Weekly Growth Report - Sunday, August 20th 2023

Greg Swan
August 20, 2023 • Estimated Time Loss: 4 minutes

In the spirit of building in public, these weekly reports are my personal entry on what I've created, channel growth, and learnings.

Weekly Learnings

OK, to say I've learned a ton in the last two weeks would be a massive understatement.

I recorded and published my first-ever YouTube video (yay!)
I created my first-ever social cuts from said longer form video (yay!)
I learned how to use MidJourney to create some pretty cool illustrations
I completed a full content production/distribution workflow of
- Blog/newsletter post ➝ YouTube video ➝ social videos (TikTok, Twitter, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels)
Launched the remaining of the social channels
Got my first subscribes/follows on new channels!

Recording and editing my first video

Recording my first and (then second) video was probably the most challenging thing I've done in a long time. It gave me a whole new respect (and lens) for creators and the content that we casually consume on a daily basis.

For example, speaking into a camera, maintaining eye contact, and trying to not being awkward was incredibly hard for me. I think I took like 4 hours of shots for what ended up being a 5-minute video (really). BUT I GOT IT DONE.

Editing is probably the second hardest thing. I probably spent the same amount of time learning transitions, animations, tinkering with layer elements... BUT I GOT IT DONE.

Was it perfect? Noooo way. BUT I GOT IT DONE.

The principle that's guiding me here is the same "Core Value" that's part of my company (ClickUp -- my full-time job)'s DNA -- that's PROGRESS TOWARDS PERFECTION.

It doesn't need to be perfect. To hell with perfection, it never comes anyways. I just need to ship the MVP (minimum viable product) and move on. That's how you make progress.

So that's what I did this week. And I'm damn proud of myself for seeing it through!

A wrap-up of my learnings:

Video recording (Descript)
- Camera positioning
- Lighting
- Mic positioning
- Eye contact
- Speak loud and clear
- Use inflection
- Vary tone and length of sentences
- Try to not be awkward
- Pretend you're talking to a friend
- Show energy (even on your 10th take)

Video editing (Descript)
- Background layers
- Foreground layers
- Adding in Gifs/Images/Slides
- Animations in and out
- Fade in and out
- Timeline editing
- Script editing
- Studio sound effects

Creating video intros and outros (Canva + Descript)
- Used a Canva template
- Add blue overlay, formatting, copyedits, color transparency
- Export to Descript
- Add audio
- Add fade in/out

Exporting/Publishing (Descript)
- Publish to cloud (weblink) - not local (faster, better quality)
- Download ➝ publish to YT/other channel

Creating social cuts (Vidyo.ai + Descript)
- Descript
  - Highlight copy a selected script/scene ➝ duplicate to new composition
  - Change from landscape to portrait format (important)
  - Remove any layers not necessary for social cut or not fully visible
  - Add new layers for social cut (gifs, memes, images)
  - Export composition as web link
  - Download to local drive
- Vidyo.ai
  - Import social clip
  - Select template
  - Add annotations
  - Add slide(s) at timestamp (s)
  - Add emojis
  - Add channel logos (website, YT, Twitter)

Blog/web images (MidJourney)
- Use Discord
- Type /imagine
- Prompt engineering
- I now have a prompt template and library for the style of images I want to create