here’s an update on
[2022-06-07 08:19:09 AM] : here’s an update on my work if anybody’s interested. i had been working on a video course to go with my existing book. the work had been progressing very slowly and fairly unhappily. yesterday i finally decided to just kill the video project. the reasons are that i realized that i kind of hate making videos, i’m never very happy with the result, it takes forever (compared to writing), and my work schedule isn’t conducive to video production work (because the context switching cost is much higher than for writing). plus i myself am not a consumer of programming videos. i actually can’t stand programming videos. which makes it kind of funny to be someone who’s trying to make and sell them. yet another downside to the video thing is that since i’ve been spending all my time making videos, i haven’t been writing, which historically is the main thing that has worked out well for me and earned me new email subscribers.
so anyway, i’m not sure yet exactly what’s next for me, other than i’ll be going back to my normal writing habits that i had practiced before i started this video stuff. the point of the video work was to try to increase my product revenue. so my question for myself now is how i want to try to achieve that goal now that i’ve decided that making videos isn’t going to be the path to get there.
1 Reply
[2022-06-08 08:45:48 AM] : I totally relate: video production just isn't that fun for me compared to the writing part
[2022-06-08 08:46:13 AM] : It's like, "yesss I finished the blog post!" and then "now I have to record myself? ugh"
[2022-06-08 08:46:21 AM] : haha, yeah
[2022-06-08 08:48:28 AM] : i think a person has to be careful about avoiding work that’s not “fun”, because obviously not everything is going to be enjoyable. but at the same time, i think there’s a wisdom in not trying to swim upstream and force yourself to do things you aren’t well-suited to. i think it’s more profitable to capitalize on one’s strengths rather than to try to shore up weaknesses
[2022-06-08 08:50:50 AM] : part of me is concerned that i’m giving myself an excuse to take the lazy way out. but i think the fact that i’m doing a bunch of writing, plus a podcast, plus (occasional) speaking engagements is a pretty good refutation of that concern
[2022-06-08 09:05:42 AM] : for sure! it's also a time constraint thing: if your customers can get the same value by reading your blog post (and they're in the habit of reading versus watching videos), it just doesn't make sense to invest in video at all
[2022-06-08 09:06:42 AM] : but there is definitely a ton of audience reach in YouTube videos, just not something i've succeeded at cause of time and general effort required
[2022-06-08 09:25:53 AM] : yes
[2022-06-08 10:03:20 AM] : > i actually can’t stand programming videos. which makes it kind of funny to be someone who’s trying to make and sell them
I struggle with this as well. However, this concept applies to software development too. I often build technologies (e.g. virtual private cloud) that I personally haven't used or use on a daily basis ... yet, the software itself has significant reach. So I personally no longer use myself as the litmus test; that is, just because I don't consume $X doesn't mean I won't actually produce $X
[2022-06-08 11:11:34 AM] : that is a good point and i’ve thought about that too. IME, course producers and course consumers (for example) tend not to be the same people
[2022-06-08 11:12:29 AM] : at the same time i think that principle only goes so far. e.g. you probably shouldn’t start a car company if you’re not a person who cares about cars
[2022-06-08 11:57:14 AM] : jasonswett agreed, definitely a balance that I'm still trying to strike myself.