Capitalism requires people to commodify themselves, finding ways to profit from specific skills that an individual may have. That is not a critique of capitalism because every socio-economic structure requires a sacrifice from the general population to sustain itself. The average person spends most of their time performing labor instead of existing. We do not collectively spend time addressing how this affects our psyche and our perspectives. Profit (money) becomes the motivation for creating or doing anything. It becomes the reason you wake up and the reason you live.
This causes you to look at anything that sparks joy within you as a potential money-making opportunity. Gary Vee wrote a book about this very subject titled “Crush It: Cash in on Your Passion”..” He explains that you should create a business around your passion. This is also paired with a weird obsession that people need to be good at something they like to do itit. Are you going to support your friend making music unless they are going to be the next Beyoncé? I am putting my money on the fact that you most likely will not. It is rare that we create for the sake of creation or share for the sake of sharing.
When I first attempted YouTube, I was affected by these preexisting beliefs and ideas. I was hyper-fixated on being good at YouTube, and I was overly critical of myself and what I created. Frequently this immobilized me from taking any steps forward. I made a video where I explored these initial feelings as well. When you look at the world thru the lens that we have created, it is easy to get “lost” and pulled from who you are in the pursuit of views, fame, or money.
Many YouTubers create content catered to what YouTube suggests that they should make and generate titles and thumbnails that seem to be in line with this. There is a formula that is pretty easy to see once you spend enough time studying it (look at Dream). It is clear when someone is just following the formula compared to creating because they are passionate about it. Not all the time does your passion bring you views, and mine was one of those viewless passions. I kept telling myself that I could not make those videos because they would be a waste of time. I mean, who would watch them? Eventually, I paused, and I thought to myself:
If I enjoyed making the video, is it a waste of time?
It took me a bit of reflection to really the fact that the point of making a YouTube video should not be to obtain views or try to get more subscribers. It should just be to enjoy creation. This seems like a cliché intuitive thing, but if you explore guides, blogs, or videos discussing channels, there is an obsession with analytics for growth and monetization. I believe it stems from the desire to commodify things that we enjoy. This eventually sucks the fun out of the very thing that you find joy in because eventually, you are no longer creating something that you want to; you are making things that you have to. When was the last you shared a creation just because it was fun to you?
This pivot to content that I enjoy making is in large part why I am rebranding myself and rebranding my content. I want to produce content that is more in line with things that I am interested in and that is also the birth of the blog that you are looking at now. If you would like to see what I learned from my journey to discover branding, check out this post.
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