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Hey friends,
This week I was at the YouTube Creator Summit in Valencia. There were about 100 other YouTubers there, all with millions of subscribers.
It was a pretty cool setup, but whenever I go to a conference, part of me thinks “meh, I feel kinda awkward interacting with other people and I don’t really know many people here. Should I just attend the talks and then chill in my hotel room?”
But by now I’ve internalised this lesson:
Just because it feels a little uncomfortable doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Everyone is friendly, but you have to go first.
So I make myself go out and meet new people.
And in the past several years of doing this, it’s paid off 100% of the time. I either make useful contacts who later become friends / collaborators (eg Taha Khanwho I met at VidCon) OR I get a mega-useful tidbit of information, or I just have a lovely conversation and feel energised as a result.
A few interactions stood out for me this time at Creator Summit:
- I spent some time with Liron Segev, a tech YouTuber from the US, who specialises in YouTube Analytics (interpreting YouTube stats). He pointed out several mistakes I make on my channel, and gave me tips on analysing my viewer data.
- I hung out with Leila Gharani, an Austrian YouTuber who makes Excel tutorials. She makes an absolute killing by selling her courses to businesses - and convinced me to create a ‘for businesses’ page for my Part-Time YouTuber Academy.
- I happened to be on the same flight home as mega YouTubers MrWhosetheBoss and Slogo on the plane en route to London. And got a mega crash course in YouTube, business, investing, analytics, mindset a tonne more things from a huge YouTuber who’s been in the game for way longer than I have.
These pieces of info could easily improve my channel by 10%, or potentially make me millions in extra revenue. And all it took was stepping outside my comfort zone, and hanging out with the right people. Not to mention that it’s generally quite nice to meet new people who could become IRL friends further down the line :)
Austin Kleon talks about the concept of the Scenius in one of his books.
It describes how in most areas of life, success isn’t about being a genius. It’s about tapping into the right scene, where skilled people meet each other, trade ideas, and get collectively inspired.
If you can find the right Scenius and connect with people on your wavelength, it accelerates everything.
One of my team is interested in being a creator for example, but lives in a relatively small English town.
And my advice is always “move to London”. Sure, London rent is expensive. But as long as you won’t starve, there’s astronomical upside in being around people doing the things you want to do.
So here’s my advice for this week: take your scene seriously. Go out of your way to meet people who are doing cool stuff, and even if it feels cringe to begin with. Be a door-knocker, not a window-opener.
Have a great week!
Ali xx
🧠 Notion
Notion is an incredible productivity app. I use it for all my creative and business projects, including:
🎬 Scripting Videos
📮 Writing Newsletters
🎙️ Running my Podcast
It’s also game-changing for planning personal projects like holidays, workouts, and meal prep.
My favourite thing about Notion is how easy it is to customise workflows. You can use kanban boards, video embeds, smart spreadsheets – the list goes on.
It’s a super-clean and minimalist app by default. But I give my pages some character by adding emojis and images. For more ideas, Notion has a massive online community creating page templates (check out my free set of YouTube creator templates).
Get started on Notion today, for free (!), using my link: https://ntn.so/sundaysnippets. You can also check out their template gallery for inspiration.
Thanks to Notion for sponsoring this issue of Sunday Snippets 😄
🚀 Kickstart your YouTube channel (for free)
Not many people know this - I have a free 7-day email course called the Part-Time YouTuber Crash Course. It’s for anyone who wants to kick-start their YouTube channel. We’ve recently revamped the whole thing, adding Notion templates, downloadables, and interactive assignments to help you get your channel off the ground.
It’s also a nice intro if you’re considering enrolling in my Part-Time YouTuber Academy, which launches next Monday 🚀 Anyways, the email course is free, takes 7 days to complete, and you can sign up by clicking this link.
♥️ My Favourite Things
🎙️ Deep Dive Podcast - Alex Hormozi: How He Built A $150 Million Empire. I had a great time interviewing Alex, a fitness entrepreneur who has built a portfolio of companies crossing $150M in revenue every year by the age of 33. 🤯 ‘A lot of people think you need to have some novel idea, but the best way to start a business is to look at what other people are doing, and do it better’.
👟 Running Shoes - Saucony Endorphin Speed 2. I got recommended this pair of running shoes by the one and only Dickie Bush after posting on Twitter that I want to get running more. Thanks Dickie 🙆♂️
🎙️ Podcast - Cal Newport: Our Tumultuous Relationship with Work. Great episode by Cal about the evolution of our modern idea of work. Particularly discusses the backlash against 9–5 work. Highly recommend.
🖥️ Tech - iPad Pro 11 Inch. Newfound respect for this iPad, which is the perfect size for using on a plane. I typed 5000 words in my Day One journal (mainly about the business) on a recent flight to Tenerife. And on the flight back I made serious progress on my book.
🎬 My New Videos
🥰 8 Evidence-Based Tips That Helped Me Find Love. One of my more personal videos - essentially me sitting in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere, talking about finding love. Productively, of course (how else?).
✍️ Quote of the Week
I believe that we are in the early days of what will be remembered as one of the greatest times to be alive for hyper-curious people who are willing to be creative, connect with others, and share their ideas online.
From The Great Digital Creator Arbitrage Opportunity by Paul Millerd. Resurfaced using Readwise.
