The Truth About Creating Content in 2024: Think it’s easy? Think again.

“It takes 4 years to get a degree, 8 to be a lawyer, 10 to be a doctor. Then there’s people who try YouTube for 3 months and give up after seeing 0 results”

Something about the quote above really resonated with me. It’s from a VidIQ tweet that was posted last week (if you’re an aspiring content creator, make sure you’re following them!), and it made me realise that succeeding on YouTube in 2024 is a serious game.

Sure, back in 2012, all you needed to grow on YouTube was a few cute cat videos. Then circa 2017-2020 it was about posting videos consistently. Fast forward to 2024, and the landscape is a lot different. Turning YouTube into a profitable business requires you to approach it with the same level of dedication as any other high paying career - this means actually thinking about your strategy, the business model, customer analysis, and all the other things a traditional business would think about.

When you think about it, expecting to become internet famous within a couple of months is actually quite insulting to the people who do create content full-time - it’s like saying that what they do is so easy that a novice could learn the ropes straight away.

All of this has reminded me of that Bill Gates quote about how we overestimate what can be achieved in 1 year but overestimate what can be achieved in 10 years. A much easier approach to content creation - or any long term game - is to lengthen your time horizon. Create 5 year plans instead of 5 week plans. If you can’t see this being a game you can play for that long, I’d ponder whether it’s a tournament you really want to enter - if anything, knowing now will save you a lot of time and regret later down the line.

Whats New

Apple Watch - Long Term Review

I recently reviewed the Apple Watch Series 7 - not to talk about specs, because let’s face it, Apple Watch upgrades have been stale for a few years now. I wanted to talk more generally about whether Apple Watches are worth getting in general, since it’s a question I was asked a few weeks ago by a friend.

I’m super proud of how the video turned out - in particular the colour grade, which I spent a lot of time fine-tuning. Let me know what you guys think of the video in the comments!

Apple Studio Display - Long Term Review

I never thought monitors could cause so much controversy! Magically, the Apple Studio Display managed to do that. But now that the hype has settled, I decided to do a long-term review of the Studio Display. As I explain in the video, it’s a great monitor for some people - but a terrible choice for others.

Monthly Favourites

• Book - Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Dr Peter Attia - This book has been an eye-opener. I’ve always known taking care of my health was important - it’s why I lift weights in the gym 5 days a week! But until reading this book, I had little idea how important training for endurance and improving my VO2 max was - turns out it’s one of the most powerful predictors of how long we’ll live. This book will probably go down as my most impactful read of 2024.
• Podcast - The Think Media Podcast - finding this was a true gem. It’s hosted by Saun Cannell from Think Media (you’ve probably seen a bunch of their tutorials on YouTube), and is dedicated towards helping creators succeed financially. A lot of people get very excited about the process of creating videos and starting a YouTube channel - less people think about how to turn that into a long-term, sustainable business. Highly recommend it for any aspiring creators out there.
• Music - F-1 Trillion by Post Malone - I’m not one to listen to country music (I usually lean heavily into my hip-hop and R&B), but this album was a joy to listen to (bonus if you listen to it in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music)! I’m now questioning whether I need to diversify my taste in music.

If you’ve made it this far…

How was that for a first proper newsletter 😅? If you’ve made it this far - thank you. You lot are the real ones! If any of you have any feedback on ways I could improve this newsletter or things you’d like to see in future issues, please do let me know (you can hit me up on Twitter @Sukhdeep_s_m)

See you next month 👋