Yesterday I published a personal update video. It’s partly to celebrate the recent milestones and also to share some thoughts moving forward.
Still I always feel quite nervous when putting things like that out.

In July the channel really picked up momentum and after months of focusing on nothing else the efforts are finally compounding. Let me expand on that below.

💛 Valentin

Orbit - Where it’s at and where it’s going

Let’s be honest. I’ve seen this type of video floating around and doing quite well for small channels, but I’m also reluctant to straight-up copy trends like this. It’s too early to call it yet, but it’s the first video that got comments immediately after publishing. So, there must be something about it.

I actually recorded it a few weeks back to have a video buffer as I start working on what's next. So there are also a few highlights I didn’t share in it.

In the last 30 days, the channel has gotten more views and new subscribers than ever. It’s been incredibly satisfying to see that the conversations with Louise and Alex both got 1,000 views within the first weekend and are still growing.

It really proves to me that people are excited to see conversations with creators who are relatable and don’t have millions in revenue or subscribers.

Belief it or not but I also got invited to speak at a conference this fall, which is a huge milestone.

But of course, everything will be different in August because the next few videos have all been recorded in person. This might not sound like a huge difference to you, but it presents a much bigger challenge in production than the remote conversations.

Because of that, I’m very likely to double down on conversations recorded remotely. Before making this commitment, I’d love to hear your perspective on it. Do you prefer one over the other? Do you even notice? I’d love to know.

Finally, there are a few other things on the horizon:

• At least one more meetup this year, probably in Barcelona.

• Creating valuable resources for creators like you—something that genuinely can make you a better creator.

• Our online creator community: a big reason for starting Orbit was to create a communal space where creators can get good feedback, find collaborators, and make friends. But …

I’m extremely scared to screw this up, which is why I’ve been procrastinating on it. So, I’ve dedicated September to making some fundamental steps forward on it.

If you want to help me shape the community or any of the above, I’d love to hear from you.

…

The Creator Business Playbook

If you want a free masterclass on starting a channel, this is it. Colin and Samir talk about how they would go about starting a YouTube channel from scratch. There's a lot of really insightful advice, but it is also heavily skewed towards starting a channel that can scale into a business.

Following all the steps they lay out can help you build a robust channel, and I’ve taken similar steps when starting Orbit. However, if you are at the very start, it might simply overwhelm you with research and planning.

If your ideal channel is based around sharing a passion, documenting the journey, or just making videos because it’s fun, the best thing is still to just start without comparing yourself to what is currently working.

…

Living The iPod Life

Digging the Greats has been a channel about music and what makes it great. As an experiment, Brandon, the guy behind it, started using a 20-year-old iPod to listen to music more intentionally. In the process, he began to completely unbundle his phone.

By using a digital disposable camera, physical notebooks, and even a typewriter, he rediscovered a world that is much less connected but allows for much more intentional time spent.

He documented the whole journey in a four-part series. If you have some time this weekend, I’d highly recommend you watch it to gain a bit of perspective on our digital dependencies. If all you have is 20 minutes, you can go straight to the final episode, as it summarizes most of it. The series' blend of multiple styles is very bingeable. Following it for the last few weeks actually inspired me to take all the social apps off my phone for August.

I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve ever done that.

Fun stuff to click on

Watch

MKBHD finally shares his FBI Story

Linus Boman does a design analysis of brat summer

Max Joseph creates another happiness entry

Digital Spaghetti looks behind the scenes with Beau Miles

Updates

Bernardo Bacalau shares a Life Update

Simone Giertz talks openly about her product business

Laura Kampf reveals the future of her channel

Eva zu Beck bought land

Listen

My MTV Summer playlist brings you back to the 2000s

Uppbeat adds Shuko Lo-Fi beats

Read

PewDiePie started a paid newsletter

Try

Riverside helped me create shorts in seconds*

Gling cut my editing time in half this week

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Who’s behind  this?