If a random guy tells you that you’ll probably quit YouTube in 5 years, you probably wouldn’t believe it. But what if a YouTube employee tells you? You’d probably listen to what he has to say.

It turns out that most creators on YouTube go through a 5-7 yr lifecycle where they work hard, achieve success, and then fade away. After observing this pattern while working on YouTube for over a decade, decided to start talking more publicly about this issue and how we can continue to serve our audience well and grow our business for years to come. Today we will share his advice.

Creator Spotlight

But first, I want to introduce you to Adam! He grew to almost 2 million subs and now is working on doing the same for his . But his progress didn’t start out that great.

When he first came to us, he was working hard but just couldn’t get traction. He was working 40 hrs a week on his channel for a year and was struggling to get 300 views. But after taking , he gained 60K subs in 4 months and eventually ended up with almost 2 million subs! Now he’s applying what he’s learned to another channel as well.

Do you want to learn a bit of what Adam learned? and start applying this to your channel today. Want more? like Adam did and watch it change your life.

Film Student turned YouTube Employee

Matt got started in film school and moved to LA thinking he would end up as a director and screenwriter. A few years later, he discovered YouTube and thought it looked really fun! He could pursue his passion without dealing with agents and managers, etc. He could finally just create.

Matt was part of the very first “Next Up” program. There he met google employees and he felt he connected more with them than the other creators. He received funding through that program, which was great. But after their first baby was born, Matt decided he needed a steady form of revenue. He went back to YouTube and asked if they’d ever hire a creator. They just happened to be putting together a creative strategy team (which was an entirely new concept) and he continued at YouTube in various roles for the next 10 years. At the end of his time, he was given the role of listening to creators concerns and taking it to YouTube. Because of this role especially, there are a few things he wants all creators out there to understand.

Creators Don’t Own YouTube

Creators are leasing or simply utalizing the platform they are on. Creators often get mad about changes on the platform and it is understandable, but the business you run is on top of another business. If YouTube decides to make changes to their business, that’s their call, even though sometimes it will affect your business.

What can we do about it? Build a business outside of YouTube as well. Matt says, “Use YouTube as you want. Don’t let YouTube use you.” Fame is fleeting and burn out is real. For those who have been successful on YouTube (but only base their business on YouTube,) their life cycle is around 3-5 years. If you use YouTube to promote your business (but have other avenues of income streams,) your longevity will be much greater.

Pace Yourself

Play the long game. Be the tortoise, not the hair. You don’t HAVE to upload daily. You need to find a rhythm that is sustainable. Sure, the more you upload, the more views you will get. It’s emotionally engaging and you feel excited by the views, but at some point it just becomes exhausting. We were not designed to keep a full throttle pace for years and years. Find a sustainable pace and keep at it.

Change It Up

I loved the show Lost. It had a cult following with fan theories behind it, etc. But even Lost was stopped after seven seasons. All good things have to come to an end. But does that mean your channel has to end? No! But you will have to change with the times. You have to reinvent yourself every few years to stay relevant. Experiment for a few months with the same value prop, but delivering it in different ways. You will find it may grab more people’s attention and be more refreshing for you as well.

To the Creator Who is Plateauing

Once you reach those peaks and then come down, it feels like failure. You must understand that with any business, you’re going to see fluctuation. But you can not depend on a platform for your only source of revenue. All the platforms are competing against each other right now so use it for your benefit! Crank out some shorts and see if it boosts your viewership. Update your with new rituals, icons & sacred words. Use youtube the way you want to. Don’t let it consume you and don’t let it be your only source of revenue. If YouTube shut down today, would you still have a business?

Power Tip

There’s a new feature on YouTube called Clips. Clips allows you to share a small portion of a video or a livestream just by clipping it. It doesn’t create a new video, but if someone clicks the link it takes them straight to that section of your video. Learn more about it .

Have comments, reactions, questions, a YouTube tip to share, or just want to say hi? and we may use it in an upcoming podcast episode. Until then…

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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