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Hi Charnie. I think a video like this is easy to make once you have really sat down and thought about what you want. That can be with both the channel and the stamp collecting bit. I sometimes refrain from doing things also, because I am not in the right state of mind for it. Wanting to improve has to come as a result of something, not from 'just wanting to improve'. Are you not satisfied with anything, then changing that can be a starting point. Point out for yourself what you are not happy with, and then the change is easier to make. Sometimes a change can be small and only noticable to you. It is still a change. Comparing yourself with other channels is not beneficial often. If another channel is doing similar content or content style videos, but uploads more regularly, then that channel has more traction. Even of you have a higher production value, you might still not get the same amount of views or subscribers. Partly I know what works, but I do not want to make the same videos over and over just because I do a) a certain thumbnail style or b) the title of the video is specifically structred to raise curiosity. That is getting old and I do not think my subscribers fall for that. Authenticity is 1. Make what you want to make, then the viewers will come. A lot on TH-cam is centered around 'find out what the viewers want'. Sure, if you want to grow faster then make specific videos and also on a schedule. Viewers happy, TH-cam algorythm happy, you unhappy. The progress videos on those collections give me room to 'breathe'. I don't force myself to do a monthly update on any collection. Only if I have made relevant changes or updates to that collecting area. And yes, ignore your growth. Make a screenshot now about how much subscribers and views you have. Pull up that screenshot after half a year or year. About your planning video? Try to answer the questions of Why, How and What. Do that a few times and then press record and go unscripted, raw, and show your unfiltered thought and ideas. It is okay if you don't make decisions. I think your viewers appreciate what you have to say. We are not here on TH-cam to provide answers, just provide a process. Record yourself with one camera, and publish it. Good luck Charnie! Don't stress!

Hi Kevin. Happy New Year to you! That sounds really cool that you organise your stamp club annual's show. How much time and preparation went into that? What an interesting study about the air mail rates to the U.S. from Colombia! Also interesting that there are no, or not much records about that. I am curious how that journey is going Kevin, keep me informed!

Hi Phillip. Happy New Year! I think that impulse, uncontrolled buying is more of a things than we might think, and not limited to stamp collectors only. Stuff is available all the time, 24/7. We used to need to go actual stamp clubs, stamp shops and stamp fairs. I am not against the internet, but it has traps we can easily fall into. It is nice to hear you have ideas to move forward. And I am happy I could provide a bit of help, that is lovely to read. And in fact, you have inspired me to go ahead with an idea I had for a while on the topic of impulse buying, hoarding, overwhelmness etc. So I hope to make that the next video although I have a few others ready to be released, I think this is an important one. Thank you for your comment and watching the video, and inspiring me that last bit!

Hi Ken. They are well deserved. I look up to the content you make, in appreciation. I am curious in what way the multi-angles inspire you. It is interesting to balance. It is a natural thing in my editing process now, but I have had videos where the switching between the angles was too much. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Hi Jeff. Happy New Year. Thank you for the compliment. It means a lot! I have seen some of your ideas/plans on one of your last videos. I really liked the stamp channel idea and what you wrote (by hand!) next to it. Also your commonwealth collection looks really interesting! Next up Gibraltar, as you said :-) I don't think I have seen your Captain Cook collection. Are there so many stamps about that topic? The small things to enjoy is not that obvious because they are the first things we neglect when we have more 'important' things to do. So I think it is an excellent goal! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!

@@chrislovesstamps here are a lot of Capt. Cook stamps; I would really have to go through and collate them into one binder, I only have a small beginning on that. Worked more on Gibraltar today and added an entry into my stamp journal as well.

Hi Dan. Happy New Year to you! 20 kilos, wow that is a lot. It feels like a dream and nightmare at the same time. Going through such a big haul seems like a lot of fun. The journey about not knowing what to find. Please keep me informed how you are doing. I will ask you if I remember, there will definitely coming more Collecting German Stamps parts. Thank you for watching and commenting! :-)

Hi Wojtek. Happy New Year. That is an important lesson. It is not a race and that you have a lifetime to do it. It seems obvious, but once you really realise that, then it brings peace and balance to the stamp collecting. I found that at least, although I have to remind me of that lesson often. Yep, keeping track what you have. How do you do that? I wish you happiness, health, yes, a full wallet and fun! Thanks you for watching and commenting!

Hi Laurent. If I can only inspire one person, then this all is worthwhile. Agreed, it is about our interest, and that we display that in our videos. It is not about 'make a video that does well'. Make a video you like, collect what you like, then there is an audience that stays, because it is authentic. That is contrary to what some on TH-cam say. As much as I want to inspire people collecting stamps or thinking about it, and tell them it is not expensive, you can make your own rules, I also want to inspire content creators that struggle. I could only make TH-cam videos because I like the process of editing and coming up with ideas. As to your FDC collections, they are really nice to see. And I love hearing your voice in your videos. It brings it to the next level. And French Andorra, I expected as much, that you would start that :-) I will drop you a mail one of these days. I have been behind on replying to emails anyway. And....we had a few inches of snow here today :-) A rarity. Take care Laurent!

@chrislovesstamps Thank you, mon ami. I really would very much like to exchange emails with you. Not only I love the content of your videos, but I am also touched by your authenticity. You have a God-given gift to capture the attention of your viewers, and I find it impossible to pause of fast-forward any of your videos. Believe me when I say that you are one of the very few who knows how to convey your passion through your videos. I do admire your work, Chris. Too bad we are far away from each other, because I KNOW that we would have AWESOME discussions in person. (So, put Provence on your bucket list for future travel destinations!!)

Hi Mark. Happy New Year to you! Yeah, the framework is not mine. I actually did one take before this where I showed where I got it from but I wanted to keep it shorter. It is from the book I read years ago called 'Start With Why' by Simon Sinek. I really like his way of thinking about things. I like the 'progress reports' idea also. Stand alone videos normally tend to do better, but I think trying to show the journey/process can be appealing. I would watch it, so maybe others too. I am in a 'unique' position to restart and record that process and publish on TH-cam. You say such nice things Mark. Thank you! I do think about growth, but really in a natural way. I do not want to draw people in an artificial way towards the channel. Therefore I am grateful that my most successful video is actually representative for what I do. I think all channels bring something to the table and since I do not make daily or often not weekly content, why not promote others. And now the channel is a bit bigger, I can maybe help a new channel make it a little easier to get started. I will keep experimenting. Sometimes I make bigger changes, often it is smaller. I really like making content, but I am not afraid to not release a video why I cannot get behind it. It is true that this is still the time where I can tweak and experiment. And I do, although maybe not (always) noticable. You said wonderful things. Thank you so much. I will promise to not listen too much to you all ;-)

Thanks Jerry!

Hey John. I love doing these videos that take less time and are really raw and pure. The topic ofcourse was planned, but I didn't read a script. Just sharing my ideas and wondering what ideas/projects others have. You are so right about collectors in isolation (would be a good internet only stamp club name) putting unreasonable pressure on themselves. Part of that is maybe that 24/7 there is something to love and buy. I tag along with your goals....spending more time organising. I love doing that. I want to collect on the level I did with my Luxembourg collection. It is so good having some stock books you can fill, instead of having no room, which seems to be more of the case. Keeping sets together I love also. That makes having a catalog handy, not essential though. Stamp collecting is one of the most relaxing things I can imagine. More to that in 2025. Thanks for commenting, watching and being a subscriber!

@@chrislovesstamps I love the new style videos - and glad they are more fun. Fun can't be scripted 😁😁😁

Hi Roger. Happy New Year to you too! That sounds like a lot of work, but fun work, getting those pages done. I have seen videos on Album Easy and it looks like a nifty program. Curious how that project of yours will progress in the new year!

Hi Peter. 60 years is a long time. Nice that after all these year you set yourself goals, or at least have ideas what direction you'd like to go. Guyana, is that French or British? Looks like some interesting countries to collect. Also not the easiest, am I right? Reduce hoarding is a nice goal. I sometimes fall into buying stuff because I can, not because I 'should'. There is so much to like, but I found, to appreciate what I have, I need to spend time with a collection. And I cannot do that when I buy too much and have stuff sitting on a shelf and giving me a bad feeling :-) Happy New Year to you Peter. Thanks for commenting!

@chrislovesstamps Guyana that got independence from Britain in 1966. Due to economic instability, stamp shortages were met by overprinting obsolete face values with new ones. This got out of hand. They're a challenge to locate as mint, used, and on cover. Since demand more than scarcity determines value, you could well imagine a stamp variety of about 1,000 with popular countries could could thousands of dollars, whereas you could acquire similar rarieties for a fraction from less popular areas. I take the big fish in small pond approach over small fish in large pond.

@chrislovesstamps Also, it is inevitable with years of collecting that some amount hoarding takes place. Selling off surplus material may increase interest in an area and that is always good.

What fun areas to collect! I have been enjoying a Guyana collector sharing their overprints collection on a stamp board - I had no idea that there were so many overprint varieties. One can really specialize in any area whether older or more recent stamps!

Hi. Thank you for the compliment. It is a lot of work, but fun! The Industry and Technology series are so beautiful. One of my favourite (definitives) series. Thanks for watching and commenting! Happy New Year!

Hoi Camiel. Die oude zegels zijn ook heel interessant. Ook goed grafische ontwerpen, ondanks dat het doel van die oude zegels niet altijd even goed was. Maar daar kunnen de zegels niks aan doen. Ik vind de moderne zegels erg 'hit and miss'. Desondanks toch een boeiend verzamelgebied. Hoe gaat het met jou overigens, nog plannen voor een video? Nog de beste wensen overigens!

@chrislovesstamps ja voor jou ook de allerbeste wensen. Toevallig heb ik gisteren weer de stoute schoenen aangetrokken en opnames gemaakt voor een video. Moet alleen een stuk opnieuw doen. Dus work in progress. Die oude zegels zien er grafisch inderdaad heel gaaf uit. Straalt een bepaalde waarde uit. Met de tijdgeest van nu onwaardig, maar ik denk dat die zegels exact uitstralen wat het Duitse rijk wilde: verhevenheid, krachtig, groots, oneindig.

Hi Jerry. Thank you! Yep, storage seems to be a recurring theme for me also ;-)

Hi. You are welcome. Thank you for watching and commenting! Happy New Year to you too!

Hi Serge. Yep, pretty good start. Thanks for watching and commenting. And a Happy New Year to you!

Hey Alexander. Thanks for commenting!

Goedenmiddag Charnie. Must be evening now in New Zealand I think. Thank you for the compliment. I really enjoy being back. It is a fresh start but all so familiar too. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Hi Peter. Germania stamps are really nice to collect. I am not too familiar with the Austrian Hungarian era to be honest. Happy New Year to you too, and thank you for watching and commenting!

Hi Laurent. Yep, very funny. Indeed, great minds think alike! Love that you did a trailer for the upcoming episode Monday. Think I am going to promote your video in a bit via a post on TH-cam. :-) The trailer never really got much views, but I really liked making it. Because video and audio are so intwined. Looking forward to your next episode!

@chrislovesstamps I just saw it! Thank you again so very much, Chris! This means A LOT to me! Now I have more pressure on my shoulders... but I kind of like it! 😉😉

Hi Jeff. Thanks for watching and commenting. I am looking forward to your German stamps video and any video!

Hi John. The Germania series are really nice, and 'complex', at least to me. It is interesting that there are places that were German before. I didn't know about Sonderburg though. Yep, putting long running series together and then sort them by denomination and adding labels next to them is something I really love doing. I often derail from the order the catalogue has, it is a very handy tool, but not something I follow 100%. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Hi Jeffrey. You're welcome. And thank you too!

Hi Kevin. I don't think I know that much either. It is a fascinating topic though. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Hi Daniel. Was it the DDR or BRD that had this long running commemorative series about WWII concentration camps? Really interesting (and sad ofcourse). Are you familiar with these: - Netherlands Dutch Legion Stamp 1942 Sc#B144 and Sc#B145 - Netherlands Liberation Stamp 1945 Sc#277 - Netherlands 35th Anniversary of Liberty 1980 Sc#597 and Sc#598 - Germany Anne Frank 50th Anniversary 1979 Sc#1293 - Czechoslowakia 25th Anniversary of Destruction of Ludice 1967 Sc#1481 - Czechoslowakia 5th Anniversary of Destruction of Ludice 1947 Sc#329

Chris, I only started on this collection last week. I am not familiar with the German series or the ones from the Netherlands. I have the Czech stamps and some Polish commemoratives of people who died in the camps. Over the next few days I will go through my Scott Catalogues to prepare a comprehensive list and also go through all the world wide stamps I do have. Yes it is a very sad period of our history. In the spring of 2025 I will be teaching 2 classes on the Rwandan Genocide at Simon Frazer University. I do not recall if I had told you but from 199 to 2001 I was a War Crimes Investigator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigating individual living in Canada who had allegedly participated in the Genocide and spent 9weeks in Rwanda Interviewing people.

Hi Jeff. I really like where I am now too. Needed some time to find my way, but here I am :-) I think it is very natural to get quite some German stamps. They are plentiful. More ideas/projects than time, isn't it? I wish you a wonderful 2025 also! Looking forward to your videos!

Hey Roger. Merry belated Christmas and I hope 2025 will be good for you!

Hey Bill. Thanks for watching and commenting. Yep, was a good haul :-)

Hi Pete. Germany is a big collecting area. Nowadays I think about current Germany and its stamps but I think in a philatelic sense I think Germany is a term for everything related to it, including Saarland. Collecting German stamps can be a lot in that sense. What do you think?

​@@chrislovesstampsI agree with you 100%. The reason I asked is that you showed a few stamps that also have Saarland versions. Since I don't have a Germany catalogue, I'm not sure how others tackle the divisions. Thanks for your amazing video and always appreciate your reply:)

Great video Chris of German stamps. Do you ever read any books about stamps? I am rereading a great book called Dead Countries of the 19th and 20th Centuries. It has a whole chapter on Germany and explains many countries that no longer exist. I haven't bought many stock books myself and don't like the dealer ones that have many of the same stamp. Keep up the videos and I'll be waiting for the next one.

@@KevinYeryar I know that book Dead Countries of the 19th and 20th century. I have a similar book in German. I do like catalogues and I have some printed papers about the Great Britain machins and precancels of the USA. Buying stock books with stamps already in them can be hit and miss. I have been lucky, but have to say these 2 German stock books have not been the best. Not the stamps and not the books. Buying specific stamps can be really rewarding and affective and does not leave you with a big accumilation. The advantage of a stockbook is that it is nice to go through and discover and often makes for a nice video. More videos will definitely come in the new year. Thanks for commenting and watching!

@@peteowe Hi Pete. Have you tried online (free) catalogues like Colnect and Stampworld? Can be handy. I would definitely handle Saarland as a separate country, same as Baden-Wurtemberg and all the Allied zones.

Hi. Yep, was nice to get this in for Christmas Eve. Loved making this one since it was a bit different. Not saying I don't like making other episodes...😂 The $1 is a beauty. I can see what you are saying about 'remiscent of engraved stamps'. I need to check that 1923 stamp. I get the feeling it'll be expensive because $5 in 1923 is not a value used much I assume? Thanks for commenting and watching!

Hi Dan. Same to you!

Hi Imad. Thank you for watching and commenting! I wish you the best too! :-)

Hi Kevin. Norway current is harder indeed and pricier. But the good thing is they do not issue a lot of stamps. The posthorn series is a nice area to specialise in, often overlooked. It is the longest running definitive series. Do yiu order mint?

Hi Laurent. I really enjoyed making this episode. I do with most episodes though, but this one was special. It is more towards where I want to go, little documentaries about stamp related content. The $1 is a beauty, it is also lightly embossed so it has this nice effect. Merry belated Christmas to you too!

Hi. What do you mean with 'everything is perfect'? :-) Merry Christmas (belated) to you too and a wonderful 2025!

Assembly and sweet postage stamps! :) Very festive! :D Best regards my Friend!!! :)

​@@ronal144thank you very much! 🙂

Hi Kevin. The pen cancellations are horrible. I did mail Canada post about it and then you get your standard political answer. Because I told them that stamp collectors are a significant part of the reason that letters etc. are still send. Because we do send stuff 'just' to get a cancelled stamp in our collection! I agree, it makes them uncollectable. I do not like them. The current definitives are really nice from Canada, so cute and small and showing scenes from around Canada. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Hi Charnie. I have not hear of them before Kevin pointed me to them. I loved those stamps too, but the white/green one dollar is a beauty! Merry Christmas (again) to you and your family and a wonderful 2025!

Hi. I did not know wither. Apparantly there are more 'funny' names: Hot Coffee, Mississippi Satan's Kingdom, Massachusetts Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky Santa Claus, Indiana and there are more when you look on google :-) Happy New Year John! And I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Hi Kevin. Used stamps are nice indeed, although I am considering switching more towards mint, or collect mint from certain periods. Germany can have really nice and clear cancellations though, which I love. Merry Christmas and a Happe New Year!

Hi Kevin. Let me know which you have. Do you collect Germany fully, or just certain sections, areas?

Hi Bob. Maybe you can send the letters to them and they can open and hand stamp them. Address a letter to them, and in that envelope a card with the address to you. More people seem to do that. I might try next year. Thanks for watching and commenting! Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2025!

Me neither. Thankfully Kevin pointed me to it. There are more funny or interesting town names in the US :-)

Hi Bill. Thank you. Was a blast making the episode. Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2025!

Hi Smokey. Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2025 to you and your family!

Merry Christmas Jerry! And a happy (and a better) 2025 for you and your wife! Keep stamping!