiatus but I do know that the first video that I had posted was on September 3rd so for reference today is September 30th and I actually am beyond the 1K subscriber count but I did want to make this video so that I could capture not only for myself but for you I want to be able to tell you exactly how I think that I did it so that you could take all of these tips and run with it so if you look at my channel you'll see that I have over a hundred videos already posted to the channel and so the growth that I'm about to talk to you about happened in nine days but there was a buildup to that growth so I have screenshots and I will be posting them here as I'm talking and the first screenshot that I took was when I hit 200 subscribers and that was and is a big deal to me because I really was sitting under 200 subscribers for the full nine months I wasn't posting regularly I would post shorts here and there and I had some videos on the channel that got some traction and you can see them if you look at the channel but they aren't for this Niche they aren't AR for the niche that I'm serving right now it felt like a struggle I didn't know what Niche I wanted to focus on and I know I got a lot of advice and I want to just say thank you if you're somebody who left a piece of advice on my channel but I got a lot of advice about how to go about choosing a niche and so some people will say that you are the niche you don't need to choose a niche you don't have to be that specific there are even videos out there made by really big creators leaders in the space where it's being said that niching is out and there are some creators who are very adamant about telling newer YouTubers that a niche is really important especially on this platform so before coming back at the beginning of this month September 2024 my Niche was kind of all over the place I was making longer form videos in a more Vlog style and so my Niche was more of like a travel Niche or working remotely Niche although I did enjoy making those videos there just was something that wasn't connecting for me around my ability to come up with creative ideas to post about for the topics on travel Niche because I knew that I didn't want to continue travel in funnily enough in January of 2023 is when my partner and I stopped traveling we were traveling for a long time up until that point I moved away from Miami in 2021 and I spent between 2021 and the last months of 2023 being nomadic and a travel Niche would have made sense if if I were to continue to travel but we decided to settle and find a more permanent residence for at least a year and that's where we are right now so that Niche wouldn't have worked out unless I kept on traveling I needed to figure something else out because I knew that I really wanted to grow a YouTube channel and I I don't know why but it really didn't occur to me that I should create a channel around the thing that I do for work because I actually love my job I love teaching entrepreneurs how to use social media to grow their businesses online to grow their personal Brands so anyway I decided at the beginning of this month to just choose that Niche even though I was nervous about it because I know that having about 200 subscribers on YouTube talking about social media growth feels a little bit disjointed because because it's like I should be an expert at this right I should already be good at it and I was holding myself back with those thoughts because I already know that I have a tendency towards perfectionism and then I procrastinate and so I guess I came to September and was like I I'm tired of this I'm tired of talking myself out of just beginning so I decided I'm going to take you along on the journey with me and I'm willing to put in effort to this project and let you watch me fail if that's what I was going to do because all of those thoughts that were holding me back thinking that because I do this as a profession already I should already be perfect I should already be good at this they weren't serving me my first video back I posted it on September 3rd 2024 and that video was called building my personal brand in 2024 I think that video is still sitting at under 200 views which is perfectly fine I had decided to post three videos every week on this topic of growing our personal Brands here on YouTube and on social media and I would just teach what I know and teach and share what I'm going through and what I'm learning through my own Journey building my personal brand here on YouTube so those were the couple of decisions that I had made and I was really really inspired by my friend Jordan and by Alexa saroya and also by silver and solo to just get posting and don't stress out about making it too perfect so I posted that video it was my first video back I did not get a screenshot of this but I had about 134 is subscribers so for the next couple of weeks I posted six videos three videos per week on the sixth video I'm saying sixth but really it was like 10 and something videos at this point because like I said I had posted about hundred shorts and a few long form videos as well on the channel for this video that I'm about to tell you about posted but I posted six videos at the beginning of September and on the sixth video I did not know what to talk about I was really feeling frustrated and out of ideas and uncreative I think I was blowing it out of proportion to be honest it was like six videos in and I was not feeling like I was seeing the traction that I wanted to see and I was just feeling really frustrated really kind of down so I made that six video and it was called getting started on YouTube is heart and I was just talking about my honest experience here on YouTube because I had grown audiences on Instagram Tik Tok Facebook even and I'd never had as hard of a Time growing an audience on any of those other platforms and helping people grow audiences on the platforms but here I was on YouTube feeling like I was really struggling I couldn't get a video over 200 views for those six videos that I posted in September now the videos that I had posted back in December some of them had gotten many views and some of the comments I felt were mean on some of the videos that I had posted and it's it's discouraging when you get me comments and somebody had made a comment on a video recently of mine here on the channel and it was like of course people are going to criticize you and yes yes they are and I'm putting myself out there on the internet in public and it's like I'm opening myself up to criticism and I totally understand that but it doesn't take away from the fact that it can still hurt it's it doesn't make me callous to to just know intellectually in my mind that it's it's just somebody on the internet and it shouldn't take a toll on my feelings but I'm being honest it does part of me hesitating to post had a lot to do with just the fear of how I would be perceived I was talking about that in this video called getting started on YouTube is hard I posted that on September 13th and I remember that was a Friday I am not posting on the weekends I'm just posting Tuesday to Friday three videos every week September 16th I looked looked at the channel and I noticed that my subscriber count had grown to a little over 200 subscribers which was a huge milestone for me because like I said I was sitting at 134 for like nine months and I was like wow I should really grab a screenshot of this because I suspected that that would be the last time I would see the subscriber count that low and I didn't know how rapidly it was going to grow I just wanted to be able to capture that moment so I screenshotted my subscribers at 202 subs and 106 videos this is the 106th video that I posted to my channel on September 13th when 3 days later I had noticed that my subscriber count started growing and that video me posting about my exper experience of YouTube being hard had reached 1,200 views and that was shocking and I felt like wow this is incredible I can't believe this is happening my my video is surpassing 200 views and I surpassed 200 subscribers by this much and so I I just had a moment of feeling really really proud of myself here's what I think was different this is a takeaway from this experience that video what made it different from the five videos I had posted previously was that I was just coming to you with some real authentic emotion I was actually super frustrated and I was really feeling like wow YouTube is really hard I had made this commitment and this promise to myself that I was going to keep on going no matter how hard it was and at that point I must have just been really feeling it and I let myself film a really vulnerable feeling video a really honest video it wasn't coming to you from this expert point of view this person who studies strategy and teaches entrepreneurs about strategy I was coming to you as somebody who was building my personal brand and what that feels like being a Creator over 40 building on YouTube I think that energy is felt through that video I think that's what actually pushed that video further than the videos that I had created previously I do believe that we are looking for a connection and that must have resonated with you I definitely took that into account I have been trying to keep up with my comments and trying to interact and really be there to support all of my subscribers and just to be honest with what I'm doing to grow this Channel and so understanding that that might have been the difference between what I had posted before and that video I wanted to lean into that vibe that energy the next video that I ended up creating was called how YouTube changed my life now the way that I chose this video topic is that I saw that the video topic was actually trending here on YouTube so part of my strategy that I'm trying to implement is make mixing in videos that are trending topics within my Niche with tutorial Style videos or educational Style videos the YouTube change my life video was posted on September 17th and I hit my very next Milestone on September 21st so this Milestone was the 500 subscriber Mark and remember I know I'm saying September 21st and the first video that I actually posted coming back to YouTube was posted on September 3rd I am counting this growth from September 16th when I was able to grab that screenshot of 200 subscribers from the 16th when I had 200 subscribers I had grown about 300 subscribers by September 21st so that's 5 days later in total the day before I hit my 500 subscriber Milestone I had posted a video all about the gear that I use I'm probably going to end up talking about the gear a lot to be honest I really did not think that that video was going to do numbers why because there are so many other YouTubers out there who talk about gear and who shoot their gear in really beautiful aesthetic ways and I had hodgepodge the video together because I'm still new I'm a new YouTuber and I'm doing my best to show you things to teach you things that I know or have experienced and the way that I show my gear in that video it's just really Scrappy and I guess it shows my personality it shows how Scrappy I am as a Creator and that video is doing really well now it's been 9 days and that is one of the top videos that's still going on this channel to recap and make this tip actionable for you I think that the gear video that I created was just really relatable relatability authenticity and just honesty on this platform will take you so much further than trying to do like all these algorithm hack sort of things I am happy to share with you everything that I'm doing including what I'm doing for my SEO and thumbnails and all of that good stuff and that will come in later videos but I think that from this journey that I'm sharing with you right now the thing that I learned that really made a difference in my Channel's growth is that I started just showing up even more raw even more unfiltered more authentic and that seems to be what you like that's what I like too so it's a good thing now on September 22nd I hit 600 subscribers and the video where I was talking to you about gear that started doing numbers as well and that felt super unbelievable to have grown 100 subscribers in about 24 hours I cannot tell you that I was not shocked I really was at that point I was like I am afraid that I'm not going to be able to do this again from there from September 21st when I hit the 500 subscriber mark my channel started growing by 100 subscribers a day it was on September 23rd so just a week ago today when I hit 700 subscribers and that video the best gear for new YouTubers it was almost 3 days in it hit almost 4,000 views you really liked that video and I'm really happy that you did I hope that video had a lot of information for you that you could actually Implement immediately and that's a main mission of mine with this YouTube channel is to put out information that you can take and Implement right away right I don't want you to think that there are any extra steps between what I'm telling you to do and you going and doing it because I know that it was my problem for the longest time to just get into action to move past whatever mindset blockages I had around like making content being self-conscious or believing that there was still a level of preparation that I needed to do before I jumped on and just started making the videos I don't want you to sit in that same spot that I was sitting in with all of that doubt and I know that this is natural for us and that's okay especially being a Creator over 40 having this new Venture is is so different this is why not everybody is doing this if it were easy maybe everybody would be doing this but you and I we're doing this for a reason and I want us to be able to go into 2025 with a really strong habit of creation of building of getting our personal Brands out there into the world I have the screenshot of when I hit 800 subscribers and because it just happened less than a week ago I don't have a date to show in the screenshot but Tuesday was actually September 24th and that's when I hit the 800 subscriber Mark the next video that I had posted was an educational video on how to speak to camera I know that this can be a really awkward thing for us and so I wanted to share with you exactly what I do CU maybe it would help you to start just getting out there on video if you felt a little bit more mentally and emotionally prepared to actually just start talking to your video camera so that was the video I posted that day the screenshot you'll see I had just posted like minutes before I took that screenshot of 800 Subs then later that night at 11:59 p.m. I hit 900 subscribers so on the same day on Tuesday I hit 800 and then I hit 900 subscribers so that I think might have been my biggest day so far and I was just wow super humbled I think that I was so excited it was really hard for me to go to bed that night and then the day came when I hit a th000 subscribers and that was on Wednesday September 25th so the very next day and the screenshot reads 3:55 p.m. in less than 24 hours from when I hit 900 subscribers I hit 1,000 subscribers and it was on the day that I had 111 videos posted to my channel so the video that I had posted how ADHD affects my personal branding Journey as a new YouTuber when I posted that video I knew it wasn't going to do the same numbers as the videos that I had posted before it but because it was a really important part of my journey figuring out my ADHD I needed to post it for you if you're somebody who has ADHD or maybe I just needed to post it for myself to show myself that I could do it regardless of my ADHD so between September the 16th when I took that screenshot of having 202 subscribers to Wednesday the 25th when I had hit 1,000 subscribers it was about 9 days in between that I went went on that little journey to hit 1,000 subscribers was it really super difficult I'm going to say it was emotional I'm going to say it definitely took effort it definitely took a little bit of strategizing and the thing I think that made the biggest difference as to why I was able to hit a th000 subscribers in this era of my YouTube Journey is the niche I'm not going to say it was because of the niche that I had chosen but I'm going to say it was because I decided to choose an nishe when I first opened this channel in December of 2023 the niche was super undefined and I thought that was fine and I really do believe that that is still okay if you're somebody who doesn't know what your Niche is just yet I'm not going to say you should should you know make yourself choose one but I will say this if you're ready to grow then I do believe now having gone through this part of the journey that the niche was a big factor and me being able to speak directly to you somebody who actually wants to utilize the information and the education that I'm giving on this channel to improve your journey building your own personal brand online now were the videos that I was posting before entertaining or educational sure if you wanted to learn about living in Mexico and the various Adventures that I was having I think that the point of choosing a niche is so that you could hone in on the videos that you'll be making and you can really help the person or the the group of people that you want to be helping through your content so the YouTube algorithm I really do believe when the it starts to understand who you are trying to reach through your content it starts pushing your content to those viewers this is where I think the actual breaking point is your videos and your content starts working with the algorithm in a way where it creates this symbiotic relationship where it's like I make you these videos to feed to the people who you know want to see these videos and so a Snowball Effect starts building so yes it is a goal of mine to monetize this Channel and it's not the goal that I am stressing myself about really my internal goal the thing that drives me to create these videos is to make content that actually helps you that you could actually Implement and see some growth from I'm trying to to remember as I go to share all of the things that I am learning along the way on my journey so I can give you the actual tips and tricks that make a difference in growth because anybody can talk to you about the strategy around how you're supposed to grow on YouTube right but I want to tell you that what I'm noticing is the biggest difference it's the energy in the way that I talk it's the honesty it's the vulnerability that I'm bringing to certain topics that I think has you watching for a longer time or you sharing this out to a friend and I can even see the difference when I compare videos that I was making before to videos that I'm making now this might be something that I'm doing intuitively but I can almost feel when a video is going to do well I'm not trying to create a viral video I'm trying to create a video that is full of value that has actual tangible steps that you can take on your journey and Implement those are the videos that are actually doing numbers right so for you if you were to take this and turn it into a strategy I would say number one what you should do is look back on your videos and ask yourself the question what are the takeaways that my audience is getting from this video they could be like tangible steps or tips tips or educational points it could be entertainment they could feel a certain way having watched your video or it could just be they feel a deeper connection to you because that's what we're looking for when we're watching longer form videos we're not looking to constantly like just scroll and scroll and scroll and try to find the most entertaining 30 second video that we could find we're watching for a different reason when we're watching YouTube so I want you to connect to that reason that your specific Niche that your specific viewer is watching your video for ask yourself the question did I accomplish that in this video and I want you to just not judge your video so harshly if you're still on the step of getting videos posted then stay on that step you don't have to move past that step until you're ready right until you're ready to move yourself to the next level and you'll know what that level is when that step becomes easy to you in the beginning of this journey for me it was just really hard to even post something and so my inspiration were people who weren't these huge gurus and these big YouTubers giving me tips meanwhile they have three million subscribers already and here I am sitting at under 200 for nine months right so finding YouTubers who are a real inspiration and weren't intim intimidating to me was super important in the very beginning so for you know which Step you're on are you at the step where you're trying to just post then let yourself post and let yourself post bad videos meaning don't get hung up on the editing don't get hung up on the thumbnail even if all you know how to do is film a video and then post it to YouTube Let Yourself just do that for as long as you need to to get that skill under your belt and then move on to the next skill so from where I'm sitting right now I can create the videos I can edit I'm still not the best at editing but this is something that I'm actively learning I just want to make videos that are really useful for you in your personal brand growth Journey here on social media I hope you found this helpful thanks so much for watching and let me know which Step you're on in your personal brand growth Journey Down in the comments I'll see you in the next one