What you see in this image is a clapper board. Most of you have probably seen these in movies over the years, but maybe you didn’t know exactly what they’re used for. Well, a clapper board is mostly for the editor. It identifies the scene and the clapping sound, created when the board snaps shut, helps editors sync the audio in post-production.
That’s the technical explanation, but that’s not the point of this blog post. This clapper board is actually a very special clapper board that means something significant to me.
It’s the very first physical object I have ever received from YouTube in our five years of doing this. It’s the first tangible, physical item I own that is officially a “YouTube object.”
The work-to-success ratio is non-existent. You see, when you start making videos, you earn absolutely nothing. You get zero views. You pour your heart and soul into creating something, and the results are almost non-existent. There are no immediate rewards. We didn’t even get monetized to make money off of ads until two years into the process.
So, for two years, we were making zero dollars from the channel, and that was fine because it’s not the whole reason why we make these videos in the first place. It’s a hobby that I genuinely enjoy doing.
Even though I can put in as many hours as some people work at their full-time jobs, the rewards are not the same. It’s not a “real job” with predictable results. Some creators get lucky, or they’re just in a niche that explodes instantly. But for most of us, the work-to-success combo is never equivalent. It’s like, you put in those hours and get those results? People think you’re crazy. And let me tell you, I am crazy, lol. But I do it because I love it, and when I’m done with a video, it’s the most rewarding feeling ever.
With every video you create, it is scored on the YouTube Studio analytics page. Your video is rated against your last 10 videos, ranked from 1 to 10. That 1-to-10 is the competition you have with yourself.
Here’s the quirky part of their system: 1 out of 10 is the best score, and 10 out of 10 is the worst. So when I’m on cloud nine on the day of a release, it’s because I know I gave my all with that video, even if it ends up being ranked a 10 out of 10.
That’s just the competition with yourself. The other part is the competition with everyone else in your niche. And if you don’t nail your thumbnail and title to get a click and make people somewhat curious about what you’ve posted, the rest of your hard work doesn’t matter. You’re competing just to get your video out in front of someone to watch it because, let’s face it, you didn’t do all this work just to have nobody see it, right?
But back to the clapper board.
This clapper board was something I got for free from the YouTube Partner Perks Program, which is a program YouTube rolled out earlier this year where monetized creators can receive small little gifts from month to month. This clapper board was one of them. I was lucky enough to sign up and get one before they ran out.
It’s kind of cool that YouTube is doing this. At a normal job, you may get little things from your employer every now and then; it’s a nice extra.
We get amazing comments all the time, and that’s great. But sometimes, when it’s just the internet, that validation doesn’t feel entirely real. You know some of the comments are bots or spam. So getting something physical from YouTube genuinely made my day.
When it arrived a little over a month ago, everyone in my family was super proud to have this little plastic clapper board. Because it said “YouTube” on it, it felt real. It was a real thing I could hold in my hands. I think Aidric was more happy about it than any of us, since he watches a lot of YouTube, and he thought it was super cool.
It feels nice to be noticed. I like what YouTube is doing with that Perks Program, and I guess it’s a good reminder that all those crazy hours are worth something, even if it’s just a little piece of plastic.
FamAbLE 