Interview with Ricky Richards

 

 

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Ricky Richards from the well known Youtube channel of RickyRichardsTv.

 What is the best thing about being a youtuber?

For me, the connection I create with my followers. Connecting with my followers and really having a personal interaction with them.

What is the worst thing about being a youtuber?

I wouldn’t say I have a particular worse thing. The only thing that you could say annoys me is when you sometimes get negative comments and really bad vibes. There is a difference between constructive criticism and someone being horrible. When you start Youtube you don’t set out to be put down all the time, so that is the negative side and people who are horrible who judge you and have perceptions of you. However I tend to put that negative spin into a positive way and use their negativity and create it into something better. I promised myself a year ago when I first started Youtube not to take things to heart. It’s more like an online portfolio diary and sometimes you question why you are doing it but then I take that negativity and spin in right round and hope to turn it into a positive.

If you were to give advice to someone starting a youtube channel what would your advice be?

The key thing about when you start a youtube channel is to genuinely be yourself because there are many millions of youtubers across the world. You could make amazing videos and have all the equipment and cameras or you could have as simple of a webcam on your laptop it doesn’t matter. But I think the best advice is to just genuinely be yourself because when people come to your channel they come because they want to watch you. Editing and cutting comes into place but people come back because they like you so just be yourself. Stay humble because sometimes it can get a bit misleading because sometimes I thought to myself I would go down the wrong route because you have this so called influence saying on the internet and it can sometimes go to your head. So stay true to yourself and stay humble because at the end of the day you started youtube as one person and you should come out as the same person for sure.

Some people do worry that youtubers only see the numbers of their subscribers. What do you think?

Recently my Youtube count did kind of deplete a bit and every day I may lose a few followers. You wonder what is going on but people that have remained with my channel are specifically there just for me and when you start counting the subscribers you kind of question your reasons to why you do Youtube and how many subscribers you have. But going back to your advice question, you could have one subscriber who is going out of their way to watch you, they don’t have to but they are so I always say don’t take the numbers into consideration and stay true to yourself. Be grateful for anything because they are doing you a favour.

What or who inspired you to create your Youtube channel?

This is tricky, the person who actually inspired me was Sammy, BeautyCrush, because what happened was, it was a year ago, I didn’t want to get in the way and it was her thing but at that time she said “Ricky you should do it”. So she inspired me. The people that inspire me the most other than her are the people that watch me. Of course they weren’t there when I first started but I remember when I first uploaded my first video which was my introduction to my channel and it got some views and I remember people commenting “ Ricky nice to meet you I look forward to your channel content” and were saying nice things and wanted to see more of me . They inspire me a lot; they genuinely keep me making videos. If it wasn’t for the people I wouldn’t have a chance.

Do your subscribers give you inspiration for your ideas like certain videos such as requests?

Yeah some subscribers do have certain feedback. Being a youtuber people will follow us for consistency because they want to know that when they come to your channel at this time there will be a video. So I do get good feedback but for me I don’t really ask for requests. I do sometimes but I kind of just do it myself.  Whatever comes into my mind and what whatever I’m inspired by at the time of my life. The people that do give me feedback I do use the feedback in a positive way and I use that for my videos. At the end of the day you want to be yourself but then you want to give people what they want to watch because again they are watching you.

 Do you get a lot of your inspiration from doing things like going out and meeting people?

Yeah I have certain phases since being on Youtube through my journey. But my biggest inspiration is genuinely talking to people like yourself. People are their own types of protagonists and we are just a blimp to them so when they come into my life and if I meet someone and they talk about their life, expectations, journeys or experiences. I use that to make videos to spear me on and to the reason why I’m making videos. Also I use my own personal experiences to make videos because never say never, and my channel is going in a certain direction. I don’t do things that are pure entertainment I think that that my views are more real and people can relate to it.  As you see me in videos and in person I am exactly the same. I don’t have a character on the internet but I am as real as I am in person. So I think like that because not everybody wants to share everything. You can choose what you want to share and what you don’t want to share but I honestly think my experiences in my life people can relate to.

 If you could change one thing about Youtube what would it be and why?

I don’t think I would change anything major. Youtube itself is one of the best platforms in the world to get you out there. It is very media drawn and is in a certain direction. And when Youtube came about we were like hang on a minute there are people in their bedrooms talking about what they had for breakfast and I think Youtube as a platform is just a magical place. It gives me the chance to have this interview and gives me the chance to spread my message to the world but I wouldn’t change anything. The only think I maybe would change is not wearing so many snapbacks in my old videos because that was terrible.

So you would just change the little things?

Yeah because being a Youtuber we don’t make video in regards to regretting them later. At that time it was something I wanted to do so I don’t have any regrets.

Has Youtube given you amazing opportunities like Vidcon and Summer in the City?

It’s a weird thing because a lot of Youtubers get many opportunities and I say this loosely but a lot of bigger Youtubers than myself have a lot more opportunities because they have been doing it for years and years, but I have had opportunities such as people wanting to work with me, subscribers wanting to meet me and being invited to events but personally it’s a really weird. Because my channel is a certain way I get people wanting to work with me and some don’t but in general for sure it has helped me to get opportunities then you would ever imagine.

When you’re not on Youtube what is your favourite thing to do?

Right now I have a job, so I work as well. A lot of people have a perception that a lot of youtubers don’t work and when I first started Youtube people thought I didn’t work but I’ve always had a job I just didn’t tell people. So I spend most of my time working and on Youtube. People don’t realise that cutting and editing is all learnt for ourselves and when I first started Youtube I didn’t know anything, I didn’t even know how to use a Mac book or turn on a camera so it is very time consuming. So I would say working and exploring the world in good time.

Do you think some people take it for granted when watching youtubers?

I believe that if you have not experienced it yourself and you don’t know it then you can’t have a say on it. It doesn’t matters what your trying to create, what your trying to do, what editing software you have or what camera equipment you have, there is a lot of back detail that people don’t know about before we upload it. A lot of people have this preconceived idea that we just upload a video.

What do you love about your subscribers?

They are the one thing that reminds me why I’m doing youtube. The feel like they genuinely know who I am, of course when on the screen you can only see me for 5 -6 minutes a video and that’s it but I have this philosophy that when I first started youtube that I only wanted people to know a certain things, but then I had this epiphany that I’m setting myself out there and they have the right to question. The best thing for me is the interaction with them, everybody is different for sure and there a lot of other youtubers not just me but sometimes I feel some youtubers don’t interact with their subscribers like replying to comments. But for me I make it my mission to talk to as many people as I can. And some people see it as a downfall but after all how hard is it to reply to a subscriber. So the interaction I have with them and being able to talk to them is the best!

Of course I can’t reply to everybody because there are a lot of people and putting myself in other youtubers shoes they have millions of subscribers. I understand it is difficult to reply but if I am ever in that position I would make damn sure to would try to reply to as many people as possible.

What are your future hopes and plans for your youtube channel?

It’s been a crazy few months and as of now I really want to reinvent myself and I want to take my channel in a different direction. I’m not sure what I want to do yet, but I feel people haven’t seen the other side to me, the other side of being by myself and what my channel actually holds and what I can perceive on the internet. So I’m not looking for fame or looking to get a lot of money. I’m not looking to be someone that I’m truly not. My main mission is to keep on making videos as much as I can and when I can and make sure I remain humble and to never forget where I came from. So if my channel does take off in the future or it remains as it is now it is perfect for me. My hope now is that I can keep on creating a different content for people just to enjoy and for people to say “Today I watched RickyRichardsTV and I had a really good time watching him” and that right there is a blessing to me.

If you could meet anyone from youtube who you haven’t met before who would it be?

That’s a good question there are so many, there are two people in particular that I would want to meet the most because there a millions of youtubers out there but the two who I would like to meet the most for sure is Fun for Louis, I would love to work with him in the near future but for me he is just genuinely one of my inspirations, so him and ClothesEncounters so Jenn because she is just awesome. The two of them I would love to meet. The difference between me and Fun for Louis is he has been doing youtube for a while since he was a kid so the ways I see Fun for Louis is he is very caring and considerate to other people he meets.

If you were to live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Right now it would be back in Canada in Toronto. It was the first time I had travelled by myself and people, have this perception that youtubers get loads of money and that isn’t always the case. I went to Canada on my own money and the reason was to get out of the country and just do some soul searching. For sure Toronto has a place in my heart. The vibe of the city and the people are just amazing.

 Have you ever thought about travelling the world?

For me first of all hell yeah! I would love to travel the world, if I had the money I would go tomorrow. For me it would be Asia either the Philippines or Vietnam just because there is something about their culture that really absorbs my interest, also Seoul and Japan. Their culture is so different and I think only recently their internet has developed like youtube and stuff so it would be interesting.

 When you were growing up as a child who was your role model?

It would have to be my mum.

When you’re out and a subscriber recognises you or you meet some subscribers what is your first feeling?

People may feel differently but I am always surprised and shocked because I always tell myself that never ever get used to strangers coming up to you because again I’m not famous but its very heart-warming and overwhelming when people come  up to you. Sometimes from what I’ve seen people take it for granted, but I make sure that I give them some time of my day to talk to them and thank them. It’s very nice that people across the world or from another country recognise you on the street. It’s a great feeling because someone knows you and they are excited to see you and when someone is here to see you it make you so happy inside and makes your day.

If you could say one thing to all your subscribers what would it be?

I would just say, and its very cliché but, it would just be that I can’t thank them enough for going out of their way to watch me and it genuinely means the world to me. To the people out there who watch me and use their time to contact me I hope I RickyRichardsTV can keep on creating videos for you. And to stay true to yourself!

I hope you enjoyed this interview and I will speak to you soon!

 

Amy xx