My Journey on YouTube
When I completed my goal with Journey of an Architect of designing 30 projects by the time I turn 30 in 2019, I found myself with a lot of energy and time. During a short break from creating content, I brainstormed ideas with my wife and close friends to see what I would want to pursue next as a long term personal journey. It had to be something related to architecture and design. Something fun, exciting, and a journey I could learn from.
That’s where I decided to try something totally new and started a YouTube channel in May 2020.
I started the channel without sharing it here on this blog or on any of my social media platforms because the start of my YouTube channel and journey was one of the most frightening things I’ve ever done. As an introvert, it was difficult to stare at a camera and find the words to say about an idea or project. It’s not as easy as writing words on a blog like this or speaking into a microphone for a podcast like the one I started with Mike LaValley who was my cohost.
It took about a year for me to gain the confidence and skills that I needed to feel like my content would be worth sharing. At first, I thought I was alone in feeling this way about being a new YouTuber, but looking back at it all at the end of 2022 (I’m literally writing this on New Year’s Eve…) I realized that more beginners suffer from every kind of negative mindset and thought; imposter syndrome, self image, lack of skills (or not having the will to learn), and more.
Reflecting on my journey on YouTube so far, it’s been one of the best decisions that I ever made as a content creator and I believe more Architects should be shifting over to content creation because well… you have so much talent, skill, and ideas to share!
Here are 5 things that I learned from my journey on YouTube so far:
1. Start even if you need to learn a new skill
One of the reasons most of my friends never started a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel is because they didn’t know how to start nor how to create the actual content. It could be daunting to learn how to buy your first domain name, link it to a website builder, build your website, AND create content for your first blog. The same could be said for podcasting, and it’s really true for YouTube where you need some fundamental skills in video production.
After starting and maintaining all of these things, I feel confident in saying, just start and learn as you go.
When I started Journey of an Architect, it actually began as a totally different name and changed about 3 times until I landed on this one and loved it. I Googled and YouTubed all the tutorials I could find on the best practices for creating a website and platforms to build it out. In fact, it’s a lot easier today where platforms such as Squarespace (that’s where this blog is built) offers all the different components under one roof; domain name, website building, SEO, newsletters, online shops, and even membership pages!
With YouTube, it took a long time to learn how to record video/audio, edit, and publish every piece of content. It was even harder to watch myself talking to a camera and seeing how afraid I was in my first video! After some time, I felt at ease because… well… it was my first for every part of the process from recording to publishing.
If you’re about to start on your own journey as a content creator, what I would suggest is that you set a quantity of blog posts, videos, podcast episodes to create from beginning to end and publish. Set that as your limit for learning how to create the content and ignore the vanity metrics that come with it - subscriber count, views, likes, and others.
For my YouTube channel, it started as 100 videos. I needed to create each one and focus on getting just a little better along the way. One by one, the video quality started to improve, then the audio quality, the editing, and eventually, the entire process condensed from taking 1 week to half a week and now two days from brainstorming an idea to finalizing the video.
2. Give yourself permission to fail in whatever you define as success
Throughout my YouTube journey so far, I’ve taken several courses and joined content creator groups full of aspiring YouTubers. From reading through questions and comments from a lot of members, I found something very surprising; most people never posted their first piece of content because they were afraid it wasn’t “good enough”.
Out of everyone in the groups I joined, I’d say roughly 30% of the people never posted their first YouTube video, but they paid over $100 to take a course specifically on creating content and posting it. The people who do eventually post their first video took at least 3 months planning, shooting, editing, and revising it until they thought it was perfect.
Here’s the most interesting part of what I've observed; most people who posted their first video noticed what they could’ve done a little better and applied it to their future videos.
Each of these people, including me when I was starting out, was afraid of all the unknowns that I saw as failure. Things like; my video isn’t good enough. Or, who am I to talk about this topic when there’s creators with millions of followers talking about it?
As odd as this might sound, I was able to post my first video without much hesitation because I gave myself permission to fail. I realized that I was unconsciously defining success on YouTube as getting hundreds if not thousands of subscribers, views, and likes from every video. I also defined my success as having videos that looked and sounded as good as the people I admired on the platform. All of these definitions would’ve made success an impossible thing to achieve from the very start.
So, I gave myself permission to post and learn from each video through the small things I know could’ve been better. My definition of success has changed from metrics and comparisons to video and project quality. My channel is a portfolio of all the things I’m creating and building as a hobby and I’m doing it publicly. As long as each video captures my projects to the best of my ability and gets better over time, it’s successful.
3. Your content doesn’t need to be about architecture
This might sound like a no-brainer piece of advice for architects looking to create content; it doesn’t have to be about architecture. Most architects that I know who want to start creating content of their own always start with what they know most which is what they’re working on every day, architecture.
Even though you might be really good at something because you do it all the time for work, it doesn’t mean it’s something you’d be able to do it consistently for years or even decades. Personally, it was easier for me to create content around my hobbies and architecture as well as product design just happened to be them.
In fact, my YouTube channel started during the pandemic when I was home all the time and it focused on creating products with a laser cutter. I was creating face shields and donating them to hospitals. Then I started creating ear savers and donating them to hospitals as well. Each step of the way, I was recording and publishing my process on YouTube so others who owned a fabrication machine of their own could join in the effort to help our frontline workers.
I eventually shifted to custom lamps, layered art pieces, 3D printed products, and architecture. My next small thing that I’m starting is focusing on my journey to financial independence with my wife, which is based on the FIRE movement. It’s starting as a small blog to share our thoughts and experiences along our 8-10 year timeline.
Your content can be about anything you want it. Make it fun, interesting, and something you’ll both learn and grow from pursuing.
4. Focus on your own journey and learn from the people you admire
Once you start on any content creation journey, you’ll find so many people in your niche creating similar content and finding lots of success. You’ll also find lots of big creators who have been creating content for years in other niches like personal development, finance, humor, and tech.
As you consume content from all these different people, take notes on all the things they’re doing that captivate your attention. Look at the lighting, perspectives, audio quality, and the story they’re telling. What is it about these people and their content that draws you in? Why do you love watching their videos, reading their blog posts, or listening to their podcast?
Over time, you’ll start to see that there are so many skills, techniques, and ways of storytelling that you could learn from. Eventually, you’ll find your own voice and style that reflects your own values and people will come for you as well as your content.
5. Make friends along the way
Being a content creator, no matter what kind, is a long journey. It’s more valuable and important to make friends along the way.
They’re the people you might’ve started your journey with, the ones who you met at a conference or online through a friend of a friend or group, the people who offer feedback on your content, and the ones who care about what you’re doing. These are the people you want by your side as you go on this long journey of creating content. Really, it’s a journey of discovering more about yourself because that’s what happens when you’re trying new things.
