Introduction

 Welcome to my blog!

I swore that I wasn't going to start this off with a corny introduction post to who I am and what this blog is gonna be about, but hey, I guess we're actually doing this!

I've been running a YouTube Channel called "Let's Discuss with Eliza" for a little over two years now. While the focus is political and social commentary, I kind of considered it my little escape. The goal was really self expression, not growth or gaining a huge following. Trust me-it definitely shows.

My goal was not to become a huge YouTube channel, but I have to admit that I did expect better results than this. I suck at thumbnails, so I kind of gave up. I don't think I've ever really mastered SEO. I'm more inclined to title my videos based on what I want the title to be as opposed to what might be more favored by the algorithm. The point is, I really don't have much room to complain about my lack of growth when I haven't really been giving it the kind of effort that might actually get me better results.

But regardless of whether I have a huge channel or I'm happy with my creative outlet, I really did fall in love with making content. I enjoyed filming. Editing, not so much, but that's mostly because of how much I trip over my tongue in every single video. I enjoyed coming up with my own ideas and making those videos whenever I wanted to. It became a passion. And I realized that instead of focusing on that one channel, I wanted to devote my time to making more content that I love.

I still want my channel to grow. I'm not abandoning it, but I'm also open minded to the fact that there are so many ways to make and publish content today. And that is one of the main reasons I am starting this blog.

I used to just let myself be swamped with work. Whenever I was behind on content, that was the excuse. "Well, the bills have to get paid." "I can't miss work to pour time into something that doesn't bring in any money." And don't get me wrong. When you're broke and you're struggling, sometimes you really do have to prioritize putting your efforts into whatever is going to get you the money in your bank account that you need. Creating content doesn't just start bringing in money as soon as you start posting. It takes time to build a platform, gain an audience, monetize your content, learn how affiliate marketing works, etc.

At the same time, life is short. Most of my life I have worked 60 hours a week or more at jobs that don't pay well and take so much more than they give. It just doesn't make sense to be exhausting myself for things that don't pay off.

Now I work four days a week at a regular "job". I devote two days to creating content, leaving a little time for gig work if I'm really falling behind on bills, and one day to just relax. Of course, I don't usually relax as much as I probably should on my day off, but I'll save that for another post. Hopefully, I'll be able to make those content creating days most of the week. I just don't really care about devoting my days to a job. 

So what am I doing on those content creation days?

Well, my main YouTube channel is the priority, flailing as it may be. I've thought of moving that content to another platform that seemed interesting, but apparently you have to actually be somebody to make content for their platform. So...I guess that's out, then. 

Anyway, I upload to that channel on Sundays and Mondays. And of course, I'll publish more when I can. Since my schedule allows me more time for making videos, I don't want to waste it. If I spent the entire day just filming every Sunday, I'd have enough videos saved to be ahead of the game by months at a time, but quality matters too. And in that department, I have to admit that there is a lot of room for improvement. My focus is political and social commentary. It's perfectly fine for videos to be filled with my own personal opinions and point of view. That's kind of the point, but when I hardly ever include any actual facts or sources because I was more focused on getting a video out rather than investing time to do any research for that video, that's a problem. 

Clearly, I'm aware of several issues with my channel. And I want to fix those things. So...what else am I doing?

I have two other channels, one for movie reviews (Eliza's Media Hot Takes) and one for planning (Planning with Eliza). Those channels currently have no upload schedule. And for right now that's perfect. 

And then there's this blog. One of the reasons that I get so behind on content is because I constantly have new ideas. If time wasn't an issue, I could probably publish 25 videos a week. At least. However, not every single issue I want to talk about needs to be a video. I think blogging is going to fit into my weekly activities quite nicely. In fact, I'm really looking forward to it.