TL;DR
For a long time, I kept delaying short-form video because the idea felt overwhelming. Eventually, I stopped overthinking it and started posting one simple reel per day using a much more manageable approach.
Starting Reels After Almost Avoiding Them
One of the biggest things I delayed while building The Layered Traveller was short-form video.
Not because I didn’t think it was important.
But because the entire idea felt overwhelming.
At various points, I would think about creating reels, watch other creators doing it successfully, and then immediately convince myself it was probably too complicated, time-consuming, or outside my comfort zone.
So instead of starting, I kept postponing it.
Overcomplicating the Process
Looking back, I think part of the problem was that I had built video up into something much larger in my head than it needed to be.
I was imagining:
• highly edited content
• constant filming
• complicated production workflows
• needing to “become a video creator”
That made the whole process feel intimidating before I had even started.
In reality, the first step didn’t need to be nearly that complicated.
Discovering a Simpler Approach
Eventually, I came across a much simpler strategy shared by Vitaliy (“The Nature Seeker”) inside the Wealthy Affiliate community.
The approach focused less on perfection and more on consistency.
Instead of trying to create polished cinematic videos, the idea was simply to:
• use existing clips and photos
• create short reels consistently
• keep the workflow lightweight
• focus on building momentum
That shift completely changed how I viewed the process.
Starting Small on Purpose
Rather than trying to suddenly produce large amounts of video content, I decided to start with a much smaller goal:
one reel per day
That felt manageable.
Most of the early videos were built using:
• existing travel clips
• simple editing
• basic captions or music
• short moments from destinations
The goal wasn’t perfection.
It was simply to stop avoiding the platform and start learning through action.
Realising Video Was Less Intimidating Than Expected
Once I actually started posting consistently, something interesting happened.
The process became much less intimidating.
Not because I suddenly became confident on camera — I still wasn’t doing that — but because I realised video didn’t have to immediately become a massive production.
It could simply become another layer of the overall content system.
That realisation made it much easier to keep going.
Early Results Felt Encouraging
The early reach from reels also felt noticeably stronger than many of the static posts I had been creating.
Different platforms responded differently, but overall the visibility felt encouraging enough to keep experimenting.
That doesn’t necessarily mean every video performed well.
But it did reinforce the idea that short-form video is becoming increasingly important for discoverability.
What Comes Next
Once I started creating reels consistently, the next obvious step was experimenting with reposting that same content across multiple platforms.
Rather than creating entirely separate content for every platform, I started treating short-form video as reusable content that could support the broader website ecosystem.
Next article:
→ Repurposing Content Across Platforms (What Actually Happened)