Book Review: Making Time by Bob Clagett
A great insight into the business of full-time content creation
Making Time By Bob Clagett
The maker community has expanded rapidly from early beginnings only a few years ago. If this is your thing, it’s very likely that you are one of Bob’s 4 million YouTube subscribers but you may not have realised that he has written a book describing his Journey. Bob’s project videos tend to stand-out against the mainstream even those from his early beginnings on the YouTube platform. Like others Bob’s style is educational and procedural. You are shown all the steps involved in making the project with care taken to explain well those critical steps that deliver a good result. What might not be clear to the viewer is that Bob is often explaining skills and techniques that he has only recently learned. He makes mistakes which remain in his videos and often provide the view with more valuable learnings than all the well-executed operations elsewhere in the video. In the book Bob explains that this is all part of making a business out of teaching skills to an audience of aspiring makers. His need to continually learn keeps the videos fresh and at the leading edge of the YouTube maker scene.
The book begins with look through his background, his family, education and early career. Having previously made a success in web-design, Bob moved into developing commercial software from home. Early experiences with YouTube showed the potential of the platform and allowed the I Like to Make Stuff channel emerge from there.
Picture credit: I Like To Make Stuff YouTube Channel
While getting to know Bob was really fascinating he goes on to provide an insight into the business of running a successful content-creation business. While not everyone who watches his content aspires to run their own YouTube channel, although many do, the book provides lessons into how to value your own time and collaborate with others which anyone can apply to their work, hobbies or personal life. I have to say that for me this is where true value lies on Bob sharing his experiences and I was left wanted more.
This is a relatively short book. In audio book form, Bob narrates the book un-abridged in just under 2 hours. The nuggets of information within are concisely discussed which give a lightness to the book and makes this easily accessible. The flip-side is that this isn’t a reference book on how to become successful on the YouTube platform, just one man’s story. Overall I was mostly satisfied but left wanting more. In a good way.
This isn’t an expensive book but has the added benefit of supporting Bob’s on-screen work. I would suggest you all take a look.
