He had an idea he had loved for a year: a short film about his grandfather's workshop. And he decided to open his channel with it, because it was the best thing he had.
He spent three weeks on it: he wrote, filmed three times, and re-edited twice. And he published it.
A year later, after twenty videos, he went back to it and found the idea still beautiful and the execution weak: echo in the audio, tense delivery, a wandering structure. He had executed his best idea with the least skill he had.
Had he saved it for the fifteenth video, it would now be the best thing on his channel.
The rule: do not start with your best idea
The reason is arithmetic rather than sentimental: your skill at the tenth video is far above your skill at the first, because you are learning four crafts at once. And an idea you execute once takes the level of the moment you executed it in.
So the order of your ideas is a strategic decision: the middling ideas first because they are training tools, and the strong ideas once you can do them justice.
This does not mean publishing something weak. It means starting with smaller ideas you execute well, rather than a large idea you execute halfway.
Your first ten videos: a plan in order
The first three: learn to talk to camera.
The only goal here is becoming comfortable. So pick three subjects you know extremely well and can talk about with little preparation: something you do every day, a question people ask you, and a mistake you made and learned from.
- Under five minutes.
- In the same place with the same setup all three times.
- No effects and no animated intro.
And make the first of them in a single day from idea to published, with the method in your first video: from idea to published in one day.
The fourth to sixth: learn structure.
Now that you are comfortable on camera, start learning arrangement. Three formats with a clear structure:
- A "how to" video: ordered steps. The easiest structure in the world, because it comes ready-made.
- A "three mistakes" video: a short list, each item a small scene.
- A comparison between two things you know: a clear structure with an ending that holds a decision.
And in these three, write before you film. Not a full script, but a map of six stops.
The seventh to tenth: experiment.
Now you have a base skill, so use it to discover what suits you:
- One filmed outside the house.
- One with another person in it, or a short interview.
- One twice as long as your usual.
- One in a format entirely unlike your usual.
And the point of these four is not success but information: which format you enjoyed, which exhausted you, and which one people stayed in.
Three formats that are easy to execute at the start
And if you do not know what to film across the ten, these three templates fit any field:
"How I do X": one problem solved step by step. People search for it, and it needs nothing but knowing your subject.
"I tried X": a real experience of yours with a result. The most honest format and the easiest, because the material is your own life.
"What I learned from a mistake": a small story with a lesson. The strongest beginner format, because it builds a relationship fast.
And what the three share: none needs gear, permission or travel, so each can be made in a day.
What to keep fixed across all ten
Fix four things and do not change them, because constant change stops you knowing what improved:
- The place and the lighting. The same corner of your home.
- The video's length. One range, such as four to six minutes.
- The thumbnail. The same shape: the same text position and the same two colours.
- The publishing day. One day a week.
And change one thing per video: the subject, or one skill you are trying to improve.
What not to do across the ten
- Do not buy gear, except a microphone if your audio is bad.
- Do not make an animated intro. The first five seconds belong to the viewer, not to your logo.
- Do not learn a second editing application. One is enough.
- Do not open more than one platform. One platform until you settle.
- Do not delete a weak video. It is your measure of progress a year from now.
- Do not spend your big ideas across the ten. Let them wait.
What to measure after the ten
Not views. Three questions whose answers you write down:
1. Which video was easiest to execute? That is your natural format, and the one you will last years in.
2. Which video did you genuinely enjoy? If it differs from the first, you have a decision.
3. In which video did people stay longest? Look at percentage viewed rather than the count.
And three numbers only are worth following at this stage, with five to ignore completely, set out in your first month on a channel: what do you measure and what do you ignore.
And the eleventh video
Once you have read your own answers, you have something you did not have ten videos ago: a format you know you are good at, a small audience that knows what to expect, and enough execution skill to spend two weeks on an idea without fear.
Here, and not before here, take out your best idea and begin.
And if you have not settled your channel's subject yet
Do not postpone the ten for that. Pick a broad field you know, and these ten will show you where it narrows. The three circles that settle a subject, and the twenty-idea test, are in how do you choose your channel's topic.
In short
Ten videos are your classroom: three for comfort, three for structure, four for experiment. Fix everything and change the subject. And do not start with your best idea, because the best idea deserves the best execution, and your best execution lives in the fifteenth video rather than the first.