3 years since I started this business (lessons learned)

3 years ago, I left Ali Abdaal's team and started my own business.

Today, I'm taking a moment to reflect on what I've learned, including.

• Why most YouTubers should NOT outsource scriptwriting.
• The mental ups and downs of making a lot of money and then suddenly making a lot less.
• How I still, to this day, have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Ngl... this is probably the most honest I've been about a lot of topics I haven't spoken about before.

But first...

SHOUTOUT

Go from "idea" to "published" in less than 1 hour!

Now I finally have WiFi, it's sooo nice to be able to...

• Flick the camera on.
• Mock up some basic slides.
• Record myself + my screen.

...knowing that, when I'm done, Tella has already made my video look incredibly beautiful 🤩

Plus, they just shipped a new feature called "Auto-Layouts", which literally edits the camera/screen combo for you.

It made this newsletter 10x easier to pull off - so I thought I'd shout them out and share my affiliate link!

Give Tella a try here:

Yes, I want beautiful screen recordings!

🧠 3 years building a YouTube scriptwriting business - reflections:

‍

Watch the full video here!

Or, if video ain't your thing, here's everything I covered in my ramble...

Full list of reflections:

Ignore well-meaning people who don’t know what they’re talking about.

• When I applied to work for Ali Abdaal, I had a normal job in London. I lost count of the number of my colleagues who said “Err you’re doing what? Be careful!”
• Even after getting the job with Ali, I had some beers with some old colleagues, and they said “unless you’re making 6 figures, you should probably come back to work here cos it’s safer.”
• Well-meaning friends can, unfortunately, completely f with your mind and make things worse.

Some YouTubers are control freaks who should not hire a scriptwriter. (I am one of those people!)

• In fact, most YouTubers shouldn’t hire a scriptwriter tbh.

Throwing money at expensive coaches and courses is not a shortcut to winning YouTube if you can’t commit any time to it yourself.

• I’ve had people spend $5k+ on my services, redeem 0 of the deliverables, and not grow.
• If you absolutely want to outsource, find your voice first, then be willing to spend at least 3mo working closely with your writer to get them on track.

Sometimes a great client and a great writer just don’t mesh.

• ~30% of my past clients fired me or I fired myself after only 1-2 scripts.
• We should normalise this!

I miss Twitter.

• If you know, you know.

I have no idea what I’m doing.

• I forgot to turn up to my Business Insider interview.
• I didn’t turn my mic on for my Jay Clouse interview.
• I accidentally set the price of my flagship course to $9.99 right before funnelling Ali’s entire community to the checkout.

Committing to writing a newsletter with no idea how to monetize it was the most valuable decision I’ve ever made.

• It brought us together, no?

There’s a fundamental misconception about the “risk” of this type of work.

• I used to buy the messaging that working in YouTube is way riskier than a normal job. But having seen several of my friends in full-time work regrettably lose theirs, effectively going from 1 to 0 overnight, the increasingly aware of how lucky I am to run my own business
• I’ve had clients and income streams dip numerous times over the last 3 years, but I was never reliant on any of them for my entire income.

I wasn’t prepared for the wild mental swings tied directly to my finances.

• I felt financially free in 2024 due to an $80k course launch.
• But felt financially stressed for the first half of 2025 after my expenses ballooned and sales struggled to keep up.
• The “trick” is figuring out how to stay the course throughout all of these moments.

Businesses go through seasons and I didn’t sufficiently prepare for the reality of that.

• I was irresponsible with money after launching my course because I tricked myself into thinking I’d “done the hard work” and the rest would be upside.
• But after running at a loss for a few months earlier this year, reducing my expenses, pivoting my business, and getting back on track… I’m very aware that right now is the moment to steel myself against future downturns.
• When I was making stupid money, I was wrong to think it wouldn’t end. When I was running at a loss, I was also wrong to think it wouldn’t end.

I underestimated the value of in-person events until I started doing them.

• If you get the chance to go to a free in-person event in your industry, do it.
• If it's paid, weigh it up (and probably still do it).

I already regret not being more “present”.

• I game out disastrous scenarios in my head constantly... and noticed that I've been doing it ever since starting out 3 years ago.
• This occasionally means I'll go into my head when I wish I was present. It's very annoying and I aim to get better at that.

“Once I round that corner, my schedule will calm down a bit” is the biggest lie I continue to tell myself.

• I am yet to figure this out. Am I supposed to “lock in” or “clock off early”? I have no idea.

Creating a course is the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done.

• I have no idea how people make several per year.

I am very lucky.

• On a stressful day, it’s very easy to overlook how fortunate I am. Especially when we’re constantly faced with how well other people are doing.
• “She’s doing $20k p/m!” “He lives in California!” “She drives a BMW!”
• Must remember to be more present

That's all for this week.

Any questions? You can to reply to this email and I'll get back to you.

Speak soon,
George 👋