First 6 Months Of Creating Content (And Why I’m Taking a Break)


Read time: 4 minutes. Click here to watch my video on the topic.

First_6_Months_Of_Creating_Content - Picture of writing and YouTube logo with To Be Continued text at the bottom

I'm halfway through my goal of posting 50 pieces of content. Currently I'm writing about one article and creating one YouTube video every 2 weeks, which puts me right on schedule. However, it's been a challenge and it's time to take a break. Or at least not post as frequently. I'll be back soon and will continue to work on content in the background.

The YouTube part of the content has ended up being more challenging for me. Make no mistake, writing is difficult too, but there are more dimensions to video that I need to consider. When I post a video there are always parts of it I would improve or adjust but never seem to have enough time. I choose not to let great get in the way of good, or in my case decent. I want to provide my audience ever improving content and with my current commitments I am not able to keep providing that every two weeks right now.

It's summer and I am taking full advantage of that. I've got a vegetable garden going, I'm playing as much tennis as I can, and I'm trying to spend a lot of time with friends and family as well. This content creator journey is not my main gig. It's a side project on top of my full time job and also part time job at a startup. Needless to say, I feel I have enough going on at the moment. Winter time is more manageable for me because I generally take a break from the gardening and tennis.

I respect the hustle of being a content creator. It really does become a full time job quickly if you're going to create good content and compete with other creators. Good quality content is required regularly. I'm talking 3 times a week. I see this frequency working well for other creators. At a minimum I would say once a week is required. This isn't possible for me at the moment and I've done what I can posting biweekly.

Part of the reason I started this side project is because I wanted to work on clarifying my thoughts and share interesting topics I'm learning about with you. I plan on continuing to write for that reason so keep an eye out on my blog page. There are so many fantastic video creators out there to learn from so I will be spending some time looking for ways to improve my YouTube content as well.

What would I like to improve?

Better Content

Content is more important than anything else. I want to improve the content I provide. This means better supporting media, unique information, improved presentation, and a lot more. It starts with my research and writing. During my break I'm going to continue to work on these aspects. I want my audience to have the best content for my niche.

Add Variety

My videos have no variety right now in terms of presentation. It's just me talking to a camera. I still need to master this aspect of video creation so the variety will come over time. But I do need to add more. Perhaps in the form of B-roll, switching up the filming location, and perhaps having guests. We'll see. If the variety supports the content then I think it's a good addition.

Build A Community

Eventually I'd like to have a strong community around thinking, doing, and being better. I do currently have a subreddit, but it's not very active yet. I'd like to have conversations with my audience and for them to interact with each other. I'd hope it was a diverse community. There's a lot of strength in diversity. Thinking better does not mean thinking the same. Think different.

Keep It Interesting

Boring content gets clicked off of quickly. I want to improve my video retention rate. Most people seem to watch about 20-30% of my videos on average before leaving. Clearly I have some work to do there. I think a big part of keeping it interesting is having better content, variety, and a community feel. Hence the first three thoughts above. All three work together to provide value to the audience.

Final Thoughts

I will be back so stay tuned for more content in the future. To my 3 YouTube subscribers after 6 months, I won't let you down. It's time for a break and to rethink my content. You can subscribe to my newsletter below to make sure you won't miss a post. This is a journey for me and I feel I need to get off the train at this station for a break. Thanks for understanding.

I appreciate you.

M

My thoughts are subject to change and I will get some things wrong. I promise to keep learning and strive to keep doing better. I'm by no means an expert on any topic I may write or make videos about so always do your own research as well. I try to keep an open mind. If I can teach you something and also learn something from you then I'm doing what I set out to do. Thanks for reading. These are just some thoughts.


“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou