When we think of entrepreneurs, we usually consider them to be the scions of wealthy families. Still, Ali Abdaal is a humble doctor who found a way to turn his passion into a business. Born to a family of doctors, Abdaal was expected to follow the family business and become a doctor himself. He became a doctor but quickly realized that he wanted more.
Starting As a Student
Abdaal started as an entrepreneur when he was in school, training to be a medical professional. Many of the medical tests and prep he would use as a medical student were scattered everywhere. He founded a company called 6Med that would collect these resources in a single location.
The company developed high-quality courses to teach medical students what they needed to know. It was a type of content creation that gave him the idea that being a content creator could work as a business idea. He wasn’t waiting until he graduated to explore it either.
Getting His Start as a YouTube Vlogger
In 2017, Abdaal decided to document his life as a medical student. What started as just a series of videos and shorts following his daily life turned into advice on the best methods of studying or staying motivated as a student.
What Abdaal realized was that his content, focusing on the nitty-gritty of what he was doing, was getting the most circulation. People liked knowing HOW to do things, and he gave them practical ways to achieve what he did.
Beginners Should Keep Creating Constantly
Abdaal suggests that newcomers to the social media marketing space should focus on creating content. Content creation unlocks the potential in newcomers, giving them the space to tell the stories that make their content unique.
The constant creation cycle should also be followed by consistency. Followers like knowing they can depend on a content creator to post something every so often. They fall off when content creation is slow or sporadic.
Virality Is a Shifting Illusion
Despite having a few of his creations go viral over his time as a creator, Abdaal insists that newcomers to the space should never rely on their creations going viral. Algorithms can be very difficult to predict, and trying to do so puts more stress on a creator than simply doing their best to make good content.
Instead, content creators should look at improving what they do. Look at the demographics of who looks at your content and tailor it to them. See which content is doing the best on your platform and build the rest of your content around that. Experiment with new things and keep the ones that work well.
Set Up a Schedule and Be Patient
Abdaal notes that scheduling is crucial to getting the algorithm to remember you’re around. People who post often are the ones the algorithm shows off the most. However, having regular posting builds confidence in your audience that you’ll keep posting good content to them.
Some social media algorithms punish posting too much, but most of them encourage it. The issue with oversaturation is that the content you produce is not of the same high quality. Be patient and only post as much as you can. Eventually, the algorithm will put you in front of the right people.

Use What You Have and Leverage Your Strengths
Abdaal mentions that many new YouTubers try to get new gear to make their productions seem top-tier. While it’s a noble pursuit, Abdaal suggests that most new YouTubers don’t need new equipment or gear. Instead, they should leverage what they have to help them create their content.
In the same vein, YouTubers should look at where their content strengths are and lean into them. There’s one thing that each YouTuber can point to as their most valuable aspect, and developing those strengths makes for better (and more natural) content creation.
Create, Don’t Count
Beginner creators fall into the trap of counting how many pieces of content they must make and filling that quota. Abdaal suggests this is the opposite of what works, and thinking this way will hamstring a creator’s success. Instead, create first and foremost and worry about the numbers later.
Along this same line of thinking, Abdaal encourages creators to approach their content creation methodically. Once you’ve figured out what works and have a consistent pipeline for producing your content, you can output more pieces than you can post in a single day or week.
Let Your Passion Guide Your Niche
Social media algorithms are a mystery, even to the people who develop them. Anything you create will eventually find the people it’s meant for. Each piece of content you make has its core audience; finding them is just a matter of having your content circulate widely.
Abdaal suggests that creators shouldn’t follow fads because they’d have the same problem they would if they tried to find virality. Viral videos work today, but their success isn’t possible to replicate. Most times, virality happens because of dumb luck, and it’s not something a professional should aim for.
What You Put In Is What You Get Out
Social media creation and developing a rapport with an audience takes time and effort. Abdaal is fond of reminding new creators that investment, whether time or money, comes back in the form of income once you know how to monetize it.
Most new creators don’t have the money to put into their content creation. While it’s possible to grow without investment, eventually, you’ll need to plug your earnings back into your business. Without this push, there is no sustainability.
Not An Overnight Success
Many content creators talk about overnight success, but Abdaal isn’t one of them. Instead, he encourages those who want to follow what he’s doing to remember that this process will take time. Nothing as robust or as sustainable as this is built overnight. Consistency and patience are the most critical lessons Abdaal imparts to those who want to do what he did. It’s not a magic formula, just a set of decisions that lead to a positive outcome.