Many people want to start their own business, but the fear of failure prevents them from realizing their dream: little money, no own premises, nothing to buy equipment, corruption ... The stories of those who have achieved success show that you can make a profit even in difficult times. Their secret is in development interesting ideas, diligence, development orientation, cost reduction and building strong relationships with customers and partners.
Anna is the owner of the “My Carrot Magic Workshop”, which not only produces unique souvenirs for a small shop, but also organizes master classes for everyone.
The idea to turn a hobby into a business was submitted by friends, and Alena registered an individual entrepreneur with a finished project, while winning a grant from the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region for 300 thousand rubles, which became the starting capital for the purchase of a sewing machine, other equipment, fabrics and accessories.
What is the secret of success?
- In the demand for services - people want to escape from difficulties, and a creative atmosphere contributes to this
- In a flexible pricing policy: during the crisis, Anna lowered prices for master classes and her products
- In using the program to support entrepreneurs: a grant won and the provision of premises in a business incubator on preferential terms made it possible to start a business from scratch
- In a varied selection of creative activities: in Anna's "Workshop" you can learn watercolor painting, decoupage, knitting, sewing dolls, etc. The craftswoman herself monthly studies a new direction and shares it with her students.
- In the absence of advertising costs: the most effective channel promoting her cause are word of mouth, a group on social networks and business cards in a store
- V competitive advantage- visiting master classes in schools and kindergartens
In 2013, Anna Ustinova became the winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year competition and received a grant from the Orthodox Initiative organization. Now she plans to develop a store and a studio.
Story 5. "Adventurers' Landing" for children's talents
In Nizhny Novgorod, there is "Adventurers' Pier" - an unusual children's development center for Anna Movshevich and Dmitry Zotikov. The project includes a unique carpentry school where boys are taught how to use tools and create wood products.
The initial investment is 400 thousand rubles (mainly for renting premises and remuneration of teachers).
Payback period - 5 months.
What is the secret of success?
- In the absence of competitors, there is no training for working professions in any development center
- In the interest of the audience in the areas presented in the "Adventurers' Pier": creative workshops, intellectual quests, a carpentry school, etc.
- In helping parents: a psychologist is present in the classroom, observes the children, then talks with parents about how the children behave, what fears and complexes they have revealed, gives recommendations on education
- At democratic prices: at the school of carpenters, the cost of 1 hour of classes is 350 rubles
Now there are about 60 permanent students in the center and the same number of visitors to quests and other events. The planned profitability assumes 100-200 families willing to pay for the attendance of children. The founder of the enterprise, D. Zotikov, says that the center has great potential. V immediate plans creation of a franchise.
Story 6. Bookstore
Contrary to the opinion that in a crisis people save on books, they can be used to organize profitable business, an example is the second-hand bookshop "Khodasevich" in Nizhny Novgorod. Its owner S. Gaivoronsky considers his project very successful.
Initial investment: 190 thousand rubles (and this is a lot, according to the businessman, it was possible to get by with a smaller amount).
What is the secret of success?
- In the successful location of the store in the most "passing" place Nizhny Novgorod- Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street, which provided access to it target audience: schoolchildren, students, connoisseurs of rare publications
- V low prices for the most popular works of school classics, books of small publishing houses (from 20 rubles)
- In the absence of high initial costs for the assortment of the store: “Several years ago, from a good life, the population began to throw books in the trash. I could not stand this and collected books in the trash bins ”(S. Gaivoronsky)
- In the sale of the rarest and most valuable books through the online store
- In using booksharing (free book exchange) to attract new potential buyers
Future plans include launching affiliate program with softer than franchise conditions for opening Khodasevich bookstores in other cities.
Conclusion
In a crisis, you can create a business from scratch, without the help of "uncle". All successful projects combine the bold ideas of their creators, a vision of prospects, an understanding of the target audience, the choice of directions that do not require significant initial investment, orientation to further development. This helps to avoid problems that become an obstacle for indecisive people and become stronger than competitors.
How to start promoting your blog on Instagram? How do popular beauty bloggers make money? What to do to become a famous and successful blogger?
Politicians, actors, housewives, football players, businessmen, travelers, writers, plumbers and gamers have blogs. At the same time, many do not just blog, sharing their news, thoughts, ideas and observations with readers and viewers, but earn decent money from their resources.
Do you want to join their number? Then this article is for you. This is Denis Kuderin, an expert of the HeatherBober magazine on financial topics. I will tell, how to become a successful blogger from scratch, what do the authors of LiveJournal magazines, YouTube channels and Instagram pages make money on, and what is the secret of a successful blog.
In the finale, you will find useful tips for beginner bloggers - how to succeed, how not to be disappointed, how not to get lost in the endless digital universe and find your audience.
1. Blogging - become famous without leaving home
Bloggers (or bloggers - both spellings are considered acceptable) have long been a significant socio-political phenomenon. Their opinion is taken into account by the central media, they are talked about on television, their posts are discussed on serious analytical sites and social networks.
To become a famous blogger, it is not necessary to be in the public eye, to have a literary talent or some kind of superpower. Even leaving the house and "hang out" in public places is not necessary. All that is required - is to write a blog that is interesting to readers.
How to conduct it, where to start and how to earn income from a blog, I will tell you in following sections. But first you need to clearly define the terminology.
Blog – electronic diary(magazine, website), which the author maintains online and periodically updates. The content of the site is textual, multimedia, combined.
Blogs are not only read and viewed, but also comment all comers. In that fundamental difference blog from, say, a handwritten diary that you keep for yourself.
Anyone can create a blog. The world's first blogger is considered Tim Berners-Lee– inventor of URL, HTML, creator world wide web, which had a key influence on the development of the Internet.
There are millions of bloggers in the world today. Some of them keep magazines solely for their own pleasure or communication with people who share their hobbies and views. Other make money with a blog. And they make good money.
According to Forbes magazine creator PewDiePie on YouTube Felix Kjellberg only in 2016 earned online $15 million .
In the same year the magazine "Half" included him in the list of 100 most influential people in the world. The number of its subscribers now totals about 60 million people. And it's all thanks to a channel dedicated to video games!
This is by no means a unique case, but rather, the most significant and natural success story in the context of the absolute availability of personal information on the network. There are famous bloggers not only abroad, but also in Russia.
Watch this short video:
Blogs are created by:
- on your own domain;
- using special services;
- based on social networks.
Some bloggers - advanced users of the Internet, who can create websites and manage the "engine" on the hosting, other Instagram account is enough to become rich and famous.
Among bloggers there are professional analysts who write on serious political topics, there are ordinary people, who write about everything in the world, shoot videos, post photos, recipes, life hacks and other useful or useless information.
The collection of all blogs in the network is called "blogosphere".
It is difficult to say which topics are the most promising in terms of monetization - success is possible in any niche. But you will not be mistaken if you are interesting, competent and in detail to talk about business, psychology of success, family relationships, making money online and offline.
The unspoken rule of success: the topic should really excite you personally, since a blog is, first of all, an individual look at things, phenomena, people and events.
There are many types of blogs:
- Thematic- devoted to highly specialized topics: do-it-yourself auto-tuning, cake recipes, winter fishing, travel.
- Scientific blogs- journals maintained by scientific experts, and read by everyone.
- cultural- magazines about a particular area of culture (painting, cinema, music).
- Educational- devoted to the topic of education, enlightenment, school.
- Personal diaries- the author's story about the events that occur in his life. Diaries are kept by both mass media stars and ordinary citizens - among those and other blogs there is interesting content.
2. What are bloggers - 3 main categories
In addition to topics, blogs are divided according to the method of supplying material. The author himself chooses which option is closer to him - to lead text blog, video channel or photoblog: it all depends on the preferences of the blogger himself and the characteristics of the audience for which he creates.
For example, gamers - young people aged 15 and older - do not need to read analytical texts about games: it is better to see once. But it will be difficult for political observers to substantiate their point of view with pictures alone.
Category 1. Videobloggers
These people keep their journals in video format - on youtube channelsYouTube) and others like him. Viewers subscribe to the channel and regularly watch new releases. The videos are filmed and edited by the authors themselves.
Among video bloggers there are professional video makers and directors. And there are those who are limited simplest slideshow or showing their screen and voice-overs.
V last years the popularity of the so-called beauty blogs. In such magazines, the authors talk about everything, what is the beauty industry. Reviews of cosmetics, perfumes, makeup and hair styling lessons, skin care tips, etc.
Initially, beauty blogs were exclusively Western, but today there are many Russian channels, which are conducted by both professional makeup artists and everyone. Young beautiful girls enthusiastically try cosmetic products on themselves, share their results and impressions.
Parallel leading openly or covertly advertise brands posted on their blogs affiliate links or just sell cosmetics.
Several useful tips newcomers.
Read, memorize, put into practice!
If you create a blog to increase self-esteem, do not communicate with readers and are not interested in their opinion, such a resource will quickly wither away. The audience needs to be loved and respected then she will love you back.
Blogs are for people. Embrace this truth. If your resource does not benefit people, no SEO optimization will save it. Search engines you also need to love, but focus on people.
All now successful bloggers made a lot of mistakes at the beginning of their journey. Some even closed their sites and pages in order to create new ones from scratch.
Mistakes are an inevitable condition of learning. With mistakes comes experience. And with experience - ease, understanding of the needs of the audience and long-awaited popularity.
Start building the base from the very beginning email addresses their readers. This is necessary to organize the distribution. But it shouldn't be too intrusive. No need to bombard readers with daily emails and messages. Be adequate - remind yourself regularly, but delicately.
Blog about yourself. Be yourself – even on a narrow topic blog. You will not believe it, but there are hundreds or even thousands of people in the world who are similar to you and share your interests. And never consider readers dumber, simpler and naive than yourself.
6. How Much Do Bloggers Earn - Personal Experience
Earnings directly depend on the number of subscribers and the activity of the author. Some bloggers do not need monetization at all - they have other incomes, and they maintain their sites and pages solely for entertainment purposes. Others combine business with pleasure - they blog for the soul and at the same time earn money on it.
You have every chance of earning the same or more - online income depends only on your activity!
7. Conclusion
Now you know more about how to become a successful blogger and earn money on your pages and sites. The universal secret of a successful blog is the benefit for readers and a competent approach to monetization.
Question for readers
Do you think a blogger still needs his own website or can you get by with free resources?
We wish you successful monetization and a million readers on your blog! Write comments, additions and remarks. Share the article with your friends on social networks. See you soon!
16.02.2016
Greetings, followers of successful businessmen! Today I will tell you popular stories business success from scratch. After all, other people's luck is contagious. In addition, examples of effective business ideas can be very useful for you.
Billion dollar ideas
Many of the world's richest people started from scratch, without huge financial investments, rich parents and winning the big lottery. They just invented an amazing business idea, knew how to work "by the sweat of their brow" and go towards their goal, no matter what! And, of course, these people were distinguished by an extraordinary mind, non-standard views on life.
I hope you are one of those people who, after reading business success stories from scratch, will reconsider their lives and take action! After all, if you just think that where are you up to such accomplishments and give up, it will not work. So read short biographies the most famous billionaires in the world and absorb the energy of wealth.
Biographies of the richest people
So, now I turn directly to the success stories of millionaires and billionaires. By the way, learn interesting internet profession and earn your first million you can here.
Sheldon Adelson
This man was born in Boston in the family of an ordinary taxi driver. From the age of twelve he began a small entrepreneurial activity selling newspapers. After that followed various works– financial advisor, mortgage broker, court reporter, tour salesman. However, all this was only a difficult path to future success. 1979 was a landmark year for Adelson. He organized COMDEX - an exhibition-fair computer science, which for 20 years was the most famous event dedicated to computer technology.
9 years after the creation of the fair, Sheldon buys a hotel, a casino in the largest gaming city of Las Vegas and instantly increases his material wealth, which, according to general estimates, is $ 26 billion.
Roman Abramovich
An example of a billionaire comes from Saratov. The childhood of this famous oilman passed under the upbringing of close relatives, since the boy's parents died. In his youth, Abramovich had excellent organizational skills. 1980-90 - the year when he created a small business for the manufacture of polymers, toys.
This was followed by trading, intermediary activities, developing into oil raiders. Then, after setting useful links with B. Berezovsky, the family of B. Yeltsin, Roman Arkadievich significantly improved his financial situation. They say that it was thanks to them that he took possession of Sibneft. Abramovich's further career growth is the post of deputy, governor, contributing to the expansion of the oil business. Next step to enrichment - the purchase of the Chelsea football club. The approximate amount of the entrepreneur's income is 23.5 billion dollars.
Li Ka-shing
Chinese businessman who earned about $26.5 billion. He began his career at the age of fourteen. In order to earn a living after the death of his father, the boy dropped out of school. At first he worked as a trader in plastic products. A few years later he was able to open his own business - the company Cheung Kong Industries, which later became a major investment corporation in Hong Kong, and Ka-Shing - the richest person in China.
Maxim Nogotkov
This is the youngest Russian businessman who has earned more than one billion. Nogotkov started working as a schoolboy, selling copies of PC programs. Already 2 years later, without finishing higher education, he, together with his comrades, opened his own business - the Maxus company, in order to engage in a wholesale type of trade in equipment on the radio markets. The organization then became a distributor of Siemens radiotelephones.
The beginning of trade in mobile phones did not bring success. But the purchase of salons cellular communication allowed to reach a new horizon, as a result of which the Svyaznoy brand appeared. Today's turnover of the company is more than five hundred billion rubles.
Fred De Luca
An American entrepreneur, along with a friend, started their business by opening a regular diner. Then Fred was only 17 years old. The original plan was to open 32 eateries over a ten-year period. Thanks to further franchising, the chain of stores has expanded significantly. Now SUBWAY brand outlets have become popular all over the world. Their number exceeds 21 thousand in different countries world, which exceeds the number of other popular fast food brand McDonald's.
These are just 5 stories of successful business from scratch. But there are actually a lot of them. Re-read the biographies of the most famous rich people in order to trace the patterns of ascent from poverty to prosperity, to be inspired by other people's successes. It will definitely work if you are determined to start your own business and think like a millionaire.
Sincerely, Ivan Balashov!
Did you know that Youtube initially conceived as a dating site? Only the creators decided to add another joke - the ability to upload a video about yourself. And the site was developed by three interesting guys: Hud Hurley, Steve Chen and Javid Karim. The Trinity decided that the video would help people get to know each other faster and more interestingly.
But the users themselves changed the fate youtube and began to upload videos not about themselves, but about what is happening around. The developers decided to immediately reorient the project.
Who founded YouTube?
Hurley, Chen and Karim worked together at PayPal. The first worked as a designer, and the second and third were developers. But it was Chad Hurley who invented YouTube. Then he took his friends to this project.
How did it all start?
Beginning of 2005. Three friends leave PayPal and register the domain of their new site.
On April 23, the very first video was uploaded. On it, Karim is standing near the cages with animals in the zoo.
What is the success of YouTube?
Friends hit the market just in time. In those years, only mail and torrents existed for video sharing, but all this was very limited in functionality, unreliable and long.
View on Youtube was very convenient, because programs and codecs were no longer required. Developers made new player based on Macromedia Flash. Also added a great search engine. Now it was possible to find videos by keywords and even view entire collections.
Another reason for the unprecedented popularity is the legal distribution of copyrighted content that was previously inaccessible to ordinary users.
Proper marketing increased the number of users of the service, and the ability to embed videos in different blogs and discussion pleased MySpace users.
Meanwhile, the Internet became more and more accessible, tariffs fell, and YouTube grew in popularity.
Development also helped computer technology. Now you can connect via usb port camera to a computer, shoot video and immediately upload, or conduct online broadcasts
The coup also searched for videos by keywords. Copyright and rare films were found even easier.
Investors who invested $3 million in the project pulled themselves up and November 22, 2005 can be considered a birthday YouTube!
Then the Sequoia Capital fund invested another $11.5 million and soon the project's shares were worth $495 million.
Frequent draws of iPods on the site helped to develop. Already in 2006, the daily number of views increased from 50 to 250 million per day!
In May 2006, Alexa Internet reported that 2 billion people visit YouTube every day! Absolute record!
MySpace understood that they were losing a lot because of a site with videos, they began to ban posting videos, but "spaces" did not become popular.
In July 2006, the site was already the 7th most popular site in the US with 200 million unique visitors every day and thousands of videos uploaded!
YouTube and Google
By the end of 2006, contracts were signed with the most famous media companies - Warner Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, etc.
Per Youtube paid about $1.6 billion in shares. After the acquisition of Video, Google was refocused into a video hosting search engine.
A couple more important events in 2010:
- The hosts started moving the video to YouTube from Google Video;
- Chad Hurley left the position of CEO, and Salar Kamangar appeared in his place.
Chad still consults the service.
In custody
In 2015 YouTube ranks third in the list of the most popular sites in the world and it is possible that in 2016 it will replace television for humanity!
It was a story about how a simple dating site became a cult service that the whole world knows about, was able to overtake competitors and earn billions, bringing benefit and joy to people!
If one picture is worth a thousand words, then logically one talking picture - i.e. video - is worth even more. Vlogging as a phenomenon has ceased to be some strange niche entertainment of teenage geeks. They have grown into an entire industry with their own stars, scandals, hordes of frenzied fans, gray cardinals and millionaire tycoons. Thousands of people around the world turn webcam cuteness into work, and some of them are very good at it. Look At Me visited the VideoPeople festival, which brought together Russian and foreign video bloggers, and figured out what the main YouTube stars are like, how they earn, and thanks to which they gained their popularity.
Shiva Rajaraman
YouTube Director of Product Management
Ruslan Usachev about how important it is to be on time and about insulting the feelings of believers
Ruslan Usachev
Video blogger
I discovered YouTube around 2006 when it was only a year old. At that time I was watching Western comedians, humorous programs - I wanted to try myself in this. My first video came out in 2010. The project evolved gradually both in quality (i.e. in picture, sound) and in writing scripts. At first I shot everything alone - the first videos were reviews of films, then new more media projects appeared, dedicated to current events. Everything in a sense grew up - I just did what I was interested in, and interests change with age.
Ruslan Usachov in 2010 rejoices at its thousandth subscriber
I recently completed a crowdfunding project"Insulting the feelings of believers"
Until now, I make most of the videos myself, but sometimes I resort to the help of cameramen, etc. Some projects that are more difficult to perform, for example, a sketch show about travel, we do together with a partner. From other current projects, I have a program highlighting last news, well, plus I periodically shoot videos on topics that are interesting to me, so as not to slip into a routine. I also recently completed the crowdfunding project “Insulting the Feelings of Believers” - this is a rather controversial author's film of almost television quality about religion in Russia, expressing my thoughts. Due to the entry into force of the law on "protection of the feelings of believers" for my film, I could get a fine, so in order to understand if people were interested and whether they would support my initiative, I launched a campaign on Boomstarter to raise 300 thousand. Fortunately, a fine was not, so (by agreement with the audience) this money will go to some other project.
Release of the Harmful Cinema program
About "Return of the Musketeers"
It would be interesting for me to try myself in some normal TV show, but so far everything is fine there without me. They have Ivan Urgant, who leads everything. There were proposals to do something on television, but if you go there, then only with something of your own. I periodically go offline with my stand-ups. Last February I had a tour of Russia, in the fall we are thinking of going again to 12-14 cities. This is an interesting experience of communicating with people live, without any editing.
The main jokers of Russian YouTube on the evolution of Internet humor
This Is Good
Stas Davydov, presenter
Stas Davydov: It all started in the head of the founder of the program, Vitaly Golovanov. In 2010, he watched Ray William Johnson's programs with Sergei Fedorenko and decided to also do it in Russian. And only then I was attracted as a leader. We have known each other for a very long time - we are just the people who once met on the Internet, so doing something on the Internet turned out to be natural for us. At first it was not planned to do it as a business project, I just wanted to do it good transmission. We started with the three of us, and now we are renting our studio and 10 people are working well on This Is.
The project exists for 4 years. We started by shooting in an apartment, 1 video a week, and then irregularly. Then we started releasing 2 videos a week on a regular basis. Then we were offered a partner.
Most Viewed Video This Is Good, which has amassed over 6.5 million views
Sergei Fedorenko: We started working with the Americans - with a network called VidFair. Signing up for an affiliate program is easy, you just need to have content and viewers. Growth is very important: if a channel has only 1,000 views, but gained them in 1 day, then this is already very good. Sometimes it is enough to have the potential to interest people from the Web.
Stas Davydov: A year ago, we launched our small affiliate network because it became more convenient for us. We attract people who create content, communicate with them, advise them something and help them develop - at least we believe in it. Now there are about 50 channels on the Web that regularly release something. We also help them with likes, with promotion - they sometimes host our releases.
Sergei Fedorenko: To earn directly from the monetization scheme that YouTube offers, you need to have large views with a capital "B". In the Russian segment, the situation has developed that this market is not as developed as in the West. There, the same system works much better, but this, I hope, will soon be somehow “treated”.
Stas Davydov: The fact that we earn only with our views may well exist and receive a salary of a team of those people who work on a project in given time. No one will ride in limousines, but no one will starve either.
Last on the this moment release This Is Good
Sergei Fedorenko: We do not have a definite formula for a successful viral video. It's like shooting sparrows from a cannon. It may or may not hit. But most of the time it's either hot topics, or eternal themes, or something that is dissonant with the perception of ordinary things.
Stas Davydov: Usually it's something related to memes, something about games, cats or about eternal search breasts on YouTube (which in principle are, but they are very difficult to find). But there is no guarantee that even if it is all in one video, it will “blow up”. Also, of course, memes are constantly changing: if there used to be dancing bums, they are being replaced by gladiator vagabonds. This is a normal process. Our viewers help us keep track of everything that happens, who send videos, plus YouTube has its own list of trends. Everyone thinks it's all fun, but it's actually big job, many schedules and studies.
We worked with Channel One, we really didn’t like it. Not even because of some pressure from above. It just took a lot of time, but there was little sense
Sergei Fedorenko: Of all the videos in my memory, the biggest resonance was caused by "Ide" or "Lawyer" - something from those times when views were credited even more liberally. Now it is very difficult for any video to “explode” like hell - now views are counted differently.
Stas Davydov: The Internet has gone a little forward, and I'm not sure that "Ide" would now "explode" like that. The Internet was wilder back then. simple videos became popular. Now we need to be more sophisticated. But the internet can't always be "wild" either. It was initially clear that at some point it would become such an influential media that they would try to get into in order to control. Let's see what happens.
Sergei Fedorenko: We have some experience with television, but we're not exactly thrilled, so we're not pushing there yet.
Stas Davydov: We worked with Channel One, we really didn’t like it. Not even because of some pressure from above. It just took a lot of time, but there was little sense. First it was necessary to shoot a bunch of material, send it off, then they edited it there, censored it, and then we had a bunch more work added.
Sergei Fedorenko: And 15 of my mothers watched it. The audience of television, firstly, is slightly illusory, and secondly, it is losing relevance.
The idol of 12-year-old girls about the organization of working time, self-irony and dirt on the Internet
Kate Clapp
Video blogger
I posted the first video on YouTube in 2007, in 2008, but it was for YouTube that I started shooting in 2010. It was very nice when YouTube offered the first partnership, and the childishness that you put so much time and effort into can be called work. Although the salary was literally a couple of thousand, it was incredibly nice that you were appreciated. And about a year ago, Google chose me as one of the representatives Russian YouTube. Video blogging has always been a job for me, but at the same time it has never been. When I start calling it work, forcing myself to make videos from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, I do nothing. As originally, and now I do not make videos according to the program - some videos a week. I only shoot when I feel like it. This is still creativity, and if it brings money (both small and large), it is always nice. Even now, unfortunately, I can’t do any business, maybe someone could help me streamline all my ideas.
My other problem is that I do everything myself. Learned to do everything on a whim. I catch some chips, transitions, I feel the pace and rhythm of the video. I watched a lot of videos, and first of all I am a viewer and a huge fan of YouTube. All my videos are on the most various themes, and all of them are watched primarily because of me, because of the mood. The most important and most necessary topic is the positive. There is very little of it on the Internet, it is also not enough in life.
Katya Clap accepts the challenge of its users and eats lemons, does makeup without a mirror and other nonsense
If your life is only focused on blogging, at some point you realize that you start making a video that you are making a video. Therefore, you must have interesting life. You have to arrange it for yourself, no matter what means. You can go to the country to hang out with your grandmother, or you can ride around the world. I am most inspired by the Moscow subway and the player in my ears. I look at people, at different characters, absorb some new emotions and the coolest jokes come to me right there.
in another video Katya shows her room
I don't consider myself 100% talented at anything.. And to write, for example, some kind of scientific rubric - it is necessary to directly “be brains”, I periodically suffer from this function very much - I don’t have it. I try not to touch any "dirty" topics that relate to politics or religion. I think that there is no need to climb on the rampage, you need to do creativity, and not create kipish around yourself. Sometimes it upsets me when, for example, some regular good blog slipped into politics. You need to shoot about other things - there are many topics that need to be developed, and not just pour negativity on the Internet, shoot about something that you cannot change.
The king of YouTube comedies about the difficulties of communicating with a young audience, the legacy of Monty Python and Putin
Todd Womack
Writer and Producer Barely Political
I made my first YouTube video in 2006. It was a video about a DJ cat. I was hanging out with my brother at home in Los Angeles, and his cat was rubbing around me, so I took him and started moving his paws like he was spinning discs. It was a terrible video, but it was fun. The first most important video that led me to my current job is WildMan. It was basically a demo for my series about a guy who is an expert survivalist who acts like a complete asshole. When the camera is on he is a nice guy, perfect, such a cool Englishman, but as soon as the camera is off, he becomes an asshole. I completed this project and almost sold it to Steve Coogan's production company in the UK in 2009, but that didn't happen and I sold it to Barely Political for $200 and started working as a screenwriter for them. And it's been 4 years since then. I live a rather ordinary, not at all glamorous life. I get paid for my work as a screenwriter and producer. Of course, life is different from when I worked on the US Census in 2010, walking around Los Angeles, knocking on every door to count how many people there are.
Barely legal parody to the song of the singer Kesha
Barely Political's first super-successful commercial before I joined them was Crush on Obama. The idea for the video came from our boss, Ben Relles. According to the plot, the model is in love with Obama and sings a song about it. In general, Obama's personality worried everyone not only in the USA. He is a very charismatic and interesting dude who came out of nowhere.
At some point, the project simply ran out of money, but thanks to past success, the channel managed to get a grant from YouTube to launch The Key of Awesome. And suddenly this thing was exactly what it needed. There have always been a lot of parodies on the Internet, but nothing really cool. We started making great parodies in the spirit of the 80s and 90s. In fact, these were rhyming stories, sketches that were superimposed on the music. And Mark Douglas (screenwriter) is very good at it. At one point, he became the main person on the channel. The videos became so popular that he needed another guy to help him. And he invited me to join them.
The same video about a girl in love with Obama
I love doing comedy in any form. I've been doing stand-up for about 12 years, but I don't have time for it anymore. Now I spend my whole working day doing creative work - this is what I need for happiness. Video allows us to get more free time.
Every time we work on a new video, we try to take on some high-profile topics. Nothing resonates as much as pop music. Surely here, in Russia, these terrible songs of Shakira and Pitbull also sound. I don't think it's very cool, but that's the way the world works now. But all these songs are known and want to see their funny versions. And artists are not particularly offended by this. They say hey, this is a great promo for us.
Parody of Miley Cyrus
Putin, for example, does not seem funny to me. He is very serious. I don't understand what
he really, because, probably,
I do not know this language
But Putin, for example, does not seem funny to me. He is very serious. I don't understand what he really is, because I probably don't know the language. Politicians hide behind such a facade that it is difficult to understand their essence. Do you find Putin funny? Obama is really funny. When we met him this year, I didn't even expect him to be so funny and cool. But we have an actor who looks like Putin, so maybe we can do something.
Now there are more teenagers on the Internet than ever before, and humor has changed a lot. People my age who are familiar with the Monty Python sketches of the 70s, the Canadians The Kids in the Hall of the 90s, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Louis C.K. - they have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of humor behind them. But often young people look at some completely unoriginal comedian and admire him. But still, the Internet content is getting better and better. So, in my opinion, it grows equally in two directions - in good and bad.
Fictional guitarist on how to make $15 million from videos
Joe Penna
MysteryGuitarMan
I started back when YouTube was in its infancy and there could not yet be any business project based on the channel. No one even thought that it would be possible to earn some money on this. For all of us, it was just a fun hobby. My first video that went viral was called Guitar Impossible. It was the first attempt to edit a stop-motion music video. I just tried to make a video where I play a very complex melody that would be impossible to perform on my own. I was very surprised, firstly, by the fact that my video got on the main YouTube page. Then I went to bed (I edited it for three days without sleep), and when I woke up, it already had over a million views.
At first it was all for fun, but over time, as business opportunities arose for me, I realized that this was my chance to quit my job and devote myself fully to the YouTube channel. This was in 2009. I was making $900 a month on YouTube, and I paid almost $850 for my apartment. It was very hard. I slept on the floor, I had to steal Wi-Fi from neighbors and go to a charity cafeteria where soup is given out to the poor and the unemployed. But then I went to Las Vegas and won some money, which allowed me to continue.
Cover of the immortal hit Gangnam Style in MysteryGuitarMan signature style
The video that started it all
Everyone predicts the death of television. But it will not die, just as cinema has not died, radio has not died, theater has not died. YouTube is just another way to show your creativity, it's a new entertainment media. I'm always especially struck by stories where kids who don't know how to make videos grow up to be great professionals with teams of 100 people.
Childhood MysteryGuitarMan adored the X-Men and recently made a video dedicated to them. According to Penna, the make-up took a total of 19 hours.
If someone tells you they know the exact formula for a viral video, they are lying. There are too many different aspects. But it is important that the majority of people understand it. In my videos, I don't speak English, Portuguese or Russian. But even people in Russia recognize me because my videos mostly contain only music. On the other hand, many vloggers are popular here because they speak Russian. I've seen the This Is Good and Katie Clapp videos. I like the channel MrTVCow
Lilith Moon
Beauty video blogger
Most Viewed Video Lilith Moon with over 5 million views
Until now, I do everything alone. Sometimes I collaborate with other bloggers to exchange audiences. I offer 20% of hairstyles from myself, and the remaining 80% are requests from viewers for a specific hairstyle. Videos that are inspired by something iconic, such as a celebrity's hairstyle, have a higher chance of success. Therefore, comedians in their channels try to make a parody of celebrities in order to attract attention. I also teach what is taught in advanced training courses for professional hairdressers, that is, this is far from amateur performance.
10% of my viewers are young people. Personally, I think it's the barbers. Because the refresher courses that I took part in as a model are fabulously expensive. In Europe, you need to pay 1,000 euros to come for 2 days, where you will be shown 6 hairstyles. Everything on my channel is free.
Channel intro Lilith Moon
Many people watch my channel simply because they like my voice, videos calm them down, sometimes they turn on my videos when, for example, they are going to work, and they like how I “lull them to sleep”. There are, of course, haters - trolls who say that I have a disgusting voice, but you need to go through this and harden yourself.
