My biggest YouTube insecurity

How to YouTube #50

3 months ago, I got this comment on my “Why I Left The Ali Abdaal Team” video.

4,400 likes on a comment highlighting my biggest online insecurity.

The video got ~250k views, so almost 2% of viewers upvoted that comment.

There were quite literally over 100 more of these type of comments.

And some of them with a little more heat, shall we say. They were not fun to read.

They were all getting at this idea of “you’re being a copycat, find your own style”.

Now, maybe you’ve even had the thought about your own channel “I look like I’m trying to be Ali Abdaal”.

He was a major part of building the educational talking head style on YouTube.

But I’m willing to bet you haven’t been told as many times as I have that were copying him.

I’m sharing this with you because I know you’re worried about copying other people.

Whether it’s the videos you make, the emails you write, the products you sell, the business you’re building.

You feel like maybe you’re just copying other people, and not doing anything very original.

I feel that too.

Over the 2.5 years I worked for Ali, I watched so many of his videos, and sat with him whilst he filmed so many times, that his style naturally rubbed off on me.

To the point where I’m not totally sure what’s actually my style and what has been internalised from working with Ali.

On top of that, there’s many other YouTube coaches out there. Sometimes I fear I won’t stand out.

But, here’s the most important part.

I’m not so scared I won’t do it.

Because one thing I’ve learned over the past 4 years of creating online is that you can’t lose if you don’t stop.

And it takes time to find your voice. ‘Imitate, then innovate’ is a legit strategy.

Even if it takes you 10 years to innovate and find your true style.

Heck, even Ali would say to himself sometimes “I’m just gonna imagine I’m Peter McKinnon for this video” because he’d get a bit overwhelmed with filming.

Everyone has the same fears.

Insecurity, doubt, overwhelm, fear of failure.

But over time, you keep chipping away at your message, your brand, your style, your products. And slowly the answers reveal themselves.

Ultimately, there are only three things you can do with YouTube and business:

1) Start 2) Keep going 3) Get better.

Don’t let the fear of being called a copycat hold you back. We’re not in primary school anymore.

If anything, copying is a great strategy for success, because you’re following something that’s proven.

Of course, there’s a middle ground, but until you’re getting over 100 comments saying you need to find your style, you’re probably fine.

Even then, it’s not as big a deal as you think.

You can just keep doing your thing.

Have an epic week making videos.

Tintin 🫡

P.s.

My coaching programme The $100k YouTuber is now closed for new students.

But if you’re interested in joining in future you can hop on the waitlist by filling out this form here.

And if you have any questions about it feel free to reply to this email :)