If I had to start a YouTube Shorts channel from scratch today...
Here’s exactly what I’d do:
1. Prepare Channel
If you don’t already have an aged channel/account: create a new Gmail.
Warm the account by watching Shorts for 1 hour over 2‑3 days - engage, scroll, let YouTube see you’re not a bot.
2. Find & Validate Niche
Scroll through Shorts, look for niches that grab your attention.
Then use this checklist:
Make sure they are monetizable - if they have voiceover it's good.
Have over 50M engaged views in last 30 days - check using vidIQ.
High success rate - search for competition and analyze performance.
3. Curate Feed
Go to YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok - search your niche keywords.
Engage with all the content - watch, comment, subscribe.
The algorithm will start pushing more of that niche content to your feed.
From here, you’ll generate a “creator list” in your niche.
Observe what they do well, then find a way to add your own spin - new editing style, humour etc.
4. Learn Editing & Video Ideas
Pick an editing tool (CapCut is recommended for ease).
Plenty of YouTube tutorials you can watch.
Go through your curated creator list and look for patterns among their best performers.
Example: “ski stunts gone wrong.”
Do the same type of video but use different clips.
On Instagram/TikTok feed - curate for your niche too.
Let it act as a video idea machine.
5. Post Daily → Find the Outlier → Double Down
Start by posting 1 video per day.
Keep experimenting with different lengths, hooks, video structures.
When one video outperforms the rest, that's your outlier.
Now double down on that format/idea.
But don’t just copy: add a small twist.
Example: outlier was “most expensive car” → next “most expensive boat”.
Keep repeating this: experiment → find what works → rinse variants
6. Monetize & Scale
When you reach 10 million views in 90 days...
Apply for monetization and activate Shorts feed ads.
Now your videos will be making you money.
7. Outsource & Build A Team
Once you are going viral consistently and you understand why, begin to outsource.
Hire editors/clip‑finders. Use Twitter or Discord video‑editing servers.
Train them to replicate your style. Give them example videos, workflows, guidelines.
Pay them to make videos exactly like you do.
Then you take the quality control role.
8. Repeat & Scale the System
You’ve built one channel. Now you systemize it.
Repeat the process in a sister niche or adjacent topic.
Use the same account strategy, niche validation, feed curation, posting routine etc.