0:00 creating content completely changed my life in just 90 days. And I know that sounds absolutely insane. But in this video, I want to share with you the story of exactly how that happened. So in 2023, I started something I'd been thinking about for a very, very long time. And at that point, I had an Instagram account, but I wasn't posting my face. I was just posting, you know, little Photoshop designs that I've been making. And I remember I had this idea that was playing over and over in my head to start creating content and start getting in front of the camera. But I was just overthinking that first video so much. And I was getting so into my own head about how I was speaking and how I looked on camera. And I'm not even joking. I remember filming that first video about 10 times before I actually worked up the courage to finally post something because I'm naturally a huge
0:46 introvert and I always have been. So the idea of putting myself out there like that, it doesn't really come naturally to me. And on top of that, I had all these thoughts about, you know, people that I've known in the past from my university or from back at school that they would see the videos that I was posting and kind of think I was cringe or think it was weird. And it's so funny because looking back now, those, you know, anxieties and those limiting beliefs, they seem so ridiculous in hindsight. But even though I had all this overthinking going on, I knew I had ideas and insights that I wanted to share with the world. And I guarantee that you can relate to that feeling. And that positive drive ended up being a much bigger and a much stronger motivator than all these negative thoughts that I was having. So eventually I finally posted my first Instagram reel. And for me it felt like
1:32 this huge event. You know, I'd finally overcome my fears and all my self-doubt. And the video got about 10 views. And then I posted another one. I think that got like eight views. So it was actually going down. Now, of course, to put in all that work and to get nothing back was was very demotivating at the time. But because I'd done all this overthinking and I'd gone so far down the YouTube rabbit hole when it comes to learning how to create content, I'd heard the same piece of advice over and over. And that was to be consistent. And I'm sure you've heard that advice a million times as well. So with that advice echoing in my mind, I decided to just keep going. And I remember I was posting to that account every single day without fail. And then on the side I was learning about video editing and you know the importance of the hook of the video and you know getting confident speaking on camera and all that kind of
2:17 stuff. And then absolutely out of nowhere one of the videos I posted completely exploded to about 4 million views. And I cannot describe what that felt like because it literally happened overnight. So I remember going to bed and I had about maybe 1,000 followers before I went to bed. And then I woke up the next day, checked my phone and I was on about 12,000 followers. like I almost I must have almost fallen out of the bed with from shock. And there is no doubt about it that this experience completely changed my life. But I don't mean because of the followers or the views or the money or anything like that. My life changed because of the effect it had on my self-belief. And I've talked about this on the channel before, but I went through this long period of trying to make money online. And I tried every single method that you can think of. So
3:03 I tried drop shipping, affiliate marketing, SMMA, I tried to start a clothing brand. literally everything you can think of and I just failed over and over again at everything I tried. And then finally after this long period of failure, something finally worked and that really helped me maybe even from a mental health perspective because it helped me realize that maybe it's not me. Maybe there's nothing wrong with me specifically. Maybe I've just been doing the wrong things or using the wrong vehicle to get to where I want to go. But in all honesty, my life has changed in many other ways as well. I've had, you know, incredible opportunities to work with companies like Adobe. And I've also been traveling around the world for the last 2 years straight at this point, which again has been absolutely life-changing and such an amazing experience. And the maddest thing is that none of this would have happened if id listened to that fear and all that
3:50 self-doubt and all that overthinking that I was doing. Although, having said that, looking back now almost 2 years later, there are definitely a few lessons that I wish I'd known when I was first getting started. And I think you'll find this really valuable if you're, you know, just getting started or maybe you're considering starting your own content creation journey. So the first lesson I would tell myself is that nobody cares about your videos. And that's actually a good thing. So because as humans we are very naturally self-obsessed, we're very naturally self-centered. We think that everybody is watching and judging everything that we're doing. But that is so so not true. Everybody else is way too worried about their own lives and their own problems. But what this means is that at the start you have complete freedom to essentially be bad at creating content. You have this special period of time where you
4:37 can experiment and learn your craft. And I think this is a really good way to reframe this because you can look at this early stage where nobody is watching kind of as a gift because later on when people do start watching you'll be sharper, you'll be clearer and you'll be so much more confident on camera. The second thing I would tell myself if I could go back in time would definitely be to start messy. So, like I said, I filmed that first video that I was going to post to my Instagram about 10 times before I actually posted it. And that was such a waste of time. And what I learned from that is that you will never feel 100% ready. Like, it will always feel quite unnatural to to start speaking to a camera if you've never done it before. And yes, your early videos are going to be awkward. Your editing is probably going to be terrible. You're probably going to cringe at how you how you look or how you speak. And in fact, I still think
5:22 that now. Like when I edit my videos, I'm like, "Why do I sound like that?" like why did my why does my voice sound like that? But that's how it's supposed to feel. It is never going to feel completely natural in the beginning. But if you just get going and start building that momentum, I reckon you are probably ahead of 99% of people who want to be content creators because that 99%, they never even get started in the first place. Okay, so the third and final tip that I would give myself if I could go back in time would be to adopt a student mindset. And I think you're going to find this one really interesting because one of the biggest traps that I see new creators falling into is they're just following that same old advice that we've heard a million times, which is just to keep posting, be consistent, and eventually you'll make it. But unfortunately, that's not necessarily
6:08 true. Because if you keep posting videos consistently, but nobody wants to watch them, you're never going to see results. Why why would your channel grow in the first place? Because consistency does matter, of course, but it only matters when it's paired with constantly improving the content that you're posting. Now, here's the thing. Your confidence on camera is naturally going to improve over time, but you also need to adopt a student mindset when it comes to things like learning how to edit or how to present and articulate your ideas or even studying, you know, content strategies like titles, thumbnails, branding, all that kind of stuff that you can see that is working for other creators. Because you've got to remember that wherever you are in your content journey, there is always more to learn and always more to study. So yeah, if you're going to be putting in all this effort to become consistent, you need to
6:53 make sure that all that effort is also moving you forward as well. Okay, so what does the future look like for me now? So I absolutely love Wave Index and I love the brand that I've built around my designs, but to be completely honest with you, I feel like I've hit a bit of a ceiling when it comes to, you know, that brand in particular. So, with this brand new channel that you're watching right now, my my goal is to essentially help people on that exact same journey with creating content and building a personal brand because I feel like I have all this experience with building a brand, building an audience, and creating content. And I just think it would be so amazing to build a business where I can genuinely help people achieve the exact same thing essentially. So, on that note, if you are thinking about starting your own journey as a content creator, I actually made this video right here where I
7:39 essentially walk you through step by step how to make your first $1,000 from content creation. So, yeah, click onto that video and I will see you there. [Music]
