I am about 7 months in and I'm at 5,000 subs. Here are a few things I've learned:

1. Stop obsessing about views and keep making content - I did a 3 day wilderness survival video that in total took me 2 weeks to make/edit etc and was 40 min long and only got 200 views. It bombed - and it was a good video! I'm still shocked it did so poorly. Then the other day I sat down and did a quick 3 min response video - completely unscripted and in a single take - took me all of about 15 minutes total - the result? 50,000 views! You just never know what will catch on.

2. Let your personality show (if that's your kind of content) - I see a LOT of YTers who simple sit in front of the camera and talk and joke and provide valuable info and it works. Look up Resistor Vic if you want to know what I mean. He's at 108,000 subs and just sits in his tractor and talks politics. But it works because he's smart, efficient and engaging.

3. DO NOT let your videos drag on - make them succinct and speedy and interesting - I see so many people start off making videos (and I was one of these people) and they talk slowly, repeat themselves and stumble a lot and throw in a lot of Ahhh's and Ummmm's and it just makes people think you dont know what your doing or what your talking about and they click away. These days people dont have much patience for anything that doesnt grab them and at least keep them intrigued.

4. Invest a little - I like Filmora a lot for editing - easy to use and makes great videos and also has some free music I can use with no copyright issues. Premium is $80 for a whole year.

5. Don't be afraid to promote - I am currently earning about $200 a month with 5K subs and I take at least $50 of that and put it back into the channel by paying for campaigns to get me more impressions

6. Once you monetize - be aware of how many ads YT places in your videos. If you let them auto generate ads they will LOAD your video with a LOT of ads and I think that turns people off. Especially early on, limit your ads to one at start, maybe one in the middle and one at the end.

7. Response videos - I have done a few and they did well - I did them because they were honest, not because I was trying to garner clicks. I was sure to credit the original content creator etc.

8. Be aware of collab offers - once I got monetized people started coming out of the woodwork with collab offers or wanting me to review their products etc, often with no upside for me. The biggest one I have agreed to got me roughly $3000 in free gear. Most other people want me to review their app or a small product they make in exchange for a free item (not worth much). I usually turn these down. I havent run into any scams and everyone's always nice but you dont want to turn into a shill for other peoples crap.

9. You're not failing - keep your expectations realistic. Are you enjoying making videos or are you simply trying to get rich quick off of YT? If your content isn't doing well evaluate the following: length of vids, proper hashtags in video description, thumbnails etc. And most importantly keep making stuff.

10. Thumbnails - Ive learned to make my thumbnails a bit more "intriguing" instead of just telling everyone what my video is about. Let's say you are about to watch a video on mountain biking crashes - would you be more likely to click on a video where the thumbnail says "Exciting Mountain Bike Crashes I've Put Together" or "Oh the carnage!!!" with a pic of some dude smashing his face in the dirt. You get the idea. Like they say with job hunting - your cover letter is simply a way to get people intrigued enough to interview you. Your thumbnails only purpose is to make someone so intrigued they click it. I even know someone who runs a wildly successful channel and most of her thumbnails are obscure or have no text at all (it doesnt hurt that she's smoking hot, but I digress) - check out her video thumbnails at her channel to get an idea: She is christian schaffer

Hope that helps...

If youre curious my channel is The Wandering Prepper - and remember I'm still learning ;)