Aiman Azlan's Blog

I’ve been on Youtube for 7 years now, since 2011. In those years, I have gone from making videos in my bedroom to making videos in [awkward face]. But the difference between then and now is that I can do this for a living. The videos I made have traveled further than I have; France, Belgium, Venezuela, Egypt, and other places. In those 7 years, I have met a lot of people and people have questions. One of the common questions is, “How do I become a Youtuber like you?” In short, I got asked this question a lot to a point where I decided, “Why don’t I just teach this thing?” In essence, vlogging is simply recording, editing, and uploading. That’s it. So I want to focus on those 3 things with this workshop, because a lot of times people might be overwhelmed with choices (Which camera is the best? Which editing software is the most suitable?) and people might feel insecure with the uncertainty (What will people think of me). I want to make things easy for you and just focus on 3...

If you are here to register for the workshop, please click on the poster. But if you want to read a story first, please keep on reading... It's been 7 years since I uploaded my first vlog on Youtube from my 1-bedroom apartment, and that vlog was the first domino piece that led to this moment right now. It is not farfetched for me to say that I owe my whole career to that first vlog. From that first vlog, a kind soul decided to invite me to his university to give a talk and after that, more invitations poured in. From there, I was recognized by a publishing company as a potential writer and they agreed I published my first book. From there, someone thought I should be on TV and I did appear a few times. On and on the story goes, but it all started from that first vlog. Over the past 7 years of vlogging, people often ask me this one question: "How to be a Youtube vlogger?" The answer is simple: Just record, edit and upload a vlog on Youtube. Done! However,...

I was with the Form 2 students at MRSM Serting, Negeri Sembilan speaking about how to be confident in English. During the break, one student approached me to ask me how to change accent. I asked, “Why?” He simply answered, “My friends make fun of my accent. I sound Chinese when I speak English.” I said, “What’s wrong with that?” He said, “It’s not normal.” Poor kid. His English is perfectly fine. In fact, I believe he is on the right track. If he continues to practice and practice, he might be super fluent. But being teased by his friends caused his journey to stall. I can sense that one of the factors why his friends tease his accent and why he thinks it's not normal is because of how we view English in the first place. We have a skewed idea of what "normal English" means. Normal English means American or British English. That is simply not true. American or British English could be considered as the standard because without a standard, things could g...

General Election 14 (GE14) will be my first time voting. During the last GE, I was already eligible. But I was in Canada and a bit clueless about long distance voting process (my bad). So I ended up livestreaming with friends instead to keep in touch with our people back home. We were just observers. This time, not anymore. If you are old enough to vote, then you should care. If you say “I don’t do politics”, then ask yourself if you have complained about the government or about the opposition. If you have, then you are already “doing politics” my friend. Who to vote? Well, that is your choice. I shouldn’t dictate what you choose. What I can advice you is this: Don’t follow your parents. Don’t follow your neighbours. Don’t follow your friends. You are an independent citizen. You should make a choice of your own. We talk a lot about critical thinking in our classes. Now, it’s time to put it in good use. Understandably, you can’t escape your emotions and biases. But you...

I have been vlogging since 2011, starting from zero. I used whatever I had at the time. I had a flimsy plastic tripod, a mirror, and a laptop. The camera, the most important equipment in vlogging, was borrowed from a friend. My editing software was free; I used Windows Movie Maker. I didn't start to buy anything new to use for vlogging until I was about a few videos in. It was only when I had the money and the momentum that I invested more into this hobby of mine, a hobby that soon turned into a career. Understandably, a lot of people who have the desire to share their thoughts and ideas through the medium of vlogging are overwhelmed by the abundance of choice they have today. DSLR cameras have become so cheap and easily available. Laptops have advanced so much in the past 10 years. If you Google "video editing softwares", you will be bombarded by different varieties of softwares from free to paid ones. Being overwhelmed, that desire might dwindle down and you e...

We all have shared something that we found out to be false, right? Ideally, we should all be wise enough to check before we share. We should stop saying "sharing is caring" and start a new tagline "checking is sharing". That is good principle to hold on to, especially given the nature of the internet. The internet is public and things can go viral without prior planning. Perhaps you have experienced a situation where your social media post went viral (in your own relative definition of what viral is) without you expecting it. If what went viral is beneficial and factual, then that's okay. But what if it's not? Deleting it would be a good thing to do. But the internet is forever. Meaning, if you uploaded it, then it's probably will stay there forever even after deletion. So be very careful with what you post or share online. I just want to start this post with that advice, for myself and for anyone who is using the internet - especially social...

I plan my day the night before. I open up my Google Calendar and I insert the tasks I want to do 1-hour chunks, depending on the nature of each task. I would start from the time I wake up until the time I sleep. Below is an example of my day plan: 4:30 - 5:30am: Pray + Quran + read + exercise 5:30 - 6:30am: Work* 6:30 - 7:30am: Pray + get ready 7:30 - 9:00am: Drop off son and wife + breakfast 9:00 - 10:00am: Work 10:00 - 10:15am: Break 10:15 - 11:15am: Work 11:15 - 11:30am: Break 11:30am - 1:00pm: Work 1:00 - 2:00pm: Pray + lunch 2:00 - 4:00pm: Work 4:00 - 5:00pm: Alone time + pray 5:00 - 6:00pm: Pick up wife and son 6:00 - 11:00pm: Family time *My work consists of prioritized tasks related to motivational speaking, Youtube vlogging, writing, and social media postings. House chores are also included in the term "work". Upon a glance, one might think that I have my life in order and everything falls into place. But life rarely follow...

Hypocrisy Sucks We don't like it when people are being hypocritical. But beyond that, we don't like it when we are being hypocritical. But this post is not about being a hypocrite. This post is about being a human being who is in the process of self-development. When you are in the process of developing yourself, you will find yourself in a transition phase. You are neither the person you are and at the same time you are not the person you want to be. At least not yet. In that transition phase, it is quite normal to feel like you are a hypocrite. It is understandable that you are uncomfortable in this phase. That feeling of hypocrisy can lead you to abandon the process of self-development altogether and return to your former self. Sarah and Smoking For example, Sarah wanted to change her lifestyle. Before, she smoked cigarettes and most of her friends are doing the same. She realized that the habit is dangerous to herself physically and financially. So Sarah st...