Project Gridless on YouTube + Notes

A few weeks ago I watch the following video by Survival Lilly about the state of her YouTube business and some of the difficulties she has encountered, having left her job as an accountant to become a successful professional youtuber, wherein her channel focuses on survival and camping skills.



Does she make decent money making youtube videos? Yes. Is it a lot? No.

Does she enjoy doing it more than being accountant? Definitely. Even with the sick psychos who harass and stalk her because of her fame.

So for me, I look at this as a glass is half full situation. Do I want to do the same thing, but focus on off grid living? Yes. Do I expect to make a lot of money? No.

In fact... I only recently monetized my videos, and it will be awhile before the Project Gridless channel gets reviewed by YouTube. That is when you enter the big leagues.

To get reviewed YouTube requires that I have 1000 subscribers (last I checked I have 53) and people need to watch 4000 hours worth of my videos in the last 12 months (last I checked, I was at 1235 hours).

So I need to get 20 times more subscribers, and I need to more than triple the number of hours being watched annually.

But to get subscribers and more hours of view time I really need more videos. Subscribers will come later, but to get them you really need the quality videos. It is truly a case of "if you build it they will come".

One of the ways I have been trying to increase my number of videos is trying to get interviews with people on topics true to the idea of Project Gridless. People with solar and wind turbines would be great, but honestly since I am new to this I will interview anyone who is into any of the topics Project Gridless focuses on.

Awhile back I was trying to score an interview with someone in Toronto who had backyard chickens. But she ended up being chicken about having her face on camera (she works as a food critic and likes to be anonymous) so no luck there.

Perhaps I could find some local companies that sell / install wind turbines / solar panels, and ask if its possible to get an interview.

And I have many more ideas for videos too...

• Animal Videos - Falconry? Hunting Dogs? Agriculture?
•  Archery / Bowmaking Videos / Arrow Making
• Make My Own Bow Press (this is something I am already in the process of doing anyway)
• Or... just buy a bow press and review it?
• Repairing Compound Bows
• Repairing Steve's Bow
• What is in my Bug Out Bag?
• Alternatives to the Bug Out Bag
• Camping Techniques / Gear
• Product Reviews - gear, archery equipment, hunting books, tools, etc
• Cooking Off Grid
• DIY Building Stuff
• Solar Power videos
• Wind Power videos
• Hydro Power videos
• Exercising Outdoors / Sports
• Farming / Gardening / Foraging
• Fishing videos
• Items for sale (eg. bows?)
• Green Homes / Sustainable Architecture / Real Estate -  Find a real estate agent willing to collaborate and wants extra exposure?
• Crossbows, reviews, toys, homemade
• Hunting
• Recycling Materials DIY
• Sailing / Boats, Horses, Dog Sleds, Bicycles, Alternative Transportation
• Survivalism
• Off Grid Tourism
• Trapping
• Treehouse
• Interview Vegans
• Woodworking / Tools
• Zombie Apocalypse

So what I really need is taking some of the ideas above and running with them. Just make lots of videos, and make sure the quality is good, because that is how I will get subscribers. Good quality videos.

At present I only have about 30 videos. Contrast that with Survival Lilly... and she has so many videos it is difficult to count. For example, she has so many that she moved all her restricted videos (too violent for regular youtube) to a separate account called "Survival Lilly Restricted". She only has 16 videos on that channel currently, but she currently has over 24,000 subscribers to that tiny channel.

Her main channel meanwhile has just over 300 videos and 675,000+ subscribers. I could make a video every day, but the quality would likely be horrible. Nobody wants to subscribe to a channel that makes junk videos.

So for now I think I need to set myself a goal of making 100 quality videos. Two per week would be nice. That way it just becomes a weekly habit and I get better and better at making the videos, and increase the quality over time as I learn more about the best ways to make videos.

Note - Best Days to Upload a Video: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 2 PM is the best time on weekdays. 9 AM is the best time on weekends. Bold days are the best days.

Awhile back I added an intro video and started using intro and credits with my new videos in an effort to make them look more professional. And get more subscribers.

Example Below: Burd's Family Fishing in Stouffville video.