How to Be YouTube - Dan Bull

Hello, it’s Dan Bull, and one of the common things

I get sent most from the folks that are commenting

Is how did I turn my passion and obsession

For music, games and videos into a profession?

So I reckoned that I’d give a little lesson

So you get an impression of my method for success in this

My little niche, my particular field

And how I found people to whom it’d appeal

So let’s rewind the clocks

Right back to when I was a skinny guy with spots

Didn’t like school much, used to find it tough

So I’d sit at home alone and write a lot

Animating videos, making silly tracks

About ridiculous things I didn’t really grasp

But it was all practice, it was all training

For the day that I prayed that I’d make it

Made a band with my mates called Matronsapron

Trained my brain to say I was fated for fame

In the holidays I got a taste of what I chased

So when I got to college age, I selected every topic based

On levelling up the skills that I needed

And I wouldn’t give up until I’d succeeded

But unfortunately for me

I didn’t see the futility of a media degree

In this game, qualifications are null and void

I rage quit, dropped out, became unemployed

But I learnt more surfing on the internet

Than I ever did at Leeds Met, no disrespect

Shared tunes on UKHHF

The feedback was brutal, I trained, got better

Didn’t waste days trying to pray for forgiveness

I stayed up late 'til I made better mixes

'Til I had enough tracks for an album

The last of my cash, manufacture, then sell them

I sent demos to labels and DJs

Amazed that my MySpace attained maybe three plays

Came across a new site that did video

Didn’t realise just how big it’d be though

Stuck a couple of tracks on just to see what happened

The next viral sensation?

Me rapping!

Little me just sat in my bedroom

It gave me such an ego boost, I ran out of head room

I finally saw it could be more than just a dream

I felt a little more like Master P than Mister Bean

I tackled the task, making track after track

And uploading them to YouTube, back to back

Promoting them to you through tactics that

I’d planned out like a commander with tacks and a map

I made a log and made a lot of contacts

Journalists, bloggers, some of them even got back

We’ll never catch prey if we wait for them to chase us

I got on television, radio and papers

And even though I didn’t need TV

I bagged myself a meeting at the BBC

Now I was getting paid just to do my hobby

Plus Claudia Winkleman held the door and let me through the lobby

Rock and Roll, I finally got off the dole

No longer got the cold feeling that I’d lost control

'Cause I was finally driving at my own pace

Moved out the family home and got my own place

Like I could roam waves upon a chartered ship

Then I applied to YouTube for a partnership

Turns out that was brilliant timing

I made a little ditty for an Indie called Skyrim

All of a sudden like a million minds, listening

Hearing my rhymes, this was really unlike anything

I’d ever seen, ever heard, even ever knew

All of a sudden I could accrue revenue

Then it grew, head sweating, I was mopping off the residue

Doing better than my music teacher thought I’d ever do

Because now I was in the game rap rap game

Never predicted just exactly how big that became

Though I have to say, it wasn’t major label rapper fame

But I was sweet enough I didn’t need the Aspartame

I made new friends, made new fans

Linked the videos I made to some gaming brands

Then the next thing I knew, my plane had landed

In LA and we were making some major plans

I got to go to E3 and be in ERB

See the sea from the ceiling of my B&B

I couldn’t even believe how far I’d come from home

Five thousand miles out my comfort zone

And I’d done it alone, myself, training talent

Through my many days basement dwellin'

The only real trick is maintaining the balance

Grabbing the stick instead of chasing the carrots

It takes dedication reshaping your habits

And never being afraid to be failed and embarrassed

I’ve made some mistakes that have damaged

My reputation, but I faced them and managed

The wild web as a place can be savage

So try and stay safe and just play the advantage

Stay on track of the skills in which you need to be proficient

Just doing what you’ve always done before is insufficient

The speed of the world keeps being increasingly efficient

So you need to keep your skill tree in peak condition

Now when I started out there wasn’t so much competition

But neither did I have the tools to help me on my mission

Nowadays there’s a thousand ways to do it our way

Way more avenues than hours in a day

So it’s down to you how you’re gonna train

Tune up in the garage, get the power in your brain

Choose your character, professional or amateur

Selecting all the attributes and stretching your parameters

Forget the panic and concern, step into the Animus

And you will be flabbergasted at the things that can occur

Whether you’re a janitor, manager or grandmother

You can be interplanetary, travelling from planet Earth

So let’s rewind the clocks

Right back to the time you were a tiny dot

Full of potential to become an eventual adventurer

That’ll maximize all the time you’ve got

Start now