Hello! Right now you’re reading “The Creator Confidential”, a blog where famous YouTubers share their stories and tips they have for growing a YouTube channel. Today’s post is something special and part of a series called “YouTube from the Perspective of a Small Channel”. In this series, small YouTube channels share their successes and struggles, how they got their first subscribers, why they started, and more! If you want to be featured, you can send me an email (thecreatorconfidential@gmail.com) or DM me on Instagram (@thecreatorconfidential). Over the past week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shaun, and here is the finished result. Enjoy!
Introduce yourself!
My name is Shaun Holden and my channel was started to help people during the pandemic. The concept of my channel is to "help others help themselves”. I do this by covering topics such as Positivity, Productivity, Mental Health and Well - Being. I started the channel as I completed a (really bad) video on Facebook promoting people to talk more about their mental health and the impact that the pandemic might have on our mental health. Talking is something we do not do enough of. This prompted a lot of people to reach out to me and say the video was really well done, people needed to hear it, and then people were asking me to do more! (I was SO surprised!) So I thought if I am going to do this, let me do it on a bigger platform to have a larger reach and help more people. That is how my channel was born! I only started on May 11th, 45 days ago, and now 890 subscribers later I have not looked back! YouTubers that inspire me are anyone who is trying to do good in the world. There are so many people using their influence to do nice things, and I love that.
How did you, personally, become more integrated with and interact more with the YouTube community/fellow YouTubers?
I think people underestimate the hard work that goes into getting a channel up and running. It's like running a business! People will say to me or DM me "How did you get 650 subs in 8 days?" or " How did you get 500 subs in your first week?" The answer is very simple: HARD WORK! There are so many decent YouTubers out there creating good content but if they are not putting their content in the right places then no one knows it exists.
I literally spend hours a day and tens of hours a week interacting with YouTubers through Facebook, Instagram, and of course YouTube itself. You not only need to create the good content, you need to market it correctly. Unfortunately, people expect the growth without putting in the legwork! You need to treat YouTube like a business if you want results quicker than most, creating relationships online with other YouTubers on social media really helps! But, it's a shame because you get so many requests for “sub4sub”, which is really sad! I have actually met some lovely people online and it's nice that we are in a digital age in which we can do this.
How did you get your first few subscribers?
I think this is the same for everyone. You ask friends and family to join you and support you. But, my family very rarely interacts with me on the channel so it was probably a waste of time. It was nice of them to at least join I suppose!
What inspires you to keep making videos?
When you put your heart and soul into a video and you have hundreds of people from around the world messaging you saying that the video really helped them. As my channel is to "help others, help themselves" then that for me is better than anything else. Waking up to messages from people who have said that they loved my video on mental health, for example, is honestly priceless.
What do you think is the best and worst thing about YouTube?
The best thing is that if you are 100% yourself and authentic, then no one else can take that away from you. I love that! Who wouldn't want to be yourself, do something you love, and maybe one day turn doing something you love into a stream of income? BUT I wouldn't say get into YouTube solely for money; as that's already setting up to fail, in my opinion. Also, there are so many potential opportunities for you to use your following or subscribers to do good things and make the world a better place. ️ Worst thing I would say is, there are some really nasty people on this planet as we are seeing very clearly with the recent BLM movement. But, if you remember this, I think it will help with any hate or negative feedback you might receive on the platform - “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.”
What types of struggles do you go through as a small YouTuber? Do you have any advice for other small channels on how to resolve these issues?
I would say that starting off is really hard and certainly a struggle! You need to really put in the legwork! There is so much to learn from tags, thumbnails, CTR, SEO and that's before even looking at filming, lighting and sound. So be prepared to put in the hours; to be a sponge and absorb as much as you can. Don't be afraid to get things wrong, get that out the way early. YOU WILL GET THINGS WRONG, we all do. It's natural: we are human. Do not let it put you off.
What are your hopes for the future of your channel? What will your channel look like 2-10 years from now?
My hope is to use my channel as a stepping stone to work as a Life Coach and continue to help others help themselves around the world. It will be one of many platforms that I hopefully use to continue doing what I love most: helping others. I will certainly continue with it but in 10 years time who knows what might happen!
If you could give one piece of advice to new YouTubers, what would it be?
Do not chase the subscriber count. Focus on creating good content, get better with each upload, and the subscribers will come. I honestly believe this is the best way to go about starting a successful brand, business, and channel. Rome was not built in a day and you need to appreciate the struggle, as it is part of the process.
Finally, why should people subscribe to your channel (why is it unique)?
So many channels have niched down so much. BUT, with my channel, I cover topics that we all go through as people (regardless of your sex, age, religion, race or location) and I think it’s okay to accept that we all need a little help from time to time. All I want to do is help, in any way, shape, or form. That's the great thing about my channel. It's not only for gamers or people who like a certain type of makeup or anything like that, it really is a platform that anyone can go to when they need a little pick-me-up. I love how inclusive it is and hopefully, one day, the world will be exactly the same: completely inclusive.
Thanks for reading! A huge thanks to Shaun for taking the time to answer all the questions. Here are the links to all his socials:
Instagram: @growth_guy https://www.instagram.com/growth_guy/?hl=en
Facebook: Shaun James Holden https://www.facebook.com/ShaunJH1
YouTube: Shaun Holden https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrdZY2p5LKw_XmIgF3rS0gg
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