KELTIE O’CONNOR
“People ALWAYS tell me they want to start a YouTube channel, but ARE waiting for the ‘perfect’ time, or that they need to learn more. I tell them 'no you learn by just doing. You don’t learn to shoot a basketball by watching videos of Kobe every day, you learn by shooting.”
Full time Youtuber
“$5,000 for one video!” My wife exclaimed after hearing the conversations with some of the creators we engaged for a couple of campaigns last year. Of course, when you hear a number like that, you think, ‘oh well this will be easy. I should start a YouTube channel, it’ll be a money maker.’ You can see why. The algorithm spits out videos curated to your interest with someone who has an amazing looking life. It’s easy to think, ‘that’s it. I’m leaving school to go make yoga tutorials online from Bali.’
What people don’t see is the behind the scenes daily grind and hustle it takes to start a chan- nel, generate the content, build an audience, keep them engaged, grow your following and then, finally, monetize it. My guess is there are millions who start channels that never get to even build an audience. Those who figure out how to best engage with their following are on the right track and then those who can begin monetizing effectively are setting up a passive income stream with infinite revenue possibilities. However, it takes work. For Keltie, that took three years before ever seeing a dollar in return. It’s not just a financial thing either. It’s some- thing where your friends might ask why you even bother, or your family might not understand why you’re filming yourself all the time. However, if you can really connect with an audience and deliver honest, fresh content consistently, you can maybe get it to go viral - and then you’re onto a winner. Keltie’s story is one of the most fascinating in this project and I’m very happy she agreed to share the ins and outs of how she has created herself this career.
Jonathan : What do you do now?
Keltie : Full time YouTuber
How was it to put your first video up and were your friends ‘like what are you doing?’
It kind of came in waves, I was super secretive when I first started. It came from a place of play, so I was just trying to have fun with it, put some workout videos up, see what works, what doesn’t and send them to friends.
When I really started to get embarrassed was when I had between 5-20,000 subscribers because I was obviously serious and put in a lot of work, but the reality is not many people were watching. Sometimes it felt like people were like, “wow you put in all this time, but no one is watching, why is she doing that?” Around the first or second year I wouldn’t tell anyone I even had a channel.
So how long have you been doing this?
I think it’s been five or six years. Four years ago, I committed to three uploads a week and then three years ago I was like, “I’m doing this, I’m going to be a full time YouTuber.”
What did you do before this?
Oh, so many jobs. I was in school, bartending, fitness modelling and personal training. It was a hybrid of knowing I wanted to create videos, but not knowing how to do it.
When you committed three years ago it must have been a scary and uplifting moment?
Yes, it helps you focus, but then also it’s tough because you aren’t getting paid, but it worked out as I took science and marketing at college, I did bartending which teaches you people skills. It’s funny how many people on this project said that bartending was one of the most influential roles. Bartend- ing taught me everything I know as its human connection, speed, money.
Did it take you a while to figure out your ‘thing’ on You- Tube?
I feel like I am still discovering this within the last month. When you’re new, you don’t know what you don’t know. Back then I knew I enjoyed story telling. I kept trying things I was interested in and what YouTubers I looked up too did. It started with workouts and vlogs, then hauls, but then I felt there wasn’t much substance to it. So, I’ve been doing more now with storytelling.
You have a very engaged audience, what’s the secret there?
I’m not perfect at it, but I think the engagement comes from telling a story and connecting with someone. As much as it’s my life, I think everyone has a beautiful journey. Even if they are simple, funny videos I think about trying to bring them what they need at that moment. The recipe for content is edu- cate, entertain, or inspire, which I think actually from
Mel Gibson. The videos I get one of these in do well. The ones that have all three work really well.
What were your first jobs?
Basketball summer camp coach, and front door person at Abercrombie, ha-ha.
Did you study/finish school?
I took both Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Science, I’m about six courses short of having both degrees but ended up not finding them useful to embark on my YouTuber/entre- preneur journey.
What would you tell your teenage self ?
To not feel so focused on the typical college degree then job idea. I had an absolute love for movie making, but I didn’t see myself as a creative type, so I ignored it and stayed to the typical societal career path. Thankfully, I did eventually break free from that fear and pursue it. But I’d let her know she has all it takes a to do it
What would you suggest for people who want to do what you do?
Just start! YouTube/film etc. is just like any skill, you have to put yourself out there and try. People ALWAYS tell me they want to start a YouTube channel, but waiting for the ‘perfect’ time, or that they need to learn more. I tell them no you learn by just doing. You don’t learn to shoot a basketball by watching videos of Kobe every day, you learn by shooting.
Do you have long term partnerships, or how does it work?
I have a deal with Gymshark, and the some one-off deals, for example with Squarespace who I use to build my website anyways. I actually just bought two videos a month for four months, but I have never been signed exclusively. Squarespace is who I use to build my website anyways, so I just film like a short commercial for them that I put in the video.
Do they pay you a flat fee or is it via commission?
For me it’s usually a simple flat fee sponsored video. As soon as it’s commission based, I feel it can go a bit salesy and I find my viewers prefer the more organic style of sponsored videos. I also think I’m not much of a salesperson anyways.
What’s been your biggest moment where you were like, “I think I made it”?
I distinctly remember. Jan 5th of 2019 I had a video go viral. The Tom Brady one I made. I had been doing this for like three or four years and not earned a cent so far. I put up this video and I
was refreshing the video, walking up and down the street and I remember walking past this one spot, and I remember I started crying as I was like, “it’s happening!” All these years of work were paying off. Usually my videos would go up and get one view per minute so 60 views per hour and it was doing well. With this video after an hour and it’s like 2,000 views. The algorithms working, it’s all happening, another 2,000 views. I called friends going, “I think it’s working!” It hit a million views within a couple of days.
The second moment was I’d flown back to Edmonton, Alberta where I’m from and I was in the car with my brother and hit 100,000 views and I had quit my bartending job the day before, so I ripped the band aid off and I was finally like, “I think I can call myself a YouTuber!” It was such an amazing moment.