393: The NEW WAY People Are Going Full-Time on YouTube!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Think Media Podcast – Episode 393: The NEW WAY People Are Going Full-Time on YouTube!

Introduction

In Episode 393 of The Think Media Podcast, host Sean Cannell delves into the evolving landscape of YouTube as a viable full-time career path in 2025 and beyond. The episode features insightful conversations with Kyle Anderson, the Director of the YouTube Channel and Content Team at Think Media, and Craig Pruitt, the Lead Content Creator. Together, they explore the dynamics between solo creators and those who join creator teams, highlighting the advantages, challenges, and personal experiences associated with each path.

Guest Introductions

Sean Cannell opens the episode by introducing his guests:

• Kyle Anderson: Director of the YouTube Channel and Content Team at Think Media. Kyle transitioned from a full-time musician and worship director to a full-time YouTuber, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team.

• Craig Pruitt: Lead Content Creator at Think Media. Craig joined the team in July 2024 after building his solo channel while maintaining a full-time job at a university. His decision to join Think Media was motivated by the desire for a sustainable full-time creator role.

Solo Creator Path: Pros and Cons

Sean and Craig discuss the inherent benefits and drawbacks of pursuing a YouTube career independently.

Pros of Being a Solo Creator:

• Creative Freedom: Creators have complete control over their content without external constraints.

  • Craig Pruitt [07:07]: “I could chase trends a little bit. If there was something viral, I could tackle that and then be freed up for new creative energy.”

• Full Earnings Retention: Solo creators keep 100% of their ad revenue and brand deals.

• Personal Branding: Building a personal brand is streamlined as all content directly reflects the creator's persona.

• Flexibility: Ability to manage one's schedule and create content at a preferred pace.

Cons of Being a Solo Creator:

• Lack of Accountability: Without deadlines or a team to hold them accountable, solo creators might struggle with consistency.

• Full Responsibility: Handling all aspects of the business, including taxes, equipment maintenance, and content creation, can be overwhelming.

• Higher Burnout Risk: Managing both personal life and a demanding content schedule can lead to burnout.

  • Sean Cannell [08:56]: “There's a higher chance of burnout because the workload is heavier. You take all the risk, you get all the reward, but there's also a heavy burnout chance.”

Team Creator Path: Pros and Cons

The conversation shifts to the dynamics of working within a creator team, emphasizing the structured support and collaborative environment it offers.

Pros of Being on a Team:

• Shared Responsibilities: Different team members handle various aspects of content creation, from video editing to thumbnail design, allowing creators to focus on what they do best.

  • Kyle Anderson [20:36]: “We have a graphic designer who just does thumbnails for us. He's focused on that and doesn't have to worry about making a video or writing copy.”

• Stability and Support: Teams provide financial stability, health benefits, and paid time off, reducing the uncertainties faced by solo creators.

  • Kyle Anderson [11:55]: “In 2025, you can be a full-time YouTuber and not even make a single video. You get paid full time for doing YouTube packaging, videos, concepts, ideas, thumbnail ideas, etc.”

• Collaborative Growth: Working with others fosters skill development and creative enhancement through collective brainstorming and feedback.

  • Craig Pruitt [16:20]: “My creativity can be enhanced through our team structure. Ideas are optimized for positioning, ranking, and search with team input.”

• Opportunity for Advancement: Teams often provide clear pathways for career growth and skill enhancement.

  • Sean Cannell [17:05]: “If you work yourself out of the job, I'll always give you another one. Your vision can live inside of it.”

Cons of Being on a Team:

• Potential Loss of Creative Control: Depending on the team’s structure, creators might have to compromise on their content vision.

  • Kyle Anderson [15:36]: “At Think Media, I have creative freedom because the departments communicate well, allowing my ideas to flourish within the team structure.”

• Increased Expectations and Deadlines: Teams often have set schedules and performance metrics that can add pressure.

• Less Direct Earnings: Earnings are typically shared among team members, which might limit individual financial upside.

Personal Experiences from Craig and Kyle

Craig Pruitt’s Journey: Craig shares his transition from a part-time content creator juggling a full-time university job to joining Think Media. Initially earning an extra $1,500-$2,000 per month through ad revenue and brand deals, Craig faced the challenge of balancing work, family, and content creation. Joining Think Media provided him with a sustainable income and a supportive team environment.

• Craig Pruitt [02:14]: “I had aspirations to create content full time and was working after hours trying to build up my YouTube channel. Joining Think Media was a no-brainer for setting my family up for success.”

Kyle Anderson’s Journey: Kyle recounts his shift from a full-time musician and worship director to a full-time YouTuber. Without prior media experience, Kyle learned on the job, eventually overseeing a team of ten and contributing to Think Media’s main channel. The stability and collaborative environment have significantly transformed his life.

• Kyle Anderson [17:05]: “My life has completely changed because of YouTube. I was folding keychains at 4 AM, and now I have a home studio and a six-figure income.”

Building a Personal Brand on a Team

Sean explores how being part of a team like Think Media doesn’t hinder personal branding but can actually amplify it. By leveraging the team's collective reach and resources, creators like Craig have seen their personal channels grow exponentially.

• Craig Pruitt [22:18]: “Joining Think Media has given me way more eyeballs. It’s enhanced my personal brand and aligned with the company’s vision to succeed online.”

Tips for Aspiring Creators

Towards the end of the episode, Sean shares three essential tips for creators contemplating whether to go solo or join a team:

1. Self-Awareness:

   • Assess your strengths, weaknesses, and personal preferences.
   • Conduct a SWOT analysis to understand your position.
     • Sean Cannell [29:42]: “It’s about self-awareness. What’s your vision? What are your personal strengths and weaknesses?”

2. Seasons of Life:

   • Reflect on your current life stage and how it aligns with your career goals.
   • Consider family obligations, financial stability, and personal well-being.
     • Sean Cannell [32:22]: “What season of life are you in? If you have dependents, it might be smarter to seek stability through a team.”

3. Flexibility to Switch Paths:

   • Understand that your career trajectory doesn’t have to be linear.
   • Be open to transitioning between solo and team environments as your needs and circumstances evolve.
     • Sean Cannell [40:15]: “You can always switch it up. If you’re burning out or need a change, transitioning to a team or another role is possible.”

Conclusion

Episode 393 of The Think Media Podcast provides a comprehensive exploration of the modern YouTube creator landscape. Through candid discussions with Kyle Anderson and Craig Pruitt, Sean Cannell highlights the significant benefits of joining a creator team, including stability, collaborative growth, and enhanced personal branding, while also addressing the challenges such as potential loss of creative control and increased expectations. For solo creators, the episode underscores the importance of self-awareness and the risks of burnout. Ultimately, the conversation emphasizes that whether to go solo or join a team depends on individual circumstances, goals, and the current season of one’s life. Aspiring creators are encouraged to evaluate their personal and professional needs carefully to make informed decisions about their YouTube careers.

Notable Quotes:

• Craig Pruitt [07:07]: “When you're a solo creator, you can decide what your schedule looks like and chase trends that energize your creativity.”

• Sean Cannell [08:56]: “There's a higher chance of burnout because the workload is heavier. You take all the risk, you get all the reward, but there's also a heavy burnout chance.”

• Kyle Anderson [17:05]: “My life has completely changed because of YouTube. I was folding keychains at 4 AM, and now I have a home studio and a six-figure income.”

• Sean Cannell [29:42]: “It’s about self-awareness. What’s your vision? What are your personal strengths and weaknesses?”

• Craig Pruitt [16:20]: “My creativity can be enhanced through our team structure. Ideas are optimized for positioning, ranking, and search with team input.”

Final Thoughts

This episode serves as an invaluable resource for YouTube creators at any stage of their journey. Whether you're considering taking the leap into full-time content creation solo or contemplating joining a supportive team environment, the insights shared by Sean, Kyle, and Craig offer practical guidance to help you navigate your path to success on YouTube.

Transcript

[Sean Cannell]

Hey, before we jump into the show, I wanted to give you a heads up that my free YouTube strategy class is available right now on [e-mail] on the class, I reveal the one YouTube strategy we use at Think Media to generate over 330,000 views every single day. So if you're new to YouTube, this will help you start right and avoid mistakes. And if you're a YouTube pro, this training will help you multiply your your growth. This class is 100% free and you can watch it now on [e-mail] now let's jump into today's show. Okay, so hear me out. I believe that anybody can be a full time creator in 2025 and beyond, but it's not what most people think. We've been talking before this episode and we're really talking about the future of YouTube and how a lot of media companies or creator teams are popping up and, and solo creators are seeing some of the downsides of trying to be a lone ranger. So in this episode, I'm here with Kyle Anderson, who's the director of our YouTube channel and the content team at Think Media.

[Kyle Anderson]

Correct.

[Sean Cannell]

And I'm here with Craig Pruitt, who's our lead content creator. And we're going to be kind of having this conversation. In fact, even Craig, who's been on the team for a while now, he's been kind of connected to Think Media for a couple years and has built up his solo channel in his own right, but wanted to be a part of a team. We'll talk about some of the pros and cons and how he went through that decision. And then Kyle, it's kind of funny because, you know, there's this dream of being a full time YouTuber and it's like, you're full time, I'm full time, we're both full time YouTubers, so kind of these different definitions. So I think for people listening to this, it could sort of speak to maybe what are the pros and cons of the solo route or being a part of a creator team. Could there be joining a creator team in your future and maybe having some self awareness about this? Also just being part of your creator arc, being part of a team for a while gets you to your goals faster because it levels you up and then maybe you launch out with your personal brand later. So I think it's gonna be a powerful episode. But as we kick it off, Craig, let's go to you. When did you join the Think Media team and why I joined Think full.

[Craig Pruitt]

Time as a creator in July of 2024. So just a few months joined the team because I mean I had aspirations to create content full time and I was working just after hours at my day job trying to build up my YouTube channel. And I saw an opportunity on really Instagram and YouTube to just double down on some specific niches in the camera sphere. So I started posting content around like this nex series of Sony cameras and eventually it got the attention of Kyle, who actually us three met at VidCon. Vidcon? Yeah, about maybe a year and a half ago now and connected. And so we started following each other and you just saw that I was just grinding on social media, just making.

[Kyle Anderson]

You were constantly showing up on my feed. So it was just connection. Hey, you're like, hey, thanks for the content you create, you know, followed back.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

And then just over time I just saw you constantly showing up on my Instagram feed.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yep. And so I had, I mean I had no idea that I would be approached at any point by Sean or Kyle to potentially contract with Think Media to make some tech related videos. But eventually it worked out where I started kind of this contractor phase and making a bunch of different tech related long form videos. And then it led to the opportunity for full time employment. Here we are.

[Sean Cannell]

And so at that time you're working full time at a university.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yes.

[Sean Cannell]

And you're working on YouTube. How many hours a week are you trying to like put in for both things?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, so I mean it was a 40 hour a week position, which probably meant like 48 hours a week, but then maybe about 10 hours a week on the side doing social media and YouTube together. So trying to put out one video a week on my personal channel and then a bunch of Instagram shorts that I would actually publish to all the platforms. So like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube shorts, et cetera.

[Sean Cannell]

And so you're making money with brand deals? Yes, ad revenue. Do you know roughly though how much money a month is coming in?

[Craig Pruitt]

It was probably about maybe around 1500-2000 dollars between average. So there'd be higher months, lower months, but probably about 2k in extra income per month.

[Sean Cannell]

And you got a family?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yes, family. Two baby boys and a wife.

[Sean Cannell]

And at the time, two baby boys or right at that.

[Craig Pruitt]

Well, our newest addition is only nine months old, so he's kind of been a part of this journey, but our oldest is too, so he's Weston. He's been a part of like me trying to figure out this whole YouTube journey for sure.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. So we're going to be talking about like pros and cons, but I think a big piece of this is also like man, season of life matters. Working 48 sometimes plus 10, 60 hour weeks. Is that sustainable when you're trying to like.

[Craig Pruitt]

No.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. Nurture your marriage, raise kids and so it'll be interesting to unpack this. Kyle, like any thoughts at a high level, like creator teams versus solo from your perspective and we'll dive into like some of the pros and cons we see.

[Kyle Anderson]

Creator teams versus solo. Well, obviously I love teams because I am on a team. I have never been a solo creator. I am just standing on the shoulders of Sean who was a solo creator and now I'm able to come in and be a full time YouTuber. Essentially I get paid full time for doing YouTube packaging videos, video concepts, ideas, thumbnail ideas, as leading the content team. And so it's actually an awesome job. And people don't realize in 2025 you can be a full time YouTuber and not even make a single video.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah, it's a great point. And I obviously for some they might be like, oh, well, I thought, you know, but I want to be on camera. Well, that's a self awareness question. But at the end of the day, even sort of like this dream of passive income or whatever it is, it's like I've optimized our business with a value for marriage, with a value for family. But like I'm still working full time and so what does it look like? Is it. And I'm actually kind of, kind of creating less still a lot because we have this incredible team but also operating. So even just the different seasons of life leadership, making videos, does it start to grow? And what I want listeners, of course to take away is, you know, yesterday Logan was talking about, man, she was on the podcast when we were recording and she was like, I haven't even been on this site as much. I've been on like the customer service team. So YouTube. The future of YouTube is a lot of these media companies and creator teams which are giving you the ability to work. If you love creative or you love design, or you love photography, or you just love people and you want to do customer service or project management and you kind of just love the creator economy. There's no reason why you couldn't work full time in the creator economy. It just might look different than you think.

[Kyle Anderson]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

Okay, so one of the points of this episode would then maybe be breaking down tactically and then maybe a few tips at the end. What are the pros of being solo though versus the pros of being on a team and the cons and so let's start with pros of solo. So Craig, you're talking about, you know, you really had a path. It might have been an unsustainable path and there's different things there. But we wrote down the pros of being a solo creator. No deadlines or bosses.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, that's fair.

[Sean Cannell]

Creative freedom, no one telling you what to do. You can do whatever you want, keep 100% of the earnings. Personal branding, because everything's personal. And then flexibility and then scalability, theoretically infinite scalability into however far you want to take it. Any thoughts on those?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, I think the main thing that I would touch on is the flexibility piece. When you're a solo creator, you're able to manage your own schedule and make videos only when you can make them. And it, I mean, in my experience it got kind of taxing because I'd make them in the hours in which I could be doing other things like investing in my marriage and spending time with my kids. But I would use that free time to then make content because I wanted to build towards a future of, you know, financial freedom and stability and a full time creator role. But it takes work to get there. And so for me it was like a lot of pressure to like, okay, I've got to put out these videos like, Macy, I'm sorry for going up in the studio day after day. So I think ultimately my favorite piece of my solar creator season was the ability to just decide what my schedule looks like when I'm going to create content. And I could be kind of flexible and even chase trends a little bit. If there was something viral that was happening in the tech world and I wanted to really create content around that piece, I could tackle that and then be freed up for maybe a week or two and till I have creative energy again to. To tackle a different kind of subject.

[Sean Cannell]

Yes. So those are definitely some of the pros. But of course the lone ranger solo creator path also comes with a lot of cons and even some of the overlap. Like if you are solo and you want to just not post a video and take care of your mental health. Cool. But also you're not going to make progress. So having constraints, having a little bit of pressure could be good. So no deadlines and accountability could be a bad thing.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, for sure.

[Sean Cannell]

If you have structure. I think a self awareness piece is how self motivated are you. And also cons of being solo is for sure, you get to keep 100% of the earnings, but you are 100% responsible for your own taxes, your own risk, your own overhead, no safety net. You are also your own cfo. So you plug into a team and there's of course a lot more stability. Um, and you on being solo, you ultimately are owner, operator, creator, as opposed to maybe being able to focus on the piece you love the most. And I think having a self awareness of like, are you even able to be owner, operator, creator, able to be, let alone have the desire to be. Do you even want to learn those kind of skill sets? Do you have those skill sets? Is it too much pressure? Do you even want that much pressure? And then, you know, we looked this up. I think even ChatGPT was like, there's a higher chance of burnout because the workload is heavier. You get, you take all the risk, you get all the reward. But there's also, it's a heavy burnout chance. And we see that a lot. We see creators that are on that solo path. I mean there's. It says if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. You might even go a little bit slower. But there's like safety in numbers. So Kyle, any thoughts on like this pros and cons of just kind of being solo versus the strength of a team?

[Kyle Anderson]

Well, I think, I mean, there's so much to unpack here, but there's so many people that are creative and want to have a creative outlet and are very gifted and talented, but they lack maybe the confidence to start out or the capabilities of just gear to start out and do their own thing. But everybody can learn and start off with a team. And like YouTube is one of the fastest growing small businesses right now. So there's YouTube businesses at every level, like very high quality and also very low quality. And every business needs a YouTube channel essentially right now. And people are realizing that. So you can get into being full time on YouTube or even being a, working for a business as their, their media company and start learning the business with somebody hiring you and learning YouTube and growing in that skill. So in 2015, I actually didn't have a whole lot of media experience. We met at a church a while back. But you just knew that I was able to learn. That's it. And so I told you I haven't touched an editing software in like six years because I was a full time musician at the time. And you're like, oh, I trust you, you'll learn. That was it And I was like, okay. And so I learned on the job. And here we are today. This is my studio, cameras, everything. I helped produce the, the podcast and also Think Media main channel. But I learned it on the job and that the YouTube business was an opportunity for that. And I can make videotube videos and I have before, but for the most part I work full time on YouTube. I get a salary, I have health insurance, I get days off. It's amazing.

[Sean Cannell]

This episode is brought to you by Streamyard. Streamyard is our go to platform here at Think Media for live streaming to Facebook and YouTube and for recording our video podcast. It has an incredibly easy to use interface for built in branding, transitions, text, lower thirds and seamlessly bringing on guests. And they just added an awesome new feature called local Recording. This allows you to take the quality to another level by separating out your audio and video from your guests, giving you more control over your content for later use. This feature is perfect for video and podcast creators. And so to get a special deal on Streamyard right now and to see all the features that are included, just go to stream with think.com that is stream with think.com and there's actually, it's interesting if people see behind the scenes here. This is Anderson Studios, your house.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yes.

[Sean Cannell]

You don't have to have a roommate because you get rental income from us.

[Kyle Anderson]

Which is taxed at a better roommate is a studio.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. The rental income is thick media renting this from you and so really creative ways of setting it up. And I love that you say that because it's also, it is kind of crazy to think as we reflect on our journey.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

That like you're overseeing like a team of upwards towards like 10 people now. And you're an incredible leader and you have a crazy Swiss army knife of skill sets.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

All the way from. I mean you're a full time musician and you were working in a warehouse, right?

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah, I mean I was working full time at a church and I ended up leaving that job to help plant a church. And so a church plant, you know, you don't, you don't instantly get hired on a church. It's nothing. There was like six people to start with and so I was doing whatever job I could and I was working in a warehouse and then helping set up, tear down, play drums on the worship team, lead that whole thing. And then I was. Yeah, that's what I was doing full time.

[Sean Cannell]

And you came on also as like an admin assistant, answering emails, which I'm.

[Kyle Anderson]

The worst administrative by the way, but whatever, I took whatever I could get, you know.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

And yeah, I was doing, working with brands, emails, my lowest skill quality.

[Sean Cannell]

Well, and Sonia, you were like the first Sonia and I had no clue what we were doing. And I mean, just kind of getting, and we were just getting started, but it's kind of crazy what it's turned into. And, and in 2025 there are so many other businesses that they, they're building up many media companies and, and you could be a part of that growing process. So you also, if you're going to come into like even Think Media, I mean, unless you came in kind of more at like an intern wanting to learn or like a junior type of a position, but maybe a more established media company, you need some experience in history.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

But there's maybe somebody else in their journey that's kind of like where we were early on. That's like, I'm just looking for someone to like rally, can we grow this thing together? And man, it's kind of crazy to think about that journey. Well, let's talk about some of the pros of a team. So, and here's what I put the pros of a team. If you could find the right team. Now, it's one thing for me to self describe Think Media, but of course from your perspective it'd be a lot more. I might think it's the best. You're like, it's actually super toxic here, bro. It's like really not good. But I mean, at least what we're trying to do. And I think maybe because I value freedom, I value creative freedom. I've been a part of different organizations where I felt like there was a lid in leadership. I've tried to as much as possible tear those lids off. At Think Media, I've been a part where it did feel like, you know, the creative department and other departments didn't communicate well. So I actually think that you don't have to lose creative freedom if you find the right team. So like we had just asked before, do you feel like you have creative freedom?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if anything, I feel like my creativity can be enhanced through our team structure because I'll come to the group with ideas for videos or thumbnail concepts or titles, and I think it's the greatest idea in the world. I'm like, this video is going to kill. Right? And then we get other voices and opinions and minds who also were very creative in the room to speak into that idea that I maybe had. That wasn't optimal. It wasn't Optimized for positioning or ranking and search. And really I just feel like my ideas have been enhanced as I've been a part of this team, even just such a short amount of time because they're on my personal channel. All of the ideas I've had here would not have looked the same as they do on the Think Media channel because we have a full team speaking into that creative process.

[Sean Cannell]

There's also, you know, you get 100% of the earnings, of course, and 100% of the risk. It's solo. But I think they're also, if you're on the right team, there's still creative financial upside and there doesn't have to be a cap on your earnings. And so performance based compensation, it looks different. You're in a leadership role, but there's like a profit share that team directors get. You're in a content creator role. There's profit share connected to ad revenue and different things based on performance. So if even you're thinking about this like you have your ability to negotiate and the ability to, I think, you know, Kyle, you could probably speak best to it. You're making a lot more money now than when you started coming out of that warehouse. I think I was like, let me just match your. I mean, instead of folding shirts, well.

[Kyle Anderson]

Let me just say too, like my life has completely completed, completely changed because of YouTube. I was going to the Las Vegas strip and I was folding, you know, Las Vegas themed keychains and T shirts and hoodies and stuff like that at.

[Craig Pruitt]

3:00Am it was horrible.

[Kyle Anderson]

But I could have headphones in and listen to audiobooks and so I was, I was constantly learning, you know, and I was even doing like handyman stuff like installing dog doors in people's walls of their homes, like cutting holes in people's houses. Anyways. But yeah, I was doing that and working 4am to 1212 and now I work from home because of YouTube and I, I have a home now. Rent out. Pretty much the whole top floor of this house is YouTube. Like it's just all this studio in the loft.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

And so yeah, it's just my life has changed from it added all together.

[Sean Cannell]

You got six figure income.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

And you've got. There's also a grind to it because of course expectations are high.

[Kyle Anderson]

Oh my gosh. I grinded my face off with, with Omar too. Me and Omar were. I was full time editor and so we would shoot YouTube videos here in my house. Before I had the studio together, we were at his house or at Sean's house in his loft. And we're just filming, we're coming up with ideas. I'm there sitting behind the camera, helping him come up with different ideas. He, he's done a bunch of videos in this room. Some of you might know of just like the different things we've done in the studio. Camera setups, little desk setups. And so, yeah, I was grinding like crazy. Like I've edited a ton of videos.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah, yeah. And, and I, and there's a tension here because one of the things that we have at Think Media is our entire team actually gets six weeks of paid time off a year. Everyone should get two weeks at a proper job. We do a whole Sabbath week paid, and then we do a lot of three day weekends, four day weekends. So there's a level of trying to create a really cool culture, but then also, no doubt about it, there's also perks where there's certain seasons where you're like, if I got to do something, I'm flexible. You do get to work from home, no commute. But then there's other times when it's like longer days. And I think that's the production vibe. Anybody who's on production knows what it is to work a 10, 12 hour day. If we do events, events are what, 14 to 6? They're just all day. Like you get up.

[Kyle Anderson]

I mean, this week for me is a lot like I, there's team flying in, everybody's at my house. I got to make sure the cameras, everything's ready to go, the space is clean, I have the equipment. Like we just had a pivot. Went from a two person podcast to a three, you know, just. That's a lot different than a two person podcast.

[Craig Pruitt]

And one of the interesting things about YouTube that I found is like you're kind of creating little like clone armies of yourself. And so our videos are working for us when we're not working. So that kind of creates this pattern of you sort of having to be on in a sense and just monitoring what's going on in the social Sphere and on YouTube because people are interacting with your content all the time. So it's just a little bit different than just flipping an on and off switch for your business. It's always working behind the scenes.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah, like a clone army of ranked videos.

[Craig Pruitt]

Exactly.

[Sean Cannell]

And those videos are getting comments. And so yeah, it's, there's so many different perks than a traditional 9 to 5 or a 3am to whatever. But there's also kind of an always on. And we're, we're trying to also figure it out. I think media. Right. We're trying to figure out. We try to protect nights and weekends and there's seasons where that's very true. And there are seasons when it's, you know, it's go time challenges and stuff like that. Well, okay, so pros of a team scalability as well. I think that's also like who you hit your wagon to. There's a level of risk to this.

[Kyle Anderson]

Well, I think you can specialize too. We have a graphic designer talk. He just does thumbnails for us.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

And he's focused and dialed in on that. And he's not necessarily making a video or having to write copy. He's focused and even like Craig, he's editing and filming, but hopefully he can just be filming and coming up with ideas.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. And when I think about scalability, I think about like you really work well at think if you're an entrepreneur. Like you think entrepreneurial.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yes.

[Sean Cannell]

Inside of the company. Yes. One of the quotes I love is, you know, if you work yourself out of the job, I'll always give you another one. Some people at Think Media wonder what is my trajectory for career advancement. And part of me is like, on the one hand I maybe don't have a good answer. On the other hand, I think I hope my vision is big enough that your vision can live inside of it and talk to somebody else that's been on the team for a while. You know, Kyle was answering emails and now he's leading a team of 10. And we're doing things we never knew we would be doing in 2025. The creator economy is such a crazy space. What different companies are doing what in proper businesses every. A lot of real estate agents want to start a media company. Real estate teams, a lot of different, maybe entertainment type channels, churches and schools and different things are launching podcasts. There's just. And it's just wide open with how creative you could be. So if you're intrapreneurial, I think there's something about, you know, if you're in a place that allows growth and it's got a big vision and you know, has something, there's something there. Another pro is again the right team because we said a pro of being solo is you could build your personal brand, but I believe you can still build your personal brand on a team. You're doing that. You're here. And you also are similar, like Dave Ramsey fan to me. Speak to that side of things because all the way back to you saw these different paths. You thought about your family, but you also are building your personal brand. What's your thoughts on that?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah. So, I mean, the very first thing working for Think Media has done is just give me way more eyeballs. And, I mean, if I believe that I have stuff to share that's valuable, that can change people's lives. It very quickly went from an influence of, you know, like 30,000 people on Instagram, 18K on YouTube, to potentially millions of people being able to access the information that I want to share. So if our goal is to change lives, I think Think Media is a great place for me to grow not only my thoughts and my personal brand, but also the company's vision for what it looks like to succeed in the online environment. So I've definitely felt that. And I mean, you mentioned the Ramsey team. I see that as well, with a lot of their sort of personality model. I love George Camel, but they, you know, George has built up his personal channel under the Ramsey umbrella, and people know George, but it all kind of funnels back into the Ramsey solution system, which I think is an interesting model to. That other companies could definitely explore and something we could even explore in the future, too.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. And I've got some tips at the end because I think there's some key questions, if you're listening to this, to think about maybe what are your next steps for your personal journey? But so you can still build a personal brand. You can still have a level of flexibility, depending on the culture, the team you're on. You know, what do you like best? Like, all of our team gets to work from home. Right? All of our team, you know, many are married with kids and, you know, juggling that kind of a thing and figuring it out, it's part of our core values. And then of course, those stability, because like you said, you know, 1500 to 2000, you're making in your ad revenue, affiliates and brand deals. But also seeing the gap between. How far is the gap between here and there and what do I want for my family and my kids, but by connecting to a bigger organization, whether that's pay, whether that's sustainability, and even. Even if you get to the financial numbers, it's like, man, if you get to 5k a month as a solo creator, 1099, essentially. And how you'd be taxed, because people sometimes say, doesn't YouTube take out taxes? They do not. So, like, every dollar that comes in from a brand or affiliates or YouTube is going to be taxed. And then you're responsible for just Everything, stuff that breaks, cameras, gear, and even understanding taxes and all of that other stuff. So it could be a lot. They also, they oftentimes say the solo route is I traded my nine to five for a five to nine. Like it's a 12, 13, 14 hour day forever.

[Craig Pruitt]

I saw that for sure.

[Sean Cannell]

And forever.

[Craig Pruitt]

And my wife, My wife saw that for sure.

[Sean Cannell]

And I think it's the self awareness. Do you want that? And even, you know, there's always gonna be another thing to do. Even when you're done with the core work of YouTube. Are your taxes right? Is your structure right? Is your org chart right? Your corporation, all that different stuff. And then I think also a pro of being with the right team is just leveling up from the team you're with. You've touched on this a little, but I'm curious, each of your takes at one point, it's kind of like, do you value working with the team or not? And I think even my vision for the company, I love people. I love working with people. I love leadership. I love team development. I love seeing teams flourish. I think it's. It's a lot more fun to like do something meaningful with people you love and to have a good time doing it. And so the solo creator path, I guess, could be lonely. But also it's just like, I mean, it's like turn up, man. We got, you know, when we have all team retreats and stuff, it's just, even, even a virtual culture, which is what we have mostly just a whole vibe, which is like, what do you want? You might, you know, do you want to be a part of that? So I'm curious. Hit Craig and then Kyle, like, what do you think about just team versus solo and the benefits of team relationships and even rubbing shoulders? Iron sharpens iron.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah. I mean, historically, all of my work for organizations have been with solid team environments. So working for church organizations or universities or other video production companies. I love the team environment. So it is kind of interesting working for a. A team where all of us are remote and we try to do things to get together in person when we can, like this exact situation. But, you know, I'm a big fan of community. I think we are people who are designed to live in community. Even this year, if you're a solo creator, your goal is to probably create a community of people who think like you, who are interested in the kinds of things you're doing. So even if you're a solo, you're probably still trying to build that community. I would say. Yeah. What do you think, Kyle?

[Kyle Anderson]

I personally love working with the team. I mean, before this, I was a worship director, and it was a worship band. Worship team and building. That was some of the funnest times of my life. You know, coming with different ideas, bouncing that off of each other. Somebody comes up with some sort of cool line for a song like, oh, my gosh, that's awesome. Same thing within making a YouTube video. When I was working with Omar, I mean, we're just coming out, he's filming a video. Dude, what if you did this? Oh, sick. What? Or what if you did this hook and then, like, we're kind of, like, working together, making this video. Even though maybe he's the talent, there's a lot of times where we're just very interactive and we were to come up with a lot of creative solutions, ideas, and things that would help people. And so I personally love working with the team. I wish we weren't remote because I love, like, when we're all together like this, oh, my gosh, we can. We can conquer so much and do. We've already shot, like, I don't know, this is the eighth video maybe in just a couple days. And so the. The team environment is just. It's. You can do so much. I love it. It's so much more fun.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah, and that's a great point too, because, you know, part of. At one point, we thought we might all rally here in Vegas. You know, for me, prioritizing family and kids and where our kids, grandparents are, that's what led us kind of back to Seattle, which is not, in a way the best business move. But to that point, even for you, I don't think you'd want to come to Vegas. We talked a lot about it. Yeah, you. You are even moving closer to family and different team members. And so who knows what the future looks like. But if you were trying to choose a team to be a part of, in some cases, I would even say.

[Kyle Anderson]

You'Re able to do that because you have a team too.

[Sean Cannell]

True.

[Kyle Anderson]

Right? Yeah. Like, you can. You can move closer to family. It might not be the best business choice, but we have a team to help support and then pick up the pieces and the gaps or. Or things like that.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. And it speaks to creator economy with the fact that also the ability to fly here, do something like this. Use virtual recording to get podcasts going. Our creators are independent. They're able to be up, meaning they're able. They were already being able to shoot like you were used to being solo and able to like film, maybe Dropbox footage, maybe edit yourself. So in that sense we have multiple studios because everybody's independent studio.

[Kyle Anderson]

Right.

[Sean Cannell]

So there's so many different ways you could, could do it. Which again speaks to lifestyle because I know for some people they may not want to move for a job. You might not have to. They might not want to move to be a part of a media company or a media team. You might not have to. Some of these things you could think about. Okay, so three tips that I think for listeners and add anything you want to this. The three tips are self awareness, seasons and you can always switch it up. So number one is self awareness. So I think, you know, and Craig, you're probably best to speak about this. Like at the end of the day there's nothing that's really right or wrong here. It's about self awareness. It's about what season are you in. And so self awareness be like, what's your vision? Yeah, like what, what is your personal vision? What are, what is even some of the way you're wired? Are you a very high anxiety, low risk tolerance person? Well then probably solo is not the right for you.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

Or is your, is your self awareness that like, so like even strengths and weaknesses, you could do a SWOT analysis on this. What are my personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? Like I lack self discipline. I'm so creative. I've heard, I've heard a couple people we've talked to and you know, if anybody is, you know, loves think media and has it on your heart, you know, hit us up because we want to build slow. But we're looking to, you know, how far can we go? What, what, what can we do with people? But I've talked to a couple creatives where they're like, I just am too creative to go solo. I need structure. Yeah, I need, I actually self aware realize my weakness and a threat to me is I lack that structure. I don't even have necessarily that operator side of things. So I need to link up with an operator. Are you a business owner or serious content creator that is struggling to crack the YouTube code? Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed or just plain frustrated with slow growth? If so, then our new one on one coaching [e-mail] is your premiere ticket to YouTube success. Becoming the authority in your niche, attracting engaged leads and loyal customers. We offer one to one coaching with our YouTube experts that'll help you get results fast and a supportive community that's cheering you on. So if you're ready to stop Wasting time with trial and error and to stop leaving money on the table. Then head to viral video coach.com to apply to see if you qualify for our coaching program. But heads up, this offer is not for everybody. It's only for serious content creators and entrepreneurs that are ready to take action. So if that's you, head to viral video coach.com to apply or click the link in the show notes. All right, let's jump back into the episode. These are all self awareness questions. What's your vision? What's your strengths and weaknesses? SWOT analysis. What are the opportunities for you right now? Man, if I go solo, I could go really fast and ease this market space or the threats. Competition feels fierce. So if I link up with somebody else, if George Camel links up and builds up at Ramsey, it's kind of if he does well and everything goes well, it's sort of like a no lose path. Might be slower, want to go fast, go alone, want to go fast, want to go far, go together. It's like a guaranteed clip. It just might go slower than you think. But what are your thoughts about self awareness if you were coaching somebody that's like, yeah, I'm trying to figure out Craig, because you went and joined Think Media. Do I want to do that? I already have. You're almost at 20,000 subs.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

Big Instagram. I mean 30,000 followers, right?

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

So and like you had that path but also then season of Life. What would be some questions that you might.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, I mean I think inviting others in your life to speak into where you're at, who know you the best is really important. I would invite my parents, pastors, my wife, my spouse to speak into it. So for me it was really a combination of factors discerning where am I at? What do I want my long term future to look like as well as the short term, one year, two years, but also 10 years down the road and try to think through what's the, not the easiest path, but what's a path that's going to set my family up for success and myself. And it seemed like when this opportunity was presented to join a team to be a part of an established brand, it just felt to me like a no brainer. And I, you know, everybody's path is different. So I could see a case where somebody maybe it wasn't the right decision for them, but for me, I think it really was the best move to join up with the team.

[Sean Cannell]

For sure, I want to hit seasons here, but I also want to invite listeners if you're on YouTube. If you have a follow up question for us, drop it in the comments. And if you because you might also have like a million next questions about media companies joining a team, solo creators, pros and cons. We could always do a follow up episode and if you listen on audio and haven't visited the YouTube video podcast very often would love just your, you know, ask us anything. We're open books and we'd love to help and assist. Okay, you kind of touched on this, but I think, okay, so self awareness, your own strengths, weaknesses, Seasons of Life I think is a, this is a big tip. What season of life are you in? What's the season of the career you're in and what is also the season of your skills? Personal opinion. It is jet fuel to go link up with a team because it'll rocket your skill development, your learning. Iron sharpens iron. What you'll let you get inside. Like, like when we're, you know, kind of essentially masterminding the Think Media team, we have oftentimes on Zoom 5, 6, 7, 8 minds workshopping on titles, debating on thumbnails, debating on hooks and scripts. Iron sharpens iron. Adding like you mentioned you might have a video idea. Other people are enhancing it. The other things that are happening and then perhaps even the benefits. I mean at at you guys just both went to the vault and you know, all expense paid trips. Look Mom. To Miami to all expense paid trip to Miami, tickets, hotels, meals. I mean again that's, that kind of stuff is cool. And a tax write off for the solo creator. But of course that's coming out of your pocket. We're sending some of the other team, Nate, Mark to Vid Summit, whatever. And so trying to find those perks. But what's the point? What season of your skills are you in? And and if you you might say because also we've talked and Craig, we are talking that in, you know, the coming years you see launching out like you want, you know, your own channel. We'll see what happens. Meaning all in. And maybe not being a part of Think Media forever, but who knows. And so the season of being linked up, I see it kind of as a no loose like adding to your skills, learning. But also season of Life if you're like, you know, I'm married, I got four kids, but I really want this YouTube thing to work. I'm making 500 bucks a month. It's like bro, you might want to stay at your day job like just for your family's sake. Like be smart just because this could be uncertain. So if you have no dependence, it's a different situation. And you've touched on a lot by getting counsel from like wise people in your life. But what do you thought? What are your thoughts about just self awareness of seasons?

[Craig Pruitt]

Man, I feel like you just summarized everything that my life.

[Kyle Anderson]

I'm just trying to. If somebody's still watching this right now, that means they love YouTube. They're maybe not full time yet or they're just curious about the team dynamics. But you're either not full time on YouTube yet because you don't. Haven't posted any videos yet, or you just don't know where to start or you're not. You just don't feel confident in it. I think I knew I wasn't the person to like. I didn't want to be in front of the camera right away. I didn't. I don't like having all the attention on me. But I love YouTube. I love tech, I love learning. And if you love like that kind of stuff, get connected with a local entrepreneur. Get connected with, with a church and learn.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

And learn the skills and get better like you. You're not going to start. I. My first video got over a hundred thousand. It has maybe four, maybe 400,000 views on it.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. And the content is close to a million.

[Kyle Anderson]

Right. Because I was in a team and I was watching, I was learning, I was editing YouTube videos. I was putting in the work behind the scenes because. And then that made me an instant success on my first video because I knew it was working. I knew how to make something sound good. I knew how to make something look good. I knew how to make the, have the camera shots. I knew how to do. I knew what people were interested, what I was interested in. And I knew how to reverse engineer. Okay. Other people are going to be interested in this because I was in YouTube working on a team. It is a shortcut.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

To getting good. It is that you learn from other people. You know, And I was with Sean. I was hearing Sean come up with video ideas. I was hearing Sean pointing at some mistakes that we did. Hey, don't do that. I was learning. And so of course I. I wasn't necessarily surprised. I was a little surprised at how successful a lot all my videos have done. I haven't posted very many, like three or four.

[Sean Cannell]

I want you to post like 20.

[Kyle Anderson]

Right.

[Sean Cannell]

But you got a lot to do.

[Kyle Anderson]

I should probably do a whole setup tour of this podcast. So let me know if I should. In the, in the, in the comments. But yet be a part of a team and learn. And especially like a local business owner who needs like content film. If you can do that, do it and then learn from the mistakes and successes on that journey. I think it's no brainer. Especially if you maybe want to go out on your own. Like you're going to be. You're going to learn all these skills to make you successful or learn the self awareness of. Actually I love being on a team.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah, right. Yeah, that's a great point. And it's funny as you're also talking about just absorbing, learning. Different people of course, have different roles and not everybody like has traveled with me. But like Omar and I have gone on a lot of trips. You and I have gone on a lot of trips and so different things where you're just in proximity to stuff. That's right. That you're at in events, you're on shoots.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah.

[Sean Cannell]

You're just getting into stuff.

[Kyle Anderson]

Well, I was there, we were talking about this the other day. I was there on Omar's first video that he filmed with you side by side. Sony 6400.

[Sean Cannell]

A 6400 versus 450. I think that's a million.

[Kyle Anderson]

That was like my first time filming like by like by myself behind the camera too. Like we were. We didn't really know much. And then Omar is doing amazing things right now. And then just even my own personal growth. It's like I have a, like a production studio in my house. Like I didn't even know what the heck I was doing.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. You know, it gets crispier every time I come here.

[Kyle Anderson]

It's from. Right, that's from proximity. That's from constantly doing the same thing every day.

[Craig Pruitt]

Repetition.

[Kyle Anderson]

Yeah. Me no more. We had to come up with two YouTube videos every week.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. That was a run.

[Kyle Anderson]

I was editing, shooting and then helping wherever I needed. Right. As well as podcast edits, repurpose.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. So many insights. Okay, one other tip. You can always switch it up. So self awareness seasons and switch it up. So I think also we might overthink this and so someone's maybe listening to this. Like, I mean, I also think you could go tip number four. I think going slow if you're going to link up with a media company. You know, one of the things we've learned is both Kyle, Craig and I, we met multiple times. What's it look like? What are we talking about? Let's get it planned on paper. You know, if it's not written, it's not real. Like having, like having good Contracts. So just everything's written down for everybody's clarity of. Of where's this going, what's happening next? And probably going slower than you think. So I'm not saying just flip flop, snip, snap, snip, snap all the time. But you can switch.

[Kyle Anderson]

Does that mean.

[Sean Cannell]

But you can. You can switch it up, meaning. I mean, shoot, you. You might be a super established creator and maybe you just have hit a really slow season or you're burnt out, you need to recover for a while. Right.

[Kyle Anderson]

I think what you're getting is, like, you want to be very transparent about where you're at with, like, if you're going to work with the team, like, we had a lot of conversations with Craig. What does the future look like for you? Do you ever want to go full time on your own? Can you lock in five years with us? Like, we need somebody to build something with.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah.

[Kyle Anderson]

You know, and being transparent and like, if you. If you want to work for somebody, but eventually you want to go out on your own, let them know that, hey, I would love to dedicate this amount of time to you, but eventually, just so you know, I would love to do my own thing, but I. But, yeah, but I will add as much value to you as possible. I'll be there, but, you know, giving expectations right up front.

[Craig Pruitt]

Yeah, absolutely. And also just knowing that you have the freedom to reevaluate things and recommunicate and. Yeah, I mean, that's why, you know, most businesses do yearly reviews. How are things going? What do you want to switch up? Or even quarterly reviews? Even better. Monthly reviews. How are things going? What can we shift? How are you feeling? So I think that's really important and something that I've already felt here in my short time, but I know that that's a value of us is to just always be discerning. What's this next season? What's this next phase look like for an individual creator or an individual employee? For sure.

[Sean Cannell]

Yeah. We're always learning. And so I would encourage listeners, like, yeah, you might be established and kind of burnt out. And so you may go say, like, I got a vision to go work a couple years, link up and then go back or vice versa, like, to. To maybe. Maybe you're listening to this right now and this just is like, completely expanded your mindset and you're like, man, that actually might be the next phase. I thought I was going to try to have a straight trajectory line towards being like a solo, personal brand, but there's a lot of benefits and pros and cons. And even if, because I think that maybe because I've been in the past in organizations that felt controlling or manipulative, and I would say under different levels of the quality of leadership, I think that we highly value clarity, but we don't want to create an environment of control. So we, like set a vision of like, hey, let's really get as clear as possible on what the next 1, 2, 3, 4, you know, 5 years could look like. But, man, if anything ever changes, let's just always talk and be transparent and back to that idea that, like, things can pivot. And so I think if we are landing the plane and thinking about the future of YouTube and creator teams versus solo, you're listening to this, your career, you know. Yeah, maybe it looks like being at one place for a couple years, being somewhere else with a couple years, having a side hustle, putting your side hustle on pause, you know, going all in right now. And even if it, if it doesn't work, I know some people recognize, they're like, man, I really, I got this happened a lot of influencers, they became full time youtubers and then they start hitting really tough financial troubles. They're like, it was this, but now it's like, shoot, it's not that anymore. I couldn't reinvent myself. I couldn't sustain the pace. I'm feeling burnt out. The algorithm's changed a little bit and that's okay. You can always switch it up. It might feel like the wild west, and it is, but the creator economy is very exciting. There's a lot of different paths that you could take.