Concentrate on Giving Interesting Contents

You need to focus on making your channel viral, instead of making just one of your videos getting viral. Don't be upset that one of your best videos did not get good views today. Tomorrow when your channel goes viral, maybe that best video will get the maximum views. Never give up. Never lose your enthusiasm.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I am Sharanya, born in Coonoor, Tamilnadu. I was brought up in Palakkad, Kerala. My mom is a homemaker and dad is running a small business. I have a brother who is 4 years younger than me. I did my schooling and college in Palakkad. After the completion of my UG, I started my professional career at Infosys.

I worked at Infosys for a year and then I got married to my husband. My husband and I came to Germany within 1 year of our marriage. I started serious cooking experiments on my husband. He continues to be my Guinea Pig and ultimate support. I started a food blog initially and had to discontinue it due to some personal reasons.

Now when my kids are settled in their respective schools, I have an ample amount of time which I wanted to utilise for learning and sharing. I found no other better platform than YouTube. I hope I can be a motivation to at least few people through my videos.

2. When did you first decide that you wanted to create content and how did you start?

As I had already said, I had a food blog and had to discontinue it. I wanted to take this slightly to a next level, where I wish to share not only my cooking and baking knowledge, but also wished to be a motivation for many families who lead their life and manage their family all by themselves without any help and support.

At least I wanted to show all of them that they are not alone. I used to see a lot of lifestyle vlogs much before I started Vlogging. I had a lot of trial clips before even I started uploading on YouTube.

When my husband and I decided it’s high time we edited and uploaded on YouTube, I just uploaded and shared with my friends on WhatsApp and Facebook. I received a very good response from my friends and family, which motivated me to post more contents on YouTube.

3. Is vlogging and YouTube content creation a financially sustainable career?

I will write from my experience. Initially it is not so easy to earn subscribers and viewers. We need to fulfil the YouTube requirements for monetization (1000 subscribers and 4000 hours watch time) which was of course not easy to attain. And even after that, you cannot earn a lot just by posting content.

Consistency of posting videos, the title, the thumbnail and entertaining contents are necessary. One or two such videos cannot give you sustainable income every time. You need to keep thinking of what your subscribers are interested in and post accordingly. If you fulfil all the above points, I am sure you can earn a sustainable income from YouTube.

4. Who is your favourite creator and why?

I have a few YouTubers whom I find so positive and inspiring. I would like to mention just 3 of them here. First and foremost is ‘Anitha Anand’ YouTube channel. Her videos are filled with excessive information and the way the couple present themselves in each video is something to be admired. I feel so blessed to have done a collaboration video with her.

The second YouTube channel I wish to mention is ‘Adi and Mahi’ channel. Their videos are full of fun and entertainment. One will forget their worries for a while after watching their videos. Also, they are very consistent and don’t make viewers wait long for their new video. They are very simple and friendly too.

I would also like to mention my best friend's channel, with whom I built my friendship in this YouTube journey, Rojin from 'Ithuku peru dhan Vloga' channel. I will feel very energetic after watching her videos. I think that is one important quality of a good YouTube channel. I am proud to say that I am her friend.

5. How and where do you find inspiration to churn out content?

My inspiration for cooking and Vlogging is ‘Yummy Tummy Aarthi’ channel. Her blog was my 1st inspiration. I have not seen any other food blogging site which explains each and every step with detailed pictures. She made me realize cooking is not as difficult as I thought. Then she started vlogging and I could connect a lot with her, like I too have 2 girls just like her. I used to watch all her videos regularly which inspired me a lot to start my own channel. Though I wasn't confident enough in the beginning, as she had mentioned in one of her vlog, you cannot solve a problem until you face it. Hence I tried and it worked out.

6. What does your typical day look like?

My typical day will seem really busy, as a homemaker, as a baker who takes orders and as a YouTuber. My day starts at 5 am in the morning, preparing food for my husband for the office, then managing kids until I send them school. I get a few hours which will be utilised for cleaning, baking, editing and doing pre-work for dinner.

When my kids are back from school, I need to make sure that they learn something good for the day and feed them healthy food and put them to bed on time, so that they wake up early the next day. I usually edit my YouTube videos once my husband puts my kids to sleep. This is how my typical day looks.

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

Actually I am not a big fan of reading books. It’s been many years since I read books. The last one I read was Shiva Trilogy (all 3 books), the reason simply being, I loved the story.

8. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring creators?

I would like to say to all of the new Creators that, never give up at any point. Initially it will seem like the channel is not moving forward at all. But consistency is the key, which will help your channel grow. Concentrate on giving interesting contents.

Be happy even if your channel receives just 100 or 200 views initially, it’s a lot. Another important thing I need to tell you all, just don't deviate from your channel topics. If you have started your channel for cooking and at one point you feel it’s not moving on, just stick on to what you were doing.

- Sharanya Raghuraman

Instagram @sharanyas_lifestyle_vlogs

- Interviewed by - Suhitha Mahendran