Wait, I'm not a superstar yet?

Why so many would-be bloggers and podcasters quit

Yesterday I posted my conversation with Chase Merrell.

He is also a podcaster and YouTuber, and his podcast inspired me to start my own. Here’s the backstory: At the start of this year, Chase challenged himself to release one weekly episode for the duration of 2023, which he is calling the 52 project. When he first started, he posted about it all over social media. I was intrigued about his idea, but I was curious about whether he could actually make it.

Chase would tell you the same thing. He mentioned on my podcast that he had tried and quit several podcasts, blogs, and social media communities over the years. But this time, he built accountability into it from the very beginning, and just kept on trucking.

Over the months, I watched his episode count grow. In April, he had an episode count in the teens. That’s when I realized that nothing is holding me back from doing the same thing, but doing it in my own way.

I even got to make an appearance on Chase’s Podcast myself a few weeks back!

In the latter half of June, he’s still going strong, with 25 episodes published in a row. I’m at 9 now myself, looking forward to getting to double digits.

So We’re Both Famous Now, Right?

Our conversation touched on a few themes, but one we kept coming back to was the number of views and follows we are getting compared to what we were possibly expecting.

I think when someone starts a creative pursuit, like a YouTube channel, podcast, social media channel, blog, or uses those to promote their art, we have a hope in our heart. We hope that whatever it is we’re doing will take off. That it will get a ton of traction, and soon we’ll have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of followers. We see our name up in lights with other influencers in our creative zone.

And then when it doesn’t, we get discouraged. Here in 2023, we think that unless we go viral, then something’s wrong with us, or our content, or our art. So, we quit.

I've been uploading videos to YouTube consistently for two months, and as of this writing, I have 24 subscribers. Part of me thinks that should be higher by now. The other part, my inner critic, tells me everything I produce is garbage, and those 24 people just subscribed to make me feel good about myself.

So, I gotta balance those voices, I guess.

At least there’s one guy who will always be a fan of me:

(At least, as long as the food and treats keep coming).

But seriously, I have to remind myself that it’s not about the amount of views, likes, and impressions I get. And I’m not saying that while keeping my fingers crossed behind my back. I do want millions of views. But if that was all I was after, then I wouldn’t deserve any views.

The followers, the fans, the views should come because the audience gets value from the art. It could be education, entertainment, inspiration, or just the feeling of not being so alone. If I don’t provide that, then it truly doesn’t matter how many people watch or read it. It’s empty.

So, my conversation with Chase reminded me of my why. I’m recording and releasing podcasts because I love it. I’m writing and sharing it with the world because I love it. I genuinely enjoy the conversations I have and the things I get to write about, and I think they could be beneficial and entertaining for others, even if the “others” are two people.

I kind of have to get over myself, too. It’s a humbling process to spend an hour creating a YouTube video and uploading it, only for it to say “no views” after being up on the site for a week.

But I had an excellent conversation with an old friend yesterday. He reached out to tell me that he loves the content. He told me that he can’t watch or read everything, but he watches and reads what he can. And that he thinks it’s good stuff. So, I’m writing this for him.

Instead of views, I’m focusing on consistency. Instead of followers, I’m focusing on growing my skills. Instead of what I get from this process, I’m trying to focus on the value I bring to others. And I’m deeply grateful for anyone who would spend two minutes reading a post like this or an hour listening to the podcast. You amaze me, and I’m so grateful that you see some value in what I’m doing. We’re going to keep going on this journey together.