589: Still Not on Camera? Here’s What It’s Costing Your Business in 2025

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Still Not on Camera? Here’s What It’s Costing Your Business in 2025"

The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast with Steve Chou – Episode 589
Release Date: May 1, 2025

---

1. Introduction to YouTube's Milestone

In this episode, host Steve Chou and co-host Tony delve into YouTube’s 20th anniversary, highlighting its monumental growth and the critical role video content plays in modern e-commerce. They emphasize that neglecting video can be a significant misstep for businesses in 2025.

Steve Chou [00:00]:
"You think I have like 500 videos uploaded or something crazy like that at this point."

---

2. Evolution of YouTube and Its Impact on E-commerce

The discussion begins with reflecting on YouTube's inception in 2005 and its exponential growth to 20 trillion videos by 2025. Tony shares personal regrets about not maintaining a consistent YouTube presence, underscoring how early content creators received substantial traction without the intense competition present today.

Tony [02:25]:
"Not continuing with YouTube is one of my biggest business regrets."

They compare the early days of YouTube, where subscriber counts heavily influenced video performance, to the current merit-based system driven by watch time, largely influenced by platforms like TikTok.

Steve Chou [03:22]:
"If you have like a huge subscriber base and you would put out a video, it would probably do well no matter what."

---

3. Strategies for Growing a YouTube Channel

Consistency emerges as a vital strategy for YouTube growth. Steve and Tony discuss how persistent content creation can lead to viral moments that significantly boost a channel's visibility and subscriber base.

Tony [04:07]:
"Putting out content consistently has, has dabbled in the long form, which we've been encouraging to him."

They share the success story of Kevin, a student whose consistent efforts led to a viral video that doubled his subscribers and watch time within weeks.

Tony [04:41]:
"A couple weeks ago he had a long form piece of content go viral. And just to show you, like the impact of that for him, it doubled his subscribers and it put him."

Steve echoes this sentiment with his own experience, noting how a single viral video transformed his channel's trajectory.

Steve Chou [05:07]:
"I had one video that got like 20,000 views and then the next hit a million views."

---

4. Overcoming Challenges in Video Content Creation

The hosts address common hurdles faced by e-commerce entrepreneurs when venturing into video content, such as the reluctance to appear on camera and technical challenges in filming and editing.

Steve Chou [13:33]:
"I'm about to launch a YouTube channel for Bumblebee Linens. I dragged on about this for probably two or three years... mainly because I didn't think that I should be the one on camera."

Tony shares solutions like hiring someone to represent the brand or focusing on storytelling to engage the target audience without being the central face of the brand.

Tony [17:20]:
"You can come up with this angle of storytelling. What would you say to people? Because I know that was one of the biggest struggles for you."

They also discuss the role of AI in simplifying content creation, allowing for efficient scriptwriting and story development.

Steve Chou [16:24]:
"This is something that I probably would not have been able to do until AI came out."

---

5. Leveraging Storytelling and Customer Engagement

A significant portion of the conversation centers on using storytelling to connect with customers. Steve explains his strategy of sharing customer stories related to the products, such as commemorative handkerchiefs, to build emotional connections and differentiate the brand in a competitive market.

Steve Chou [10:05]:
"Tell their stories... stories behind those products, like how people got together, stories of friendship and whatnot."

Tony provides examples of successful storytelling, citing Paul Ivanovsky's approach of personal engagement during live selling events to foster a sense of companionship among viewers, thereby driving sales.

Tony [21:13]:
"Paul realized that a lot of women that were shopping were lonely... He became this person's companion, virtually."

---

6. Integrating Email Strategies with Video Content

The hosts highlight the importance of integrating email marketing with video content. Tony emphasizes the need to capture email leads through video engagement, especially for products that require thoughtful consideration before purchase, such as educational curricula.

Tony [32:08]:
"One of our goals for my client's channel is to get emails from the videos."

Steve contemplates different approaches, considering direct links to the store versus engaging forms to gather customer stories, aiming to balance user experience with effective lead generation.

Steve Chou [32:38]:
"I think having a link directly to the site might make sense... including a form where you could just tell a story."

---

7. Enhancing Watch Time through Webinars and Long-Form Content

Webinars are discussed as a powerful tool to increase watch time, which is a crucial metric for YouTube's algorithm. Tony shares their experience with hosting live webinars on homeschooling, which significantly boosted their channel's average watch time and visibility.

Tony [37:00]:
"Our watch time went up pretty dramatically overall for the account... YouTube favors live streaming."

Steve agrees, noting that well-executed webinars can sustain long-term engagement and continue to attract views even after the live session ends.

Steve Chou [39:44]:
"Once you have an interesting topic with wide interest, you're probably willing to slog through a webinar."

---

8. Building Brand Loyalty through Video Content

The episode concludes with a strong emphasis on using video to build brand loyalty. Both Steve and Tony agree that video content fosters a “know, like, and trust” relationship with the audience, which is essential for long-term business success.

Tony [44:38]:
"If you want people to become loyal to your brand... then video content is the quickest way to build that for your company."

Steve Chou [44:17]:
"If you're not doing video for your e-commerce store and especially if you're trying to sell anything digital, it's required now."

---

Key Takeaways

• Consistency is Crucial: Regular content creation increases the likelihood of achieving viral moments that can exponentially grow a YouTube channel.

• Adapt to Platform Evolution: Understanding the shift from subscriber-based success to merit-based algorithms driven by watch time is essential.

• Overcome Technical Hurdles: Utilizing AI tools and considering hiring can mitigate challenges related to filming and editing.

• Embrace Storytelling: Sharing authentic customer stories and behind-the-scenes content can differentiate a brand and foster deeper connections.

• Integrate Email Marketing: Leveraging video content to capture email leads is vital for nurturing potential customers, especially for higher-consideration products.

• Utilize Webinars: Hosting live webinars can significantly enhance watch time and improve channel visibility on YouTube.

• Build Brand Loyalty: Video content is instrumental in establishing a trustworthy and relatable brand persona, driving long-term customer loyalty.

---

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for e-commerce entrepreneurs, emphasizing the indispensability of video content in today's digital landscape and providing actionable strategies to harness its full potential.

Transcript

[Steve Chou]

Welcome back to the podcast, the show where I cover all of the latest strategies and current events related to E commerce and online business. In this episode, Tony and I reflect on YouTube's 20 year anniversary and why not. Doing video is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in 2025. We share personal regrets, real success stories from our students, and the exact strategies we're using to grow new channels from scratch. Whether you're selling physical products, digital courses, or just building a brand, hopefully this episode will be a wake up call. But before we begin, I wanted to let you know that this is the last call for tickets For Seller Summit 2025 over at sellers summit.com the Seller Summit is the conference that I hold every year that specifically targets e commerce entrepreneurs selling physical products online. Unlike other events that focus on inspirational stories and high level advice, mine is a curriculum based conference where you will leave with practical and actionable strategies specifically for an e commerce business. Every speaker I invite is deep in the trenches of their e commerce business. Entrepreneurs who are importing large quantities of physical goods and not some high level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000ft. I personally hate large events, so the Sellers Summit is always small and intimate. Every year we cut off ticket sales at around 200 people, so tickets sell out fast and we've sold out every single year for the past eight years. If you are an E commerce entrepreneur making more than $250,000 or $1 million per year, we also offer an exclusive mastermind experience with other top sellers. The Seller Summit is going to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 6th to May 8th. Right now this is the cheapest the tickets will ever be. So head on over to sellersummit.com and grab your ticket. Now onto the show. Welcome back to the My wife quit her job pod. Today we're going to talk about YouTube's 20 year anniversary where over I think a trillion videos have been uploaded. No, 20 trillion videos have been uploaded, which is crazy.

[Tony]

Yeah. And yours could be one of the. The 20 trillion. 1 in 20 trillion.

[Steve Chou]

I think I have like 500 videos uploaded or something crazy like that at this point. Maybe more than that. Actually I haven't looked.

[Tony]

So it's 2025. It's. So it's the 20th. So that means 2005 was the start of YouTube.

[Steve Chou]

I guess so. Yes. Your math is correct, Tony. Right.

[Tony]

I had to think about it for a second. Well, because I think I put my first video on YouTube in 2008 or 9. And I will stand, I will say this until the day that I die. Not continuing with YouTube is one of my biggest business regrets that I have because when I started doing it in 2008 or nine, like people, it wasn't like it is today, obviously. Right. And pretty much anything you put up on YouTube got a decent amount of traction. And it wasn't. You didn't have to play the game that I think you have to play with all, you know, content creation these days. It's like if you just put up something that was interesting or you taught people something, people watched it. And to this day I'm like, why didn't I keep going? Why didn't I keep posting in my pajamas? Like, big mistake.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, it's evolved so much. Like back in the day, your subscribers meant a lot more.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

So if you had like a huge subscriber base and you would put out a video, it would probably do well no matter what, but. And people were just putting these short little clips.

[Tony]

Right, right, right.

[Steve Chou]

In a lot of cases. And they were doing well. Now it's all about watch time and. And I like it better because it's merit based. Right. Your subscribers don't matter as much. If you put out something good, it'll do well. And I think TikTok helped to transform this model.

[Tony]

I agree. And actually we have the perfect example of this that we just learned about last week. I know we talk about Kevin a lot on the podcast, but Kevin is a student in our courses and he has been just churning away at YouTube for probably, I want to say we're like 18 months now. Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

It's been a year and a half, I want to say.

[Tony]

Yeah, yeah. And putting out content consistently has, has dabbled in the long form, which we've been encouraging to him to. And a couple weeks ago he had a long form piece of content go viral. And just to show you, like the impact of that for him, it doubled his subscribers and it put him. I forget what it did for his watch time, but I want to say it doubled or even more his watch time from this one video that he put out a couple weeks ago.

[Steve Chou]

Yep. And that's exactly the pattern that I saw with my channel. Like I was getting like 1000 views or less for probably a year.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And then I remember there's one video that got like 20,000 views and I was like, oh my God, what's, what's going on here? And then I remember when I hit 100,000 views, like that next video hit a million views.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

So I think it's it's just, it's almost like YouTube needs you to prove it, prove yourself first.

[Tony]

Right.

[Steve Chou]

To show that you're going to be consistent and, and during that time, as long as you're consistent, one of those videos is going to pop. And then once one pops, it's almost like YouTube gives you this momentum.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Where all your subsequent videos will do well.

[Tony]

So I think the first question is, and we're going to talk primarily about physical products, but let's talk a little bit about the digital side because I think first of all, if you are selling any sort of digital product, course membership, coaching, you should be on YouTube. Right. This is an absolute no brainer.

[Steve Chou]

You, you have to be on YouTube, I would say, or you have to share your face somehow. You have to be on some sort of video platform.

[Tony]

Yeah. To me, if you're not doing this, it's a big mistake. So. But I know who talks about this is Tay from Financial Tortoise. He talks about the same thing. When he got started, the first, I think he said year to 18 months, it was like a hundred views, 500 views. Thousand. Like just. So step one is how do you keep going when like Kevin, right. Like you're getting a hundred views and you feel like you're putting so much time. I mean Kevin's videos are good, right. He does great editing, really good content. If he talks about like computer and technical stuff, so it's not my cup of tea, but like it's good content, right. That you can learn from. So how do you keep going when you're like month nine and you're still getting 100 views? 130 views.

[Steve Chou]

I mean this is my mindset for everything. And I don't know if we've repeated it enough on this podcast, but like I don't do anything unless I'm gonna like do it. And I give myself a five year time frame.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Like if I can't get it any traction in five years, then, then something's wrong, I think.

[Tony]

Well, five years is. We've talked now, I know we've had this.

[Steve Chou]

So let's not do five years. Let's just say three years. Let's just say three years. Right.

[Tony]

Okay.

[Steve Chou]

I think anyone can do something for three years. You disagree? Maybe not in this day and age.

[Tony]

When you feel like, yes, if you're, if you're a Gen Xer, you can. But then I feel like it might, might lose its momentum for the Gen Zers. I don't know.

[Steve Chou]

You know why? You know what I hate it's like all these stories have spoiled it for everyone. Like, there's, of course there's going to be outliers, right, that, that get successful within like two months or three months or six months. But those are the only stories you hear out there. Yeah, pretty much. And so everyone thinks that it's going to happen fast. But I would guarantee you that 99% of the people out there, it takes a long time for stuff to happen.

[Tony]

So it's so interesting that you say that because I think it was last night you were messaging me, or it might have been sometime this week. And you're like, you know, because I'm doing a talk on YouTube at Seller Summit and I'm using one of my clients as a case study for E commerce. And you were like, well, what's the big, you know, like you wanted like a big, you know, showboat moment. And I was like, we don't have one. We have slow and steady growth. We have email list growth. We have sales, we have subscribe. You know, it's like. But nothing has. We have not had a home run. We actually haven't had a video go viral. We just have slow and steady growth every single week.

[Steve Chou]

Okay, so let's put this in perspective because I looked at the channel before I emailed you and you've only been at this for what, three months?

[Tony]

Three and a half months in.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah, right. Three and a half months. Right. You already have videos consistently doing 1 to 2000 views. Yes, I definitely did not have that in my first three months. I was lucky to break a thousand.

[Tony]

Yeah, well, we had a real, like, a real strategy. And obviously I'm not going to give away my talk, but. So there's still time to buy a ticket. Tuesday, May, May 7th. I'll let you on all the secrets. We had a real strategy to the growth. And I will say I am very pleased with how the channel is coming for a variety of reasons, but I think the biggest one, and moving into E commerce a little bit, I think this is one of the best ways to help people bond with your brand. Right now we have the founder of the company who has. It's a curriculum company. So she's written a lot of the curriculum. Like, she's very involved. Not as much today, but still very involved in what is published. And so I think, and I actually was looking through the comments earlier this morning and it's like people really, really identify with her. Right. And they really. So it's like, it takes what. I mean, curriculum. Right. It's Very competitive. There's a lot of curriculum out there that you can buy for your kids if you're a homeschooler. But like, how do you set yourself apart from all the competitors? This is a really, I don't want to say easy because it's not easy, but it's a simple way to do it, right, because all you're doing is getting on camera.

[Steve Chou]

See, I would argue that if you're selling curriculum, you have to have content. So prior to this YouTube channel, which is only three and a half months old, how is she selling her curriculum?

[Tony]

Through blog posts.

[Steve Chou]

Blog posts. Okay, so just written. No video at all?

[Tony]

No video. She had some video. So whenever she launched a product, there was usually a video of like how to use this product. So if you purchase the product, you got that video in like a post purchase flow. But really that was the only video content out there. And then we did challenges, right? So it's like a homeschool planning boot camp, a chore challenge, things like that. So there was some sporadic video content, but it wasn't that consistent weekly content that's getting out, put out today.

[Steve Chou]

You know what's funny about that is no one reads anymore. No one in. I should rephrase that. No one in the younger generation reads.

[Tony]

Right.

[Steve Chou]

Like my kids, like if you have them read something, they inevitably miss like these little details because they just scan the thing. But you put a video in front of them and they watch the whole thing. I'm the opposite. I much prefer reading me too than watching a video. So yeah, it's, it's great that she decide to start the channel because I mean, at some point I think the whole blogging method is not nearly gonna be as effective.

[Tony]

Right. And I would say the good news is if you are an E commerce brand and you have a blog or a content site that you've been built, I mean, a lot of people that have been in the e commerce world for several years have a blog, right? They have some type of content that they've been using. So when we started the channel, we basically took some of the most popular blog posts and turn them into using. Claude turned them into scripts. So most of the content on her channel, because she does have the blog, is based in content from the blog. So I would say that's another benefit. If you're in E commerce and you do have some content that you've already created, it even makes it easier to turn that, especially today with all the AI tools, it makes it really easy to turn that content into Video.

[Steve Chou]

Actually, when I started my channel, I did it like the super lazy way and I literally just read my blog posts. But I mean, it got me started, it got me on this consistent clip and then I slowly made modifications first to the intro to make it more enticing and then later I would cut the content down to make it less verbose. But it's a process. Like whatever it takes for you to get started is what you got to do.

[Tony]

Well, and I think that's a really key point is that it's more important to get started and put out beginner type content. Right. Probably not your best content because no one's going to be watching you initially anyway. Like you're not going to have a lot of views. So it's better to get all the kinks out early and sort of find your footing and figure out how you're going to have a brand voice on video as opposed to. What I see some people do is they spend so much time planning and they come up with this elaborate, you know, package. Right. To put out there. And it's actually not what the brand needs. Right. And then you're, then you're fumbling. Right. You're trying to like redo and figure it out. I would say just start putting the content out there and see what resonates with people.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah, I mean, totally. It's easier said than done. So I'm about to launch a YouTube channel for Bumblebee Linens. And I had dragged on about this for probably two or three years. I would say it's been a while for doing it. Mainly because I didn't think that I should be the one on camera.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

But finally I was just like, okay, I gotta be the one on camera or. And you suggested. I remember hiring someone.

[Tony]

Yes, I did.

[Steve Chou]

Right. To be the face of the brand. And, and I was against that because. Mean, just I think of what happened to Ezra, like the face of his brand.

[Tony]

She died.

[Steve Chou]

Passed away suddenly, actually.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And he was scrambling to find someone else. I, I don't know.

[Tony]

I was available for middle aged makeup. What are you talking about?

[Steve Chou]

I think just to find someone reliable that will stay with your company for a long time and that it's. It's just a risky thing in my opinion.

[Tony]

So, I mean, a perfect. Yeah, you're right. And Ezra had that experience. And I look at someone like Tiffany Ivanovsky who has tried for years to find people who can do live selling. Right. So similar. Right. A video, A face on a video. Right. And she has run into a lot of issues with that. The main one being once people learn how to live, sell and get good at it, they want to sell their own stuff. Right. Like they don't want to get. And I think she's offered like fairly lucrative packages to people. Right. Like they're getting paid an hourly, plus they're getting like some commission. But what happens is people think, oh, this is so easy. Right. And don't realize, especially today, like all the risk. Right. And you know, dealing with now tariffs and you know, all the uncertainty and even things like shipping container, you know, it's like there's just so much stuff. I think people, oh, this is so easy. Look at me, like making videos and then. But she's had that happen several times where she's basically raised, trained up people and then they leave and think they can do it, do it themselves better.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Which is a risk if you hire someone to do that for any, you know, even making your content. Right.

[Steve Chou]

Well, the only reason I bring this up is because I'm pretty much starting on ground zero again with Bumblebee Linens. Like, my wife quit, her job is well established. I have this flow. It kind of works like clockwork. For Bumblebee Linens, though, I need. I pretty much started from scratch and I needed a method. And so what I decided to do was tell the, like reach out to customers and tell their stories. Since we sell commemorative handkerchiefs and linens, like, I want to hear the stories behind those products, like how people got together, you know, stories of friendship and whatnot. And so that's the route that I'm taking. And this is so much easier now because I can take like a form that a customer fills out about their story and turn it and fill in all the little blanks and whatnot and make it sound really good with AI and this is something that I probably would not have been able to do until AI came out.

[Tony]

True. So I would say this is actually, this is a great question for you because there's probably a lot of people like you're a middle aged man selling lace handkerchiefs, right?

[Steve Chou]

So it sounds so terrible.

[Tony]

It does sound terrible. In a white van, luring children. That's what it sounds.

[Steve Chou]

Sounds like you could have made me sell candy.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Hey, little girl, you want.

[Tony]

He has puppies and ice cream in the back of the van. But no, like, I think there's a lot of people out there who have, you know, successful E commerce stores that are looking for another channel, right. Looking for another avenue to build their brand. But they're like hey, I'm a middle aged guy selling hair accessories, right. Or something that you just feel like doesn't match. So you came up with this angle of storytelling. What would you say to people? Because I know that was one of the biggest struggles for you. And you and I talked about this all the time. It's like you were like, I don't want to be the face of Bumblebee.

[Steve Chou]

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a free resource that I offer on my website that you may not be aware of if you are interested in starting your own online store. I put together a comprehensive six day mini course on how to get started in E commerce that you should all check out. It contains both video and text based tutorials that go over the entire process of finding products to sell all the way to getting your first sales online. Now this course is free and can be [e-mail] free. Just sign up right there on the front page via email and I'll send you the course right away. Once again, that's mywifequitterjob.com free. Now back to the show. You know what's funny about this is I've been doing a lot of research lately for e commerce brands doing short form content and there are middle aged people out there selling effectively. It's not all Gen Z is basically what I'm trying to say.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And you know, I'm starting to talk like my kids now, but I actually find a lot of the Gen Z content cringy. Right.

[Tony]

It's like the selling content cringy like.

[Steve Chou]

Just the short form, like you know how they gush over, you know, the whole like that does not appeal to, to someone my age. And incidentally like for our products, people who are buying it are like my age.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Like I would say women over the age of 40. And so I don't think that that Gen Z stuff will relate to them. So I don't think it's okay.

[Tony]

I don't think it works for everybody. So another example of this is Paul Ivanovsky, Tiffany's husband. So back when they first started making video about their products. Right. Selling online, selling live, which is a little bit different than creating YouTube content but still the same like middle aged man selling women's clothing. Right. So he had a. I mean this is brilliant. Right? This, I mean I don't want to give Paul a lot of credit because I know Tiffany is definitely the, the backbone of that business but, and Paul doesn't. Paul will take it and run if he hears me say these things. But, I mean, he got on live video and put the clothes on, right? So he was trying on dresses and shirts and, you know, cardigans and. And, you know, it was fun and it was funny, right? And people tuned in. I mean, I would tune in just like, it was like, well, I could watch an episode of Friends or I could watch Paul try on a dress. I'm watching Paul try on a dress, right? Paul's got. I mean, obviously Paul's got a great personality. But any other thing that Paul figured out really quickly, which I think this is important, right? Find your angle, is that Paul realized that a lot of women that were shopping were lonely, right? They're up late at night because they're going live at like 10:30 at night, right? So these women are lonely. They don't have anything to do. They are replacing Netflix for these people, right? And so when Paul sees their name up and he's like, rachel, beautiful, how are you doing? Right. Complimenting them, calling them by their name. Some of these women probably haven't been called by their name, right? Like, he. I mean, seriously, though, like, it was such a genius idea, right? To basically become this person's, like, companion, virtually, right? And I mean, I've seen their numbers, and some of those customers have spent, like. I'm like, do they have another house for all this clothes? Right? Like, where are they storing? Because they have customers that have spent six figures in clothes and their clothing's not expensive, Right? Like, so. But that angle worked, right? He found an angle for the business where he could be the. I mean, they both are the face of the brand, obviously, but where he could go on and do that, and it worked. So I think sometimes you just have to think out of the box. Like, you with the stories, right? It makes sense, and it's something that would appeal to the demographic of who buys your products.

[Steve Chou]

Well, so the way I'm approaching it is we're going to have three different types of content. One is going to be a store. I don't know which one's going to work.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

But another one is just going to be like, life running a business as a husband and wife. And those are probably going to mainly be shorts. Those are the ones that are going to do the best, honestly. I agree, because they're going to be off the cuff. I'll bring something up, I'll say something stupid. The only question really is whether, you know, she's actually going to be really mad at me, which could. Could happen.

[Tony]

Yes. We'll have a calendar day, Steve sleeps on the couch.

[Steve Chou]

But I think it's going to be a combination of both. There's going to be some people who want to hear the stories. There's going to be some people that want to see behind the scenes. So yeah, you just got to throw things out there and see what works. And Paul, you know, wearing women's clothing is what worked.

[Tony]

So. So the other problem that I think people have, aside from feeling like I'm not, I can't be the face of my brand, which I think you just have to get creative with that. The problem that my client had was the technology problem, right. And she just couldn't. I mean, and I like some people just don't. And you know, I'm the same way. Like when I film video, I have Brian set everything up for me. I mean, can I do it myself? Yes. Do I want to? No. And is that a hurdle for me? Absolutely. So like that's the way I've overcome the hurdle, right. He's my tech guy and that was her problem, right? Like she was just like, I don't know what kind of camera I need, I don't know this. And I sent her all of our YouTube lessons, right? Like every which I feel like our YouTube lessons in profitable audience are 10 out of 10. Like if you know nothing about YouTube, you could go through those like 20 lessons and you could absolutely start a YouTube channel tomorrow, right? Binge watch, start the channel. You. It has equipment, you know, outlining how to film everything. It just, she was like, I can't. Like it's just there was this huge hurdle for her. So she hired someone to basically come into her house and set up a studio, right? And set up like a. So it doesn't ever move. Like it's in her office. It's, you know, the camera set up. Everything is. So all she has to do is go in and turn it on. And that was her hurdle. So yes, it costs money to have someone come in your house and set up a studio, obviously, but it was worth it because that was what kept her from making. Because we've been talking about this for over a year, right? And it just wasn't happening. She didn't know she didn't have this blah, blah, blah. And then as soon as our friend is. Our friend Leslie Samuel, I don't think he does this for everybody. So don't, don't message him. He went up there and basically gave her like a two day boot camp in YouTube. He's a YouTube expert and then said everything up for. And basically told her, this is exactly what you need to do. Here's how you. And then showed her how to use AI to help her with scripts. And like, basically I think he just taught her everything we teach in the course. But she didn't have to watch the videos. Right, right. But that's another option for you, right? There are, there are people that will do this for you, and if you have children, they will do it for you for free in exchange for living at your house.

[Steve Chou]

The hurdle for most people, though, I, I really don't think tech is.

[Tony]

Oh, I think it is a lot of. It was a hurdle for a lot of people in our course. Are you kidding me?

[Steve Chou]

Well, I think just the act of filming is the biggest hurdle. Right? Like, yeah, being on, turning the camera on.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And then editing is the other big hurdle.

[Tony]

Yeah. And editing is one of those things where I don't think we have a great answer on this. Like you edit yourself until you want to pay someone else to edit for you. That's kind of the solution.

[Steve Chou]

That. That is the solution. Yeah.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Or you just don't edit. Like our friend Rob Berger, who still does not edit and he has 200 actually, he's catching up to me. I think he's at like 300,000 views right now. So.

[Tony]

So I would say we always joke about the Rob Berger method of no editing. I would say it's a little harder if you're a brand. Like if you are selling a physical product. I think you might need slightly more edit work than what he does, which is nothing.

[Steve Chou]

You know, I was thinking about this because I want a low energy way of doing our short form. So I don't think we're going to edit those. Like, like one question will be like, hey, what, what do you. Do you enjoy working with your spouse in this business? And we'll just give our answers off the cut. I don't think that requires much editing.

[Tony]

Oh, it will once you hear her answer.

[Steve Chou]

Well, no, that's. That's the beauty of it. Right.

[Tony]

You'll have to edit out all the F bombs. But yeah, I mean, I think, I think to an extent, yes. And I actually think that the, if you're struggling with an angle, the behind the scenes, like real life, that sort of content is very popular right now. I would say it's definitely trending. I think that type of content is a great way to talk about your business. Even if you don't fit your, you know, your customer avatar. I think that People get very interested in, like, the inner workings of small businesses.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, I'm just following the model of some other companies. And what they do also is they'll call out customers in their videos too, just like what you said with Paul, except not in a live environment. Yeah, they'll just bring up an order. And this, our products are perfect for this. Right. Because if it's someone who is like, you know, has a special message and provided you get their permission, of course, you call out their personalization and, you know, you talk. You talk about, hey, this, this, such and such is, you know, embroider a handkerchief for her wedding. Best of luck. You know, I hope everything goes well. Shout out. That works really well. There's a lot of videos on this one. One store that I watch where those videos are the ones that perform the best, or someone just had a baby or maybe even someone passed away actually, and they. And they embroidered something. Those stories do the best.

[Tony]

Are you doing the Pope's hankies? Did you get that order?

[Steve Chou]

No, no, no, unfortunately not.

[Tony]

No, because I don't. You've had some famous clients, but I won't name any names. But I wasn't sure how famous we were getting you over there at Bumblebee.

[Steve Chou]

We did have Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[Tony]

I know she was a client of ours. Okay. So I like the call out idea that works because if people see that they got called out, they share that with everybody they know because they're excited about it and it helps sort of boost the virality of the video itself.

[Steve Chou]

Not just that, but people will buy because they want to get called out.

[Tony]

Yes, I think that's the idea that they will get. Yeah, yeah, It's. It's that whole concept of like, which I still to this day find absolutely absurd is on, like, lives and stuff like that, where you can send. Basically, you're paying people to say your name on a live. Right. Which I think is absolutely crazy, but it's a big deal. Right? But yeah, it's the same concept. You're just not asking people to pay you in that way. You're. They're buying from you.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, speaking of lives, I follow this guy. He covers like warriors basketball live after every game. And people are literally tipping them, like 100 bucks, 20 bucks just so they answer his. He answers their question.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And it's always some stupid question like, do you think Steph Shots were lucky in. In the Houston game? I. I don't know. But, you know, someone will pay that amount of money just for the Attention.

[Tony]

Yeah, yeah. So capitalize on people's need to have attention.

[Steve Chou]

The crazy world we live in, man, I would never. I wouldn't even pay a dollar for that.

[Tony]

No, I wouldn't either. I remember, like, back in the day, you could, like, call into the radio. Like, that's really dating myself. But, like, you could. I mean, it was free. You could call in and ask questions.

[Steve Chou]

I used to dedicate songs to girls I liked. Yes. Songs Goes after you, Justine. Yeah.

[Tony]

And it was always, like, a heart song. So. Yeah. And I think anything that shows if you have an interesting process. Right. So you have an embroidery machine. I think that's interesting. I realized last year we went to the Yingling bottling factory in Pennsylvania with my sister. We did, like, a tour. And I could have watched that bottle machine all day long. Right. It was just fascinating to watch them come off the line and everything that. All the little things that have to happen for, you know, it to be bottled and packaged up. But I think if you have any, like, production or something like that, that's really interesting, making that type of content, like, really. And people will watch that forever and ever and ever.

[Steve Chou]

They will. And you know what's funny is we were eating at this pho restaurant once, and there was this camera on the fish tank. Live streaming the fish tank all day long. And I was like, what? What's up with that? He's like, oh, you know, we get. We get money from this. I'm like, what, you just set up a camera on your fish tank? He's like, yeah, people like the fish.

[Tony]

Yeah. So our friend.

[Steve Chou]

I don't get it.

[Tony]

I don't get it either, because we were chat. This is a couple of months ago, and she's like, have you heard about the eagles? And I was like, of course I watched the super bowl, right? Like, and she's like, no, no, no. The eagles are. Their eggs are about to. She had, like, on a separate screen on her computer, was like, watching eagle eggs that were getting ready to hatch. Like, and she was committed to these, like, eagle eaglets. Right? I don't. I think that's what they're called. And I was like, no, I haven't heard of the eagles that are about to have baby eagle. I don't know, but it's true. People remember when that giraffe was probably pregnant and, like, millions of people were waiting for this thing to have a baby. I'm like, that was. I don't understand. But it definitely works. And I would say, if it works, try it. And See if it works for your business.

[Steve Chou]

So my wife buys a lot of stuff from video and she'll buy stuff just because she likes the. The creator.

[Tony]

Yes.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, yeah. Like, I remember one time she bought this makeup that she didn't like 100. Like she just wanted to support the creator. And, and that's, that's what it's come to. I think in today's day and age, this is why you can't just list your products on a store. Because. And you know, maybe these tariffs will turn the tide because there's always these Chinese knockoffs, maybe that'll be mitigated going forward, but you still need to stand out somehow.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And oftentimes the way you stand out has nothing to do with your packaging or, you know, images or ads or your website anymore. It's really from people wanting to know who the owner of the store is and what they stand for, what their personality is like.

[Tony]

Yeah. Okay, so next. Changing gears just a little bit, but I don't want to not talk about this. One of our goals for my clients channel is to get emails from the videos.

[Steve Chou]

Okay.

[Tony]

Because I think, I think in general, especially for something like curriculum, which people do think about. Right. They don't just buy. It's not like an impulse buy. Right. There are definitely products out there that are impulse buys and I think you can probably do anything. Right. Or the price point is. Right. So we want to get emails from people. Is that your strategy for Bumblebee? Like, do you have an email strategy or what? What are you thinking when it comes to that component?

[Steve Chou]

So I'm not sure. Like, I don't want to put multiple calls to actions in the videos.

[Tony]

Right.

[Steve Chou]

However, I think our, our products kind of fall under that impulse buy.

[Tony]

They do, yeah.

[Steve Chou]

So like having a link directly to the site might make sense. The other thing I was thinking was including a form where you could just tell a story, period. Right. And that would get email addresses as well. I. I'm torn because. Well, I mean, we haven't launched this all yet. And so I think depending on what happens, it's gonna. Is going to change the trajectory of what I actually do. What do you think?

[Tony]

Actually, Yeah, I feel like for you, you could probably do a link right. To the store. That makes sense.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, that's what Eric Bandholz does.

[Tony]

Yeah. And we, we do link to products all the time in videos because usually the video does talk about a product in some way. It's not the main part of the video, but it's. There's A reference we use. We still use a lot of lead magnets. So, like, I think there's a video that just came out or it's coming out. It's about like teaching your kid to read. Right. Phonics, which is a hot topic, surprisingly. It's probably surprising to you, but a lot of people freak out when their kids aren't reading Right. At kindergarten and it's like, oh, what's wrong with my kid? Blah, blah, blah. So it's a whole video on like, hey, this is actually the true statistics on kids reading and what it means if they read later or whatever. And we obviously have a reading curriculum that we're selling, but it's actually not here yet. Right. So we've been seeding it with this reading content. We've been starting to put reading content on YouTube. So we have a lead magnet that's basically like a sight word game that you can play with your kids. So we try to come up with ideas that correlate with the video so that, you know, if you want to learn more, if you want to test your kid, if you want to see where they are, like, you know, download the lead magnet. And obviously that directly gets people on the email list because that's how they get the download. But that's been our main strategy, I think, for curriculum.

[Steve Chou]

That has to be the way you go, Right. People aren't just going to buy a curriculum after they see one video, right?

[Tony]

Absolutely not.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, they might buy a hanky.

[Tony]

But yeah, I would question their parenting skills. Yeah. Do some research.

[Steve Chou]

And just for the record, people get worried when their kids aren't reading by age three, right?

[Tony]

Yes. I think it's at one.

[Steve Chou]

If they're not doing multiplication tables by age two and a half, something's wrong.

[Tony]

Yes, exactly. Yes. We have all the, all the warning sign. Our video has bright red flashing lights like, so that's been our main. Our main mechanism for getting emails. And it's worked. I would say it's worked. Okay. I don't really have a lot to compare it to. Right. Because I don't. I actually don't only know one other curriculum company that's making a lot of YouTube content and they don't seem to be asking for emails at all. So I'm not quite sure, like, they have a large following and things like that, but I don't really have a bar to measure it with. But to me, it feels like the people that are getting on the list are eventually making purchases. So to me, it's a win. Right. We're getting the right people on the list and eventually they're making a purchase decision. I will say that one of the areas I think we need to improve in is we separate people who come from YouTube versus people that come from an ad or you know, finding us through search or referral type thing. I think we need to do a better job Talking to the YouTube people in a different way because when we got started we kind of just cloned a bunch of things and it wasn't, we didn't really do like a full, like this is a YouTube customer. And I do think if you're going to take all the time to do that, that's definitely something that you should think about doing is talking to those people a little bit differently because they might have found a lot of their traffic actually comes from YouTube recommended videos. Right, okay. Yeah. Which is interesting to me. Like that was actually a pretty surprising statistic. So to me they, they probably follow other homeschoolers or other curriculum type companies and got the video recommended and so they might not know at all who this company is. So we need to do a better job of letting them know like the credentials and why you should buy from them and you know, why their curriculum's different and better.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah, I, I think I would have a lot more problems marketing a religion. Maybe, maybe it's because I, I'm not in that industry. But like I wouldn't be able to like you kind of have to be a little bit more straight laced. Right. Like I want to buy a curriculum from someone who's, who's competent. Yeah, right.

[Tony]

Yeah. And I think that is important, like making, making people aware that like credentialed people are writing this curriculum. Right. It's not just a bunch of people in the basement putting together stuff from.

[Steve Chou]

Like, you can't act like a goofball. Like what I plan on acting like for my videos to a certain extent.

[Tony]

No. And so the last thing I'm going to say on this, which is sort of like this is not a way to get emails, but it's a way we use the emails is, and this is actually a great way to get your watch time up doing webinars on YouTube. Now there's a bunch of negatives to this, right? Because like you're not using a webinar software. It's public on YouTube. I mean we're running it public on YouTube. But what I saw when we did this was the watch time went up pretty dramatically overall for the account. But not only, not only that, YouTube favors live streaming. Right. So it's looks good to YouTube. And then as well, the average watch time went up. So the average time of most of our videos are between 10 and 13 minutes. Well, the webinar was an hour. Right. There were I think about a hundred people on the webinar live. It was about basically homeschooling through high school. Um, but the average view time on that webinar was in like the 15 to 20 minute the, the view time, whereas her average view time normally is like four and a half minutes. Right. So the view time went up pretty significantly because of the webinar. So boosted the overall average as well. So that's another thing that you could think about doing if you have any type of product that needs an instruction. Right. So I think about. Actually the person who came to mind with this is Meg, who sells like hermit crab.

[Steve Chou]

Oh yeah, that's right.

[Tony]

Or something like that. But like that's something where you could do a webinar on like how to set up a cage for how to set up a hermit crab tank. Right. You could do a whole instructional and you would get people watching a lot longer. Right. Because they would be learning about like the environment and what they need and like, you know, use this, don't use that, and then obviously talking about your own products in there. But anything where you need to give an instruction on something, I think you can figure out a way to make a web a free webinar. Right. And just. And then you get people that come into the webinar because it's live, so it's available on YouTube, so people that don't know that you exist. Right. Can find you as well.

[Steve Chou]

I mean, I do live webinars on YouTube. That's the only way that I do them. And what my buddies have told me is in general, if you're, if you're live, you know, you can do it to the public, but as soon as it's over, you. You make it unlisted. Yeah, because the, the metrics for someone coming into a live video, especially like in the beginning, you know, when you're like waiting for people to come in and whatnot, like the drop off rate is huge. So I would say if you're gonna do it, go live and then make it private later. Not private, but unlisted later.

[Tony]

Yeah, yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Is that what you guys are doing?

[Tony]

She actually didn't get the drop off at all afterwards. Yeah, I mean people are still watching this video and I think it's the topic. Right. Homeschooling in high School people are very intimidated about homeschooling a high schooler. It's where you. It's actually where you see people drop off homeschooling, right? They homeschool up until high school, then they put their kid in high school because they wanted to do athletics or something like that. I thought. And I thought about making it unlisted afterwards, but we're still getting a lot of traction on it. So I'm like, huh, maybe I can.

[Steve Chou]

See why that is, because my wife was watching this live presentation on how to get your kid into Princeton or, you know, an Ivy League school. And, you know, with that big of a topic with such wide interest, you're probably willing to slog through a webinar, even if it was previously live.

[Tony]

Yeah. And I think that the information, it's pretty evergreen. So, I mean, at some point it'll probably go. I'll probably put it to unlisted, but for right now, we're just still seeing people on it. So it's kind of like I don't really want to.

[Steve Chou]

The reason why I put mine unlisted is because I give the same presentation, right. Like a month later. So it's never the exact same. It's. It's altered depending on what the environment is like. But I don't want people mixing the old with the new. So are you guys planning on giving this one again?

[Tony]

Probably not for a year, right?

[Steve Chou]

Oh, not for a year. Oh, I see. I see. Okay.

[Tony]

So one, like, definite advantage that we have is that the owner of this company is also a speaker. She speaks at conventions.

[Steve Chou]

Right.

[Tony]

And so I actually, after. This was sort of a test, right? Because I was like, this is either going to be really great and people are going to be excited about it, or it's going to be an absolute bust. Right. And it's just people don't have the attention span. And I wasn't sure where we would fall. But because it was. It worked so well, I said, you know, you have all these talks that are already done, right? Like, you. Because she does. She speaks at, like, probably 10 conventions a year. And it's the same talks, right, at almost every convention because it's a different audience. It's all geographical. And I said, we need to do at least one webinar every two months, right. On one of the topics that you talk about, because you already have it. You don't have to do anything. You just have to prepare. Right. Everything's already done. She's already given this talk 10 times, so. And she's like, well, do you think that will cannibalize me speaking at conventions? I'm like, these conventions are big enough to cannibalize.

[Steve Chou]

I 100 agree with that.

[Tony]

Right. Like, I mean, I get, I get the, the concern and that would be something to think about. But I'm like, but if you're speaking, speaking like right this week she's speaking in like Podunk, Massachusetts or something. I don't know, some tiny Massachusetts town. I'm like, I don't think those people are gonna be like, well, I'm not subscribing to your YouTube channel, you know, or vice versa. You know, I heard her in Massachusetts. Okay, well those 22 people will be fine. So.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah, you can also tell her that there's some people that come to my same exact workshop like eight times in a row and they tell me that they learn something new each time they come.

[Tony]

I honestly. So the first time I saw that with you, I thought that was absolutely insane. And then the more webinars I've done over the years, I'm like, you know what, that's actually true. Like, I feel like, because like when I watch a webinar I have all intentions of like paying attention, but it never fails that like someone comes to the door or you know, I have to take a phone call or like I miss something. Right. Or I have to leave early. And so I do think that like people will watch if you are a good content creator or a good presenter and she is, you know, you will, you will watch the same content a couple of times to get, to get things that you've missed for sure.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah, yeah. So you got nothing to worry. She's got nothing.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

To be worried about there.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

But anyway, the key point in all this is if you're not doing video for your e commerce store and especially if you're trying to sell anything digital, like I would say it's required now. Yeah, definitely for anything digital, some sort of video content. YouTube long form is still the best in my opinion. And then short form is, is good too to kind of supplement it.

[Tony]

Yeah, I think, I think you need to think about it as if you want people to become loyal to your brand. Right. If you want people to build that know like and trust factor with you, then video content is the quickest way to build that for your company.

[Steve Chou]

Once again, tickets to The Seller Summit 2025 are now on sale over at sellers summit.com. if you want to hang out in person in a small intimate setting, develop real relationships with like minded entrepreneurs and learn a ton. Then come to my event. Go to sellers summit.com and if you're interested in starting your own e commerce store, head on over to my wife quitherjob.com and sign up for my free 6 day mini course. Just type in your email and I'll send the course right away via email.