Today I decided to check out the analytics for my YouTube channel, which is something I don't do very often, and was BLOWN AWAY by what I saw:
In the last month, my channel has had almost 44,000 views. This is the highest monthly view count I've had to date!
In the 21 months since I uploaded my first video (I now have 65 uploaded), there have been over half a million views, with +3.5 million minutes of view time-- that's just under 7 years worth of time that people around the globe have spent watching me talk!
6,242 people are currently subscribed to my channel. That means every time I upload a video, over six thousand people are directly notified that I have something inspiring to share with them.
In less than two years, I've gone from nothing to this. I built this from the ground up, following nothing but my own intuition about what to share and how to share it.
I never hired a business coach, I don't have sponsors, and I didn't take the advice of many of the people around me who, in their loving ways, said that in order to become "someone" I'd have to follow the standard internet marketing method-- market myself properly, track my statistics, yada yada yada..
I've done none of that. In fact, in many ways I've done the opposite:
I made my videos longer than I "should" have ("People have short attention spans," they said. "You should keep your videos to 5 minutes in length.").
I talk about a lot of different "taboo" subjects at the risk of being shamed and ridiculed for my lifestyle and beliefs (Do you have any idea how many comments/messages I get about being a Satan worshiper because of my work with Ayahuasca?).
I stopped making videos and slowed my active social media engagement for the better part of 4 months to pursue my own goals ("But what about your following? Aren't you worried they'll forget about you while you're gone?" they questioned).
Now, I'll be the first to admit that my life isn't perfect, and there are many areas that still require my attention so I may blossom into the fullest expression of my Self, but from where I was 4 years ago when I decided to drop out of college and began to explore life on my own terms, I feel like I'm doing pretty darn well! And in the meantime, my journey is inspiring hundreds of people each month to step out of their comfort zone, to speak their Truth, and to allow themselves to really be seen by the world-- possibly for the first time in their lives.
Why do I share this with you? Not to toot my own horn (although I am giving myself a big pat on the back and celebrating this accomplishment!), but to inspire you to go bigger in your own life by seeing what I've created simply by choosing to be vulnerable and authentic with what's happening in my life.
If there's some area where you've been feeling called and inspired to be more "you" but have been afraid of what others may think, here's your permission slip to go be you, unapologetically.
