Unglamorous Lessons from My Journey to 1M

Hey friends - I uploaded my first YouTube video on June 3rd, 2020, earning a grand total of 327 views. Five years later, I've surpassed 1M subscribers and average 2M views monthly.

But this isn't a thinly-veiled self-congratulatory post that virtue signals just how amazing I am.

Instead, I want to share five unglamorous lessons from my journey to 1M subscribers.

1. Losing 70% of My Friends

To grow on YouTube, consistency was non-negotiable. For two years (2020-2022), I committed to uploading weekly videos. This meant every moment outside my full-time job at Google went into ideating, scripting, and editing: 20-30 hours weekly, including every weekend.

Consequently, I declined 90% of social invitations.

Think about it: How many rejections would you tolerate before stopping the invites?

Exactly.

Slowly but surely, I stopped receiving invitations to gatherings and parties. I would see them having fun via Instagram stories and the worst part is, I knew it was “my fault” for saying “No” too many times.

Who else is there to blame but me?

While some might say, "They weren't real friends anyway," the pain of exclusion was genuine and took a long time to process.

2. The Validation Addiction

Initially, I focused solely on "intrinsic metrics" - telling myself that consistency alone constituted success. For the first eight months, when few watched my videos, I genuinely believed that views and subscribers didn't matter.

Ironically, it was only after I saw some level of success (after my first “viral” Google Calendar video) did I start to develop an unhealthy relationship with metrics. I'd refresh analytics obsessively, feeling elated with spikes in viewership and devastated with drops. My emotional well-being became tied to numbers on a screen.

Fortunately for me, I came across so many other creators who have gone through similar struggles and reading about their experiences have helped me with this “addiction.”

Nowadays although I still keep a tab on the numbers, I have basically convinced myself that as long as I’m proud of content I’ve pushed out and it’s valuable to others, then that should be reward enough.

3. The YouTube Hamster Wheel

Let me be clear: I love making educational videos and can't imagine stopping. Ever.

However, the platform is designed so creators "can't afford" to pause. Taking extended breaks means dropping views, losing relevance, and watching others fill your void.

Adhering to upload schedules transformed my passion project into a second full-time job. Some nights, I'd face the camera after a 10-hour workday at Google, fighting exhaustion to maintain the algorithm-demanded consistency.

The ideal scenario? Creating videos on my own schedule while maintaining financial security.

By diversifying revenue streams (products, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, etc.), hopefully I can achieve this within a few years.

4. When Day Job Performance Declines

This is my hardest admission. Having worked at Google for 8+ years, I've prided myself on being a "high-performer."

When starting YouTube, I promised myself I'd never compromise my day job performance. Looking back, that simply wasn't realistic.

As my channel gained traction, my performance at Google declined - fewer initiatives, less proactivity. Though colleagues never mentioned it, I knew, and my pride suffered.

To be clear, balancing a full-time job and content creation is possible, but I should have been more honest with myself (and my manager) about expectations.

5. The Unwelcome Fame Effect

Despite my on-camera persona, I'm an introvert who genuinely dislikes public recognition.

“Boohoo Jeff, it must SUCK to be you.” Trust me I know how I sound here, but I promised raw truths in this post.

When I’m having a bad day in the office, and I just want to be left alone, I would have to muster up the energy and cheer to smile at colleagues who appreciate my videos.

Granted, oftentimes they would say something that make my day better, but there are also moments where I want to escape and excuse myself but I didn’t want to hurt “my image.”

The Next Million: Applying Hard-Earned Lessons

Despite these challenges, I wouldn't trade my current position for anything. Beyond developing skills I'd otherwise lack - resilience, time management, content creation, public speaking, sales and marketing - my YouTube journey has fundamentally changed how I approach problems, communicate ideas, and value time.

These struggles have forced me to reimagine what success looks like on my own terms. I'm building toward a future where I can create content I'm proud of, maintain meaningful relationships, and yes, actually take a weekend off occasionally. The path to 1M subscribers wasn't what I expected, but the path to the next million will be one I design with these lessons firmly in mind.

Thanks for reading, and as usual, have a great one! 😉

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