My YouTube journey So Far

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to update you all on how my first 2 weeks almost 3 weeks of being live on my YouTube channel.
First off there is a lot to remember when filming. The first and most important is to research what you are planning to film. How is this video going to help people? I get all of this part.
I have been doing a lot of research on creating a YouTube channel and how to try and do everything that is involved, to get people to watch, to stand out and how to make videos that rank, it's all kind of the principles we follow for our websites here at WA.
My first couple tries at making a video. I had the microphone off when I really wanted it on and on when I really wanted it off.
I forgot the SD card another time, and challenges when using my iPhone 11, when trying to import to my editing software.
The iPhone 11 has issues. When I look up the troubleshooting, it states I need to retrieve the video from the icloud. The issue is the video hadn't sent to the icloud yet and when I would try to download from my phone it would error out. This is quite time consuming and after more investigation this is found to be a known issue that Apple hasn't fixed. Eventually I was able to get the video to download after several hours of trying on and off.
Well in my research since I am new to YouTube, I found it is recommended to do short videos, 15 minutes or less. None of my videos are over 14 minutes. My shortest video was my very first video which was 3:47 minutes and the most watched so far with 49 views. Two of the 5 videos I just published today, to be fair, they haven't been out long.
My plan is to do 5 minute videos or less right now. I think I could do 2 a week if they are that short. I also decided to coincide with my website too. Do videos that I have already blogged about on my website since my research is already done. When I have done all of those then what I post on my website will also be on my channel to help with the amount of research.

The other challenge I am facing is so called friends asking what authority do I have doing any of this? I feel anyone who studies a subject with the right tools can be an authority in anything, right? Even a doctor is practicing, right? I am just ignoring those comments.

So far in my almost 3 weeks I have 12 subscribers, 5 Videos, 4 hours of watch time and my channel has 90 views.My Channel is kind of showing a heartbeat!

For people still on the fence about starting a YouTube channel, the biggest thing is to just get started, even if you're not ready, is what I am learning from my research! Your first few videos are not going to be your best. Each one strive to do better.

My Gardening website is still priority but hoping my YouTube channel and website complement each other.

I am doing all of this after working my 40 hour a week job that currently pays for me to do all of this and be part of this community It will be 4 months on May 11th 2021 that I started this journey. I am really enjoying posting on my website and now creating YouTube videos.

Who woulda thunk?

I sure didn't see myself doing any of this before January 11th 2021 and hoping to turning this into my retirement career and income within a couple years. I am tired of doing my current job but it pays very well. My website isn't producing any income yet, but I am told it's still too early!

I hope I can encourage anyone still wondering if they should start a YouTube channel, the answer is yes! YouTube has increased viewers over 66%, I have recently learned and no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

Cheers!

Chris