[av_heading heading=’#104. The Challenges of a YouTube Creator and Staying Mentally Healthy with Nathaniel Drew’ tag=’h1′ link_apply=” link=’manually,http://’ link_target=” style=” size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ margin=” padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”][/av_heading]
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Nathaniel Drew isn’t a teacher or an influencer. Instead, he describes himself as a creator in search of mental clarity. By inviting others to follow his journey, he hopes they will discover videos and ideas that resonate and are helpful for their own life journeys.
With 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube, Nathaniel’s tribe clearly loves following his high-quality videos and experiments in life.
What you’ll learn in this interview:
- The rarely discussed need for online creators to care for their mental health.
- Pros and cons of publishing courses on Skillshare
- The difference between creators and influencers.
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Nathaniel’s story
Nathaniel Drew was barely out of high school when he first attempted to build a YouTube channel in 2015.
With an old camera “on auto” and no clues about lighting, he filmed, shot and posted weekly videos while travelling in South America. After a while, he cottoned on to editing and began to develop a unique look and style.
But after a few rough experiences overseas, Nathaniel stopped posting on YouTube and started learning about the technical side of photography and film. He avidly consumed what felt like millions of how-to videos and grabbed any work he could find. Finally, the experience he gained in editing, audio, post-production and directing began to pay off, and in 2018, with newfound confidence and optimism, Nathaniel returned to YouTube.
As with most new channels, progress was slow, but by April 2019, the Nathaniel Drew YouTube channel was well on the way to success.
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Video: How Nathaniel Drew cracked the YouTube code
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Creating as a force for good
Nathaniel prefers the term creator over influencer because creators emphasize making and building. On the other hand, by the very nature of the word, influencers seek to influence others towards a particular behavior or product.
However, Nathaniel feels it’s better to focus on developing a deeper understanding of yourself, leading to greater empathy and kindness.
In the long run, that clarity and the actions that follow are more likely to impact your followers positively than directly trying to influence them.
Make mental health your priority
Too often, online creators work alone, holed up in their offices, focused on creating content and running their businesses.
You love the work, but it’s taking over your life. You rarely meet up with other creators and hardly have time for your family or friends. Somehow you’re beginning to lose sight of your purpose. Sound familiar?
Creators don’t talk about their mental health enough, but Nathaniel has some helpful advice.
- Surround yourself with the right people — those are the ones who will tell you when you’re doing too much.
- Be in your natural rhythm – one where you can work but still take regular time off to rest, relax and reconnect.
- Figure out how you function as a person and work with that in mind.
Understand your information diet
“I think the most challenging thing is focusing on the invisible infrastructure – the tools and systems that you have to have in place to keep you on track. On paper, it doesn’t make you any money, but in reality, it allows you to do this long term and make a career out of it.”
Take careful note of the information you consume every day. Is it helping or hindering your energy and ability to work? Get clear on what information is good and what is harmful to your work and health.
Nathaniel found that it wasn’t helping his mental health to spend too much time looking at YouTube Studio. The constant checking of growth and numbers sapped his energy and ability to do the work that really mattered.
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Video: How YouTubers can Improve their Mental Health
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Don’t depend on ephemeral social media in your business
It’s never a good idea to throw all your business eggs into the social media basket. Nathaniel’s monetization depended on ads and sponsorship in the early days, but he soon decided that stability lay in creating and selling products.
As well as his forthcoming photo book, Nathaniel has a digital store on his website and sells three courses on two platforms – Skillshare and the newly created Bright Trips.
How Skillshare works
The Skillshare platform hosts over 25,000 short video courses.
Experts like you create short courses or classes of short, understandable lessons and a project which students share to get feedback.
Students join Skillshare as members and gain access to all available courses for as long as they pay the membership fees, rather than purchasing a particular class.
Creators are paid from the pool of membership money, based on the number of minutes people watched their video lessons.
One benefit for you as a class creator is the exposure and discoverability you’ll get on the Skillshare platform. It allows you access to people who wouldn’t usually see your work on the internet.
How Bright Trips works
Bright Trips focuses on travel-related video courses, and Nathaniel says it’s exciting to be part of building this new platform.
To post a course on Bright Trips, creators first pitch the idea to Bright Trips staff for review and feedback. Once approved, instructors have access to script templates, branding and production assets and help from the Bright Trips team and fellow creators if they get stuck.
Bright Trips gives its course creators a substantial cut of every sale and covers all hosting, customer service and troubleshooting on their platform.
“The cool thing is if you create a quality class and you’ve poured your soul into it, it can be something that you can be proudly showing the world for years to come.”
Discover Nathaniel’s work:
Nathaniel’s Online Courses
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