Can You be Authentically Yourself on YouTube with Elle Leary: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 215
“There is enough room for everybody to do what they want in this world.”
Be sure to check out my FREE eBook: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic! This 32 page guide will walk you through how to create content during a global crisis PLUS it includes over 75 YouTube video ideas that you can use TODAY to grow your channel!
Elle Leary has been a professional makeup artist for the last decade, primarily working with celebrity clients and high-end beauty brands. She has worked for publications such as Teen Vogue, InStyle, Harper’s Bazaar Marie Claire, and Chloe, for brands such as Benefit Cosmetics, CoverGirl, Revlon, Merle Norman and Colorescience to name a few, and with celebrities including Holland Roden, Debby Ryan, Vince Vaughn, Cher Lloyd and Emily Mortimer. Because of her love for empowering and inspiring women to be the best versions of themselves they can be, she enjoys sharing inspirational quotes and tips with her audience, through photo & short video vignettes on Instagram, and longer in-depth videos on YouTube, that are both attainable and also things that the average woman can aspire to achieve.
Elle started her YouTube Channel about 8 years ago after 14 years as a professional makeup artist because she wanted to connect with people on a deeper, more human level. About two years ago, she completely embraced her age and who she was and her channel totally took off. Elle now uploads 4-5 videos a week (about 30-50 hours a week of work) while still working as a makeup artist and esthetician and juggling her daughter’s illness. So HOW does she find ideas for all that content? She asks her facebook group, looks in the comments, asks friends and family, and even updates old content with new products. Her facebook group has become a safe place for people to connect with others and feel empowered. Her group has over 1200 members, and they call themselves the Elle Squad.
“People are really hurting, and they just want to be heard. They just want to feel like they’re like everybody else, and that their struggles are just as important as everyone else’s struggles.”
Elle’s niche is #beautyover30. Her channel caters to people over the age of 30-35 who are feeling left out, and who are over the saturated, overdone makeup looks. Her audience wants something wearable, and they want someone with real-world experience to teach them how to achieve these looks. Elle believes that YouTube and beauty communities need to be more inclusive and supportive of all ages, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, and that it’s unacceptable to leave out the age demographic that actually has the disposable income to buy the products. But what really distinguishes Elle apart from others is that she shares a lot of her personal journey with depression, self-image, and her daughter’s epilepsy. She found she was tired of being inundated with people with the seemingly perfect life and perfect bodies. She was tired of only seeing the perfected side of life (especially motherhood), and she wanted her audience to feel like they weren’t alone. Her authenticity is well-received, and she continues to get feedback on it, even from older videos. Her transparency has helped her audience to relate to her on a different level.
“Do what makes you happy, what fills your soul, and just forget about the rest.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- Know when to delegate. Being self-admittedly type A, Elle prefers to do most of the work on her channel herself but is learning to outsource more. Every good entrepreneur knows their strengths and knows when to outsource when something is not their strength. You have to learn to delegate, especially when you scale.
- Be yourself and be authentic. Sometimes with YouTube, you just never know what will blow up and what will flop. Just be authentically yourself and make what you want to make. Don’t feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing. Shut everything out and just do what you want to do.
- Focus on what you can control. When Elle looks at her stats, she only pays attention to the things she can control. She can’t control her subscriber count or her ad revenue, but she can pay attention to her watch time, where her viewers come from, and her click-through rate. That helps her focus on where to channel her energy.
Mentioned In This Episode
My FREE 32 Page eBook: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Elle’s Videos:
How-To: 3 Easy Hairstyles for Busy Moms
Connect with Elle Leary:
Elle Leary’s Brush Roll Line: Hardwear Beauty
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
FACEBOOK GROUP
Podcast Music Credit: Boop by x50 @x50music
Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs youtu.be/o52xQkQWzyU
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**Disclaimers: all opinions are my own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in the description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the podcast at no extra cost.
