Hi friends,

I’m still alive!

For the last 3 years, I have posted 186 videos and gained 2.58K subscribers on my Youtube channel.

Here are the 10 lessons I’ve learned:

1. It's hard to make money on YouTube. I made $4.89 from affiliate links on my videos. People bought books I reviewed through a personal link. That’s it!
2. Don’t buy equipment until it feels impossible to live without. I have spent thousands of dollars on gear and editing.
3. Learning how to use a camera has helped me shift careers from managing programs to becoming a creative director. And I make more money now.
4. Creating videos has taught me the art of structuring information I already know in a way other people can digest.
5. It is not fun. It’s a lot of work, and often unrecognized.
6. Every time I upload a video, I think it’s the best piece of art the world will ever see.
7. There was a time when I took a break from making videos because I thought I needed it. I was miserable for two weeks.
8. It’s not about videos. It’s about giving an idea a life. The same thing happens with writing stories.
9. I thought about starting a channel for two years before I uploaded my first video. I used to tell myself I didn’t have time. I lied. I used to spend most of my time pontificating or scrolling.
10. Doing hard things sucks. But scrolling two hours a day is worse.

Most of us have something we’ve been thinking about starting.

Something awkward. Something that might make us look like a clown in front of friends, family, and people who don’t even know we exist.

That thing?

You should start it.

Because tomorrow you’ll be 76.

📖 Books I’m reading?

I’m freaking obsessed with Claire Keegan.

I picked up Small Things Like These at the airport on my way to Bosina for a family trip, and I read it twice— back to back.

Now I’m reading Foster, and it’s just as good.

💎 New From Me

Here is a video I posted a few weeks ago on the art of stealing from other writers (applicable for all creatives)

🔖 Favorite sentence from Small Things Like These

“Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?”

— Claire Keegan

📸 Through My Lens