Who are you and what kind of content do you create?

My  given name is Kevin Robinson but I go by the name Kevo. Based out of Toronto, Canada and currently a Youtube content creator. I make my content around reacting to videos and make my audience feel like they are watching a video with a friend or family. I wouldn’t say that I’m a full time content creator, Youtube is more of a side hustle. I actually went to school to become a horticulturist, guess that’s a fancy way of saying I’m a plant expert or I like plants.

I am a one-person army, from lights to camera and even the editing, I do all myself. You're probably wondering how I got so good at lighting and sound, let me just say everything can be found and learned on Youtube.

The name, “Kevo” actually has a backstory to it: when I was eight years old my mother sent me to live with my grandmother in Dominica because I was a troublesome kid growing up. My grandmother didn’t like the name Kevin so much because it reminded her of my father who was named Kevin as well, so decide to call me Kevo. I guess the name stuck with me and I called my channel, “itsKevo”  to honor my grandmother because I really love her so much.

Let's go down memory lane, tell us your backstory! 

I come from a very small country in the Caribbean called “ Dominica” . My family was in no way considered rich or even middle class, we are pretty poor. My father left my mother when I was just three years old but my mother tried her best to give me what she could. Fast forward two years, my mother saved enough money so we could go to Canada for a better life.

I started doing Youtube just for fun while in College because my friends at the time didn’t believe that I could become a Youtuber and it would be a waste of time. I’ve been doing Youtube for about four years now and I'll be the first to tell you that it's not a waste of time. I decided to do reaction videos because they were easy to do while in school. I liked the idea of sitting down, watching a video and commenting on it.

How do you brainstorm ideas for your content and your advice in getting the creative juice flowing.

When coming up with ideas, I usually get most of my suggestions from my viewers and what they think I should make a video about. Sometimes I just make videos around what is trending on Youtube or videos that I would enjoy watching and sharing.

What are the tools and platforms you use to help with your brand?

I create my videos using Obs Studio for recording my videos and creating transitions, photoshop for creating my thumbnails and Sony Vegas for editing the video because I findSony Vegas to be one of the easier video editing programs.

Some other platforms that I use are Twitch, Discord and Facebook because I can connect with people much easier with these platforms. When coming up with tags or titles for my Youtube videos, I also use Tube buddy and VidIQ. These are great programs to help optimize search and to know what's trending on Youtube.

What were your fears starting out? How did you handle it? 

When I first started out, I wasn’t really scared of much because I just did Youtube for fun, I looked at Youtube as if I was in school studying for two years. I would do it for two years and if nothing came from it then I wouldn’t care much.

When doing Youtube you will always have positive people that motivate you to do more but you will also get the negative people that will bring you down. Just concentrate on the positive and if you really want to be a Youtuber, you will keep pushing forward even if things aren’t looking good.

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Talking in front of the camera isn't my strongest feature but I learned if you just imagine your talking to a friend makes it much easier to speak to the camera and your audience.

How did you build your brand to where it is now, take us through your process.

When starting Youtube, consistency is the key. The more videos you make the better you get because you learn what works and what doesn’t. I started making videos with my iPhone 6 but the quality was really bad so I decided to invest in myself because I believe that I was worth it and could be a Youtuber. So I bought my first camera which was the Canon 70d and a microphone that cost me at the time $900, this was even before I made a dollar on Youtube.

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Took my about 5 months to make my first 100 subscribers but once the subscribers started coming, it really started taking off. Now when I’m about to create a Youtube video, I have a room that's dedicated to filming my video and editing. I sit down, turn the lights, camera on and search the internet or comments for video ideas then start filming.

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Videos that made a lot of traction on my channel were videos about popular songs or movies that were trending at the time.

For someone who wants to get into content creation, what is your advice?

If you are thinking about starting a Youtube channel, you need to do something you enjoy, not something you think would make a lot of money. When you enjoy creating content around what you like, you will more likely continue making that content and you will find an audience that enjoys what you like as well.

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When making videos try to get straight to the point, make sure you know what you are talking about in your videos and always speak clearly with a good microphone. People can stand bad video quality but if your audio is back they will click off within 10 seconds. Your title and thumbnails are the two most important things to consider because that is what people first see when Youtube shows your videos to them, so spend most of your time on them. 

Tell us your best milestones in being a content creator.

For me as a creator, the first milestone was 100 subscribers because I couldn’t believe 100 people wanted to watch me. When I hit 1,000 subscribers, finally able to be monetized, that's when I started to believe I could actually do this Youtube thing and get paid. Youtube gave me the chance to visit places that I would have never thought I could and pay off my school loans. Hitting 100,000 subscribers and receiving my plaque from Youtube, was one of the greatest moments because I had something physical to show for all the hard work and time.