Becoming a YouTuber

Hey guys, Brandon back this week talking about the experience it has been starting our BracketLife YouTube channel. It has been quite the time getting set up and if you have been keeping up, we have now posted 3 interviews that I have done.

Getting started was the hardest part. Building up the confidence first to get behind the camera, then to speak, and then to watch and listen to yourself after you are done. Like most people, when you hear yourself after being recorded, you almost don't recognize your voice. Listening to myself was the most difficult part of getting started.

After overcoming the talking aspect, we then had to figure out the best way to start taking the videos. I honestly had no idea how difficult it was to have good video quality. First the windows let in too much light, then you do not have enough light, then if you move somewhere else the video becomes fuzzy, how does the background look and what do you want in it? After talking with different mentors and “experts” in this field they all shared the same point that no matter what you do or how you start, once you are more experienced you will look back on old videos and cringe at how much of a beginner you were, but everyone is a beginner at some point or another.

This led to the Brian Acker video. We set up a time that worked for both of us, I made some notes for talking points and was excited to get going. When preparing for the interview, Rachel and I struggled to find a place in our house that the video looked acceptable from the laptop webcam. We switched and decided to use her computer because of better quality picture and settled on using the couch in our basement for the location. It was not perfect by any means, but it had to do because Brian was waiting for us. Immediately following the recording, we went online and ordered an actual webcam as well as a custom BracketLife backdrop for future videos.

The new webcam arrived and once we hooked it up, we were both disappointed in the result. Picture quality was not much better, and it did not give us the final product we wanted to deliver. Rachel found an old Canon camera she had packed away in our office that we dug out and I was able to download a program to use that to take videos with.

Soon after that, our backdrop had arrived at the house and it was exactly what we needed. Now I use this backdrop for all our interview videos.

When I filmed my second interview with our brand ambassador, Logan Watson, it looked much better and we were a lot happier with the end result. For this video, Rachel also started working with a design program to edit the video and add animations such as the opening and closing remarks.

Now after posting our third and most successful video thus far (featuring Arnie Malcolm) we are continuing to learn so much about connecting with our audience. As we continue this YouTube venture, we are excited to learn more about our audience. For example,  who they are and what they like, the types of interviews that attract more attention, and how to grow a completely new fan base.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and I can not wait to see where this takes us.

See you next time, 

Brandon Barker