Hey team!
If there’s one thing you should do today, it’s take note of this Creator…
Dodford is a YouTuber crushing it with his unique pop culture portraits.
They’re really special.
I really recommend you watch one.
He has:
built up over 250k subscribers
had videos surpass millions of views
been hired by Mr Beast and The Sidemen
Despite profiling pop culture figures, Dodford isn’t one for following trends.
He’s doing his own thing.
So I wanted to share his unique approach:
1/ Don’t want a 9-5? Share your work on the internet
Dodford wanted to work in film.
But he didn’t want to spend 10 years climbing the industry’s well trodden career path.
Intern at a studio > hope you’re made an assistant > beg for an editor role.
Etc and so on.
Instead - he started to share editing tips on TikTok.
These were a hit:
But TikTok doesn’t pay the bills.
So he packaged and sold the digital assets he used to make them.
That gave him his first £ on the internet.
2/ The “permissionless apprentice”
Now to tackle YouTube.
How could he jump start a new channel and short cut to millions of views and subscribers?
He went after his idols.
This is genius because
He’s creating content he’s genuinely interested in
It allows others to level you up
He gets validation from his idols - this is real and not a pipe dream
What’s next?
3/ Honing your style
Now Dodford can hone his craft.
How does he do it?
Removing tools from his toolbox.
Dodford to camera?
Gone.
Dodford narration?
Gone.
“Taking a tool out of the toolbox allows something to flourish that wouldn’t have beforehand,” says Dodford.
The less tools you have, the more inventive you have to become.
The more the work has to speak for itself.
The more unique it becomes.
4/ Comments beat data
I’m a numbers guy.
Dodford? Not so much.
Comments are what’s important to him.
Why?
“I want somebody to say with their own words how they feel about something,” he explains.
If you’re only tracking quantitate data, you’re missing half the picture.
Thoughts, opinions and feedback from your audience are just as crucial – if not more.
5/ Think long term
Sometimes content flops.
Even for successful creators like Dodford.
How does he stop it from bogging him down?
Moving forward.
It’s harder to get down about a piece of content when you’re already excited about the next video you’re working on.
Make sure you:
Aren’t focussing on one piece of content at a time
Make content that fires you up
Look at the bigger picture
6/ Diversify income
Dodford got an early win - earning £35,000 from his Adam Sandler video.
He though he’d made it!
YouTube AdSense was all he needed to fund the channel?
Alas, YouTube is not that easy.
He’s since struggled with consistency in views.
That makes it hard for him to predict AdSense and for brands to partner with him.
The solution?
He’s launched a Patreon so his community can support him.
Fingers crossed.
Ok, that’s a wrap!
If you want to go deeper, check out my latest podcast episode.
Let me know what you think.
Have a great week.
Callum.
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