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How To Get Started On YouTube

Struggling to hit that elusive 100-subscriber milestone?

What if I told you there’s a comprehensive checklist waiting for you, a step-by-step guide to break down the barriers that have held you back? Join me as I guide you through the essential steps to launch your YouTube channel successfully.

Episode highlights

  • Essential steps to launch a YouTube channel
  • YouTube Getting Started checklist
  • Strategies for reaching the first 100 subscribers
  • Channel branding and optimisation
  • Quick research strategies and effective video planning
  • How to create a powerful intro video
  • Batch filming

I’ve created a checklist – it’s not your average one-pager, it’s a whopping nine pages packed with actionable insights.

Hit the ground running!

Links

Transcript
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So you're convinced that you want to get started on YouTube and now's the time, but

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you just need to know the steps, like if only there was a checklist, a guide that

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would give you step 1 to 10 of what to do to get started on YouTube, you just go and

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grab it right now and get started, right?

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Well, I'm delighted to tell you that in this episode, I'm gonna tell you where to

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go and get that checklist and the steps.

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I'm gonna run through it all with you and then you can go and do it.

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That's it.

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You can go and get started and if you've got started already, and maybe you're on

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the road to your first 100 subscribers; maybe you've gone past a thousand;

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maybe this episode is not for you.

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But we'll talk about a bunch of stuff and maybe there's something in here that

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you can learn for your already successful and growing channel, in which case, head

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over to YouTube, find me on YouTube, King of Video, and subscribe to the channel.

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There's plenty of stuff there for you as well.

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I don't want to leave you out, but in this episode, we're going to focus really

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on getting started and I'd encourage you to go and download the checklist.

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So the checklist is available on kingofvideo.co.uk.

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It's called the Getting Started on YouTube Checklist.

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And I'm just going to go through in each of the individual things.

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Now the thing is with the checklist, a lot of the time, I look at these checklists

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and they literally, you download them.

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You give someone your email address, you download them and it's just

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like one page and a checklist and you're like, 'oh great.

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You know, like could you have given me more?' Actually, this

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checklist is nine pages long.

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It has the checklist at the end and there's just a little bit of detail

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and I'm just going to give you this information so probably, by the time you

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get to the page to view this, they'll probably be the link to the podcast,

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the episode you're listening, and the video, because it all works really well

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to do this and look when we talk about YouTube in general and when I talk

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about podcasting, I'm always looking for this stuff, to do this stuff, to

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add value to what I'm already doing.

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So this episode is a great example for that, you know to see how you

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can use it across multiple places.

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Also, make sure you're prepared for these things, because otherwise your brain

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goes, whoop, straight over somewhere else, especially if you're undiagnosed ADHD.

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Right, okay, so let's take a look at the checklist.

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I'm going to run through these parts on the checklist.

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There's one to ten?

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One to eight on the checklist.

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I'm going to show you what those things are, and then you can

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grab it and you can make a start.

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So the first one on the checklist, of course, if you're getting

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started on YouTube is, you must have a Google account.

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This is fairly obvious and I didn't think, I didn't use to say this to people until

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I found somebody that didn't have one.

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And then I was like, Oh my God, how can you not have a Google account?

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So you must set up a Google account.

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Please know that when you set up accounts for the first time, sometimes

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the stuff that I'm about to tell you after that takes a little bit longer.

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There's a little bit of a verification period.

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And so you might find some of these things take, 48 hours, a little bit longer

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as the accounts get created around the ecosystem, so just bear that in mind.

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So you've got to set up a Google account first at step #1.

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Step #2 is to create the channel.

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So you head over to YouTube and you can create a new channel inside of YouTube.

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Now, that used to be the case.

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I don't think it is anymore, whether you would create a personal channel

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or a brand channel, but I believe when you create a channel now, it

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automatically creates a brand channel.

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So a brand channel is great because you can have a manager.

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You can have an owner.

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You can have people that help work on the channel, whereas a

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personal channel, you can't do that.

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That's kind of one of the key differences and so a brand channel is

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just a better place to start anyway.

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Yes, you can have multiple channels if you want, but if you're just

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getting started, I highly recommend that you start with one channel.

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Now if you've had a channel for years and years and years and you've not used

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it, a new channel could be a good idea.

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I've seen this advice from some really big YouTubers recently, and they've

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said, a new channel is a good idea.

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It just depends on your goals.

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I would say it depends on your goals, and it depends on what you're

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trying to do with that channel.

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So yeah, it could be idea.

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It could be a good idea.

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I like things that have history behind them.

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So having an old channel sometimes feels good, but maybe the

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algorithm will not love you as much as if you created a new one.

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Okay, so, number 3 then, step number 3 is to brand the channel.

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Now, in this guide, do I give you the banner?

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I'm not sure if I give you it anymore.

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I used to give away a little template on branding your channel.

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It's now part of my Getting Started course, which if you download the

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guide, you'll get offered that as well.

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But you'll see an example.

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So this is my old one.

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Actually, I need to update it now.

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So recently, YouTube did a update where there used to be links on the right hand

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side and you click them and so I used to have a arrow you'll see this in the guide.

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They said download my freebies with an arrow to it.

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They've changed it.

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Now the link sits somewhere else that the links on the right hand

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side are no longer there, so I definitely need to update this.

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The one thing I'll say about branding the channel and creating

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a banner image is that it's fiddly.

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You need to test it across multiple devices.

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It's fiddly.

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The guide that I've got gives you a good, you really need to follow the

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guidance of where to put stuff in there.

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And don't discount the big image that people will use to watch on a TV.

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There's so many more people watching YouTube on TVs now,

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that you want to have that big banner that includes that as well.

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So a lot of people they'll just create a banner that's literally banner size,

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and instead you actually need a, um, a YouTube banner that fits for a TV as

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well, but has all the key information that would appear on a mobile phone,

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on a laptop, that kind of thing.

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Step number 4 is to get your first 100 subscribers.

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In this guide, one of the things I mentioned in the last couple

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of episodes, that my wife designs these, and I love that she puts

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in some extra information here.

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So, you can see it says there's certain points at which, certain

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milestones you get as a YouTuber.

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There's 100 subscribers, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000,

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10,000,000 subscribers right in there.

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Custom URL or vanity URL, it's not entirely true now.

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You can have a channel tag so that vanity URL becomes less of an issue.

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With 100 subscribers, you actually get your channel tag straight away.

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There's a YouTube Partner Programme.

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Again, in the guide, it says 4,000 watch hours.

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Actually, you only need 3,000 watch hours now, which is handy.

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It's gone down.

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The requirements have gone down.

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That's 1,000 subscribers.

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I think that's the key metric, really.

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I think when you're starting on YouTube, getting to 1,000 is where

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good things really start to happen.

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And I think I read somewhere that it's something like 5% of YouTubers

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only have 1,000 subscribers.

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It's a really small amount.

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So actually, if you can get to that amount, which is what I try

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to help people with in my programs, that's our first goal is to get

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there, because there's such a small amount of people that have got there.

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It's a good indication that you're actually really making progress, that

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people want to watch your stuff, and that you're serious about this YouTube game.

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But I give you some key, some ideas on how to get to the first 100 subscribers.

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If you head over to my YouTube channel, you'll see a video

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where I talk about this stuff.

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and you know, there's lots of different strategies you can

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use to get to 100 subscribers.

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I'm just giving you some of my best ones.

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Then, and actually it's funny because in the guide, I go research

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videos, ideas, create a video plan, film and publish an intro.

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I don't know if I'd do research before I set up my channel.

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I don't know if I'd switch that around anymore.

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I think the thing is, I think the thing is, with creating a

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channel and setting it up, I feel like you're setting an intention.

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You're kind of saying to the world, look, I'm here, I've got a

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channel, I'm going to do this thing.

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And so by putting research as #5, actually, we've created

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the channel, it's ready.

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Now we've got to come up with the content to put on it.

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So I think research can stay there for now, but I think it, you know, maybe I

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should do this as like a quick workshop where we did all of those things and

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then did the research in the same time.

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And you could do this as well, like there's nothing stopping you getting

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this done in super quick, speedy time, depending on how technical you are.

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So then, with Research Video Ideas, I give you some quick

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answers on how to research videos.

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Actually, there's loads more.

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We could go into a lot of detail there, but there's some

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quick places you could go to.

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I'll give you an idea.

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Quora, Answer The Public, YouTube itself, Google itself.

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There's some great ways to do some research, TubeBuddy, and

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there's a few of us as well.

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Once you've created your video research, and I use like a Notion document to

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come up with that research, I come up with And to kind of recommend 10 to 20

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video ideas that you might want to do.

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And then I create a plan.

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Oh right, in the creative video plan, what I'm talking about and what

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I'm referring to in that plan is, coming up with a 3-month, 90-day

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version of what your videos, what videos you're going to put out.

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So when I say 10 to 20, you get 10 to 20, you go through them, you create

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sort of 12, 13 of them and you say, yes, they're the ones that I'm going to do.

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And that's ready for three months worth of content.

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And really, if you did that, you'd be laughing, right?

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Because then you could do that once a quarter you know, I think I talked

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about batch filming before and talked about doing it every month,

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but you could do it once a quarter.

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Imagine if you could get 12 done in one go.

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I think that's too much, personally.

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I'd probably want to do three or four, but it's possible that you could do that.

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And at least if you did the planning once a quarter, then you'd always, if you know,

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did the filming every three months after that, every month after that, you would

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be able to create all this content and have a nice batch filming process as well.

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Tip #7 then, or checklist item #7 is to film and publish an intro video.

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You always need an intro video.

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Intro videos don't stay forever.

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So you could just, again, be declaring your intentions to the world.

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This is what I'm going to do on my YouTube channel.

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Come and stick around with me.

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I'm going to show you X, Y, Z.

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I'm going to teach you this thing.

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I'm going to show you that thing and then away you go.

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Like, I challenge you now, if you've not got a channel and you're getting

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started, I challenge you just to go and create a 2-3 minute video with a

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declaration of what you're going to do on the channel and just post it.

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Most people never get to the point of posting that first intro video.

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And it's ridiculous really because we might change it in 6 months time.

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We might change it in 3 months time.

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We might change it in 12 months time.

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Really doesn't matter.

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It's about getting something out there and then start getting this

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good quality content on there as well.

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Tip #8 then is to batch film the 4 videos.

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So you've got your list of your quarterly plan.

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You're gonna break that down into a list of four videos and then film

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your first 4 videos and then start publishing once you've got to video 5.

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That's the challenge.

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So you're a month ahead and you can publish one video a week.

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Okay, so the checklist is there.

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You can see it.

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There's another item on there at the bottom, which is a tip #9,

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which is all about getting lifetime access to my Getting Started course.

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If you go and download the checklist, you'll be offered the

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course, you get like a good deal the first time you download it.

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It's no obligation to buy it, but it's there if you want to, you know,

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the course is a great, a great way to understand all of those points.

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I go into detail of all of those points, even like setting up a Google account.

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I will show you the step by steps on setting up the Google account.

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So, again, I talked about, in the last episode or two, I talked about

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having no excuse to get started.

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This video, this episode is the same.

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I'm telling you the steps that you need to take like there

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is, there is nothing else.

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If you need step by step, the course is there to go and take.

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It's a low price course so that you can get started because it's in my

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interest for you to get started.

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I want you to succeed.

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I want you to do this thing.

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One thing's for sure.

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If you never get started, there's nobody will ever see your videos.

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That's for sure.

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You can guarantee that all the things that you're in your mind that you think, well,

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you know, this is going to happen, that's going to happen, all the negativity,

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all you're doing is staying safe.

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You're saying it's staying in comfort by not doing it.

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But all those things will definitely not happen if you don't publish but

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so much good stuff happens once you start publishing your videos and

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even with the podcast, you know.

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It's not a best selling podcast or in the charts or anything like that.

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It's not gonna blow you away.

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I'm not making hundreds of thousands of pounds on this podcast right now.

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But I've started and we've got consistency.

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I missed a week, but we've come back and we've got consistency and we've got

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to keep doing that in order to succeed on any platform, not YouTube, not

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podcasting, not Instagram and TikTok.

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Any platform will require the same level of consistency.

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Do it for a year, do it for a year.

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And if you want to know about that, Jerry's episode is definitely one

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worth listening to because he had a plan and you'll see how far he got to.

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Alright, my name is Matt Hughes, King of Video.

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Thanks so much for joining me on this podcast episode.

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Again, of course, share, like, blah, blah, blah.

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You know, I'm so bored of saying those things.

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In the last episode, I was like, oh, you know, I've got to keep

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saying them, I've got to keep saying them to get the message out there.

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Maybe I'll just stop saying it.

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Maybe I'll just stop saying it.

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Do you really have to tell people?

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You have to give them a call to action.

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Go and find me on YouTube right now and subscribe to my

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channel and like this video.

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Let me know that the calls to actions are working.

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And then I'll look in a month's time or two months time and I'll

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be like, nope, nobody's listened.

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Nobody did the thing.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Thanks so much.

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Bye for now.

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