starting a youtube channel

BLOG #9: How it Started

Hey guys,

Lets be honest, I am new at this “creator” thing and sometimes I don’t know what to write about haha! If you have any ideas, please feel free to share! I figured this week we can go through how it all started and what each of our roles are!

Okay, let’s go back a bit. In the beginning of 2020, David decided he wanted to start a Youtube channel. He was and still is super interested and intrigued with social media and how the algorithms work. WAIT…. back up. Lets go back a little further into the end of 2019 when my niece decided to show “Uncle David” TikTok. Dave at first thought it was just a platform for kids but then slowly started looking more into it. This platform meshed perfectly with his sense of humor and began to dabble with it, making a couple videos here and there and then he became popular. From this, TikTok community began asking if he had a YouTube channel… We also knew that our big move was a possibility at this point (HINT: can you spot it in his first video linked below?). Now at this time there wasn’t much to film, and starting a channel with just daily lifestyle blogging, unless you have a super interesting life, is going to take a LONG time. But, nevertheless, he wanted to try it. Fast forward a couple months and COVID starts hitting Nova Scotia and a shut down is in place. No place to go, not many things to do in the house, and since we are huge Disney fans we decided to make Disney recipes. It helped with the consistency of the channel (needed for the algorithm), gave us something to do and gave David more practice editing.

Now, my whole point of talking about this is that social media, mainly our Youtube channel, is Davids baby. I have to give all the credit to him, he had the dream, decided to take the plunge, studied the algorithm, does all the editing, and to be frank… He did 100% of the work up until a couple months ago. SO, you can imagine, it is hard to let someone help him since he grew this from nothing. With some persuasion, I was able to start to help him out little by little with him showing me the different platforms. I want to be more involved in everything EXCEPT the editing LOL. The effort and precision he puts into his editing is something I don’t think I could compete with.

So, what have I been up to lately with the channel? I LOVE organization!! Without it I don’t feel productive at all. I am the one behind the scenes answering comments, slowly taking over the emails, taking everyones suggestions, researching them and putting them into our list of places to go. Yes, we really do look into every suggestion that you guys give us! From this, they are split into 3 categories: day tips, weekend trip, and “need to take vacation” trips. From there, depending on our availability, we pick from the list and start planning.

I find it so neat that how we are all learning from each other. Well us mainly learning from Kenyans haha and where to go, but at the same time, when have a different perspective and different set off eyes, we are also showing them places that some never knew about. And it would be the same if we were in Nova Scotia. Since I was born and raised there, I feel as though I “saw it all” when in reality, there are so many hidden gems there but I just never looked far enough. I encourage everyone, wherever you are, to explore and travel your own country/province as if it were your first time going there and rediscover the beauty that it has to offer and you won’t be disappointed. Go for hikes, make your own food tours, visit every local cafe, etc.. Just try it! Especially now with COVID, if you are able to not be in lockdown, local businesses need you, they need all the help they can get, especially those places that run and survive off tourism. This is the time, pull together and do what we can to help our world survive, because we all know that the world needs some more positivity in a time like this. 

Until next time,

Tracey

PS. Below is David’s first ever Youtube Video, Check it out!!

Starting A YouTube Channel in 2020

82B72251-200D-430F-8595-7420F9A67D30.jpeg

I always wanted to have my own YouTube Channel but was thinking that the competition was way to high for me. Afterall there is over 400 hours of content uploaded on the plateforme every minute which is completely crazy!

But on December 31st 2019, I went on my YouTube account and clicked on “create a channel”. Following this big step, I took my iPhone 7 and started to make videos, mostly vlog style content. After a few videos, I realized how much I enjoyed making content even thaugh none of my videos were watched by no more than 20 to 40 people, including my mom and wife…

From that point I decided to invest a few dollars into my new hobby because this is what it is for me at this point, a hobby. I got myself a Canon M50, a little trip and a microphone, just enough to make good videos that are enjoyable to watch, quality wise.

Yesterday, I reached 300 subscribers which I am very happy with since I only started 4 months ago.

Here are a few tips for beginners like me.

  1. Filming: Using your phone to start is more than fine. But make sure that you put the effort in making sure your footage are not over or under exposed and that your sound is good enough. Film horizontally (16:9) and as much as possible use the back camera of your phone and not the selfie one as the quality of it is not as great.

  2. Editing: Now a days, there is A LOT of great apps to edit videos directly on your phone. I highly recommande “InShot” available on the App Store. This app only costs a few dollars and comes with a multitude of fonctions you would find on more advanced editing softwares. This app also has a decent library of royalty free music.

  3. First Few Subscribers: Getting your first 1000 subs is the most difficult thing you will do as a YouTuber. Trust me I am still working hard on that. But what is harder than the first 1000 is definitely the first 100. Therefor, use your friends and family to get a little bit of traction. Promoting your videos on your other plateformes like Instagram, twitter and Facebook is also a great idea.

  4. Consistency: Right from the start, you need to decide how many times a week you want to upload and stick to it. You want to upload your videos on the same day and same time of the day, every time. I highly suggest one video a week to start. It is more work than most people think and you do not want to burn yourself right from the start.

  5. Quality Over Quantity: A lot of pro YouTubers will tell you to upload as much as you can none stop. I highly suggest that you focus on making high quality content over pumping as many videos as you can as fast as possible.

  6. Be Authentic: Everyone says that all the time about everything but if there is one place where this is 100% true, it is on YouTube. Think about it! It is easy to fake something on a photo or on a 15 seconds story on Instagram but it is much harder to do it in a 20 minutes video. When people are subscribing to a YouTube Channel it is normally because they feel a connection with the YouTuber. So be yourself, be authentic and people will see and appreciate that.

Hopefully those little tips and tricks will help you start your Channel and give you a head start on your way to YouTube success.

If you like positivity and laughters, check out my YouTube Channel!

Starting a YouTube Channel

During this weird moment in our history, to say the less, it is the PERFECT time to pick up a new hobby. It is not a secret to anyone, I am an extravert and love putting myself out there. So I decided bring up my vlogging game by going all in and investing and what I enjoy doing.

After doing a lot of research, as I do not have any knowledge in camera gear, I went online, as we are not allowed to go anywhere (#pandemic2020) and picked up a brand new Canon EOS M50 which according to reviews is the best camera for vlogging. On top of that, I bought a Joby tripod which is amazing so far and a 128gb memory card which should be enough at the moment. All that came to a total of just under $1000 Canadian, pretty good right!

After using my Canon M50 for a few days now, I can say that it is great, and very easy to use even for me who is a complete beginner. The quality of the image is nice and crisp, the camera itself is small and light and the screen can be flipped around just in case you want to talk to the camera… #vloggerlife

This camera is everything I wanted and I highly recommended it for anyone who wants to get a little more serious about their YouTube game.


Check out the difference once I go from my OLD iPhone 7 to my brand new Canon EOS M50. It is not perfect, but I will get better at using it I swear!

Want to check out what I bought? Here are all the links you need:
Canon M50 - https://amzn.to/2WP1zWD
Joby Gorillapod - https://amzn.to/33QNgCt
Sand Disk SD Card - 128gb https://amzn.to/2JnFhmM