Pick a depth. Each prompt opens in your AI pre-loaded with the lesson. Click a row to preview the prompt.
Research feels like progress but it's usually procrastination in a nicer outfit. People spend six weeks comparing YouTube Shorts vs TikTok vs Reels and reading niche-selection threads, and at the end they have zero videos and the same anxiety they started with. The truth is that the three short-video platforms are close enough that your first ten videos will teach you more than any comparison article, and your first niche is a starting point you're allowed to change in module 2 — not a lifelong marriage. The only losing move is not choosing. Committing to one platform and one niche today is what unlocks everything else in this module, because you can't script a hook for a short you're not making.
Pick the platform where you already spend time, because you'll intuitively know what good looks like there. Quick tiebreakers: YouTube Shorts has the strongest long-term money path (real ad revenue share and the easiest jump to long-form later), TikTok has the fastest organic reach for a total unknown, Reels is best if your real audience already lives on Instagram. If you genuinely can't decide, default to YouTube Shorts — the search longevity and monetization make it the safest business bet.
For the niche, write a shortlist of three to five topics you could talk about for fifty videos without dying of boredom, then score each on two axes from 1 to 5: Demand (are people actively searching or watching this?) and Interest (do you actually care?). Here is a filled-in example: "Budget home cooking" scores Demand 5, Interest 3 = 8. "Vintage synthesizers" scores Demand 2, Interest 5 = 7. "Freelance invoicing tips" scores Demand 4, Interest 4 = 8. The two 8s are your real contenders; break the tie with your gut and start. To sanity-check demand, type the niche into the platform's own search bar and see if creators are posting and racking up views — if the top results have thousands of views and recent dates, demand is real. Set a 20-minute timer. When it rings, you commit.