How a 360 camera channel reached 54K subscribers & 7.5M views

Eat Sleep 360 is a 54K+ subscriber YouTube channel focused on making 360 cameras/photography simple for everyone. 

Why did you start this YouTube channel?

In Christmas 2018, I bought a 360 camera during a slow period at work [as a freelance cameraman]. Since 360 cameras were new to me at the time, I bought a course by Ben Claremont; and in his course, he was encouraging people to start a YouTube channel. 

Back then, 360 cameras were an emerging technology; there was a big learning curve to them and I thought I could break it all down and keep it simple for beginners.

I'd spent 20 years behind the camera and during quiet times with no work I'd always waste time distracting myself with business ideas that were totally unrelated to me/my industry. It seemed like a good opportunity for me to take a big leap and start a business related to what I do while helping others.

How did you get started?

I had all the gear because I was a cameraman; I had a Sony FS7 and a Sony ZV1 and was using Premiere Pro to edit and Canva to make thumbnails. 

I chose to niche down and do videos on 360 cameras for beginners. I chose six videos I wanted to make. I looked for inspiration from other channels and wrote talking points for each video.

If you look back at some of my earlier videos you wouldn't think I was a professional cameraman. They weren’t lit very well, the audio was just okay. I was focused so much on making the leap to being in front of the camera that, all of a sudden, I neglected my technical skills.

Initially, I watched a lot of Think Media's stuff on YouTube and they said to raise your personality a little bit to give yourself a little bit more energy. Then, you tweak it from there to find the natural level of energy that is you and your personality.

How did you grow your channel to where you are currently?  

First 10 subscribers

I had friends and family subscribe to the channel and that probably made up the first fifteen subscribers. 

But I don't recommend that anyone does that. You want true fans subscribing and watching your stuff so that YouTube knows that your subscribers are interested in what you're producing. Otherwise, you just get a group of people that aren't interested in the stuff that you make. 

First 100 subscribers (3 months)

It was a long three months. 

I intended to do one video every week and I stuck to that. My niche didn't have that much competition which I think helped. The other thing I did was build up an Instagram at the same time. Then, in my stories, I would cross-promote my channel so there was this constant cross-promotion going on.

First 1,000 subscribers (10 months)

I was still producing one video every week. I was constantly engaging with my viewers and still had the cross-promotion between Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

From the start, I consistently tried to improve one thing in every video. It could’ve been the title, the thumbnail, improving the hook, refining the content or finding ways to get more viewer attention. Over time, my videos inevitably got better. 

I also immersed myself in the YouTube world; I would be constantly consuming podcasts, videos and books on YouTube; anything to keep my mind focused on improving my content. A lot of information gets repeated but you need repetition for it to sink in and make it stick. 

Every few months, I would try and look at my channel objectively through the eyes of my subscribers. What is their experience when they visit my channel? Where are they led? What video do they watch first? What do they know about me and my core message? And I would then tweak and make improvements. I wanted to solve their problems.

But the key that was essential to my growth was keeping things simple. My viewers recognised that they could come to my channel and get the honesty and information they needed.

First 10,000 subscribers (18 months)

In February 2020, because of COVID lockdowns, I lost about 50 grand worth of freelance work. So then I thought “Okay, I'm just going to focus on my YouTube channel” and it just became my job to grow my channel.

I made a video of me shaving using a 360 camera that got like 100,000 views in 12 hours on social media. That definitely drew a lot of attention/subscribers to my channel. As a result of that video, I built a relationship with Insta360 and they were sending me more stuff to review (which meant I could put out more review videos).

I was also becoming more of an authority figure on 360 cameras because I’d been around that little bit longer.

What’s key is that I didn’t get distracted and kept on going. I didn’t make videos on my new puppy or politics; I stuck to my niche. 

How does your channel make money?

AdSense is a great milestone but it’s more about proving a concept than earning a great income. You don’t get paid a lot by Google and most creators agree.

With affiliate marketing, I’ll put a link in the description of any products I talk about in my videos. But it’s important that you don’t spam your subscribers; only put relevant links.

Courses are something I've only recently started. Within 12-18 months, I think courses will be the main income of the channel. I've started up an academy called the Eat Sleep 360 Academy where there’s free content as well as a beginner, intermediate and advanced course on filming with 360 cameras.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. All of my income sources rely on other people’s sites (like Amazon, sponsors and AdSense). So having my own newsletter and course is important.

With sponsorships, I’m waiting for bigger deals to come along while being wary of being a prisoner of sponsorships. I’ve done sponsorships in the past that I’ve regretted.

I’ve created this YouTube channel I’m in control of where I can do whatever I want. Then all of a sudden, I’ve got someone saying “Right, when’s this going to be done? I want this done by this day”.

What are the key lessons you’ve learned from your journey?

💰 Think about how to structure your YouTube channel to earn money early on. Most of us need money. And more money means you can keep making better content for your audience. Think of ways to monetize outside of YouTube (like affiliate marketing, products, courses etc).

🤳 Anyone can start a YouTube channel. You don't have to be this special, extroverted person who's good in front of the camera. There is an audience for everyone and someone will be interested In what you say, how you say it and your personality. 

You just have to press record and trust that there’s an audience out there for you and they will like you for who you are.

📈 Don't chase the views and don't try and create a viral video. When that video goes viral, no one's gonna come knocking at your door giving you $100K a year contracts. You'll make the video go viral and then the next day you'll be sat at your desk and you've got to make the next video.

You need to have a bigger plan beyond the viral video unless you’re MrBeast. When I started, I planned to only start making money after three years 

🙅 Learn to say no (especially to free stuff or making videos for others). No is such a powerful word. It’s so exciting when somebody's like “Oh we've got a free tripod/camera/gimbal for you”, but then the video you have to make on it could take a week of your time.

Where can we find out more about you? And is there anything else you’d like to add?

I've started an EatSleep360 Academy; at the moment, it's only got around an hour of content which quickly gets people up and running with their 360 cameras but I'm working on additional courses.

If you do one of my courses, you’ll get access to my private Facebook community as well. For all my free stuff, check out my YouTube channel and my newsletter as well.