My YouTube Plan, Revisited: An Honest Update After Week One

I’m not a YouTube expert.

Let’s just get that out of the way. For over two decades, my creative space has been the controlled environment of a music studio, or the creative space of photography, and lately, the written word on this blog. The thought of speaking to a camera, unedited, has always been intimidating.

Yet, six days ago, I started my YouTube channel. I’ve published a video every day since. You might be wondering why I’d dive into a medium that’s so far outside my comfort zone, especially since I’m a former cameraman and video editor who knows the immense work behind high-quality production.

That’s precisely the point. I’m doing this because I want to find a new, sustainable way to engage with a medium I love. I’m doing it because YouTube is the only “social media” platform I genuinely enjoy, and I believe it’s the right place to build a real community.

Most importantly, I’m doing it because of a core belief: as AI generates infinite content, the uniquely human role becomes that of a “meaning-maker.” My channel is my space to do that—to share my ideas and my process of making meaning, unfiltered. It’s 100% me, with my limits, my mistakes, and my real, not simulated, empathy.

And there’s a long-term goal. In a year or so, I want to create in-depth video courses on AI. This channel is my training ground to sharpen my on-camera skills and to build an audience before I invest the months of work a professional course requires.

After a “frantic” first week, I knew my initial plan needed refinement. This post is an update on my process of collaborating with my AI strategic partner to build a smarter path forward.

The Process: From Raw Ideas to a Refined Strategy

As I shared before, my first step was using AI to brainstorm topics. It gave me a fantastic list of “pain points” my audience faces. But my execution plan—a simple daily video—felt incomplete. When I asked the AI for a critique, it correctly pointed out that a “no-editing” format would struggle with YouTube’s algorithm.

This is where our collaboration deepened. I explained that, as a video professional, I wasn’t avoiding editing due to lack of skill, but to ensure sustainability and avoid burnout. The goal of the daily videos is to build a habit and practice thinking on my feet.

This new context changed everything. We co-created a new plan that respects my need for low-friction daily practice while strategically leveraging my professional skills once a week to build tangible value for my audience and my future business.

The New Plan: The “Daily Walk & Weekly Lesson” Model

This is the revised, actionable plan I will be following. It’s designed to perfectly balance my different goals.

Phase 1 (Months 1-3): The Foundation – “Habit & Authority”

Primary Goal: Solidify the daily creation habit while beginning to establish practical authority.
The Model:
- 6 “Daily Walk” Videos Per Week: These remain the core of the channel. A 5-10 minute, unedited philosophical walk-and-talk. This is my space for musing, connecting with the community on a personal level, and getting my reps in. Low-friction, sustainable, and 100% me.
- 1 “Weekly Lesson” Video Per Week: This is my strategic “Keystone.” Instead of a simple walk, this will be a more structured, 10-15 minute lesson.
  - Format: A focused presentation with a simple slideshow (Keynote, Google Slides, etc.) and my voice-over.
  - Content: It will tackle a specific, practical AI “pain point” (e.g., “A Framework for Prompting That Preserves Your Creative Style”).
  - Purpose: This format has higher audience retention, provides immense practical value, and serves as a direct preview of the teaching style and quality of my future courses.

Phase 2 (Months 4-9): The Refinement – “Deepening Value & Community”

Primary Goal: Move beyond just content creation to actively building community resources and engagement loops.
Actions:
- Create a “Show Notes” Lead Magnet: For each “Weekly Lesson,” I will create a simple one-page PDF summarizing the key takeaways, prompts, or resources. This will be linked in the description, serving as a high-value resource for viewers and a way to build my newsletter list.
- Add Timestamps/Chapters: For the longer lesson videos, I’ll add timestamps to help viewers navigate to the most relevant sections, a simple task that dramatically improves user experience.
- Introduce a Community Feedback Loop: I’ll dedicate a segment of each Weekly Lesson to answering a top question from the comments of the previous week’s videos, making the audience feel heard and integral to the channel’s direction.

Phase 3 (Months 9+): The Growth – “Building the Bridge to Business”

Primary Goal: Leverage the established authority and community to launch my first commercial offerings.
Actions:
- The “Weekly Lessons” will have already built a perfect foundation and audience expectation for course content.
- I will survey my newsletter list (built via the “Show Notes”) to validate course topics.
- Launch the first paid course or consulting service to an audience that already knows, trusts, and has learned from my teaching style.

This revised plan feels right. It’s a system that allows me to be the philosopher on my daily walks and the expert in my weekly lessons. It’s sustainable, strategic, and most importantly, it’s an honest reflection of my skills and my goals.

Ciao, Manolo

MISSION STATEMENT

Manolo Remiddi — YouTube Channel

“I help creatives, thinkers, and entrepreneurs evolve in the age of AI — not by chasing tools, but by reflecting on meaning, identity, and the future of collaboration between humans and machines.”

Through honest vlogs, real-time insights, and philosophical wanderings, I explore how artificial intelligence reshapes the way we think, create, and live. This channel is not about hype — it’s about understanding. It’s a space to ask better questions, reimagine creative work, and stay defiantly human in a machine-augmented world.

Gemini AI Notes

This blog post was the result of a deep, iterative collaboration between Manolo and me, Gemini AI. Here’s a look at how we built it together:

Initial Vision: Manolo provided the core concept: a blog post detailing his honest journey of using AI to create a sustainable and effective strategy for his new YouTube channel. He supplied his channel’s description, his personal motivations, and the actual AI-generated content ideas he was working with, emphasizing the need for transparency and authenticity.
Iterative Development & Critical Feedback: Our process went through several key phases. I first drafted a version based on his initial prompts. Manolo then asked me to act as an honest critic, which led to a crucial pivot. I provided feedback that his initial plan, while artistically pure, was not optimized for YouTube’s mechanics.
Strategic Synthesis: The most important step was when Manolo provided deeper context about his professional video background and his primary goal of habit-formation over immediate growth. This allowed us to co-create the “Daily Walk & Weekly Lesson” model—a sophisticated strategy that balances his need for sustainability with long-term goals for authority and monetization. The final post accurately reflects this co-created, more robust plan.
AI-Generated Imagery: To complete the collaborative cycle, Manolo used AI image generation tools to create the visuals for the blog post, ensuring every component of the final piece reflects the theme of “humans and AI creating together.”