636: Why Smaller Creators Are Winning Bigger Than Ever In 2026

Summary

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The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast With Steve Chou

Episode 636: Why Smaller Creators Are Winning Bigger Than Ever In 2026
Air Date: April 30, 2026
Host: Steve Chou
Guest/Co-Host: Tony and additional co-host/expert

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Episode Overview

This episode digs deep into the rapidly evolving world of content creation in 2026, focusing on why smaller creators are having unprecedented success, even as the digital landscape gets more competitive and AI-driven. Steve Chou, Tony, and their co-host candidly discuss the positives and challenges of today's content landscape, the pressures of standing out amidst AI-fueled abundance, and practical advice for creators aiming to build influence, not just rack up views. It's an honest, experience-packed look at what really matters now in online business and content.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Explosion of AI and the “Abundance Factor”

• AI democratizes content creation: Now, anyone can create endless streams of content thanks to affordable, accessible AI tools.
  • "There's no limit." – Guest Co-host (02:38)
• Traditional media is being overtaken by creators: Cable TV's declining influence compared to platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
  • "All these independents are getting more views than traditional media are today." – Tony (03:46)
• AI creates both opportunity and noise: While it's easier for small brands to make content, the resulting sea of low-effort content makes it harder for original voices to shine.
• Authority is shifting: Mainstream figures now rise from platforms like podcasts and TikTok.
  • "His podcast is... basically a mainstream commodity." – Co-host, on Joe's success (04:08)

2. The New Metrics: Influence Over Views

• Views ≠ Influence or Revenue: Viral success is only valuable if it attracts the right audience.
  • "Views in itself is not a good measure of your impact." – Tony (20:36)
• Niche authority matters: Building credibility in a specific area leads to greater long-term value.
  • Examples: Kevin’s Windows content and NerdWallet’s trusted financial reviews.

3. Content That Stands Out in 2026

• Originality and memorability are vital: Unique storytelling, personal opinions, and on-screen personality are essential to be remembered.
  • "You really have to do something memorable or unique or unique to yourself in order to stand out." – Tony (09:47)
• Teaching and “how-to” content has changed: With summary buttons and AI transcriptions, lessons must deliver more than just the facts.
  • "I need to step up my game now to go beyond the summarize button." – Tony (13:38)
• Storytelling trumps reporting: Creators must move beyond just reporting news to sharing perspective-driven, story-based content.

4. The Pitfalls of Chasing Vanity Metrics

• Resisting the ego trap: The urge to chase viral topics can undermine building a focused, loyal audience.
  • "All those videos didn't do anything to, like, drive email signups... very quickly realized." – Co-host (22:03)
• Personal anecdotes about strategic pivots: Tony shares his experience with viral but misaligned content and the difficulty of balancing dopamine hits with business goals.

5. Monetization, Ad Revenue & The Business Model Shift

• Dependence on ad revenue is risky: Platform changes have eroded blog and video ad income.
  • "If all you're doing is creating content for the revenue, for ad revenue, you're going to be in the same boat." – Co-host (27:23)
• Diversification is non-negotiable: Successful creators branch into products, memberships, or events.
• Small creators can still break out: The success of videos isn’t solely based on following – the right idea can explode overnight.

6. Trends in Brand Deals and Short Form vs Long Form

• Surge in short form collaborations: Brands are skewing toward short videos for their viral potential and lower costs.
  • "Brand deals seem to be more interested in the short form videos." – Tony (29:18)
• Vanity metrics still tempt brands: Big numbers are seductive, but may not deliver conversions.

7. AI Avatars, Deep Fakes & Authenticity

• Rise of synthetic creators: AI avatars and deepfakes threaten audience trust.
  • "These deep fakes are just getting so good. And I can imagine... it's going to be pretty indistinguishable." – Tony (33:50)
• Authentication and regulation discussions: Consideration of requiring credentials to fight spam and misinformation.

8. The Decline of Polish, Rise of Authenticity & Platform Changes

• Raw beats polished in many formats: Viewers increasingly prefer less produced, authentic videos.
  • "If something looks too polished, I almost always swipe away." – Tony (37:22)
• Platform interface shifts: Instagram and others emphasizing real, “reels-first” experiences over curated feeds.

9. Coping With Content Creator Psychology

• Emotional rollercoaster of creation: Creators struggle with validation, chasing trends, and staying true to their niche.
• Patience and resilience are crucial: Building meaningful influence takes time, iteration, and often resisting the lure of immediate views.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On mainstreaming of creators:
  "It's well accepted that you're a creator and that you do this for a living." – Tony (06:18)

• On content saturation and standing out:
  "There's too much good content out there now almost, in my opinion." – Tony (09:30)
  "You really have to do something memorable or unique... in order to stand out." – Tony (09:47)

• On the change in metrics:
  "The number of subscribers does not matter whatsoever." – Tony (16:55)

• On views vs influence:
  "Focus less on the views per se and more on the influence factor that you have." – Tony (20:19)

• On resisting viral bait:
  "I reserve those videos where I know that I'm going to get a bunch of views... for when I'm down in the dumps." – Tony (23:47)

• On the pressure to innovate:
  "I'm just being selfish right now… I think I personally need to step up my game now... that goes beyond how-to content and more like very opinionated how-to content." – Tony (42:16)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Shift to mainstream creators & AI's impact: 02:14 – 05:25
• AI content glut, quality vs automation: 06:21 – 07:30
• Standing out and memorability: 09:23 – 10:05
• Views vs. influence, niche authority: 16:55 – 21:25
• Dangers of chasing trends: 21:48 – 23:23
• Creator psychology, dopamine hits: 23:47 – 25:02
• Ad revenue decline and diversification: 26:05 – 27:57
• Growth of in-person events: 28:00 – 29:10
• Brand deal trends & short-form bias: 29:18 – 31:50
• Deep fakes and content authentication: 33:15 – 36:37
• Raw vs. polished content: 37:02 – 38:19
• Storytelling and being memorable: 40:07 – 41:45

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Actionable Takeaways

• Lean into authenticity and storytelling: Beyond facts, share opinions and stories that foster real connection.
• Never build on a single revenue stream: Monetize beyond ads—think products, events, memberships.
• Focus on niche authority: Influence matters far more than raw numbers—target your ideal audience.
• Embrace evolving tools, but don’t lose your voice: Use AI to assist, not replace, your creativity.
• Prepare for increased regulation and the need to prove authenticity in the AI age.

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Conclusion

The content revolution means it's both easier and harder than ever for new creators. Smaller, focused creators win big by building influence and authenticity, not just chasing views. As AI and automation deliver both abundance and noise, creators who double down on storytelling, opinion, and authority—not just volume—will be the ones to thrive in 2026 and beyond.

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Transcript

[Steve Chou]

Welcome back to the podcast, the show where I cover all the latest strategies and current events related to E commerce and online business. In this episode, Tony and I have a really honest conversation about where content creation is headed in 2026 and what it genuinely takes to stand out. When everyone and their mother is making videos, we talk about why the fundamentals of great content have never mattered more than they do right now, even with all the AI tools flooding the space with noise. So whether you're just starting out or, or if you've been at it for years, I think you'll walk away with a much clearer picture of what it takes. But before we begin, I just wanted to take a second to mention that I have a free e commerce community that I'm incredibly proud of and would love for you to be a part of. It is a place where real sellers come together to share wins, troubleshoot problems and support each other through the ups and downs of building an online business. You can join completely free [e-mail] community and I would love to see you there once again. That's mywifequitterjob.com community.

[Tony]

Now onto the show. Welcome back to the My Wife Quitter Job podcast. Today we're going to talk about content creation, which is the other side of my business where I create YouTube videos, podcasts and that sort of thing. And it's all kind of related to E commerce as well. So we'll touch a little bit on both topics today. And I know Tony, you've been, you started a YouTube channel. You've helped start another YouTube channel that's doing really well. What are your views right now? Just on content creation for 2026.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

I was just complaining to you before we started recording about AI and content creation and how I don't think it's being done very well. But that's not, that's not true for everybody. I think some people are doing a great job. But yeah, I feel like because of AI everybody can create content now. Right. I think about our. Actually this is a good example. Our friend Johnny, who's in profitable audience, has a lawn care company and he's been making lawn care videos for the past, I think it's like been a year or 18 months and he said it's really like taken off. Right. He's getting traction. But people like Johnny and I don't think actually Johnny's using a whole lot of AI in his video content creation.

[Tony]

No, he's not, I don't think.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

No. But I would say people like him, people who have businesses where, you know, five years ago, content creation would have been basically impossible without hiring like a full time content creator. Now those types of brands can actually do a lot of this with AI and put out, I mean, honestly, endless amounts of content.

[Tony]

Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

There's no limit.

[Tony]

Yeah. So for me, for this year, at least 20, 26, I'm a, I'm, I'm excited and I'm a little worried at the same time. We can start with like, the positives. Yeah. I feel like creators are, are actually becoming like mainstream entertainment. Like, you know, it's funny, I was, I was chatting with one of my friends and he was like, oh yeah, I was watching CNN the other day. I'm like, what, you watch cnn? He's like, yeah, I just kind of leave the TV on, on cable. I was like, you have cable? But seriously, like CNN is, is gone down. I'm surprised they're still up. I mean, their viewership is so low.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Everyone's just getting their content now from like short form, tick tock, YouTube and whatnot. And it's reflected in some of the deals that have been going on. Netflix, Hulu, they're all signing creators.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

I think I just watched a dude perfect do a partnership with, with, with the show also where like they turned it into this series.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

So I think that's a huge positive as a content creator today because in theory, like all these independents are getting more views than traditional media are today.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. And you see that. And I don't, you know, we do not get political here. But I think a really good example of the impact of this was Joe. Right?

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

So he's, he's had a podcast for a bit, but his podcast is, is huge and has, you know, over time. I don't want to say it's mainstream, but it's basically a mainstream commodity. Right. Because of the guests that he gets on. Right. So he gets, I mean, he had, he's had multiple, I want to say

[Tony]

he's had everyone on.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. But even to the president, you know, of the United States. Right. Has been on the podcast. But I think if you look back to that interview he did during the election, like, that became a very mainstream piece of content that was, I would say, equivalent to like a CNN interview.

[Tony]

Oh, way more than cnn.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Well, equivalent in like authority level. Not reach leaps and bounds above, but like in the bucket of like, does this hold weight and credibility? Absolutely. Right. Whether or not you agree with any of it, it's. We're just talking about the Numbers here. Um, and so I think when you look at that sort of, sort of situation and then other people that you know are doing the same types of things. Right. Another person that's like gotten huge from short form and in content is. And I don't even know what this person actually does is Alex Earl. I don't know if you know who she is.

[Tony]

I don't know who she is.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Um, she's a content creator, but she ended up on Dancing with the Stars. She was linked to Tom Brady. But like, you know, once again, like her stuff is getting mainstream and is at the same level of credibility as like someone who would be a legitimate TV star or someone in the movies. Right. So these content creators who back in, you know, back, we always say back in the day, right. You know, you're like, well, you're Twitter famous, Right. Like you were on Twitter in 2010 and you had 200,000 followers. Well, now people who are twitt famous actually can translate that into, you know, mainstream media at this point.

[Tony]

Yeah. I think, I guess what we're both trying to say is it seems like the industry is much more mature than it was before. Like it's well accepted that you're a creator.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And that you do this for a living.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

The flip side, and what I'm primarily worried about is earlier we started with, with the abundance factor. Like everyone and their mother can create content and it's easier than ever to create content with the help of AI. And I, I want to say a couple months ago I was chatting with someone who has, who has like five automated AI channels that are generating tens of thousand dollars a month almost on autopilot. Like he has these scripts that generate the script, pull in images and create these, these long form YouTube style videos which are, which are more or less screen shares and with narration and, and it's working. Which basically means that people actually want to watch this. And the same goes with, with short form like the tick tocks and whatnot. People are just kind of finding ways to automate this sort of content creation which in turn dilutes all the other content that, you know, people are creating by hand. And so that worries me a little bit. Like everyone has access to high quality

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

tools now, which I think is, is a plus and a negative. Right. Like, I think it's great that there are so many really fantastic tools that are not necessarily free, but at a price point that they're affordable for anybody to get started. And that's one of the things that we talk about a lot. Right. Is that if you want to create content, whether it be as a complement to a brand that you already have or you want to just become a straight up content creator. You know, we talk about a teleprompter, five, maybe five, ten years ago was like three, 400 bucks. Right? Now you can get one for almost nothing. Like all, a lot of the things that you needed to get started before are now very, very inexpensive or free. The problem is, is that I think it, we talked about this like two years ago. I think it was Spencer Haas who did that whole experiment with like creating an AI blog and all the articles were written by AI.

[Tony]

Oh yes, yes.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Like he did like 900 and some articles. I don't know, it was a lot, but. And he got he ranked right with SEO, but then all of a sudden that crashed. Right. Not effective. So I feel like the same exact thing is going to happen here. It's still new enough to where people are watching this automated content. Right. They are interested in it. But I think eventually we're going to see the same thing that happens with this every time is that unless you have something new, interesting, an angle, a story, it's not going to sustain. This isn't a sustainable business for 15 years.

[Tony]

Well, okay, let's, let's take the flip side of that. Let's talk about just people using avatars of themselves even, right?

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And putting out good scripts and pumping out content. Like I, I'm looking through my TikTok feed sometimes I don't mind if it's generated by AI, if it's entertaining. Right?

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And so let's like not talk about the slop. Let's, let's just talk about the good stuff, right?

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Of which there is a lot.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

There's too much good content out there now almost, in my opinion. Right. And for me, as I doom scroll on TikTok, sometimes like I, I finish a session and I don't even remember who I looked at.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah, for the most part that's definitely true.

[Tony]

So I guess what I'm trying to say is in order to stand out today, like you really have to do something memorable or unique or unique to yourself in order to stand out.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Which I honestly, that's always been the case.

[Steve Chou]

Have you ever wondered how much your

[Tony]

business is actually worth now?

[Steve Chou]

I sold one of my businesses through Quiet Light and honestly, just getting that initial valuation changed everything for me. Not because of that number itself, but because of what came with it.

[Tony]

My advisor walked me through exactly what

[Steve Chou]

buyers would be looking for How I needed to restructure my accounting, what documentation I was missing, the gaps in my financials that might kill a deal before it even starts, and stuff that I really had no idea that mattered when

[Tony]

it came to selling a business.

[Steve Chou]

And here's the thing. I wasn't even ready to sell yet. But knowing what I needed to fix meant that I could actually start preparing.

[Tony]

And I now had a roadmap.

[Steve Chou]

Everyone at Quiet Light has built or sold businesses themselves, so my advisor told me what needed to change. It was actually coming from real experience, sitting across from buyers. And by the time I was ready, everything was positioned right and we attracted serious buyers. So if you've been thinking about selling someday, even if that day feels way far off, just getting a free valuation from Quiet Light will make a huge difference. You'll learn what you need to fix right now so you're not scrambling later. And if you're interested, go over to

[Tony]

quietlight.com it's always been the case, but I feel like it's even more important. So, for example, like, you were just talking about Rogan doing interview based podcasts. I probably would not start an interview based podcast today. No, right. Because, like, they're a diamond dozen. I think we talked about this in the last time we recorded. When everyone and their mother wants to start a podcast, something is wrong. Like, we've reached peak podcast. Yeah, right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Which. But if you have, yes, I would say this is not the time to start a podcast unless you have something that is so unique and different that you think it can get traction. Here's the problem. This reminds me of. I don't know, I guess American Idol is starting back up in its 400th season or whatever is that there's always those people that get on American Idol and they are not the best singer, but you realize that their whole life people told them they were a good singer, right? Like their mom and their aunt and, you know, and then they get up there and they're. They're not that great. Right. They're not terrible. They're probably better than you or I, but they're not, they're not like the level to make it as a singer today. I feel like that happens a lot with content creation where, like, your friends tell you that's a good idea, right. Or, you know, your mom likes it and then it's like, oh, I should start a podcast because my mom thinks this is so interesting. Like, you can't let the, your mom be the, the judge of, of, you know, whether you decide to do Something or not, it has to be something where there's like at least some proven level of interest before you do it. Because anyone can do it and there's so much out there right now.

[Tony]

Yeah. So you know, back in the day, maybe three or four years ago, like you could probably just pick up a camera and just start creating like tutorial content. This is why it's hitting me particularly like I feel like that was my bread and butter a couple years ago. Right. Just come out and just teach something.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Right.

[Tony]

But anytime you just teach something now it's we we talked about in the last episode we recorded where there's this like summary button now right? On all content. And so if you're just teaching something, why should someone sit through your lesson? Why not just hit the summarize button, right? Unless there's a reason for them to watch you. Which basically means that I need to step up my game now to go beyond the summarize button. Right. Maybe be entertaining, maybe use more visuals that can't be summarized otherwise I see that trend continuing.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

I agree. My only thought on that is not everybody is a can learn by reading, right? So, so. And like for me, I would much rather read something than watch a video. Like unless it's like how to take apart a carburetor or something, right? Then I want to watch the video. But I do think that there will always be people who want to learn a certain way. Some people want to listen auditory, some people want to have it visually. Some people want to like take apart whatever with the other person. So I, I do think that one, I do think you should up your game. But two, I do think that having all these different mediums is good, right? Especially for people who learn differently. However, with the summary button and the ability for people to dump a transcript into AI and get all that information. Like you definitely need to have things in your content that make that less appealing to people, right? Like. Well, I could summarize it, but then I'm going to miss out on X, Y, Z.

[Tony]

I just wanted to take

[Steve Chou]

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 ecommerce 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, and I'll send you the course right away. Once again, that's my wife. Quitterjob.com free.

[Tony]

Now back to the show. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, there's, there's the challenge.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Because I, I just looking at my own habits, I don't even listen to podcasts anymore. Like, unless I'm running. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

And then you just get the transcript of it.

[Tony]

I literally just get the transcript, feed into AI and say, hey, just give me the top points of this. Like, I, I don't have time to listen to this, like three hour thing.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Okay, But I think that. Yes, but there are still a lot of people who have time where they can't read. Right. They're in the car, they're driving, they're walking their dogs. I was talking to a friend yesterday and she's like, oh, I listen to all my podcasts when I take the dogs out. Right. And so she, so I. And you know, my son listens to podcasts all day long at work. Right. Because he can have an earphone in. So I do think there's still, I'm not saying to start a podcast by any means, but I'm saying that, like, there's still people that will listen to it. Um, but yeah, for me, I'm going to summarize it.

[Tony]

I mean, I'm not, I'm not saying like, this is going to destroy content creation. I'm just saying it's a trend that will probably increase over time because at least on YouTube, they made it really easy with that button, like the Gemini button. Right? Yeah. But on the flip side, what's good about content creation today is that the number of subscribers does not matter whatsoever.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Right. So I guess that's one positive that that's been happening for several years now is you can literally pick up your camera or your phone or whatever, create a piece of content and instantly get hundreds of thousands, even millions of views just based on the merit of the content itself.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Well, we saw that with. We haven't talked about Kevin in a bit. Oh, yes, we saw that with Kevin, who, you know, obviously he's done a great job of consistently creating content, but he created a video, I think it was like on Windows 10 or something. I'm not a Windows user, so I'll probably mess this up. But basically it was like he created this video that hit on a topic that everyone was concerned about in that moment. Right. And so even though at that Point, he had five or six thousand subscribers. He, you know, over basically overnight quadrupled his subscriber number, you know, and then of course, has now taken off because of the video, because more eyeballs got on it. So if you have the right top. I mean, we talked about my son last week. You know, he had 0 subscribers and no in. No, no clout to like push people anywhere. But, you know, you. Instagram liked the content. Right. Pushed it out. And you know, he has a hundred and some thousand subscribers in 30 days, which is absolutely not normal. I want to put that out there, that. But it just shows you if the idea works. Right. If it's clever or if it's interesting enough, that can happen no matter how many followers you're starting out with.

[Tony]

So what's nice about Kevin is he's become like this authority on, On Windows, Right?

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And I think about the. Some of the people or some of the videos that I've seen have gone viral. And I mentioned earlier, like, sometimes I go through a session where I don't remember anything that I've watched. Yeah, right. It's pretty easy to get views these days. You just do something off the wall or stupid. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

To get views, but you're not going to get any, you're not going to get any influence.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

From that type of video. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

So another really good example of this is Nerd Wallet.

[Tony]

Yep.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Right. So they've, I mean, they've been around for a very long time, I think probably as long as you and I have. Probably longer.

[Tony]

Longer.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. But whenever I, I, you know, I'm like, I'm into the travel hacking and the points and all that stuff. And so when I hear about, you know, some good, you know, deal, right. Like, oh, get this credit card, you're going to get X amount of thousands of points, whatever. I always cross check it with NerdWallet. Like, I always go to NerdWallet, read their reviews and I never will not do that. Right. Like, until, until they have like controversy or something, obviously. But like, they have created such an authority with me, Right. Like, and with millions of other people too. I'm not the only one. They like, advertise the Super Bowl, I think. But, but, you know, if, like, that's what Kevin's done with Microsoft, right. Like, I'm not getting a credit card until I vet it with NerdWallet, because I trust them completely to provide me with accurate information. I'm absolutely not going to go on TikTok and take a credit card recommendation without you know, checking it out. So I think, you know, Kevin's done this with Microsoft. People do this with all sorts of things. Right. And so I think if you can do that as a content creator, become the absolute authority, which I think is. Then why, like, niching down becomes really important. Right.

[Tony]

Yeah. I guess my point in saying all that was focus less on the views per se and more on the influence factor that you have.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Because there's a lot of people that just put out content just to get the views.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes.

[Tony]

But views in itself is not a good measure of. Of your impact on whatever you do. So who did I watch recently? I want to say it was Ed from Photo Booth. I'm sure some of you guys listening have heard of him, but he's. He's a pretty big YouTube authority, and he actually shut down one of his channels because he was attracting the wrong sort of people. And when he focused, he started a completely new channel focusing on content for YouTube creators, for business. And it's get. It's getting a fraction of the views as his other channel, but he's making something like five times more money because the people he is attracting are. Are his ideal customer, and they're willing to open up their wallets.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Okay, but you. I see you fall into this trap all the time.

[Tony]

Oh, I do. Because it's ego. Right. Like, I love the views.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes. So you'll. So I remember this was a couple years ago, you put out a video on, like, textile importing or tariffs or. I don't know, it was like. It was about fabric. Do you remember this? Maybe it wasn't about fair. I thought it was about textiles.

[Tony]

I think I put out a couple of things on tariffs.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

This was pre tariff. This was like you put out something on sourcing or whatever, and then you got all the. It went like, super viral. And then you started making other videos in the similar vein, but then, like, very quickly realized that all those videos didn't do anything to, like, drive email signups or they. Do you remember what I'm talking about?

[Tony]

That was. You're talking about Timu Temu.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Okay.

[Tony]

Yeah, I thought I did a video on Teemu, which has gotten like 2.2 million views or something crazy like that. And those people were. They're basically deal seekers.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes.

[Tony]

Looking for news on tv.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Those are the worst people to get. But, like, how do you, as a content creator. Because, I mean, everyone. No matter what people say, I don't even care. We hear it from Kellen, we hear it from Kevin. We hear from everybody. When you put that video out and it doesn't do well, like in the first, you know, whatever Your timeframe is 24 hours, like you're immediately second guessing everything. Like Kevin said, I have a bad weekend. Or Kellen said that if it doesn't do well because he releases on Friday, he has a bad weekend.

[Tony]

I mean, we can talk about this because I literally just put out a video where it didn't do well, like literally yesterday, in fact. And so this morning what I did is I changed up the thumbnails, split test titles and whatnot. And yeah, it's going to be like a, a long week for me because I know my next video is not going to come out till next Tuesday.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

So, yeah, 100% relate to Kellen.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

But then you put out a video and it does really well. Right. It takes off, you get, you know, million views or something. But it's not the right video.

[Tony]

Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Then what do you do? How do you keep yourself from. Because I mean, the tendency is like, oh, I need to make five more videos on this topic because it's resonating, even if it doesn't resonate with the right people.

[Tony]

Yeah. I've started to resist doing that. So I reserve those videos where I know that I'm going to get a bunch of views. I reserve those for when I'm down in the dumps. Like if I've had a string of bad ones, then I'll go back to, you know, a different angle on TEMU that actually is relevant to the sellers, just to get, just to get some more mojo. Like anytime I talk about E commerce, politics. Because I mean, it's crazy, right? Like, yeah, at the time of this recording, we're talking about terrorists to the eu.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Taking over Greenland.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

I mean, there's just tons of news that applies to everyone on that front that are directly related to selling online. So anytime I need a, a dopamine hit, I'll talk about that. And I know it's going to kill it. Am I going to get any email subs from that? Maybe just by sheer volume.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tony]

Like the views will get me a bunch of email subs, but on a percentage level, no. Generally it's not going to be attracting people.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. So how does a new content creator avoid that and focus on, focus on the, the becoming the expert. Right. How did they avoid the, the trough of sorrow when that happens?

[Tony]

I don't know. I, I thank God I haven't been in that trough for several years. But I mean, it's, it's tough. And I think in the beginning, you do have to go with what works and just make more of it. Yeah, right. Yeah. Or you just have tremendous patience and you just slog it through and be willing to accept that you're going to get less views but a much more targeted audience. Yeah. Which is what Ed teaches now. Actually, it's hard for me to execute because I need that dopamine hit every now and then. But I don't know, I. I guess my point in saying all this stuff is if you focus on one thing and just do it very well, you will get a lot more impact than if you just chase views. And we all have the tendency to chase views, but at some point, you have to see the bigger picture. And I think it helps to sell something outside of the content because if you're just chasing views, you're essentially trying to chase AdSense revenue, which isn't going to be your biggest money maker to begin with.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Well, and, you know, it's interesting because I. I'm seeing that in the. The Raptive Facebook group. Facebook group seems so old now. Like, oh, I don't.

[Tony]

Do people still use Facebook groups? I. I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

I mean, they do, but, like, I, I'm not one of them, but I, you know, I'm in all these groups, but one of the ones that I were. I think it just appears in my feed a lot is the. The ad network Raptive, which is for websites. Right. So you put ads on your blog and you're paid. Same way with AdSense and YouTube. Right. You're paid by the views on your website. And there are a lot of content creators that have been creating content for 15 years who were literally making a killing on ad revenue. Even like 2018, 2019. Right. Making 25, 30, $40,000 a month. So this is not like insignificant amount of revenue. But as times have changed, right. SEO has changed, you know, Pinterest has changed. Even Facebook, if you were driving traffic from Facebook. And so they never had another revenue stream. Right. They were pretty much, you know, 80% ad revenue and then 20%. All the other things. All of them are selling their blogs. All of them. Basically. It feels like every time I'm in that group, there's someone else listing their website and people that I like know. Right. People that I grew up blogging with because they were so website dependent on revenue as opposed to coming up with, you know, whether it be digital products, leveraging a physical product, creating a membership. You know, everyone's talking about cohorts Now. Right. Like, that's the big thing. But yeah, I think, you know, it's the same thing is going to happen with YouTube. Right. If all you're doing is creating content for the revenue, for ad revenue, you're going to be in the same boat.

[Tony]

Yeah. I mean, unless you do it really well.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Well, yeah, unless you're Mr. Beast. Right. But now he doesn't need to worry about anything anymore. He's got TV shows and, you know, probably.

[Tony]

I mean, he's got other worries. Yeah, I'm sure. But the other trend that I've been seeing with content creation also is a lot of them are having their own events now too. Right. Or flagship. Like, I think Mr. Beast, since you talked about him, he's got Beast Games.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

A whole bunch of these other. I listened to the all in podcast. I don't know if you listen to that, but they have their own event that they throw every year. And what's another event? Oh, the guys over at Acquired. You. We probably listen to different podcasts.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

We probably do the.

[Tony]

The Acquired podcast has events.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Chalene. Chalene has an event.

[Steve Chou]

Oh, does she really?

[Tony]

I didn't know that.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Can't be more.

[Tony]

Okay.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. But yeah, she's another. Another perfect example of that.

[Tony]

And the other thing that I've seen change dramatically is the type of brand deal requests that I've been getting. Before, it was all like, long form, long form, long form. Now I'm getting asked for quotes more on the short form side. Interesting, actually, which, which I find a little odd because my long form is way better than my short form.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

For you specifically. Absolutely.

[Steve Chou]

For my.

[Tony]

Yeah, for me specifically. Yeah, yeah. But I, I think that's maybe where the audience is. Like, I don't even know if long form is, is dying. I don't think it's dying. I don't want to say that. But the brand deals seem to be more interested or in the short form videos.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

So I wonder if part of that, and this is coming from having worked on the brand side, is that brands want two things, right? They want conversions, obviously, number one, but they also want sexy, Right. They want the metrics, the numbers. Like, if I could go in front of a brand and say, hey, I've got these two content creators and they've got, you know, 5 million visitors a month to their website, you know, and They've got a 2 million person Facebook page and, you know, they, their eyes immediately got big and we're like, ooh, we want to work. Like, it didn't matter. Like if I Said, hey, but they're like. Or they would see these people and say, hey, I really want to work with this person. And I could say like, hey, I know for a fact this person doesn't drive a lot of conversions. They'll drive eyeballs, but they won't drive conversions. A lot of times the brands are like, no, no, no, we want the numbers. Right. We want the vanity metrics. And so I wonder if that's part of the, the love of short form is that like the chances of a going viral are much greater than a long form.

[Tony]

Right, Yeah, I would agree with that.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

So it's like they can, you know, they can ask you for three short forms and you know, potentially have 2 million views versus a long form video that maybe has 20,000. Even though the long form will probably at the end of the day, just by the way that long form is set up. Right. The easier ability to link and, you know, tag products and all those things. You know, I feel like sometimes brands really get caught up in, in the sexiness of it as opposed to like the actual nuts and bolts of what, what can be done for them.

[Tony]

I mean, to a certain extent you can do everything with long form that you can with short form. Like, I know at least on Tick Tock, because I did a brand deal with, with TikTok and my short form channels recently, and they actually put their own ads, their own money behind ads to boost some of the things that I was doing. And then they get metrics for signups right away. Yeah. Now in theory, you can do that with long form also. I just think that the way the, the way the world's going is just short attention spans. Yeah. And more attraction. Like you said, you get a ton more views on that video and maybe it's just a better bang for the buck because I literally charge 10x less for a short form than I do a long form.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Right, right. And that could be it too. Like if you're saying and this is not what you charge, but like it's a hundred dollars for a short form and you're gonna get a hundred thousand views versus 500, 500 for a long form. And you know, 10,000 views, like the math for them doesn't make sense.

[Tony]

And I guess I could, now that I think about it. The, the other bonus is that entire minute long video is dedicated to the brand.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes.

[Tony]

Whereas some of the quests I've gotten in the past for my long form is to just have a short one minute intermission, so to speak, in the middle of A long form video, which probably converts not as well, I'm guessing, than a dedicated short form video. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, it would be interesting to actually see that. I, I don't, I don't think you've done anything where you've done long and short for the same brand, have you?

[Tony]

No, I, I mean, you know, I, I'm not really into doing brand deals because I don't like talking to. I don't like the negotiation process and like the. I like to have creative freedom on everything that I do.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And for some reason, everyone I've worked with so far, with the exception of a couple brands, has been like super anal about what gets published.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Like, to the point of like putting words in my mouth almost. And I actually told a couple of those brands recently, hey, I don't want to work with you again unless I have absolute creative freedom.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. That's a whole, that's a whole nother episode, right?

[Tony]

Yeah, that's a whole other episode. Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

When brands try to take over.

[Tony]

Okay, so here's the other thing I'm worried about in the content creation side is all these AI avatars. Like, I don't know if you got a chance to play with the Sora app when it was out. I think all the hype has died down. But you could literally just take a picture of your face at different angles and then just start making videos of anyone's likeness in the database. Right. And so I've seen so many deep fakes, like every time I watch a YouTube, a TikTok video now where it's just like a talking head, I'm starting to doubt whether that's like a real human.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes, me too.

[Tony]

You know, and it's. These deep fakes are just getting so good. And I can imagine maybe by the end of this year it's going to be pretty indistinguishable.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Right. A real person. And so like how once that happens, like, how do you know what's real and what's not anymore? Right. And once again, this just kind of shifts into the noise.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

And. And we, we talked earlier how China is making it so that you need credentials to create something. I wonder if, like, in the US we're going to need something like that too. I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

I would love that because it, that's definitely bothersome to me. But on the, the sort of the devil's advocate or devil's argument on this is like, we have so many people who come to the webinars or in the course. And they want to make content, but they don't want to show their face. Right. And they actually are, like, really smart about their topic. They're not just using the. The problem I have is when it's an A, it's an avatar with content created by AI and there's no, like, there's no expertise involved by an expert human. Because I would say, like, you know, AI makes a lot of mistakes. Right. They give you bad information. And the longer I'm in it, the more I see bad information popping up and just absolutely ridiculousness. But let's talk about Charles in the course who sells old books. Right. He knows more about old books than like anybody. He knows more about books in general. Right. Like, that's true, but he doesn't want to be on camera. I understand that. Not everybody does. And like, I think he, you know, and I don't think he'll ever do anything like this, but like, he could create an avatar and talk about for people who are into this. Like, would be a very interesting content play on antique and books and, you know, first editions and all those things. So it would allow someone like him to actually produce content. Whereas now that's really probably something he's never going to do because he doesn't want to put himself out there.

[Tony]

Sure. I mean, there's always exceptions, but I overall think that that rule is probably a good one. Just listen to the rule that you

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

have to be an expert.

[Tony]

Not an expert, but just have some sort of approval or even like a label on your account that indicates it's a real person. So you're accountable for the content that you're creating.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

You know what I'm saying? Like, they just need to make it harder to create an actual account where they need to verify your kind of like signing up for Amazon. Right?

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

It's now like a proctology exam to get an Amazon account.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes.

[Tony]

Like, you have to actually go on an interview and everything and have like a registered address with a. With a bill of some sort of.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Do the same thing for content. That way everyone's held accountable for what they create. I think that's. That's probably the way to go.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Do you think that will prohibit people from doing it? That maybe not. Not. Not prohibit the bad guys, let's just say. But prohibit people in general?

[Tony]

Well, knock off half the spam accounts, I think.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Well, yes, for sure.

[Tony]

Which would be. Which is good? Like, I don't know if what your Tick Tock feed is like, but mine is a Combination of clips of old movies and everything also. Right. Clearly that's copyright.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes, I have a lot of that. I've watched like a whole show with clips before.

[Tony]

Yeah. But. Yeah. Okay. Well, the other good news, though, and this is good for me, is that polished doesn't do well. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

How is that good for you? I feel like your stuff is polished.

[Tony]

It's. No, it's not. No, no. In terms of production level quality, like, you don't see me with like a whole array of lights and, you know, different camera angles and whatnot. I think that at least this for me, when I'm browsing short form at least, if something looks too polished, I almost always swipe away. Are you like.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

That depends on the topic, but sometimes.

[Tony]

Yeah, because I like to see like the raw stories of someone. Unless it's like a skit. Like unless it's like an SNL skit or something like that. Yeah, right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah, I, Yeah, I would swipe away. I don't get a lot of that in my feed, so.

[Tony]

Well, probably because you swipe away. Right.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

That's true. Maybe it is working.

[Tony]

So, like anything shaky, blurry, low production value. I mean, I'm much more likely to watch, at least on Tick Tock.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Which actually brings me up to the other thing I was thinking about the other day, which was Instagram. Remember back in the day when we were first starting out, like Instagram, your Instagram feed was very curated.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Like sometimes it even made getting rid of that now.

[Tony]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, they want reels, they want authentic stuff.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. So I, I heard on a podcast like last month that they're actually going to get a get rid of the feed. Not maybe get rid of it, but it's not going to be visible. And what people will see is your real feed when they go to your profile.

[Tony]

Yeah. So, yeah, they're not getting rid of it. I think they're just.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

It's not going to be the first. Yeah, the default will be. Yeah. Not get rid of. But like the default view will be the reels. Not the. Right, the, the, the pretty post feed.

[Tony]

And the other thing I have to change, which I'm just very reluctant to do, is to change up my backgrounds and have more motion in the video. Because right now I'm just doing what's easy, which is just literally popping myself down in a chair and hoping that the content that's coming out of my mouth is, is good enough. But I don't, I don't think it's good enough anymore.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah. So I Mean, I'm not saying, yeah, your content's not good enough. I'm saying, yes, they are. There's definitely a move towards favoring variation, which. I don't know. I mean, I think it's good.

[Tony]

I don't know. The other thing I was thinking about also was back in the day, you could just come on and in my case, give a lesson, be authentic. But I think what's more important now is just storytelling. Right. And just creating content when you actually have your own take on something instead of reporting the news.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yes.

[Tony]

I mean, that's one thing that I was doing for a while and it was working. I was just talking about current events in E. Com.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

Right. But, like, everyone's doing that now with avatars and whatnot. Right. So unless you have, like, a story or something to make it more interesting, you might just get drowned away in the news in, like, the. In the noise.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

So this is a chicken and the egg thing. Right. Because. So you can't just report the news. You have to have an opinion on the news. But why should people care about the. Your opinion of the news? Because you have created an interest in yourself to get people to then want to know what your opinion is. But then how do you get people. You know what I mean? It's like this cycle.

[Tony]

Yep.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

And so you have to be interesting enough or have a viewpoint that's. So. I don't want to say controversial, because doesn't necessarily need to be controversial. Just needs to be interesting and different. Right. Than someone just reading the facts.

[Tony]

I mean, I guess the main point here is, for this year, the way content is going, you have to be more memorable than ever.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Yeah.

[Tony]

In order to stand out. So you have to have, like, a really good backstory and then be opinionated. I mean, these are all things that worked in the past, and these were required. You know, it was important in the past also, but I just think it's even more important today with all the noise and all the content that's. That's being put out, like, the sheer volume.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

But I think the good thing about it is that a lot of the things that we're talking about are, like you said, they've always been true.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Co-host or Guest Expert]

Right. And this has always led to. This will always, you know, help you gain success. So, not that you shouldn't utilize the new tools that are out there and the, you know, things that you can do to make your workload easier and more efficient, but at the end of the day, the core is probably still the same. Be authentic. Be different, be interesting. Right? And that's what's going to set you apart from your competitors.

[Tony]

Yeah, I'm just thinking about, I'm I'm just being selfish right now. I'm just thinking like in the day I could just depend on really good how to content. Yeah but I think I personally need to step my step up my game now. Right. That goes beyond how to content and more like very opinionated how to content. Maybe. I don't know. I'll figure something out.

[Steve Chou]

Hope you enjoyed this episode. I still believe that content is the key differentiator to the success of any business. For more information and resources go over to mywifequitterjob.com episode 636 and once again if you are interested in starting your own e commerce store head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free 6 day mini course. Just type in your email and I'll send you the course right away.

[Tony]

Thanks for listening.