How I Started My YouTube Channel in My Spare Time

Starting and Growing a YouTube Channel

In this section, the speaker talks about how starting and growing his YouTube channel changed his life. He also discusses the three levers of success in business and how they apply to YouTube.

The Three Levers of Success

• The three levers of success are strategy, execution, and consistency.

• These levers can be applied to any business or creative endeavor.

• Skill, time, energy, and money are some of the ingredients that go into these three levers of success.

Starting a YouTube Channel

• Unlike other businesses that require a lot of money or skill to get started with, anyone with access to a phone and an internet connection can learn the skills needed to start a YouTube channel for free.

• Time and energy are the only real things that hold people back from starting a successful YouTube channel in their spare time.

Building Systems and Leverage for Your YouTube Channel

In this section, the speaker discusses how he was able to grow his YouTube channel while having a full-time job by building systems and leveraging his time effectively.

The Framework for Success on YouTube

• Success on YouTube (and in business generally) can be boiled down to doing the right things (strategy), doing those things right (execution), and doing them consistently over time.

• Strategy involves figuring out what works best for your audience and creating content around that. Execution involves making high-quality videos that engage your audience. Consistency involves posting videos on a regular schedule.

Building Systems and Leverage

• Building systems involves creating processes that make it easier to create content, such as templates for video editing or scripts for filming.

• Leveraging your time effectively involves finding ways to get more done in less time, such as outsourcing tasks or repurposing content across different platforms.

Making the Most of Your Time and Energy

• To make the most of your time and energy, it's important to prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency.

• It's also important to take breaks and recharge your energy levels regularly.

How to Make the Most of Your Time and Energy

In this section, Ali Abdaal talks about how it's difficult to grow a YouTube channel while having a full-time job. He explains that he needed strategy, execution, and consistency when starting his channel during med school. He also discusses two ways to make the most of limited time and energy: leverage and personal productivity.

Leverage

• Leverage is putting in the same amount of work as someone else but getting more output.

• Building systems is one way to increase leverage. McDonald's is an example of a business that has created systems for everything.

• Having a system or checklist can help increase leverage in any field.

Personal Productivity

• Personal productivity involves finding ways to be more efficient with your time.

• Ali recommends using the Pomodoro technique, which involves working for 25 minutes and taking a 5-minute break.

• Another tip is to prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency.

Conclusion

Ali emphasizes the importance of leveraging systems and increasing personal productivity when trying to grow a YouTube channel while having limited time and energy. By building systems and finding ways to be more efficient with your time, you can achieve more with less effort.

Leveraging Systems and People for YouTube Growth

In this section, the speaker discusses how leveraging systems and people can help grow a YouTube channel.

Leveraging Systems

• The speaker learned that using systems can save time and energy in growing a channel.

• The Part-Time YouTuber Academy teaches about systems.

Leveraging People

• People are an incredible form of leverage.

• Outsourcing editing has been the single biggest needle mover for the speaker's channel growth.

• Outsourcing frees up time to focus on other aspects of video creation and personal life.

• The Part-Time YouTuber Academy teaches how to outsource editing effectively.

Personal Experience with Outsourcing

• The speaker first discovered the power of outsourcing when reading "The 4-Hour Work Week" at age 17.

• In their first business, they hired outsourced people to do data entry while they focused on coding.

• It took two years for the speaker to outsource their video editing but it was worth it in terms of saved time and increased productivity.

Outsourcing Editing with Fiverr

In this section, the speaker talks about outsourcing editing and recommends using Fiverr as a platform to find freelancers for almost any skill.

Using Fiverr for Freelance Marketplace

• Fiverr is a fully-fledged freelance marketplace where you can find specialists in almost any skill.

• The platform has transformed from a place where kids offer psychic readings for $5 into a professional marketplace.

Experimenting with Outsourcing Video Editing

• The speaker received an email from the team at Fiverr to do a video on how to use the platform to outsource video editing.

• They decided to send five different editors on Fiverr five tips for boosting personal productivity and see what kind of video editing they would get at different price points.

Benefits of Outsourcing

• Outsourcing can be a massive way of boosting your own average and making the most of your limited time and energy.

• Applying leverage by hiring specialists to do things that you don't want or aren't good at can help you make the most of your time and energy.

Conclusion

• If you're thinking of taking YouTube seriously or starting a business, experimenting with outsourcing can be beneficial. This experiment shows that outsourcing isn't hard, and platforms like Fiverr make it easy to find freelancers for almost any skill.

Tips for Productivity on YouTube

In this video, the speaker shares tips and insights on how to be productive when working on a YouTube channel. The tips include making the most of short periods of time, multitasking learning through audio, and using productive procrastination.

Making the Most of Short Periods of Time

• Use short periods of time to write bullet points for videos or generate ideas.

• Editing a thumbnail can also be done in five to ten minutes.

• Avoid thinking that you need a whole block of uninterrupted time to do something.

Multitasking Learning Through Audio

• Continuously learn skills needed to improve by listening to podcasts, audiobooks, or watching YouTube videos.

• Overlap learning with other activities such as driving or doing household chores.

Productive Procrastination

• Use procrastination productively by watching YouTube videos from creators you admire and getting ideas for content.

• Browse web design inspiration for new ideas.

Overall, these tips provide practical ways to boost productivity when working on a YouTube channel. By making the most of short periods of time, multitasking learning through audio, and using productive procrastination, one can continuously improve their skills and create better content.

Productivity Tips for Limited Time and Energy

In this section, Ali Abdal shares some tips on how to make the most of your limited time and energy by incorporating productive procrastination into your life, using momentum to drive motivation, and focusing on enjoying the journey.

Incorporating Productive Procrastination

• Add productive procrastination into your life by finding ways to procrastinate that are also helpful to your goals.

• Use downtime to work on tasks that feel good and are also helpful to your YouTube channel or other projects.

Using Momentum to Drive Motivation

• Do a little bit every day when trying to grow a YouTube channel or business in order to benefit from the momentum created by consistency.

• Show up even when you don't feel like it in order to sustain momentum, which often drives motivation.

Focusing on Enjoying the Journey

• Focus on enjoying every step of the journey as much as possible in order to increase life satisfaction and happiness.

• When work is enjoyable and engaging, it becomes energizing, helping solve the problem of feeling drained after a long day at work or school.

Enjoying the Journey of Video Editing

In this section, Ali Abdaal talks about how he found ways to make video editing enjoyable and energizing, even though he eventually outsourced it. He shares tips on how to track progress, turn it into a game, and find personal satisfaction in the little things.

Finding Joy in Video Editing

• Ali Abdaal found ways to make video editing enjoyable by tracking his progress, turning it into a game, and finding personal satisfaction in the little things.

• By doing so, he was able to make video editing a profoundly energizing activity that didn't drain his energy.

• Although he eventually outsourced video editing when he could afford it, enjoying the journey is still an ultimate hack to personal productivity.

Outsourcing Video Editing

• Ali Abdaal shows an example of outsourced video editing from Fiverr that captures some elements of his channel's style.

• Outsourcing allows for leveraging up one's own time and ability to create value for their business or channel.

• Using people from places like Fiverr makes running a part-time business easier and provides skills for working with more people if going full-time.

Resources for Creators

• Links are provided in the description for Freelancers used in this video as well as a coupon code for 10% off any hire made on Fiverr until December 31st, 2023.

• The Fiverr influencer program is also mentioned as a resource for micro to mid-sized creators who want to share authentic and engaging content about Fiverr.

Free YouTube Course

• Ali Abdaal offers a completely free five-day part-time YouTuber crash course that provides strategic advice on growing a YouTube channel from scratch in one's spare time.

• The course is delivered via email and has received positive feedback from subscribers.

Starting YouTube Today

• Ali Abdaal also has a video about what he would do if he were starting YouTube completely from scratch today, which outlines a step-by-step system for growing a YouTube channel.