It wasn’t the lockdown that started my journey to creating a YouTube channel, but there was a doctor involved very early on.

Pre-lockdown I was already trying to boost my productivity. I’d get up at 4am to study or do exercise before heading out just after 5am to start my 90 minute commute to the London office. When lockdown started, there was an assumption that it would only last around 6 weeks, then we’d get back to normal. I didn’t really buy into that assumption, but did think the world would return to normality quite soon. So rather than alter my sleep pattern after working so hard to get into the super early routine, I persisted with the 4am rise.

This gave me more time than I knew what to do with. I didn’t want to waste it so I read, I watched interesting YouTube videos about skills and life hacks, and learned some French on Duolingo. Then I stumbled across Dr Ali Abdaal and his YouTube channel. There I learned about how to improve my productivity. One day I was watching as I prepared a meal and his next video kicked in whilst my hands were full. It wasn’t about productivity, it was about something I had no interest in at all. His studio setup. I noticed the setup is quite efficient and started to imagine how it could work in my home. Then my mind moved on to other things, but the seed of an idea had been planted….

Watching Dr Ali (as he is known in my house) I saw his recommendation for the learning app, SkillShare. I gave it a try as it offers two months of free trial (at the time of writing). It was interesting but more creative focused than my other learning resource, LinkedIn Learning. Despite the content seeming less relevant to me, I thought it was well made and found some of my early mornings were spent watching creative classes.

That’s how I found Sorelle Amore. I found her class YouTube Success: Build an Authentic Channel That’s Worth the Follow. My intention had been to translate the skills into improving my LinkedIn presence, but the class was so compelling that I couldn’t stop thinking about the potential for turning my old PMO blog into a video channel. But how?

Well, turns out it’s easier than I thought – certainly with a teacher like Johannes Tvedt. His SkillShare class on on Impactful Storytelling demonstrated how you can start creating content with Adobe Premiere at speed. He showed how video footage can easily be edited within the software, with voiceovers and music being used to create the best impact. With that I was able to get started.

Over the following weeks I kept track of Sean Cannell‘s on the Think Media channel to pick up equipment recommendations and gradually invested in camera, lighting and audio equipment. This required a lot of trust, actual money was starting to be spent! Luckily all of Sean’s recommendations, notably the camera for beginners – the Canon M50 – proved to be suitable for my entry level requirements.

I’ll be honest, getting in front of the camera those first few times was difficult. But I returned to the works of the people mentioned here and they kept inspiring me to keep trying. I’m still very much at the beginning of the journey, but I can see small improvements in the channel with each video – whether it’s better performance, better lighting, improved graphics, etc. Lots of small improvements! I still have a long way to go to reach the incredible outputs of everyone I’ve mentioned above, but I’ve started and I feel like I am adding some value into the world. I hope you will take the time to check out the channel and judge that for yourself.

In the meantime, please take a moment to look at the works of the people I have mentioned here. You never know what crazy venture they will inspire you to go and do!

Please visit and subscribe to the Influential PMO YouTube channel.

And if Dr Ali, Sorelle, Johannes or Sean happen to find this blog – thank you for everything.