YouTube Channel 2020 Year in Review

Good riddance to 2020, by far the worst year of my life. As I write this, I have now gone over 3 months without personal contact (aside from grocery store cashiers and food delivery people).

The Creo Parametric YouTube channel surpassed the goals I had set one year ago. I set an ambitious goal for 10,000 subscribers and that was exceeded by 6%. I set a watch time goal of 3 million minutes and that was beaten by 1.29 million minutes.

There will be big changes for the channel and me in 2021. Last year I left my day job to focus on my consulting company just as the pandemic hit. Between the channel, my services partnership with TriStar, and the freelance work I've been doing, I'm actually in a better position than I expected. (That reaffirms to me that when it's time to grow, move on and work hard. Opportunities will present themselves. Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.)

I've been saying that I plan on ramping down the channel. I have currently created 582 videos for the channel. I always felt like 600 would be reasonable for the channel. I am not going to stop making videos but my output will decrease.

Since the focus of my business has shifted towards freelance work and business development, I will be shutting down other areas like Patreon and the merchandising outlet.

Ugh, the worst area with regards to the channel are the comments. I have said before that it is the worst part of running a channel. Anonymity breeds toxicity and entitlement. The more you give people, the more they want. People think because you are on YouTube, you don't deserve to receive compensation for the time and value that you provide. Yet 99% of those people would not show up to work on Monday morning if they companies they worked for announced they would no longer be compensated for their efforts.

Since the channel is ramping down, I am not setting any goals for 2021. But it's going to be an exciting year because I will have videos in areas that I have not addressed before, like Additive Manufacturing, Freeform Surfacing, Behavioral Modeling, Mold Design, and more.

Here's to 2021!