HOW TO BE A YOU
Brilliant creativity, long hours and will fly. the acceptance that not every idea child’s This is just the beginning for your Mayoh favourite Aussie Youtubers. Lisa and Mercedes Maguire report
They are the youngsters with millions of subscribers, billions of views and often lucrative deals – the Youtubers reaching fans all over the world with videos of … just about anything. If you haven’t heard of them your kids definitely have. And probably want to be like them.
But how do you become a ‘Youtuber’? How many takes makes for the perfect shot? How do you know if a video will fly or flop?
And can just anyone make a living from it?
Sometimes it’s just about having a go, say the best in the business. But don’t expect overnight success. These Youtube superstars are perfectionists, who work tirelessly for success.
NORTH Shore teen Ash Hodgkinson didn’t fit in at school or on the sports field. Grappling with anxiety and ADHD didn’t help. But then he found something he loved and now his magic is making millions of young people smile too.
Better known as Ash Magic, the Youtube and global Tiktok sensation’s hilarious magic trick videos have been viewed billions of times in the past 12 months. Just 19, he is also about to release his first book, Real Magic.
“It’s a dream come true,” Hodkinson tells Saturday Extra, of the book in which he shares his personal story and the philosophy behind his success as well how to do those all important magic tricks
“There was a period of my life where I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I was going to be going, and once I started magic and performing, I was like, ‘OK, this is it. This is going to be the thing I really like’.
“Magic is just such a universal thing. There are no language barriers and there is this natural obsession people have with things that are possible, things that are different and unique and things that might be real or not be real.”
Ideas for content tend to come at random and he writes everything down, even when woken by an idea in the middle of the night.
“I’ll set it up, get all the props that I need and then I might do a few takes,” he says.
“Some of the videos take from 10 to hundreds of takes because they’re that hard.
“But then some videos which look really hard or which you expect to take hours, you do it in one take.”
Despite his success, Hodkinson says he is constantly surprised by what fans lap up and what they don’t.
There is no recipe to creating a viral video, it just happens when he remembers what he loves about what he does.
“I can spend hours writing and editing this video with a really clever concept and it all looks great on screen and is an amazing trick,” he says.
“Then it won’t perform as well as the random video that I threw together in like five minutes.
“As long as you’re making what you love. People love seeing someone genuinely interested in something, so love what you do and that will convert and people will find that engaging as well.”
His book Real Magic tackles the world of social media, one he describes as much like magic, with concepts of perception versus reality.
“It’s obvious that things definitely aren’t the same in real life as they are on social media,” he says. “And just know that nobody’s perfect.
They all have their things that they’re struggling with and dealing with, and so does everybody else.
“So I think knowing that you’re not alone and there are people that love you and people you can reach out to, is important.”
Hodkinson’s parents have never tried to sway him away from his nontraditional routes of study and employment.
He now makes money through paid partnerships as well as income from his incredible Youtube success.
“I feel like they always sort of knew that something was going to happen and they helped me along the way,” he says.
“I want to reach anybody who feels like they’re not quite in the right place at this specific time — if they think they could be doing something different, or trying to find the courage to follow the path that they truly want to do, not what their parents want them to do or what school or society wants them to do.”
His tip to making a career of social media? Be yourself, be unique and try new things.
“And I think the biggest tip out of everything is just consistency,” he says. “It doesn’t happen overnight. But if you keep at it and yet keep grinding, it will happen. And stop caring about what other people think — it’s a leap of faith to think ‘screw it, I’m just going to do it’.”
REAL MAGIC, PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN, AVAILABLE FROM AUGUST 31