In (mostly) no particular order, here is my advice for others hoping to grow their channel:

• Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I spent MONTHS stressing about whether to film videos in 24 fps or 30 or even 60. I wondered if I had to go 4k, and then did 10 takes of everything and spend DAYS editing each of my first 5 videos. In hindsight, none of that matters. Just. Get. Started. And then keep going. You'll get better, and that's what matters. Everyone has to start, and none of us really know what we're doing at the start, and that's perfectly fine. Your audience will actually be happy and like the idea they're watching you grow and they're part of the journey.

• That being said, you MUST have good audio. Even if your video is a bit blurry or badly exposed people will tolerate it, but the second you have bad audio (wind noise, not loud enough, out of sync) people will comment on it and you'll lose viewers. The most important piece of gear I bought was a wireless mic setup that I use for EVERY video. The few that I didn't because I forgot to bring it or the battery died, people immediately say my audio sucks and say it's unwatchable.

• You're going to be at this for many years. Not months, YEARS. That means having a YT channel becomes a game of constant content creation. You need to always come up with new ideas, new thumbnails, and new videos. You need to film, edit, upload, post and promote again and again and again.
  When you think about your channel don't just think about the next 1 or 2 or even 5 videos. You might get excited about some tangent that leads to a few videos, but what about after that? I think it's really important to realize you must always have ideas in the pipeline, and an angle or niche that allows you to always create new content.

• Why? Because consistency is so important in modern YT. It's not good to have a really great run and post a video a week for months, but then run out of ideas and do nothing for a month before you start up again. Make sure you have ideas and content so you can continue to post a video a week with no downtime!

• No matter the numbers, don't give up. I've had weeks, and even many months where views are down, subs are down and it all seems a bit pointless. I thought about giving up quite a few times, and I'm glad I didn't. Eventually, the numbers turn around and I'll get a week of suddenly +100 subs per day, or even 10k views per day seemingly out of the blue. Keep at it, slow and steady is the path to your goals.

• Make sure your channel is entertaining and interesting to a wide audience. Filming videos of you playing some video game or even playing basketball might be fun for you, but chances are other people won't want to watch hours and hours of that. Instead think of something that is useful and engaging. Maybe a tutorial on those things, a "how to", or even "here's what I learned" type of angle. Something that people will genuinely find helpful.

• Don't get caught up in "influencer life" or dishonesty. I think 5 years ago people only posted their "best" and kind of "over happiness", but that doesn't fly anymore. YT viewers watch YT because they want honesty, they want you to be open and genuine. If you try something and screw it up - talk honestly about it. Talk about why you thought it would work, talk about why it didn't, talk about what you learned and talk about what you're going to do differently next time. (then make an episode about doing it again!). We're all human and we all screw up, and I think YT viewers want to relate to real people, and they want to know they are not alone in screwing stuff up. Be real.

When I think about YT channel success, I bet there are hardly any channels out there that:

• Has been posting at least one or two videos a week, every single week for 2+ years.

• AND they post videos that people genuinely find useful.
  That doesn't have at least 30k subs, or even over 50k subs.

I honestly don't think any exist, because that's the formula to get more subs. That is the way.

I hope this is helpful, fire away with any questions you have and I'll try my best to help out.