We see this happen all the time. Your favorite creators suddenly go silent, disappearing from your feed without a trace. Burnout is real and something we are all in danger of. Have you felt the pull of burnout yourself? If so, you’re in luck because I have some tips to help you avoid it and find long term success on YouTube.
Marathon – Not a Sprint
Everyone wants success today. (- Or maybe even yesterday.) We hear about “overnight successes” that have one video go viral and suddenly they’re a household name. It’s normal to want to have an easy button to success. But, it’s just not really the way things work. Success requires hard work and patience.
Creators often come to us and they think, I’ve been doing this for awhile. Everything I’m putting out there is great. So what is the hack or the secret thing I need to do to really start getting those subs? How long will this take to reach X amount subs? Well, the truth is YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint.
Failing Forward
YouTube takes patience and the continual practice of failing forward. The term “failing forward” often throws people. Of course you don’t want to fail. But the truth is, every creator has a long time of learning opportunities before they see the success they’re looking for. What you do with those opportunities is up to you.
YouTube is really good at surfacing good quality videos to a large number of people (and not surfacing low quality videos to many people at all.) Because of this, your focus needs to be how to make a better quality video each time. Look at your channel and see what are the areas that can be most improved? Is it video structure, hooks, titles and thumbnails? Pick one and begin implementing strategies to improve. The more you practice, the better you get. Again, YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to be okay with this and not be caught up in the numbers.
Everyone of us had to learn to walk at some point. And 99.99% of us fell A LOT of times before we figured it out. There are so many lessons we can learn with each less-than-stellar video we produce. These lessons are so much more valuable in becoming a creator who can come up with consistent high-quality content than having one video go viral.
Enjoy the Process
At the end of the day, YouTube is a platform to share your passion with the world. If you aren’t enjoying the process of making videos without tons of success, maybe this isn’t the platform for you. There could be years before you see any success at all. So focus on having fun. If you are having fun, it’s going to show in your content and ultimately lead to more success.
Now, I’m not saying you are going to love every step of the process, because few people do. But if you are starting to feel burnt out, pick out what parts of the process energize you and what parts drain you? Can you outsource some of the draining parts that you don’t enjoy? This may lead to more success longterm, simply due to you being more freed up for your zone of genius and someone else doing a better job at what they are good at. If you can’t outsource it, figure out why you don’t like it. Are you a perfectionist? Are you just not detail-oriented? Do you just not care about that part or think it’s important? Realizing why it’s a problem for you, can actually help you mentally as you work on it and try to do a little better each time.
Remember Who You Are Talking To
Don’t get so caught up in the numbers. It’s easy to forget that you are talking to real people. Every single view is another human who is watching your content and probably enjoying it. There’s a very good chance that you have helped them in one way or another. Keeping this in mind is very helpful when you are feeling that pull towards burnout. It’s so easy to get caught up in your retention rate and your CTR, etc. And those are great things for sure! But when it starts to feel like a rat race, bring it back to the individual.
Remember your why. Why did you start to begin with? If you don’t have a deeper why behind your creation, now is a good time to discern one. Having a deeper mission behind what content you make allows you to feel less exhausted and more purposeful in your content creation. Go back to your beginnings and try to reignite that passion. And if you need to take a break or move in a new more passionate direction, that’s ok too.
Power Tip
Channel memberships is a great way to monetize your channel in different ways. You can make your members feel special by making special content for them as they support you in the process. But now, with the sign up page for channel memberships you can display some of the thumbnails for the content that the channel members get. This is a great way to tease what they get when they support you.
Keep Changing Lives!
Tim Schmoyer
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