Back in the day when I had just started medical school, I never dreamt I would even grab a camera or start a YouTube Channel. However as I was scrolling through videos about medical tutorials I stumbled upon Dr Ali Aabdal’s Youtube Channel. This was the inspiration that drove me to start up my own YouTube Account.
So after a few tries and failures with the camera I decided to shoot and edit my first video. Deep down It was no easy task, the fact that you must script all the process and plan ahead what you will discuss in the video requires time and effort. However its doable and over time it pays off.
And the trick is here, time. In order to obtain a tangible audience it takes time and this will not happen over night, but over a span of a few years.
How To Start a YouTube Channel ?
The answer to this is quite simple. All you need is to just get up, plan what you want to discuss ( like youre talking with a group of friends), script it and then just speak to a camera or phone if you don’t have a camera. Either of which is fine!
And the mistake most people do is right here, they think they need to use some expensive gear, in reality you can just start off with your phone. Today’s Smart Phones have a good decent camera that does not need much. So its perfectly fine to start shooting with what you already have.
Next editing can be done using free editing software like Windows Movie Editor or free software such as ShotCut or Microsoft movie maker.
The next step after editing would be to create a channel, using a name you find appropriate for your channel’s brand and start uploading the files in MP4 format to the YouTube channel, via Upload button.
What Niche should I Pick?
This depends on your interests, are you a gamer? are you a fitness fanatic or do you have a particular skill such as Coding, videography, Photography. Based on such skills you can start promoting your content and start to develop a niche.
Choosing a niche does not mean being stuck with that niche for years. The niche you have right now might change over time. Some people started with medicine and then move on to productivity or life advice, coaching, Travel, fitness ect…
I started making videos related to medicine and then shifted my focus on other topics.
Gear Needed To Start A YouTube Channel
Again if you have a regular smart phone or camera, just start off by using the stuff you already have. Buying a fancy camera just to start a YouTube channel is not a need anymore. However what you do need is a good microphone or mic input, so make sure the gear that you buy has the ability to capture sound and produce a good final product.
I started out using a basic Sony camera a5000 that I had found off ebay, for the price of 150euros it was a real bargain buy.
The only issue I had with the camera was the fact that the mic input was lacking and I had to use other means of recoding the audio such as using my laptop or mobile phone with an external mic attached.
Other important Gear you might need is good lighting. This is actually free, good lighting is the basis for shooting a video. However if your’e shooting a video at night or plan shooting most or your videos at night you need to plan a good lighting set up. However if you search on amazon or ebay, you can find various cheap alternatives for lighting.
So that sums it up.
In summery don’t overthink these things, find a niche the start off with, script and decide to shoot that video.