Thanks you @Michael LeJeune for the continued push to post that video! Last night, I just decided to look at my channel studio not expecting ANY activity! To my surprise--2 Subscribers😁! WHAAT🥹! Shock and the most pleasant way!💖 I received more than one suggestion to post my so called "30-second-supposed-to-be" video, which ended up being 1min46sec after heavy editing of 6min14sec. Such an encouragement to Just Post😃👏🏾! I am doing it and I am on it!!! And, Thank you Cheering & Accountability Team: @Yvette Bowlin @Jenny Sharratt @Dajana K. @Michael LeJeune @Cam F @Travel Gran @Jaye Brunner @Eddi Pinegar r @Adam Tinkoff @Ricardo Solomons @Dawn Ponsford @Monika Astara Murphy @Andy Asher @Deb D @Laura Niebauer @Cat PInegar

@Jody Pace asked something in the community a few days ago that I think a lot of people here are sitting with quietly. Can the niche evolve as you go? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that for most successful creators, the niche didn't exist until they started posting. I had an EV channel a while back. Started it as a general electric vehicle channel, covering the topic broadly, no particular audience in mind. Then I started paying attention to the comments and the analytics. A pattern kept showing up. The people watching and engaging were overwhelmingly British. Not because I planned it that way. Just because of how I spoke, the references I made, the context I brought to the content. So I leaned into it. Narrowed the focus to EVs for a UK audience specifically. The channel sharpened, the right people found it more easily, and the content got easier to make because I finally knew exactly who I was talking to. I didn't plan that niche. The audience told me what it was. MrBeast did the same thing over six years and hundreds of videos before his current format emerged. Ali Abdaal delayed starting by watching 47 videos about YouTube strategy before realising he just needed to post something. The pattern that shows up again and again is this. Creators who plan too long either never start, pick something that doesn't actually excite them, or end up having to pivot anyway. The iteration was always going to happen. You might as well start it on day one. What tends to happen when you just post is this. A few videos flop and teach you something. One occasionally surprises you. The comments and the retention data start pointing at something. You follow that signal. The niche finds you more than you find it. If you're stuck trying to nail it all down before you film anything, that stuck feeling is probably the sign that posting is the actual next step. What made you finally decide to start, even before you had it figured out?

About the First Gift Basket Video: I had to make this a whole environmental experience. It is a new birth for me, liberation even. I started by setting up my space, taking some setup photos, having a devotional time which included journaling about this experience and the support I have received from each of you, taking a soothing spa bath, pre-conditioning my hair (okay, TMI, but this is a new birth experience), getting dressed for my design, having a nurturing breakfast (lemon drink, blueberries, grapes, apple, banana--in that order), and returning to my "design center," which is my desk for this moment, to make this gift basket. I am excited!!! It feels so good to be doing anything related to my passion. This is fitting because it is Palm Sunday (to those who acknowledge it). How appropriate is that! I know you may be tired of hearing/reading this, but this is the breakthrough in progress. So with all of that TMI said, I designed the gift basket and recorded it. Next I am editing the video and will let it marinate in the YouTube Studio before I release it to the world. Here's a before picture of my work area with the gift items, and of the me with the finished Christian-Based Easter Gift Basket. (No bunnies, eggs, or candy found in this creation.) It can be used as a gift, get well, birthday, just because gift. I will let you know once the video is published. It will be published by tomorrow if not earlier. Now onward to the editing, finishing my hair, then to Day 12... Side Info: -Current Niche: Teaching Gift Basket Biz Startups -Pivoted from: Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse Accountability Tags: @Yvette Bowlin @Jenny Sharratt @Dajana K. @Michael LeJeune @Cam F @Travel Gran @Jaye Brunner @Eddi Pinegar @Adam Tinkoff @Ricardo Solomons @Dawn Ponsford @Monika Astara Murphy y @Andy Asher @Deb D @Laura Niebauer @Cat PInegar

As I was editing the video, which was so exciting for me, I discovered a major flaw! I discovered that I left out a major gift item in my gift basket. Sooo... I stopped editing and planned my strategy to insert the gift item. That was not working. Slightly disappointed, I decided to open it up and redesign it, including filming it of course. This happens often in designing in general and in gift basket design so this is a perfect lesson to film for my audience. They need to know everything will not be perfect and what to do to correct a mistake. Additionally, I am in Holy Week and Resurrection honoring mode🙏🏾🙌🏾✝️. It has been a personal tradition, so I pause (selah) to honor this period and this Holiday. I wanted to rush and get the editing done, publish, and share with you all; but it is not ready. And this is not the time to rush, among other life happenings. If it is not finished in time for this holiday (technically, it is too late), I will keep it for next year and start to plan my design for the next holiday--Mother's Day among other videos. I also do not want this to stunt my progress with the challenge, so I will continue. Just wanted to give you an update. And will see me in the comments of your posts here as I move on and finish my start on Day 12. Side Info: -Current Niche: Teaching Gift Basket Biz Startups -Pivoted from: Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse Accountability Tags: @Yvette Bowlin @Jenny Sharratt @Dajana K. @Michael LeJeune @Cam F @Travel Gran @Jaye Brunner @Eddi Pinegar @Adam Tinkoff @Ricardo Solomons @Dawn Ponsford @Monika Astara Murphy @Andy Asher r @Deb D @Laura Niebauer @Cat PInegar

Oh No! Y'all are leaving me behind. No worries, I will catch up! I got distracted in my "recovery" and started planning an opt-in for my channel. My hosting checkout app was having problems so I switched to one that I am used to working and it was sooo much faster. I decided to leave ​that alon​e and get back to my other work and this challenge. I have to say, the distraction was good because I kept working.​ But then, I wanted a particular hairstyle for this 30 second video. I wanted to color the grey. Why didn't I think, I could always do another 30 video with the hairstyle I wanted. (Oh the self-perfection drama!) Update on the Taxes: Second one 95% done, Third on 30% done. I have time for the 3rd one so it will wait. I'm not getting FOMO, but I will catch up! Update on the Recovery: Yesterday (7 days later), I had to drive myself past that same accident scene. I did everything not to relive the horror I saw a week ago but the emotional shock started rising up. I breathed, sucked on 2 mints, blasted Pandora with Gospel Music, and thought about your collective prayer wishes (which helped!)—all while driving past this area. In a few seconds, it was behind me. The ​Lesson: Sometimes you must go through the painful horror to get to the other side. What I didn't share in my last post (Day 9, Part A) was that I was in a rollover accident myself, so the memories crept in later as I recovered from the shock last week. I am fine today and the next time I need to travel that area, it will be even better. Now, about Part B of My Day 9 (attached): I watched the video 5 times and made notes in my workbook (see it attached). I created a quick cheat sheet too. OMG, my 30-second video assignment turned into a 6-minute, 14-second video that I edited down to 2 minutes, 12 seconds, then 1 minute, 53 seconds, and now 1 minute, 46 seconds. I worked on it for 3 hours! I decided to stop there. That's still too long. I'm being a perfectionist again! I know I wasn't supposed to edit the video (I think), but I did. I discovered something--I am too wordy!