I’m kicking off a channel as a part of this developing fire project. Full disclosure, my end game is to share as much value as possible and develop an additional passive income revenue stream through my content.
Getting Started
I’ve thought about doing this for years and I’ve always said to myself that I would start when I just hit another milestone in my career.
The reason for this delay is 100% down to undervaluing the experience I have gained. My view has always been that to teach, you need come from a place of experience and “been there done that”. Whilst I still stand by this, after 6 months that becomes an excuse.
The truth is that once you have been through anything in life, you know what it’s like and you can, at the very least, provide an insight to the person that hasn’t.
So, In my case, I realise now that I can help people starting out, I can advise on coding, I can discuss topics like management, devops, architecture and start ups. You can never know it all but any small thing you do throughout your journey is value that you can add to someone else on there’s.
First Step
My first baby step to start my channel was to record a short introduction on what the channel is about and put it on my channel home page. It’s literally 2 minutes with a short graphic at the start and end of the video.
Hardware
Here’s a quick overview of the hardware that I’m going to be using.
MacBook Air & iMac (m1)
I use a combination of the Macbook Air and iMac, both with the m1 chip. They are fantastic machines and I rely on them for coding. Nevertheless, these are overkill just for YouTube videos.
Blue Yeti Nano
This is the microphone I use. Although it’s not the best on the market, it’s the best for the price. It works great with Logitech G-Hub which is discussed below.
My favourite feature on the Blue Yeti mics is the ability to switch between omnidirectional and cardioid mode. Cardioid cuts out all the background noice and focuses on what’s in front of the mic, your voice. It’s perfect for a busy, noisy household and ideal for podcasting and YouTubing.
Software
Here’s a quick overview of the software that I’m going to be using.
Canva
Canva is hands down my favourite piece of software on the internet. You can design your logos, banners, images, thumbnails and videos. I designed my video introduction and logo on there. You can spend money on logos from other sites but this tool provides logos and so much more, I couldn’t recommend it enough! It costs £10 per month but you get loads for free. I just moved on to the paid plan so I can resize my images, it’s a feature that I can’t really do without.
PowerDirector 365 for Video Editing
I think iMovie is a great options for Mac users but I found it quite limiting. I paid for PowerDirector 365 which provides fantastic presets, text overlays, transitions and lots more. You can use it completely free if you’re happy to keep the PowerDirector watermark on your videos. You’ll look at paying around £60 for an annual subscription.
I’ve tried out tonnes of video editing platforms and this was by far the easiest to use.
Logitech G-Hub
If you are using the Blue Yeti or Blue Yeti Nano, the Logitech G-Hub provides a great way to set up your microphone. There are plenty of presets and effects if you are just getting started and you can also test out your audio. This is free software available for compatible devices.
Royalty Free Music
When you upload a video to YouTube you have to have 100% royalty free music or own the licence. Pixabay is a great free resource for royalty free tunes and you don’t even need an account to use it.
If you don’t get royalty free music, YouTube will pause your videos.
Next Steps
I’m going to start rolling out new videos on a bi-weekly bases and establish consistent content publishing. I know that my watch count and subscribers is going to hover quite low in these early days but I’ll persevere and wait patiently for those numbers to tick up.
If you have read this far, thank you so much and please subscribe to my channel here. I really appreciate the support!
Developing Fire 
Leave a comment