PauseStopRewind: Why did you decide to start uploading videos onto YouTube?

thewillofdc:I originally started my spring semester of my senior year of college because I was having a mental breakdown not wanting to grow up and not having any real direction in life. So I made a vlog about my favorite YouTubers because I had been actively watching and subscribing since early 2006. That video of course was seen by about 60 maybe 80 people total before I made it private it lol. I started posting on my new channel because I wanted a fresh start and I was very bored having just moved to D.C. by myself knowing no one.

What is it about vlogging that you enjoy?

I love finding something I have a passion in and being able to talk about it all the time. Out of the whole vlogging experience I love responding to comments the most. It is exciting and so much fun for me.

Which YouTubes would you say has had the biggest influence on you?

First and foremost I would say smosh because their pokemon video was the very first YouTube video i ever saw and what got me to make an account way back in early 06. Off course Michael Buckley without him I’d have no will to vlog. Shane Dawson of course has been a huge influence. Sxephil I’ve been following for years. Shay Carl is pretty much the nicest YouTuber I know. The 5 Awesome Gays really make me proud. My cousin meekakitty is so amazingly talented I wish I had inherited that gene.

At what point did you decide to cover events and happenings on YouTube, and why?

I have been tracking stats for over a year and one day I was with Ray updating my spreadsheet and he asked what I was dong. I explained it to him and he said I should make a vlog about it cause people would love it. I disagreed and thought no one would care but decided to make one anyone. the first one did amazingly well and I decided to do them every Friday. YouTube news was an original idea I came up with randomly to compliment my winners and losers episodes.

How much research and work does it take for your “YouTube Winners and Losers” and “YouTube News” videos?

It takes a long time to do winners and losers because I have to update my excel file on how many subscribers each top 100 person got that week and I’m trying to keep up with views and comments they each have received that week as well. So it takes a long time. Then I have to sort through the information and figure out who I am going to talk about, and of course who is going to be winner and loser.

YouTube news is a different kind of hard but also takes much less time. Since I spend my life on YouTube I am constantly compiling stories from many different sources all week and then Tuesday I wake up and pick the best 3-4. The hardest part of YouTube news has really become the up and coming YouTuber of the week because there are SO MANY amazing people out there that deserve recognition and I have such a hard time picking just one per week.

Do you ever plan on expanding into other days of the week with your YouTube related segments? Why or why not?

I could not be doing more now that I am, lol. I feel tired enough having 2 shows a week i have no clue how people do daily vlogs or more than twice a week. when starting YouTube news I really didn’t know if I would keep with it but it seems to be holding its on against my obvious more popular w and l so I think I’ll keep it around, lol.

Exactly where does your YouTube channel fit in with your ideal career? Like do you want to become a reporter or is this just a hobby for you?

Oooo being a reporter. That would be nuts. I mean if the opportunity came along i ‘d love to be a political reporter, I’d be all over that shit. be the next Keith Olberman, that is my dream. But as for something more practical no i don’t think i want to try my hand at journalism. especially on TV or print. that’s a dieing medium i like being apart of the new media. My ideal career would be making enough money from YouTube to support myself full time.

Has it ever once cross your mind that you would possibly get as big as you are now?

Oh God no, never. When I started Youtube, I planned on only doing it until I graduated then take everything down so future employers wouldn’t see them. When I made “thewillofdc”, I made it more for the buck community so I could interact and get to know everyone better to make friends. At first, I thought the biggest I’d ever get was 100 subscribers and once that happened, I freaked out and didn’t want to grow. Buck then featured me, helping me to get to 300 subscribers, which felt like a lot since I didn’t think my quality was worthy of recognition. At 700 subcribers, I started the series: “Youtube winners and losers,” thinking I could get to 1k and feel done leaving me to my next step: being a partner. When I hit 1k, I totally cried like a baby. When I hit 5k, I was totally speechless, not knowing what to do. I wanted to know where the ride was going to end so I could appreciate it as obviously, I would stop gaining at some point. Recently, I passed 10k subscribers. I am very grateful and shocked that I would ever get this far. Every morning when I wake up to see the subscribers I gained overnight, it’s like Christmas morning, giving me the greatest feeling in the world. Imagine having every morning be the morning of Christmas, life doesn’t get much better than that!

Where would you say you improved most on, and where would you like to improve on next?

I have really improved on keeping my energy up and being fast but understandable and not jumbling my words together. Also, I used to have to do like five takes for every line and now I only have like 1-3. The next thing I need to improve on is my lighting and background. I have a green screen but I don’t have good lighting setup or Final Cut Pro.

Since uploading your videos, how has YouTube changed and influenced your life?

Wow. I could go on for days but I’ll try and be brief. YouTube has changed everything in my life and made me such a better person. I am living in a city I never thought I’d live in. I’m friends with the most amazing people I would have never met if it wasn’t for YouTube. As I’m writing this I’m getting ready to go out and see my YouTube friend Mike Falzone play a gig at a bar downtown. He’s by far my favorite male musician and I would have never heard of him if it wasn’t for YouTube. I owe everything to YouTube cause it has given me a wonderfully crazy life to live.

In a year from now, where would you like to see yourself YouTube wise?

I would love to have over 100k and be on the top 100. But that is an EXTREME dream.

Given the chance to have one collab with any YouTuber, who would it be and why?

I would love to collab with smosh. it would just bring the experience full circle.

As you know, many people love to compare you to Michael Buckley. How would you say you’re different than him?

I cover YouTube and he covers pop culture. but i personally love being compared to buck cause he is awesome times the awesome.

Has there ever been a moment where you doubted yourself as a YouTube? If so, how have you overcome that?

I used to doubt myself when my view counts wouldn’t do as well as I wanted. But I’ve gotten over that and am just having fun.

Twitter Question: @trvsTV-What advice would you give for someone wanting to be big on YouTube?

Make vlgos you are passionate about and be passionate while you do them. It is so easy to see when someone doesn’t care about what they’re talking about or if they do but they’re having an off day and are not conveying the proper emotion. Also network network network. Don’t be pushy or aggressive but make friends that’s the number one way to gain exposure.

Thank you, Will very much for taking the time to do this interview. I really appreciate it.

Anytime this was fun!

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