Who am I? Most people remember me from YouTube with my opening line “Hello, I’m Burak Bayram. In today’s lesson, …” Why did I start these tutorial videos, and why do I keep doing them? Sometimes I think — if I gave private lessons or prepared DVD training sets, I could make a serious amount of money. I actually could have. Many people have reached out to me through my email asking for private lessons. And most of them are men and women working in the graphic/design industry, double my age.

But the upside of teaching on YouTube is a whole different thing. I post one tutorial video, hundreds of thank-you messages come in. Forget the thank-yous — there are people asking for my pardon for having watched my lessons, people praying for me at great length — these mean more to me than money. Of course I need to earn money too. Since I’m a Computer Engineering student, I’m not stressing about this for now. By the time I graduate, I’ll have nailed down a way to earn money too, God willing.

Of course, alongside the thank-yous I also get some criticisms and over-the-top comments. Since criticisms help me grow, I thank the critics. But there are a few younger folks who go too far, acting as though they’re taking private lessons and I’m somehow obligated to teach them all this. Honestly, those kinds of comments usually come from people under 18. So their numbers are small. The channel’s audience is roughly 75% in the 18–40 range, about 20% under 18, and the remaining 5% are my uncles and aunties over 40.

No point dragging it out. From here, thank you for your thanks. I reached this many views and this many subscribers thanks to you. Really, I’m the one who should be thanking you.

It was all for a thank-you. 🙂 Below I’d like to share a few of the thousands of thank-yous I’ve received. These are the beautiful comments — among thousands — that drove me to make tutorial videos. Thanks again.