YouTube’s Biggest Motivational Video Creators Explain How They Got Started
Inspire & Motivate August 25, 2015 growthguided 2
Some days our minds can create a stories of darkness that take such holds on us that the sky really does feel like its caving in on us. In the midst of the world caving in all around you you can either continue to feed that destructive force or interrupt the story that you have been telling yourself over and over and re-frame it into a new perspective.
I can distinctly remember one of those dark days at the ripe old age of 19. I was sequestered in my room contemplating just how terrible my life was and the melancholy really began to set in. The thought of talking to someone about my dark depressive thoughts wasn’t an option, because men don’t are suppose to be stoic and proud, or so I thought. I did however have an the anonymous ability to question these vulnerabilities behind the safety of a screen and began to query the internet for solutions to the assortment of displeasure in my life, and that is when I first stumbled across a gentlemen by the name of Tony Robbins. Having never heard a motivational speakers before, and never been told about the empowerment industry that flourishes year after year I was blown away by his work. I attacked his speaker tapes with a voracious appetite and then started to encoporate some of his wisdom into my own life, starting with something he labeled as ” the power hour”. Each morning wake and hit the floor no matter how I felt and start into sets of push ups and sit ups, followed by a review of my goals and other motivation jargon. The sales pitch was for me to reform myself to commence each day in a peak state and watch it cascade into everything I touched that day. In hopes of ungluing myself from the despair I created in my mind, I committed to what I thought at the time to be complete tomfoolery. Many of you might be thinking to yourself, “well now, isn’t that just so typical….Tony Robbins”. I’m not going to sit here preach to you that he is the best in the self-help game, or that you need to drop everything and tune into his work, because in hindsight it was probably his colossal marketing budget that connected me with his material than gifted brilliance. It didn’t matter though, because it worked for me. I honestly felt more fired up about life after listening to his tapes, regardless if my state of passion of short-lasting or not.
The concept that I could leverage someone’s message of strength and hope to pull me out from the darkness that I was lingering in really started to excite me, and I was hooked. “Kael, the first one is free”, Tony Exclaimed. And over a decade later, this relentless yearning to soak in affirming words of inspiration has yet to leave me.
Now most people would rather not invest the close to $1000 into a two day seminar or the 7 step series of greatness that many motivational gurus offer, but the one thing you will do is search for inspiration on YouTube. I’m no different than you either, I will admit to being completely be driven by prices and having been raised on the frugal side of things you will rarely see me throwing down $800 or $900 for a Saturday/Sunday seminar. But YouTube….it’s 100% free and we all love it! One of my favorite things to do at the gym or on the drive into town is to listen to one of the thousand incredibly powerful motivational videos that are provided to us at no charge. It’s no question on whether or not I’m alone in this venture either, the numbers speak for themselves. These videos collect millions upon millions of views every time they are posted. From time to time we all need someone or something to interrupt the stories in our head, and YouTube has been a great resource to draw upon. It doesn’t make you weak, foolish or emotionally instable if you are listening to one of those videos. It does however make resourceful and full of insight. You are simply sick and tired of the way you are feeling and recognize that there is a simple tool we can use to expediate the process re-framing our current mindset.
To give you some insight into the minds that create these massively popular videos, I had the opportunity to connect with two of the most prominent motivational video channels on YouTube, MotivationGrid and Basquiat Picasso to answer a few questions about their own desire for creation.
The Questions
- Who or what inspired you to start your YouTube channel?
- Is this site your full time job?
- Did you start your YouTube channel with the intention of making money or to be of service to others?
- Did you listen to motivational speakers and videos before starting to make your own?
- Which site do you visit regularly within the personal development niche?
- Do you recommend vocal self-affirmation work?
- Do you still worry about people’s critique of your work before posting a new video?
- Have you come close to giving up on your channel?
- What is the most touching feedback you have received from one of your videos?
MotivationGrid – Cris Nikolov
1 – Who or what inspired you to start your YouTube channel?
I’ve always enjoyed motivational videos, they resonated with me even when I was younger and at that time there were just 3 or 4 motivational videos. So when I started MotivationGrid.com with the goal of inspiring others, I decided that I should create a YouTube channel as well, because I wanted to inspire people in every way possible. And that’s why I am soon launching a premium academy and a podcast.
2 – Is this site your full time job?
Yeah, my site is my full time job. I’ve always known that the 9 to 5 life is not for me, so once I graduated from high school I started my own business as soon as possible. And I didn’t have any knowledge about websites, I didn’t even know what a domain is, but I was willing to spent 10-15 hours a day learning and in the end I managed to get more than 4 million page views in just under 8 months, which is pretty much amazing, right? And now I am working on an even bigger project – I am soon launching a premium academy, that will change a lot of lives! I am really excited about it, it’s going to be awesome and so many people will benefit from it.
3 – Did you start your YouTube channel with the intention of making money or to be of service to others?
At first I didn’t even know that I could earn from my channel, so my channel never had the goal of making money, it was all about reaching to a bigger audience and impacting lives. I started making money from my YouTube channel an year and a half later, but that was never the goal.
4 – Did you listen to motivational speakers and videos before starting to make your own?
Yeah, I used to listen to Eric Thomas, but mostly I used to listen to speeches from inspirational movies like Any Given Sunday with Al Pacino, The Pursuit of Happiness with Will Smith and a few more. They really shaped the way I was thinking. I’ve always had that belief that I could achieve whatever I wanted to, but I was a quitter. That’s why these speeches impacted me so much, because I learned not to quit when things get tough.
5 – Which site do you visit regularly within the personal development niche?
6 – Do you recommend vocal self-affirmation work?
Yes, I do. Self affirmations are really powerful, and they really influence your life, whether you realize it or not. Just start the day with positive affirmations about yourself and you will improve your day.
7 – Do you still worry about people’s critique of your work before posting a new video?
No, that doesn’t bother me at all. I mean there are always people that will criticize you, no matter how good you are. I am just trying to create the best videos out there, but there is no way I can satisfy everybody. But I accept all constructive criticism and I try to learn from it.
8 – Have you come close to giving up on your channel?
No, there were some long periods where I wasn’t able to create a video, but giving up on the channel was never an option. A lot of people tried to buy the channel, but as I said I am not doing this for the money, and you just can’t sell something that’s part of you. So giving up on my channel will never be an option as long as people want to see my videos.
9 – What is the most touching feedback you have received from one of your videos?
Well I’ve gotten so much positive feedback, but the most touching feedback was an e-mail I received from a woman called Jenny, she was homeless, she was a drug addict and she was on the verge of dying, and then she heard Be Phenomenal and decided to change her life. And then after few months she sends me an e-mail thanking me and saying how much my videos have impacted her life – she found a job she loved, she bought an apartment and she met her future husband. Realizing that my videos were able to change a person’s life so drastically was the moment I decided I am going to do one video every single month. And that’s when my new schedule was born – new video every 1st day of the month.
Our Favorite Video
Basquiat Picasso
1 – Who or what inspired you to start your YouTube channel?
I was actually inspired a few years ago by the ultra-popular video “how bad do you want it?”. The video ignited my passion to motivate others, so I decided to make a video in the hopes it would motivate people like “HBDYWI?” has done.
2 – Is this site your full time job?
No it is not, I actually work in real estate. It’s the videos that I make that drove me to pursue a career in Real Estate Investing.
3 – Did you start your YouTube channel with the intention of making money or to be of service to others?
I started to be of service to those in need of hope. I thought the idea of being able to motivate people through a 5 minute video was extraordinary. When I watched my first motivational video I felt empowered, and wanted to be the catalyst for other people to feel that way as well.
4 – Did you listen to motivational speakers and videos before starting to make your own?
I was listening to and reading a lot of Tony Robbins work. It was when listening to a video of his, I stumbled across “How bad do you want it?” and my whole world changed.
5 – Which site do you visit regularly within the personal development niche?
YouTube is my main go to, to access the greatest ideas from the greatest people. I also visit “tailopez.com” as he has very valuable information and ideas for those trying to follow their passion.
6 – Do you recommend vocal self-affirmation work?
Of course! I have a whiteboard in my room with my goals. Every morning I wake up and look at these goals and affirm that I am powerful, intelligent enough, and driven to attain my goals.
7 – Do you still worry about people’s critique of your work before posting a new video?
To a point. I can’t tell you how many times someones critique has made my videos better. I’ve just been able to weed out criticisms that are coming from people that actually want to help from those who just hate.
8 – Have you come close to giving up on your channel?
Never. There are times where I’m extremely busy and can’t put videos out as often as I want, but the feeling I get from inspiring others is to much to abandon.
9 – What is the most touching feedback you have received from one of your videos?
All of the feedback I get motivates me to create better and better content. The most touching feedback I get is when someone makes the decision that they can do more for themselves and that they’re capable of achieving even their loftiest dreams. I’ve gotten quite a few emails from people that said they’ve chosen to not commit suicide because they watched my video. To know my videos can help choose between life or death is motivation enough for me to continue to make these videos.
seed
July 31, 2017 #1 Authordo u face any copyrights issue regarding the scenes and soundtracks? … Thumbs up for ur uplifting project guys
growthguided
July 31, 2017 #2 AuthorThat is a great question. As far as I have seen when it comes to monetization they shut you down fairly quickly. As for the media use that isn’t yours if the video isn’t being monetized I think a lot of channels get away with it. But you could definitely get in contact with either one of those guys and they could give you a definite answer. (: