My son is in the late-early stage of building himself a little social media empire.
In the last week, his LEGO-themed YouTube channel increased subscribers by more than 33 percent. He usually gets at least a few hundred views with every new video, but one of his last views got a monster 13,000 views, which drove an insane number of subscriptions. The next day he immediately jumped on the computer and did a YouTube Live "Ask Me Anything." I jumped on to keep an eye on the comments because, you know: perverts.
The kid was literally out of breath trying to answer all the non-stop questions coming at him.
He got another 100+ new subscribers.
As of today he's at more than 800 subscribers and it's still rising. This is significant because that puts him more than three-quarters of the way over one of the mountains in the way of monetization: 1,000 subscribers. (The other is 3,000 hours of viewing time in a year. He'll get there.)
No one ever told him he couldn't do it. Not even himself. He just followed his instincts.
It started a couple of years ago when he asked if I could show him a thing or two about Adobe Premiere, which I was using for some contract work. He wanted do some "LEGO videos." So, I showed him the basics, which was a stretch for me because if you know the video editing program, it can be tough to get your mind around.
An hour later he had produced his first video. It was as rough as you'd expect for a first attempt, but for a young teenager who had never seen a video editing app before, it wasn't bad. As someone whose brain shuts off when the camera turns on, was astounded by his fearlessness.
Would he stick with it, I wondered? Nah, probably not, at least if his adherence to his chore chart was any indication.
As of today he has produced 147 videos. Many of them are shockingly good, in this dad's opinion. And he continues to follow those good instincts. For example, he has avoided using all the kitschy transition effects like the "star wipe."
I couldn't be more proud, obviously. All concerns about the digital life aside, the kid has identified his core interest and diligently stayed the course through the tedious learning curve and isolation of early creation. As far as I know, he has never agonized over whether this will work.
He kept going, never questioning it. He just did the work and had fun doing it.
He learned. He experimented. He applied what he learned and what worked.
He repeated.
Right now he's in an exceedingly rare moment in an entrepreneur's journey. In fact, it only happens once and likely never happens again. It's like a lunar eclipse that reveals a total alignment of all the planets.
It's a pure state. There are no possibilities in this period. There are only facts. Inevitable, inexorable successes. One merely has to show up in order to receive them. The creative possibilities of this time are no joke--there's a straight, unbroken, uninterrupted line between your effort and your goal. The freedom to create and iterate are unleashed. In fact, at this stage, they've never been leashed.
Most of us lose that after the marketplace delivers the first round-house kick to the face. After that we tend to play it safer. Many lose their way in planning and meetings.
Is it possible to tap into that prelapsarian state? I believe so. Absolutely. In fact, I think it’s necessary. But how do you do it?
I made a list and deleted it several times at this point. All the answers come down to one thing: consign the risks to the depths of Hades. Worry, fear, doubt…useless. Be prudent, of course. Learn from past mistakes, but let those lessons merge into that big blob of subconscious goo from which all our work and good ideas “miraculously” emerge.
Right. Sounds like metaphysical navel-plucking, I know. But it’s true. My son, “BrickStoic,” is a living example of what happens when you don’t entertain silly notions about how things won’t work.
He just thinks, “Hey, this would be cool,” and then he does it.
Is it really that simple? I guess. Look at him! He’s doing it right now!
******
Oh, and by the way, we decided to capitalize on his sudden momentum by doing the thing that was actually the original idea for starting a YouTube channel: He’s selling the plans he makes. Right now I’m building out landing pages and helping with tech support until he learns those skills. (It’ll probably take him about five minutes).
Here’s a freebie anyone can download:
And here’s one he’s selling for $5. This is the build he made that got the 13 thousand views and the plans for making it.
Good for him!!!
How old is he? That's so cool! Every boy's dream😆