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Towards 2,000: A Goal

After the initial livestream with the E -Team, I began thinking a lot about where this journey (YouTube, Blog, Patreon, Discord) started and where it might go. Don't get me wrong, there is no vision on my part of this being a primary source of income or even a significant one. However, I am curious to see what the potential is and explore the possibilities.

I posted my first video, a trailer, on December 10, 2023. It's hard to believe that in those ten months over 1,400 people have subscribed to my YouTube channel. Quite frankly, I wasn't even sure that monetization was ever in my future. This whole thing started as a hobby to share information and learn a new useful set of skills.

As a full-time staff member in higher education and adjunct instructor, I work online a lot. I teach face to face, online, and hybrid courses facilitated with technology on a constant basis. Not to mention the other roles that come with leading a teaching and learning center, such as:

  • Professional Faculty Development
  • Software Implementation
  • Committee Service
  • Creation of Instructional Materials
  • Strategic Planning
  • And More. . .

However, this is not about that. Suffice it to say that creating content was complimentary to some of the things I was already doing. It also provided me with a space to expand and tie in previous experiences as well. Organizing and leading change is more than academic. This really comes into focus when thinking back over 30 years of roles ranging from the private and public sectors, academics, and non-profit worlds.

When I look back at those first videos, I have two reactions. One is pride in creating something. At first, all I had was a Samsung Galaxy Book, an off-brand document camera, (for main recording and top-down shots,) and a nice Yeti microphone that had been a gift. I also bought a small ring light to help in that regard. Since then, I have seen significant upgrades. I have an ASUS Zenbook Duo and was gifted a better ring light, a new Logitec camera, and an Elgato Streamdeck Mini. Also a few other lighting purchases and tripods have helped with hopefully enhancing the viewer experience.

My second reaction is disappointment that I didn't do better. The lighting, even with what I had, wasn't as good as it could have been, and the editing (with the free version of Clip Champ) needed vast improvement. I was rightly lambasted by some for poor quality audio in videos. I do want to take a moment and not blame the software and hardware only; my own inexperience had a lot to do with the quality issues.  

Alright, fast forward to today. As of this writing, I have exactly 200 videos and 1,435 Subscribers on YouTube, and Patreon consists of 65 members and 2 paid supporters. I started to wonder what an attainable goal could be over the next two months (one year anniversary will be 12-09-2024). Should I focus on Patreon, YouTube, or my blog? It should not come as a surprise that YouTube was the choice (I know, as I write this down for the blog article you are reading). After all, YouTube is where the growth, community, and sense of belonging began.

So, where does this leave us? Well, to me, it is all about trying to finish the year strong. With 60 days left until we hit one year, can we realistically reach 2,000 subscribers? Can we grow that much? The metrics say it is possible. We are on track to exceed 200,000 views even before the end of October.

If even 50 percent of regular viewers not currently subscribed, hit the subscribe button, we would blow the goal out of the water. Let's recap the goal:

  • 2,000 Subscribers by December 9, 2024
  • 200,000 Views by December 9, 2024 (more likely in October).

How can you help?

  • Tell friends, family, colleagues, co-workers about the channel.
  • Offer your insights on content, events, and additional ideas to help me better engage
  • Attend live streams, share videos, like, and comment on content.
This channel was formed as a community and with your help, we can continue to grow. If you are interested in seeing the tools mentioned throughout this article or checking out my YouTube channel, please visit my "Things I Use" page. You can also find many of my videos on the appropriate pages in the blog.




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