Lessons after publishing 100 YouTube videos

Recently, I crossed the 100-video mark on my F1 YouTube channel, Machined Nut. Some months ago, I was feeling lost, and my solution was to shift the focus to effort, rather than the circumstances I’ve been presented with.

I set a few ambitious content creation goals, which included 100 YouTube videos, among others.

To be honest, it’s been a bit more than a week since that goal was achieved. But I couldn’t do this analysis because things were slightly fucked up.

There were some health issues and uncertainties at work that screwed me even further. It took a while to fix them all, considering my days are jam-packed with tough tasks with non-negotiable deadlines.

Anyway, the day is finally here, and I must do what’s required. Summarizing the key lessons is critical for charting the next part of this journey.

1. Real is rewarding

As I continued on in my content creator journey, I realized that audiences love emotions, especially when they reflect the truth. Emotions are one of the most relatable things in this world and can instantly help you make a connection.

However, an unspoken nuance is that they must reflect reality. 

There are plenty of creators and performers who fake expressions that may suit the situation they’re in. That only works in the short term. Fabricating emotions is draining and, honestly, people will catch up to you when you’re being disingenuous.

In a way, expressing emotions when performing in front of the camera is easy for me because I actually enjoy Formula 1. But the difficult part was the performing bit. Many a time, I refrained from saying the things I wanted to say to avoid getting deplatformed.

Over time, with practice, I discovered a sweet spot where I can be as emotional as I need to be without uttering non-PC terminology that may get me banned, even though people might love it.

Life is all about balance.

2. Money is never the goal

One of the biggest challenges content creators of today face is creating because they enjoy it. 

And, on a certain level, it’s not their fault. Most of the platforms, including YouTube, make it too easy to track the commercial metrics, such as views and subscribers. Subconsciously, we evolve the creative process to optimize and maximize those metrics because that’s how humans operate by design.

It took me a while to get out of that mold. Yes, I would love nothing more than making tons of money from YouTube or any other content creation endeavour. But I’ve been creating content for a long time, and most of it was because I simply wanted to.

Most of the articles I wrote and videos I produced aren’t even published. The joy I derived from letting my thoughts go wild on a blank Word doc or in front of the camera trumps their monetization potential.

Furthermore, if I “make it” as a creator, I will still talk trash to F1 drivers on my YouTube channel and critique the FIA. So, in a way, it doesn’t even matter.

3. Volume first, quality later

A mistake I made toward the beginning of my content creation journey was to listen to established creators. MrBeast famously emphasized that a few well-done videos are better than many poorly produced ones.

While that is a good practical tip, it does little for beginners because their content quality is shit in the first place. Even their best effort will be no good. And when they reduce their volume of production, all they are doing is slowing down their rate of progress.

After realizing this, I ramped up my content creation efforts and started posting almost every goddamn day. Most of the videos didn’t even garner 30 views, but they improved my skills.

There are several moving parts in a typical content creation workflow, whether you are writing blog posts or sketching portraits. Each of them needs to be mastered to a certain threshold before it starts to adequately entertain your audience.

And it takes a lot of practice.

For instance, consider YouTube. A component of publishing YouTube videos is designing thumbnails. How can you become good at that if you only create one thumbnail a week?

Similarly, researching a topic, crafting a narrative, and presenting in front of the camera requires hours of training.

I quickly took a trip down memory lane about my journey as a content writer. Typically, I write about 2000 words per day, including weekends. Different styles and formats. With that type of volume, it took me a handful of years before I could confidently say that I am the best.

Same with video production.

I still have a long way to go in terms of improving my abilities to properly reflect my frustration with Ferrari while entertaining my viewers. There are bits and pieces that are working well, but I need to continue to push and get better.

After my skills are where I want them to be, where I can say I am the best, then, maybe, I can decrease my volume of production. But until then, volume is the answer.

4. Patience is hard to come by

I don’t do well in the waiting phases. I hate the limbo. Even at work, when I have to wait for an assignment, I get anxious.

The same issue persists with YouTube content creation. It’s difficult for me to wait until the next Grand Prix or the next moment when I will be recording a video. 

Currently, F1’s summer break is ongoing, and I am pissed off. I need on-track action to happen because I like yelling at my TV and love talking trash to the drivers who performed poorly.

This is also true with being calm with the growth of my channel and the rate of improvement of my skills. Honestly, it’s a personality trait that I discovered about myself rather than a content creation lesson, per se.

Either way, I have to find different ways to keep calm and continue to push as much as possible whenever the opportunity arises. Life also throws curveballs, which take up time and energy that I could be spending yapping in front of a camera.

Looking forward: Get better at talking

Right now, the biggest area of improvement is presenting in front of the camera. Being a non-native English speaker, it’s challenging. Fortunately, the past 100 videos have improved me significantly, and I am excited for the second half of the season.

It’s going to take a while and perhaps 100 videos more, but I will get there. 

The most important priority right now is to stay patient and wait for the video-creation opportunities as they come. I can’t force time to go faster and skip any steps in this amazing journey.

Whenever I start to feel anxious, I just take a few sips of water and focus on the positives.

Until next time,

Tara