 guys thank you so much for joining me in this video I'm actually going to do a tag video I haven't done a tag video in quite a while and this one I kind of saved this tag I want to say months ago for me to maybe do on an occasion when I was inspired to do a tag so this I I'm going to give credit where credit is due the first person that I saw do this tag was my life Wendy and Wendy had posted the tag and I thought well that's that's really cute and then after I saw her her tag I saw Linda from Josephine's daughter actually do the tag as well as mutton style so I watched all three of those videos with the tag and I believe that Wendy had said the tag was started by older women rock and it's all about YouTube it's all about why did you start a YouTube channel and what inspired you so I'm gonna actually read the questions and the very first one is why did you start your YouTube channel what motivated you what was your inspiration so I'm probably way out of the norm because I actually started to do videos way back in 2006 I think Jay started the YouTube channel my husband Jay the original YouTube channel and I was posting some content on his channel back when video was really funky had this big video camera I had really weird equipment compared to today but it wasn't until 2009 that I decided to stop my own YouTube channel at the time Jay's channel and I think it still is ace maker that's what he had called it and I didn't want I wanted to see if I could brand myself if I could you know just kind of brand myself mainly my thought was for lifestyle videos and real estate related lifestyle videos so I started my channel 2009 and I started to create content that showed a lifestyle that showed my area of my market area all geared to real estate obviously and I started to do storytelling about the lifestyle and I was very very happy doing that my motivation initially was business because I was being found for YouTube I was getting customers my clients were happy especially when I did vlog style videos and I talked about their house I filmed my sellers in their home and then I went out and I filmed the community and I talked about what life was like in this particular town those are the types of videos I was creating it it really served a purpose back then YouTube to me was just a place for me to deposit those videos it wasn't necessarily an idea of a community for me it was just a place for me or a YouTube video that I could share to my vlog my blog my real estate website all those other other things so that's what it was all about and while I was spending so much time on YouTube I started to obviously being a woman my age I started to fall upon skincare videos and anti-aging type of videos and and I started to watch and I still remember the first few people that I actually watched on YouTube that talked about skincare and anti-aging and I've mentioned them many times before and since that time some of them I've really gotten to know well and have built a relationship with that was really amazing and they inspired me to to get on the journey to get on the skincare journey and that and that's really what I did but it wasn't until 2016 that I started retinae that I started to really do any serious skincare so at that point in time my channel slowly converted over to less and less camping and lifestyle and real estate to more and more anti-aging makeup stuff like that so I didn't the second question is did you do any research preparation or practice the answer is no I just turned the camera on myself I did read a lot of because I was a vlogger anyways sharing lifestyle I did read a lot about techniques for video techniques for vlogging telling your story and stuff like that so in that sense perhaps that is the research but I didn't really practiced in the sense of like alright I have a camera you know do I aim it at myself how do I do this you know type of thing I learned how to edit I do I have an iPhone and sometimes when I'm out and about I film on my iPhone usually when I'm inside like I am now I'm filming on my Canon right now M50 and then I have a vlogging camera which is a Sony so I have a couple of different cameras and I have learned really upped my editing game and upped my video game and the fact that I like to have a clear video I know sound is important so I try to work on my microphone and my heat just kicked on you're gonna hear that but I like to be well lit I don't want to sit in a dark room I don't want to I don't want to have a blurry image of myself I don't want to I don't want people to struggle with seeing me if they want to see me so I'm almost too transparent I'm almost out there too much instead of availing myself or filtering my videos I mean I use lights that's about it for my filtering on my videos I wish I could figure that rest of it out I know this probably it's gonna be an idiot if you want to spend the money I'm sure there's a video app that will make you look beautiful I just haven't wanted to spend the money on that at all so question number three do you have or did you have a game plan from the get-go did you know what you wanted to talk about and be about so like I said in the beginning I did have a game plan it was all real estate and at that point in time I did know exactly what I wanted to talk about when my channel started to morph into skincare and makeup I didn't know I just knew that I was at the time I was going to show myself daily maybe I did a lot of the Veta challenges video every day in April video every day in August and I knew I was going to show myself in the camera and it's sort of like bearing your soul to a bunch of strangers because they're seeing what you look like you know they're they're seeing you every every single day yeah I the only game plan I have now is really struggling with how often do I publish how long my videos should be and do I stay true to myself or am I more dictated to the views when I say that everyone has videos that does better than others and my retinae videos do the best I have the most views when I talk retinae and skincare anti-aging when I do something I really like vlogging or just sitting here gabbing with you guys they don't get as many views so my game plan is basically trying to find that balance of being able to talk about anti-aging and skincare and also she have logging and lifestyle and be true to who I am whether or not the video gets a ton of views or not and that's pretty well what I have been doing so number four what have you found to be unexpected challenges and what have you found to be unexpected rewards unexpected challenges are the amount of trolls or the amount of people that are so sadly and so miserable in their real life that they feel they can hide behind a keyboard and attack verbally a content creator because they don't like how she looks they don't like how she sounds they don't like what she's talking about or he that they that rather than being constructive criticism they are nasty so that to me is an unexpected challenge to freedom of speech is important and understanding that everyone can say whatever they want but I always struggle with those people that cross the line and our hatred and and just vomit ugliness so that's been a challenge to kind of accept that kind of not let it affect me certainly not let it dictate the content I'm going to create but putting it in its proper place those people they're kind of like really they're gonna be really sad they gonna need they're going to need something in their life that they're filling it with hatred you know so I feel really bad for them unexpected rewards is I never expected to have true friends on YouTube I never expected that I have met in reality the most beautiful women honest to the T that I can trust with anything and there's a couple of them that comes to mind but I'm going to really talk about the two that I really know the best and probably the first one that I really got to see in her soul was Sheila and at the time her channel was Life with Lily I realized very early on when I talked to her physically talked to her and not just leave a comment on YouTube that she was a true beautiful genuine woman in that she's had a lot of crap thrown at her health-wise and probably with trolls as well who knows but she's had a lot of crap thrown at her and even though in her own personal life she's had these health issues and all that she's always been there for others so getting to know Sheila and develop that friendship with her was amazing to me amazing and she's the type of person that I know I could pick up the phone right now and call and say do you have a few moments I need to talk to somebody she'll definitely be there she'll drop whatever she's doing that's the unexpected rewards because the second person that comes to mind that I feel that close to is Maline Fab and glam Maline and I and Sheila with the three of us talk every day every single day we talk we talk on a platform called Vox where we actually hear each other's voice we can leave each other messages you know we just talk every day and Marlene also has gone through her her challenges this past year especially with her son she's got through her challenges yet I know if I were to reach out and say I need you help me I know without a doubt she would be there and I have friends in real life belly-to-belly that I see day-to-day that I know would come when I need them as well but these two ladies I think we've gone through so much in the last couple of years together that I can truly say without a doubt they are so dependable they're so honest and I love them daily and I know they would they would be there for me in a hot beat if I needed them and there are other people people that I'm looking forward to meeting that I hope to meet soon someone that I've tried to meet a number of times and just life things have happened so Mary Ellen you know and I hate naming names because I'm always afraid I'm gonna forget someone but she was the first person to give me a shout-out Mary Ellen we do a text chat I have other women that I have that I talked to on a regular basis as well and then some that I have met Melissa 55 Kristen 3 3 2 1 miss Kristen I have met them I've met Bella from England a beauty on a budget I've met Gail Gail and Bella came to the States and that was an amazing trip I met up with them in Nashville so so many many really true true beautiful beautiful people and that has been my unexpected reward because I've been able to stretch my wings I've been able to meet people and know that they are good people you know I've been able to I've been able to do that and that I never expected out of YouTube and if I forgot to mention someone I apologize I really don't like dropping names because there's too many and there's a number of other people anyways I'm going to stop while I'm ahead before I bury myself I apologize for anyone I didn't mention but that has definitely been the unexpected rewards the beautiful people that I've actually met in the friendships I've actually developed the next question have you experienced self-doubt I have I'm 65 and I've had a lot of self-doubt in my life and in my YouTube world as well there's a lot of people in YouTube and in general but there's a lot of people in YouTube that want people to fail I said it they want people to fail and so they'll throw stuff at you in hopes that you take the hook and then you choke on it basically so I've realized that there are so many people that have hidden agendas and that there's also so many people that thrive in negativity and I think that that was sort of like ooh you know in in the beginning if someone said something really negative to me I would hear that in my brain and then I got to the point where I just realized that people have these agendas they don't want to see you succeed and I'm not going to get caught up in the gossip I'm not going to get sucked into the self-doubt that other people like to plant at you so I I just avoid it all and as soon as somebody starts to talk about it to me I'm like done I'm like done I don't want to hear it there's there's not one part of me that wants to get sucked into that mentality because there are people that are just so driven by self-doubt and hatred of themselves that everyone around them is out to get them and they they just thrive in drama I don't thrive in drama so I avoid it by all costs I do I'm just not going to buy into it is YouTube a hobby do you do it for fun or do you plan on making money I work full-time so YouTube started out as part of my you know job early on in the sense of wanting to build a community and talk about real estate and then when it started to really change into skin care and things of that nature I got to the point where well wouldn't it be nice if I could make money on YouTube I mean that would be kind of nice I'm 66 by the time you see this all I've had my birthday but wouldn't it be nice if I could make money on YouTube and it could get some money coming in a little bit as I retire but now I work full-time YouTube still to me is more of a it's a fun hobby but it's also I'd love to be able to get some income off of it even if it's just a little bit as I go into my golden years my retirement years that it gives me some sort of a supplement but I'm not counting on anything and so I'm not looking at it in that in that way I think if it were to become a job I think I might have more frustrations with it and things of that nature because my channel has grown extremely slowly if you think about it I don't have all the magic answers you know I don't I just know that I enjoy what I do so the last question is is your personal top tips that have helped you grow and the few mistakes you've made well I think I've already covered that I don't buy into sub for sub don't buy into thinking that a larger content creator is going to help you grow work on growing your own tribe your own people stay true to yourself you know I'll do wig videos I'll do skincare videos I do a little bit of vlogging stay true to yourself no matter whether anyone is going to watch it I guess and but I think my my biggest takeaway that has helped me not that it's helped me grow is I'm not in a rush to get there and I'm not willing to take a shortcut to get there the same thing in my business I'd rather walk the ethical line than gain more by skirting below it and I look at YouTube the same way I'm growing I'm growing slowly but I'm growing organically and I'm fine with that organic growth I think that you know when I get a when I get a product and I talk about a product I I get I'm pretty honest if something isn't working for me I'm doing a video on this one I don't know when it'll come up but you know I've been using it what's my feeling six weeks later and I'm pretty honest with how I feel about things so I don't want to trade my integrity for a YouTube review or YouTube subscriber so I'm willing to take my time and and do an organic and grow organically because I think that's ultimately the gift that keeps on giving you know that's the part that what people come back and watch you because there's something about you that resonates with them I'm not perfect I've never said it was perfect I don't want to be perfect perfect must be pretty miserable my house is a mess my life is chaotic at times but my house it's my life and every day I always remember the glasses have full rather than half empty and I surround myself with that attitude and I'm just blessed to have some really wonderful true people in my life so I'm going to link the ladies below that I saw this video one and if you feel like doing the tag I'll leave the questions below and you can also do the tag bye guys