It’s tea time! Make yourself a cup of your favourite hot beverage and sit back as I chat with you about my struggles on YouTube lately. I’m dealing with creative block and lots of insecurities and I feel like it’s good to get some things off my chest.
Dear lucy, i’m sorry to hear that you’ve been struggling so much!
I had wondered about your subscribers vs the views on single videos before but when i thought about it i realized i didn’t watch all of your videos either.
For me (and i think that might be the case for others too?) the reason is just that i’ve been watching your channel for a LONG time (since the longhair community days, so you could say it’s been more or less 10 years). The simple truth is that my interests have shifted since then and I am suscribed to your channel mostly because, as someone mentioned in the comments to your video, it feels just like checking in with an old friend. We are the same age and went through the same stages of life together (school, uni, moving out from our parents’ place, moving in with a boyfriend…) so i’ll sometimes think ‘i wonder how loepsie’s doing!’ and therefore pretty consistently watch your vlogs, what i eat in a day, teatime, and all those more chatty videos (Plus anything that aligns with my interests at the moment, which for me means anything vintage, historically inspired modern clothing (i don’t remember if you have an official name for those videos) or decluttering videos.
I’m guessing it’s that way for a lot of people – you’ve made such a large variety of videos over the years that your subscribers probably stick around for the few videos that speak to them, whether that’s vlogs, hair tutorials, beauty beacons,…
I have a few suggestions that might help you get out of your rut – altough please feel free to ignore those if you don’t like them :)
Maybe you could try a month of uploading one video a week that fits into a different youtube category from the things you usually do? Thing like booktube and diy home decor channels/ikea hacks, let’s play (i recall you used to play video games with your brother, it’s not something i personally have a huge interest in but some people might, so i think it could be worth a try), etc.
I’m sure there’s loads of youtube subcategories i’m not even aware of. Maybe you’ll find something that both you and a lot of your viewers enjoy?
Personally (although i am aware that i’m more of a niche-interest person) i would like to see maybe monthly (or seasonally) favourites (like, a tv show/book/movie/song, beauty product, food,…) – i think you used to make those sometimes, did they not do very well?
I know you watch game of thrones, maybe you could do episode reaction videos for the new season or just the final?
Trying out a certain thing for a week/month ( like you did the curly girl method and dressing vintage videos, but with all sorts of different things (idk, trying yoga/a different sport for a month, wearing a uniform look for a month, trying journaling for a month, trying a pinterest post a day for a week…)
Also, i think your vintage videos do relatively well and you can sew a bit, right? So maybe you could try making a video series of sewing a few easy “essential” vintage wardrobe pieces – the kind of things you found you were missing in your ‘dressing vintage for a week’ video.
As mentioned, please feel free to ignore any suggestions that don’t rock your boat – you’ve probably considered those ideas before so i don’t actually know if this is helpful at all but i guess i’ll send it just in case!
Please don’t feel pressured to answer, i’m aware you are very busy! :)
I’m sure your creativity will come back in full force soon and you’ll be back to not knowing how to fit everything you want to do into your day! :D
I hope you feel better soon!
All my best and love from austria!
Have you ever thought about going back to working a part time job? As much as you may not enjoy it, consider what it offers at a practical level – gets you out of the apartment, more financial security, less creative pressure to always perform, more ability to produce the types of videos YOU like, and uploading videos when YOU want to. Oddly enough, if you work part time and do videos, you might end up spending less time each week working! :)
Remember, too, no matter how much a person may like their job, there are times when it becomes just a plain, old, boring job.
I wish you the best.
Take care. :)
Hey Loepsie,
Ik volg je kanaal al jaren (maar ben niet geabonneerd, ik kan niet goed tegen de chaos van al die meldingen).
Ik dacht dat het misschien interessant zijn om te weten waar jouw kijkers zo nog al naar kijken.
Ik kijk vaak naar thrifting hauls (dit lijkt me wel te passen bij jouw levensfilosofie). Je zou bijvoorbeeld tweedehands kleding kunnen kopen, en ons meenemen op ontdekkingstocht. Je zou je kunnen inschrijven voor een naaicursus en ons meenemen in het leerproces van tweedehands kleding verstellen (hoeft ook allemaal niet onmiddellijk perfect te zijn, we willen al eens lachen :-))
Je inschrijven voor bepaalde (korte) cursussen en ons vertellen over je avonturen (of ons laten meegenieten) kan voor de kijkers leuk zijn. Ik zeg maar wat hoor…
Recepten en kook-avonturen doen het ook altijd goed. Niet alleen mensen die vegan zijn zouden dit willen zien. Mijn beste vriendin kan geen lactose eten, dus vegan desserttips zijn voor vrij veel mensen welkom (je kan chocomousse maken van kikkererwt-vocht :-)))
Informatie en tips over duurzame kledingmerken en cosmeticaproducten zouden jouw doelgroep ook zeker aanspreken. Geen idee of dit iets is waar veel over te vertellen valt. Je zou producten voor ons kunnen uittesten, proberen een samenwerking tot stand te brengen met bepaalde ethische merken… ?
Een onderwerp dat je misschien liever vermijdt: ASMR… Ik snap dat je je hier liever niet aan waagt hoor, maar het is iets waar je echt wel goed in zou zijn :-) Je kan overwegen om een anoniem ASMR-kanaal te beginnen, één van mijn lievelings-ASMR-tists komt nooit met haar hoofd in beeld.
Doe daar de Beauty Beacons bij en je hebt een vullend programma.
Ik denk dat je inderdaad moet denken in de richting van “vernieuwen” en ik zou zeker trouw kijken naar thrifting hauls + naaitips. Maar ik weet natuurlijk niet of dit iets is wat je ook maar enigszins boeit :-D
Groeten