Rawan: That was out of this world. I sort of remember it was surreal. I would open the YouTube app and just pull it down to refresh just to see the numbers jump by a couple of hundred. Every time I refreshed.

Spencer: I think a lot of people start a YouTube channel and they do it for a year and they don’t see anything. 

Rawan: I sent it to them and they just ghosted me. They stopped responding. 

Spencer: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Creators Uncut, the podcast show about the behind the scenes of YouTube and social media. Today I am joined by Rawan from Rawan’s Reviews. Rawan, thanks for being on the show. 

Rawan: Thanks for having me, Spencer. 

Spencer: Yeah, it’s always great to connect with new YouTubers. That’s one of the things that I love about this podcast show. So let’s, I guess, learn a little bit about you. If you don’t mind telling us about yourself, maybe where you’re from. If you have any hobbies, things that you like to do, stuff like that, just so our listeners can get to know you a little bit better. 

Rawan: Absolutely. So my name is Rawan. I am from Lebanon, the country, and I moved to Paris, France in 2017 to do my MBA over here. And I’ve been living in Paris since then. My background is in business marketing. My career prior to YouTube is in digital marketing. I’m actually still working in that field today, but I have a passion for tech in all its shapes and forms, hence my tech YouTube channel. 

Spencer: Yeah. So is that kind of how you got into YouTube? Was your passion for tech or was there another force or motivation to starting your YouTube channel? 

Rawan: Actually, I owe my start in YouTube to COVID. 

Spencer: Oh.

Rawan: I was in a small apartment at the time living in Paris, a very small apartment. And we had very strict confinement rules in France for those who have not heard of those. At times we could not leave our house or we can only leave within a kilometer radius from our apartment. 

Spencer: Oh.

Rawan: We had to fill in a form and sign what purpose we are out for. And there was just a handful of things we’re allowed to do. So it was pretty strict at that time. And a couple of months in, it was me in a small apartment staring at four walls about to get crazy. And I started thinking, what can I do to invest my time in a productive, meaningful way, but also give me a project, something to do. So I started brainstorming and initially my first thought was, maybe I’ll try to do some voice overwork. I used to fool around with my friends with that deep trailer voice, you know, this summer, get ready for some action. That voice, I figured maybe I could… 

Spencer: That sounds pretty good. 

Rawan: Well, thank you. And I thought maybe I could do some voice over work. So I started looking at microphones and I was actually torn between two different microphones. I couldn’t figure out which one is best. So I bought them both and I started testing them out, recording bits and segments to see how they sound. And somewhere around that time, I don’t know how, but the idea of, well, maybe I can start doing YouTube videos and actually share my findings with the world. Now, there’s a lot of context as to why that was a good idea. I’ve always had a passion for technology, as I said. You know, even growing up in the late 90s, early 2000s, desktop computers, I used to assemble, build them piece by piece and, you know, for fun. I used to go to electronic stores and spend hours roaming the aisles, looking at everything from kitchen appliances to computers to cameras to whatnot. So I had that passion already. And then once I purchased a product, I would test it out rigorously. So it never ended there in the purchase. Once I get it, I had the thing that I want to see, does it perform well, as well as the marketing claims. And I actually have a story a very long time ago, you know, when monaural bluetooth headsets were a thing, you know, you can just put that earpiece in your ear and just talk on the phone. I was in a long distance relationship at the time, so I used to be on the phone a lot. So I always had one of those. And I still remember when I used to buy a new one, I would be so curious to see how good do I sound. So I would get my parents’ phones, I would hook one up to a recorder, and I would call from the other phone and record myself to see how I sound. But then I would turn on a hairdryer to see, does it cancel out background sounds well or not. So that was over 15 years ago. Fast forward today, I still do the same thing. And even with, so we no longer have those monaural headsets, but we have earbuds now. And when I buy earbuds, I do the same tests for myself. So I figured, well, maybe I can share them with the world. Now, there was another point why that made so much sense. I do a lot of research before buying anything, like to the point where I sometimes watch every single YouTube video under the sun. And a lot of times I have more questions than answers. There’s a lot of questions that I have that I do not find the answers to in the videos.

Spencer: Right.

Rawan: Back to the phone call quality. That was one of the important things for me. And a couple years back, I’d be watching YouTube videos from big tech publications about earbuds. And when they get to that segment on call quality, they would just say, well, they sound great. I called my friend and they could hear me perfectly well. And that’s it. And I’d be like, what? Seriously? Were you in a quiet environment? Were you in a loud one? What is your friend’s baseline knowledge of what constitutes good call quality? So I was like, I can’t believe it. I need more. And that’s why, side note, when I review earbuds and I’ve done a lot of those reviews, I actually still do these exact same tests. I give people the chance to hear what they sound like in my studio, in my quiet environment. And then I turn on a hairdryer or a vacuum cleaner to see the noise cancellation. And I also go down on a busy street with cars, honking and whatnot to give them an idea in a real life scenario. If they’re walking down a busy street, can the other person on the other end of the line hear them well or not? So all these things connected together, my love for tech, my obsessive research and testing side, and the fact that I found a lot of gaps lacking in some YouTube videos, it made sense. So I thought of doing that and I jumped right in. And five years later now, I think I’m still doing that. 

Spencer: That’s awesome. I think also you probably had a lot of time with COVID and being locked in. I bet there’s a lot of other people out there with similar experiences with COVID, maybe not starting YouTube channels, but trying new things because everyone was locked up. But I think it’s important to point out, I love that you have a passion for tech and that’s kind of what helped with your YouTube channel. I think when people are starting YouTube channels, it’s important to have a passion for it, or else it’ll be harder later on to continue to do it. 

Rawan: Absolutely. 

Spencer: So I think that’s great. So you’ve been doing it for five years now, you said, right? 

Rawan: Mhmm.

Spencer: Was there a point where you decided that you wanted to just do YouTube for your job? Was there a moment or a video where you’re like, oh man, this is definitely what I want to do? 

Rawan: That’s a good question. From the moment I started this, it was always a dream. I used to buy a lot of products myself and test them out. And I always love having the latest tech. So if I can have a career out of playing with the latest tech, that would be awesome. So it was always a dream, but not something that I, I’m not going to say I didn’t think it’s possible, but I knew it was far-fetched. That did not stop me from trying, but it wasn’t something that I said to myself, this is my plan and this is what I’m going to do. So I did not quit my job to do full-time YouTube. And this is where I think my path is a bit unconventional in the sense that most people I think who have that dream would either quit their jobs and dedicate full-time towards YouTube and try to make something out of that. And that’s commendable. That’s awesome. And then there’s those who are a bit more risk averse who would do it in parallel to their jobs. And then once they get to a point where they’re, you know, well-established, making some revenue, then they would quit their jobs and dedicate full-time to YouTube. I didn’t neither of those. I still have a full-time job right now, which makes it even more challenging because technically I am juggling two jobs and YouTube is a job. I treated it as such from day one because otherwise there’s no way you can make it. 

Spencer: Right.

Rawan: It is a hobby. It is a passion for sure, but you cannot look at it as a hobby. A hobby is something you do in your spare time. If you don’t have the time, that’s fine. A hobby is something you do when you feel like it. If you don’t feel like it, that’s fine. I could never afford to do that. I can’t tell you how many times I had to drag my feet to actually produce content. And you can imagine after a long day, after a nine to five job, after a long day, after a long week, the last thing you want to do is more work. But I had to for months and years. So it was always a job for me, a second job, which made it even more difficult to grow because you have only so many hours in a day. But I’m happy. I started, it took about maybe three and a half years before I started to see any results, which makes it even more challenging because you’re investing a lot of time and seeing no return on your investment. But I stuck in there, kept grinding, kept putting in the hours, and eventually, about three and a half years in, I started seeing some returns. And this year was the first, or last year, 24, was the first year where it was starting to become significant. So I started to see the potential. This could be a full-time job eventually. And that dream is closer to reality. But as of today, I’m still juggling it with another full-time job. 

Spencer: Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Going and just quitting your job, I think, is pretty risky. I think most people kind of try to work a job and then kind of transition into full-time YouTube. But yeah, what you said totally makes sense. And it sounds like it wasn’t necessarily like a specific moment, but kind of gradually over time, you started to see the results of your work. And that’s when you kind of decided that that’s what you wanted to do. 

Rawan: Indeed. And you know, if I was in my early 20s, I’d say I’d probably be less risk-averse. Maybe I would have done something as huge as quitting and trying this for a while. And then if it doesn’t work out, I’d do something else. But mid-20s, early 20s is different than mid-to-late 30s, which is where I’m at today. So I have to keep things in perspective as well with my, how much risk I take in terms of these decisions. And this is why my decision thus far has been to try to sacrifice my time rather than take other risks in trying to juggle both jobs at the same time. Thankfully, it’s been working to some degree. So I’m happy. It is working somehow. 

Spencer: Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s important to stick with it. I think a lot of people start a YouTube channel and they do it for a year and they don’t see anything. 

Rawan: Absolutely. 

Spencer: So then they quit. But it’s important to stay consistent, stick with it. And like you, you’ll eventually see a return on your investment, the time and effort that you put into it. It is important to try and get better. Like if you go a year on YouTube and you don’t see any growth…

Rawan: 100%.

Spencer: Then you may need to change your, I guess, what you’re doing, your workflow or your production quality or something. But if you stick with it, you should be able to grow at least a little bit. 

Rawan: Absolutely. And on that point, because I always treated it as a job, I had KPI’s and metrics for myself that I set every single year. And then I would throughout the year check if I’m on track or not. So I had growth metrics on so many different KPIs that I would constantly monitor. And my objective was constant growth. And I had very strict KPIs that I set to myself. And thankfully year on year, I’ve been able to achieve all those. And that’s why I keep on doing it because I know I am growing, maybe at a slower rate than if I was doing it full time. But it’s important to grow. Otherwise, you’re doing the same thing over and over again and just running around in circles. 

Spencer: Why are you doing it at that point? Yeah.

Rawan: Yeah.

Spencer: So I guess kind of switching gears a little bit. I kind of want to focus more on the type of content that you do. So you’re a tech review channel. How do you decide what videos to make? Is it solely based on things that get sent to you like sponsorships? Or is it stuff that you’re just interested and buy? And so you do a video on that? Or I guess how do you decide what kind of videos to make? 

Rawan: That’s a good question. So today is very different than last year or the year before. Today I do have a lot of sponsored contents from big brands that send me products. So it depends how interesting the product is. But if I want to put that aside and talk about organically what videos or content I decide to make, what products I decide to purchase, it’s a very tricky question. One that I can’t claim I’ve found an answer to, but I can tell you what I try to do. I try to find, there’s a gap between some demand and low supply. And that’s very tricky because choosing a product with no demand, well, obviously that’s not going to go anywhere. But then choosing a product with a lot of supply, and I say supply of reviews out there, is also not going to, for me and channel of my size, it’s not going to do good because I’m a very small fish relatively today swimming in an ocean of blue whales. And if I want to review the latest iPhone, for example, everyone and their mother is reviewing that iPhone. 

Spencer: Right.

Rawan: So when all those big whales are putting out content, the algorithm is not going to push mine. So this is where I try to find that gap between some demand but low supply. Now when I say low supply, there’s three different, say, tactics that I try to look at. So the first one is obviously a product itself that does not have a lot of content out there. But these are rare to find. If there’s a product that’s interesting to people, often there’s a lot of content around it. The second thing is timing. If I am the first or amongst the first to review something, then at that point in time, there’s low supply of that. And actually have an interesting story on that. I think it was about two years ago. I was watching the keynote of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. And right after the keynote, pre-orders opened, I placed a pre-order and they were supposed to ship out in about a week or two weeks. That was on a Wednesday. Friday morning, my doorbell rings, FedEx hands me a package and that’s the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. 

Spencer: Three days later? 

Rawan: Two days later, actually, yeah. 

Spencer: Oh, wow.

Rawan: And I’m like, what, seriously? So I jump on YouTube and I search for reviews and there was absolutely no reviews out there. So I’m like, that’s a golden opportunity. So I took a day off from my job and I spent the entire day working on the review until 4am. At 4am, I finished the review. I posted the review. I went to bed, got a few hours of sleep, woke up in the morning and had a few thousand views. Normally that would take me a couple of months. That was the first time I had a video that went, I’d say viral to a certain degree, but viral with respect to my previous content and my channel. And in the first week, I got about 40,000 views. 

Spencer: Wow.

Rawan: My channel average for content within the first seven days was less than 100 and I had 40,000 views. So that was out of this world. I sort of remember it was surreal. I would open the YouTube app 100 times a day and just, you know, pull it down to refresh just to see the numbers jump by a couple of hundred every time I refreshed. So that was great, but that was short lived. I talk about the whales and me being a small fish because about a week later, all the big YouTubers out there had their content out and slowly but surely, my video went from being the number one video on YouTube search, Google search, Reddit, wherever you search, my video would pop up. It went from there to disappearing completely and it was no longer, even though it had about 40, 50,000 views at that point, it was no longer pushed out because all those big YouTubers were already had their content. So that is an opportunity as well. And I’ve had a few of those whereby low supply by virtue of being first or amongst the first to produce something. And then the third, let’s say tactic is trying to find a unique angle for a review of a product that is in, even if it’s in a lot of supply. So iPhone, for example, if I just put out a review of the latest iPhone, I’m not going to get it. Actually, I did do that. I did review, I think it was the iPhone 15, I think it got 400 views in like two years. That’s nothing. 

Spencer: Yeah.

Rawan: But also, I found a unique angle with the iPhone 14 Pro Max. And I drew on a personal story there. Prior to me buying the 14 Pro Max, I had the smaller version, the non-Max version. And when the Pro Max came out, I really wanted to get it, but I was concerned it might be too big. You know, it might be too heavy. It might be annoying in your pocket. I had a lot of concern. And then I got it. And for a few weeks, I used both the smaller one and the larger one. And that’s the angle I did my content around. It wasn’t a review of the iPhone. It was, I think I called it iPhone 14 Pro Max, too big, question mark. And that was it. So I completely tackled that angle for people who are thinking of getting it, but are afraid it might be too big. And that review, I think it got like 80, 90,000 views, even though it was about the iPhone. But the angle that I took was in low supply. That’s why it did well. I have another story, actually, which had a big learning lesson for me around the unique angle. I was looking at AR glasses. And at the time, there were three main players in the market. And we talked about YouTube content, not answering all my questions. Well, I couldn’t get an answer which one was better. I wanted to personally purchase one for myself. And I could not find answers to which of these three are better. So I bought all three and I did a video comparing all three. It wasn’t a dedicated review on any of the individual ones, just my thoughts comparing all three. The interesting bit is I did that over Christmas break. So I was visiting family. I was away from my studio. I did not have my camera, my microphone, my lighting. I had nothing of my setup. I just had my iPhone and a pretty poor quality wireless microphone that was sent to me years back. Terrible quality. So I shot that video. In my sister’s living room, actually, production value is terrible. This became my highest grossing video of all time.

Spencer: Wow.

Rawan: I think I’ve had about 250,000 views on that video so far. And there’s a very interesting lesson here that fancy equipment doesn’t really matter. What matters is your content. I’m shooting right now with equipment worth thousands of dollars. I shot the other one with my iPhone with a crappy microphone. It did better than every other video I’ve done. So that’s an interesting eye-opener for me there in that experience. 

Spencer: Yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Those are some great stories. Thanks for sharing that. I’m curious. So you mentioned that you do get some sponsorships now, that your channel is a little bit bigger. When you do get an offer to do a video on a sponsored product, do you do research on that product and kind of see if there is a gap for that content or do you solely base it on like the offer that the company is giving you? 

Rawan: That’s a good question. It’s a combination of both. So the first thing is I need to actually believe in the product. Otherwise, I’m not going to review it.

Spencer: That makes sense.

Rawan: So I need to have some sort of conviction that it’s a good product. Otherwise, it’s not going to work out. And even in sponsored videos, I have to be objective and unbiased. And I have to disclose my sponsorship, of course, but there’s an aspect of credibility that I need to maintain. So if the product is not that great, I’m not going to risk my credibility. I’m not going to say good things about it when it’s bad. And I presume the sponsor is not going to want to pay for a video where I say bad things about their product. 

Spencer: Right. 

Rawan: And I make it clear to them as well in the contract that I have them sign, I have a clause there and says, you know, if this has to be an objective and unbiased review, if I find some negative points, I’m going to share them. But if, however, the global, you know, sentiment after testing this is bad, then that could be grounds for, you know, breaking our contract unless you’re fine. You want to pay for, you know, a video where I say product. Then I guess I’m fine too. But I’m just, you know, I need to be transparent about that. 

Spencer: Right. 

Rawan: So I definitely research the product and, you know, I have over 200 videos now and I have over 20 years of buying different a lot of tech and testing them out myself, even before YouTube. So I do have a sense of whether a product is going to be good or not. Usually I’m a, I wouldn’t say completely right, but I’m on the right track. So that definitely goes into whether I accept a particular offer or or not. 

Spencer: Gotcha. I’m curious. Have you ever had someone pay for a bad product review? 

Rawan: No. Well, I it’s I haven’t had any product that turned out to be bad. 

Spencer: Oh ok.

Rawan: So I’ve been fortunate to have accepted and been right in my judgment that the product is going to be good. I have had products that had, you know, some negative aspects to them. And I’ve stated them in my reviews, but I’ve never had any product that was completely so terrible that, you know, I have to. Bad mouth it on in the video. So yeah.. 

Spencer: Gotcha. And speaking of sponsors, have you ever worked with a sponsor or company that it didn’t go so well, like there is bad communication? Or have you ever had any really good experiences? Like the company just loved you or anything like that? 

Rawan: That’s yeah. So I think I had almost all of my experiences were great. I think the sponsorships have been all a great success, both from my side and the company side. They absolutely love the content and the collaboration and the transparency and the communication. But I did have one interesting product where they had reached out to me. And that was in the early days of me starting to get sponsored content. So I was a bit less flexible in, well, not flexible, but more open to accepting things because it was amongst the first sponsorship deals that I would get. And they sent me the product. I did a review. Actually, that was for Amazon. They didn’t even want it on YouTube. So I did an Amazon affiliate, you know, review and I sent it to them and they just ghosted me. They stopped responding. 

Spencer: Oh!

Rawan: So I, you know, emailed a couple of times, followed up emails, absolutely nothing. But to add insult to injury, about a week later, I got a bill from FedEx in my mailbox with some taxes and duties on that. So the product was sent from outside the EU. And if the company does not take care of, you know, the customs and duties and taxes, they have to bill me as the recipient. 

Spencer: Oh.

Rawan: On top of that, there’s, you know, admin fees and penalties and whatnot. So not only did I not get paid for that content, but I also had an out-of-pocket expense paying for that. 

Spencer: Oh, no. 

Rawan: Yeah. But I mean, it was hard at first, but then it’s, it’s the cost of doing business. Fortunately, I, that was the only time that happened. And yeah, it, it wasn’t a big deal, but yeah, it was, it was an interesting story. 

Spencer: Yeah. That’s, did that make you worry about doing sponsorships from then on out? Like, did you kind of vet the companies that you were communicating with after that? 

Rawan: It definitely made me more careful, more prudent in what I accepted not. But fortunately, that was, I think about a year and a half ago and I’ve had dozens and dozens since then. And yeah, all of them went great. Thank God. 

Spencer: Yeah. That’s, that’s good. Yeah. That, that totally makes sense. I feel like if I were in that situation, I’d be super skeptical about every sponsorship after that, cause that, that would be rough. So I think our listeners will appreciate that. And, you know, it’s kind of like a learning experience, you know, for those who start to get sponsorships, I bet everyone, maybe not being ghosted, but everyone has, has experiences with sponsors. 

Rawan: Definitely.

Spencer: Where they go right or wrong or stuff like that. So besides that experience, working with sponsors in your YouTube journey, do you feel like as you’ve kind of grown your channel, are there any mistakes that you feel like you’ve made that you’ve learned from that you think that maybe our listeners could benefit from? 

Rawan: So actually, I think there is a very big mistake that I did not make. 

Spencer: Oh.

Rawan: And I, I think that could be very beneficial. But then there’s a, a lot of learnings along, along the way. If I want to, you know, summarize those learnings, I think they, they fall under three different key lessons. And the first one is don’t wait for the perfect time to start. If you’re thinking of doing a starting YouTube channel or whatever it is, don’t wait to perfect your craft to start. Just jump right in. And I think that’s the biggest mistake I did not make. I just jumped right in because the only way you will get better is by doing it. So you learn a lot from doing from, from yourself, from the process, from feedback, from others. And I truly believe the only way you do get better is by just starting and doing it over and over and over again. So lesson one is, you know, just start done is, is better than, than perfect. And speaking of perfect, that, that, that’s lesson two for me. Don’t aim for perfect. I think that’s a very big mistake. You know, I, I try to follow the Pareto principle, the 80, 20 rule. Um, in my life in general, but also in, in, in YouTube. Um, and I truly believe that as someone who did in the past, aim for perfection, you know, we can never attain perfection, but I, I put in a lot of effort to try to get as close to perfectly as possible. And life has taught me that that’s, that’s not very smart because 80% good is good enough. The amount of time it’s going to take you to go from 80% good to 100% good is so much, so huge and it’s, it’s not even worth it. Uh, so I, I, I now aim for that 80% good. There’s a lot of things that I recognize in my videos that I would have liked, they were better, be it in my content, my delivery, my editing, my b-roll, there’s a lot of things, but I’m fine. Not perfecting those because that extra 20% jump is going to take 80% more a few times so that the marginal benefit is so low. So, um, lesson two is don’t, don’t aim for perfect. Um, practice the, the, the art of being content with 80% good because it’s going to be good enough and you’re better off spending that time you’ve just gained doing something else or creating more content or even resting because you, you do need, um, rest. And then the third lesson, um, is about deliberate practice versus mindless repetition. So I was saying that the, uh, you only get better by doing things on and on and on and over and over and over. There’s a small asterisk in my opinion to that. Uh, you have to have that mindset that you want to get better because otherwise if you’re just, you know, it’s mindless repetition. If you’re doing the same thing over and over again, there’s only so much growth you can make. So, I mean, I think if, you know, if you’re pushing a rock up a hill, you can do that for 20 years, you’re going to get stronger. You’re going to get there a bit faster, but there’s only so much growth you can make, but if you have the mindset, if you wanting to grow and become better, you’ll start thinking of ways to achieve that. Maybe you’ll start putting some logs under the rock to reduce the friction to help you push it up the hill. Eventually you’ll, you know, create wheels and whatnot. Uh, and I think this is, um, really important and I’ve, I’ve applied that, um, from day one. Uh, if I go back and look at my earliest video, I cringe and that’s awesome. That’s great.

Spencer: I think everyone does when they look at their first video. 

Rawan: Yes, but you know, that, that’s great. I think it shouldn’t be any other way because this is the mark of growth, of getting better, that you have gotten so much better. And I’m sure if I look at my videos in two years, I’m going to cringe as well. But that’s, that’s, that’s awesome. That’s how you know that you are getting better. And you know, I applied it and you can apply it in so many different areas. So, um, one of the areas, for example, is, um, setting up my studio. So I live in Paris, apartments aren’t that great. Uh, think New York city, you know, small apartments. So I do not have a dedicated studio space, which means I need to set up and, you know, take them, take things down. And when I first started, um, I had big softbox lights set up that are, you know, studio lights are huge that I had to, you know, set up and take down. My camera, I need to, I used to put it on a tripod trying to find the right angle. My background was my desk. I needed to declutter my desk. So it used to take me 30 minutes to set up, which was a lot of time considering that’s the thing I have the least of time. With time, I started thinking, how can I cut down that setup? So, um, I got LED panels that are very slim, for example, instead of the huge softboxes and I set up my desk in a way where I have them on swivel arms that I can just hide behind my monitors. So they’re always there for my camera instead of, you know, tripod and trying to figure out the angle and whatnot. I got a desk mount and I set that up with a quick release plate and I just popped the camera in place. Um, so I cut down from a 30 minute setup time to 30 seconds. And, you know, if you’re making content always that 30 minute a day is a lot of time. Um, in editing, for example, I made it a point to try to learn a lot of shortcuts to make my editing much faster. Um, even the process of how I edit my videos, I found ways to make things much more streamlined, faster. I’m using AI today to help with my editing. So I’ve also cut down and optimize that process. So it’s, it’s, it has always been trying to get better, get faster, more efficient. And I think that has helped me grow knowing that I am juggling this with a full-time job. And I think if I didn’t have that mindset, if, you know, deliberate practice, if trying to grow and get better and find any opportunity to get better, I wouldn’t be here today with, um, with my YouTube and where I am. 

Spencer: Yeah. Oh my goodness, Rawan, that is some great advice. I really hope our listeners pay attention to that. Um, I wanted to comment on the first two that you mentioned. Um, so just starting out, uh, you just need to jump in and just go for it. I think that is really great. Um, and case in point is, you know, your video about the AR glasses, um, you know, you didn’t have the best equipment, but that turned out to be your best video. So someone starting out won’t have the best equipment. Um, but if your content is good, you know, it can still grow. So you just need to jump in and get going. 

Rawan: And you know, just to be clear, I’m not advocating, you know, grab your iPhones front cam because the quality is not good. Sit in a poorly lit room with no microphone and just start. You have to have a bare minimum, but you don’t need much. Your phone is more than capable of great content. You don’t need much. Just start and take it all in and learn as you go along and get better with time. 

Spencer: Yeah. Learn as much as you can and improve your quality as you go. But when you’re first starting out, you just need to start learning. And the best way to do that is to just start making videos. 

Rawan: Absolutely. 

Spencer: And then the second thing, um, the 80, 20 rule that you talked about, I, I’ve never called it the 80, 20 rule, but I’ve kind of lived by that principle as well, especially with video editing, because that’s what I do for my job mainly. Um, and you know, I see a lot of, you know, video editors who post stuff on social media and it’s like, Oh, check out this really cool edit that I did. Um, and it’s really fun to watch those type of editing, uh, skills. Um, but when it comes to making YouTube videos, you don’t need all the fancy edits. You know, most of the time, the general audience won’t even notice like a specific editing thing. Um, that’s just something you as the editor will notice. So.

Rawan: 100%. And I can, I can relate to that because in my early days, I, I did some freelance work where I, part of the things that I, I taught myself and I started doing was graphic design. So I used to do some design work and I would spend hours just, you know, nudging the copy by a millimeter or changing the color by a shade. And I used to ask my friends or my parents or whatnot, which one is better? And they’d look at me, they’re the same. What are you talking about? And only I can tell. And at that point in time, I hadn’t come to that conclusion of that 80, 20, you know, I would spend so much time creating ten different versions that are so close to each other, that it really doesn’t matter. But yeah I am glad that I got to the point where I know not to do that anymore.

Spencer: Yeah, it saves as long as you just go, um, make it 80% good um and then call it done.

Rawan: Exactly.

Spencer: A lot of people won’t notice that 20%. I guess is the point I am trying to make. So, but that is great advice. And that kind of segways into our final question. And I like to ask this to all of our guests, um, especially if you’ve watched our previous episodes. You’ll know what this question is but, a lot of YouTubers have different experiences with YouTube and you know, I kow that they find some things work better for themselves versus other YouTubers. And so the question is, is there any myths about YouTube or misconceptions that you think are true or false that you’ve found from your own experience doing YouTube.

Rawan: Absolutely. And I think I, I see a lot of people who aspire to be YouTubers or content creators. And I’ve seen that firsthand, even talking to people and friends who have the misconception that success is easy. So in the sense that they look at the few success cases who actually made it and they don’t see the thousands, if not millions, who did not. And they expect, because these people make it look easy, they have a misconception that, you know, they can just start and it’s, it’s an easy, easy way to make a lot of money, which is not the case for sure. Because those success cases that people see, you’re just seeing the end result. You’re not seeing what it took for them to get there. You’re not seeing the months and years and years of grinding, of late nights, of sweat for them to get there. You’re just seeing tip of the iceberg. They’re actually there. So, and obviously we all know, you know, nothing in life worth having comes easy. There’s no shortcuts in life. Otherwise, you know, everyone would be doing that. So I guess my message would be as someone who has been trying to make it and, it’s not to discourage people. It’s just to set the expectations. If you set your mind to it, you definitely can achieve it, but don’t expect, you know, overnight or even within a year, just a, well, maybe a year is a lot of time, depending on how much time you put in, but don’t expect for it to be a quick, say, quick way to become big and make a career out of it. And you know, it’s like going to the gym. You can go to the gym, spend five hours and 10 hours. You’re not going to see any results in the first days and weeks and even months.

Spencer: Right.

Rawan: It’s just being consistent, being determined, grinding and just setting your mind to it. And eventually, you’re going to get there. It’s just, you’re going to get there. If you keep determined to get to where you want to get, you will get there. But yeah, that was, I think that’s the main message I would have on that. And the challenging part here is that there’s no guarantees you’re going to get there. And that’s the tough part for me starting. You know, I told you earlier, I never imagined I can make a career out of it, let alone start making money. And today I’m halfway there because when you’re walking down that path, imagine you’re walking in a desert. There’s nothing around you, long winding roads and you see nothing at the end except sand. But you got to keep walking. You don’t know if you’re going to get to somewhere worth getting. But you keep walking and eventually, if you keep walking, you’re going to start seeing, you know, some trees and flowers on the sides of the road. And this is where I’m at today. I still didn’t get to that oasis at the end, but I started to see some patches of water, some flowers, some green trees. But the challenging part is you got to keep walking until you start seeing something and don’t despair. If you don’t see anything, that’s fine. Keep walking. Eventually, you’re going to see something. 

Spencer: Yeah, that is great advice. And as you were explaining that, it got to me thinking, like, you know, you mentioned the iceberg, like you’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg, all the really successful YouTubers that have millions of subscribers, they’re the minority. And I think it’d be interesting if there was a way to see, like visually, the amount of channels that are on YouTube overall, and how many of them have, like, not that many subscribers. I think it would really put into perspective. 

Rawan: And I bet you it’s a huge percentage for sure, yes. 

Spencer: Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think so many people see the successful YouTubers and they’re like, oh, I can do that too. And so they start a YouTube channel. But like you mentioned, there’s a lot of work that goes into the behind the scenes and making that content. And the years of time and dedication it takes to grow to that point. I also think there are some YouTubers that have been doing it long enough that they started when YouTube was, you know, brand new. And so they were kind of in the gold rush time period. And so that helped them grow a lot. But nowadays, it definitely takes a lot of time and dedication. 

Rawan: 100%. And those who were fortunate enough to have started in the early days, you know, supply was low. So if I go back to that supply demand, I think supply was low back then and they were able to ride that wave. Anyone starting today, it’s a saturated market. 

Spencer: Yep.

Rawan: There’s a lot of competition and it’s not as easy as it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago. Not to diminish all the effort these guys did. I’m sure it was a lot of work, but it was a bit easier, I think for them because they were swimming in a relatively, you know, there were less sharks, let’s say were whales in that, in that ocean back then. 

Spencer: Yeah, definitely. Cool. Well, thanks Rawan for that advice. That is something that I think our listeners will definitely benefit from. And thanks for being on the show. Really appreciate it. 

Rawan: My pleasure. Thank you for having me. 

Spencer: Yeah. So your YouTube channel is called Rawan’s Reviews. Is there any other, you know, social media or websites if our followers and listeners wanted to follow you that they should check out? 

Rawan: Well, yeah, mainly it is on YouTube, Rawan’s Reviews. I started dabbling with TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts, you know, to try new form if content short form. But I’m still in that experimentation phase over there, but the main channel is Rawan’s Reviews on YouTube. 

Spencer: Okay, awesome. So make sure to check him out on all of those. And thanks again to our listeners and watchers for checking out this episode. We really appreciate it. If you need help with any content creation or podcast production or video editing, make sure to check us out at creatorluxe.com. Thanks again for watching and we’ll see you in the next one.