What I Did to Create My First How-To Video (Without Spending a Small Fortune)

Creating your first how-to video can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re surrounded by thousands of content creators online. But the truth is, you don’t need a huge budget or a studio setup to get started. I created my first how-to tutorial with minimal investment, and in this guide I’ll walk you through exactly how I did it, the tools I used, and the lessons I learned along the way. 

Now I know you can go and research all of these things like I did, but I thought it would be helpful to have it all in one spot along with some of the pitfalls that I came across. 

I Googled all sorts of topics from ideal backdrops, lighting, camera settings to video editing software and graphics.  I found a couple of great YouTube creators that really gave me some good ideas to get started. Hopefully you’ll find this article helpful (and encouraging) to start creating your own videos. 

Why I Created My First How-To Video

A friend asked me for a tutorial on an email marketing platform we both use, and I couldn’t find anything online that explained what she needed. Since I had just completed my own setup, I decided to record the process to help her—and maybe others too.  My goal was to shorten the learning curve. Even if only one person finds value in your content, it’s worth creating.

Step 1: Preparing the Workspace

Before recording, I tackled the clutter in my home office. Natural light from my window was great, but the visual distractions behind me were not. I reorganized, removed personal items, and created a clean, simple backdrop so the video would look more polished.

Over time workspaces just seem to grow with things from our lives, especially when there’s room to do so.  This may seem like a nice problem to have, but when you’re looking to create curated videos, not so much.  I don’t have a nice clean corner with a simple backdrop to record in – my desk faces a window with a lot of room (and stuff) behind me.  The natural light proved to be beneficial but the storage boxes of gloves from our non-profit One Hand / One Glove and the cat’s litter box behind me are not the look I’m going for here.

I sat down and took a hard look at how to reorganize, downsize and tidy up.  You’ve got to be in the mood to tackle this.  I made a plan and just got to it.  A little Fall cleaning if you will.

The end result of step one is an office that’s tidier and a background that doesn’t include the litter box.  As time goes on, I’ll do something different but for now, it’s a starting point.  I didn’t want to be so discouraged that I didn’t even want to start the video project.  It won’t be perfect. Do it anyway.

Step 2: Writing the Script

I drafted a simple outline: the main idea, steps I wanted to demonstrate, and supporting details. I didn’t aim for perfection—just clarity. I also took steps to protect privacy by hiding browser bookmarks and redacting sensitive customer data in the software walkthrough.

Practice reading your script a few times. The more practice, the fewer times you’ll have to look at it during the recording. 

Step 3: The Technical Setup

Next came the technical part of the process: the camera, microphone, cables and other accessories.  I already have a DSLR camera, but I needed a desktop tripod, remote microphone and a couple of additional cables.

DSLR Camera

I have a Nikon D5300 that I bought from a friend’s pawn shop several years back.  It works great for this application.  Any older DSLR will work. I bought a second battery for it as a backup. 

I used my 18-200mm lens. Many sites recommended using a prime lens (50mm) but I don’t have one.  The 18-200mm worked just fine.

As an alternative, use your mobile device or tablet!  The Hollyland remote microphone works with these devices too.

Soft Focus Diffusion Lens

I researched how to improve my looks on camera and found plenty of videos about black diffusion lenses.  I opted for the Neewer Black Diffusion lens that has both 1/8 and 1/4 diffusion. $30

Video Capture Card

If you’re going to feed your video output from your camera into your computer (which I suggest), you need to have a video capture card to connect to your HDMI cable.  I bought the Guermok video capture card for $20.

Mini HDMI to HDMI Cable

My camera has a mini HDMI connection so I needed to get yet another cable! This mini HDMI to HDMI cable attaches to the video capture card that connects to your computer. $10

Camera Mounted Light

Like I mentioned, I’m fortunate to have natural light at my desk but that may not always be the case.  I didn’t use the camera mounted light for this particular project but I will be using it in the future. I’m looking at doing some how-to videos with my clients and I will need a broader light for that application.

I bought a Neewer CN-160 light for my camera on Amazon for $35. 

I bought re-chargeable batteries for the Neewer light as I knew I’d be burning through the AA batteries faster than I could keep up.  $23

Microphone

I decided to connect the microphone to my pc so that I had consistent recording between the shots of me and the desktop recording. 

I bought a Hollyland Lark M1. It’s not the latest model, but for just starting out, it works perfectly.  $60

Tripods

Small desktop tripod with flexible legs – it’s great. It holds the camera in either portrait or landscape positions.  $23

Full size tripod – works for both cell phone and DSLR camera. $25

Gadget Case

I needed a place to store all the new doodads so I found a nice sized travel electronics organizer case on Amazon.  $24

Teleprompter

I ended up using my tablet as the teleprompter.  

So aside from the camera itself, you’re looking at just under $250.  I used free recording and editing software, which I’ll cover next. Honestly, you could get by without a lot of the extras here.  You can always use your phone or tablet and have a zero dollar outlay!  I’m a tech geek so I wanted to tinker with some of these things.

Step 4: Recording the Video

I didn’t want to go investing in software when I didn’t really know what I was doing.  There are plenty of free options available that work just fine for the beginner and pro alike.  I read reviews and tinkered a bit.  I found a couple that worked for the first production.  I may try some different things as I go along.  I don’t know what I don’t know!

Recording Myself and the Computer Screen

I used a free open-source platform called OBS (Open Broadcaster Software).  It was a little quirky in getting the connections established, but in the end, it worked (after more Googling).

One thing I learned with OBS is to open the software first, then connect the cables to the computer and turn the devices on. Sometimes you have to restart and try again.  Frustrating at times.

OBS allowed me to create different scenes.  I had one scene that was the DSLR camera focused on me for the intro/outro takes plus the microphone.  The second scene was the desktop recording and the microphone.  You could also have a third scene that has your “selfie” feed embedded on top of the desktop recording.  Each scene has its own sources that you set up.

People that know what they’re doing move effortlessly between the scenes.  I did my two recordings separately and edited them in post-production.

As I mentioned before, I connected the Hollyland microphone to the computer and set it up as a source in each of the two scenes.

Privacy

One thing to be cautious about when doing a recording, either your external surroundings or your desktop that you’re sharing – be hyper aware of the personal data that you might be unintentionally sharing.

Part of my office cleanup was to keep out anything overly personal.  You may or may not want your family photos, diplomas or awards in your background.   Same with your desktop.  I have a bunch of bookmarks in my browser that I don’t particularly want on my recording so I hid them. 

Also on privacy, if you’re walking through a software platform how to, be aware of the personal data that you share.  My first How To was of Kit’s email marketing service.  I had to redact out the visible email addresses of my subscribers everywhere they showed up on the screen.  That was the biggest bulk of my video editing.  It’s one thing to divulge your own personal data, it’s a huge liability to expose your customer data.  Be cautious on this one.

Note: For this first video I ended up using my tablet to record the intro and outro portions.  I had the script up on the screen so it worked great as a teleprompter. It wasn’t quite as obvious that I was reading from a script. 

Step 5: Editing the Video

I used the free Microsoft editor called Clip Champ.  Clip Champ allowed me to place video, audio and static images on the timeline.  I also used it to redact out the personal information that I didn’t want to share with the world. 

It has a lot of options for effects in the editing process, including transitions, sound control, color adjustments, etc. One thing I’m not a fan of is that it’s cloud-based and records to OneDrive.  I believe you can set it to record locally, but I didn’t do that for the first video.  It periodically refreshed and I had to find my place on the timeline all over again.

The biggest learning curve I had here was the placement of items on the timeline.  If you want them to render in the right spot, zoom all the way in!

A couple of other free video editing options to consider are Canva and DaVinci Resolve.

Step 6: Adding Graphics & Music

I created simple intro and outro graphics in Canva and added a music clip I already use in my podcast for brand consistency.  If you’re adding music or images, make sure they are not copyright protected.  

Final Thoughts: Just Start

So there you have it!  A couple of days of home cleanup, which needed to happen anyway, some Amazon shopping, and some blogging and geeking out on tech stuff, which I love.

At the end of the day, just start.  It won’t be perfect, you probably won’t be as fluid as you’d like to be, I know I’m not, and it may not even be an internet sensation.  But just start.  You don’t get better if you don’t start trying.  As I type this, I’m fighting the urge to re-record parts of my first video.  I don’t like how I sound, I’m not relaxed enough, and the lighting isn’t ideal, but it’s done and I’m on my way to another one. This project helped me learn new tools, experiment with video techniques, and gain confidence. The goal is to learn and grow, and hopefully help others along the way.

Your first video won’t be perfect either—and that’s okay. You improve by starting. If you’ve been thinking about creating a video, consider this your nudge to begin.

Tools List

Hardware

• Hollyland Lark M1 Microphone
• Guermok 4K Video Capture Card
• Mini HDMI to HDMI Cable
• Neewer Black Diffusion Lens
• Neewer CN-160 Camera Light
• Kastar Rechargeable Batteries and Dual Battery Charger (for the light)
• Small Desktop Tripod
• Large Tripod
• Travel Electronics Organizer

Software

• OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)
• Clipchamp
• Canva