{"id":5876,"date":"2023-11-24T12:55:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T07:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/?p=5876"},"modified":"2023-11-24T12:58:30","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T07:28:30","slug":"how-ali-abdaal-gained-over-4m-subscribers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/how-ali-abdaal-gained-over-4m-subscribers\/","title":{"rendered":"How This YouTuber Gained Over 4M Subscribers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Ali Abdaal kicked off his YouTube journey in 2017, he focused on helping medical students ace their exams. He has since evolved from a medical student to a content creator, gaining millions of followers. Today, he&#8217;s the go-to guy for all things productivity on YouTube, sharing insights on productivity, education, and lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His secret? A strategic mindset, dedication, and taking calculated risks in content creation. He shows passion, consistency, and a unique style that sets him apart, making his YouTube journey inspiring to upcoming creators. Here\u2019s a breakdown of the lessons and insights from his 6-year YouTube journey:<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>From Medicine to Full-time YouTuber<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali <a href=\"https:\/\/aliabdaal.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">began his journey<\/a> by sharing tips and insights drawn from his medical background. He started with advice on medicine and studying, and only after building a solid following and having a secure backup plan in place, he took the plunge into full-time content creation\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Why I Left Medicine... Forever\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mZOVLrLXKCE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Three Stages of YouTube Journey:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali breaks down the YouTube journey into three key phases:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Get Going:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This stage is all about taking that leap and getting your channel off the ground. He emphasizes the need to push past that hesitation at the beginning and just dive into creating content.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Get Good:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As time goes on, you should shift your focus to levelling up your content game and building your audience. This is when you start moving from being a newbie to gaining new content creation skills.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Get Smart:<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Finally, you should narrow your focus, find your niche, and devise strategies to make your channel successful. He emphasizes the importance of having a clear direction and smart strategies for long-term growth and success.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"If I Started a YouTube Channel in 2024, I&#039;d Do This\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T2M9hSswlIs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Taking it Step-by-Step<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting a channel can be overwhelming. So, Ali recommends breaking it down into doable steps. He suggests finding your \u201careas of improvement\u201d throughout your YouTube Journey. For example, the first step could be posting a video without worrying about perfection. Then, you can move on to boosting camera confidence. Once you&#8217;ve achieved that, the next area could be refining your editing skills, and so on. This makes the process less daunting.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Quantity over Quality- At the Start<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali believes that Quantity leads to Quality, especially at the start of any YouTube journey. According to him, focusing on quality can lead to perfectionism, thus slowing creators down. However, focusing on Quantity can help you focus on getting started and get your name out there. Ali, himself saw traffic success after a few of his many videos went viral.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By uploading an imperfect video every week, creators can overcome their fears of imperfection, camera shyness, or troubles of getting started. However, once you\u2019ve overcome these beginner hurdles, you can slow down and create videos at your own comfortable pace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Parable of the Pottery Class #shorts\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fDm1KLlQ4wM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Finding \u201cThe Unfair Advantage\u201d<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali talks about finding \u2018the unfair advantage\u2019 to grow a YouTube Channel. An unfair advantage means finding out what makes you stand out in the competitive YouTube space. His unfair advantage was that he was a Cambridge Medical student and thus had carved out a small niche for himself in the educational YouTube sphere.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"What Makes People Successful?\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RGbCR_pq4_A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Strategic Title and Thumbnail Planning<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali learns from his mistakes. Reflecting on his own journey, he suggests pre-planning video titles and thumbnails before the creation of the video, well before hitting that upload button.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His winning strategy also includes colourful and eye-catching thumbnails, paired with titles, which pose a problem and offer a solution. He also sprinkles important SEO keywords that align with his audience&#8217;s search interests:<\/span><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5880\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/24123950\/ALI-ABDAAL-300x220.png\" alt=\"Ali Abdaal\" width=\"1004\" height=\"737\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/24123950\/ALI-ABDAAL-300x220.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/24123950\/ALI-ABDAAL-1024x752.png 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/24123950\/ALI-ABDAAL-768x564.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/24123950\/ALI-ABDAAL.png 1074w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1004px) 100vw, 1004px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Focus on the First 30 seconds<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali knows the importance of hooking viewers in the first 30 seconds of his videos. He starts off by narrating interesting facts or engaging stories that instantly grab the audience&#8217;s attention. He addresses a problem and makes struggles seem relatable right from the start. He then introduces several solutions to tackle the problem, keeping his videos structured and audience-focused throughout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Invest for Beginners (2024)\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lNdOtlpmH5U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">\n<h6><strong>Don\u2019t Worry about the Numbers<\/strong><\/h6>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ali advises on improving yourself as a creator first rather than focusing on numbers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He suggests making videos without caring about the numbers. Ask yourself- What video would you make if the numbers didn\u2019t matter? How would you improve for yourself, rather than the audience? This is the key basis that helps upcoming creators get started and improve on their journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How I approach growth and numbers \ud83d\udcc8\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pGFUW8AGrnQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, Ali Abdaal\u2019s passion, dedication and persistence in creating YouTube videos led to him earning over 4 Million Subscribers. Besides hitting this milestone, he\u2019s also expanded his YouTube business by making Podcasts, started a YouTube course to help upcoming creators grow and even penned a book on productivity.\u00a0 His growth mindset helped him improve throughout and keeps inspiring upcoming creators to kickstart their YouTube journey!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><i>Want to Grow your Channel? Start here:<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\"><i>www.flintzy.com<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Ali Abdaal kicked off his YouTube journey in 2017, he focused on helping medical students ace their exams. He has since evolved from a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[1457,1458,1459],"class_list":["post-5876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-youtuber","tag-ali-abdaal","tag-ali-abdaal-youtube","tag-how-ali-abdaal-gained-4-million-subscribers"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5876"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5885,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5876\/revisions\/5885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flintzy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}