On a Rant Today ... / YouTube for Beginners / YouTube for Online Business & Solopreneurs
Mary, a 61-year-old entrepreneur, argues that YouTube needs more creators in their 50s and 60s. She says older entrepreneurs can post one or two videos weekly instead of daily, and YouTube's searchable nature means their content will still be found. Your age and experience are advantages, not obstacles.
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Hello, Mary here, and I have a confession to make. What I'm about to say was not what I had planned to say at all in this video, but when I clicked record on my computer, I thought to myself, you know, there is something that I want to talk about today that is really important to me, and therefore I am hoping it might be valuable to you as well. And yes, I do think my better microphone setup might be among my Christmas presents. So since we're not at Christmas yet, I'm still using the old earphones here. So anyway, here is what is occurring to me. I have heard from people who saw my video about starting a YouTube channel, and that is really cool. I got some emails from people who said they were going to start doing that. That was very exciting to hear. And I also know that there is a fear among many people about showing up on video on a place like YouTube if you're not, say, 25, if you're not a quote-unquote influencer, or you're allowed to be older maybe and show up here but only if you are a celebrity. And only if you are fully made up and appearing on a late-night talk show or something like that, or doing one of those silly quizzes that are everywhere, it seems like, on YouTube. And here's the thing, is I want to see more different types of people here on YouTube. I want to see more people over 25, over 35, over 45, over 55, over 65, over 75, and on and on. Because YouTube is not just a place for people who are younger. And what brought this home to me recently was I was looking at my analytics for my channel, and I realized that most of the people who are watching my videos are way younger than I am, which is cool. I have nothing against younger people. I have a daughter who is in her 30s, and I used to be a younger person at one time. It's not about that. It's just that it made me wonder why there are so few people over a certain age. I'm not even sure what that age is, maybe over 50. Who are showing up here on YouTube because we have a lot of experience that we can bring to every single conversation that there is about every single topic that there is. There are a lot of entrepreneurs, solopreneurs like myself, who have a tremendous amount of knowledge and education that they could provide on YouTube videos. We also have a lot of business experience that we can share— things that have worked, things that haven't worked, the ups and downs, and all of the things inherent in entrepreneurship. And we have a different perspective on them because of where we are in life. For example, my perspective on starting a business is that I started my own business in my 50s I didn't start when I was in my 20s, and there is just different stuff going on when you're in your 20s and maybe you don't have a family or a lot of things that you're responsible for, versus being in your 50s when you do have maybe more responsibilities and you don't necessarily have another 30 years to build a business. Those are two very different scenarios. And I feel like a lot of the conversation, particularly around entrepreneurship, since that's the realm that I am in, I, I feel like a lot of the conversation is very skewed because most of the people that I see on YouTube who have started their own business are a lot younger than I am and who have a completely different life situation from the one that I'm in. So my point here is that if you are thinking about showing up on a place like YouTube or any social media platform— I don't consider YouTube social media, I consider it a beautiful search engine where you can find everything under the sun except for what we're talking about now, so I want to see more different people on here— but if you're thinking of starting to show up somewhere, I want to encourage you to do that, especially if you feel the way that I do, which is that we need more different kinds of people. We need to see and hear from older people. We need to see and hear from all different kinds of groups who may not be as represented as they should be. Speaking as a woman in her 60s now— can't believe that, but that's a fact— I can tell you that My perspective on life, my perspective on business is informed a lot by not the number of my age, but what I have experienced over all of those years. And I would love to hear from more entrepreneurial women who are in their 50s and 60s and who have just started up their business, because I would like to know, you know, if they're experiencing some of the same things that I am. Some of the same challenges that I have had. For example, you know, one of the things that has occurred to me recently is, you know, can I really afford to offer super long-term coaching anymore? Like, I used to think nothing of— even when I was in my 50s, of— I wouldn't think anything of offering a year of coaching support to someone. But now I'm like, gosh, you know, As I'm recording this, I'm 61. Do I want to give someone a full year of my life? That's a year of my life that I'm supporting someone at this stage. Or do I want to come up with some other way of supporting people? Do I want to do things shorter term, like maybe 3 or 4 months instead of a year? Things like that. I don't hear those kinds of conversations going on. And I want to hear them because they're important. I also feel like because of this lack of diversity, particularly regarding age and particularly regarding entrepreneurship— and, you know, I'm a coach/writer, uh, and, you know, just people who are kind of in my similar sphere— it seems like we are supposed to be emulating the people who are younger, that we are supposed to be doing things in the same way that they are. For instance, someone that I used to follow who I don't anymore is half my age and is very successful. And this person, younger woman, she shows up on Instagram multiple times a day. Well, I personally do not have the bandwidth to show up on a social media platform multiple times a day every single day of my life. That is just not something that I want to do. It's not something that I have the energy to do. It doesn't sound fun to me. I tried because I thought, oh my gosh, if I don't show up every day on Instagram, I'm never going to have a successful business. Well, I realized pretty quickly that, that wasn't right for me. And I feel like there are a lot of people like me who are looking at those examples and saying, well, gosh, you know, if I can't do that, maybe I can't be successful, so I don't know what to do. Well, the answer is we need to broaden this conversation. We need to have more discussions about what it means to be older, for example, starting your own business. What does that mean in terms of how you can show up, how often you can be online? One reason I like YouTube is because I know if I post 1 or 2 videos every week, people are going to find me. It's a very good way for people to find you. That's why I encourage you to start a YouTube channel, plus the fact that it's going to give more exposure to people like you and me. So this has been a bit of a rambly video, but I hope that the message is coming through here, which is I want to see more diversity. I want to see more people over a certain age coming on YouTube and talking about their experiences, particularly related to entrepreneurship, since that's what I'm really, really interested in. And I want to encourage you to do that if it's calling to you. Try not to compare yourself to all those other people who are younger or whatever because you're not them and there's room for all of us on here. So I would love to hear your thoughts and comments and of course I invite you to subscribe to this channel for more. I will talk to you again soon. Have a wonderful day. Bye.
