Great British YouTubers Podcast with Neil Mossey ep 10 and @CandidClara Reviews!
We talk about 16 years on YouTube with 8 years most active as a parent products reviewer.
How do you keep going on YouTube? What do you find hard about running your YouTube channel?
What gear do you use to shoot your YouTube videos?
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How to KEEP GOING on YouTube | GREAT BRITISH YOUTUBERS PODCAST with Neil Mossey @CandidClara Ep 015
TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)
THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!
Do you, do you find, I'm going to ask you a question now, but do you find that some of your friends think you're a bit mad for doing it?
Yes, yes.
[Music]
Welcome back to the Great British YouTubers podcast with me, Neil Mossey. Hello. This is the place where we share chips? Oh that would be nice.
This is the place where we share tips, tricks and experiences from creators around the world. And right now, if I press this button, we are meeting this YouTuber: Candid Clara Reviews. Clare, can you hear me?
I can hear you, yes. Where are the chips?
Oh yeah, I'll have to leave that in now. But Clare, your channel Candid Clara Reviews has at the moment two and a half thousand subscribers on just 73 videos, which is absolutely incredible. I think it's only just been remonetized.
Neil, you're so full of flattering. I like to go with the... what is it? A million views? I... I'm trying to find the statistic that sounds impressive.
A million views sounds impressive, doesn't it?
1.3 million views. But not many subscribers yet.
For all of us trying to get monetized, if you could go back in time, what would you say to your 15 subscriber self?
I... I do think it is about volume, isn't it? It is about... um... I mean, you're the one who introduced me to the concept of the hundred crappy videos thing, which I think is so true. And I think you can give up too soon. I think you just have to push through blindly, ignore anyone who thinks you're mad because people will think you're mad. You say you're doing a YouTube, particularly if like us you're middle aged and they're like "Isn't that... isn't that for gamers and 17 year olds? What are you doing YouTube?" And I think you just... you've got to push through at least till you hit the 100 mark and see what happens.
Yeah, that was um... Roberto Blake: make 100 crappy videos. And some people have actually... some big YouTubers have reacted badly against that and said "No no, you shouldn't. You should..." I know.
I think it's so wrong. I think it's really bad advice to say "Hold back". You know, YouTube gurus who say "Don't put stuff out". I... I don't need help NOT putting out videos. I'm way ahead of you on that one Mr YouTube guru. Uh... I need to find ways to... to get stuff out. I... I figure if I learn one thing every time I do a video then I'm making progress. You know? And every single video I do there's something in it that's new to me that I'm doing that's better. You know? I've improved upon. I think you've just got to keep doing that and... and you know what? I... I don't think YouTube viewers want perfect videos. I think they want useful videos.
How would you describe your channel?
So... um... how would I describe my channel? “Could be better!”
No no no.
It's okay.
It's...
Every guest okay is... thousands of subscribers, millions of views and yet we manage to somehow find the thing that we're not...
Yeah.
100% Happy with.
Um... so I review products for family and home and I don't review like the... the techie... I don't review iPhones and all the sexy tech stuff. I review the stuff that we as parents generally have to go out and buy and it's things like washing machines and climbing frames and stuff that isn't particularly sexy but... but I am somebody who when I buy something I want to know everything about it before I buy it. And... and I think that's quite a male trait normally and in fact the bias on my channel is for male viewers but... but you know when we're buying online I want to know that stuff and you often can't find a way of finding it out. And... and so yeah, so things like how tall is that thing? How does that thing fit together? What does that look like when you open it up? And all those little gritty details and...
And one of those videos has done really well right?
Yeah oh this is funny so everyone says "What's your biggest video on YouTube?" And I really want to say it's something really exciting or funny or cool and it's a review of a washing machine.
Right not snowboarding or you know, parkour...
For a while my lead video was one that was a review how to make donuts in a donut machine and that... you know that's kind of cool isn't it? That's... that's quite cool but no the washing machine thing is not sexy, but yet people… people want to know.
So it’s like what? 175,000 views?
Yeah. And has it made any money?
Oh yes. Oh yeah. They’ve… they’ve all made money. And this is… I guess this was my problem is I stumbled into monetization and I took it for granted and then… um… I just thought it would carry on forever. I just thought YouTube would just keep sending me money. And then I stopped producing videos and dropped off monetization and then… uh… and then I’m like “Oh yeah, oh”.
So you like fell below the… the watch hours?
Yes.
Wow. I didn’t… I didn’t… I did not even know that that actually happens. That’s fascinating.
What do you mean, that actually never… cause it clearly happens.
Did they… did you… did they give you any grace period or was it that instant?
Yes, they gave me a grace period. So they said “Um, oh you’re in danger of dropping below the hours and why don’t you upload some new content?” And other stuff was going on in my life and I just was like “Neh neh, whatever, I don’t wanna”. And then of course the moment that they took it away I was like “Oh, how dare they take away my monetization? I want it back instantly”.
What is it about YouTube then? What is it… what… you know, apart from them… because I can’t imagine that the… the money was life-changing. So there must be something else about this platform that makes you want to compulsively put the next video up.
So different motivations at different times. When I was a blogger, it was money related because I was doing YouTube videos as part of like collaborations which were… I was being paid for. So yes, it was a financial incentive.
Coming back now, YouTube ticks so many boxes for me because it is the creative challenge and you and I know this so well of having to get our fingers into things that as media professionals we were never involved in before and now we have to get our head round and it’s lighting and it’s cameras and it’s sound and it’s everything that sometimes makes me want to scream but equally I love the reward of getting it right.
I think I’m going to be alone in saying this: I think YouTube is quite democratic in a way because you make content and unlike in the professional media arena, it’s not a manager who says “Yes, no, I like that, that isn’t good”. It’s the actual audience. So you get to put something out there, if it’s good it takes off and if it’s bad it doesn’t take off but there’s no gatekeeper on your creative content and I love that.
100%. For those of us going on camera for the first time, is there anything that you do where your presenter background has helped you?
I find sometimes I’m going to talk about a product and beforehand when I’m setting up lights and stuff I’m thinking “How… how on earth am I gonna… what am I going to say about this thing?” And something switches in my brain when the camera goes on that I just talk and I… I don’t know where it comes from but I can just waffle about… well not waffle clearly, it’s very incisive and useful content but I can talk very well about stuff and that is surely coming from conditioning of having done it for years.
It is. I think the hardest thing… um… this is what I find not having a background as a presenter is you start talking and then your brain starts analyzing what what I’m saying and then I stop and I start again and I watch back the recording and it was… it was totally fine but there’s this… there’s this kind of red light, there’s this stop sign that suddenly pops up like literally mid-sentence to say “That’s rubbish” or “You said that wrong” and yeah and it was fine.
Yes, it’s real. Like I say, it’s really challenging juggling all the elements that we juggle. It’s really challenging but potentially so rewarding.
What is the hardest part of running your YouTube channel?
I think it’s trying to be everyone. Trying to be the lighting person, trying to be the camera person. I constantly think “I’ve done this before and there was people to help me out”. And… and I can’t believe that I’m fast forwarding to this point now where there’s no one to help me and I’m expected to do everything.
I was recording a video recently in the garden and I needed to use a reflector and I didn't have a reflector stand so I had it attached to my light in the garden and then the wind picked up and the light was falling over halfway through and then the battery runs out in the camera. You know? And it's like "Ah". Yeah. Um... it's... it's really challenging.
I want to get to the silver play button. Are you obsessed with the silver play button?
Yeah, yeah. You know, I've got one in the background that my son made me out of hama beads. I don't know if I can... I'll zoom in on it in the edit.
And does it say "Congratulations, you've got 10 subscribers"?
Yeah, a thousand. We decided that the thousand subscribers is the... is the brown button.
Oh, that's nice.
What is it, Clare, though? What is it about that button that is entrancing, isn't it?
Oh, I mean, I literally... there's nothing else I would rather win. I mean, I used to work in... uh... radio so you know, the Sony radio awards were the big thing or the New York festivals. I... I honestly... I'd rather have... and I can tell you why. It's because if I did get a YouTube play button, it would be a hundred percent myself. Whereas if you... if you win a award for a radio award, it's... you might have a co-host or a producer or whatever. But if I got there, that would be a hundred percent me. You know? That would be my life.
And yet Claire, I find running a YouTube channel desperately lonely even though I'm in a house full of people. I just find this...
You're in a sauna aren't you? Isn't that a giant...
It's actually a barbecue hut.
But I just find it really lonely in... in... you know, you've got to kind of create this thing by yourself and then you might get comments or some kind of reaction but...
Well this is why Neil, I've got... I've got to set up this community right? So... so be interesting to see if anyone's listening who wants to join this community because I have this idea of setting up this... it's going to be the MidMod YouTubers and the MidMod YouTubers are middle-aged moderately successful YouTubers and I would like to set up this to help each other. So um... you can't join, I'm afraid, if you're young and beautiful. You also can't join... sorry Neil.
So that rules you out.
Um... and you can't join if you're ridiculously successful. So I think probably anyone who... who's got a play button we wouldn't let them come.
That's beautiful.
Yeah.
So we'll put details of that in the in the description.
I've got to set it up now.
You have. I think it's a great idea. So we'll put all your socials in the in the description and a link obviously to your channel. Is there a video on your channel that you love that doesn't seem to get the love that it deserves?
Oh, that's a good question. Um... I hope it's still live but I did one... my daughter learned to swim by the time she was three and when I was doing all my bloggy content, I did this lovely video about her swimming journey of how she learned. She learned with Water Babies, the company, and all about how that progression starts from 10 months all the way through to her diving deep down in a swimming pool at the age of three in France and... and I loved that video but hardly anyone's ever watched it.
We’ll put a link up on screen for it so it can have one last hoorah.
And on that front Clare, do you have any favourite channels or influences? It sounds like the mummy blogs might be uh big in your history.
I have lots of people who I'm slightly obsessed with um...
I know. In a borderline stalky way.
Don't you?
Yeah, 100%. So no particular order, this is not showing favouritism but can you flick through uh a few of them and we'll just flash them up on screen?
So Hayls World is one of them so this is and I'm particularly interested in her because she reviews tech stuff and I can see on her videos the progression if you go right back to the beginning she started out as a beauty blogger and so she's got her hundred crappy videos of being a beauty blogger and then suddenly hitting on something that worked with tech and then if you scroll through you can see "Oh when she got to 100000 she suddenly took on a premises and then she gets to 300,000 and she takes on a premises and she's up in the millions now and so I'm a bit obsessed with her because I can see that journey and that's really really interesting.
Oh, Freakin Reviews because that's an American guy who's who reviews products like me. The other one I... um... are very interested in is Fabulessly Frugal because she is a lady of a similar age to me and she's doing lots of... um... slow cooker content and things like that and she's doing really really well. And the final one, this is a bit of an outlier here, but there is a guy who runs a channel which is all about vacuum cleaners.
Okay.
All he does is review vacuum cleaners. He's had 129 million views. I think he's a brilliant example of of niching down and just working out what you're really really good at and producing really informative videos and he's... I'm not quite sure how to pronounce his channel but it's Ibaisaic I believe. I just think good for him. He's found the thing that works.
I think we... I think we're about probably halfway through. Should we... should we take a little drink break?
Yeah, yeah. And you too, you too at home as well. [Music]
Cheers.
Did I do that right?
That was wonderful.
You’ll make people want to go to the loo!
Always. I don't need the drink to do that.
Clare, what's... tiny improvements would you make to make YouTube better?
I would very much like to have the facility to replace a video with another video.
Oh, that's genius.
Yes, because I had this really painful experience in the last month or so where I put a video up, it got great traction and then I went to put subtitles on it and while I was putting subtitles on it I realized it was a chunk about 40 seconds in the middle of the video where I doubled up the audio in the mix. So I had to pull the video and re-upload it and it didn't get the traction that the first video had got. I find that very frustrating. I mean, in podcasting you can... you can just remove the file and put another file back but you can't do it with YouTube.
Yeah, YouTube, change that. That's pretty... that... that is absolutely... that would be transformative. That is the best suggestion.
Also, the end screen thing, the... the like the editor for the end screen thing is horrible, isn't it? Um... you know when you have to sort of drag it to where you're into... that's horrible. If they could just make that a bit more intuitive, that would be good.
That's another good one but not as good as being able to just replace out a video. And I... I would totally get if they... reserved replacing the video for people who were partners, you know? So you... so you couldn’t just do it immediately... you couldn't just set up an account and just be able to swap your content because people could abuse it. But if they said "And if you did abuse it, you would just be taken off the partner thing". You know? If you put something completely different on there, they would just go "Uh, strike. You're not being monetized".
Do you... do you find... I'm going to ask you a question now but do you find that some of your friends think you're a bit mad for doing it?
Yes, yes. And yeah, yeah they do. And I have friends who work in traditional media and it's like "Oh yeah, well done Neil. That's really... I watch your videos". And they do but I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Okay. People outside of media and they sort of say to you?
“Oh so what are you doing at the moment?”
And you sort of go:
Well, I'm doing stuff on YouTube. Do you find them sort of going "Uh"?
Yeah, I do. And I find myself holding back as well. I did this... I was actually on a shoot holding a camera with my friend who has 150,000 subscribers.
Oh, he can't join. He can't join the MidMod vloggers by the way.
He should be an honorary member but... um... you know, you get some kind of... honorary member coat.
But so the... the person behind the counter said "Are you a YouTuber?" And I could not bring myself to say "Yeah". Even though I am. I'm double trebled down on this platform. It is my happy place, my medium. Even then, I couldn't say "Yeah, I make YouTube". I... I think I played it down and said "Oh, do a bit on the side". You know? It's like... what... what certification would we need to say "Yes, you do this"?
Silver play button.
You think it's that?
You've got it all done. I'm gonna tell everyone when I get this silver play button.
I'll be like "Hello, I'm Clare and I have a YouTube channel and I have a silver play button".
I mean, a hundred thousand is really impressive as well and you're a lot closer to it than I am and... and I mean, I... I've been watching your figures tick upwards even in the last couple of months. Have you found that your subscribers have sort of accelerated the more you've got? Because I have a theory and on views too that the more you've got them all a bit more appealing you are.
It definitely compounds. And you found that?
You know, just by sticking at it. You know? To get from 46 subscribers to two and a half thousand. You know? That is a huge huge multiple.
I've had a growth spurt.
The Google video?
Yeah, yeah. Google photos video. So one video is responsible for all of the views of all my other videos combined. It's double that. So it's a real outlier and it's not really that hugely linked to to you know, the topic of my channel. So I don't think it's harmed the channel. Just from my experience, if you're thinking "Oh, if I have a slightly left field video, I'm worried that that's going to wreck my channel". I don't think it's true. I think what it does is it put you in a shop window.
Yeah.
People will come and take it or leave it but... but I do worry that that one video will become dated. They all have shelf lives so... so I'm worried that it's gonna drop and then I won't feel quite as excited about the channel but...
So I'm just trying to ride it.
Isn't that hilarious? I mean, you're saying now what exactly what you were saying to me earlier which is kind of we get to a place where we've achieved something but then we're already anticipating the problem or or what we can improve upon or you know and... and uh... it's like just... just live in the moment.
You've got so far.
Completely.
Can we have a little bit of a gear geek out?
A gear geek out?
Oh, what... what do you use Clare to make your Clara reviews?
Um... an interesting question. So I have a Lumix um G7 camera which I bought quite a while ago maybe eight years ago. That's... that seems quite a long time ago when the Canon G7X was really really popular vlogging video. It was the first one where it had the um the screen on it you could sort of turn round and that was a big thing and I nearly bought that and funny enough, I watched a YouTube video and the camera guy on the YouTube video said "I wouldn't bother buying this, I'd buy the Lumix G7 because it's got an input for a microphone which the Canon didn't have". And I'm very grateful to that cameraman because I'm still using it all these years later.
What else do you use? Do you have a microphone to plug in?
So yeah, I have a corded um uh what are they called?
Yeah.
Clip mic. It's got like 12 names.
There's clip-on lavalier...
Thank you yes um so I have a corded lavalier mic and I'm really envious of your uncorded one and that is my next purchase and I have it in my wish list on Amazon because every time I'm recording something, I spend a lot of...
That's my dog. Do you hear my dog barking by the way?
I did. You've got a good microphone to pick...
My dog wants to go out so... um... but I'll finish this and I'll go and let the dog out. Um... no, so every time... I'm recording, I have to do ridiculous things like climb underneath desks and stuff because I'm attached to the bloody camera and it... and it's so irritating. But I will upgrade but just like you know, I'm gonna... it's gonna be at a point where it's worth doing it.
Because you... you have a podcast, right?
Yes, I do a bit of podcasting. That's my main job. Um... and uh... yeah, so I have um... the Shure... which model is this? This is the Shure that everybody has and I can't remember what model it is. The SM7B. I might be making that up.
No, that sounds... that sounds right.
Yeah. Everyone, all the huge YouTubers yes swear by it.
It's a fantastic microphone. And what's really funny is my 11 year old son is desperate to set up a gaming channel and I'm like "If you start the gaming channel, I have the best microphone for you. You could just record on this and you'll be like leagues ahead already because you'll have a brilliant microphone".
That's brilliant that you... that you shared like that. That's fantastic. And... and I've got to say, you've got um... is that your dog over your shoulder?
It is! Tell you what, can I let my dog out the front door just...
Please do so this is our doggie walk break. If you have a dog, now's a good time to let them out. If I have a... have a little walk while I do that. I actually... I've actually got Casper down here in the happy hut very patiently waiting for his walk down there.
Is there anything else that we haven't covered about YouTube?
I don't think so. Um... other than you not having to wash your hair every time you do a video.
Is it a challenge. You know, hair, makeup and wardrobe.
Yeah, I think... I think it really is. And also let's talk about the fact that we are older than a lot of YouTubers and I think we need to make more effort into looking good on screen. You can't kind of... you know, we have bad sides. I have a bad side. Um... and so yeah, I do have to faff around with putting more makeup on than I would normally. I tend to record my videos on the hair washing day because I'm in every other hair washing day and my hair looks better on the hair washing day.
And you don't have this problem.
No no but I do have a bit of shine because it is absolutely... it's like an oven in here right now.
Yeah, I'm not feeling as um bright and fresh and made up as as I could be but I also feel as a man you're probably less... you... you probably wouldn't be judged if you were sort of looking a bit sweaty and dishevelled in a video in the way I think women feel we have to show up looking better.
But the downside with that Clare, if this is any consolation, is that I really let myself go and I watch back the footage and I'm like "Oh no no no, I shouldn't have worn that T-shirt". And... and the worst is product reviews where I go close on the products and I'm like "Oh, could you not have like cleaned your nails at least?" I've been digging potatoes which I have!
So yeah there have been a few uh moments of vanity recently so if that's if that's any... I know it’s not even on the scale--
No no but it's... it is a thing.
Is there a favourite video idea that you haven't made yet?
Not that I can think of. What about you? Have you got something? If you've got like a big idea that you want to do?
I get a bit personal now but I have a dad channel, a vlog channel. And I really want to make a... a video about my sleep apnoea.
Yes.
And how I fixed my sleep.
I'm more than happy to talk about it and... and I think what's holding me back is that I've got so much to say about it that I think I'm... I'm afraid of knowing even where to start with it because it's such a big idea.
What we come back to you know, the... the helping people thing. And... and I think that is one of those videos that genuinely would be so helpful to so many people. You've got to do it.
It's not even a... the reward might not be financial. It might just be helping people.
It's true. Uh...
What an absolute bombshell of wisdom to end on.
Should we... should we pose now for a thumbnail?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I was gonna say are we gonna have to do some like you know gurning?
[Music]
Clare, thank you so much for being so generous with your... your take on YouTube. Good luck with your next videos.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom Neil because there are lots of things I'm learning from you and... uh... yeah, it's... it's... it's very interesting and it also is lovely to know someone who's in a similar position to me. Uh... so that we... the rest of the world thinks we're mad.
Thanks for joining us. If you're watching this on YouTube, thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button because right here are all the other Great British YouTuber podcast episodes.
Can you please help my dad get to 1 million subscribers? Just click on his face. Thanks, bye.
Can we have dinner now?
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