L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Which excites you most?

15 hours ago | [YT] | 2

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Wow! Have not seen a number this high on Shorts videos since 2023. It's awesome! 😁

19 hours ago | [YT] | 4

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Leaving YouTube...... it's a thought that jumps in and out of my mind constantly. And it's one not to be taken lightly... so am I leaving?

In this Journey. It hasn't been about just growing a channel. Hasn't been about just growing a community. There has been alot of self learning too. Figuring out who i am? And what am i aiming? What is the final goal i wish to achieve and how will i get there.

It started out as a shy introvert autistic guy. Picking up a smart phone and with no skills at all make a video based on some pictures i took of a script and overlaying my voice over it. That was the very first video. Sadly that video was lost when my old laptop decided to fail on me.

The channel had a who total different vibe and name to it back then. And it had the wobbliest unsafe structure ever. It was not standing on steady grounds.

Through out the nearly 5 years i pivoted and restructured the channel 4 times. That means almost once a year i was reinventing the channel to try and spice it up. Each time improving on my designs a bit more and getting a bit more creative.

Then 2024 came around and i thought "i made it" one video went viral with a total of nearly 37k views. Wow i thought to myself. This video was pulling the entire channel with it. As a second video reached 10k views and a few others all reached above 1k views.

YouTube needs 3000 watch hours to sign up for the first tier of the partnered program. I was at 2960 hours by end of 2024. I was already preparing the next steps. Was already getting things going to introduce new features and all to the community.

I mean just 40 hours left. That was how close i was to partnership.

Then just as fast as momentum came, it shut off just as fast. The charts all flat lined and dropped.

And thats where i learned why channels talk about diversifying your work on other platforms. Because on youtube with just one change they can and often do end up shutting channels down. Just like this one. But wait it gets weirder.

From start of the year at 2960 hours till now. I lost it all. Im down to 500 hours watched now. I had 96k shorts view im down to 21k views.

It seems as if i hit my peak in 2024 and it was mountain slide down on the other side because everything tanked. And all because the new management of YouTube decided to take a working platform and ruin it by flipping it in its head. Everyone has said the same thing since... youtube ain't what it used to be in 2024. It's not even a shell of its former self but rather a brand new company.

You see friends. This is the hard part that no one else sees but me. When my posts went from getting hundreds of interactions down to a handful it showed me something was up. When shorts that where getting thousands suddenly got just a fee hundred views it shows something is going on. And when videos that had hundreds of views suddenly not even make it to 100 views that really solidified that a change happened.

Seeing all my hours lost. All the shorts views disappear and over hundred videos made this year not really get the love it deserves.

Thats when you know your channel is dead. Thats why i gave up on long form videos on this channel.

I will guarantee you that if i made one and uploaded it today it will 1000% fail on the bases of it not reaching even 100 views. It will happen.

There is more. One of the changes that causes this problem is that shorts shouldn't be mixed with long form videos.

Because if for example i attract thousands of shorts viewers who don't really care for long form videos. The signal i am sending to youtube us show my videos to people that like short videos. Meaning that if suddenly i posted a 20 minute video it would not be watched.

Proof comes from a counter that tells me what is the average watch time per user.. and that counter has been stuck on 2 minutes since i opened the channel.

I've tried just about everything to get people to break out the popcorn settle in and watch a long video but they just will not do it. It's like people are telling me they have better things to do than to waste 20 minutes on a video. Ouch! Lol

This is why i switched entirely to shorts on here. This is what the audience generally demanded. People say 2 minutes is the max on average they will give me then im just going to stick to shorts.

And i've been making inroads on that front. My most recent shorts video is about to hit 6k views. And i had not seen this since 2023. Which tells me that even with the changes i figured out a potential win.

So if you made it this far i thank you because 90% of my posts people will never make it here. They read the first three words and ditch.

To the question you're wanting to know.... the tough decision is...... no i will not be leaving youtube. At least not right now.

What i learned from the biggest of channels is that in many ways they all went through the same level of pains i am going through. They navigated youtube changes. They went through some crazy challenges to eventually figure out their winning paths. And now many of these channels are seeing billions of views on a daily bases.

I am just simply restructuring. Rebuilding. And growing. This channel is now dedicated to shorts. It's my fun channel. Where i can be myself. Post quick videos and that's that.

The new channel im working will be long form only. I want to attract people there who like 30 minute long videos. And prefer it too. There my videos are going to be much longer and richer. Value driven and hopefully fun to watch.

It's my gift to you. The ones always watching my uploads. Engaging with me in the comments and reading my long posts. You are indeed the real supporters wanting to see things grow just as much as i want to see it all grow. And i appreciate you for that more than you'll know.

I hope i can make you excited even more about being supporter and that we can have something significant enough for us to share with everyone!


Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

20 hours ago (edited) | [YT] | 4

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

First one is edited. Its a half moon. Second one no edit. Its the moon and also its reflection on the window glass on top of it. (So no double moon lol. Top is reflection of actual moon thats on the bottom of the second picture).

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1 day ago | [YT] | 5

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Was going to make a video but the youtube app won't allow gif's. Dang it!

I can do gif's on bluesky social. Youtube being the massively bigger platform you'd think that they allow it too. But nope they don't... bummer. It was going to be a funny meme style shorts video too.

Oh well... let me stir up some other ideas. 👍

2 days ago | [YT] | 5

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Great!! 😢 poked a hole in my leg. Big ouch! Didn't notice a shape object ran right into it. Instant searing pain and blood. Thankfully with some pressure i managed to stop it from bleeding. But now i got my kitchen to clean. And worst of all this was the leg that too months to get it to stop leaking fluids (chronic lymphedema complication)... what this means is now it's going to leak again. This scares me because the leakage is a perfect complication for a deadly infection.

I hate having these f'ing legs! If i could i would ask the doctors to just amputate me then ill live on prosthetic's. Unfortunately since it isn't medically a requirement that means it won't get done. And even if it was medically needed it would cause a whirl wind of new headache's for me.

Chronic issues are an f'ing pain i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

Worst of all.. no one will fully understand it unless they deal with it.

It's a personal jail hell i have to live in.

My advice... don't let your health get as bad as mine. Being unhealthy is a pain.

2 days ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

This is like it's going viral for this little channel lol. Sorry but im celebrating a win here! 👍

2 days ago | [YT] | 5

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Holy wow! You all spoiling me now haha. How did a quick question fetch 3,800 views? 😁 I'm happy! This one won big!

3 days ago | [YT] | 7

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

Almost have the hang of this.... so far out of 7 i've gotten about 5 1 of 10 shorts videos and the last two had high likes for my average. Seems like i'm almost successful at a full pivot of this channel.

Things are starting to feel good again. Let's see how many more 1 of 10 i can manage going forward. The higher the count, the more i am on to something!

3 days ago | [YT] | 6

L.T.W.A - Leo's Thriv With Autism

New shorts video


youtube.com/shorts/m7wPQDPpIT...

3 days ago | [YT] | 2