Mohamed Shoaib Q did not have a personal laptop or an internet connection until he was 24! So when he finally got his own laptop, he rushed to the Race Course in Coimbatore to use the Wi-Fi and download his favourite YouTube tutorial videos. Today, Shoaib is a YouTuber who has his own channel called Mr Earphones BC_BotM.
Shoaib edits, acts, writes the scripts and also handles the camera all by himself. "If I depend on someone to help me out, I have to either promise them a regular income which I cannot afford now, or I'd have to ask them to do it as favour and there may be chances of delay. So I usually just set the tripod, keep a chair or a doll to get the right focus, and I am ready to go," says Shoaib. That's how he shot all his videos, except for his series Mind voice, which was shot as a selfie video.
Reaction videos are an integral part of his channel. "I upload nearly three reaction videos per day. I watch the videos for the very first time in front of the camera, and I react to it the way I would in the absence of a camera. My primary aim is to reach out to as many people as I can and expose my creativity," explains the freelance soft skills trainer.
When Shoaib says he stopped doing creative videos for a while, I was curious to know why. "I had a series called, Hustler Hunt, that exposed the unsung heroes -- men, women and kids from Coimbatore. For this, I got help from Poojaa Anandh, a friend who helped anchor the show. But it did not get the reach these people deserved. So I stopped them for a while and continued with videos that can garner more audience," says the YouTuber who has about 20K subscribers for his YouTube channel.
So what were his experiments to reach a larger audience, I wondered. "I try to improvise existing song lyrics and rapped the same," he says. By doing this, he explores the lyricist in him, and gets noticed at the same time, of course, all the while ensuring that he doesn't have to face any copyright issues. What's more? He was appreciated by the music directors themselves. "All these recordings were done between the four walls of my room with a simple earphone. I am a person who co-exists with earphones all the time, " he adds.
That's probably where the name for his channel came about. But Shoaib would still not let me in on his other little secret. "BC_BotM is my stage name which I will continue to maintain as a well-guarded secret until I reach certain great heights in life."
Shoaib got most of his skills from YouTube tutorials, but his main challenge as a YouTuber was a lack of support from friends in the form of shares. "YouTube may sound glamorous, but it is hard to strike gold in it," shares the mechanical engineer.
Talking about his future prospects, Shoaib says that starting an ideal school that nurtures hidden talents is his long-term dream and guess what, he had flagged it off through his other YouTube channel, My Skool Zerokool. "Through this channel, I have started off with teaching conversational English for beginners and new words for people who already know the language," concludes Shoaib.
