Dear Ones,

I published my first YouTube video yesterday! Here it is in all its beginner glory:

If you don't mind, please SUBSCRIBE (I know, I know...) and interact with the post (leave a comment, even just an emoji) to substantially boost the algorithms.

My goal is 1K subs and 4K watch hours (minimum to monetization), and take you along on the journey so you can get there too (if that's what you'd like to do!)

YouTube Development Timeline to 1st Video:

• Over 2 weeks to set up my video production space

• 4 min 50s to film in one take

• 5 min to make the thumbnail

• 10 min to add descriptions and tags, upload

The Decent:

• Streaming 100 episodes of Evening Drama has helped me do a decent job with a one-take video (you can see the difference in my personal comfort with being filmed between Episode 1 and Episode 100, over the span of 2 years.) Visa’s Do 100 Thing framework just works.

• The set and lighting setup was done in collaboration with my coach and friend Joshua Berrios. I met Joshua as a fellow host for Flow Club, and I was blown away by how good his video looked compared to the rest of us. It has been instrumental get specific skills coaching as foundation instead of self-teaching through YouTube or a full-blown cohort-based course. As I explained to my friend Lyssa... it's like going to the doctor who can diagnose your issues, rather than guessing what they are by yourself.

Some snapshots of the setup evolution (there's 10X more photos but I'm sparing you the rest):

(I'm working on a more detailed piece on how to set video up for more credibility on Zoom in video production. Stay tuned!)

The Work-In-Progress:

Before listing the litany of things to improve, one thing I want to note is that usually this is where I stall--I'm pretty good about doing something for the first time, but tend to get stuck when I can see all the problems that need to be fixed. But I've finally learned that the key to skill acquisition is INCREASE PRODUCTION VOLUME FIRST. Instead of trying to fix everything, my goal is to fix 1 thing per video over the course of many videos.

Here’s a compilation of issues I spotted the moment I hit stop recording, and kind friends who gave me feedback (keep them coming!)

• Look at the LENS and not the screen preview! Duh!

• Lean back and not towards the camera, adjust camera height so it's more eye level

• Shoot directly, don't use Zoom (I did this to uh, "touch up my appearance", but Zoom's native resolution is too low and the audio quality isn't that great.)

• Fix overall audio issues (found a tutorial on using OBS to filter mics...)

• Provide CONTEXT for the story I'm telling (something I'm known to skip IRL too…)

• Cut the end part when I look at the screen to hit stop recording

• Add visuals when relevant to explanation (I might literally just hold up an iPad with prepared visuals to save some editing time)

• Optimize YouTube tags, key words, etc. with tools

My goal is to not spend too much time on any one video to prevent stalling. Here we go!

Warm Wishes,

Christin