So, uh, remember when I shared how excited I was about making YouTube videos? How confident I was feeling that it was more aligned with my values and vision, personally and professionally? Would you believe it if I said that about three days in, I was already questioning myself?
Meh, par for my course. It’s not unusual for me to swing wildly between super confident and wholly consumed by self-doubt. Luckily, I’ve grown accustomed to recognizing the swing and shifting back up to confident much quicker. Still though, there are times I can’t avoid the creep of my fears and insecurities:
Is it going to work? Is anyone going to watch? Is anyone going to care? Will it be good for my business? Will it be just another waste of time and energy? Another thing I quit?
Every one of those questions stems from external noise. “What the internet says.” Shoulds. What has worked for someone else’s business. At times, I’m just as susceptible to that noise as anyone else.
But most of the time, I listen to the noise and interrupt it with a totally different question:
Isn’t there another way?
To which I can nearly always reply, yeah. Of course there is. And in this instance, the YouTube channel is my other way. The truth is, I didn’t choose to do it willy nilly. Not at all.
I decided to start the channel after carefully reviewing my current business, the sources where my clients (and ideal clients) were coming from, what they were interested in, how they might want to receive the content I’m putting out.
I also researched trends for internet business, social media, and how and where the broader consumer is consuming information and content.
Plus – and more importantly, in how I choose to run my business – it’s the way that makes sense for me, my priorities, and what I visualize for myself professionally and personally.
Combine all that, and YouTube is, indeed, an appropriate way for me to create content and engage with my community and potential clients. I feel aligned, and I’m having a heck of a time. It feels right.
None of that has stopped me from questioning my decision, but it has provided me with the ability to more easily quell my resistance and fear about the outcome. The truth is, there’s probably never going to be a business decision we make that we’re totally sure of at all times. The key is to learn and know your other way.
Not everything is going to be a perfect formula. It’s a mix of tried and true, trial and error, intuition, knowing yourself and what you want (a whole separate topic, right?!?), your capacity and capabilities, and yes – your clients and the market.
That’s a long equation and it doesn’t come out of nowhere or overnight, but it works.
So, as I continue to make new YouTube videos and learn an entirely new platform, with some success and some bated breath, I encourage you to go forth and do what feels right. Because I know you’ve likely thought about it, researched it, analyzed it, whatevered it to death enough to know it’s going to be good. And whatever feelings you have after the fact are just outside noise you don’t have to listen to.
You know what you’re doing.
Hey! You can watch this on YouTube too. And I’d love to hear about your decision-making formula!