On Me Realizing My YouTube is (kinda) Blowing Up

It's been roughly 9 months since I stared this YouTube channel of mine. I'd recently left Middle School, and had been video editing for fun on my main YouTube channel (which I now have privated due to safety and privacy reasons). I had been into K-Pop, Anime, and Gaming (specifically Fortnite at the time). I'd post gaming videos with K-Pop soundtracks, make K-Pop crack videos (for fun, and even danced horribly to some random songs.

I made "music videos" for some of the songs as well. It was all for fun. I was 12-13, and I didn't really know what I was gonna do with my life. I knew that I liked K-Pop (I'm even listening to it right now as I write), and that it was something I'd take with me for a very long time, but I didn't really think much of it.

It wasn't until I realized that I loved to edit videos, and more specifically, to make people laugh that I realized something; I could really make this an official "job," per se. I could take my passion for two random things and combine them to make people laugh. I'd seen it before in other channels like "jiminandlemonade" & "BornToSlay" & "peachysoobinnie," and I thought "wouldn't it be really fun to make my own channel?"

I'd already been editing one or two BTS videos at that point, and I was a peak ARMY (Adorable Representative MC for Youth; BTS's fandom). So I did the most logical thing a hormonal 13 year old would do: spontaneously create a new YouTube channel, completely separate from my "main" channel so as to focus specifically on K-Pop.

Did I think it would "blow up?" Absolutely not. To me, creating this channel was a way for me to share some ideas, thoughts, and creations out with the world. Did I think it would be hella cool for me to become big like other YouTuber's I'd seen? Of course! Who wouldn't want to blow up and become something big? But to me, that was just a dream. It wasn't something I could attain.

Still, I tried. I experimented with different types of videos; Watch me (digitally) edit (I was into graphic design and would create K-Pop edits on an app called PicsArt), K-Pop crack videos, and even getting into some new groups. I posted irregularly, not making much of it.

I can remember when I started to make a few subscribers. It was around July/August. I'd already forced my family to subscribe to me, and since i had around 400 followers on PicsArt, I was constantly promoting my YouTube channel on different social platforms so as to gain more traction and views.

I started to get into a group called ATEEZ, and found a random VLive (it's what K-Pop idols use to livestream to their fans), took it, and randomly plucked a moment that I thought was funny and put it on crack. It was not even longer than 2 minutes, and I got something like 20 views on it. The previous video I had made it "focus" on a specific member and it had 30 views.

I thought "holy shit, this is so fucking cool. I have 30 views?" Reaching that high was so much fun to me. I posted that on August 11, 2020. It now has 842 (and still slightly growing!) views.

I posted another couple of times during August and September, but I still hadn't started to gain any views or attention from anyone.

I tried a collaboration video that finally breached 50 views, and even then, while it was a large sum to a small creator like me, it didn't feel like enough. I felt like I was giving my all to these videos and they weren't getting any attention.

A couple videos actually started to hit 100, and they were very random.

No, it wasn't until "stray kids back door dance practice on crack/things you didn't notice" was posted that I really started to become "famous." I had 50 subscribers at the time, and I thought was insane. I made a typical video; funny, sarcastic, sprinkled with memes. Nothing happened.

But, you might say, "You said this video made you famous!"

Yes, it did. But only 1 month after the original publication date. I posted a few videos in between then, but during that time that video hit 1000 views, and I had hit 100 subscribers. Well shit man, that was pretty fucking insane.

The thing is, it continued to garner views, and I started to grow. I remarked to my dad about how I thought it was really cool, and all he told me was that the “YouTube algorithm was working.”

He then dropped me some very important and life changing advice: “Did you know that the average YouTuber who has 1 Million subscribers had to post 1000+ videos? It’s all in the fact that you cannot give up.”

You see, the algorithm rewards those who don’t give up. If you feel like shit and that nothing is happening, it’s normal. But don’t give up. All the YouTubers you like to watch now had to work their fucking asses off to get where they are now. But the surprising “secret” was that they never gave up.

There isn’t a magic recipe to gaining fame, unless you are born famous (and most of us don’t). It’s just good ‘ol plain endurance.

Well, what does this have to do with me coming to terms with the fact that I feel like I’m “kind of” blowing up?

That back door video still gains views. It got 352 views yesterday. I reached 1 thousand subscribers around 1 month ago, and I now have 1.25K. 5+ videos of mine have 1K+ views. To me, this is the epitome of “blowing up.” I have a healthy community that I communicate with regularly in the community tab, either with polls (which actually really help spread your shit around YouTube), or just plain dropping by to say hi. I have more than 1000 people subscribed; following; watching me. That’s a lot of people. It’s more than I can count.

I just think this is so fucking cool, and I wanted to share that with you guys. Another random fact is that around 27.3% of my views recently came from indiehackers, which was really interesting for me to see, as I haven’t posted in 1 month, and I have 3 followers. Huh?

But all the same, that’s pretty cool.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop them here. I’ll try my best to answer them. I may be 14, but I already run a successful Business/YouTube channel, and I don’t know many 14 year olds who can do that (or have done that).

And yes, this is a business. I will start looking for sponsors, or once I reach 4000 hours of watch time, I will start to monetize the videos that don’t have copyright on them. It’ll be awesome.

And yes, before you ask: I like BTS, but my favorite group right now is Stray Kids. I'd recommend you give them a listen if K-Pop/Pop is your thing (or if you're into trying new things).

If you'd like to see any of my videos, here is my channel link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOIDgyaoTRTIj06YLoTbhhA/