Overcoming Your Fear of Starting YouTube

I created my YouTube channel in 2014, and it’s taken me till 2021 (yes, seven years) to actually overcome my fear of starting YouTube and actually start posting.

If you’re reading this article you’ve no doubt created a channel too but have multiple reasons that are preventing you from posting a video.

So why are you not going after your dreams? Why are you not starting your business? Why are you not starting your YouTube channel? 

In this article I’m going to go through all the reasons most people including myself use to hold us back and show you why they shouldn’t!

Before You Can Start

You’ve clicked this article so you know you have something holding you back. That’s the first step, and it’s a big one.

The next step is to be honest, not to me, to yourself. Honest about which of the following reasons resonates with your situation.

I’ve built this website and will build my YouTube channel around helping creators create their business.

I want to help you start your channel, I want to help you build that business. I want to help you turn that business into an income. I want to help, because right now there is no better time to start on YouTube.

But first you have to help yourself. Because I can show you the door, but you have to walk through it.

So let’s go through all the reasons.

You’re Not Good Enough

Whether it’s an informational channel or entertainment, the same rule applies in that you have to offer meaningful value.

You can feel like the knowledge you have is not of value to anyone. That you are not enough of an expert in your subject to offer help of significance.

But you don’t have to have top expertise, or have a doctorate, or be a leader of your field to qualify to give advice and value.

Obviously, if it’s financial or medical for example you need to have the relevant background and qualifications.

But in general you really only need to know more about the subject than the average person. Even if you only know a little more, it’s valuable enough to someone.

Your worry could also stem from a sense of imposter syndrome. Perhaps you think you will found out to be a fraud because you don’t have all the answers?

The solution is honesty and being upfront. I don’t know everything about business, but I have experience and I know enough to help with what I do know. The knowledge I know is valuable to those who don’t have the experience I have.

I also know I have more to learn, but I’m not going to hide that. The more I learn, the more I can share.

You don’t have to wait till you are an expert. Your current level of knowledge and the journey to learning more is valuable content for viewers.

There will not be a time when you suddenly have enough skills or knowledge. The right time is now, wherever you feel you are.

You Don’t Have the Right Gear

There is a popular phrase when we talk about not having the right gear which is “Gear doesn’t matter”.

It’s very true, that gear doesn’t matter except that in actual fact, gear does matter.

But don’t take that at face value. Let me explain what I mean by that.

You can make good content without the best professional gear, like cinema cameras and thousand dollars of lighting. But you can also make better content with cinema cameras and thousand dollar lighting.

The point is you don’t need to start with the best equipment to create YouTube videos. Plenty of YouTubers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers still use their iPhone to create content.

Another concept to understand is economies of scale with camera gear. Bear with me!

The difference in quality and price between a cheap phone camera and a DSLR is noticeable. However there is a huge difference in price between a DSLR and Cinema camera for a comparatively smaller jump in quality.

When you have invested and are at a certain price point for camera equipment you need to spend a considerable amount more for a small jump in quality.

This is all specifically relevant to YouTube, which is watched mainly on mobile phones. It would be an entirely different situation for cameras for the big screen.

Most of us have a camera in our pocket which is perfectly fine for YouTube videos. The one on our phone. A phone camera however would not be adequate for movies. Although I’m sure someone has made one with an iPhone already.

Bear in mind the YouTubers you follow using expensive gear most likely all started with affordable gear.

Use what you have or save up for an affordable camera with good audio options and a flipscreen. Check out this article for some camera recommendations.

Then you can concentrate on camera techniques and more importantly providing value, telling stories, and creating good content. Because you can have the best tools, but better tools won’t improve poor content.

You Don’t Have the Time

We all have commitments, family commitments, work commitments etc. And these come first, because no one else can pay your bills, or look after your family, or complete your school studies.

So how do you make time when you have so little time after completing your priority commitments?

The first thing to do is bear in mind that this is a problem for many YouTubers and they have been able to make workarounds to fit YouTube in their schedule. Which means you can too.

If you’re saying, ‘well they must have more time to spare than I do’ then the answer to this problem is that you have to make some tough decisions.

There are only 24 hours in a day, so if they are all used up by something, then something has to give.

The sacrifice or trade off you need to make might be less time with the family or friends. Maybe you need to take an hour out of your sleep, or streamline your studies so you can take some minutes out of studying.

It goes without saying you can cut out Netflix.

You can’t have it all, so you have to figure out where you can borrow minutes.

Fear of Being in Front of the Camera

This is a tough one. You can watch all the videos on how to be more confident in front of the camera, but it will still not be enough.

Some people who are perhaps more extroverted or comfortable being the center of attention take to being on YouTube like a duck to water.

For those that are not blessed to have those attributes, the idea of being in front of the camera is quite scary.

And the insensitive can say, ‘well you’re just not cut out for YouTube then’. But I’ve watched plenty of YouTubers who start off with noticeable inexperience of being in front of the camera to later on develop a great onscreen presence.

Understanding that, the hard truth is that the only way to rid yourself of that fear of being in front of the camera is to keep putting yourself in front of the camera. 

The more you keep uploading the easier it will get, and at some point talking to the camera will be as easy as talking to a friend.

The hard part are the first videos. Think of it like a band aid or a plaster, you need to just rip it off. Dive into making videos even if you think they are bad, and slowly but surely the video quality will improve.

A common phrase is that “the first 100 videos you make will be terrible”. You just need to get those hundred videos out and it is inevitable that there will be a point where the video quality will be where you want it to be.

So you need to come to terms with the fact you need to make many videos to get comfortable and that the sooner you start the sooner you will get there.

You Don’t Know Where to Start

This category can be one of two issues. One, not knowing what topic to base your YouTube channel on and two not knowing what tools like gear or software you need to get yourself started.

The good news is that this website has been designed to answer exactly those questions.

If I could sum it up in a few paragraphs I would say that finding a topic is possibly the easiest question to answer.

It’s simply the thing in your life you’re most passionate about. Is it food photography, or is it knitting etc.?

Whatever it is that you love to do in your spare time, that you can talk to someone for hours about; that you can offer advice about confidently, that is your topic.

For the tools you need to start YouTube, all your answers are in my dedicated article on How to Start a YouTube channel.

Final Thoughts

Even when I wrote out my plan a few weeks ago, I knew YouTube would play a pivotal role in my business. And yet I would find all sorts of reasons to procrastinate. 

Now that I’ve finally finished the filming and am close to finishing the editing I’ve experienced something that I knew I would before, a sense of relief that ‘making the video actually wasn’t so hard’.

I’m not a psychologist but I know we humans enjoy our comfort. Starting YouTube will take you out of your comfort zone faster than most things out there.

But once you can push past that initial discomfort, that discomfort disappears. I am now eager to complete the first video and start the second. 

I hope this article will help push all who read this to start their channel and realising their business dreams. If it does, please comment below with your YouTube channel so I can pay it a visit. 

Don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel too.

Good luck!

Justin Punio

Artist / Photographer / Videographer