I Did It My Way: Behind the Scenes of Nick Bare’s YouTube Channel

coiski: What’s the end goal for your channel? Is there a benchmark you’re looking to reach? 

Bare: In the beginning, I just wanted to hit 10,000 subscribers. I was like if I hit that 10,000, I’ll be the happiest person ever. Then after 10,000 I was like, ‘Ok 100,000; then I hit the 100,000 subscribers.’ Now, I’m not too focused on numbers of subscribers. I am more focused on growing my business, but I think YouTube – and being a content creator – is what really established those inner markets. So now, I am focused on growing the business (Bare Performance Nutrition). I would always love to hit a million subscribers but owning and running my own business does take more of my time.

 coiski: Where and how would you say your best ideas come about? Is there a method to the madness so to speak?

Bare: When I first started, it was like film whatever you can and put together a video. Over time, it has become more structured. Right now, I’m doing a Ranger School series (a video on each stage).

coiski: If budget and accessibility was no barrier, what would be the one video or piece of content you would like to do but haven’t yet?

Bare: I would travel the world. I have this video idea that I want to do. It’s called “Across the World.” Essentially, I buy a one way ticket to a different country and then keep bouncing around to different countries. So there’s like an initial plan, but no real end plan. Pretty much, I’d just go and travel – see the whole world and then make it a video series.

 coiski: What has been the best moment you’ve experienced so far while making videos?

Bare: Well, it’s probably two things: one, when I was at the Arnold Expo; it was my first expo after doing YouTube and I walked in there not thinking too many people would know who I was. But when I walked in, there was a line of people to meet me instantly, which was mind-blowing. Then from a business side – when we launched our protein for the first time – it was our first big launch we ever did. We did a pre-sale, and orders just flew in –  thousands of orders.

 coiski: From a technology standpoint, how has your set-up evolved over the years?

Bare: When I first started shooting, it was with an iPhone; then I used a regular Cannon T3I and iMovie. Now I’m at the point where I am using a Sony Alpha 7S, and I shoot everything raw, so everything is very dull in color. There’s no color when I shoot it, so I put it into Final Cut Pro and I do color correction and post production. So a video that used to take me an hour to edit, now takes 5-6 hours to edit. If I go to watch my videos from two years ago, I cringe. If I even watch videos from a year ago, I’ll cringe; just because it’s that growth of always wanting to make the next video better. So I try to edit my videos in a way that’s not over done but still very engaging.

coiski: If you could give anyone reading this just one piece of advice when embarking on creating something what, would it be? 

Bare: I would probably say just stick to it. So when I first started and put my first couple videos out there, I got like 10 views. Or when I first started BPN, we had maybe two sales a week. It was extremely discouraging, but there was never a point where I was like I’m going to stop doing this because I saw the benefit in it so I just wanted to keep doing it and keep improving. A lot of things I do, I won’t see the benefit from right away but I know it’s worth it to keep investing in it. With YouTube and content creation, it was one of those things where I saw the value in keeping it going. Whether I was getting 10 views or 100 views, I figured, at one point, it would eventually pick up. Now we’re in a position where we are in our distribution center, packing orders and working out in our own gym. You just need to find something that makes you different. With each day, I am sure there are hundreds of fitness YouTube channels that are popping up on YouTube. So what’s going to make yours different, and what’s going to make it stand out?