Can’t Upload Consistently? Use This Strategy.

I used to be ridiculously consistent on YouTube.

I’d sit down, batch four or five videos at once, upload every week and get on with my life. And somewhere along the way, that very simple little system helped me grow my channel to over 100,000 subscribers.

Then I got bored and disappeared for three years.

Whoops.

Now I’m rebuilding the channel, which means I’m facing exactly the same problem I hear from other creators all the time:

How the hell do you upload consistently?

Well, my friend I’ve got a strategy for you in today’s video that might be just the thing you need.

How to Upload Consistently to YouTube

STEP #1: Get out of your own damn way

This is probably the most important part.

Because I have two other channels for my art and music and you know what?

I am TERRIBLE at uploading consistently to them.

Why?

Because I care too much.

They’re a reflection of me and my artistry, so suddenly everything has to be perfect.

• The idea has to be good enough.
• The video has to look beautiful.
• The music has to sound amazing.
• The artwork has to be right.

And what happens when I start thinking like that?

I don’t upload.

Which, funnily enough, is not a particularly effective YouTube growth strategy.

The big difference with my original singing channel was that I didn’t care as much.

Not that I didn’t care about the CONTENT. I absolutely did.

I loved teaching singing. I knew my stuff. I wanted the information I was giving people to be genuinely useful.

But the videos themselves? Meh.

They didn’t have to be epic masterpieces.

I wasn’t sitting there thinking, This video must perform! I am building a BUSINESS! What if nobody watches it?!

I was teaching something I enjoyed teaching and learning how YouTube worked at the same time.

So I just put the videos up.

And this taught me something VERY useful:

You have absolutely no idea which videos people are going to like.

I had videos I thought were fabulous that did… okay.

Then I’d upload some random little video I thought was a bit crap and THAT would be the one that took off.

Had I been obsessing over every video and only uploading the ones I thought were worthy, some of the videos that helped grow my channel would never have made it onto YouTube in the first place.

STEP #2: BATCH, my friend. BATCH.

Once you’ve dealt with the mental faffing, you need to deal with the practical faffing.

Because there is usually SOMETHING that makes filming annoying.

For me?

My hair. (Seriously)

I do a lot of sport, so my hair spends most of its life chucked up and looking well, not that great.

And because it’s really fine and silky, I basically get ONE glorious day after washing and styling it before it goes flat.

Then there was my filming setup.

Because I was teaching singing, I had the piano, lights, condenser mic and all the other bits and pieces to get ready, and they created enough friction to make filming feel like a huge effort.

So instead…. I set everything up the night before.

The next morning was Official Hair Washing Day.

Then I’d sit down and film four or five videos.

BOOM.

A month of content.

That was one of the biggest reasons I was able to stay so consistent.

I wasn’t finding four separate days every month when I felt inspired, looked presentable, had time to film AND could be bothered setting everything up.

I only needed ONE. So whatever your thing is:

• Your obstacle might not be your hair.
• Maybe you have to move furniture around every time you film.
• Maybe you need the house to be quiet.
• Maybe you have small children.
• Maybe you need to psych yourself up to be on camera.

….work out where the friction is and stop recreating it every time you make a video.

STEP #3: Stop turning every video into a feature film

This is the other thing that made a HUGE difference for me.

Most of my teaching videos were virtually one take.

Now, I could do this because I really knew my subject. I’ve been singing and teaching singing for a long time, so I didn’t need to write a script.

I’d think of something one of my students might need help with, turn the camera on and teach it as though they were sitting in front of me.

Done.

I stuffed up a bit, and just edited those small mistakes out.

And before you start going on about how every YouTube vid needs to be a work of art these days…. it actually doesnt.

Good information is still good information, which trumps a beautiful looking video any day.

Those three things made making videos so much easier and faster which… in turn helped me upload consistently.

Hope this helped!! 

Nic x