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How My YouTube Channel Got Monetized in Just 40 Days After I Got 1,000 Subscribers: Quantity Over Quality; 2 to 3 New Videos Daily

In January 2018, my 2nd YouTube channel which was 9 months old at the time, only had 328 subscribers, about one third of the required number it needed when YouTube changed its policy on monetizing videos.

It took me 4 more months to reach the coveted 1,000 subscriber status; on June 21st.

However, I was confused when my channel was not monetized by the next day… or week… or weeks…

So I did some research (on YouTube) and learned about a theory that explains how a YouTube bot was in charge of my monetization destiny as I remained in purgatory.

The YouTube bot rewards YouTubers who continue to prove that their channel is still very active and engaging; even after gaining 1,000 subscribers.

Admittedly, I had totally slowed down how many videos I was publishing after I hit the 1,000 subscribers; as I didn’t want to “waste” them by publishing them without monetization.

But in reality, the best thing you can do is to prove yourself that much harder by using the secret YouTube algorithm: Publish 2 to 3 videos per day.

Not only did that formula apparently help make my videos more visible in the suggested videos column to potential new viewers before I reached 1,000 subscribers, but it also sped up the monetiazation process after I reached that goal.

While I do have the skill set to edit my videos, I typically don’t. I have managed both of my YouTube channels by the unspoken algorithm:

Quantity over quality. Two to three videos per day.

Based on my experience, you’re more likely to reach 1,000 subscribers and be monetized quicker afterwards by publishing 2 to 3 unedited, conversational, engaging videos per day than you are published one well polished video per week.

Quantity over quality.

So if you’re reading this because you have finally reached 1,000 subscribers on YouTube but are feeling discouraged and even disillusioned over not being monetized yet…

Just stop trying so hard, in a sense.

Publish 2 to 3 videos per day and let the algorithm take care of the rest!

It worked for me.

1 Comment Posted on Health, Spirituality, Uncategorized

Today I Began Using BRB Hair Loss Shampoo to See If My Hair Will Grow Back Thicker (Includes Promo Code to Save You 10% on Your Order!)

With nearly 5,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel devoted to men’s hair loss, it was like receiving a compliment when Brb Hair Loss Shampoo reached out to me and asked if I would like to try a bottle of their product, to mention in one of my videos.

I instantly replied with a more grandiose proposal:

“How about you keep me supplied with your shampoo, and I’ll make at least one video per month to document whether it is helping reverse my male pattern baldness?”

It was a match made in hair loss heaven.

So today, coinciding with the official American launch of the Thai brand hair loss shampoo, Brb, I now present to you the “before” photos.

My plan is to document the next 9 months of my journey on my YouTube channel, as 9 months is the span of time in which most users find positive results.

Something that I particularly appreciate about Brb is the ingredients consistent of natural extracts native to one of my most favorite countries in the world: Thailand.

While I don’t judge any man for choosing to use the products of Big Pharma like Propecia or Rogaine, I personally prefer natural products instead of chemicals. I feel the BRB is an obvious extension of my own brand as one of YouTube’s most popular hair loss channels.

If you are interested in joining me on my journey, you can actually purchase BRB at a discounted rate, thanks to an exclusive promo code; which is simply my last name:

Shell.

Just click this link to place Brb Hair Loss Shampoo in your cart, then type in Shell where it says “Enter a promo code” in order to receive an exclusive 10% discount.

I think this will be a pretty cool public experiment. Each month, I promise to make at least one video showing what my hair looks like, after each new month of faithfully using BRB shampoo.

Yes. I am the human guinea pig and I am inviting the entire world to watch.

Here we go!

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Is Age 37 Too Young for a Midlife Crisis? 1st World Problems and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

I’m pretty sure that at age 37, I’m currently working my way through my midlife crisis. While at first mention, it might seem I’m getting mine out of the way a little early, consider that the average American man in Tennessee lives to be about 74 years old. So actually, I’m actually right on cue:

If I live that long, then my life is already halfway complete at this point.

Perhaps the biggest struggle I am sorting out is that, as of this year, I have officially found myself at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Self-Actualization.

The way I like to explain how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs works is this:

If and when you are able to overcome needs in each stage of your life, they are simply replaced by new ones that you didn’t have the privilege of addressing before.

Things started progressing quickly on my journey up the pyramid, in my mid-30s, when I discovered that it was always my decision whether I allowed other people to emotionally affect me. During that same time in my life, my wife and I had become completely debt-free, other than our mortgage.

Now in our late 30s, we have found ourselves in a new income level bracket; having both progressed our ways up the corporate ladder, in addition to the aforementioned pyramid.

I think the identity crisis I am going through right now is that we both work full-time jobs in offices, in addition to side jobs online. The money simply goes to paying off our mortgage, our kids’ college funds, and our retirement.

It’s just sort of demotivating to consider how much of our time is spent working- and how little time is spent together as a family.

Plus, I really want a Jeep Wrangler. I’ve been dreaming about owning one for years. But having gone years without a car payment, and knowing that buying my dream car would only take away from our savings and our ability to pay extra each month on our mortgage, I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy it anyway.

Clearly, I have first world problems. Yet according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, they are still legitimate challenges that I am sorting out in my life.

This is my midlife crisis at age 37.

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Dear Jack: Maybe You’ve Grown Up a Bit More When I Wasn’t Looking

7 years, 8 months.

Dear Jack,

Whereas I don’t feel like your sister has grown up all of the sudden, like the way people feel who haven’t seen her in a while, I can’t say the same about you.

Raising your sister at age her requires so much of my attention, that I am aware that it sort of feels like I can’t focus as much on you as I did before your sister was born.

While I could feel guilty about that, I have to remind myself that when you were 2 years old, I probably spent even more time pouring my attention and care into you.

In the process, your role and identity has had to shift from the only child to the older brother.

Fortunately though, you’ve done a remarkable job with that transition. The 5 and a half year difference between you and sister definitely makes things easier, I believe.

I feel that we’re nearing a point where I’ll feel that my time will be a bit more balanced, as your sister is now gaining much independence. I look forward to us spending more time together.

At the same time though, somewhere between the fact you’ve been forced to be more independent of my attention because of your sister, and because you’re naturally becoming more dependent in your age anyway now that you are almost in 2nd grade, it’s like things are naturally gravitating towards a more balanced divide of my attention.

But I do feel like you’ve grown up more quickly here without my noticing it.

So hopefully, time will feel like it’s slowing down with you about more in the near future; whereas with your sister, it’s almost as if time has progressed slower than normal, because of how much time I’ve spent with her.

I look forward to things balancing out.

Love,

Daddy

Photo by Mohamad Alaw.

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Dear Holly: You’re at the Age Now Where People Think You Grew Up So Fast, But You Didn’t…

2 years, 3 months.

Dear Holly,

You are officially at the age now, to where if someone hasn’t seen you since you were a baby, they will react with, “Oh wow! Holly is all grown up now! She’s a girl!”

We have friends and family members that have haven’t seen you in about two years. So for them to you see now as a little girl, it can give the impression that time has just flown by since you were born.

However, it’s a different feeling for me; regarding my perception of time.

I definitely don’t feel like you grew up while I blinked. For me, I think it only reinforced a more natural passing of time in that I had 6 months to take care of you while I was a stay-at-home dad.

Through every night where I woke up at 3:00 AM to change your diaper and help you get back to sleep, it’s possible that it felt like time was actually passing by more slowly for me.

It’s like the way that sitcoms often skip the years between infancy and Kindergarten, I imagine that’s how it is to the outside world when they see you.

I suppose it’s also like the way if a person stares at the minute-hand of a clock in an attempt to watch it move, compared to someone who looks away from the clock.

This weekend we have a family reunion to go to. I am expecting many people to say, word for word, “Is this Holly? She’s gotten big. I remember seeing pictures of her when she was a baby. She grew up quickly!”

But for me, as a parent who has been heavily involved in so many waking hours of your life, you’ve grown up at normal speed.

I’ve survived enough sleepless nights to feel it.

Love,

Daddy

Photos by Mohamad Alaw.