Beauty YouTuber Abbey Yung Shares the Burnout and Struggle with “Making It” on YouTube.: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 316
“Be open to trying new things, because you never know what people are going to enjoy the most from you.”
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And… we’re back! Welcome to the new season of the YouTube Power Hour. We’re kicking it off with Abbey Yung!
Abbey Yung is a beauty content creator on YouTube, TikTok + Instagram. No beauty topic is off limits on her platforms… she loves sharing haircare, skincare, makeup + bodycare secrets and reviews. Abbey has always had a passion for both beauty and YouTube, and finally decided to take her shot at becoming a YouTuber in 2020. She built her channel while working a full time corporate job in the business world, and was able to leave that job to become a full time creator in the spring of 2021.
Abbey filmed her first YouTube video at the age of 18 in her college dorm room: an eyeshadow tutorial. At that point, Abbey was really self-conscious and worried a lot about what other people thought about her. WHen she heard that people were finding her videos, she was so mortified that she actually quit YouTube! She went back and tried again during her senior year, but once again, her insecurities got the best of her and she quit. After college, Abbey started working at a corporate job, but she was feeling unfulfilled. YouTube was still calling to her, so she decided to give it one more try. After all… third time’s a charm, right? This time, she decided she didn’t care about what people thought about her and so she tried all the things: YouTube, podcasting, blogging, you name it! Abbey had her personal training certification and the majority of her content centered around health and fitness, but she still wasn’t getting the results she wanted. By 2020, she jumped headfirst into YouTube and channeled all of her energy into the platform. After jumping around and experimenting with her content, she decided to put the health and fitness content aside and settle into the beauty sphere, where she was getting the most views
“I’ve alway kind of been an all in or nothing type of person, and when I started to see a little bit of momentum on my YouTube channel, it made me want to go all in on it.”
For a long time, Abbey was still working full time in her corporate job while growing her channel, and for a year and a half, it was truly non-stop. She would film on the weekends, get up early before work to work on her videos, bring her laptop to work and edit on her lunch break, and then continue to work on her channel when she got home from work. At one point, she was posting 3-5 videos a week while working a full-time corporate job! This kind of life was exhausting and not at all sustainable. She realized that most viewers don’t watch that many videos in a week anyway, so she dropped back down to 3 videos per week. She continued to experiment with her content, from skincare to hair, revamping her content consistently and trying new, inventive, fresh ways to deliver it. Abbey experienced a steady, consistent growth and to date, hasn’t really experienced a viral hit just yet. Right now, it’s her hair care videos that seem to be performing the best, but Abbey incorporates all aspects of beauty into her videos and she loves to research and educate herself on hair and skincare, which her viewers really seem to appreciate.
In April 2021, Abbey quit her corporate job completely to focus on being a full-time content creator. She was exhausted and burned out by trying to commit fully to both, and it got to the point where she was so passionate about YouTube that she felt that the hours she spent at work were wasted, and that she could get better results on her channel if she stepped away from her job entirely. It was stressful and scary for her to step away from a consistent, stable salary and into the unknown, but as luck would have it, she hit 100k subscribers the same day she gave her notice. Talk about fate! Abbey is now creeping up on 200k subscribers and has over double that on TikTok. She’s a go-getter and tends to go all in to whatever she’s doing, so she still struggles with not working around the clock, but she’s getting there! She credits her drive, determination, and self-motivation to getting her to where she is today.
“I realized as time went on, I was trying to put my energy into too many things, and YouTube was always what I was most passionate about.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways:
- Don’t be afraid to experiment. Abbey played around with many different kinds of content, and continues to do so. You never know what might get the best response from viewers!
- Go big or go home. YouTube is NOT for the faint of heart. Abbey’s commitment to her passion for YouTube is what contributed to her success. She put in the work, even when it got tough. It takes a lot of self-motivation and drive to do what it takes to “make it” on YouTube.
- Don’t try to do it all. At the beginning of Abbey’s journey as a content creator, she was trying to do it all, but realized that it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t even like blogging, she never read other people’s blogs, so why bother with a blog? She now focuses solely on YouTube and TikTok. While YouTube takes up a lot more of her time, TikTok is, proportionally, more financially lucrative for her. She’s found that sweet spot of how to divide her time between the platforms that make the most sense for her, which I think is really, really smart.
Mentioned in the Episode:
Cerave Skincare Collection + Review | What Should You Buy? Drugstore cleansers, moisturizers, serums
TikTok Mashup 2021 | Skincare Edition! Skincare products + Hacks TikTok Mashup
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Connect with Abbey:
Resources
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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
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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!
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