7 Lessons After Publishing 100+ Videos on a Maths YouTube Channel
Learning from experience is the hardest, yet very rewarding…
About a year ago, I decided to start a YouTube channel where I shared past paper revision videos for IGCSE Maths students.
This is a very niche channel, and I knew that to hit the monetization requirements, I needed to be intentional, put in double the work, and be patient (well as you know, easier said than done).
After the research phase, I concluded my plan to hit monetization: Upload 100 solved past paper videos.
After a year, I have been able to upload 100+ videos on YouTube, and in addition, I hit the YouTube monetization requirements: 1K Subs and 4K Watch Hours.
Here are 7 key lessons I have learned building a niche YouTube channel from scratch.
✅ Competitor research is key
I could have published different types of Maths videos (Eg. Videos explaining Maths topics, Study tips, etc.) but I specifically decided to post videos where I explained solutions to past papers. Why?
This is simply because these types of videos generally had the most views across all my competitors' channels.
In addition, I emulated a similar title & thumbnail structure, tags, and descriptions used by competitors in the same niche.
This gave the channel a higher chance of success.
✅ Beware of comparison
Comparison can be great if you use it as inspiration to do better. However, it could also be dangerous if it is the reason you feel inadequate, and quit working towards your goals.
Every channel is unique (even if they are in the same niche): it may take 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, or more than 3 years to hit the goals you’ve set for your channel.
I had to constantly remind myself of this, and how important it was for me to focus on my own path and keep going.
✅ Consistency pays
Although the plan was to implement the best strategies so I am able to hit monetization in 6 months, I was somewhat prepared to go for as long as 1(1/2) years to make it work.
During this time, my focus was to publish my first 100 videos. To make it easier to stay consistent, I decided to stick to the one type of content that has proven to generate results in my niche: solved past paper videos.
✔ By the end of the 1st month, I had uploaded 4 videos and gained 1 subscriber.
✔ After 6 months, I uploaded 41 videos and had 100 subscribers.
✔ After about 14 months, I uploaded 100+ videos and hit 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours.
Staying consistent requires discipline but somehow I was able to sail through and I was rewarded for it.
✅ Not all niches are created equal
Some niches by their nature (Eg. Make money online, Personal Finance, Health and Fitness, Crypto, etc.) have higher chances of hitting monetization quicker. They are bound to gain more views and subscribers than other niches in a shorter period of time.
I have learned that not only are these channels bound to gain attention, but they have a much higher earning potential on the YouTube platform.
This means as a niche channel, you have to put in more work and be more patient as you work towards your goals and build a tight-knit community around your channel.
I observed that owners of niche channels work on their channels part-time as the Ads revenue generated is not enough to cover their living expenses, or they work on boosting their revenue by offering products and services so they are able to work on their channels full-time.
✅ What works for others might not work for you
There is a ton of advice on how to grow a YouTube channel from scratch. I believe it’s best to test out as many as you can to see which works for you (so you can reinforce these) and those that don’t (so you could drop or modify them for your situation).
An excellent example to demonstrate this was when I decided to join TikTok, post short-form videos, and link back to my YouTube channel.
Everyone recommended TikTok as a way to explode YouTube channel growth and showed results of the impact it has had on their personal channel.
After implementing this, I learned this was not the best option for me because TikTok mostly distributes content within the uploader's geographic location.
Most students from my home country do not take the IGCSE exams, so I was attracting the wrong audience. I tried to explore ways to target and reach specific geographic locations where the majority of my audience resides but to no avail. This was when I decided to put TikTok on hold.
✅ There is an element of luck
There are numerous factors at play when building a YouTube channel from scratch, which means there are elements of luck that may or may not be in your favor.
For example, a person who decides to go into the finance niche has a higher chance of hitting monetization quicker and making more money than the other person who decides to start daily vlogs.
Regardless of the niche, applying the best YouTube strategies does not guarantee you will hit your goals, it only maximizes your chances of success.
This means there is a level of uncertainty as to when exactly you will hit your goals, and if you give up before then, you don’t experience the magic of luck.
✅ Unsubscribes are normal
Just as people subscribe to your channel, a tiny fraction of them will unsubscribe along the way, for whatever reason.
As someone who was exploring growing an audience for the first time and constantly monitoring my numbers (although I tried hard not to), I took those random and rare 1–3 unsubscribes personally. I felt bad. I thought I was probably doing something wrong.
Over time, I have come to understand that it is normal, and it happens. I try to remind myself it has nothing to do with me or my content.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this, don’t forget to drop some claps and leave a comment! : )
