In this episode, I chat with Marie of DIY Montreal on her start in the woodworking world as well as her start in blogging and YouTube. We chat about the different challenge that shes had along the way in growing her channel as well as her brand on YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms.
Marie is a DIY enthusiast and a self-taught woodworker. Well actually, she’s more of a DIY addict and an amateur woodworker if we’re being honest. For as long as she can remember she’s had a deep curiosity for understanding how stuff is made and figuring out how she can make it myself.
The funny thing is that I remember my brother buying me a giant toolbox one Christmas, and I wondered to myself What on earth was he thinking? But I guess he knew even before I did that one day I would have a shop full of tools.
While she wishes writing about DIY projects and
Marie lives in Montreal, Canada, where she works on projects out of her small garage shop. While she’s been DIYing for a long time, Marie decided to launch diymontreal.com in August 2016 in order to share projects with other DIY enthusiasts like herself. Then, just recently in 2017, Marie started a YouTube channel.
Website: https://www.diymontreal.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/diymontreal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diymontreal/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/diymontreal/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DIYMTL/
We’ll be talking about your story about how you started woodworking and the journey you’re taking with your YouTube channel. I always find myself relaxing at the end of the day watching DIY channels and getting inspiration from the projects that are created. I also feel that it would an interesting story to hear about how people manage and create content for YouTube as an entrepreneur.
Here are a few points that we talked about:
- Marie started her journey by starting a blog to showcase and talk about her DIY journey
- She’s been blogging for about 2 years before jumping into YouTube
- That honey-do list is a perfect opportunity to get started in DIY
- Planning, research, and figuring out “how to do this…” is a long process. Don’t rush the process!
- The beginning is the hard part – little to no traction can deter
- Instagram and sharing on social media was a turning point for Marie
- The more you share, the more you’ll position yourself as the expert in that field
- The truth is, not every project makes the cut
- Have a bank of projects that you can pull from when needed
- Start with projects that you need to be done around the house
- Monetization is different depending on the category, views, and size of your audience
- Build your audience and you’ll find success. This can take time
- Mix up your revenue stream so you’re not relying on a single point
- Don’t do this to make money from the start
- Make this your passion and the quality will show!
- Build a process – Create a check-list of things you need to do for your projects, channel, marketing, etc. After a while, it will be second nature
- Interact with your audience on your social media platforms. Work on growing your community.
- Build that mailing list!
- Challenges are real when running a YouTube channel
- Time is the major challenge
- Think of the composition of the piece
- Work on the “Beauty Shot” of the item. This will get better with more practice
- Starting off, you need…
- to not focus on fancy camera equipment – Use your phone
- pay attention to lighting – Use lamps, flashlights, or other sources to light up your subject
- to use the basic video editing software until you find what you need or can upgrade
- Marie would love to eventually collaborate with other makers in the DIY space
- Marie would also like to push out more frequent projects on her channel and blog
Quick Picks
Marie
- Pixel 3 – This phone was ALMOST the upgrade phone, but have heard enough bad stories that she held off. Don’t upgrade.
Udamey courses – Great way to learn things that you may not be aware of.
Marion
- City of Savannah, GA – Possible family trip that may be a tradition
- Spending time with family – <3