Full transcript of “How YouTube Changed My Life (with less than 500 subscribers) | My YouTube Journey”. Click a timestamp to open the video at that moment. Need another video? Use the YouTube transcript generator.
0:00 Five years ago, I uploaded my first ever YouTube video, Hi, guys. This is Laurie from Lauriewang.com and ever since then, my life completely changed. was incredible is that YouTube in the end was just part of the journey. But what's interesting is the kind of person that I became and also what happened to me after. okay. Let me back up a little bit and tell you how I got here in the first place. when I was a kid. I love anything creative. I remember picking up the camera and trying to do funny home videos with my brother. I remember making art but my well-meaning, hardworking parents decided to convince me to forget the idea and instead going for something practical and getting a real job instead. But that creativity side was always itching inside of me, and it made me feel like I want to make something from nothing.
0:47 And to proudly say that it's mine. And after a brief stint in finance, I finally decided to pursue my true passion in marketing. As I was looking for some answers for a campaign. One day I stumbled across some YouTube videos and I realized YouTube is suddenly becoming the second largest search engine in the world. So I thought about this a little bit. Do I want to create a YouTube channel on my own? The idea of putting my face online, it's scary in the same time, but also very uncomfortable for me. But at the same time, the creativity side of me is screaming to let it out and wants to actually pursue something like this. To create something on my own online. So like any doers with big dreams, I turn to my camera and I hit that record button. And that was the day I started with zero subscribers.
1:32 I took on to YouTube as a hobby, then didn't really take it seriously or upload consistently, but the channel slowly grew and within the first year, and with around just under 500 subscribers. And in the meantime, life moved on. I started to get married to a kid. But life has a funny way. Working its own ways. So just before we are to welcome our daughter into the world, this is what happened. Stay at home, stay home, stay safe, and quite simply, stay at home. Everyone's world all sudden got turned upside down. And myself included. But now I have a little human to keep up with as well. And in that year, unfortunately, I found myself in a crippling case of post-natal depression. And in the midst of the loneliness of lockdown, not having any contact with the outside world, I felt that
2:18 I lost a sense of identity of the person I once was. And it took me a year to finally pick up the camera again. In the meantime, my channel was on hiatus. But this time, when I turned the camera on, I found it to be a really safe place to share my thoughts, my insights with the world. I finally found my true voice. I felt a sense of purpose because I realized people were learning from all the world on this channel, from me. The Internet is an incredible place. Through YouTube, I was able to build a tribe of people who are passionate about what I'm passionate about. And to me, YouTube is not just the platform, but the community. have, you got something you're passionate about. It doesn't matter how big or small that is. You will find your tribe here. There's so many examples, everyday people doing this on YouTube. Ali Abdul, a former doctor who's now teaching everyone the older he knows in productivity.
3:04 Nisha, who's a previous investment banker who's now teaching people all about personal finance. he Nadine who's so passionate about travel, and she now shares travel tips with people on her YouTube channel, Charisma, who uses her passion about filmmaking to share about how you can navigate through life, but also how to make really beautiful cinematography shots. Adobe Premiere Girl who taught me everything I knew about the premiere. In order to create the videos that you see in the channel here. I can go on and on. But if you got experience with something, you're learning something. You want to document what you're doing at the moment. I guarantee you, it doesn't matter if you're young or old on YouTube. Everyone's looking for each other. And since returning from giving birth to my daughter, YouTube has given me my confidence, also my identity back to myself. I became a loud introvert whose confidence speak on camera, who's happy
3:51 to share my unique perspectives. And I think even my cello didn't grow. All these are really useful skills to have in any career, business or in the future. but through my consistent effort and also improving my videos over time, my channel has now just passed over 15,000 subscribers, and I'm really grateful for the community that's been on this journey with me. and to the audience and personal brand that I built on YouTube. I created this life and business I love. I was able to grow my digital marketing training company, spend more time with my daughter to travel the world deliver talks and trainings for different clients and also conferences Working with brands, I love to share about them with my audiences on this channel. I've got my newsletter to four and a half thousand subscribers from actually zero. And also I'm now looking to launch digital products to my audiences as well. I believe that with a strong personal brand that you build through YouTube,
4:36 you get to call the shots because you can then design a life and business that you absolutely love. You can pick the job that you want. You can build a business that you want to grow, which is a freedom to build, a reputation that will always get you ahead. so YouTube can be your creative hobby or it could be your future career or business. the key thing is that you're in the driving seat and you can take in any direction that you like. I hope that this video inspires you to get started or just keep going because the world needs more what you know, and it's totally worth it. If you love this video, I think you obviously will love this video where I share all about the lessons I wish I knew in my twenties, which I think applies to any age group. To be honest. Can you let me know the comments below, the talent that you're looking to grow right now? I look forward to meeting you on YouTube. See in the next video.
