"Nobody Cared Until I Did This” - Kieren Westwood on YouTube Growth

Summary

YouTube Creators Hub Podcast Summary
Episode: "Nobody Cared Until I Did This” - Kieren Westwood on YouTube Growth
Host: Dusty Porter
Release Date: August 8, 2025

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Introduction to Kieren Westwood

In this engaging episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast, host Dusty Porter welcomes Kieren Westwood, a seasoned writer, editor, and YouTube content creator. Kieren brings a wealth of experience with nearly 40,000 subscribers and over 170 videos on his channel, Kieren Westwood Writing. His content, which ranges from fiction writing to educational material, has been recognized and utilized in classrooms worldwide.

Origin Story of the Channel

Kieren shares the heartfelt journey behind his YouTube channel. Initially an introverted writer feeling isolated after years of solitary writing, he sought interaction with fellow writers. The pandemic provided the perfect backdrop for him to venture into YouTube, aiming to create a vlog to showcase his writing process and connect with a broader audience. However, he swiftly pivoted to creating educational content, focusing on sharing effective writing strategies that could assist others.

Kieren Westwood [04:15]: "I'm quite introverted, so this kind of thing was way out of my comfort zone to start with. But I quickly settled into it after a while and something that I really love doing now."

Overcoming Initial Barriers and Imposter Syndrome

Kieren candidly discusses the unexpected challenges he faced when starting his channel. Despite having scripts and equipment ready, he struggled with a "physical barrier" that prevented him from speaking. This internal struggle was a significant hurdle that he managed to overcome through repetition and perseverance.

Kieren Westwood [06:19]: "It was a mixture of exposure, first of all, just doing it more and just getting past that and manually overriding it."

He addresses the pervasive issue of imposter syndrome, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and framing his advice as personal experiences rather than prescriptive solutions. This approach helped him build trust with his audience without positioning himself as an unattainable expert.

Defining and Narrowing Down the Niche

Initially aiming to showcase his writing journey, Kieren realized the necessity of providing value beyond personal storytelling. He shifted towards offering practical writing advice, focusing on helping writers enjoy the craft and write with purpose. This intentional narrowing of his niche differentiated his channel from others that often emphasize publication success or financial gains.

Kieren Westwood [09:48]: "I'm saying if you want to write and enjoy what you're writing and get to a place where your voice as a writer feels authentic and you enjoy your writing. This is the channel for you."

Growth Strategies: SEO and Thumbnails

Kieren delves into his strategies for optimizing video reach through SEO and thoughtful thumbnail design. While he admits that his thumbnails may not be the most effective, he prioritizes clarity and authenticity over sensationalism. His titles and thumbnails are crafted to clearly convey the video’s subject without misleading the audience.

Kieren Westwood [16:32]: "For me, the biggest thing and the thing I always bear in mind when I'm trying to create a thumbnail is clarity is above all else."

He acknowledges the challenge of standing out in a crowded space and emphasizes the importance of evoking curiosity within split seconds to improve click-through rates.

Content Planning and Creation Process

Kieren outlines his methodical approach to content creation, heavily relying on planning tools like Milanote. His process involves brainstorming, drafting, revising, and rehearsing scripts to ensure clarity and coherence in his videos. He balances structured scripting with spontaneous ad-libbing to maintain a natural delivery.

Kieren Westwood [18:33]: "I will make a brief sort of brain dump there. I have a few lines about what the heart of the video is going to be all about and then anything else that I can think of immediately at the time."

Managing Burnout and Maintaining Consistency

Addressing a common concern among creators, Kieren shares his strategies for preventing burnout. He emphasizes the importance of a sustainable upload schedule, limiting his content to two videos a month to ensure quality and personal well-being. By focusing solely on YouTube and avoiding other social media platforms, he maintains a manageable workload.

Kieren Westwood [21:11]: "I'm not on any other social media. I don't post to Instagram or TikTok or anything really, because when I found I tried to incorporate that, I was just straight burnout immediately."

His structured daily routine, where YouTube serves as a rewarding creative outlet after completing other commitments, further aids in maintaining balance.

Monetization Strategies

Kieren discusses the various revenue streams his channel supports. Primarily, he earns through AdSense, brand deals, and his editing services. His YouTube presence significantly drives traffic to his editing business, allowing him to build trust with clients through his free content.

Kieren Westwood [26:19]: "A lot of my customers come to me from YouTube and they'll drop me a note to say, I love the videos and the videos are really helpful."

Despite having multiple income avenues, Kieren maintains a cautious approach, selectively accepting brand deals to ensure alignment with his values and audience trust.

Tools and Resources

To stay organized and efficient, Kieren relies on Milanote, which helps him manage tasks, plan content, and keep track of deadlines. This tool is instrumental in preventing burnout by ensuring he always has a backlog of ideas and structured plans.

Kieren Westwood [28:47]: "I definitely lean on Milanote quite a lot. I have the homepage on my Milanote account is a list of seven or eight to-do lists with dates and alerts on them."

Goals and Future Plans

Kieren aspires to achieve significant milestones, including reaching the 100k subscriber mark and fully transitioning to content creation as his primary occupation. The recent layoff from his part-time job has accelerated his commitment to YouTube, positioning it as his main source of income.

Kieren Westwood [29:33]: "The main one was going full time with being as a writer and editor and a YouTube creator, as it happens. That's been thrust upon me at this point."

Advice to Aspiring Creators

Concluding the episode, Kieren imparts invaluable advice to those embarking on their content creation journey. He underscores the importance of authenticity, encouraging creators to be genuine and build trust with their audience by sharing both strengths and vulnerabilities.

Kieren Westwood [30:31]: "Be real, be authentic. Because you have to build, or I've found that you have to build a foundation of authenticity."

He warns against the pitfalls of "fake it till you make it," advocating for a transparent and honest approach to content creation to foster long-term audience relationships.

Conclusion

Kieren Westwood's candid discussion offers a comprehensive look into the realities of growing a YouTube channel, balancing creative pursuits with personal well-being, and building authentic connections with an audience. His journey serves as an inspiring blueprint for aspiring creators seeking to navigate the complexities of online video creation.

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Notable Quotes:

• Kieren Westwood [04:15]: "I'm quite introverted, so this kind of thing was way out of my comfort zone to start with. But I quickly settled into it after a while and something that I really love doing now."

• Kieren Westwood [06:19]: "It was a mixture of exposure, first of all, just doing it more and just getting past that and manually overriding it."

• Kieren Westwood [09:48]: "I'm saying if you want to write and enjoy what you're writing and get to a place where your voice as a writer feels authentic and you enjoy your writing. This is the channel for you."

• Kieren Westwood [16:32]: "For me, the biggest thing and the thing I always bear in mind when I'm trying to create a thumbnail is clarity is above all else."

• Kieren Westwood [21:11]: "I'm not on any other social media. I don't post to Instagram or TikTok or anything really, because when I found I tried to incorporate that, I was just straight burnout immediately."

• Kieren Westwood [26:19]: "A lot of my customers come to me from YouTube and they'll drop me a note to say, I love the videos and the videos are really helpful."

• Kieren Westwood [28:47]: "I definitely lean on Milanote quite a lot. I have the homepage on my Milanote account is a list of seven or eight to-do lists with dates and alerts on them."

• Kieren Westwood [30:31]: "Be real, be authentic. Because you have to build, or I've found that you have to build a foundation of authenticity."

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For more insights and expert guidance on elevating your YouTube channel, subscribe to the YouTube Creators Hub podcast and stay tuned for future episodes.

Transcript

[Kieran Westwood]

I find it almost a physical barrier. I would have my script ready, I'd have the camera and all the lights and I couldn't say any words out. I couldn't get started with what I wanted to say. There was a real barrier that I didn't expect to be there. Because when you think you're sat alone in a room with a camera, nobody's watching.

[Dusty Porter]

Hello and welcome to this week's episode.

[Kieran Westwood]

Of the YouTube of Creators Hub podcast.

[Dusty Porter]

If you're a content creator looking to.

[Kieran Westwood]

Start, grow and monetize a YouTube channel.

[Dusty Porter]

This is the podcast for you. So if you haven't already subscribe to the show that way. Every Friday, when I release a new conversation with a wonderful content creator, you can be notified in whatever your podcast.

[Kieran Westwood]

Player of choice is.

[Dusty Porter]

We're Also over on YouTube, you can.

[Kieran Westwood]

Just search my name on YouTube and.

[Dusty Porter]

You can subscribe to the show there.

[Kieran Westwood]

If you prefer it in video format.

[Dusty Porter]

As far as what we offer creators, we have three main things. The first one is I offer private one on one coaching.

[Kieran Westwood]

All of these links will be in the show notes.

[Dusty Porter]

Number two, I offer a little bit cheaper, a little bit lower barrier to entry channel audits and reviews. That's a newer service that we're offering that has been very popular. And thirdly, for $5 a month, you can have access to our Creators Corner community group. It's a mastermind group where you can hang out with other content creators over on Discord and be active in all of our monthly Mastermind calls, as well as exclusive podcast episodes that I release.

[Kieran Westwood]

Every Friday, Friday as well.

[Dusty Porter]

So we got a spot and a place for everyone, regardless of where you.

[Kieran Westwood]

Are in your YouTube timeline.

[Dusty Porter]

So with that said, let's go ahead and sit back and enjoy this week's conversation. Welcome back to this week's conversation on the Creators Hub podcast. I'm joined today by Kieran Westwood.

[Kieran Westwood]

I'm going to tell you a little bit about Kieran before we get started.

[Dusty Porter]

Kieran is a writer, editor and YouTube content creator. His fiction writing has been published in online journals and shortlisted for several awards and prizes. And his educational YouTube content has been shown in classrooms across the world as a teaching aid. And his editing work has received unanimously.

[Kieran Westwood]

Positive reviews from the writers that he's worked with. Over on Kieran's YouTube channel is just his Name, Kieran Westwood, writing. He has almost 40,000 subscribers and just over 170 videos. And he's built a really nice community over there. Kieran, how are you doing today?

I'm great, Dusty, How Are you doing?

Wonderful. I'm really looking forward to conversing with you about your YouTube journey and everything in between.

[Dusty Porter]

So let my audience know what was.

[Kieran Westwood]

The origin story of the channel? You obvious obviously were a writer and then that led you to create content.

[Dusty Porter]

To help other writers.

[Kieran Westwood]

So tell us the full story of how this came to happen.

Yeah, so I've been writing for a good 10 or 15 years now. And the thing about writing is it can be quite a lonely, isolated pursuit really. And I found myself after a decade or so of just plugging away at my stories that I wanted some interaction with other writers, to know where I was at with my skill level and how I compared to other writers. And just I needed to connect with people that understood the craft in the same way I did. So I thought I'm going to challenge myself to make a YouTube video. And this was just as the pandemic really came in. So I found I was at home more and I thought I could probably manage this. I jumped into that originally I was aiming to create kind of a vlog channel about my own writing, potentially as something that I could show to literary agents or other people to just demonstrate that I had a following, that kind of thing. Because I was pursuing traditional publishing at the time. But as I started, I changed course based on the results I was getting on my videos to be a bit more, teach a little bit more, though I'd try to stay away from that word if I possibly can, but to show things that had worked for me in my writing and to that might potentially help other people too. So I leaned into that and then it started to pick up a bit of speed. So yeah, just before the pandemic, as everyone did, I thought I'm going to try this YouTube thing after watching YouTube a lot and just jumped head first in and went for it, even though it was a challenge. And I, because I was never. I'm quite introverted, so this kind of thing was way out of my comfort zone to start with. But I quickly settled into it after a while and something that I really love doing now.

There's a big difference in writing and creating videos. I know that sounds silly, but when you think about it, you mentioned that you're introverted and most people think of creators as being extroverted. I've actually found that to be not the case. I'd say it's about 50 50. And I don't think just because you're extroverted means you're going to be a great creator. So I'm Glad that you mentioned that in your open. In these early days of the chann, and as it was starting to grow, what were some. Maybe one thing or multiple things that surprised you about being a creator or attempting to try to grow this YouTube channel?

The first thing I think was a practical thing. When I first sat down to record my videos and this went on for maybe three months or so, I find it almost a physical barrier. I would have my script ready, I'd have the camera and all the lights, and I couldn't say any words out. I couldn't get started with what I wanted to say. There was a real barrier that I didn't expect to be there. Because when you think you're sat alone in a room with a camera, nobody's watching, nobody can see what you're doing. But I was still. My own, like, embarrassment almost at myself was stopping me from making any progress. So that was an initial barrier that I really didn't see coming. But after that, once I repeated the process many times, I got past that a little bit and that was easier. But really I was expecting a much worse reception. Not necessarily in terms of views, but in terms of. I'm talking about craft stuff. What works for me as a writer and what doesn't work for me. It can be a bit contentious sometimes. I was expecting a bit more criticism and a bit more. A bit more of a sense of, who are you to be telling anyone to do anything on. From my audience and from viewers. And that didn't really come. It was instead more of a collaborative kind of reaction of people that either agreed or disagreed. They were saying, that's an interesting point, but have you tried this? And it quickly became a swapping of ideas rather than just talking into a void. And that was really valuable.

How did you get past that thought of the. We call it imposter syndrome of the statement that you made about, why would anyone listen to me? Why do I feel like I have the authority to even speak on topic A or whatever it may be? What did you find worked for you to get beyond that barrier?

It was a mixture of exposure, first of all, just doing it more and just getting past that and manually overriding it, if that makes sense. But also the way I've always positioned my. My advice in my videos is this works for me. This is how I approach it. And I found that it helps me do this. So maybe it might be worth you trying that if that appeals to you. It's not a sense of prescriptive advice in that respect. I'm not saying if you want to sell a single book, you have to do this. I would never do that. Because writing is so subjective. There are so many different ways to approach every aspect of it that I thought if I am authentic and honest upfront about what works for me and also what doesn't and what I'm not good at, then nobody really needs to say you're not authentic or you're not who you. Who are you to tell anybody to do anything? Because I'm just a person sharing some of my own experience. I'm not positioning myself as an expert. And over time I've built up a few more accolades with my writing. I had a few more stories published, which also helps. But I'm still very much get imposter syndrome. It's just a thing that I live with and just manually override. As I said before, it never really goes away completely. But I think that might be the case for a lot of creatives. You just have to carry on regardless, really.

The first line in your bio on your YouTube channel says, I'm Kieran. I make videos supporting and encouraging writers to tell their stories and to have fun doing it. So it sounds like you have a pretty good target on who your audience is. Is as far as did you start with a clear niche or a clear space in mind and how has it evolved over time to be either more narrow or maybe even more broad than you initially started with?

Yeah, so I started intending to just showcase my own writing or my own writing process. But as YouTube will quickly let you know at the beginning, nobody really cares about you or who you are. So I did change from that to given the advice based stuff. But it's narrowed since then because a lot of the, or quite a significant amount of the writing advice on YouTube tends to be geared towards publication or towards success or making money or New York Times bestseller list type stuff. Of course it is. But I knew that I didn't have the credentials or the knowledge to do that really. So what I did have was to understand that writers might be feeling the same way I was, which was a little isolated and they thought they really enjoyed the craft and loved what they were doing. But. But they wanted to feel that a little more and to settle into that and to write with purpose and feel good about that just in and of itself. So that is what I narrowed down to. I'm not making promises about I can get you from here to here, but I'm saying if you want to write and enjoy what you're writing and get to A place where your voice as a writer feels authentic and you enjoy your writing. This is the channel for you. This is what I want to help you with.

Do you think that narrowing down and magnification on exactly who you're trying to target, know who you're speaking to, do you think that has attributed to the growth that your channel has seen? Because you're not even at 200 videos yet and almost at 40,000 subscribers, so you've seen a good bit of success, and so these people that you're trying to reach are finding you. Do you believe that narrowing in and really being intentional about that has helped you?

Yeah, I think it has, because search results were the driver of the channel for the first year or so, as is every new channel, really. But there was nothing I could add specifically to that, because every aspect of writing had been covered by people before. I couldn't make a story about a video about characterization and expect a big audience from that. So narrowing down into that whole avenue of, yeah, this could work, but so could this, and so could this, and taking the pressure off a little bit of writers, because I like to speak to writers, as in a sort of. In the kind of mode of don't worry so much, don't criticize yourself so much, enjoy the craft, lean into it, and your writing will be better from that. And I think that's the point that I tried to follow. Once I discovered from the comments section how much that resonated with people, I was like, ah, here it is. Here's the thing that everybody misses. And funnily enough, it was exactly what I'd been missing beforehand. Feeling isolated and not enjoying things as much as I could. So that helped a lot.

[Dusty Porter]

Was there or has there been a.

[Kieran Westwood]

Turning point for you where you've thought to yourself, okay, this might could be more than just a hobby or this YouTube thing might be something that I need to invest even more time. And do you remember that moment or that point or that shift?

I think it was a video early on that I made that was just a bit different, and it got more of a reaction than I was expecting. It was a video about how to make a book trailer for your book. And I just posted it, not really expecting much, and it took off a little bit. It's been. I've taken it down now because it's very old and stuff, but as soon as I saw that the possibility for. For a very specific type of video to do well and to find an audience, it was then that I was like, okay, the audience are out there, the people want this kind of content and they will find it. So it's just a matter of keeping on changing things and making videos until I can tap into that a little bit. And I thought, okay, I'm going to keep going with this. Even though progress is slow in the first year, it's possible, so let's keep going.

That's awesome. That's really cool. As far as your approach to SEO and thumbnails and packaging, you mentioned early on in a YouTube channel's journey, SEO and reach, really, unless you have an audience from somewhere else, comes primarily through search results, whether it be through YouTube or search engines or now a lot. 20% of my traffic comes from AI tools where people are searching in chat, GPT and my video comes up. So with that being the case, what is your strategy for packaging as far as like your thumbnails and your titles? Can you walk us through how you've landed on where you are today?

Sure. I think I'm pretty bad at it to be honest. I've settled into my most recent thumbnails, aesthetic ones more than anything else. I think they're not the most effective, but I've made many changes since I started uploading and I've always been in the same range in terms of click through rate and titles. Titles and thumbnails are both the same. I've changed things here and there and not seen a huge amount of difference because my audience is still fairly small by YouTube standards. So I got a lot of stuff from the analytics to say audience isn't big enough. We can't really tell you the difference between this and this. So I just really. The main focus has been to make it make the videos clear what the subject matter is without being clickbaity too much. I wanted to. Authenticity is really important to me and I don't want people to ever feel scammed by a video. If I say something in a title and I don't deliver it in the video, then that's not helping anybody, even me as the creator. I might get a click here and there, but people aren't going to come back after that. I knew that it would be a slow build because my whole approach is understated and calm. Some people have said it's like calming to watch the videos. They're not in your face. Here's what you need to do now. They are more relaxed so the thumbnails and titles go along with that. They're not sensational, they're not hugely attention grabbing and it's worked to a point, But I definitely think that's an area that I could work on and make a bit more of.

[Dusty Porter]

I interrupt the conversation just briefly to.

[Kieran Westwood]

Tell you a bit about a new service that we're offering for creators that has been extremely, extremely popular. So we are offering channel audits or channel reviews.

[Dusty Porter]

For $50.

[Kieran Westwood]

You can get one of these reviews of your channel where I will sit down personally watch a couple of your videos, take a look at your channel with a different set of eyes, and.

[Dusty Porter]

Then deliver you the 8 to 10 minute video to your email. And it's been a great way for people who are not quite ready for.

[Kieran Westwood]

Personal one on one coaching, but would.

[Dusty Porter]

Like to get a different set of eyes on their channel, maybe help them.

[Kieran Westwood]

Set them on the right direction, give them a couple of tips or pointers and if this is something you're interested in, definitely check out the show notes down below. Now back to the conversation. You did a video a month ago titled AI Steals more than just your Stories. Great title, by the way. And the thumbnail, you just have three, three words. It just says don't risk it. And then a period. And then it's got a really high quality image of you sitting down in front of your microphone, kind of like you're gonna, you're gonna tell us, tell us a story to give us some knowledge. I say that to give an example of your packaging in that I feel like you're doing a much better job than even you're letting on. You let the image do the talking in the thumbnail and put 2 to 3 words maximum on the thumbnail. And to me, you have a style, the colors are a bit faded, you have the same font that you're using. And so for me, I feel like maybe you don't think that you have a streamlined kind of packaging brand, but I feel like you do. And so I feel like the click through rate on that video, I can see why it did so well. And so I think you might be underselling yourself a bit.

I do tend to do that.

What do you believe works and doesn't work when it comes to thumbnails? Like with what you've learned and you've pivoted and you've made changes in the way your thumbnails work, what have you found to be things that are positive and things that just like you just, you were like, hey, that doesn't work. I'm. We're just, we're canning that one.

For me, the biggest thing and the thing I always bear in mind when I'm Trying to create a thumbnail is clarity is above all else has to be there. I know that I don't know what the exact figure is, but I know there's like a fraction of a second or something that people will look at your thumbnail for and decide whether they're going to even read the text on screen or whatever else. So I used to put thumbnails that had a lot more text and they had two different sides, maybe with text on both sides and too much detail. People are only looking at this for a fraction of a second and it is easier in a to an extent when you're running off search results because people can then they know they're expecting what they see. They're looking for certain words that can make it easier. You don't perhaps have to do as much work with a thumbnail, but with a video like the AI one I almost didn't want that to get as much attention as it did because I don't want to spend my time talking about it so negatively and being so for what so contentious. But I quickly realized and also I committed what I thought was a cardinal sin with that that video by using a screenshot of the recording as the thumbnail and just putting text on it. But it's worked out because of that clarity. I think it's immediately obvious what the video is about and I guess it's pretty attention grabbing, probably more so than I meant to be, but it's worked out.

So yeah, if the thumbnail and title combination like you're right, we have a split second. Unfortunately a lot of people are just scrolling endlessly on that home feed which I think is bad for us as humans but that's just where we are and out algorithm based society that we live in. They're scrolling the home feed and you only have a split second to get that attention of a new viewer. And if the thumbnail and title evoke that curiosity of the clarity is the way you put it, that's really powerful and it will in turn help you improve your click through rate.

[Dusty Porter]

What does your content planning process look like?

[Kieran Westwood]

Looks like you've got a pretty consistent upload cadence. But how does the process behind the scenes look like for you as a creator of planning your videos out?

So luckily early on, fairly early on, I had a sponsored video from Milanote and they gave me a kind of lifetime access to use their software and I'd gone from then just writing a script in a Google Drive, Google Docs to planning it with a document on Milanote and Then putting notes about the possible thumbnail ideas on the rare occasion when I actually have them. So I go to Milanote. I will make a brief sort of brain dump there. I have a few lines about what the heart of the video is going to be all about and then anything else that I can think of immediately at the time. Then I'll let that simmer for a little while and then come back to it and just write a first draft of the entire video and then I will revise that after, say, another day or so has passed. And that's something I learned about an approach I learned from my own Fiction writing really is. You can write a first draft and think it's great, but then when you come back to it, there's always something you can improve about it and make clearer or make more direct. So I often do end up making decent changes to it. But there's always at least two drafts and then once they're finished, I will read over it immediately before recording the video. And then it's usually as clear as it can be really.

And when you're recording the video, are you reading directly from the script? Are you kind of bullet pointing topics and highlights? How do you go about recording it?

It's mostly from the script, but I do ad lib here and there because you can. There's only there is something is lost between actually delivering lines to the camera and from writing them. There's still a difference in there no matter how much planning you do. So sometimes I can detect that something's not quite coming across the same way. So I'll just talk around it. But for the most part, I'd say about 80 to 90% of the script stays the same and I just go off my teleprompter and that's that. It's the quickest way. I used to have the text up on my laptop screen, read a line, deliver a line, and then the first videos on my channel, you could see every line. I was turning back a little bit and I couldn't quite cut all of that off. And I quickly learned, okay, I need to get a teleprompter, so I'm not doing that so much. And it's really changed things.

In my coaching calls and our creators Mastermind group that we have here around the podcast, I'm getting much more frequent questions about burnout. And so I want to ask you a question as a creator who's been doing this now for five years, since 2020, going on six years now, how often are you posting and how do you balance the consistency with burnout and not burning out?

Yeah, it's. I discovered fairly early on that it wasn't going to work for me to make two uploads a week. That's what I started with. And I ran out of things to say. I ran out of time to edit the videos, so I knew I needed to drop it down. So I dropped it down to one a week and then I dropped it down to two a month, which is why I'm currently on now. That gives me enough time to properly plan and edit my videos. And I also don't. I'm not on any other social media. I don't post to Instagram or TikTok or anything really, because when I found I tried to incorporate that, I was just. That was just straight burnout immediately. I was just fighting fires all the time and trying to get stuff across all platforms rather than just sticking consistently to one that I thought was my strongest. Anyway, my uploaders schedule is pretty slow, but it fits me. And every time I try to increase it to one a week, which I do sometimes, just as an experiment, my views go down a bit. So I figure my audience is used to two videos a month, and if they just concentrate on those two and I concentrate on making those two, that seems to work for everyone.

How do you balance your time between your personal, other business, endeavors, family, things of that nature? Are there guardrails that you've put in place? Because I had a question on our Mastermind call yesterday as we're recording this, and they were just talking about. They've been doing this for a while. They're still passionate about the content they create, but they're experiencing a bit of burnout. What are things that you've done to prevent that, other than the upload schedule being the way that it is?

I'm. I think I'm quite methodical and that's helped. I will kind of bank ideas for later down the line so that I never get to a point where I'm panicking about what to upload because that sort of. That kind of mental stress really brings burnout down on me. If I'm thinking, oh, I don't know what to do, I've got no way forward. So planning helps a lot. But generally I'm quite structured in my days. I do YouTube stuff in the afternoon after a lot of my other work is already done. Because YouTube is reliant solely on me and I'm only answerable to me on YouTube stuff, I find it's easier to get all the other work out the way where I have deadlines and people to interact with. I get that all done and then YouTube is my reward for the end of the day because it's a creative task that I enjoy and I know that when I sit down in the afternoon after my lunch break or whatever, that's YouTube time and I give myself plenty of it, but occasionally quite a lot. My wife will tell you it does spill into weekends as well, and I end up working all day to edit a video in a really complicated fashion that probably would have been simpler if I'd just done a simple cut, but it's what it is.

I've been there. I was there a couple of weekends. About a month ago we were leaving for a vacation and I try to make sure I have my regular videos releasing like normal while I'm gone, as well as the podcast as well as some other business related things. And there were a couple of nights there leading into us trying to pack and the kids going crazy being excited.

[Dusty Porter]

Where as a creator man, you just.

[Kieran Westwood]

It'S hard to hit the off button or the off switch and so it's good to hear other folks like you say that. Let's talk about monetization where you are in the channel size that you are. You've mentioned previously you've had channel sponsors before. Talk about the different avenues of income of revenue for you through the channel and then maybe at the end of the answer, give us an example of what an average month income looks like for you as a creator.

Sure. I'm I should mention I'm working, still working part time in my day job. So I was full time for the first four or five years of the channel, went part time last year and I'm getting laid off now. So at the end of this month I'll be full time whether I like it or not. And I do like it. But so the main one obviously is Adsense, so that comes through based on the amount of views I get, it's usually about $300 or something like that. There is the odd brand deal or sponsored video. I don't get too many of them and I'm really everyone says this all the time, but I'm really picky about the ones that I actually accept and I have to use whatever it is they're looking to promote before I can pass it on to my readers or writers Then the main one though is my editing work really because I talk about it in my YouTube videos and I direct people to go to my website and read my Work or have a look at everything else that I've got up there. But yeah, I run an editing service where I'll look at people's short stories or their microfiction or their novel, even an extract or a full novel. I'll work through it and help them make it better and clean up the manuscript and all that stuff. So that's the main. That's the main one. And that's where I spend most of my time, really. If we're talking about my business as a whole, that's pretty much it. And I have a Patreon as well, which brings in a small amount every month. But I'm still building that and not really got started with it.

And as far as the editing goes, have you found that YouTube has been a big booster to get people there. So there you're building that trust through the free content you're providing on YouTube. And then they're like, oh, Kieran is really good at what he's talking about. He has this service. I've just written this thing. So is YouTube the main driver of that service and that you provide?

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of my customers come to me from YouTube and they'll drop me a note to say, I love the videos and the videos are really helpful. And I think sometimes they're a little apprehensive because I get quite a lot of new writers and they might. This might be the first time they've ever gone through an editing process or sent their writing to anyone, which is a really big thing. So I'm always really keen to make sure they have a friendly face and a friendly interaction there. But, yeah, the majority of them definitely come through YouTube. There's a bit of search on my website, but I've done nothing for SEO at all. So YouTube I do rely on.

In an average month, how much do you make?

Probably only about two and a half thousand dollars, something like that. Three on a good month if I have a brand deal as well. But that can vary massively.

So, yeah, I'll just say, working with as many creators as I have, I know once you're. I hate that you're getting laid off, but that was the driver for me to go full time 16 years ago into content is got laid off as well. And I hate that happened. But sometimes that's just the push that you need. And when you're able to devote more time, you know that 2500 to 3000 can turn into 6000, 8000amonth pretty quickly. Once you're solely dedicated on that, what has been the hardest part about being a creator that maybe most people don't see from the outside.

I think balance really. We did touch on it before, but I suppose people talk about work, life, balance a lot. But as much as it's fun to be a creative and to be a creator and make videos on YouTube, it does also take energy, even if you enjoy it. And from working a full time job and trying to build up a channel all the time, it does take a lot of energy. And burnout is like ever present. So you have to be really careful with that. But the thing with me that extends beyond just YouTube to my business in general is knowing when to stop, when to close the laptop or shut down the PC and say that's it for the day, I'm done. And I'm still always trying to dial that in a little bit more and stop myself from pushing through to just work because I'm a work now, play later kind of person to a fault. And I know that and it's. But it's good to have an area to, to improve on and to work on. Otherwise where are we going? But that's definitely my biggest challenge, I think.

Are there any tools that you swear by? Maybe it's software, camera hardware, productivity app that helps you behind the scenes of the YouTube channel?

Yeah, I definitely lean on Milanote quite a lot. I have the homepage on my Milanote account is a list of seven or eight to do, lists with dates and alerts on them. So from my YouTube to editing to Patreon, it's got a link of a list of what I need to do next on each of those. So that's the problem with shutting off too because I always have this whole plan of things I need to get done and some of them have got due dates, some of them haven't. But there's always work to be done. But without that, I would struggle to organize myself quite as well as I do. So that's been really handy.

Is there a big goal or a goal you've set for yourself as a creator that you haven't hit yet, that you're willing to share and maybe talk about the progress towards it?

Sure, there's a couple, really I would love that 100k plaque, as everybody says, and maybe in time I'll get there. But the main one was going full time with being as a writer and editor and a YouTube creator, as it happens. That's been thrust upon me at this point. But. And there's a certain sense of frustration there really, because I did want to choose when I did that, but the same time, would I ever have left a dependable job to take a leap like this? I don't know. So I'm getting that one kind of by default. But that was what I've been working towards for the last few years, is eventually getting to a point where I can support myself and go full time.

As we close out today, what is a final message that you would give to aspiring creators? Whether they're starting or thinking about starting, trying to grow or trying to monetize wherever they are in the journey? What message would you say to them? Listening to this podcast today?

I think honestly, be real, be authentic. Because you have to build, or I've found that you have to build a foundation of authenticity. And if you do, people see that and that's how you build trust with an audience. If you, you always hear the line, fake it till you make it. But the thing is, at one point that could all come undone for you and then you lose the whole platform that you've built. If you build it on authenticity, you tell the truth. You show your weaknesses as well as your strengths, especially in something like writing or another creative field. That's not a weakness to show that it builds empathy with an audience because we're all looking to improve. So that's a mantra. I went with be real, be honest and authentic and are just going to grow from there. And people are attracted to that and magnetized to that. So that would be my biggest piece of advice.

Thank you so much for coming on the podcast again. You can find his YouTube channel, it's just his name. I'll link it down below as well as a link to his website. But Karen, we have really enjoyed having you on the show this week and we'll talk to you next time.

[Dusty Porter]

And that's a wrap on this week's creator conversation here on the Creators Hub podcast. My name is Dusty again, you can connect with me with the links down below. If you're interested in any of our creator services, they'll be linked down below. Again, those are private one on one coaching with me, our Mastermind group, as well as our channel audits and review. We have a email newsletter, it's called the Entrepreneurship Minute that I write every Friday and it's just a behind the scenes look of what it's like running a business that I run. So if you're interested in that, definitely check the Entrepreneur's Minute newsletter out. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. Whether it's an audio podcast feed you listen to or you watch on YouTube or Spotify, whatever it is, subscribe so you know when we go live with new conversations. Also, don't forget if you think you would be a great guest for the show or you know someone who would be a great fit, please let me know. Email me Dustyustyporter.com and with that said, have a great day whenever you're listening to this and we'll talk to you next week.