How To Grow On YouTube - From 0-1,000 Subscribers in 90 Days (How I Did It)

I grew from 0-1,000 subscribers on YouTube in 90 days, BUT I ignored most of the popular YouTube advice. I did not post twice a week, I did not pick a niche, and I did not just pull out my iPhone and start posting videos.

If you are also a new aspiring YouTuber, comment below, and we can connect!

In this article, I will share my 9-step YouTube strategy, which will hopefully be helpful if you are starting a YouTube channel, too.

Also, I will disclaim that my first 1000 YouTube subscribers were not the result of one video just popping off and going viral. I haven't been that lucky (yet, anyway!).

This post is all about how to grow on YouTube.

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So, like any other aspiring YouTuber on the internet, I have watched hundreds of YouTube videos about how to start a YouTube channel. My favourites include Ali Abdaal, Modern Millie, and Katie Steckly.

The main recurring pieces of advice are:

1. Just start (stop caring what people think)

2. Use the equipment that you already have (e.g., smartphone)

And I choose to ignore both of these statements. This brings me to Part 1 of my YouTube Strategy...

🎥 🎥 If you would prefer to watch/listen to this information, you can check out the YouTube video below!

Strategy 1: Treat YouTube As A Business Decision

YouTube is a LOT of work, and it's not something you just start for the fun of it (usually anyway!).

Any new start-up company or business does not start without doing a lot of research first. You would first need to see if there is a gap in the market, what the competitors are like if there is a way to make substantial money and profit and so on.

And I viewed YouTube like this: it was a very thorough, thought-through business decision. I did my research, and I figured out that:

(A) There was a gap for me to start a YouTube channel in the niche I wanted to.

(B) I could make a substantial profit from it, and the return on investment for both time and money could pay off.

Disclaimer: when I say time, I did and still do work full-time as a dietitian. However, I don't have children, parents that need caring or other big commitments in my life right now that might make starting something like this more challenging. So, instead of just starting on a whim to see if YouTube would work, I decided I was going all in.

So once I had made the decision to take YT seriously. I invested in it like you would with any start-up business or company. AND I invested TIME & MONEY.

My YouTube Story:

In October 2023, I published my first official YouTube video. However, what you won’t see is that back in April 2023 (so six months prior), I made the decision to start YouTube.

I was at a point where the fear of not starting was finally bigger than the fear of starting, and YouTube was something I always wanted to do. I just knew that if I didn't do it now, that in a couple of years, I may have kids, more family commitments, etc, and I'd never end up doing it.

So, in April, I made the decision. But I did not click publish until six months later.

Ultimately, it was a six-month period to invest time and money into the craft of YouTube:

Learning how the YouTube algorithm works
Researching and purchasing filming equipment
Learning how to use the filming equipment
Practicing the art of making videos

The goal was to build a system so that when my first video would go out I would thereafter be able to consistently post a YouTube video every week without burning out or quitting. Which I have done.

For me, YouTube did feel a bit embarrassing, and I just felt like starting and stopping would be even more embarrassing - so I wanted to make sure if I was doing it, I was doing it right.

Reflection: Someone was congratulating me on my success lately for growing 1,000 subs in such a short space of time, but on reflection, my response was, “Reaching 1000 subscribers” isn't an achievement. The achievement has been building a system to allow me to post one video every week since I started, giving me consistency without burning myself out, and a by-product of that has been reaching 1000 subscribers.

So the first point in my strategy is if you are going to do it - TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

Investing Financially

This may include investing financially (everyone has different financial circumstances).

But from the beginning, I did invest in a good camera, lighting and a lot of good gear. Because I knew I wanted to come across as very professional, as my YouTube channel is a professional representation of me. So if my videos are useless and potential clients look at them and think, "Oh, that's awful, I won't be emailing her". It doesn't help my situation. Now, I understand investing financially may not be reasonable for everyone. And it is a risk; most things in business are risky. But for me, it made sense, and as a business, sometimes you need to spend money to make money and take some risks.

Investing Time

The next investment is TIME, and that's just not debatable. No successful business is made overnight. And a successful YouTube channel is certainly not made overnight.

One of the biggest benefits of my process was giving myself time to make mistakes without pressure. So I was practising videos, making mistakes for a couple of months before I had ever put myself out there on the internet.

I remember my goal for April and May had been to simply learn and research, then June it was to make one video, July to make two, August to make three and September to make four, so I'd be ready for October.

And there were so many little obstacles that I had to face that you would never even think of. I had issues with SD cards and compatibility, and I didn't really understand that. Then, editing and losing files. I'm also colour-blind, and that has been an absolute nightmare for colour-correcting and using editing software. A lot of stressful moments that if I also had the stress of needing to have a video go live every week, I'd have probably cracked and given up.

So, by the time October came (my 30th birthday), not all of the videos I made were good enough to be put on the YouTube channel, but I did have a bank of 3-4 videos that were already ready to go live. So when I started, I was about four weeks ahead of myself, which was a lovely buffer in case anything cropped up or I needed just to take a week off.

Strategy 2: Always Provide VALUE

The next part of my strategy was to ALWAYS provide value. A business is an exchange, whether it's a physical product, a service or just simply entertainment, but you need to be providing something of value that others want. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT.

And I think…this is why my channel has been doing well. I see a lot of new YouTubers with way more videos than me, and they're not growing like I am. The difference is all my videos pack a lot of VALUE.

My channel is all educational content. I'm a registered healthcare professional, and everything I publish has really strong evidence-based information; there is a lot of time and effort put into the videos.

Now, you don't need to be an expert in something, but If your channel is simply lifestyle and vlogging, it's going to be a lot harder to grow on YouTube.

Strategy 3: MINDSET

The next part of my strategy, which is always overlooked, is Mindset. Starting any new business is tough, and you will need resilience.

YouTube is a long game, and it doesn't offer instant gratification like most other social media networks. It can require a lot of work with no reward for a while.

According to YouTube, 50 million people will start YT channels in 2024, but only 2% will make it to 10,000 subscribers.

And YouTube is a roller coaster of emotions. You can feel embarrassed, disheartened and then excited all in the same day. There will be many days when you will feel like quitting.

But I just kept telling myself that the only way I could fail at YouTube was if I was to quit.

Strategy 4: Have a Business Plan For Your YouTube Channel

The next part of my strategy is having a Business PLAN and understanding where YouTube sits in this.

As a dietitian, I did not learn anything about business in college, so I invested a lot of time and money into learning about it. But you need to know if your whole business is going to be YouTube or if the business model is that YouTube is a way of directing traffic to your website, or you want to sell something or attract clients and you sell a service, etc. But think about where YouTube sits and plan accordingly. Also, it might change over time. But this will help you set business and YouTube goals.

For me, YouTube is a branch of a bigger business, but to really get it off the ground, I decided I needed to post one high-quality long video a week in these beginning stages. I do think if you're trying to reach YouTube monetization and become a somewhat established channel, one video a week is a good target. Any less than that is still doable, but it will take longer to see results.

Strategy 5: Leverage Social Media

If you have any followers on social media, share your YouTube channel across these platforms. It can be embarrassing, but every little helps!

Strategy 6: Learn SEO For YouTube

Take time to learn SEO YOURSELF - don't pay someone to do it. SEO Is something you need to have a good grasp on if you're going to run an online business. Consider paying someone to teach you how to do SEO or take a course, but aim to become an SEO expert yourself. YouTube is a search engine, the second biggest after Google, and it's really valuable to understand how search engines work. I didn't do a lot of learning on this until after I had launched my channel, which was a mistake I made. I can look back now and see there were a few simple tweaks I could have made in the early days that I can no longer tweak.

After starting my YouTube channel, I then decided I wanted to build a blog and a website to go alongside my channel. This is a great idea for many Youtubers! This led me to learn how to code and build WordPress sites, and ultimately, it was only then that I really became an SEO expert. So if I could go back I would do that earlier on.

Strategy 7: Look for Low-Competition Video Topics

The next part of the strategy (which plays into smart SEO) is making videos about a topic that doesn't have a huge amount of competition on YouTube.

For example, I could make a video titled “How To Lose Weight”, and I would have to compete with thousands of other videos on this topic. But if you can find topics that are a bit more unique... for example, I made a video called “Diet and Haemochromatosis”, which most people won't have ever heard of. But there are very few other videos on the topic. So when you first publish the video, it may not do well as the majority of people won't have any interest in that. But over time, people who have the condition and are really searching for information on this will find it and be very invested and interested.

Strategy 8: Embrace Conflict and Controversial Topics:

The comment section on YouTube can be a very unfiltered space on the internet, particularly if you are talking about nutrition! So brace yourself here. But I do recommend allowing your comments to be switched on.

If you ever get a comment that you don't like, even though it might be upsetting, in some ways, it's still really good that people are commenting on your videos. All interaction on YouTube is good. So, if you are brave, I would try to comment back to absolutely everyone and just be polite because comments are good. Now, you will get to a point where there may be so many comments that you can't keep up, but I would still try. And sometimes, these comments will give you ideas for future videos. For example I have a video where I mentioned fibre from plants is good for you. Never in a million years did I think telling people to eat more fruit and vegetables would be controversial, but oh my, it was!!! However, instead of being disheartened by the people commenting and telling me I was wrong and that we should all be following a carnivore diet, I took this as an idea to make a full video on the carnivore diet.

Strategy 9: Focus on Sustainability

All businesses (including YouTube) need to be sustainable.

There is no point in starting a YouTube channel if it is going to take a toll on your physical and mental health. You still need to find time to eat well, exercise, socialise and enjoy life! Its all about finding ways to be productive so you can maximise your efforts. I'm obsessed with productivity. I highly recommend Ali Abdaal's book "Feel Good Productivity".

Conclusion and Connect with Maria Lucey, RD!

I hope this article has been useful. If you are also trying to grow on YouTube, please comment below, and we can connect!

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This post was all about how to grow on youtube.

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More about the author:

Hi there! My name is Maria, and I am a Registered Dietitian practising in Ireland and Bermuda. I have extensive experience in helping clients improve their health through the power of good nutrition. I hope you enjoyed this article about my YouTube journey. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Additionally, if there are nutrition topics or recipes you would like me to make in future posts, please let me know. I would be more than happy to help.

Stay happy and healthy 💚

Your Registered Dietitian

Maria xox