Why Do So Many YouTubers Disappear?
I’ve lost count of how many times I saw YouTubers come and go.
Some found different things to focus on.
Others fell for the mental rat race.
The mental rat race is when we get too attached to the numbers.
When the subscribers increase, the creator is happy.
When the subscribers drop, the creator is sad.
During the happy moments, we are on top of the world.
And the sinister thing is that the happy moments can last for a long time.
Imagine there is a girl that enters your life who is secretly trying to mislead you.
A few months back, you did her friend dirty.
Now this girl wants to avenge her friend.
So, this girl spends weeks, months, years making you fall in love with her.
She does everything right.
After 4 years, you’re ready to propose.
You told your parents about her and everything.
The wedding is set up.
On the wedding day, this girl sends you a text.
She’s posted up with the girl that you did wrong in the past, with the caption of:
- ‘Payback is so sweet.’
When the ups were there, it fools us into thinking the ups will always be there.
False.
What goes up must come down.
Why Creators Dip
The reason a lot of creators dip is that they got attached to the numbers from the beginning.
They allowed these numbers to influence their emotions.
What influences emotions also influences identity.
So, when these creators are getting 1.2 million views a video, they are eager to rock the title:
- YouTuber.
When they share their identity with their family and friends, those family and friends quickly check out the YouTuber’s page.
They are fascinated with the views.
Then an algorithm change hits.
The videos go from having 1.2 million views to 38,000.
Now those same family and friends are like, ‘what happened?’
And they keep giving suggestions on how this YouTuber can climb back to the top.
The YouTuber tries to go back to the top, but nothing seems to be working.
1.2 million views nowadays seems like a pipe dream.
At this point, the YouTuber thinks about switching their identity.
The Sea of Dead Channels
People change, and they can change fast.
What intrigued us for a decade can suddenly repulse us.
That’s what happens with plenty of these YouTubers.
They fall out of love with the process of creating videos.
The ups fool us into thinking that we love a skillset.
But the downs will reveal how much we really love the skillset.
To make the problem worse, a lot of creators are pushed to the mainstream by the algorithm before they are ready.
They never had to put in the reps.
Fast success builds ego while slow success builds character.
These unready creators are pushed into the mainstream and get the illusion that they love the process of creation.
However, when they hit their downs, that’s when they begin to dread content creation.
Nowadays, it feels like work.
How to Avoid Creator Burnout
I have 2 tips to avoid creator burnout.
The first tip is mindset-related, and the second tip is strategy-related.
The mindset-related tip is to focus on your publishing rate rather than your followers, views, subscribers etc.
The publishing rate is something that you have full control over.
While your followers and views are not metrics that you have full control over.
When the algorithm is favoring you, it’s easy to be fooled into thinking that you have control over everything.
But during off moments, you’ll realize that followers and views are output metrics, not input metrics.
An input metric is something that we have full control over.
You have full control over whether you hit publish or not.
When I had 32,000 followers on Twitter, I didn’t really care.
I was amazed that I published 45,000 tweets.
Those 45,000 tweets were within my control.
The strategy-related tip is to have a rainy-day fund.
Burnout, sadness, and family emergencies are a thing.
When we have a rainy-day fund filled with content, we aren’t as impulsive.
Within my hard drive, I have over 300 talks for my YouTube channel.
I post every day on YouTube.
Some of the content is repurposed too.
So, I will host an ArmaniTalks Show first day of every month.
The 1-hour show is clipped into 4-7 different videos.
Those new videos are posted on different days.
Technically speaking, the 300 talks in my hard drive can allow me to have a filled content calendar for 2-3 years if repurposed correctly.
I’m free.
I can have a mental breakdown here and there without throwing in the towel forever.
When I have a rainy-day fund, I’m not tempted to have mental breakdowns as much.
It’s like having a lot of money.
When we are broke, we are jittery.
But when we have 100,000 dollars in the bank, there is a poise to our moves.
Fame Has Its Downsides
In the future, I see more people focusing on decentralized fame.
The common fame is known as centralized fame.
Where most likely, there is a community.
For example.
Taylor Swift fans often know other Taylor Swift fans.
They identify as Swifties.
Wear similar clothes.
Have similar speaking styles.
Etc.
Taylor Swift is the center of their musical taste.
Decentralized fame is when the audience members have 0 clue who each other are.
The ArmaniTalks brand is working on that.
Where I have followers in South Africa to India.
All scattered.
Decentralized.
They don’t know each other.
Due to the decentralization, I can walk the streets without ever being recognized.
In the future, I see more YouTubers focusing on decentralized fame.
Where they become the Google of their industry.
They are knowledgeable on a field, and constantly chug out unique content related to that field.
Soon, each video attracts completely different archetypes.
These people have no clue who each other are.
Perfect.
This creator is famous, but not too famous.
This is a creator who is here to stay.
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