Up next in 10
As a small youtuber channel there are lots of tasks you have to do, it's not all about creating a quick video and sitting back watching TV all day!
In this video I take you through all the things I need to do to try and turn my small youtuber channel into a money-making business.
#smallyoutuber #homebusiness #dayinthelife
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Blog: https://www.thegeordiegrandma.co.uk
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0:00
Hi everyone, it's Karen from the Jodie Grandma
0:07
Welcome back to my channel. Hope everybody's well. Today I thought I'd bring you a video that talks about what it's like to be a small YouTuber
0:18
I have a small YouTube channel, that is. So I started my YouTube channel about four years ago
0:27
And I really just started it as a hobby. been watching, you know, other YouTube videos
0:32
And I thought to myself, that looks fun. I wonder if I could do it
0:36
And I remember my first video was, I think it was talking about what makeup I wore
0:44
And I was so nervous doing it. And you'd think you wouldn't get nervous just sitting and talking to your camera
0:51
But all the way through it, I just kept thinking to myself, if it's rubbish, I don't have to do anything with it
0:57
I don't have to put it live. I can just scrap the whole idea
1:01
But after I'd recorded it, I thought, yeah, that's not too bad. So I'd just put it up
1:05
But that was four years ago. And like I say, it was just a hobby
1:12
I did actually give up YouTube. I think it was just after, it was December last year
1:20
I decided I wasn't going to do it anymore. After nearly three years, I thought, you know, it's my chance
1:28
I was not growing. I didn't have very many subscribers. My videos weren't getting many views
1:33
You know, maybe get 100 views. I think I had maybe 500 subscribers, something like that
1:41
maybe a few more. And I just thought, I can't keep coming up with things to talk about every day
1:48
People aren't interested in the videos I'm doing. And I just got very down about it and I gave up
1:55
and then I started again it was probably about eight months later
2:04
so it couldn't have been December last year when my last video went up
2:10
it was at least eight months between stopping doing it and then starting again
2:14
so I can't remember exactly what month it was but yeah then I think somebody said to us on Instagram
2:21
or I miss your videos and I thought well, somebody misses us so maybe other people like them as well
2:27
So I decided to start again. And it coincided with the time when I stopped my eBay business
2:35
And I thought to myself, I wonder if I could actually turn the YouTube channel into a business
2:42
and actually eventually make money from it. Just as a spoiler here, I'm not making any money from it yet
2:51
So I thought what I'd do is, because I think a lot of people think it's easy having a YouTube channel, you know
2:56
just pick your camera up, talk to it and whack it up on YouTube
3:00
and there you go, you get 20,000 subscribers and tons of money
3:05
It's not like that. So I just thought I talk you through the kinds of things that I do
3:11
maybe on a daily basis for the YouTube channel. Currently, I'm not working in any other job apart from doing YouTube
3:21
and I also have a blog called the Georgie Grandma as well. So I'm trying to do both of them
3:27
and hopefully I can make some money out of them. So I try to spend two or three days on just doing YouTube stuff
3:34
and then two or three days working on the blog. So the first thing I would do for the YouTube channel
3:42
is you need to do some research. You can't just talk about anything
3:48
You know, I couldn't sit here and just make a 20-minute video. about my cat
3:53
I mean, if she did something extra special, maybe you could. But I can't sit here and do all the videos about something that, you know
4:01
I'm interested in. I have to put things out there that you're interested in so I can, you know, get more
4:08
subscribers and get more views and things like that. So I do do a little bit of research
4:13
I would go and research other YouTube channels, see what other lifestyle channels are doing
4:19
because this is what this channel is. It's all about the lifestyle of, you know, a woman over 60 or over 50, well, which I was when I started
4:29
So I'll research other YouTube channels. The danger with that is, is when you find some good videos and good topics that you want to do, you can't copy them
4:41
I don't want to just be a copycat of other people's videos
4:44
And it's quite hard not to do that, especially, you know, YouTubers that you may really like
4:50
look up to, it would be quite easy just to copy, you know, step by step what they do, but you have
4:57
to kind of put your own spin on it. Otherwise, you know, you're not going to get very far. You have
5:01
to do something a little bit different. So you have to find, you know, topics that probably people
5:07
have done because there's probably not many topics out there that people haven't done. So you're
5:12
finding topics that you can put your own spin on. So the next thing I would do after I'd researched
5:17
some topics and come up with a video that I was interested. in. I need to plan the video. There has been occasions where I've just put the camera on
5:27
and just started talking a camera about the topic that I want to talk about. In those videos
5:32
never really work out very well. I always end up going off on a tangent or getting tongue-tied
5:38
or, you know, forget what I'm talking about. So I try and plan it out. So I always start my
5:45
YouTube videos in exactly the same way and I always end them in exactly the same
5:50
same way. And the reason I do that is because when I first started, I thought to myself
5:56
how do I just get into the video? You know, I can't, I can't just start the video and go straight
6:03
into the topic I have to say something first So I always say you know hi everyone I Karen from the Joddy Grandma and I always end it Hope you find this interest and that all I got for you by for now It just gives me a way of getting straight into it and actually coming out of the video
6:20
That makes it easy for me. I do make notes on what I'm going to talk about and I'll put a picture in here of an example of notes I made about a recent video I did on my favourite UK holiday destination, which was 10B
6:34
So I try, if I'm doing something like that, I'll try and work out
6:38
which pictures I've got, which photos I've got that I can show in that video
6:43
and I'll kind of plan it around that. For 10B, I think I picked three attractions in the 10B area that I could talk about
6:53
and I knew I had pictures on, and I just bullet point what I'm going to say about each thing
7:00
and then I'll kind of look at my notes as I'm talking to camera
7:05
and then I can kind of keep the flow going. planning, I also need to work out exactly what I'm going to need for that video
7:13
Equipment-wise, I use my iPhone. I've just recently getting an iPhone 14, so I use the camera on there
7:22
I use a tripod that goes kind of full height, six foot height, maybe it's not six foot
7:28
maybe it's five foot, but it's a tall tripod, so if I'm standing up, I can put my camera on it
7:34
and you can see as full length. So I use that. I do have a ringlight on the tripod and I've also got a smaller tripod with a ring light on as well
7:45
In case the lighting isn't brilliant. The lightning in my house for daylight isn't that good
7:52
And daylight's always best to do a YouTube video in. So that's why we have the ring lights
7:57
I also need to plan out, you know, I jot down if I'm doing like a favourites video and I'm talking about specific products or, you know, TV programs, book, something like
8:08
that I need to write down everything that I'm going to talk about. I need to have all the products
8:15
to hand so I can show you them. There has been times again when I haven't planned very well
8:20
and I've looked at the table in front of us and thought I forgot that product I'm just about
8:25
to talk about. Some having to stop the video and go and get the product and then come back
8:29
and start it again. So it's always a good idea to write each item down and then I can have
8:35
them all to hand when I start the video. Again, like I said, with the 10b video, if I'm going
8:41
you know, if I'm going to talk about different places, I need to go through and plan
8:46
write it down what photos I'm going to be shown. So I know when I'm talking about that photo
8:52
I can say, you know, there's a photo here that you can look at. If I'm doing a vlog of some
8:58
kind, so I have done a couple of vlogs when I've been on holiday, that's a little bit, I found that
9:04
a little bit more difficult because I haven't planned those. I've just kind of got my camera out
9:10
I did a one in Whitby and Scarborough and I just kind of got my camera out and just winged it
9:16
And it wasn't the best video I've ever done, I have to say. So I'm going to Dubrovnik in a couple of weeks' time
9:23
And what I'm going to do is I'm going to plan the attractions
9:28
or the sites that I'd like to show on my video. So I'd like to, you know, do a tour of the hotel
9:34
in the room I'm staying in, I'd like to maybe do the sites where, you know, Game of Thrones
9:40
was filmed. I may want to show the food that you can get in Dubrovnik
9:44
So I'm going to try and plan that out. So I'm not just kind of wandering around with my camera thinking, oh, I better film this
9:51
I better film that. So it is much better to plan. So that would also go into a day in the life of a small YouTuber
9:59
You do also need to think about the title of your videos and the thumbnails
10:04
for your videos. So the thumbnail, if you're not sure what that is, that's just the picture
10:09
that shows up on YouTube. You know, when you're scrolling through those other pictures
10:13
you see, that's what the thumbnail is. And the titles, the words you put in there, are what
10:18
are going to show up when somebody's doing a search on YouTube. So, you know, if I'm doing my
10:23
favourite UK holiday is 10B, if somebody puts 10B in, I'm hoping that shows up
10:30
There are ways of actually finding out what keywords people are searching for
10:34
but I'm not going to go into that much detail on this video
10:38
maybe in a future one. So you have to think about the title. You know, you couldn't just put up 10B
10:44
or this is my holiday because this is my holiday is not going to get searched for
10:50
And it's not a very attractive title. You have to try and think of a title
10:54
It's going to make somebody want to click and think, I want to watch that. And that's not an easy thing to do, as you know
11:00
I've probably noticed from a lot of my videos. I'm just quite getting a hang of it
11:04
it and the thumbnails they're even you know sometimes a bit more difficult as well because the
11:11
thumbnail is the picture that you see and I know I've scrolled past tons of um you know thumbnails on
11:17
YouTube because the picture look boring so you have to think about the picture needs to go with
11:23
you know what you're talking about and that is quite difficult and if you think of what what you're
11:28
you know you think of what your thumbnail wants what you want your thumbnail to be before you start
11:33
recording the video, you'll kind of know to include that pose or that picture within that
11:40
video or take some still pictures after the video. So you've already got the thumbnail and you're
11:46
not halfway through editing and doing your thumbnail and thinking, I haven't got the right pictures
11:50
So I use Canva to do my thumbnails in and I do use the pro version, which I find really useful
11:58
So, you know, if anybody's out there who has got a small YouTube channel, I do find that
12:03
kind of are really useful for doing the thumbnails. There is a free version of it as well
12:08
which is really decent. So before I put my camera on and press the record button
12:15
I'll just, I'll look through the camera. So I'm looking now, and I just trying to see what is around us because sometimes if you don check you might have a lot of things in there that you don really want people to see I was doing a video I think it was a couple of weeks ago and I didn check
12:35
And then afterwards, I kind of saw in the corner of my eye my clothes era in the kitchen
12:43
and I had underwear on it. And I'm thinking, can you see the underwear in that
12:47
You could see the corner of the clothes era, but you couldn't see the underwear, so I just left it
12:52
But, you know, if it had been a wider angle, then you may have seen all my underway on that close area
12:58
and that wasn't really the vibe I was going for. So I do need to check around, you know
13:03
just before I start recording, just to see that there's nothing lying around that I don't particularly want you to see
13:12
There wouldn't really be much else than that. Maybe no personal photographs that might be out
13:17
You might not want people to see. So it is a good idea just to have a check around before you press that record button
13:22
So after the recording, that's kind of the easy bit. Then you have to, well, I upload it to my desktop computer and I edit it on a software
13:35
It's a free software and it's called Shotcutt. I know a lot of people who do YouTube videos use iMovie to edit their videos and they find that really easy
13:47
But I think you have to use Imovie on your phone. and for me it's too fiddly
13:53
I can't see it properly. I prefer to actually type on a keyboard
13:58
and use the mouse and I like to see it on a desktop PC
14:02
so I edit my videos on something called Shotcut. It's not the best software in the world
14:08
but it's the one I've been using for about three years now
14:12
and I find it quite simple although there is some things on there
14:17
I can't do with it so I'm going to have to start looking for some better software and maybe pay a small amount for it to use
14:24
While I'm editing, I'll cut bits out. So if I've had to do, you know, I might say something where I don't know where I'm going
14:33
next and I'll kind of fluff the words and I'll edit that out
14:37
I'll cut that bit out. I don't think I've ever put a video up where I haven't edited something out because it is
14:45
quite hard to talk to camera and you do make mistakes. I suppose it's like being an actor on a TV program, you know, they'll maybe do more than one
14:54
take on a few things. So it's just the same with recording a YouTube video. So once you've done
14:59
all of the editing and you check it through that, you know, everything's right, particularly when I'm
15:04
doing try on videos, because sometimes I leave the camera running while I'm changing clothes. So I need to
15:11
you know, watch it at least twice just to make sure there is no shots of me changing clothes
15:17
because you really don't want to see me in my underwear. So I need to make sure those bits are cut out
15:25
So I double check that I've got it right. So once it's all edited
15:30
then you have to upload it to YouTube. Sometimes there are technical hitches with that
15:37
I've had technical hitches a few times where maybe my internet wasn't working properly
15:41
or for some reason it just wouldn't upload to YouTube properly. I have known myself there was recently when I was uploading a video for the Sunday sunshine show with the transatlantic housewives
15:55
It needed to be uploaded and scheduled to go live at half seven on the Sunday morning
16:02
And I was still trying to upload it at 10 o'clock on the Saturday night
16:07
That is quite stressful. So you need to give yourself plenty time
16:11
So this is why the planning, you know, the planning comes in. so you do everything when you need to and you're not leaving things until the last minute
16:19
because things do go wrong. So before you hit the button to actually schedule it or make it go live
16:27
you have to add your titles into the back end of YouTube
16:31
You put your description in so you're putting more keywords in there so hopefully people can
16:35
find you. You need to remember to put any links in there that you've talked about that you said you would link to
16:41
you need to make sure that's all right. You need to upload your thumbnail that's going to go with it
16:48
You need to put the category of the video so YouTube knows what category it's in
16:53
You need to put, if you've got playlists set up on YouTube, you need to put the video on the right playlist
16:58
So there's lots of things to think about on that back end of YouTube before you press the button for it to go live
17:05
So once your YouTube video's gone live, after a few hours, you need to be checking your ytics
17:09
to see how your videos are doing. and you know, are people watching them? Is it performing well
17:15
Are you getting liked? Are you getting comments? You need to be answering the comments
17:20
You can't just, you know, let people comment and then say nothing
17:24
And I like to, you know, comment personally to each person that's taken time to comment on your video
17:32
I think once, you know, once your subscriber start to grow and once you start getting hundreds and hundreds of comments
17:39
I think that's probably going to be more difficult. But at the moment, mine are quite manageable
17:44
I make maybe 30 maximum 40 comments on a video. So that is doable
17:50
I can handle that. But like I say, once I start getting more subscribers, fingers crossed
17:55
that might get a little bit more unmanageable. Looking at the performance of each video is a good indicator
18:03
on whether the subject you're talking about is, you know, people want to watch it or whether maybe the keywords
18:11
are just not writing people on finding it. Maybe the thumbnail isn't attractive to people
18:17
and they're not clicking on it. But you can see within your ytics
18:20
which videos are performing worst. So, for example, for me, this one I did about
18:27
it was a get ready with me and it was a Charlotte Tilbury summer look
18:32
summer makeup look. This one didn't perform well at all. I think it had about 145 views And I not really sure why maybe it the thumbnail Maybe people aren interested in Charlotte Tilbury I not sure why that video didn perform well
18:47
But the more you do the videos, the more you get a feel for what's not right on them
18:53
So maybe it was the thumbnail or maybe it was the Charlotte Tilbury makeup
18:57
People just, my viewers, just aren't interested in. Because going back to the ytics, another thing you need to check is that the people that
19:06
you're reaching are the audience that you are aiming these things at. So for me, I'm aiming my
19:13
content at women who are over 50. So if you go into your ytics on the YouTube studio
19:19
you can actually see the age of the people who are watching your videos. And you can see from
19:24
mine that I am hitting the right audience. You know, the majority of my viewers are between
19:30
the ages of 50 and over 65. So that is the audience I want. So I am hitting the right audience
19:36
audience. My best performing videos have been try-on halls. So I did a Tesco F&F clothing tri-on
19:46
hole. I think it was earlier this year. And it's had over 4,000 views now that is my highest
19:52
ever views on my channel. I usually get around 400, something like that. But the try-on ones
20:00
do tend to get more. But this Tesco F-N-F-F-1 just went crazy for some reason
20:06
and I don't know why. I can't figure that out. And I also recently did a yours clothing try on hole
20:13
And I think that's had over 2,000 views as well. So again, the clothing try on holes are really popular
20:22
But as a YouTuber, it is, I don't want to keep doing clothing try on holes, you know, three times a week
20:30
I couldn't possibly do it. I can't afford to buy all those clothes
20:34
because it's not just that you, yes, you can buy them and send them back, which is a pain
20:41
But at our tent, I'll buy them and I usually keep some of them more than I'm supposed to
20:47
The idea is that I get the clothes from these different places, I try them on and I show, you know, people who are watching the video
20:56
what they would look like on a woman over 50, over 60, who is a plus size
21:01
that's the idea of it. The idea is not to keep all of the clothes
21:05
because that could get quite expensive. But again, I need to do the videos
21:10
that people want to watch. So I have to get like a, you know, a good mix
21:17
I have to kind of balance it. The only other thing that I would do on a daily basis
21:22
is a small YouTuber is to learn. So by watching other YouTubers who have got, you know
21:31
thousands and thousands of subscribers. I can learn how they do things, maybe not the exact
21:37
topics, but I can learn different techniques they might use. And I also watch videos
21:43
specifically about YouTube and what other creators do. So not just lifestyle videos, but videos
21:53
about people who are YouTubers and they'll give you tips and tricks and you can learn about
21:58
you know, what equipment you should have, what, um, what, um, software you should be using different things like that
22:04
So you have to do that on a daily basis as well. Maybe it's not a daily basis
22:08
but you would fit it in somewhere on a day that you are working on YouTube
22:13
So those are all of the things that I would do as a small YouTuber
22:19
So it is quite a lot of stuff. It is, you know, it is a proper business
22:24
I am trying to run this as a business. If you're doing it as a hobby
22:30
it's not going to be as difficult. But if you do start, you know, gaining some traction and getting
22:35
lots of views and lots of subscribers, then why not try and turn it into a business if that's what
22:41
you want to do? But you do have to think about all of these things. You know, the research
22:45
the planning, the recording, the editing, looking at the ytics and learning, answering comments
22:53
There is a lot to it. I can spend a full day just doing one video. It does take it. It does take
23:00
up a lot of time. Like I said, I'm not making money at the moment to make money on YouTube or to make
23:06
money with the adverts that they put on your, you know, on your videos and for YouTube to pay you
23:11
you have to have over 1,000 subscribers, which I've got. And you have to have 4,000 watch hours
23:18
over 365 days. And I am so close to that 4,000 now. I think I've got something like
23:25
3,900 and something. So once I hit 4,000, I'll be able to apply to be monetised on YouTube
23:33
which means I'll probably get like three pence every time somebody watches an advert on
23:39
the channel. So I don't think I'm ever going to be a millionaire, not that way anyway
23:44
But I'm hoping combined with my blog, which is a little bit easier to make money on
23:49
because you can, you know, you sell links to brands that want to put something on a blog post
23:55
you've got that will when somebody clicks on it it goes back to their website that is a little bit
24:00
more easier and make money on that i may make another video someday on blogging if anybody's interested
24:07
so hopefully i can get monetized very very soon if you did enjoy this video please give it a
24:13
thumbs up if you haven't already subscribed to my channel um it would be lovely if you did it does
24:19
help uh you know boost me in in youtube search and things like that um it's a
24:25
free to subscribe if there's anybody out there who didn't realize that. And if you click the little
24:31
notification bell, you'll get notified when I put a new video up. I do do videos three times a
24:37
week and I do a variety of different topics from try on holes, favorites, beauty things, get
24:44
ready with me. I talk about TV programs, books, all sorts of things. So that's all I've got for you
24:51
today. I'll see again soon. So bye for now
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