YouTube over 40: Why Is Everyone Talking About This? | Ep. 31

If you're already doing YouTube in your 40's or 50's, you are ahead of the curve! But for some reason, this idea of starting YouTube over 40 or 50 is a hot topic right now. So let's talk about it!

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Transcript

31 YouTube over 40: Why Is Everyone Talking About This? | Ep. 31

Meredith: [00:00:00] Why does it seem like everyone on YouTube is talking about YouTube over 40? Or doing YouTube over 50? Am I the only one? Because every time I open the app or go to youtube.

com, I see this topic from somebody, some people that I even know around doing YouTube over 40, why you should do it, how to do it. And I'm always bewildered. I'm wondering what does being over 40 have to do with anything? Let's talk about it here in episode 31 of video brand infusion.

 My name is Meredith and I'm here to help you infuse the best video marketing strategies into your business so that you can build a thriving online business and a thriving video brand with your wisdom and expertise regardless of your age.

And I want to throw a couple of really interesting facts out to you. These are things you probably didn't know. I think they're going to surprise you. Number one, I am in my forties. Is that a surprise? I don't know. [00:01:00] A lot of people tell me that they thought I was in my thirties, which. I was in my 30s at one point.

but I am actually going to turn 43 this very week. This is my birthday week.

 I think the skills and expertise of my hair stylist is what fools people into thinking that I'm, uh, younger than I actually am. 

but here's something that I think you're going to find even more surprising. And I think this is the reason why when I see this topic on YouTube, I am like, Why is this a topic?

I don't get it. What's, what's the big deal? I've been doing YouTube for 10 years Most I mean a big most, a majority, probably like over 80 percent of my private clients, students in my courses, members of Video Brand Academy, most of the people that I have worked with over those 10 years have been in their 40s, [00:02:00] 50s, and 60s, even 70s and 80s.

I have had an 80 year old inside a video brand academy,

so I naively assumed that you all out there in YouTube land were 100 percent on board with people being over 40, 80 on YouTube. I thought it was just a widely accepted thing and not a topic even worthy of discussion. But I want to know, I want to hear from you in the comments or if you're listening to the podcast, you can send me a fan mail using the link down in the description.

 are you in your 40s or 50s or older and questioning? Whether YouTube is the place for you because of your age,I genuinely want to hear from you because I thought we were all cool with it.

 and when I watched some of these topics on people like Kevin and Steven and Brian and some others, [00:03:00] some of the benefits that were mentioned of starting YouTube over 40 are that you have life experience and wisdom to share, you, uh, have, you can have a creative outlet. On YouTube, you can have a midlife passion project.

That sounds like an article from AARP, a midlife passion project.

 apparently some people feel that the over 40 market is underserved on YouTube. I don't know if that's true, um, but you can find your tribe and connect with like minded people, which is true no matter what your age. Um, it's possible to turn into a career.

Small channels are currently being pushed by the algorithm, which is also true. No matter your age and you can be authentic and don't need to compete with younger creators, which is also true No matter your age

It's funny some of the challenges that have been discussed for YouTube over 40 and 50, is that maybe you have less [00:04:00] time, or maybe you, uh, you know, there's more like tech set up and gear and stuff, 

 and I don't know if I buy that technology is truly a barrier. Like we're talking about Gen X here, right? We're talking about people who used to put a blank tape in a stereo the size of a human being and hit record at the exact moment that their favorite song came on the radio.

We're talking about people who. Put a record on a record player and then very slowly, gently, and without wrecking the record or the needle placed a needle on a record at the exact precise place to play the exact, precise song. We're talking about people who programmed a VCR to record at a certain time, like technology is not a problem for the 40, 50, 60 crowd, right?

 and of course, using a camera is a little more complicated than that, but [00:05:00] using your phone to record videos, you can do that. That's not an age thing.

 I think if there is a barrierfor starting a channel or getting started with like showing up online, It has nothing to do with your age, and it has everything to do with all of the reasons why showing up, putting your face on camera, and talking to it, and then putting it on the internet is Terrifying for most people

and if you listen to my podcast and watch like my crush it on camera series I try to help you feel confident on camera and create videos that look good even if you're not like a professional or You know, you're not into all the gear like I am

 but if you're using age as a reason Not to be on youtube then Wouldn't it make sense then that you should start as soon as possible? Because you're [00:06:00] only going to get older, right?

what if I had 10 years ago, what if I had said, well, I would start a YouTube channel, but I think I'm too old, or I think I'm too young, or I don't know what I'm doing, or I I'm gonna make a fool out of myself.

Like, what if I had not done it because of whatever, insert whatever barrier. 

Now, I had a client once who came to me about three years before she was going to be retiring from her job, and she was going to have a pension. But, She knew that her pension wasn't going to be enough. She was either going to have to keep working or get a part time job. And so she was thinking, okay, I have three years to start my channel and to get my business up and running.

And I love that idea. I love that idea of giving yourself a runway when you know that you have A retirement coming, and you know that you're going to have some kind of loss in [00:07:00] income, but a gain in your time. I think giving yourself a runway by starting your YouTube channel as soon as possible is a really good strategy, but I would give yourself more than three years.

I mean, like I said, I've been doing this for ten years.

There's no time like the present. Like I said, you're all, you're already going to get older. Um, it's never going to be easier to get started on YouTube than it is right now.

Like, it's literally never been easier to create content, to grow your audience, to start a business, to grow your business. It's never been easier to Do that than right now

 no, I'm racking my brain here for reasons why you wouldn't want to start a channel over 40 or 50, like, why that's like, not, like, not a good idea, and there isn't any, there is no reason not to, but if you are thinking [00:08:00] that You know, the idea of learning a new skill, um, and putting your face on camera at the age that you're at, whatever it is, just feels kind of daunting.

Here's what I would say to that. this is going to sound like a really wacky story, but I love telling it. When I was in middle school, when I was in eighth grade, my friend convinced me to join the track team. And if you know me, you know, I'm I'm definitely not a track star, that, like, for sure, but I joined the track team, and when it came time for our coach to, like, put us into our individual events, she asked for a girl to volunteer to do the triple jump, and nobody volunteered.

she said, it's kind of hard. It's kind of like a tricky thing to do. And so that was my cue to volunteer myself to do the hard thing. And I did, I learned how to do the triple jump. And there were so [00:09:00] many track meets that we went to where there wasn't another girl.

on the other team to do a triple jump and There were a lot of times where I didn't even have to do it. There were times where I was the only one that did it. And so guess who came in first? That's right. The only one that showed up to do it. The only one that dared to do it, that dared to do the hard thing.

 and YouTube and making videos and putting your face on camera is the exact same thing. There's such a small fraction of people who have the guts to do it. Who, who dare to do it. 

 so the fact that you feel uncomfortable should be a sign that That you should do it because so does everybody else and they they just don't dare to show up And so I think that alone is proof that Starting YouTube over 40 or 50 or 60 70 or 80 [00:10:00] there are simply way more benefits, uh, than not doing it.

But I, I do want to hear from you in the comments because I genuinely have been confused about why this is a topic. So if this is a topic for you, if this is a worry, a fear, a question for you, whether your age has anything to do with success or not on YouTube. I want to hear from you. Let me know in the comments 

 and I'll talk to you next week.