1. Raw beats polished now — James's iPhone footage (edited in 5 minutes) got 640K views while his professionally shot, color-graded content got 41K–68K.
2. Speed matters more than production quality — reactive content should take 15–20 minutes max from filming to posting, or you lose the moment.
3. Volume builds the skill — expect roughly 500 posts before you're "semi-good".
4. UGC-style content is the biggest lever for sales and growth unpolished, real-person content is outperforming curated ads and celebrity endorsements.