Tam Kaur’s quick rise on YouTube and social media is nothing short of inspirational. In just 15 months, Tam Kaur has grown her YouTube channel from 970 subscribers to over one million, all the while helping women all over the globe become their best selves and find self-love along the way. Tam’s mission is clear: to help women grow their confidence and manifest their desired selves into reality. Now, with two successful YouTube channels, a podcast and an upcoming book, “Buy Yourself the Damn Flowers,” Tam is living her best life as a content creator and wants to help the rest of her content-creating peers manifest the same success.

We had the opportunity to chat with Tam about her journey as a content creator and reveal her advice to content creators looking to grow their channels.

Tam Kaur
Subscribers: 1.07M
Uploads: 143
Video views: 38,935,190
Content type: How-to
User created: Mar 27th, 2020

Always a creator at heart

Tam Kaur’s passion for video creation started at an early age. Picking up a camera at age nine and learning how to edit video by 12, Tam found fulfillment in the entire video-making process.

“I’ve been creative my whole life and video creation was the first hobby that allowed me to channel that energy,” Tam tells us. “It didn’t matter what I was filming; just the process of doing so and getting to edit something together fulfilled me.”

As Tam honed her video skills, she started a YouTube channel at 14. Although she saw some initial growth, gaining a few hundred subscribers in just a year, she decided to quit uploading to the channel and shift all her focus toward her schooling. However, throughout schooling, she continued posting on other platforms, as her desire to create videos never faded.

“As social media started to grow, it became a great way for me to continue practicing this creativity while improving my self-confidence by getting in front of the camera, too,” Tam says.

Tam went on to study at the University of Leicester for a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing. However, she still dreamt of becoming a creator. Thankfully, the landscape of social media in the late 2010s made Tam’s dream a real possibility.

“Social media made my dreams accessible and realistic at a time where traditional creator jobs seemed difficult to obtain.”

Tam decided to make her return to YouTube during her studies, but this time, she would approach it as a job, not a side hobby.

“During university, I returned to YouTube and treated it as a part-time job as I aspired to go full-time once I graduated,” Tam tells us.

Tam Kaur paves her own path on YouTube

In the beginning, Tam made videos with the goal of sharing her life with the community she had grown on Instagram. But as time passed, that goal changed. As she grew as a person through her time in university, she felt inclined to create videos about her new lifestyle and newfound confidence.

“I created self-development videos that detailed the tips and advice I had learned in overcoming my own obstacles when it came to confidence, studying, and failures,” Tam shares. “Through creating more of this value and education-based content, I really found my passion in the type of content I wanted to create.”

Over the past year, Tam has focused her content on helping women worldwide, covering topics from how to become a better conversationalist to how to overcome loneliness to answering TMI girl talk questions.

“My goal [is] to inspire women all over the world to love themselves, conquer every single area of their life and close the gap between the current and ideal version of themselves,” Tam says. “I want people to find the answers that aren’t available elsewhere.”

Coming up with content ideas

Since Tam’s content is highly personal to her, she often pulls from her own experiences.

“I usually reference my own experiences, e.g., dealing with narcissists or learning social skills as an introvert,” Tam reveals to us.

However, there are times when Tam will take suggestions from her audience if there are particular topics they’re seeking guidance on.

“My community’s requests are always noted down,” Tam says, “so that I can provide as much value as possible.”

This personal yet structured approach to content idea generation has allowed Tam to keep her content both honest and insightful for her viewers.

Building your success and growing your revenue

Although Tam has found immense success on YouTube, it was actually TikTok that gave her her first big break. She reveals that TikTok was initially her most successful channel.

“Reaching new audiences and gaining virality was much easier [on TikTok] and took less time because of the nature and editing of the app,” she tells us.

However, it didn’t take Tam long to build an even more successful channel on YouTube.

“I spent a lot of time researching how the algorithm works and built a strategy that used SEO and thumbnail creation to gain more clicks,” Tam reveals.

This tactic ultimately increased Tam’s YouTube channel from 2,000 subscribers to 100K subscribers in just three months, and her engagement levels have remained consistent ever since. Tam attributes her consistent growth to her loyal community on YouTube.

“YouTube has also proven to be very successful in growing a loyal and tight-knit community, which is much harder to do on other platforms,” Tam says. “Even after starting a second channel and changing my style of content [vlogs], my engagement and follower count has grown very quickly.”

Balancing stresses as a content creator

As Tam has grown her channels and business as a content creator, it has given her more means to improve her content on all fronts. Consequently, this can put immense pressure on creators to constantly up their game and improve their content. Tam is no stranger to this stress.

“I’m my own biggest competitor and I hate to feel stagnant,” Tam reveals. “My biggest stress is that the quality of my content is getting better with every video.”

Tam admits this was a bit tricky initially. Her quick growth multiplied her tasks and roles as a creator and business owner and made it hard for her to focus on what was most important to her: the quality of her content.

“When it comes to balancing all tasks and roles as a creator, it can be difficult to dedicate time to strategy and evaluating areas of improvement,” Tam says.

However, Tam found a solution. She decided to hire a team to help her free up her schedule so she could focus on creating.

“I [now] have people working in my business to save me time so that I can work on it from a quality perspective,” Tam says.

Tam’s production process

When planning for a long-form YouTube video, Tam will start by researching her chosen topic.

“For YouTube I spend one week planning, researching and scripting a video,” Tam says. “During this process, I’m researching the knowledge available on the topic to learn the gap that needs to be filled,” Tam says.

Once the script is finalized, Tam will begin shooting at home alone. Once the video is shot, she sends the footage off to her editor. It takes about a week for her editor to cut the video together. Once post-production is complete, Tam has her managers and any sponsors review the footage before signing off on the finished product. Tam begins the production process far in advance to ensure the process goes smoothly.

For all other content Tam posts, she scripts, shoots and edits it herself.

Tam’s advice for aspiring creators

For creators wanting to grow their channels, Tam advises them to expand their operations beyond their platforms.

“You have to promote yourself and create content on every platform,” Tam says. “You never know when algorithms or trends will change so creating different content types for different platforms can protect you from putting all your eggs in one basket.”

Beyond cross-posting, Tam also suggests that creators looking to maximize their success — and ensure it lasts — should build a revenue source that doesn’t rely on platforms or brand deals.

“Leveraging your talent and niche to create a product or revenue source that is independent from brand deals is so important,” Tam says. “We don’t own these social apps; they could shut down any day and so creating an email newsletter, e-commerce store or coaching service, for example, ensures you’re more abundant and protected in building revenue.”

Manifesting your ideal future

Tam Kaur is one of the fastest-growing creators on the internet and it’s clear to see why. While her platform and business continue to grow, she remains committed to her initial goal: to inspire women to bridge the gap between their present selves and their ideal selves. By leading by example, Tam has not only merged her lifelong passions and career but has also helped countless women close their own gaps.

Tam’s book, “Buy Yourself the Damn Flowers,” goes on sale August 15 and is available for pre-order now.