Today is my first day starting @AliAbdaal ’s Part-time YouTuber Academy course. (1st cohort, exec edition!)

Here’s my insights from day 0 - intro material and his recent YT vid reflecting on journey to 1M subs. Psychology, benchmarks, hedonic adaptation

Ali grew to 1 million subscribers (from 47) in ~2 years. At first, he vlog'd advice to medical students, then pivoted into productivity, tech, books, and more.

4,000 was his "unachievable" number sub target. He had a friend with 50K he considered god tier.

Little did he know...

1. SLOW BUILD + EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

Ali's now at 302 videos. In his first 6 months he churned out 52 videos (~2/week) before he got TO 1K subscribers.

In other words, it took him 25% of his -entire- YT career to achieve the first 0.0008% of his current subscriber base.

More on the benchmarks list:

- 1K subs. 52 videos
- 5K subs - March 2018, 78 videos- (+26 videos)
- ~10K to 15K - May 2018 (+2 months), 95 videos - (+17 videos)
- 50K - Aug 2018
- 100K - Dec 2018
- 1M - September 2020 - ~302 videos (+207)

As you can see, early on, doing (bad) math shows that Ali gains about 19 followers per video posted. By next benchmark, it's more like 64 per, then 157, and today, roughly 3.5K per vid on the low end.

Though at this point, the engine generates its own leverage. :)

"I'd actually forgotten how much effort and work this was back in the day." - @AliAbdaal

You can't really remember the early part of the curve once you adapt to the process of content creation (and consistent gains)!

Ali's advice: put out 2 videos a week for 2 years.

(His guarantee: if you do this and don't see wild benefits in your life, he'll happily give you a refund.)

Focus on “input goals." Cultivate an internal locus of control. Then, the score takes care of itself.

2. HEDONIC ADAPTATION

We only fantasize about goals outside of our current range of achievement.

Every time in life I've gotten a pay raise or promotion, I've been able to "imagine" getting it - so when it comes, it just feel normalized.

Getting 10K views on a video when you have 47 subscribers is the best day of your life. At 1,000,000 subscribers it's a disappointment.

(or more likely, an error on YouTube's number counter)

YouTube's creator studio puts you in a short-term mindset by benchmarking your performance today vs. last few videos (rather than a broader perspective).

This mindset is toxic even at 1M subs - it helps to do mental tricks like imagining 1,000 people coming to a talk, or a stadium of people. Otherwise, 100K views feels like a blip if you usually do 300K.

Here's Ryan Holiday on this process: "How Does it Feel to Get Everything You Wanted?"

@RyanHoliday

https://ryanholiday.net/how-does-it-feel-to-get-everything-you-ever-wanted/

3. PSYCHOLOGY: Dealing with Haters

Haters aren't really a problem until later; at first, no one knows or cares about you (and anyone who comments is by definition a super fan).

David Foster Wallace put it eloquently.

Ali doesn't mind goofy personal attacks, but comments on his channel changing over time - less heartfelt and more systematic - hurt as there's some truth to it.

This is a natural consequence of success - when you start by "doing things that don't scale."

(As @naval and @tferriss discussed in a recent podcast: You're only hurt by insults with a hint of truth.) https://tim.blog/2020/10/14/naval/

Paul Graham talks more about haters in his essay linked here.

His take is like Ali's: haters are best ignored. Their dispute isn't with you - they're often your biggest fanboys, just fanboys of rooting against you. Best to pay no mind.

http://www.paulgraham.com/fh.html  @paulg

4. ACTION+COMMUNITY > INFORMATION

Information isn't enough. Ali admits that you can find everything in his course online already if you're sufficiently motivated.

The real root of success is taking consistent action over time with the support and accountability of community.

The majority of those who are successful (on YouTube and in other creative endeavors) are those who simply refuse to quit.

It's not about originality (20-50% of Ali's content is "curated" or reviews!), it's about consistent output. https://twitter.com/thinkbinge/status/1323428175616028672

I've bought thousands of dollars of online courses in the past. This is the first one I'm doing with anyone live. (400+ people, 7+ accountability group)

I'm already feeling 10x the commitment level of any previous course I've taken.

5. ALMOST ALL CONCERNS ARE UNIVERSAL

When asked, almost everyone listed one thing as a major barrier:

Perfectionism.

Ali mentioned most people struggle with the same things: feeling silly, not liking your voice, how you look on camera

@fortelabs https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1253047726599663617

This is another benefit of working in community. It's hard to give yourself outs when everyone is struggling (out loud) with the same issues, and still getting the work done.

For more information on the course (future cohorts, this one's closed!), check out the link below: (not an affiliate)

https://academy.aliabdaal.com/ 

For more public-facing insights on growing a YouTube channel, watch @AliAbdaal 's recent video here:

p.s. If you're interested in more insight, I'll be adding to my account's pinned tweet as I go!

And here's my (as yet empty!) YouTube channel if you want to subscribe to hold me accountable... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHGuAZ0pdxeXYc3BFjkEd_A?view_as=subscriber

Bonus:

Great @david_perell chat comment re: using unlisted videos to practice your reps performing on video.

https://twitter.com/MarcKoenig_/status/1350868347274063878?s=20