Inside The Life of a YouTube Doctor with OBGYN Mama Doctor Jones: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 291
“I think it’s important to just find something you enjoy doing, and if it gives back to the world, that’s a bonus as well.”
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Dr. Danielle Jones, known online as Mama Doctor Jones, is a board-certified ObGyn and online educator who has amassed a following of over 1 million across platforms. She is an expert in periods, pregnancy, and gynecologic health and is passionate about science education, autonomy, and patient-centered care. She’s been featured in the New York Times, on the cover of People Health, and is frequently featured as an expert by various news and media outlets.
Dr. Danielle Jones’s content creation journey started in 2009 as a first-year med student. She found that most people weren’t blogging their experiences in medicine. Through her blog, she really started connecting with people, hearing their stories, and their experiences helped shape her bedside manner. She then started creating content on Instagram, but at the time she couldn’t upload longer than 10 minutes of footage, and the content “died” after 48 hours. As a result, people were asking the same questions over and over, and it was frustrating for her. While on maternity leave, she looked up how to start a YouTube channel so she had a place to store her content and send people to when she did receive a lot of the same questions. Dr. Jones is the kind of person who, if she’s going to do something, she’s going to do it well, so she dove deep into researching YouTube and learning about the platform. She started uploading in January of 2019 at 3x a week. She managed that rigorous upload schedule for about 6 weeks, realized it was WAY too much, and then cut it down to uploading once a week.
“Get an understanding of the platform and how to create good, entertaining, educational content that fills the niche you’re trying to get into.”
Dr. Danielle Jones is a mother of 4, an OB-GYN, AND a content creator… how does she do it!? She has transitioned from private practice to a more flexible work schedule, her husband is very supportive, and YouTube is essentially her only hobby. That “hobby” is a full-time job in and of itself, and Dr. Jones estimates she spends at least 20 hours a week on her channel. She used to do everything herself, but now she outsources some of it to a small team. She gets content ideas from questions from her in-person patients, trending topics, and she also does a lot of reaction videos. As a doctor on YouTube, Dr. Jones focuses on educating a population, rather than specific people, which is an art to figure out how to do, but once you do it, people tend to really like it because the content is applicable to a larger audience. The reaction from colleagues and patients is a mixed bag, but mostly positive. As the doctor community on YouTube grows, Danielle says, “the more the merrier!” In fact, the YouTube medical community is pretty tight, and most of them are either friends in real life or talk a lot on the internet. Dr. Jones is passionate about gynecology and sharing her knowledge and insight, especially when so much of it is still such a “taboo” topic.
“I started YouTube because I loved it and it was a great way to share information I was passionate about. I think anytime you’re doing something that really means a lot to you, you just find time to do it.”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- If you love something, you will find the time. Dr. Jones has an incredibly busy life. Motherhood, YouTube, and medicine are ALL full-time jobs on their own, but she is so passionate about creating content to educate and help people, that she makes it happen.
- Do the research. Before she even started her channel, Dr. Jones researched the platform and studied successful YouTubers who were totally outside of her niche and not even really creating content she would watch on her own. Just because you have knowledge or expertise does not mean people will automatically watch you. You will have more luck building your presence on a platform if you take the time to understand how it works.
- Understand your community. WHO are you making videos for? What do they want? Before you throw out content into the void, you have to understand who you’re making it for and how to make it good, entertaining, and/or educational in a way that people will want to consume it.
Connect with Dr. Jones:
Mama Doctor Jones on Instagram
Resources
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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!
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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.SaveSave
