Who is James Jani and why is he famous? – 95 Biography facts about the UK-based documentary YouTuber that every fan should know.
James Jani is a documentary YouTuber who is known for videos on niches like business, money, life, and entrepreneurship.
James Jani is a popular YouTuber that makes documentary-style content, with over 1.17 million Subscribers, and 38+ million views.
He used to want to be an actor, lost his passion for acting, and instead became interested in entrepreneurship. YouTube allowed him to combine his creativity with entrepreneurship which has led to his remarkable success today.
Do you want to know the net worth of James Jani?, or are you interested in his success story of how he beat the YouTube algorithm with just 18 videos?
In this article, The Vibely will share with you what motivated James Jani to move to YouTube after he lost his passion for acting after haven been to a drama school.
James Jani Profile Summary
Celebrated Name: | James Jani |
Net Worth: | $1 million |
Est. Revenue per video: | $50,000 |
Real Full Name: | James V. Jani |
Date of Birth | Not Known |
Age | 22 years old |
Hometown | England, United Kingdom |
YouTube channel name | James Jani |
Subscribers | 1.17 million Subscribers |
The date he joined YouTube | Joined Dec 5, 2019 |
Total Views till now | 18 videos |
Total number of videos | 38,817,485 views |
First Uploaded Video: | “Is University Worth It Anymore? My Honest Advice on the state of universities in 2020”. with 428K views |
Most viewed video | “The Untold Truth About Money: How To Build Wealth From Nothing” with 10 million views |
Instagram account | @james.v.j |
Video editing tool | SkillShare, Daniel Scott’s premiere pro |
Education | He was a drama student |
Investing website | Patreon.com |
Twitter account | @jamesvjani |
Last Updated: | February 2022 |
Below are some interesting facts about James Jani every fan should know;
James Jani’s Biography facts
#1.
James Jani’s real name is James V. Jani.
#2.
His date of birth is not known at the moment.
#3.
He is 22-year-old.
#4.
England, the United Kingdom is where he lives and comes from (hometown).
James Jani’s life before fame (Early life)
#5
James Jani originally planned to be an actor, but after failing to get into the drama school he wanted, and having virtually nothing in his bank account, he decided he needed to figure out a way of making money.
#6.
He made searches on google on how to become rich, he tried to launch a social media company but it still failed
#7.
However, he still kept trying to become an actor instead of putting more effort into becoming an entrepreneur.
#8.
Initially, James was inspired to start a YouTube Channel after looking at successful entrepreneurs on Instagram.
#9.
James continued to research making money as the fire to become an entrepreneur kept burning in him as his passion for acting kept waning.
#10.
And so when the pandemic hit, and James found himself out of work, it meant he had time to double down on this idea for a YouTube channel.
#11.
And thus he began learning video editing, and researching how the YouTube algorithm works.
Starting YouTube
#12.
On his online entrepreneurship journey, he officially joined the YouTube community. He created his YouTube channel on December 5, 2019.
#13.
Since James knew a bit of drama acting and didn’t want to let go of it even tho he had lost interest in it, he invested all his skills in video making on his YouTube channel.
#14.
The motive of his channel was to explore discoveries and perspectives on various topics through entertaining documentary-style videos!
#15.
On 27 January 2020, James Jani posted his first YouTube video and publicly set a goal of 1,000 subscribers by 2021.
#16.
James’ first video was titled “Is University Worth It Anymore? My Honest Advice on the state of universities in 2020”.
#17.
He answered questions about university such as “if student loans were worth it”, “which degree you should get if you should take a gap year”, and “what the value of a degree is”.
#18.
Even though the video was produced for English audiences, a lot of American viewers related to it.
#19.
In reality, he ended up reaching over half a million subscribers.
#20.
And if you make videos yourself, you’ll know the YouTube algorithm is like your God. It can bury you or it can change your life.
#21.
In James’ case, and in just a couple of months, he went from $0 to over $30,000 a month in YouTube ad revenue alone.
#22.
And at just 20 years old, in less than 10 videos, he now averages more than 10x the views of some of the biggest business and entrepreneurship channels.
#23.
This caused him to look into the world of YouTube and also entrepreneurship. From this, he proceeded to go down a YouTube rabbit hole of self-help speakers and motivational coaches.
#24.
Through his research, he found that many of the coaches giving advice were underqualified, and often fraudulent, which drove him to create his second video titled “The Rise of Fake Gurus” and “The Toxic World of Self Help”.
#25.
Consequently, these videos ended up becoming viral. James credits his viral success to the amount of effort he put into the videos.
#26.
He is incredibly passionate about helping others. By exposing the con artists that disguise themselves as gurus, he feels he’s helped shed light on a scam that many find themselves falling victim to.
#27.
This is where James reiterates that to become successful on YouTube, you must be incredibly passionate about what you are sharing with the world. Sure, a case like James’ is excellent, and for that to work for everyone would be fantastic.
#28.
And whilst you may think from here it was all sailing after 5 months of doing YouTube, James Jani had about 400 subscribers.
#29.
It was actually in the next 2 months where the magic would happen because without posting a single extra video, his subscribers increased to over a quarter of a million.
#30.
YouTube started recommending his content to others. But then, the insanity began. The views per hour kept rising. 100 views an hour. 1000 views an hour. 5000 views an hour the number jumped up and the momentum kept building.
#31.
“And I just wake up one morning, I just go through my morning routine, and I looked at my phone and I see normally I get like 0-10 views an hour, and suddenly it’s 15-25. It was just nonstop, my heart was going crazing nonstop”, James Jani revealed when speaking about his breakthrough.
#32.
“The problem that I noticed was a lot of ingenious people in the entrepreneurship niche on YouTube. The solution that I came up with was getting into that space with more a genuine voice but also standing out with what I learned through my acting and bringing that into the niche as well”, James Jani revealed.
#33.
He then made one video deconstructing the business of Instagram, the story of its founder Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and the eventual selling of their business to Facebook.
#34.
When the Covid pandemic started and it caused a recession, he made a video guiding how to invest your money during a market crash, which went viral also.
#35.
His fifth video was on the selling of personal data by brokers, followed by the myths of money and the equation to health.
#36.
At the end of the month, he produced one of his most popular videos, which was critical of self-care gurus and hustle culture.
#37.
The video was praised by Paddy Galloway and The New Travel. His video on Tyler1 was praised by Tyler himself, and he reacted to it on stream.
#38.
He is critical of the school education system and pyramid schemes.
#39.
He also made philosophy-related videos such as whether the Law of Attraction was real, and this was rehashed in the next video.
#40.
As of 2022, he has tried to cover different topics. He himself has had analysis videos made on him by other Youtubers.
#41.
James has made appearances on several podcasts such as ‘My Worst Investment Ever’, ‘MindMeld with joshgonsalvs’, and ‘The Unscripted podcast’.
#42.
The My Worst Investment Ever podcast revealed that it was while selling stuff on eBay that James desired to become an entrepreneur.
#43.
He spends 100-150 hours making each video.
#44.
He teaches a masterclass called “How to Skyrocket Your Youtube channel” on Uhub.
#45.
He currently has 1.17 million subscribers with just 18 documentary videos.
#46.
James has 10 million as his highest view and 428k as his lowest view.
The basics of YouTube algorithm
#47.
The YouTube algorithm wants to keep people on as long as possible – that means the viewers have a good experience, they consume more content, and as a result, they see more ads so YouTube can make more money.
#48.
But of course, the algorithm can’t judge what’s good content, it relies on user data. And whilst there are countless metrics it looks at, there are two (2) big ones that matter most: Number one is Watch Time: how much time do people spend watching a video and what percent do they watch? And number two is Click Through Rate: which means when YouTube displays the video, what percent actually click on it?
#49.
And this makes sense, YouTube has limited spaces to recommend videos so they’re going to promote the ones that people watch more and click on more.
#50.
However, you might be sitting there thinking this is pretty common knowledge, and it doesn’t really give us anything practical to focus on. So, what did James figure out that most creators don’t?
James Jani’s sincere advice to people looking forward to increasing their chances of success on YouTube for business.
#51.
“The moment you start a Youtube Channel and upload a video, you are 99% ahead of those who said they were going to but haven’t” – James Jani.
#52.
James has many viewers who come to him and ask him if any particular formula he followed caused him to gain such quick results. Unfortunately, there is no such formula, but James shared his tips on how to market a channel successfully.
#53.
Upload Consistently: James believes consistency is the key to success on YouTube.
#54.
Follow What’s Trending – he recommends taking an hour out of your day to truly observe the YouTube algorithm and understand what works and what doesn’t.
#55.
Find Your Niche – figure out a specialism and go and what other creators are doing in the same field that works.
#56.
Dedicate an Equal Amount of Time and Effort – on average, it takes James 40 – 80 hours to put together one of his documentary-style YouTube videos.
#57.
James encourages business owners to utilize YouTube for product promotion and sponsorships and create a channel themselves. As an entrepreneur himself, James recognizes that it can be hard to implement creativity into YouTube videos when someone is so used to a practical, results-driven environment. If you individually struggle to be creative, James advises throwing yourself in the deep end, practicing getting used to being in front of a camera, and getting a feel for it.
#58.
As soon as you become more comfortable, alongside implementing the tips above, you’ll find yourself slowly improving when creating YouTube videos and it is a less stressful process. James emphasizes not just creating content for content, doing something you want to do, or something that you have researched that has worked in your field. By doing this, you’ll reduce the chances of burnout and create content that both you and viewers enjoy.
How James Jani beat the YouTube algorithm – His 4 strategies
#59.
Now, you have heard that nobody knows how the YouTube algorithm works, and it is true that nobody knows all of the exact intricacies, because it uses machine learning. However, we definitely know enough, including what the algorithm looks for when it decides which videos to promote.
#60.
James Jani’s strategies fall under 4 key things, these are packaging, emotion, scarcity, and mass appeal. These are best explained below;
#61.
1st strategy – The Packaging: When it comes to YouTube, information is a commodity, there is no shortage of people talking about pretty much any subject imaginable, including the topics James talks about; entrepreneurship, money, and business.
#62.
James’ most popular video titled “The untold truth about money: how to build wealth” is highly based on the books of M.J DeMarco who also has a channel where you can hear from him directly, and yet, it has far fewer views. This is because, with YouTube, the crucial part is not just the information itself but the way the information is delivered and packaged. And yet, many people focus on what they are going to say and not how they are going to present it.
#63.
Unpredictability: And so, one great way James really hooks attention is by keeping his videos unpredictable. You don’t know if it’s going to be an animation next, a movie scene, a YouTube clip, or James talking.
#64.
His videos are filled with all these different elements, and so of course that’s going to keep people watching longer than if the whole video is just a single shot of someone speaking to a camera.
#65.
Story: Another way James keeps his videos more engaging is by using stories. Because once a story starts we instinctively want to keep watching to know how it ends.
#66.
For example, in James’ most watched video “The untold truth about money: how to build wealth”, where he had a prologue asking you to come on this journey with him, and then in the next part he puts forward the problem that gets you amped up before eventually getting to the solution. It’s like he’s guiding you through the topic from start to finish and so a lot more people watch to the very end of the video, which we know the algorithm loves.
67.
2nd strategy – Emotion: Research has shown that almost all viral videos have one thing in common; they elicit an emotional response – joy, fear, laughter, outrage. It doesn’t matter if your emotion is either positive or negative, what matters is the content makes you feel something.
#68.
Background music: One simple but massively underutilized way of influencing this is the music of your videos. Whereas most YouTubers just slap a random repetitive generic song behind their content, James clearly spends a long time searching for the exact track that sets the vibe of the video.
#69.
Connection: Another way of creating a deeper emotional connection is by talking directly into the camera. He hits on real pain points for people and makes the video feel personalized to them. However, despite all these engaging emotional triggers he uses, James would not have had such explosive growth if it weren’t for his third factor;
#70.
3rd strategy: – Scarcity: Now, if you look for YouTube advice, you’ll constantly hear that you need to post more. And sure, consistency is good but not at the expense of quality. The idea of just churning out videos every day can often lead to burnout with very little to show for it.
#71.
Because it is incredibly hard to make a video that has great watch time without putting much thought into it. That’s why James literally plans and scripts his videos before filming anything.
#72.
Well, this might not work for everybody but think of it this way, if you have 10 hours of creating videos, I think creating 1 amazing video has so many advantages over cranking out 10 average videos. This is because it increases click-through rate and watch time, an important YouTube metric.
#73.
Just like most things in life, Scarcity increases perceived value and it also increases channels for returning victors.
#74.
Priorities quality over quantity. Build up a reputation as a channel of quality so that when people want more content, they’re left looking forward to your next video and wanting to go through your back catalog of old videos. Each video feels more special and has that instant click factor.
#75.
4th strategy – Wide appeal: A crucial thing to bear in mind is that viral videos almost always tend to have a pretty general appeal that almost anyone could enjoy because it means YouTube can keep pushing it to a wider audience.
#76.
He focuses on niche topics like the fake guru video but he presents the information in a way that even if you are brand new to the concept, you can still enjoy the video and find it interesting.
#77.
Fame Jacking: To increase wide appeal, one way to go about it is to fame jack. Fame jacking is where one rides the waves of someone else’s fame.
#78.
This is done by using other well-known people in your niche as thumbnails or including a small part of their videos in yours. The audience probably recognizes some of the people in your video and they are always eager to click to same these familiar faces.
#79.
Searchability: YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world, integrated with the first, google, focusing on keyword phrases that people are actually in the search box like specific questions, which is a great way to reach a wider audience.
#80.
For example, James is at the top for “is university worth it?” – an incredibly searchable question that so many people have. Whereas nobody is searching for “my thoughts on uni or uni vlog”.
#81.
So focusing on searchable evergreen content that people can keep discovering for years to come, can give your videos a much wider reach.
#82.
The best YouTube keyword tool for your researchable terms and VidlQ and Tube Buddy that can help find keywords just make sure you can repeat them your titles, tags, the start of the description, and video file name to maximize the chance of ranking for it.
James Jani’s video editing software and promotion
#83.
When James had zero subscribers, he used to post teaser clips on his social media and shared links on relevant subreddits, and some forums, and in a non-spammy way. And also, got his name out there by commenting on other YouTube channels in a similar niche.
#84.
James Jani uses editing tools like SkillShare to learn video editing. SkillShare is an online community with thousands of inspiring classes.
#85.
In particular, James said he really likes Daniel Scott’s premiere pro essential class and that has helped him learn a large amount of the technique.
#86.
James is able to use other people’s copyrighted content because he does so under fair use.
#87.
On creating his thumbnails, he browses YouTube more often and when he stumbles on a thumbnail that catches his eye, he downloads it into his folder of inspiration when it comes to making his own.
James Jani’s Net Worth, sources of income, YouTube Earnings (Social Blade), and social media accounts
#88.
James Jani’s main source of income is from his YouTube with 965K subscribers and sponsorships.
#89.
However, James Jani makes over $50,000 in revenue from each of the videos he uploads on YouTube.
#90
James is worth around $1 million dollars (this is an estimated amount).
#91.
According to Social Blade, James Jani makes daily estimated earnings of $6 – $101 from YouTube.
#92.
He makes weekly estimated earnings of $44 – $709 from YouTube, according to Social Blade.
#93.
He makes monthly estimated earnings of $190 – $3K from YouTube, according to Social Blade.
#94.
He makes yearly estimated earnings of $2.3K – $36.5K from YouTube, according to Social Blade.
#95.