If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably know this for awhile, but I started a YouTube channel. As someone who was largely afraid of the prospect of recording myself, I’ve actually found it to be a lot of fun.
Table of Contents
Fear
For awhile, the idea of making a video scared me. After all, there was a lot to be afraid of. For instance, I:
- don’t like the sound of my own voice
- was (still am, frankly) afraid of making a mistake that makes it through the editing process
- don’t have the equipment or software to make good videos
- don’t have the skills to make good videos
As always, however, I realized that you have to start somewhere. Otherwise, how would anyone be where they are?
Inspiration
Why would someone like me decide to suddenly start making videos? As it turns out, there was a bigger fear lurking.
Imagine that you’re out by a lake doing a bit of camping. While you’re there, you take special care not to get too close to the water because you can’t swim. Because of you’re lack of familiarity with water, you’re naturally scared of it.
Then one morning, you wake up to find your food is gone. In addition, due to carelessness, your car is out of gas. Suddenly, you have a much bigger worry: “how am I going to survive?” Ultimately, you decide to stick it out in the woods hoping you can buy enough time for someone can find you.
As time goes by, you grow hungry because you don’t know what’s safe to eat. Eventually, you become desperate, so you decide to return to the lake which is teeming with fish. In other words, what was once scary is now a source of life.
Moral of the story: fear is relative. In my case, I had just taken my qualifying exam, so I was worried about having to drop out. In addition to starting a niche site, I thought it would be a good idea to conquer my fear of video making. Now, I have a YouTube channel.
Oddly enough, fear is an incredible motivator.
Action
Just a day after my qualifying exam, I recorded and published my first video, and you know what: I LOVED IT. After just one video, I couldn’t wait to record another. By the time you read this article, I wouldn’t be surprised if I had 4 or more videos. In fact, today I have two:
To make these videos, I used a free software called ActivePresenter. Basically, it lets me record myself and my screen simultaneously. In addition, it even lets me edit the videos.
Since all the videos were based on articles, I didn’t really have to make any scripts. Instead, I just presented the material as-is. In total, I spent less than an hour preparing and recording my videos. Unfortunately, editing takes a lot more time.
Support
To summarize, I’m making YouTube videos now! In fact, I’ve had so much fun doing it, I wouldn’t be surprised if my writing takes a hit for a little while. Oh well.
If you want to support this journey, you can always become a member of the community through Patreon
. Also, I have a mailing list. Outside of that, you can always bookmark my Amazon link.
In the meantime, take care of yourself! I know I need to do a better job of that. And as always, thanks for your support.
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