You know what? Today I will share with you what are my regrets as a 10 year youtuber. I'm doing YouTube for 10 years. Wow! When I look back at this journey, I realize I've made some mistakes that significantly slowed down my progress.
1 - Haters
You know what is my number one regret? My number one regret is that I thought that I should deal somehow with the haters. And actually it slowed me down in my progress for at least several years. Because I thought that I cannot just block and delete haters. I have to respond to them, address their issues somehow.
And the reality is of course no. The best way to deal with haters is to delete their comments and to block them from your channel. And on YouTube there is an excellent option that is "hide user from this channel". And so basically you are hiding the comments from everybody else. But the hater can write those comments indefinitely. And so the hater thinks that everybody else is seeing his or her comments. But actually nobody else is seeing it.
2 - Perfectionism
Another regret is that I thought that my videos have to be perfect from a technical standpoint. And this is a 50/50 regret because it allowed me to learn how to make excellent videos, very well produced. But it actually also slowed me at least several years.
And YouTube doesn't care about your quality or the quality of your video. You don't make a filmmaker channel. You don't have to have an excellent technical quality of your videos. What matters is the message that you are transmitting and the story you are telling.
If you want to invest in something at the beginning, it's far better to invest in your storytelling skills and to prepare a recording of your videos and to know what you want to tell to people than to actually work on getting a better camera, better lens and learn how to use them. Because of course it will make a difference. If your stories are not interesting or are bad, the quality of your videos will not improve that and people will not watch your channel.
3 - Branding
And the last regret of mine is that I attached too much of importance to branding. This is because I love branding. I just did what I liked to do, you know. But actually branding on YouTube is completely unimportant.
What is important is that you know whom you are talking to. And so I am talking to people who want to become digital minimalists, who want to live a fulfilling day-to-day life and not wait for 30 years being addicted to technology and to wage slavery before retiring and maybe it will happen or maybe you will die before that. So I know who I am talking to.
Whereas the branding is secondary and I have changed too many times channels, channel names, domain names, platforms where I was hosting my website. And it's completely unimportant actually. You should just choose who are you talking to and then do it and the name of the channel is secondary.
You can do it under your name. I didn't want to because I have a very difficult name. So my story is similar to the story of Gary Vaynerchuk who is known as Gary V. But the point remains - focus on your audience, not your name or logo.
Conclusions?
Looking back, I wish someone had told me to ignore the haters completely from day one. They're not your audience, and engaging with them only drains your energy and creativity. Use that block button liberally and focus on the people who actually want to hear what you have to say.
The technical quality will improve naturally over time. Start with what you have, focus on delivering value, and upgrade your equipment gradually as you grow. The most successful YouTubers didn't wait for perfect conditions - they started creating and improved along the way.
Consistency beats perfection every time. I've seen channels with basic equipment outperform technically perfect videos simply because they showed up regularly with valuable content. Your audience cares more about what you say than how polished it looks.
Remember that YouTube is about connection, not perfection. People subscribe to channels because they connect with the creator and the message, not because the lighting is perfect or the intro is professionally animated.
So if you're just starting out, or even if you've been at it for a while, learn from my mistakes. Don't waste years like I did worrying about haters, obsessing over technical perfection, or constantly rebranding. Know your audience, deliver value consistently, and everything else will fall into place.
The truth is, most of us overthink everything when we start on YouTube. We worry about what others will think, if our videos are good enough, or if our branding makes sense. But none of that matters as much as simply starting and staying consistent.
If I could go back and do it all again, I would focus exclusively on creating content for my target audience from day one. I would ignore the haters completely, use whatever equipment I had available, and stick with a simple, consistent brand identity.
So that's my advice to you after 10 years on this platform. Don't make the same mistakes I did.
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