317 subscribers. 683 to go. A slow week for growth—and a reminder of why I started.
This week, my YouTube channel went from 314 subscribers to 317.
Three new subscribers.
vidIQ Leaderboard in the Race to 1K Subscribers and 4K Watch Hours by February 1st, 2027
When your goal is five new subscribers a day, gaining three in an entire week is hard to celebrate without also feeling a little disappointed. And to those three people who subscribed: thank you. I’m grateful you chose to come along.
But the subscriber count doesn’t tell the whole story of this week.
Gigi’s Treehouse received approximately 3,600 views over the last seven days. I published two more animal videos, an animal Short, and a 17-minute brain break compilation. My newer activity and brain break content started gaining some traction.
That’s encouraging. It gives me something to explore, even if it hasn’t yet translated into much subscriber growth.
This week also brought me back to a question that’s easy to lose sight of when you spend so much time watching the numbers:
Why did I start this channel in the first place?
Before the subscriber goal, there were my grandkids
I started Gigi’s Treehouse to create content for my grandchildren. Stories and songs that could help them learn, entertain them, and sometimes help them settle down for sleep.
During a recent conversation about my YouTube journey, I remembered my one-year-old granddaughter being soothed to sleep by my Peter Rabbit video. She wasn’t feeling well and I put on the “Bedtime Stories for Toddlers” playlist and the Peter Rabbit video started playing. It is very low tech and calm. I noticed her eyes getting heavy and she put her head on the blanket and drifted into a nap.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit was one of the very first videos I published on my channel. It has only had 122 views in 7 months. It is basically just my voice reading the story and the images are the original classic story from the book. I was tempted to take the video down because it isn’t performing well ~ until this moment, when it actually soothed my grandchild. That’s what this is all about really…it reminded me why I started this endeavor in the first place.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
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Those moments matter to me.
A child asking to hear a story again is a kind of feedback that doesn’t appear in YouTube Studio.
As the channel developed, I began hoping it could also earn income. Being able to contribute toward daycare, sports, or other activities for my grandchildren would make this work even more meaningful.
That’s part of what’s behind my Race to 1,000 subscribers.
The number is a milestone. The reason I want to reach it is personal.
Remembering that doesn’t erase the frustration of a slow week. It does help me put the frustration in perspective.
What do you do when you’re creating, but growth feels slow?
I suspect plenty of other creators know this feeling.
You put time into making something. You publish it. You check the results. Then you wonder whether the effort is moving you forward.
I don’t have a magic formula to offer. I’m still figuring this out myself. But three lessons stood out this week, and they’re useful things to work on while the numbers catch up—or while you learn what needs to change.
1. Engage with people authentically
It’s easy to get so focused on growing an account that every interaction starts to feel like an opportunity to promote it.
I’m learning to spend more time actually participating.
Read what someone has written. Watch what they’ve created. Leave a thoughtful comment when you have something to contribute. Ask a real question. Respond with interest.
There’s a difference between showing up because you want attention and showing up because you’re interested in someone’s work. People can feel that difference.
I want to build relationships with other creators and people who care about the things I’m making. That has value even when it doesn’t produce an immediate subscriber.
2. Study what successful channels are doing
Some of the best learning opportunities come from observing others. I’ve been exploring channels that are successful and using them as models to improve my own content.
Stay curious. Study what success looks like.
What makes a thumbnail easy to understand? How quickly does a video get to the activity or story? What makes someone want to keep watching? Which topics does the creator return to?
The goal is to notice choices I can learn from and apply in my own way.
For someone else working through a slow stretch, here’s a manageable exercise: choose one successful video in your niche and identify one thing it does well. Then consider how that lesson could improve your next piece of content.
One useful observation is easier to act on than a long list of everything you think your account is missing.
3. Keep creating—and improve something each time
“Keep going” sounds simple. It’s harder when you feel like you’ve been going for a while without much movement.
For me, continuing has to include learning.
That might mean a clearer thumbnail, a stronger opening, better audio, or a video that’s easier for a child to follow and enjoy.
My brain break content gaining some traction this week is a good example. It’s an early signal worth paying attention to. I want to understand which parts are connecting with viewers and use that information to make the next activity better.
I can’t control how many people subscribe this week. I can control the care I put into what I make next.
What I’m taking into Week 4
Three new subscribers is well below the pace I hoped for. I still have 683 to go, and I need to keep working on helping viewers see a reason to return.
For the coming week, my focus is straightforward:
Spend time engaging thoughtfully with other creators.
Study successful videos and apply one useful lesson.
Build on the early interest in brain breaks while continuing my animal content.
And through all of that, I want to keep my grandchildren in mind.
Would they enjoy this? Could they learn something? Would they ask to watch it again?
Those questions helped me start Gigi’s Treehouse. They’re still good questions to guide what comes next.
If you’re growing a social media account and having a slow week, I hope you’ll take a moment to remember your own reason for starting, too. Then choose one thing you can improve and make the next piece.
317 subscribers. Three more people along for the journey. And plenty of reasons to keep creating.
Until next week, let’s GROW!
~ Amy (aka Gigi)
P.S. ~ If you’d like to follow along to see how my Race to 1K subscribers is going in real time, check out Gigi’s Treehouse channel.
