Bryan Varner – I Finally Started My YouTube Channel

Dive: Artist - YouTuber
Description: Is a YouTuber
Level: Level 1
Level Requirements: Has started a channel either solo or as part of a team
Certified On: Feb 9, 2020

Editor’s Note: On all dive certifications, we try to edit the writing as little as possible to preserve authenticity, personality, and writing style. We typically fix spelling errors, but minimally modify grammar and sentence structure (just enough to ensure readability).

Name: Bryan Varner Break Diving Level: Recruit Number of Certified Dives: 1 From: United States In: United States

1. When and Why Did You Decide to Pursue This Dive At This Level? What was your inspiration and motivation?

I had been thinking about starting a YouTube channel at different points during the last few years. At one point, I even attempted starting a channel with some friends. However, these prior attempts and thoughts never amounted to very much, as I did not yet have a clear vision for what I wanted to do with it.

I think the fully realized decision to start a YouTube channel (as I am pursuing it now) came while I was working through Monroe Mann’s Time Zen course on Udemy. The lessons I learned from Time Zen helped me deeply consider what I wanted to do in life as well as helped me start establishing a plan for how I was going to get there.

I already knew that YouTube can be a great platform for building a personal brand and establishing oneself as an expert in the subject matter of the channel, and one of my life goals is to be recognized as an expert on martial arts and related practices, such as meditation and qigong. YouTube shall be one of the platforms I use to achieve this goal.

2. How Long Did It Take For You To Accomplish This Dive At This Level From The Day You Decided To Pursue It, And Why Did It Take That Long?

Honestly, starting my YouTube channel took far longer than it should have. As I said above, I had been thinking about doing this for a few years, though I can’t put an exact date on when. The fully realized vision for my path forward came sometime during January of this year while working through Monroe Mann’s Time Zen course, when I found out about Break Diving, and after joining, I found the final impetus and support I needed to finally make it happen.

On February 8th, 2020, I finally uploaded a channel introduction video to my channel: The Martial Scholar.

Why did it take so long to start? Largely it was inertia. I simply hadn’t taken the definitive step towards getting started by recording and uploading a video. I simply needed to get something out there. Now that I have done so and have gotten substantial feedback from the Break Diving community, I have a much better idea of how to improve my video creation process moving forward.

3. What Was The Hardest Part About Achieving This Particular Dive Level?

The hardest part was probably deciding exactly what I wanted to do with the channel. I didn’t have a plan. Starting a YouTube channel had been a vague idea with no clear idea of what it would be. I considered several things, but none of them really excited me enough to even get started. Once I knew what I wanted to do, I then had to break the inertia and simply start recording. Simply getting started was probably just as hard as deciding what I wanted to do with my YouTube channel.

4. What Was The Easiest Part About Achieving This Particular Dive Level?

Once I broke the inertia and started working, everything seemed to sort of flow together from one step to the next. It really doesn’t take much to simply start a YouTube channel once you know what sort of channel you want to work on. Yes, there are lots of things to consider when working on a YouTube channel, but none of them are as important as putting content on the channel. Uploading content is very simple once you have something to upload. You simply can drag and drop the video file into the upload window, give it a title, and once it is done converting, just click the publish button. Voila! First YouTube video uploaded.

5. What Is Your Advice For Someone Who Is Pursuing This Dive And Level?

As cliche as it is, the best advice I can give is this: If you are thinking about learning or doing anything, just start doing it. As the actor Shia Labeouf said in a motivational video he did five years ago, “Just Do It!” If you haven’t seen that video, go watch it. The message is amazing. Do it imperfectly.

My first video upload for my channel certainly wasn’t the highest level of content creation. But it was good enough to give me start, and good enough for others to look at it critically and give me suggestions on how to improve. As Jake the Dog from Adventure Time says, “Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being kinda good at something.”

So go be brave enough to suck at something new. After you do this new thing a few times, it isn’t as new and you will have gotten a lot better simply by trying. Kano Jigoro, the founder of Kodokan Judo, said, “If there is effort, there is always accomplishment.”

6. What Are Some Of The Best Resources You Recommend to Those Pursuing This Dive At This Level, And Why Do You Recommend Them? Please Include Relevant Weblinks, If Applicable.

Check these out!

Resource 1: Break Diving - Come chat with other YouTubers on Break Diving.

Resource 2: Canva - Indispensable for easy graphical media creation.

Resource 3: Splice Video Editor - Incredible if you do any recording using an iPhone.

Resource 4: Audacity - Probably one of the best, and FOSS(free open source software), audio editing applications.

Resource 5: Make Use Of - Has a lot of articles, product reviews, and tutorials on lots of subjects, including technology.

7. Tell Us A Story Of One Of Your Adventures While Pursuing This Dive (At This Level).

This has been interesting so far. Over the last couple of years, I have been thinking about starting a YouTube channel. A few years ago, I tried creating a gaming-based YouTube channel with two of my friends called Delinquent Velociraptor Media.

Ultimately, none of us were committed enough to take it very far or to even upload more than a few videos. We uploaded a total of 16 videos and had 9 subscribers that included ourselves. Life got in the way, and we never went back. If you wish to take a look at this channel for the sake of comparison, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZHP1NS9X_0eVKNSymfaUw

After that, I did give up on the idea of having a YouTube channel. Several months ago, though, sometime last year, I thought I may try it again, but solo this time. The original idea again was still to be gaming, based this time, to focus largely on retro games. I started working on an associated Instagram account, Nerd Shirt Gaming, where I was planning on sharing pictures of retro gaming shirts and collectibles. I made a total of 4 posts before I stopped updating. I also had been planning on doing “live streams” on Twitch hit multiple gaming audiences. That didn’t happen.

The failure here largely fell to inertia. I simply stopped moving. It wasn’t for a lack of ideas–I just didn’t put any of the ideas into action.

Fast forward to today: I have watched a variety of other YouTube channels looking for inspiration on how to approach my current project. I follow several accounts on Instagram that share content about growing a successful online business. They suggest that you have a multi-pronged approach that includes using multiple platforms to feed traffic to each other in order to grow your outreach. This is what I am currently working on.

I have a blog that I started two years ago that I will begin working on again, martialscholar.com, and will be working on updates for that during the coming weeks. I also have created associated social media accounts for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that will be seeing content posts soon.

I believe that I have a solid plan and vision for what I want this new channel to become that is in line with where I want to be in life. From my many years learning martial arts, I know that showing up is half the battle. If I am consistent with creating videos and social media content, I will eventually see some degree of success from this endeavor.

8. What Evidence Did You Submit to Prove You Met the Requirements for This Dive and Level?

You can find my YouTube channel at this link. Here is a screenshot:

9. Will You Be Pursuing The Next Level For This Dive? If Yes, Why? If Not, Why Not?

I certainly intend to continue pursuing this path. I feel that it is a necessary part of my plans to get to the place I want to be in life where I can share my knowledge with the people of the world. I have a lot to learn about creating good content for YouTube, and it is exciting to learn how to do this effectively. I also hope to provide inspiration to others thinking about getting started. Perhaps one day after I am an established YouTuber I will mentor others in the process of starting their own channel.

10. What is the Break Diver's Creed?

No Rules. No Excuses. No Regrets.

Certificate photo:

And having made this post, and provided adequate evidence to the dive committee, Bryan Varner is now hereby certified by Break Diving, Inc. as: Artist - YouTuber - Level 1. Congratulations ! Thank you for being an inspiration to others!

Certificate number: 24

The author above wrote this WYSEguidance post as one of the certification requirements to become certified by Break Diving, Inc. for a dive completed. Would you also like to find greater success, happiness, and friendship, and make genuine supportive connections with others around the world pursuing your same dreams? Come join us at Break Diving and soon your story will be the next one you read about on this site!

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