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What Does "Success" on YouTube Look Like? 🎥

I've been uploading to YouTube consistently for the better part of the last year. There's been some growth, but nothing crazy. A few videos have done relatively well, but a lot haven't. I've put many hours into learning how to film and edit, hiring contractors, brainstorming ideas, and posting. Despite the effort, I haven't seen one cent in return – my channel is short the subscriber and watch hours requirements that merit monetization.

These circumstances beg the question of what "success" looks like, and why YouTube (or any online creation) is worth doing.

The short answer is that it's worth doing because platforms like YouTube have made it possible to be helpful and provide value at scale, with potential commensurate returns. I can teach professional development to coding bootcamp students once in-person, or I can make a video of my talk and give it indefinitely, to an infinitely large audience. The latter approach is a form of leverage.

It's relatively straightforward to provide value, but the tricky part about receiving value is that people online have to know, like and trust you before you consider asking for anything in return. Think about the last time you bought something from a solo creator online. You'd probably been engaging with their content for weeks or months, found it helpful, and thought that their manner of teaching/sharing resonated with you. The point is, this is a long-term game that requires patience.

Even if I never see a dollar from online activity, I still think creating content is worth doing. One way of thinking about the web is as a serendipity engine that can make life more interesting. In just the past few months, I've crossed paths with folks that I'd never have met otherwise.

I've also been able to share what I know. It's still mind-blowing to me that I can engage with someone from the other side of the planet on ideas we care about. In some cases, the results have been significant:

The reality of building online is that it's extremely slow in the beginning. Even the people that seem to be overnight successes started in obscurity. But I take a ton of encouragement from the folks that have commented to say that the videos (or newsletters) have been helpful to them. It's a process of one video, one person helped and one subscriber at a time.

So no, I may not be a "successful" YouTuber by conventional measures. But if Tomasz and the others are any indication, I think I'm on the right track.

Pete's Picks ✅

1. What I'm Watching: The Domain of Science YouTube channel. I've been getting into the idea of self-teaching math, so I found the map of math video particularly intriguing.
2. What I'm Listening To: John Green's episode of Heavyweight this week was profound.

This Week's Videos 📹

Do Natural-Born Programmers Exist?

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Is Work-Life Balance Good in Tech?

Cheers,

Peter