If you’re a Blue Rhymez Entertainment reader, then you know you must wear more hats than one as an indie musician to have an actual shot at living comfortably off your creative endeavors. While we’d love to tell you that only doing music is enough, it’s a lie and it simply doesn’t hold water in today’s economy and society. Remember Xerox and Blockbuster rentals? Yeah, they’re out of business as are musicians who didn’t branch out before the pandemic hit. One solid creative endeavour would be starting your own vlog. We already presented to you 10 singers who started out on YouTube, but today we’re focusing on YOU and the 21 reasons that would validate you starting your own vlog.
21. You’ve got a lot of truly unique experiences under your belt.
While you may think your life has been harder than most, do you often get told you’re an inspiration to others? Do you feel like you never get the chance to truly expand on who you are and why you do what you do because of how complex and long the response would be? If you’re constantly under the impression that the world doesn’t know the real you, it’s a good sign you have a lot to share.
20. You understand the meaning of consistency.
Ideally, you want to get into vlogging after you’ve already had some degree of experience and success building something else. This matters because you’ll have learned that only consistency brings loyalty. Everyone wants subscribers but does everyone deliver the absolute best content? No. If you don’t hope for a lucky break and know that sweat and effort will be required of you to achieve any type of success with a vlogging channel, then you’re ready to get into it.
19. You have thick skin.
You should know the world is not all nice and roses. A lot of it is thorns and bushes waiting to swallow you. When starting out, especially if you come from a small town, people will feel some type of way about your new career and very likely, have many cents to throw your way. You will have to enable comment approval before showing them publicly on your videos but you will have to read through the hate and doubt regardless. If you clearly understand that negativism is inevitable with a vlogging channel, you are a lot more ready for it than those who have cool gear but no bone.
18. You got a decent grasp of marketing research.
Meaning you know how to target an audience, scout it, refine it, reach it, and count it. You can’t build a successful vlog channel without doing the behind-the-scenes analytical part. You’ll either pay someone to do it for you or you will have to do it yourself. Since you’re an indie artist, you should know market research anyways so off you go to study before even considering video content creation.
17. And branding foundations.
Yup. Marketing and branding are twins separated at birth. They can’t really be built independently from one another. You can brand your channel successfully only when keeping your marketing goal in mind. And you can leverage your branding to gain higher conversion rates only when adapting your marketing strategy to your brand’s mission. If you know both, you can confidently start a vlogging channel. If not, at least you should have the desire to study these vital components of any company, product, big channel.
16. You know more than you don’t, who’s your main audience.
You should have a solid foundation in real life before vlogging about yourself online. This matters because people that know you, WILL BE your first watchers, supporters, spreaders. So with your real network in mind, that’s who your first vlogs should cater to. Don’t have a network of classmates, coworkers, friends, and video games mates? Build one around your interests.
15. You would have an easy time incorporating content creation into your lifestyle.
Video content creation is not something you can just do for 2 hours a week and drop it at that. No. To be successful, you will have to sacrifice the Friday happy hour with your friends to invest the effort instead into marketing and branding and promoting your YouTube Channel. If the thought of making space for your vlogs in your day-to-day life does not scare you, you are qualified for the vlogger lifestyle.
14. You don’t hate video production.
You don’t have to like it but you absolutely must NOT hate it. How do you think you will render value to the viewers on a permanent basis when you, yourself, get turned off at the thought of churning through the video material and only squeezing out the best bits and pieces? Not to mention you probably do not have the budget to hire someone else to do the editing for you.
13. You know what’s long-term thinking.
And you are okay when realizing it might take you a year or two before you start seeing a return on your investment. Successful vlogging is a business. A business demands investment BEFORE it gives you any returns. Short-term thinking people will not be able to stomach working for intangible results and if you’re one, you should do something else.
12. You’re business-minded and weigh in advance your monetization options.
However, there is no reason for you NOT to make money right away off your video content. For this to happen though, one must accurately inform themselves on monetization options, copywriting, branding, SEO-ing, and pitching yourself to the appropriate sponsors. If you’re not clicking away already after reading so far, there is a chance you might have the patience to learn all there is to know for you to get an income as soon as humanely possible after starting your vlog.
11. You have a decently sized vocabulary.
Nobody likes somebody who can’t properly express themselves and back up their perspective of the world ESPECIALLY if it is a controversial one. There are a ton of apps for improving your vocabulary and grammar. Plus, these two are skills intertwined with one another and will come in handy whatever path you choose in life.
10. Your starting gear can compete with today’s standards.
So listen… You can’t shoot your vlogs on the first iPhone while everyone else is pumping content on the latest model with zoom capacity to reach the moon’s craters. Know your competition, study it, save money for your gear, and make the most of it.
9. You understand the difference between therapy and vlogging.
It is pretty obvious when you stumble across a total rookie on YouTube who has no format and no aesthetic whatsoever to his channel versus someone who knows what they’re doing and easily pulls and retains your attention. But the top flagrant difference between the two is the professional vs over-the-top personal attitude. Too much openness hurts your brand and credibility. It comes off as desperate for attention and a tad on the mentally unstable side which, in the deepest of honesties, people shy away from. You’d be a good subject for gossip but gossip never lasts.
8. You could envision yourself doing it for an extended period of time.
Because the more time you’ll put in and do it for, the higher the rewards and payout, and it cycles back to you being a happier content creator. In our estimate, a safe bet for a successful YouTube channel is around a minimum of 2 years. But if you stop right at 2 years, you’ll have never given yourself the chance to reap the rewards. So for getting the return on your investment, be ready to put in at least 3 years.
7. You are okay with everyone knowing about it.
If we got a dollar for every time we met artists who are like “I don’t really tell people about my music because I don’t feel ready yet,” we’d be VERY rich. Look, if you’re not okay with people knowing what you do, forget about building ANYTHING online. So yes, most definitely you must be okay with everyone and their grandma knowing about your little vlog. The reality is that the more people you tell about your vlog, the more it’ll grow at a faster rate.
6. You have a lengthy list of video titles in advance.
Ahhh the lack of preparation you witness when you meet a good YouTuber then they turn out to be mega inconsistent in their schedule and posting times. Know what you’re gonna create videos about as much time as possible in advance. It will only give you and your subscribers peace of mind and a baseline to follow on your filming days.
5. You have a goal.
Why are you compelled to start a vlogging channel? If your answer is “just for the heck of it,” stop now and go read up on music business books. It’ll give you a higher return on investment. Your goal should be sound, countable, reachable, and personally satisfying.
4. Or two.
Besides having a basic goal like reaching 50k subs in 2 years, you should also have secondary goals like: make a thousand dollars a month in merch sales, sell 100 copies of my books a week, get a paid opportunity at least every 2 months etc. The more concentrated your goals are, the better you can align the format of your vlogging channel to aid you in attaining your objectives. Secondary goals will also be an extra motivator to keep that content going.
3. You’ve been revisiting this idea repeatedly.
Not everyone has the call of putting themselves on camera. If you’ve been pondering repeatedly whether to start a YouTube Channel or not, you probably should. Especially if that persistent thought has been popping in and out for years now.
2. You are 99% convinced you would do a better job than many you see around you.
People who genuinely think they could do a better job than others, and we don’t mean those who are critical for no reason and take pleasure in putting others down, are likely to actually prove themselves in that regard and beat their competition faster. If you’ve been watching others attentively for a good while now and you could see yourself doing that with a lot more ease, charm, and passion, then maybe you should just do that.
1. People from your past stalk you.
“Whuuuut” we can hear you saying. Well, when you got that je ne sais quoi that keeps people stalking you for about forever, you just might have that naturally born charisma and appeal that many would kill for. If you have stalkers that go as far back as a whole decade ago or even longer, it’s worth monetizing your stalkers’ views into coins on YouTube.
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