Ben Azadi (3:00)

Happy to be back, Sean. Let's do this, brother.

Sean Cannell (3:02)

So to paint a picture, one of the things that talk about some of the benefits, we'll start with your book. You have a new book coming out, Metabolic Freedom, that is beautiful. You can actually hold it up if anybody's watching the visual version, hardcover, traditional publisher, and tell the story of, of them reaching out to you. Because there's a lot of people here that are thinking about writing a book or would love to do that for the authority. And self published is an amazing path. You've done that as well. That's something that I've done. YouTube Secrets with Benji and I is a self published book and it's been incredibly influential. But there's something about the authority that you've built and I've been watching your rise. So, so what happened when this publisher reached out to you and what are some of the things they told you about the importance of YouTube?

Ben Azadi (3:45)

Well, well, I mean I was reaching out to publishers because I first had this idea for a book and I went down the self publishing route, which is great. Of course you have all creative control, get it out whenever you want. But then I thought, man, it would be really cool to go with the publisher. And Hay House has always been my favorite publisher. I've loved their authors. Dr. Wayne Dyer was one of my favorite authors. He was a Hay House author. And I reached out to them, I got a connection to them through a colleague of mine who has a book with them, Dr. Mindy Pels. And I got a meeting with them and I told them the idea for a book. It was not written yet. I just, this is the idea. They told me to put together a book proposal which most publishers will tell you to do. Put together a book proposal. In that book proposal, they want to see, of course, the idea for your book, some examples of what the chapters are going to look like. But even more important than that, how are you going to market it? So in that proposal, I put my social media channels, I put the YouTube stuff in there, I put the YouTube growth. I took a lot of my YouTube viral videos and attached it as links in there and that was really exciting for them. They, they even told me that when I had my follow up meeting, they're like, we're really pleased with your YouTube growth. We love seeing YouTube growth. This is where we've seen our authors really sell a lot of books, so they'd love to see that. And then it ended up with me getting a six figure deal with Hay House to write the book. And I think primarily because of the YouTube growth, the strategies, I put the strategy ideas for the YouTube to promote the book in the book proposal. And I'm starting to see this a lot, not just with Hay House, but with a lot of publishers and just a lot of companies and businesses in general. You know this, sean. I mean, YouTube is so sexy to everyone these days. You've made it go mainstream because you're a YouTube scientist and you've been preaching this message for such a long time. But these big companies are starting to see that YouTube is where it's at, especially these publishers and especially Hay House.

Sean Cannell (5:38)

Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Mary from Mary's Nest, who's been on the Think Media podcast, her cookbook was published on Penguin Random House and their team said the same thing. They said, man, we love YouTube creators. We love those that have built a community on YouTube. And that's so cool to see that you also articulated your strategies to promote. You shared your YouTube channel and you got a six figure advanced. That's amazing. As far as a benefit of investing in YouTube, let's talk about your email list. What have you learned about just building an email list over the years for your business from YouTube and what have been the different seasons of maybe slow and steady growth and then some of the things that happened recently for rapid growth of your email list?

Ben Azadi (6:24)

Yeah, my email list almost doubled in the last 40 days or so. Primarily the majority of that is from the YouTube growth, the YouTube video. And we discussed that in part one. That we did. It's been. In the beginning was really slow trying to grow that email list. I had some guides. There was some traction. I would get a few hundred, A few hundred. But now it's just trickling in and it's been amazing. The YouTube list is the gold mine. That's where you serve people. I send out consistent newsletters. I serve them and I'll take them to a webinar, a training, a challenge. A lot of the things I've learned from Think Media and you, Sean, and. And then get them into a program or a course or some way where I can actually work with them. At a higher level and make a bigger difference from them. The YouTube list. Excuse me. The email list has grown primarily through YouTube and with the book sales. I know we're recording this before the book's out. This might be out when the book's out, but when we're looking at the. Every other week I have a meeting with Hay House and they're seeing. First of all, Sean, I'll tell you this. When I told them my. My goals for pre sales and then within the first 12 months and also hitting the New York Times bestseller, I don't know if they believed me, to just put it mildly. Like, I don't know if they, like, this guy's pretty ambitious. I don't know if he's going to be able to do that. I could kind of tell by the way, just the energy that came off. But now they're seeing with my YouTube content, I'm strategic with talking about the book, getting people on the email list, marketing them to the book off the email list. And they're seeing the sales come in. So they want to meet with me now every two weeks we're meeting. They're giving me the sales numbers and they're super excited. They told me that I have the most pre sales than any author they've ever had this year on Barnes and Nobles. And it's going to be in all the Barnes and Noble stores. They're picking it up because YouTube, this is what's happened. YouTube to email, email to courses, reoccurring income. It's been a game changer, Sean. And I gotta say, like. And I've been a member of VRA since 2019. Like, I've learned so much from. From you and Think Media. It's been such a blessing. And I'm so grateful, Sean, because I will not be where I'm at today. All the people I'm reaching, all the lives I'm getting to help. If it wasn't for you, Sean, and Think Media, it's been such a blessing in my life.

Sean Cannell (8:32)

Well, I appreciate your kind words and it's been inspiring to watch the difference you're making and the mission you're on. I am curious, so we could just recap the strategy. You're doing some new stuff with packaging smart videos. And I want to encourage listeners listen to part one. We go deep into that, which will be in the library wherever you watch or listen to the Think Media podcast. But you talk about how you're even using AI and creating specific kind of a new way of doing free gifts or Lead magnets or freemiums or freebies. Different things people call them to gift when you do a YouTube video. So specifically, how are you growing your email list from YouTube videos? If you're ready to get serious about starting and growing a successful YouTube channel, then you're gonna love VRA podcast. For a limited time, we have a special sale happening on our YouTube course and coaching membership that includes the online course, the 80 page workbook, and access to the private community. Inside of this program, you have everything you need for starting a successful YouTube channel all in one place. You get access to checklists and resources that will save you time, reduce stress, and help you reach your YouTube goals faster. But also the most powerful part is the community. It's not just other creators and entrepreneurs that are ambitious and reaching for their goals, but it's also the think media faculty that's in your corner answering your questions and helping you stay motivated on your journey to YouTube success. And for a limited time, we are running a big sale@vra podcast.com so if you want to check it out, just click the link in the show notes or go to VRA Podcast. All right, let's get back into the episode. So specifically, how are you growing your email list from YouTube videos?

Ben Azadi (10:22)

Yeah, exactly. So I have a freemium, a little free guide ebook that I will market that's relevant to the video. So I'll record a video, for example, the, the Visceral fat, How to lose visceral fat in 30 days and I'll record that already, get it all edited, edited, and then I'll upload that transcript of that video into ChatGPT and I'll prompt it to write a four page ebook that's really elementary, like simple to read and give it to me in a chapter format or whatever it is. And then I'll get that data, give it to my editor and he'll put it into a PDF and look at, make it look nice with some images and some different fonts and then I'll buy the domain that's relevant to that and then have a system set up where they put their email, their name, they get that free guide and it's all done from a video that's already created. I'm not recreating this, I'm not writing a new book. It's just done from the actual video I already recorded.

Sean Cannell (11:13)

And so then give us an example. What, which CRM do you use? Or email management software?

Ben Azadi (11:18)

So I use lead pages for the landing page and then I integrate that into mailchimp so once the person goes to that lead page to if your audience wants to go check one out, burnfatbook.com is a landing page. Target bellyfat.com is another landing page. These are all through lead pages. Once you opt in there, it's integrated with mailchimp. Very easy. It's just a setting in lead pages, which I believe Kajabi has or clickfunnels has. And then I pre wrote a series of emails, four emails that go out when they first opt in. A day after, two days after, three days after letting them know that they're on my list. Expect to get this amount of emails per week. And here's what I'm doing, Sean. I'm actually sending them back to YouTube during that series. Like, hey, I know you watched this video and that's where you got the guide, but if you like that video, you're gonna love this other video I did that's kind of controversial, but it gives you more details. And I put in the PS click here to go watch it and then it sends them back to YouTube. So it's just like back and forth, back and forth. And you know that YouTube loves that.

Sean Cannell (12:19)

Yeah, I love that. So open doors of book sales opportunities with publishers. They them loving the influence of YouTube growing your email list. Any business owner marketer understands the power of that. What other doors of opportunity? Let's talk about speaking. You getting on stages. I see you speaking everywhere at all these different conferences. And I also understand that it's holistic. It could be word of mouth, could be relationships, could be different things. But how's your YouTube channel helped you get these other doors of opportunity? Maybe speaking at events.

Ben Azadi (12:56)

I think YouTube has been the number one reason why I'm getting these, these paid keynotes. It's my favorite thing to do. And I've seen you do your keynote. Sean, you're such an incredible, engaging speaker, one of the best I've seen. And it's so much fun. Travel to speak and the energy exchange when you're on stage, it's just so much fun. And I've had a lot of colleagues ask me that question, like, how are you getting all these, these paid keynotes? I see you all over the place and I tell them it's YouTube. I'm like, dude, like grow your YouTube. People find me on there. I put my lectures on there, my keynotes on there. I have my speaker reels on there. Everything is on YouTube. That's where people are finding me. And that's sexy to companies, that's sexy to Organizations that people that are having these conferences, when they see you have authority on the best social media platform in the world, YouTube, they want that, they want that for the audience because they see it's working for the masses and they know it's going to work for, for their conference, whatever it is. It could be a health conference, a financial conference, whatever it is it's going to work for because it's proven to work on your YouTube. So man, it's opened up so many doors, so many opportunities. I have a lot of my friends asking me how I'm doing it on YouTube. How are you growing so fast? And a lot of what I've learned is through you, Sean, and think media and figuring things out and learning and growing. But dude, if there's nothing I'm. If there's one thing I am, I'm consistent. I never quit, never give up. To me, there's no other, other option and I'm committed. You can't be 99 committed. There's no such thing. Either you're 100% or you're not. Just like, either you're pregnant or you're not. I am committed and I'm consistent and the universe, God has rewarded me because I have put in the work.

Sean Cannell (14:42)

There's a couple more I want to land the plane on. I'm curious, networking, relationships, but even getting on podcasts and stuff again, I know you're part of, you invest in masterminds, you meet other people. A true online entrepreneur, mission driven entrepreneur like yourself. You know, we're doing multiple things but I think about has it opened door to getting on and a lot of listeners, they wish they were on more podcasts, they could get on influential podcasts. Has that helped?

Ben Azadi (15:09)

Yeah, so what we did, I have like a media kit and I have a team that sends out the media kit to different podcasts that I want to get on. And on that media kit we have a screenshot of my YouTube analytics and like, hey, this is Ben's one pager. Here's what he's doing on YouTube. He's love to come in your podcast to discuss metabolic freedom. And Sean, I've done 41 podcasts in the last 45 days and that's me going on podcast. Not even counting my own podcast was probably closer to like 55. And by the time my book's out it'll be 64. I'll be gone going on 64 podcasts. We could count this as two. So 65. Cause we're doing two parts. Yes, but dude, yeah, so Gary Brca I'm going on Gary Brca's podcast. I'm doing a podcast exchange with Dave Asprey. I'm working on going on Ben Greenfield's Man, I want to go on Joe Rogan. I mean, I have it on my vision board. It's a Photoshop image of Joe Rogan interviewing me. Diary of his CEO I have here as well. So it's just a matter of time before all that happens. But yeah, YouTube is where it's at. That's what excites a lot of people, man.

Sean Cannell (16:13)

That's powerful. And then I want to. I think another one would be customers. You know, eventually, if somebody's in business or in business to entrepreneurs solve problems for a profit and you give away incredible, life changing free information, you give even more free information in your free books and your email list, all this different stuff. But then eventually people could be a part of your products and programs. How as a business owner has YouTube played into not just generating leads, but generating customers?

Ben Azadi (16:42)

So as a podcast host, and if you're a podcast host who posts on the YouTube channel, I can tell you that there's a lot of money to be made that way. Yes, there are affiliates and links that you could share and that's all great and I do recommend doing that. But I'm getting paid for sponsored interviews. Sean, for example, in 20 minutes there's going to be somebody who's coming over to my studio and his company paid me $15,000 to interview him for the hour. I'm getting Those, I'm getting two of those per month. So 30k a month just from two interviews. I'm not just taking on anybody. It has to be a company that I love their science, I use their products, I actually believe in them. But because of the YouTube growth, they're willing to pay $15,000 for a 60 minute. Now, if you're not at that place yet, affiliate links. There's different ways to drive your email list. So that's one avenue right there. Outside of that, the paid keynotes, the courses, the membership, the reoccurring income from the email list. I could tell you this. There was a student who watched my YouTube video named John Miller. I call him a student. He's not a student. I don't even know who he was. He was a Facebook friend that followed me on Facebook, but he followed my. He watched my video on how to lose 20 pounds of fat in 30 days. It was a video from a year ago and he did it. And he didn't lose 20 pounds in 30 days. Following that YouTube video. He lost 44 pounds in 30 days. And this guy was going on Facebook live and tagging me. Day one, Ben's protocol, day seven. And this guy. And I said, hey, I reached out to him, dude, congratulations. I'd love to interview you to share your story. And I created a whole program, the Fat Loss Academy, because of him, because of his inspiration. And that one video interview got me 37 students at 97amonth from the YouTube interview because of the YouTube video he watched. So there's like opportunity after opportunity is just such a great space to be in.

Sean Cannell (18:31)

Yeah. So we've really unpacked five big categories of the power of YouTube. And I do have one last question for you because there's another one that I can't wait for you to share with our community with the big idea of like, this is your sign though. You're listening to this. This is your sign to take YouTube seriously. And we're not actually suggesting like it's some kind of a magic pill that works for you if you don't work. You mentioned you're consistent and you're committed. It's something about investing. And you've also been doing this for years. In the last 30 to 60 days, your channel has exploded like 10 million views, grew over a hundred thousand subscribers. But it's kind of like overnight success takes six years. Like, so there's something about starting where you are today. Punching fear in the face, punching perfectionism in the face, pressing record, getting started. YouTube is not too crowded. Is competition fierce? For sure. But can you learn tactics and strategies to create an edge? Absolutely. In fact, you're definitely going to want to listen to part one of my conversation with Ben where we go deeper into some specific tactics which will be linked in the show notes. But I have one other category. As we land the plane, but before we get there, give me a shout out to where people could follow you. And if we do want to get our health dialed in and our energy dialed in, where can we get your book? Tell us about the book.

Ben Azadi (19:46)

Yeah, Benazotti is the YouTube channel and actually changed the handle the channel name. Sean. A year ago from Keto camp to Benazadi, I wanted to go more out of the niche of Keto and go more to the general public. So Benazadi on YouTube, my book is called Metabolic Freedom. There's a 30 day plan, easy to follow. Just follow that you have more energy, less inflammation, burn fat. At the end of the book, it's metabolic freedombook.com to get that with some free bonuses. And my main website is benazadi.com.

Sean Cannell (20:16)

I love it. So all of that will be in the description. And the last one is, why is now the time to go all in on your YouTube channel? If you want to build a personal brand, get customers, grow, your business is connecting with influencers. And specifically, I'll never forget when you text me and you're like, bro, Steve Aoki followed me. And I was like, what is that?

Ben Azadi (20:37)

And he was messaging me back and forth.

Sean Cannell (20:40)

Steve Aoki's message, messaging me. Now, that's a very influential EDM dj, but there's others. So I think that's also. This is an interesting strategy because if you commit to video itself, we're big believers at Think Media. There's a lot of opportunity on Instagram, TikTok still a thing. YouTube, as we're discussing, I think you feel the same is your home base. That's where. That's where you really want to plant your flag. But you were inspired. Well, one of your videos popped off, so you turned it into a reel and it led to, like, who, who, who. Who are some of the people that have been following you lately?

Ben Azadi (21:13)

Yeah, Gordon Ramsay, the chef. He's got like 18 million followers. I saw he started following me. A bunch of, like, actors and celebrities and athletes. Steve Aoki, Eric Trump, who's President Trump's son, started following me. And it shows how they follow you. Right? So it showed that it came from that reel. But I gotta say, that is the one reel that I wish it never went viral because I look so awful in it. And that might have contributed to the growth of it because I look like a vampire in that reel. But maybe that actually was helpful. But it wasn't the ideal reel to go that viral for me.

Sean Cannell (21:44)

And. And what happened was you had a. You had a YouTube video that hit 2 million views in, like, a month. And then you turned it. What did you do with it?

Ben Azadi (21:51)

Yeah, so that YouTube video hit like 2 million views. And then I said, oh, it was about what happens when you don't eat food for 36 hours. And I thought, oh, I could create a real. And let's make it even more controversial and say, what happens if you don't eat for a hundred hours? And it was the same title with the exception of the timeframe, so doctors won't tell you this. This is what happens when you don't eat for a hundred hours. And I knocked it out in 90 seconds for the reel and posted on the channels, and it's currently got 12.9 million on Instagram Reels and over 6 million on Facebook Reels.

Sean Cannell (22:22)

That's amazing. And so the application point is, if you have a breakout piece of content somewhere, like a YouTube video, and maybe you're listening to this, there's already something in your library. And when we say breakout, we talk about VFM viral for me. So if you normally get 30 views a video, but you get 3,000 or 30,000 on a video, okay, there's something about that topic that you might want to repackage and upload as a YouTube short or even on Instagram. And Ben didn't just like repurpose his content with AI software or something. He actually crafted a video based on the proven topic that had popped off. And so as we've covered, there's so many different ways and you never know that's you start with everybody starts at zero. You start small. Don't despise small beginnings. But you never know who this YouTube journey, this video journey will connect you to Cordon Ramsey, Eric Trump, Steve Dming with Steve Aoki and and obviously it's like, what's the point, man? It's impact. It's more reach, it's more. You care about your message, you care about your services, you care about your products. If you're listening to this, I hope you do because then it's your ethical responsibility to get them in the hands of as many people as possible. As an entrepreneur and as a owner, mastering video and mastering YouTube is the way. And YouTube is an investment in the future. Now, if you enjoy this episode, can you like rate, share, review wherever you watch or listen. And next you're going to want to make sure to listen to part one of my conversation with Ben where we get very tactical and how to get more views and subscribers when starting a YouTube channel or scaling a YouTube channel. And this is the Think Media podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. And I cannot wait to connect with in a future episode.