Afraid to Start YouTube? Why You Need to Embrace the Cringe

If the thought of starting a YouTube channel makes you cringe a little, I have some good news for you: that feeling is completely normal.

In fact, after working with more than 2,000 creators over the past eight-plus years, I’ve become convinced that being willing to look a little awkward is practically a prerequisite for becoming successful on YouTube.

I’ve watched talented, intelligent women hesitate to start channels because they’re worried about what their friends will think, how they’ll look on camera, or whether someone from high school will stumble across their video and wonder what on earth they’re doing.

My advice? Embrace the cringe. Because the awkward beginner phase you’re trying so desperately to avoid is usually the exact phase you need to go through to become the creator you want to be.

Every Successful Creator Was Once a Beginner

This idea was recently reinforced for me when I came across a post from entrepreneur and YouTuber Alex Becker. He had found one of his videos from 14 years ago, when he was broke, living in a $200-a-month bedroom, and talking online about his new SEO blog.

Looking back, he found the video incredibly cringey. But he also recognized that being willing to make that video—and all the imperfect things that followed—was part of what eventually allowed him to become successful.

That’s the part we tend to forget when we look at successful people online. We’re seeing them after they’ve spent years developing their skills, confidence, and expertise. We don’t always see the awkward first videos, failed ideas, bad lighting, uncomfortable camera presence, or projects that went absolutely nowhere. But those moments happened.

Why Starting a YouTube Channel Feels So Scary

Learning any new skill requires being bad at it before you become good at it. The difference with YouTube is that you’re learning in public. When you learn how to drive, only a handful of people witness you making mistakes. When you start a YouTube channel, your learning process suddenly has the potential to be seen by hundreds or thousands of people. That can make every mistake feel much bigger than it actually is.

I’ve had clients who were genuinely terrified that friends or family members would discover their channels. One client even kept hers a secret because she was so worried about what her family would think, only for someone to eventually find it and confront her about it.

It’s uncomfortable, but I’ve learned that if you’re going to build something meaningful online, you eventually have to become comfortable with the possibility that someone won’t understand what you’re doing.

You Can’t Build Your Dreams Around Other People’s Opinions

Putting yourself online teaches you very quickly that you can’t control how everyone responds to you. Someone may think your videos are silly. Someone may judge your business idea. Someone may roll their eyes when you start talking about becoming a YouTuber. Let them.

The people who successfully build businesses and personal brands online aren’t necessarily people who never feel embarrassed or insecure. They’re the people who decide their goals matter more than someone else’s opinion. That’s a skill you develop by practicing it. Every time you publish despite feeling nervous, you’re building that muscle.

Your First YouTube Videos Probably Won’t Be Good

When someone asks me how they can start YouTube without looking stupid, my answer is simple: you probably can’t. Your first videos might be awkward. You may talk differently on camera than you do in real life. Your editing might be strange, your thumbnails might not be great, and you may look back at those videos two years from now and wonder what you were thinking. That’s actually a good thing. If you cringe at your old content, it means you’ve grown enough to recognize how much better you’ve become.

I’ve seen the early videos from countless successful creators, including my own clients, and almost everyone’s first videos are rough compared to what they’re producing today. They didn’t become good and then start creating. They started creating, and that’s how they became good.

I’ve Had Plenty of Cringe Moments Too

I’ve experienced this throughout my own journey building a YouTube coaching business. I’ve had YouTube videos that barely got views. I’ve had launches that didn’t perform the way I hoped. I’ve tried things that didn’t work and put plenty of effort into ideas that, looking back, weren’t particularly great.

Some of those moments are uncomfortable to revisit, but without them, I also wouldn’t have experienced the successful launches and business growth that came later. The successes weren’t separate from the failures. They were built on top of them.

After nearly a decade working in this industry, I’ve also realized that the cringe never entirely disappears. Every time you reach for a new level, you’re stepping into unfamiliar territory again. You become a beginner in a new way.

Your Cringe Era Is Part of the Process

If you’ve been putting off starting a YouTube channel because you’re worried about what people will think, stop waiting until you magically feel confident enough to begin. Confidence usually comes after you’ve done the scary thing—not before.

Film the awkward video. Publish the imperfect content. Experiment with your delivery. Learn what works and what doesn’t. Give yourself permission to be a beginner long enough to actually become good.

One day, you may look back at those first videos and cringe, but I hope you’ll also feel incredibly grateful for the version of yourself who was brave enough to make them. Because without the cringe, you never tried. And without trying, you never gave yourself the opportunity to become the person you wanted to be in the first place.

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