Activity – Paula BlacktagOctane – Blacktag Octane

Paula BlacktagOctaneOffline

Paula BlacktagOctane posted in the group Blacktag Octane Journey

• 6 days, 3 hours ago

A little update from behind the scenes of Blacktag Octane…

For quite a while, I tried to keep YouTube organised into active “series” from start to finish. The problem is… real workshop life doesn’t really work like that 😅

While I’m focused on finishing one storyline, work on other cars keeps happening in the background… rallies, repairs, breakdowns, testing, unexpected adventures…and before I know it, I’m months behind on some projects.

So I’m going to experiment a little.

Instead of forcing everything into one strict timeline, I’ll start sharing more progress as it actually happens, while still keeping the bigger stories and episodes alive on YouTube.

That also means I still have quite a few older videos waiting patiently in the editing queue, and I’ll do my best to fit them in naturally along the way.

Honestly… probably a good problem to have 😄

Thank you all for following this slightly chaotic journey with me and the cars.

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- Matthew D Bond
  6 days ago
  
  As I like to say. There is always someone worse off. Keep doing what you are doing, I enjoy each video. Only thing is I like them so much they could be double the length Haha. I appreciate we all have jobs to do and I guess editing takes time and much effort… What is your day job if you don’t mind me asking?
  - Paula BlacktagOctane
    5 days, 11 hours ago
    
    Thank you very much for your support, that’s very kind of you, and I’m really happy to hear that you enjoy every single video.
    I’m constantly experimenting and trying to learn what people enjoy watching. For example, my hill climb videos don’t tend to perform very well, so I’ve stopped posting them quite as often.
    Ironically, it would actually be easier to make the videos longer! The difficult part is deciding what to cut. At the moment, I’m trying to compress days, and sometimes even weeks, of footage into a 12–15 minute video while still making sure the story makes sense. That can be quite tricky, especially when you’re trying to show what happened without including every single step of the process.
    At the same time, I’ve noticed that viewer attention tends to drop after a while. Most people watch around seven minutes on average before moving on, so I’m trying to keep the videos more focused and fast-paced while still telling the full story. Hopefully, as the community grows, I’ll be able to make longer videos and go into more detail.
    As for my day job, I used to work for BMW as a Service Advisor. But it became very difficult to juggle a full-time job, the YouTube channel, and helping Colin with the cars at weekends. I was working in Aylesbury, waking up at 5 a.m., getting home around 7 p.m., then trying to edit videos in the evenings. Weekends were spent filming and working on the cars so that I had content to post. Eventually, it became impossible to keep up, so I decided to dedicate myself to the things I truly love. I left BMW and took a leap of faith to focus on helping Colin look after the cars and growing my YouTube channel.
    I’ve actually tried YouTube several times before, even back when I lived in Romania. I think this is probably my fourth attempt! Each time, work eventually got in the way and I had to give it up.
    This time, though, I’m all in. Fingers crossed it works out. 😊🏁
    - Matthew D Bond
      5 days, 9 hours ago
      
      You could get hit by a bus tomorrow so it is always important to follow your passion. What I love about the petrolhead community is the cars bring people together and for a lot of people their car is the only thing holding them together… I see what you mean about the length of videos. You also put your heart and soul into your YT channel which is very nice to see, and nice touches like replying in peoples native language. Hopefully you get more and more sponcers to financially back you more… I do quite like the hill climb ones as it not really something I know much about so it is nice to watch and learn. But you have to do what the wider population of viewers wants to make it a success. Perhaps an idea would be to do a directors cut if you get me. You do have 22 grands worth of subscribers so you must be doing something right. How many are Members?
      
      Paula BlacktagOctane
      4 days, 9 hours ago
      
      Hi Matthew, thank you so much for such a thoughtful and encouraging message! It really means a lot to hear that the passion I put into the channel is coming through. You’re absolutely right, cars have a unique way of bringing people together, and the classic car community has been incredibly welcoming.
      
      I really appreciate your honesty about the content. To be transparent, a big part of the channel’s early ‘growth’ (around 18,000 of those 22k subscribers) came from experimenting with random fail and funny videos while I was still learning the ropes. It was a great learning curve, but it meant I ended up with a lot of followers who weren’t necessarily here for the classics!
      
      That’s why comments like yours are so rewarding…in the last year, I’ve finally started reaching the ‘true’ petrolhead community, and the interaction has been amazing. I’m still learning with every edit; for example, on the recent Maserati and Ferrari video, I knew it might be a bit niche, but seeing people enjoy that ‘engine symphony’ was worth it. I’m constantly looking at where people might be getting bored to try and make the parts tighter, so your idea of a ‘Director’s Cut’ for the longer, more technical dives is actually brilliant, I’m considering using the Membership feature specifically for these longer cuts in the future.
      
      On the membership side, you’re right, it’s mostly symbolic at the moment. I only have two members (shoutout to Robert!), and while the financial side of YouTube is still very small for me (about £2.32 in membership revenue this month), the community rewards are far greater. I’m being careful with sponsors too…I’d rather have no sponsor than one that ruins the retention and flow of a video with a long advert that doesn’t fit our vibe.
      
      Thanks again for the support and for being part of the journey. It’s messages like yours that keep the octane flowing!
      
      Matthew D Bond
      4 days, 8 hours ago
      
      Its only 2 at the moment? Well me and Robert must have exquisite taste in YouTube. The only other channel I pay is called Roadtrip Revivals. Well worth checking him out. An Englishman in France. He also does raffles and I am hoping to win his LHD Ford Granada Mk2 with the Indenor Diesel and 5 speed box. Good for European touring. I would go straight to Gibraltar to stock up on duty free. Or Andorra. What is a community reward? I press that Hype thing but I am not sure what it does. Anyway, keep up the exquisite work and keep bringing these wonderful machines to the public. Not many other people do deep dives into cars this exotic. Good niche.