How to Build a Successful YouTube Channel in 2023 with Ruri Ohama

You might look at successful YouTubers and think they got lucky, but sometimes it's a process of learning. I feel like I was just posting random videos, not necessarily the best videos, not necessarily the videos that people wanted to watch. So, I was just creating for the sake of creating. But I think we should always switch our minds to what people want to watch and whether that really matches with what you want to create.

Maria Harmer reached 1 million subscribers on YouTube in two years, but that's only part of the story. She had five failed channels before that. In today's episode of "Creators on Air," Rory shares the strategies that she implemented to grow her channel and monetize.

So, basically, I started YouTube in 2016, so I was 15. So, it's basically like seven years ago. Yeah, I was watching a YouTuber, and I thought it's so cool to become a YouTuber; let me become one. And then, the next day, I published the video. I remember that. Then, since then, I created like four channels, and this channel should be my fifth one. Yeah, this is my fifth channel, basically.

So, it's been seven years. During those seven years, only probably three of them were I was super, super consistent, and I was really dedicated to it. I really wanted to become a YouTuber, but I didn't know any strategies or any tools to make it happen. But during the lockdown, I decided, "Okay, this is going to be the last time I'm going to try, and we're not going to give up. Even if it takes five years, ten years, we're gonna become a YouTuber." And we did!

Nice! I love the commitment to the journey. So, what do you think it is about this channel that was different from the other channels? Like, were there previous lessons that you took from the other channel to help with this one? What changed?

Definitely everything, to be honest. I learned so much by failing four times and being a joke to my classmates. Everyone was making fun of me, but I learned so much. To be honest, I feel like I was just posting random videos, not necessarily the best videos, not necessarily the videos that people wanted to watch. So, I was just creating for the sake of creating. But I think we should always switch our minds to what people want to watch and whether that really matches with what you want to create.

And if you can find that match, and if you keep improving, then eventually, of course, your videos will get watched. I love that.

So, how did you figure that out for yourself? Like, how did you find out what other people wanted to watch?

So, actually, I said that. Sort of the videos that I wanted to create versus the videos that people wanted me to create in the beginning were very different. So, basically, my first viral video was about being half Japanese, half Turkish, and a lot of people followed me because of that—cultural differences and language-related stuff. But I knew language videos were gonna get views, but that's not what I want to create. But I'm going to still do it and then sort of lead the crowd into the things that I want to make.

So, I guess that's something that I did differently this time. I knew the areas that I'm really good at and I can bring a lot of value in it, but I'm not really necessarily interested in it because I wasn't learning languages because I was passionate. I did them because I had to. So, slowly, I sort of changed people's minds and then sort of made them adapt to my content.

It took such a long time, to be honest. We're still doing that. I'm still trying to convince people to be interested in self-improvement every day. But I feel like that's actually a really hard thing to do. I know so many YouTubers who have had viral videos, and it's almost been—I don't want to say their downfall—but it's been really hard to recover from because then the videos they do want to make don't do as well.

So, how have you managed to do it? Because you have loads of videos that aren't about learning languages that have surpassed like millions of views. So, how have you managed to bring that audience along for the ride?

I think the important thing is basically like understanding the bigger picture. So, if somebody wants to learn a language, sure, language learning and productivity might seem very irrelevant. But if you want to learn a language, most people have, you know, full-time jobs or kids or, I don't know, school—other responsibilities. So, to make that happen, they need productivity.

No matter what you wanted to do in your life, if you want to learn something, if you want to try something new, you need productivity. And productivity itself is not enough because, yes, you can have the best systems, but if you don't have the right mindset, then you're not going to apply that. You need that discipline, too.

So, sort of, I started to implement more productivity, more self-improvement, more mindset things into my language videos to make people realize that they actually need those topics. Because what most people don't understand, I guess, about productivity and self-improvement is that, yes, people who are already into that will watch your videos. But I think the game is about making people realize that actually this might be helpful. So, making them realize is the first step in my opinion.

Definitely. And I feel like there are quite a lot of well-known productivity and self-improvement YouTubers. So, however, you managed to stand out? So, you know you were growing and you're not just kind of making the same video as, you know, Matt D'Avella or Ali Abdaal. How have you stood out?

I think the main difference between them and me is that since my childhood, I struggled with everything so much. So, when it comes to the things that I really wanted to do, like, you know, watching animes and things, I could watch them eight hours straight. But when it comes to studying or anything, since my childhood, I always hated studying. But I've always been a good student.

So, I guess it's like we're really different. I don't want to do anything, but I still do them. I guess they're more motivated than me. And, like when it comes to me, for example, I sometimes even procrastinate, like, you know, going to the toilet, and like I'm gonna pee myself, but I procrastinated still. And it's a huge problem with me, and it's so relatable.

Yeah, anyone they talk in their videos, they're like, "You know, you don't procrastinate the things that you love." No, I do procrastinate. Like I procrastinate everything. Sometimes I don't even eat because I'm so lazy to choose something.

So, I guess my main difference is I'm just really lazy; not motivated to do anything in my life. I love that. And I feel like one of the hardest parts about being a YouTuber is just coming up with ideas. And I mean, you're posting so consistently as well. So, how do you come up with, you know, fresh ideas all the time? What kind of is bringing you the inspiration?

I guess I actually also don't know. I don't know how I'm able to come up with so many ideas. On my Notion, I have like 300 video ideas that are waiting to create them. But I guess it's just the fact that I consume various media. So, I consume, you know, Eastern media, Western media, this and that.

So, there are so many aspects of the same topic, so many opinions, so many discussions from different cultures. So, I always have a way to sort of bring a new perspective because of that, like, language knowledge that I have. Because even in the same productivity genre, Japanese people think very differently than American people, and the tools that they use, the methods that they use, and the topics that they talk about are very different.

So, I guess how I do it is that I read books in various languages so that I can always come up with new ideas. I used to read, like, English books, but then I realized I was becoming like more Ali Abdaal, and I developed, so I decided to stop that and really read Japanese books, and they have a lot of ideas, I guess, and they make me always come up with new ideas.

Yeah, that's how I do. I love that because it also means that you're appealing to like wider audiences as well, which is great. And you said that you have like over 300 ideas in your Notion page, which is crazy. When it comes down to, you know, sitting and selecting which ideas actually make its way to videos, what are you considering?

I usually look to the, basically, trends of YouTube, what people are interested in that specific month or maybe season. Let's say, you know, what people are interested in depending on the season is really different. Like, what people want to achieve around like November, December is to establish new goals, like all these stuff.

And during summer months, for example, they're not that ambitious with their goals. Maybe before the summer, everyone wants to get in shape. Exercise-type videos are popular, but during summer, everyone wants to chill a little bit more. So, I feel like understanding the trends and seasons and what people want currently is the most important thing.

For example, there are so many videos that I want to publish right now, but I know that if I publish right now, it's gonna flop. And it's also important to sort of make it easier to understand for people. So, I think there is definitely an order of posting videos, even if they're not so related. And even if everybody is not going to watch those videos, I feel like there's like a connection between those videos.

And even though every single video of mine seems like it's irrelevant, it's sort of like the, I don't know, episode do episode three, maybe, if that makes sense.

So, can you give me an example? Like which ones have you really thought about, "Okay, this needs to come next"?

So, for example, let's say, let's talk about my future videos. I don't know; maybe this will flop, who knows? But basically, I recently released a video about how to make money online, I guess. So, and then I uploaded the video of, "I'm moving to Dubai" video because now that makes more sense. Now, people have an understanding: "Oh, she's moving to Dubai because she won't save taxes; it means that she makes a lot of money."

But how does she...? And then this is like the connection. And then the next series is going to be more about, like, my Dubai life, how I'm going to manage it as a business owner, med student, this and that.

And from there, we're going to publish more time management videos because now in the Vlogs, I'm going to show how I manage my life, and people are going to be more curious about my life, so I'm going to explain that. And from there, we're going to branch out more and more.

Wow, I love that. I didn't realize, like, how much thought you actually put into, like, "Okay, this needs to come now." That's crazy.

Yeah, and your videos are also like so—I mean, I'm always blown away by how well-researched they are and how well-edited they are. So, how much time do you actually spend on video production?

So, the problem with me is that I don't—I’m not really like, "I'm going to work for three hours here and there." More so that I guess I'm working all the time because it's like I'm reading a book before going to bed, I'm listening to an audiobook there, and suddenly an idea comes into my head, and I like, I'm writing for hours and hours.

So, I actually don't know how many hours I actually work—probably all the time. But when I'm even consuming a content, let's say I come up with an idea or when I like that specific word, then I would write down, and then I would start to read a book, this and that. So, I actually don't know; probably a lot of hours, but I'm not really sure.

And which part of the YouTube process do you think is most important? Like, if you only had time for one part of it that you would put most of your energy into?

So, I think idea generation. Idea is the most important thing in my opinion because even if your title and thumbnail are awesome, if nobody's interested in it, nobody will click on it. And even if your thumbnails suck, if the idea is so good, people will still click on it.

Yeah, no, I agree. So, how often do you sit down for idea generation, or is it just as and when it comes?

Actually, probably I sit down every single day. I really, yeah, I do.

Wow!

Yeah, and that's just generating ideas or going through ideas that you already have?

Both, actually. Because sometimes I come up with an idea, but then I realize that I already came up with something similar. So I think about how I can merge them, and I also like combining my ideas together so that they'll be different from other people's.

So let's say I have like 300 ideas, but then out of these 300, it probably means only like 50 videos because I merge them, I delete them. I say, "Okay, this trend is now old; now people are not thinking this way," blah blah blah.

So, every single day, I sit down, and I guess I spend around like an hour every single day looking into my Notion page, writing things. And I also like to multitask writing scripts. For example, I have a script written for a video that's going to be published like four months later.

Wow!

But I still did that; I don't know why, but I did that. Like, I write here and there and I add some parts there, so it's like really messy—the whole process.

That's crazy. And what have you learned about packaging your ideas in a way that audiences will want to watch and listen? So, like in terms of titles and thumbnails, one thing I understand is I think looking to book covers and book titles is really important. If the book is best-selling, it probably means that they're using the keywords that people are searching, right?

So, whenever I'm titling a video, I would go to Amazon, and I will look into the similar book categories, Japanese and both English, so that I can sort of like title my video in that way. Because I think the most important thing when you're packaging your video is that the viewer should feel like this video is meant for them.

So, you need to sort of like make them feel that, "Oh my God, this is something I can watch." So, definitely not making things overcomplicated. YouTube is for general masses. I think this is also something that I really misunderstood back in the day.

If you want to get numbers, sure, you can be a niche YouTuber, create niche products, and make money out of it. But majority of the time, people want to get numbers. And if you want to get numbers, it means that you are talking to like masses, and masses usually don't know much about productivity, self-improvement, or anything.

Obviously, there are intermediate and more, like, you know, very advanced people, but beginners will always take the majority. So, you're going to talk to the beginners, so you really need to remember what you were thinking in the beginning.

I love that. I feel like it's such a different way of approaching it to what I feel like I've ever come across, so I love that. That's, you know, giving us such a new way of thinking about it.

So, how have things actually changed for you in terms of challenges since being—I hate saying it— but a smaller creator to a larger creator? Like, what's been different about it? Like, what's changed and especially in terms of what's been difficult?

So, whenever I post the video, when I was like a more smaller channel, it was everything—everything was fun. Just getting views, just people commenting, everything was so fun! I love that whole process. But now that I'm like paying people and getting sponsorships, this and that, and I have this—I created this brand, every single time I post the video now, I have like this anxiety of, "Oh, is this going to get views?" If not, oh my God, is my career dying?

So I actually decided to create a faceless channel.

No way!

Yeah, and I'm not going to announce that to anyone else, and I'm just going to create it because I really want to, like, share the things that I want to do without really worrying about numbers. I'm sure it's going to get numbers in the future, but I really don't want to tie it to sponsorships, this and that, so that I won't get nervous about performance.

I guess now every single day I'm stressed. Like, I love that stress, but at the same time, it's definitely not a peaceful place. Definitely. And you mentioned sponsorships. So how do you currently approach sponsorships and negotiating prices for that?

So, how I do approach is that whenever I come across a problem—so this is actually something I've been doing for years—is that let's say I have a problem, and then I think about a product that can solve it, and then I Google it.

And usually, somebody else already came up with it because obviously they're probably smarter than me. So, and then I find that product all the time. Like even before YouTube recommendations, this and that, I would always come up with—like let's say, I need a water bottle, and I want to carry that with me to school, but it's too heavy.

So what would I do if I would be an entrepreneur? I would create like a foldable, you know, water bottle that is really light, that is easy to move on. And then I looked at it, and there are so many water bottles like that, so I purchase it.

So when I'm approaching sponsorships, I think about a problem and then how I would solve it. And then usually a brand comes up, and then I use it for a while, and if I like it, then I would approach them. Or sometimes they approach me, and that's how we work.

When it comes to the sponsorship rates, I guess it really depends on my mood, too, how much I want that sponsorship. Like if I really, really, really want to talk about it in that specific video. Because also when it comes to the sponsorships that we select, I come up with a video idea and then potential sponsorships while I'm idea generating.

So I will try, yeah, I will have lists of like five to ten sponsorships, and then we will reach out to them. And if one of them replies, we would like to make that sponsorship into that video, and then the video will be very seamless. But if they're not necessarily very like connected, then I would charge more for the seat.

So do you do sponsorships quite regularly, then?

Like, yeah. Do you have—do you have a castle for it, or are you thinking like, "Okay, I don't want to annoy my audience too much with this?" Like, how do you approach that?

I did, I actually—I guess there was a time I uploaded four videos, and then three of them were sponsorship, and people were like, "I understand, really, you want to make money, but isn't it too much?" I was like, "Yeah, yeah, that's right."

So right now, I decided to sort of like take two to three sponsorships per month and publish four to five videos. So, yeah, like 50 would probably be the ideal number, but in the future, I want to decrease it to like 25% of my content being sponsored posts.

And what are your other revenue streams as a creator?

So currently, we have Google AdSense, basically YouTube, and then sponsorships, and then affiliate marketing a little bit. And now recently, I published a Skillshare class, but it doesn't really count that much because I just released a language-related Skillshare class because I don't want to talk about languages anymore.

So it's like an end sign, like this is the end; we're not going to talk about it anymore. If you want to learn it, go there. And then I thought the last one is coaching. I'm actually starting a YouTube coaching, a small group coaching, and then maybe eventually an online course that I would create. So that's the another stream.

I love that. So how did you decide how you're going to monetize your audience?

I mean, I always wanted to talk about YouTube because I'm a huge YouTube nerd. I have like this viral video library in my brain and if somebody would talk about this viral video, I'm quite sure that I know that video and I've watched that video, and I've already analyzed that video. I watch YouTube a lot, and I love YouTube so much, so that's definitely something I always wanted to do.

When I was watching like Patty's course, I was like, "I want to be Patty so much! I'm gonna be Patty!" Yeah, but I won't have nothing like that, but I wasn't Patty.

Yeah, so I guess that's another reason why I want to create a faceless channel because a lot of people say, "Oh, you know nothing about YouTube; it's all because you're a young, attractive female," this and that. I mean, sure it will help, obviously, but I don't think it's the only thing, and I want to sort of like prove that. But it will be a fun process.

Yeah, I know absolutely. And are there any of your revenue streams that surprised you or like that was something you just weren't expecting with them?

I guess YouTube AdSense in a bad way.

Really?

Yeah, I guess the difference between the Western YouTube world and then the Japanese YouTube world, for example, is that Japanese people make the most chunk from YouTube AdSense rather than sponsorships. But in the Western YouTube, it's more like sponsorships and then less YouTube AdSense.

Right. Because Japanese YouTubers are crazy; they upload like every day! Some of them upload like five times a week, and then three times a week is like the standard there. And because it's such a small market—I mean, Japanese-speaking people—it's really easy to target people, so you will get a lot of views compared to your subscriber count.

In the West, it's the opposite—you will have like a million subscribers, but you will get like 100K, 200K views. In Japan, you will have like 50K subscribers, but you can get like consistently 300K views. So they make a lot of money from views.

And when you do a lot of sponsorships in Japan, it's really a bad representation—almost people don't really like it. So, I started really like surprised me, the difference between in those countries.

Yeah, I have no idea that's what it was like.

Yeah, do you ever worry about that? So, I mean, you mentioned like having, you know, you've got like a million subscribers, and then your view count is like a lot lower. Does that ever stress you out or is that something you worry about?

Yeah, some, I guess so because I know the days that I wasn't getting views. And for my YouTube career, that was the majority. So, I feel like always like, "Oh, one day I'm going to wake up, and nobody's going to watch my videos; we're gonna go back to those days."

But then I also remind myself that I can always start a new channel, this and that.

So, awesome question. If you worry about like your views drop, like not matching your, you know, like subscriber count?

I guess in the Western YouTube world, there isn't really a formula. Some people say it's 25%; some people say if your channel is getting bigger, it's 10% of your subscriber count. And we do hit that with most of the videos. And even if it doesn't hit like those views count, I sort of like trained my audience to watch them. So, right now, no, but I don't know in like three to five years whether we will get those views, to be honest.

And you said that you have people that you're working with as well that you've hired. What was your process for building a team? Like, how did you decide, you know, who to hire, what to hire for?

We actually don't work full-time, like neither of them. So, I have two people in my team. One is my editor; he edits my videos, but he also—he works like a freelancer because he's also a YouTuber.

Okay, cool!

Yeah, he has actually decent subscriber amounts, but he's also a YouTuber. And then I have my sort of like partnerships manager. She manages all the sponsorships; she does all the communications and like these invoices and everything. So, yeah, we have, I guess, or three, but they're not full-time.

Okay, and how did you find an editor? I feel like finding an editor for YouTube is really difficult. How did you find someone or train them to kind of bring your own vision to life without, you know, compromising what you'd already built?

I didn't even train him, actually. The funny thing is—

Really?

Yeah, I've I tried to find a good editor for a year and a half, but then I gave up, and I started to edit my own videos. I guess till 700K or maybe 600K, I was editing my own videos. Then he suddenly DM'd me and said, "I can edit your videos." And then I was like, "Okay."

And then he edits one of my videos, and it was really nice. I didn't even say anything, but he got everything right, and I was like, "Let's work together." And now we work together.

That's really lucky!

Yeah, and how important have your other social media profiles been for YouTube, or are they just a secondary thing?

I just say for Instagram, it's more so like I post whatever I want to post. And I definitely want to make it more systemized and actually create content there, too, because I feel like Instagram has a huge potential.

But I personally don't use Instagram that much. So, for example, I'm a firm believer that to be a good creator, you need to be a good consumer first. So for YouTube, I can apply that, but for Instagram, because I don't use it much, I don't really understand what people would like to see from me on Instagram.

So, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do on Instagram recently and on Twitter, too. I actually just started using Twitter recently—I didn't even know what the hell people were doing on Twitter! Crazy!

In a way, and what else is next for you, then?

I guess for next, I will probably start publishing—not publishing but posting more often on Instagram, sort of like shift once again my YouTube niche towards more self-improvement, yes, sure, but like plus lifestyle content more and then like just ditching the—

Ditching the languages? Because it's enough like—

Love that!

And what advice would you give to someone who feels like their channel was failing and they don't know whether to like keep going with that channel, start a new channel, they're not really sure directions to take or whether they should even be a YouTuber?

I mean, it's always good to analyze everything. So, I would recommend asking yourself what type of YouTuber you want to become and then why. And then ask yourself whether you can keep talking about this stuff for the next five years because if you can't shut your mouth about that topic, then probably you should talk about it on your YouTube channel.

But if you get bored about it, if you will get bored about it in a year, then you probably shouldn't pick it as your niche maybe. And another thing is to watch. At the end, like after deciding your niche and the topic that you want to talk about, pick like five YouTubers that you love and then completely analyze their ideas, thumbnails, and scripts.

One thing I actually recommend people doing is that copying the transcript of their videos and then literally analyzing their script, how they do their hooks, how they introduce every single topic, and then see a pattern. Because once you start to analyze 10, 20, 30 of their videos, you will realize some patterns maybe that they don't even realize.

So you will start to come up with how to write hooks, how to write the video script, and then how to sort of make people engaged and offer new ideas and this and that. And also with the thumbnails, actually, I have a video on it—how to grow on YouTube. I guess there's like a video on it.

What I would recommend is that whenever you're going to talk about a topic, search on YouTube and then find people who got their life video overperformed for their channel size, download their thumbnails 5 to 10, put them in the middle on Notion, and then analyze the pattern between all these thumbnails. Find the same thing in them, and then do it on your thumbnail, and then improve every single time and keep doing this, and then you'll probably have good videos.

That's really good advice! I like how actionable it is as well. It's not just generic like, "Oh, keep going." It's actually, like, really solid advice there.

I'm going to end with a quick-fire round. So, we ask you five questions I ask every creator that comes on "Air," starting with, what's your favorite thing about being a creator?

Freedom and money!

I love the honesty. And what's something that gives you the most inspiration for what you create?

Books, definitely books.

Okay, nice. And what's a tool that helps you the most as a creator?

Notion and a miller note.

Nice! Yeah, Notion is really good. That's a new one. That's really common, but I haven't seen that.

Um, what's something that helps you with your creator work-life balance?

Coffee?

Probably! I was gonna say if you have a career, probably.

I don’t—and what's one piece of advice that you'd give to other creators, so not necessarily just YouTubers?

Don't just keep going. I don't really believe you should keep going. Then in like two, three years, you will achieve that type of advice. Always analyze if your video is not performing enough and then solve that problem and then keep doing that.

I love that answer. That's such a good one. Amazing! Thank you so much for coming on air. This has been such a fun conversation as well, so it's so nice!

Of course! If you're a creator working with sponsors, check out Passionfruit. We help you to streamline the entire workflow. I'll see you in the next one.