Why Make These YouTube Videos?

Recently someone in the Facebook user group was critical of my YouTube channel for not providing my videos in a particular order conducive to their learning everything about Adobe Captivate. Building an entire training course was never my intent when I started with video number one in August of 2014.

I had been using Adobe Captivate to produce a variety of elearning courses over the years. Still, I had not used the video demo feature to capture my screen for software training. My employer had asked me to investigate using the video demo feature in Captivate to produce training for some software we were rolling out to all the managers. My initial tests of video demo were recorded with one instance of Adobe Captivate while I demonstrated how to use Adobe Captivate on a second instance. It worked well, and I had these recordings of me teaching how to use Adobe Captivate. Rather than just deleting the recordings, I uploaded them to YouTube. I remember thinking that it would be interesting if anyone watched these videos.

The following few videos I recorded and uploaded to my YouTube channel were strictly for me. I had started to use variables and advanced actions in Adobe Captivate to expand what I could do with the software. Knowing that my memory was like a sieve, I captured the steps so I could refer to these procedures later if I needed them.

In addition to Adobe Captivate videos, I also uploaded other things to my YouTube channel. For example, another video I recorded was of a phenomenon involving how sound reflected off the Chichén Itzá Mayan Ruins in México. Because a popular website embedded my video as an example of strange things related to sound, the views on this video shot up to 40,000 over a one-week period. While one or two people would look at my Adobe Captivate videos, this taught me that something I produced could get the sort of views that would later prove to be profitable to my business. Sorry to those who want to see that video. I deleted it from my channel as I’ve dedicated my channel to just eLearning tutorials.

In the beginning, my collective videos would get a dozen views per day, but after the Chichén Itzá video, I started to see hundreds of views and occasionally a thousand views per day. Eventually, I began to include messages in my videos encouraging people to like, share and subscribe to my channel. It wasn’t long until I was able to monetize my videos. I remember that you could set the payout once you earned $100. When I started, Google would mail me a cheque for that hundred dollars, but eventually, I had to connect my bank account to my channel to get direct deposit payments. I should have kept one of those early cheques from Google. They would be a neat keepsake today.

At first, I merely uploaded a video and made it available to the world when I finished recording it. Later, I became more disciplined by recording a new video, uploading it to YouTube, and publishing it on Wednesday morning each week. Being consistent proved to be a good strategy as subscribers began to expect a new video and visit my channel on that day. I think consistency is a solid strategy when building a YouTube channel. I began to follow the same format that I saw other YouTubers use when creating videos as well. I would divide the videos into the following sections:

• Me introducing what the video is about

• Music and animation

• A longer explanation of the video

• Tutorial

• Closing with a suggestion to like, subscribe, and share

Following this format seems to be the correct approach. As a result, my channel has steadily grown to have 21,000 subscribers, over 2.7 million views, and the payments from Google have steadily grown as well.

Speaking of the money from YouTube, it’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a small amount when you compare it to how I actually make money from my YouTube channel. Most people watch my videos for free. I get a portion of the advertising revenue that YouTube collects for ads that run alongside my videos, but every month, a handful of people reach out to me for one of two things that I offer through my website.

The first is one-on-one instruction. If you like the format of my videos and my style of teaching Adobe Captivate, I offer one-on-one instruction. The benefit of these sessions is that I focus solely on your needs and not the needs of a class of forty or fifty people. This way, you learn just what you need to know. I usually record these sessions and make those recordings available to my clients afterwards.

The second is that I am a working eLearning developer. Some of the viewers of my channel try to develop their eLearning courses, but because they already have a full-time job or simply don’t have the aptitude for learning the software, they hire me. I have developed training courses for clients all over the world.

Whether I teach a student one-on-one or do the development work for my clients, I owe it to my YouTube channel for bringing me these potential customers. It has allowed me to quit my day job and work for myself. I’ve had a few job offers over the years, but I would rather work for all of you than return to the corporate world.

Publishing Adobe Captivate Video Demo for HD Resolution

In this video tutorial, I will show you my process for publishing Adobe Captivate Video Demo for high definition resolution.

What I Learned Going Freelance

I got a request from another professional on LinkedIn to provide some advice to someone considering going freelance in the learning industry. I don't know if I have any secret formula for making it on my own, but I can share my personal experience.

I was working at the Toronto International Airport as an eLearning Designer, Developer, and after five years, my contract concluded. Rather than looking for the next company to work for, I decided to start my own consulting business. I knew that my employment was ending about three or four months beforehand, so my wife and I had time to save up some extra money. You won't always have the foresight that I did, but if you think you might want to go freelance, this is something you need to consider. The day you start your freelance business will be the scariest of all. Your bank balance will likely not increase, and it will probably get sizably smaller.

Here are some of the expenses I had upfront that I can recall. I'm sure I forget some of them, but these were the main ones.

• new laptop

• software for a new laptop

• office furniture

• equipment to make YouTube videos (more on that later)

• website

• domain name registration

• government sales tax registration

• master business license (differs depending on your location)

• business cards

Of course, I still had all the various household expenses that a typical family has to continue to pay.

My first problem was that I didn't know where I would find potential clients. I had worked for precisely two companies in learning and design, but the rest of the world didn't know who I was. I figured I needed to become well known to be successful in this industry. I started making YouTube videos about Adobe Captivate, the eLearning authoring tool that I use. I intended to clearly show that I knew the software well enough to have expert tutorials on YouTube. I hoped that someone looking for an eLearning developer would find my videos and reach out to hire me to have me build their eLearning for them.

This strategy did work, and I started to get clients to reach out to me for eLearning design and development jobs. There were two problems upfront. The first was that while I was working for the first client, I wasn't looking for client number two or three and so on. When it's just you, momentum can be a problem. The second problem was that my YouTube videos were generating questions from all these viewers. They had every conceivable question about the software you could imagine. I tried my best to help each person, but it was getting in the way of getting more paying clients. What I didn't realize right away was there was an opportunity to pivot my business model, if only slightly. I realized that some of these people asking questions might be willing to pay me to provide one-on-one instruction. I changed my website from https://paulwilsonlearning.com to https://CaptivateTeacher.com and started promoting that I offered both design and development services as well as the one-on-one instruction.

As I approach the fifth year of my freelance eLearning business, I feel comfortable enough to not worry too much about where my next client will come from. A couple of things of note is that while I was not the first person on YouTube to teach people about Adobe Captivate, I am the most consistent. I have posted at least one video per week for five years, and my audience has grown from just a few views to over 1.5 million views. Each year that I have been freelance, Adobe themselves have invited me to attend and speak at the Adobe eLearning Conferences in Washington DC as well as Las Vegas. For the last several live events, I have been an instructor for their Adobe Captivate Specialist certification class.

So I guess my main message to anyone starting their own business is that some of your opportunities might be disguised as something else. Please don't ignore these other opportunities. I quickly learned that ignoring these other opportunities could be overlooking a potential new revenue stream. It might seem at first that these other opportunities would get in the way of your main goals, but I can attest that your primary goals will still be there. My main goals might not be my main goals anymore. I now have revenue streams from teaching classroom courses, one-on-one classes, design and development work, and the YouTube channel has become very profitable as well. I used to say that the ad revenue from YouTube was enough to buy a pizza every couple of weeks, but I can no longer say that. Today I now measure it in vacations to Mexico for my wife and me to enjoy.