How I Grew A YouTube Channel From 0 to 20k Subscribers in a Year—And What You Can Steal From It - Episode 004

Podcast Episode 004

A few years ago, I decided to launch a YouTube channel for a company I worked for—with no plan, no strategy, and honestly, no idea what I was doing. And somehow? It grew to over 20,000 subscribers in just a year—and even started generating revenue I didn’t even see coming.

In this episode, I’m sharing the full story, so if it’s something you’re thinking about getting into, you can approach it strategically and do it better, faster, and more effective than I did.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• How it all started (yes, including the viral unicorn yoga video that was 100% a joke)

• What I’d do differently if I could start over

• Why YouTube might just be the most underrated tool for growing your business

• The 4 biggest mistakes we made that almost derailed the channel—and how you can skip them

• The exact strategy I now use to help brands build channels that grow audiences, drive traffic, and actually make money

• Why long-form content still works (and why it’s worth it)

• How to figure out what your audience really wants

• The secret sauce behind thumbnails, titles, and keywords that boost discoverability

• Why consistency beats perfection—and how you can grow even if you feel like you’re winging it

This episode is for you if:

✅ You’re creating content for your business or startup

✅ You want to grow your audience on YouTube but don’t know where to start

✅ You need a real-world example of how to do it sustainably (not just a bunch of theory)

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• View Transcript

  Guys, YouTube is an amazing channel for your business—no matter what your industry is or how big your company is.

  And once upon a time, I worked for a brand and started a YouTube channel. Within a year, I grew it to 20,000 subscribers.

  I did all this with very little strategy in the beginning. And in this episode, I'll tell you exactly what I did and why having a YouTube channel for your business is an amazing strategy—for storytelling, for generating traffic, for generating leads, all that stuff.

  I’ll also share how one video I created that started as a joke ended up being one of the most popular videos on the channel. It’s kind of embarrassing—but whatever.

  Now, you might be thinking, “Hmm, Mel, 20,000 subscribers? That’s cool. That’s cute. Good for you. But that’s not, like, this huge success story. You know, MrBeast has millions of subscribers. Other people have hundreds of thousands…”

  And that, my friends, is the point.

  The point of this podcast is to show the struggles and the messiness. We’re getting realistic about all the challenges that businesses and creators face when incorporating content like video or trying to tell a story about themselves or their brand.

  We’re also looking at YouTube as a strategic storytelling channel—for brand awareness, for building an audience, for traffic. And if it’s done right? You can do a lot with 20,000 subscribers. You can do a lot with 10,000 subscribers.

  And because my pain is your gain, I’m sharing this episode as a case study. I’ll break down what worked, what flopped, and how you can benefit from it in your business or role.

  I’m also here to say—just imagine the possibilities.

  If you had an idea of what you were getting into, and someone made the mistakes before you, you could do this. It took me a year. But you could do this faster. Better. And be even more successful—with a plan, a strategy, and a little bit of inspo for what to do (and what not to do).

  Hey there—I’m Melody Pose, your host of Jeans with a Blazer, a podcast about rewriting the rules of work and life.

  Alright, before I move on, I want to make something super, super clear—because we love a transparent queen.

  (And yes, I did just call myself a queen. Get over it.)

  This episode is about how I grew a YouTube channel for a company.

  This was not an individual project I did by myself. I was not out there with a tripod. I was by no means a one-woman show. Although, it absolutely could be.

  I say this because I had resources outside of just myself. I led the content strategy, ran the YouTube channel, and oversaw all the other content we produced for the company I worked for.

  But I also worked with a team. I had people to bounce ideas off. I had video editors, other marketers, and experts in their craft.

  That’s not to say that you, as an individual, can’t take this strategy and make it work for you. You absolutely can. Individuals are out here making successful YouTube channels all the time—with just a phone and an internet connection.

  In fact, people are making faceless YouTube channels using AI. They’re profitable. They’re working.

  So while all of this is related, it’s good to look at things from the top down. What’s working here? What could you apply to your work? And what could you leave behind?

  I’ll try to be really clear about that in this episode.

  So if you work in a business that’s considering video—or you’re a business owner with that same goal—and you want to understand the benefits and how to approach it strategically, and you’re not sure where to start? This is the episode for you.

  This is something I now do professionally—helping organizations with their content and video strategy.

  And what I’m sharing today are the lessons I learned when I first started.

  Okay—so context.

  Several years ago, I was working in a corporate setting. I decided I wanted something different and made the leap.

  I talked about a really embarrassing fail in a previous episode that you should absolutely check out (just to laugh at me).

  But after getting humbled by the real world, I landed somewhere I actually really wanted to be—in a startup.

  The polar opposite of corporate.

  I went from a department of 60 people… to being employee number TWO.

  This startup was basically an incubator. The founder created it as a side project, and when I say “incubator,” I mean that literally.

  He had several other businesses, and the company's office was a glass-walled room that had been converted from a meeting space—with some tables, a bunch of iMacs, and whiteboards on every wall.

  Very HBO’s Silicon Valley-coded.

  It was totally opposite of the corporate world. There were no rules. No red tape.

  It was happy hour Fridays. Champagne in the office. DJ’d parties. The whole vibe.

  Was it appropriate? Probably not. Was it fun? Absolutely.

  So this startup was essentially a content brand.

  A blog, basically. That blog was the umbrella brand, and underneath it, there were plans for multiple e-commerce companies—each selling products for a specific audience.

  We’re not gatekeeping here—the niche was yoga, health, and wellness.

  We were planning to launch products like natural yoga mats, crystal meditation jewelry, healthy teas, essential oils—all the things.

  And I hate when people speak vaguely about “brands they launched” or "content strategies" and don’t drill down into what that actually meant.

  So anytime you want more clarity—just DM me. I’ll make another episode or answer questions in a Q&A on Instagram @jeanswithablazer.

  Anyway, the business model was simple:

  1. Create high-value content on the blog.

  2. Drive traffic.

  3. Offer a low-cost product as an entry point.

  4. Upsell higher-ticket items later.

  At the time, only one of the brands actually existed. The rest were still in development.

  My job? I was hired as the social media manager.

  But if you’ve ever worked at a startup, you know that job titles mean nothing.

  I wore all the hats.

  I was also the lead copywriter for the entire website. I wrote product descriptions. Packaging copy. Blog posts. Sales pages. Emails. I ran the content strategy.

  I was also the editor of the blog.

  The cool part was—since the founder had other companies, we had access to his staff in those offices. So we had designers and developers we could collaborate with.

  Still… it was a small team. And we were grinding.

  Employee number one? A stunning, very icy Ukrainian woman who was still learning English.

  At first, I thought she didn’t like me.

  Turns out? She’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. To this day, she’s a very good friend—and went on to launch her own wildly successful company.

  (We trauma bonded over startup life. As one does.)

  Now—I could make a whole episode about how we developed those products. Let me know if that’s something you’d want to hear.

  But for today, we’re fast-forwarding to the YouTube channel.
  
  The founder had hired a professional, full-time photographer/videographer who shot content for our products.

  The blog was getting decent traffic, but we wanted something more dynamic than just written content.

  So we brainstormed.

  We came up with this idea for a yoga challenge on social media. We’d create videos for it, embed them in articles, and use them to help market an eBook we were building.

  We never had the intention of monetizing YouTube itself. I didn’t even think we could. We just needed a public place to host our videos.

  So… YouTube made sense.

  That’s where this half-baked idea for a YouTube channel came in.

  And it took on a life of its own.

  It ended up being a major traffic driver—and started generating revenue… by accident.

  I wasn’t even trying.

  So in this episode, I’m going to tell you why having a YouTube channel for your business is a fantastic strategy—plus, the mistakes I made and what I learned.

  Oh, and if you’re a modern professional who struggles with things like imposter syndrome, burnout, or you want to make your next bold move?

  I’ve got a ton of free resources for you. They’re linked in this episode’s description.

  So let’s get into it. Why should you have a YouTube channel for your brand or business?

  It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in.
  It doesn’t matter who your audience is.
  It doesn’t matter what service you offer or what product you sell.

  Why?

  Because YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. Right behind Google.

  And we have to ask ourselves: why do businesses exist?

  To solve a problem.

  And why do people go on YouTube?

  To solve a problem.

  Whether you’re bored and searching for husky howling videos… or diving into conspiracy theories…
  Whether you’re trying to learn how to make a DIY herb garden… or do a bold eye and smoky lip…

  YouTube is an endless basin of knowledge.

  And your demographic? They’re already there.

  My 70-year-old Navy veteran stepdad? He watches history documentaries and Harley motorcycle videos.

  My 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old nephews in France? MrBeast all day.

  So here’s a stat:
  22% of global YouTube users are between 25–35.
  Even the lowest group (ages 65+) still makes up about 10% of users.

  And guess what?

  10 million people engage with YouTube every day.

  Even if your target audience is in that lower-use group… you still have access to MILLIONS of people. Every. Single. Day.

  For free.

  You can connect with them. Build a community. And create an entire revenue stream—just by showing up.

  And if you’re not?
  Your competition probably is.

  Next up: the mistakes we made—so you don’t have to.

  Mistake #1: No launch strategy.

  We basically posted videos and hoped for views, comments, subscribers.

  I had no idea what I was doing. This was 2016.

  Our first 30 videos were all part of a yoga pose challenge—one video per day.

  Each was only about 10 seconds long.

  This was before YouTube Shorts. And while short-form content works now, YouTube favors long-form.

  And these had zero context. Just the title of the pose.

  Looking back? I should’ve compiled them into one video with transitions between each pose. A flow. Something actually watchable.

  Also, your first videos inform the algorithm.

  YouTube doesn’t know anything about you yet—except your title, description, and the content you upload.

  So those first videos? Yeah, they matter.

  And ours didn’t offer real value. They weren’t searchable. They weren’t built with strategy.

  The Fix:
  Instead of giving up or starting over, I just… kept going.
  I learned. I tweaked. I adjusted.

  Some people get 5,000 subscribers in a month. For us, it took a year to reach 20,000.

  But guess what? That’s 20,000 engaged people.
  That’s an entire stadium of humans interested in your work.

  Mistake #2: Assuming I knew what people wanted to see.

  Because we were a yoga company, I assumed our audience wanted to see beautiful, 4K yoga flows.

  We hired instructors. Rented studios. Spent big on production.

  We even interviewed yoga teachers and athletes.

  We were trying to be like Yoga with Adriene—without asking why someone would choose us over her.

  What I should’ve done:
  Solve problems.

  Create videos that answer questions.

  The most popular video on our channel—by far—was a 30-minute deep dive on the chakra system.

  Why did it work?

  Because people asked us about chakras in comments. Over and over.

  So I made a video that answered those questions—colors, meanings, balance, crystals, everything.

  And that one video drove over 50% of our revenue.

  If I had just listened earlier, I could’ve made so many more like it.
  
  Mistake #3: No thumbnails. Poor descriptions.

  Yikes.

  Thumbnails are the first impression of your video. They can literally make or break it.

  We’re visual creatures. People scroll, and the first thing that catches their eye? The thumbnail.

  And then? They read the title.

  So here’s how it should work:

  • Thumbnail: Grabs attention.

  • Title: Delivers on the promise.

  • Description: Adds context and keywords to help the algorithm.

  Our first thumbnails? Didn’t exist.
  Descriptions? Basically blank.

  And I was just like, “Whatever, just get the video up!”

  No.

  YouTube wants you to win.
  Because if you win, they win. More views = more ad revenue = more success for both of you.

  But the algorithm can’t push your content if it doesn’t know what your content is.

  The Fix:
  I spent a day going back and updating all the titles and descriptions with relevant keywords.

  And guess what? We saw a traffic boost almost overnight.

  That chakra video? Blew up after I optimized the metadata.

  Then brands started reaching out.
  They wanted to send us products. Pay for review videos.

  And yes—I should’ve charged way more.

  But hey, the fact that anyone was willing to pay us for a YouTube review video? That blew my mind.

  Mistake #4: Changing niches too soon.

  After the yoga content, we pivoted into a healthy eating challenge for the new year.

  We thought—“If you do yoga, you probably eat healthy too, right?”

  So we started producing high-quality food videos. Full productions. Recipe tutorials.

  But… that confused the algorithm. And our audience.

  They came for yoga.
  Suddenly we were like, “Here’s how to make avocado chocolate mousse!”

  It didn’t land.

  The niche shift was too drastic, too soon. The content confused everyone—YouTube included.

  The Fix:
  After that flop, I went back to what was working.

  I looked at our most popular blog posts. I made videos based on those.

  Then I embedded the YouTube videos back into the blog content. Win-win.

  We started sending the videos in our emails, too—reviving old posts and giving them new life.

  We also shifted our yoga content from vague titles like “Relaxing Flow” to more specific solutions:

  • “Yoga for Stress Relief”

  • “Yoga for Back Pain”

  • “Guided Meditation for Beginners”

  We kept it useful. And that’s when momentum really started to build again.

  What We Did Right

  Alright—enough about what flopped.

  Let’s talk about what actually worked.

  Right #1: We treated YouTube as part of an integrated comms strategy.

  YouTube isn’t a magic bullet. It won’t automatically send traffic your way.

  If you’re not already active elsewhere—email, social, blog, whatever—just starting a YouTube channel won’t instantly generate leads.

  Instead, we used YouTube as a supporting channel.

  Whenever we uploaded a video:

  • We included it in the email newsletter.

  • We posted about it on social.

  • We embedded it on the website.

  • We reused the content in blog posts.

  Multiple touchpoints. One piece of content. Repurposed across everything.

  And here’s the most important thing:

  YouTube is a community-first platform.

  Yes, it builds an audience. But at its core? It builds connection.

  Don’t just chase views and subscribers.

  Deliver massive value. Through teaching. Or entertaining. Or inspiring.

  When you do that, your audience finds you.

  Right #2: We showed up consistently.

  We posted weekly.
  Same day. Same time.

  We didn’t ghost our audience.

  Consistency helps the algorithm—but more importantly, it builds trust with your viewers.

  And guess what? If you’re not showing up in their feed?

  Your competitors are.

  So show up. Even when you’re not sure if anyone’s watching.

  Right #3: We monetized with affiliate marketing.

  We made more money through affiliate links than through AdSense.

  In product review videos, we linked items in the description. If someone bought through that link, we got a commission.

  Simple. Effective. Low lift.

  And if the video performed well? That revenue kept coming in on repeat.

  The Viral Unicorn Video (aka Embarrassing Career Moment #87)

  Okay, so this is usually where I share a career fail or an embarrassing story.

  This one? Oh yeah, it’s about the channel.

  So—Employee #1 (the lovely Ukrainian) went on maternity leave.

  And I wanted to send her something fun. You know, something to make her laugh while she was in newborn chaos.

  So I made a video.

  I wore a giant, oversized unicorn onesie.
  I filmed myself doing yoga in it.

  And I called it Unicorn Yoga for Kids.

  I figured—when her daughter got older, she could watch it. Laugh. Maybe do yoga with it.

  I had just gotten my yoga teaching certification. I was excited to share it in any form.

  Well… the video went semi-viral.

  It became the second most popular video on the channel.

  I did not plan that. I just wanted to make someone smile.

  But the internet is forever, friends.

  (Yes, it’s still out there. Yes, I’ll link it in the episode description if you want to laugh at me.)

  Strategy Time: What Content Should You Create?

  Let’s say you want to build a YouTube strategy—but you’re stuck on ideas.

  Here’s what I recommend:

  Step 1:

  List 20 challenges your target audience faces.

  If you’re not sure what those are?
  Ask your audience. Or—ask ChatGPT. (I’ve linked prompts in the show notes.)

  Step 2:

  Next to each challenge, write the solution your brand offers.

  Boom. You’ve got content ideas.

  Step 3:

  Filter every idea through three pillars:

  • Educate

  • Inspire

  • Entertain

  If it doesn’t fit into one of those buckets? Rework it or skip it.

  Not every business needs to be funny. But you do need to be intentional.

  And most importantly—be authentic to your voice, your brand, and your community.
  
  The Final Word

  You don’t need to throw spaghetti at the wall. You just need focused strategy, some flexibility, and the willingness to learn along the way.

  And you’ve got this.

  If today’s episode helped you, or sparked an idea, or gave you a little push?

  Do me a favor:

  • Subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.

  • Leave a review—it helps others find these convos too.

  • Follow @jeanswithablazer and tag me with your biggest takeaways!

  See you next time.