Reality of my YouTube Career | How I went from 0 to 25 Million? | Dhruv Rathee

Hello, friends! Today is a special occasion. Exactly 10 years ago, I made my first YouTube video.

I filmed myself with a smartphone while having fun at a waterpark. I edited the video for 2 months. I still remember it.

I was 19 and had so many doubts. "Should I do this? " "Is this a good idea?

" But then, with a lot of courage, finally, I clicked on the 'Upload' button. And in June 2014, With 0 subscribers and 0 views, began this story. Today, there are more than 15 million subscribers, and around 2.

5 billion views! Friends, this is my YouTube career's 10 Year Anniversary. Over the last 10 years, this career, literally, changed my life.

I gave me freedom, purpose, and financial stability. It gave me the privilege to see the world and meet interesting people. Today, everything that I am, everything I have achieved, I could do it all because of this career in social media.

But people often ask me one thing, "How did you do it? " How difficult or how easy is it to do? To be a YouTuber, to make a career on social media.

What's the scope in it? What are the differences between those who are successful in this field and those who fail? In this special video, I'd like to share 5 secrets with you.

5 secrets that I believe made me successful. 5 secrets that can help you be the #1 in your career. If you want to pursue social media as a part-time job or a full-time career, then this video will be very useful for you.

These numbers are quite interesting, friends. According to the Kalaari Report 2022, there are more than 80 million creators in India. It means, more than 80 million people in our country uploaded their videos on YouTube or Instagram at least once, and have tried to get a social media following.

But of them, only 150,000 creators could earn substantially to turn it into a full-time career. What's the difference between these 150,000 people and the remaining millions of people? What do you think?

Why isn't everyone equally successful? One of the first reasons that you may think of is that the others did not pursue this career seriously enough. Some people might have uploaded some videos as a joke, and then didn't even think about it.

That they weren't seriously interested in turning it into a career. Another reason could be that they didn't have the required skills. You'd need a lot of skills to be a successful YouTuber.

You need to know filmmaking, video editing, scripting, you need to be creative. So those who weren't skilled at these, failed. But even then, there would be numerous people who are skilled in all of this.

They pursue it seriously, but still aren't successful. In my opinion, the biggest factor here is uniqueness. This is my first secret.

A YouTube channel can be compared to a small business. Take a restaurant, for example. Suppose you want to run a Punjabi restaurant in your district or sector.

But there are 10 Punjabi restaurants in this area already. Do you think your restaurant will be successful? Especially when you plan to sell the same dishes that others are selling.

Your menu items are the same. Obviously, not. Even if you do everything right, you get the best quality ingredients for your dishes, you hire the best chefs, your location is quite good, the seating arrangement and ambience are fantastic, even then, it will be very difficult for you to be successful, because the other 10 Punjabi restaurants are already well established.

They know what works in this business and what doesn't. The problem is, you are running a race where 10 people are already 1 km ahead of you. Winning this race will be extremely difficult.

But if you run in a race where you are the only one running, you will always be the first. Do you get it? Many people claim that they want to become like so and so YouTuber.

They want to make vlogs like Sourav Joshi, they want to be a YouTuber like Dhruv Rathee, to this, I ask you, why would anyone want to watch your content, when someone else makes similar content and is better at it? Had I thought the same in 2014, what would have happened? I would have watched the top YouTubers back then, like TVF, AIB, seen their comedy videos, and have wanted to be like them!

I would have wanted to make comedy videos like them. But I am not skilled in comedy or acting. I didn't have the professional equipment they were using.

I didn't have a team or side actors, how could I have done it? Had I seen their success and tried to make comedy skits like them, there was no chance for my YouTube channel to be successful. I decided to make socio-political, educational videos on serious issues, it was a unique path.

Because I was the only one running in this race, the bad quality of my videos didn't matter, or my speaking style when I was starting out, or even the editing quality. "In this video, I'd like to tell you. .

. " "This controversy isn't very complicated. .

. " "It's important to know the reason why there's black money. " People watched my content, because I was the only one making something like this.

I was talking about things that no one else was talking about. By the time others joined this race, I was already quite ahead of them. I had years of experience by then, camera quality had improved, my speaking style had improved, the video editing was better, the storytelling in the videos was much better.

"Hello, friends! " Due to this uniqueness, I could remain at the #1 spot in my category. That's why if you want to be the #1 in your career, don't limit yourself to thinking about how you can work harder, about what else you can do, these are important, but it's more important that you are running a race where you are the only runner.

Or there are very few people competing with you. From the perspective of becoming a YouTuber, this race can be about any particular skill. Your storytelling skills may be superb, so focus on that particular skill to move ahead of the competition.

You may be talented in comedy, or you may have preexisting knowledge in a particular field, it gives you an advantage compared to your competitors. Focus on your uniqueness. The real struggle is finding such races.

Friends, suppose I try to sell mufflers and jackets on a Goan beach. It's unique. There wouldn't be anyone else selling jackets on the beach, I would be the only one running in the race.

Would I be successful? Obviously, not. Because no one would buy jackets of mufflers on a beach.

Obviously, you shouldn't be running a meaningless race. You shouldn't aim to be the first person to sell a jacket on a Goan beach. You might be the first, but it will be meaningless.

This would be a flop idea. Similarly, if you start a YouTuber channel, to showcase your personal life, you want to make vlogs about what happens in your home, 'personal life vlogs. ' Who will watch them?

Here comes the second secret. Value. There should be some value in your work.

Be valuable. If you make unique YouTube videos, that has no demand from the viewers, the audience doesn't want to watch those videos. It doesn't make sense.

There's a demand from the audience when they find some value in it. The values that you get from my videos, are knowledge and education. In case of a comedy YouTuber or a Bollywood actor, the value that you get is Entertainment.

Every successful YouTuber, actor or business not only give you some sort of value, but a combination of uniqueness and value. A unique value. What is the value of watching comedy videos?

You laugh, it feels good. What's the value of travel vlogs? Some people feel relaxed when watching them.

You get to know about new and interesting things. Even the worst creator today among the ones who are popular, does provide some sort of unique value. Because value doesn't necessarily mean something positive.

A thing may not be valuable to you, but it can be valuable to someone else. Controversies, mindless entertainment, drama, gossip, people may not admit to it, but if people are watching such content, it means that some kind of unique value is being created. As I told you, value is subjective.

It depends upon the situation. Perhaps, cheap content with useless controversies may not appear valuable to us, but someone out there is watching it. Even if he doesn't like watching it, there is a transfer of value in the form of mindless entertainment.

If you try to sell jackets in Manali, it'll be valuable. But if you try to do it on a beach in Goa, it has 0 value. A Mercedes car may be extremely valuable to you now.

But if you are stranded in a desert and are thirsty, a bottle of water would be more valuable to you than the Mercedes car. To be successful on YouTube, this is the biggest struggle. Based on your situation, for your target audience, making highly valuable videos, that are unique as well.

And you need to do this within the limits set by your passion, your skills, and your needs. How can you do this exactly? Friends, here I'd like to introduce, my third course on Dhruv Rathee Academy.

The YouTube Blueprint. By summarising the knowledge and experience I have gained over the last 10 years, I created this 7. 5-hour-long course.

This is my third course on Dhruv Rathee Academy. And the most detailed course yet. In it, you will learn how you can make YouTube and social media your part-time job or a full-time career.

There are 7 chapters in this course, that have been distributed across 7 weeks. Each week a new chapter will be unlocked for you. The first chapter is the introduction.

In it, you will learn about several myths and realities surrounding social media today. In the second chapter, you will analyse your talents, skills, and passion, to find your unique value. I will give you 20 unique ideas of channel categories that do not yet exist in India.

I believe these have the potential to be successful YouTube channels. From the third chapter, you will start learning necessary skills. First, we will focus on filmmaking.

How you can use your smartphone to capture amazing cinematic footage. How can you capture the best-sounding audio. And how you can master lighting.

We'll even talk about filming techniques. The fourth chapter focuses on video editing. In it, I will teach you how to edit your videos using a free software on your smartphone, and then a professional software on a computer.

The fifth chapter is about the Analytics. And the sixth chapter is the most important. It is focused on Monetisation.

The various ways for a content creator to earn money. And how you can use these ways to make your career profitable. And finally, in the seventh chapter, we'll focus on long-term growth.

How one day, you can hopefully get to 1 million followers. This is the first launch of the course, so I'd like to give you a huge discount. Use the coupon code WIN41 WIN41 the first 1,000 people who buy this course will get 41% off.

You can scan this QR code to get to the website, or use the link given in the description below. Do join it. And now we'll move ahead to the third secret.

Be authentic. When some YouTubers notice that some people get unique value even from mindless entertainment, they choose an easy and cheap way to run after success. A path that eventually leads them to their downfall.

For example, some people believe that their audience loves seeing luxury cars. Because the audience sees it as a new thing that they do not have. They are curious and interested in knowing more about it.

So they watch the content. So these YouTubers start showcasing one luxury car after another. They get a lot of views.

They believe that their formula worked and want to show even more luxury cars. They keep showing luxury cars. When they think that their audience is impressed that they have so many luxury cars, they start showing off the things they have.

Then these YouTubers start faking things. They rent cars and pretend that they own them. But what is the downside of doing so?

As soon as the audience finds out that they are shown a fake life, that the reel life did not actually exist, they lose all interest. Their curiosity and excitement evaporate. This was just one example.

But you would have seen it happening many times on social media. Someone shows off on Instagram and displays strange behaviour. As if they are faking their life.

Sometimes people fake a drama. Some people pretend to cry. This clip of a foreign YouTube vlogger went viral a few years ago, She was live-streaming, and after the live stream ended, she forgot to turn off her camera.

So people found out how she was treating her child. She was telling her son to pretend to be crying, so that they could get the perfect thumbnail. Normally, people love watching drama and controversy.

But if someone creates fake drama and pretends to cry, no one will appreciate it. Because it will be inauthentic. The YouTubers who are the most successful in the long term, who are respected the most by their audience have one quality in common.

Authenticity. Authenticity means on video, you show yourself as you are in your real life. You do not pretend to be something else for the video.

When YouTubers pretend to be something they are not, when they are acting or trying to be fake, people can easily recognise it subconsciously. If this keeps happening. People realise that the creator is trying to fool them.

Authenticity plays a crucial role in other jobs too. Such as being a receptionist, waiter, or an air hostess. You would have noticed that some people have a big smile when they serve you.

But that looks like a fake smile. Their smile makes you feel uncomfortable. Because you know that the smile isn't genuine.

They aren't actually happy to serve you, instead, they are pretending to be so. There is a mismatch between their body language and their words. And it is the easiest to identify the YouTubers who do this.

Be authentic about whatever you choose to show. Whatever you feel about something, your experiences, your thoughts, express them genuinely through your video. For example, if I show you a new place in a vlog, and I do not like something about it, I am honest about it.

"One thing about New York that you aren't told when you see it in films and videos, is that this city stinks! Wherever you go, it stinks so bad. " If I find something boring or if I like something, I tell you everything transparently.

"This is the view when we step outside our room. " "They've crafted such a beautiful room! " But if a YouTuber pretends.

Even if I don't like this, if I try to convince the audience that I loved it, people will find out very soon. Basically, the person you are in your real life, share your opinions with the audience transparently. If we go back to our example of luxury cars, what should an authentic YouTuber do?

If you notice that your audience loves watching luxury cars, then you should take this into account and transparently tell your audience that you are renting cars to make your videos. People will actually appreciate this authenticity. Secret #4: Quality over quantity.

People ask me why I don't upload vlogs daily. People tell me they would love it if I upload daily vlogs. Some people ask me why am I so late at uploading videos on my main channel.

Sometimes a week goes by without a video. They ask me to upload 2-3 videos every week. There's a simple reason for this.

In my opinion, quality is much more important than quantity. Normally, when you buy products from a brand or a company, you find out about the product's quality after you purchase it. But in YouTube's case, you find out instantly.

When someone looks at your thumbnail, within a second they can identify the quality of the video. Whether watching the video would be worth it for them or not. At the very latest, 5-6 seconds after clicking on the video and watching it, they'll find out the quality of the product.

YouTube's algorithm is based on these parameters. If the viewers like the quality of your videos, if they like the thumbnail, if they like watching it, then YouTube promotes your video more. But if your video is not valuable to the viewers, people will not click on it, they won't watch it any further, and YouTube will not promote it either.

To be honest, my daily life isn't interesting enough to entertain you every day. If I start uploading daily vlogs, it'll be so boring that you will stop watching them. You would have noticed this too.

People who upload videos daily, their content becomes quite boring after a certain point. If quantity is the focus point, quality will be compromised. I want each of the videos that I upload to have the perfect storytelling, research, editing, flow, music, and animations.

I want it to be of the highest quality. This lesson is for everyone. Irrespective of your chosen career.

Most people across jobs do not focus on quality. They do the bare minimum so that they can get it done as soon as possible. Because of this attitude, Many people are stuck in mediocre jobs and are unable to move ahead in their careers.

Because of this bare minimum attitude, several companies have collapsed. But in YouTube's world, if you start a new channel and focus on the quality, to publish a video that people haven't seen before, then it is possible that your first video gets more than 1 million views. I am not kidding, there are such channels.

Look at this channel. There are only 4 videos on this channel. But look at the view count.

Their first video has been blocked now, but it had more than 4 million views. And finally, the secret #5, be self-critical. While providing your unique value, you need to be constantly aware of how you can improve things.

How you can take things to the next level. Every single element! As a YouTuber, focusing on the script, the audio quality, film quality, video editing quality, animations, how can everything be improved?

Being self-critical is crucial for continuous improvement. If you are one of those people who think that everything they do is perfect, you won't see any scope for improvement. Your mindset should be that no matter the situation, no matter your position, there is always scope for improvement.

Somewhere something can always be improved upon. For this, you need introspection. Where are you falling short?

You should be aware of your tiniest mistakes. And how you can improve it. 3-4 years ago when people criticised any mistake in my videos, I could have easily ignored them.

I could have called them liars. I could have defended my videos as being perfect. But it's true that there were mistakes in my videos.

I acknowledged the situation and created a strategy for how such mistakes could be minimised. I use a strict system to minimise any mistakes. I have an excel file with the record of all past mistakes.

The mistake as well as its timestamp for each video. Why did that mistake happen? And who was responsible for it?

Was it an editing mistake? Did I say it wrong? Or was the researcher wrong?

What was done to rectify the mistake? And what are the steps were taken to avoid similar mistakes in future? Our team established new systems to bring in improvements and minimise mistakes.

And you can see its result. The number of mistakes in recent videos is nearly zero. Not absolutely zero, because some mistakes may creep in still.

But it is greatly reduced compared to earlier videos. This is just one example that shows you the importance of self-reflection and being self-critical. Many successful people, become egoistic once they become popular.

And here, their ego becomes a huge problem. Some YouTubers believe that everything they do is absolutely right. Afterall, they are so popular, they can't be wrong, right?

Because of their ego, people fail to introspect. They cannot recognise their failures. Another example of this would be my Jobs Zara Hatke series.

I worked really hard to launch it. I had hoped that it would be a novel experience. This was an experiment, but this series was a flop.

Compared to other videos, audiences' interest in them was negligible. I felt that something was lacking in them. Perhaps the research wasn't up to the mark.

So a series on which I worked for over 2 years, I cancelled it after 2 episodes only. Even though the remaining 3 episodes had been shot. It is very important to be pro-active in every career.

Experiment even if your fail, learn from the failure and move on. Throughout my YouTube career, I haven't shied away from experimenting. There were different types of videos.

Some failed, some were successful. But you can see their result today. I hope this video provided some unique value to you.

And you would have learned something new. If you are interested in making YouTube your part-time job or full-time career, then do check out the course. The link is in the description below.

Thank you very much!