Being Okay Making Terrible YouTube Videos

It's a struggle, y'all.

Over the past several months, I’ve been working to build up a small YouTube channel called Spare Room Tech. And… Let me tell you. It’s been a struggle.

Not because making a video is hard. It isn’t.

Not because trolls and rude comments ruin my day. They don’t. I laugh and delete them.

It’s been a struggle because I’m a perfectionist. I want everything to be absolutely perfect before I upload a video. And even as I record, if I don’t love how I say something or if I stutter I tend to want to re-record a clip, and that takes even more time than it should as you can imagine.

But I’m slowly coming to realize that a couple of things are true. Can anyone relate?

Done is better than perfect.

I have trouble posting anything if I don’t think it’s perfect. And while that would work with infinite time and resources, it’s a terrible way to grow. Yes, quality is important - but if focusing on quality keeps me from getting things done is it really worth the trade off?

No. I would say it isn’t.

I’ve borrowed the phrase “done is better than perfect” from Sean Cannell of Think Media because I think it very nicely captures the point. Perfect is perfect, but if perfect keeps you from getting something done, then settle for done.

In other words, yes, strive to make quality content but don’t let that be a reason to never post or to post inconsistently.

And that’s a lesson I’m working on learning. But to learn that I’m having to unlearn a lot of bad habits.

Making terrible content is part of the journey.

I’ve had some videos and articles really take off and do even better than I could have imagined for one reason or another. But I’ve had plenty others get almost no traction at all.

It can be really discouraging.

See, I want my content to do well - as I’m sure any content creator would say. But I have to come to the point where I’m comfortable with my content not being as polished as I would like it to be.

I hope that one day my videos will be excellently paced and engaging with great animations and graphics, but right now… I just have to be okay with just okay. After all, I don’t think anyone is going to claim that this video is amazing:

I know that I’ll improve as I go and that with each upload I should aim to be just a little bit better than the last.

But in the meantime, I have to realize that my videos aren’t as good as they could be if I had unlimited time.

And that’s okay.

Quality is better than quantity IF…

The thing is - like I said - quality is important. If you take two videos and put them side by side, the one that has better quality will be better than the one that’s not as good.

But in a game that requires lots of attention, more content than less can be what wins the day. Every piece of content you create is a chance to win attention. Even if it isn’t 100% perfect in every way, if it gets attention for your brand, then it’s a win.

Right?

That applies to blog posts, videos… anything really. Obviously make sure you’re putting effort into what you create and don’t make it look like you just don’t care - but at the same time, you have to hit publish at some point or else the needle will never move.

Oof that’s a hard lesson to learn though.

And it’s one I’m slowly learning.