Sean Cannell (0:00)

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 demand@thinkmasterclass.com 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 demand@think masterclass.com now let's jump into today's show. Let's talk about YouTube jail. Yep, it's a real thing. If you violate copyright law, get community guideline strikes, post harmful or misleading content, YouTube can penalize your channel. You might get demonetized, lose access to features, and even get your video suppressed. And in some cases, creators are even getting shadow banned. But here's the truth that no one is talking about. For 99% of creators, YouTube jail isn't caused by the algorithm. It's caused by confusion, inconsistency, and unclear strategy. Welcome back to the Think Media Podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. And we're going to be talking about why you might be stuck in YouTube jail and seven keys to break free. Let's dive in in number one. Number one, rewire your mindset. The first of our seven keys starts with resetting your thinking. You might be telling yourself the algorithm is against me. YouTube must be suppressing my content. I'm shadow banned. But the truth is this, for 99% of creators, they're not shadow banned. Their content just sucks. Can I say that? I mean, let me put it another way. You might just not have found your thing yet. Like your content is is low effort or it's not aligned with your strengths. For 99% of creators, you're not shadow banned. Your content just isn't working yet. So let's break this down. If you are getting limited reach with good content, maybe you're violating some of these things. Community guideline violations, harassment, misinformation, dangerous content. Maybe your content's being age gated because you're talking about more mature themes, drugs that can throttle your content. Maybe you're uploading reused or low effort content. This could be AI spun content or copied videos that could cause YouTube to not distribute your content as widely because it does know what kind of content you're uploading. Google can scan the videos. Maybe you're using Misleading titles, tags, thumbnails. Maybe you're posting content that's not suitable for most advertisers. Excessive profanity or graphic content. Maybe you've ignored copyright rules or received strikes. But let's assume that, that you've cleaned all that up. You've read the guidelines, you've made adjustments. That's step one. So really you're probably in step two. And you're not being blocked. You're in a learning phase. And that's okay. You're not failing. You are figuring things out. You haven't found your format, your hook, your rhythm yet. So let's reframe the narrative. You're not stuck, you're just early. I could figure this out. There's data in every upload. I just haven't learned that data yet. Success leaves clues and failure leaves clues as well. And I am here to find them. So there's no more victim mindset, no more algorithm blame game. Let's shift from frustration to curiosity, because once your mindset resets, everything else can follow. So let's talk about how to do that, starting with number two. Number two is audit your YouTube channel like a stranger. For 99% of creators, including me, you're too close to your content. We get so wrapped up in it. The key is we need to zoom out. So go back and look at your last upload and ask yourself this question. Would a stranger click on this video? Are your thumbnails messy, outdated? Are they clear or are they unclear? Does your value proposition, does the promise of your channel, what your YouTube channel is all about, come through in seven seconds or less? If someone lands on your channel, the challenging thing is to look at your channel not through your own eyes, but through the eyes of a stranger. Step into their shoes and let me tell you a story about the power of getting a fresh perspective for your YouTube channel. So a great example of this happened recently with Nick and Lisa from the YouTube channel called the Ready Life. They're a part of our One on One YouTube coaching program here at Think Media. And, and they had a great idea to take a powerful training that they had originally recorded on dvd. Yes, a physical DVD disc. And to repackage it, there's the key into a fresh YouTube friendly concept. So the idea alone wasn't enough. That's where the coaching came in. And so one of our coaches, Nathan, really walked them through this process. Catch all these points. They first obsessively refined the hook, the title and the thumbnail. Secondly, they repositioned the content into an Entertainment first strategy. Third, they experimented with a no funnel approach because they have a membership program. And so they were actually driving leads straight to their membership trial. And they tested smart feedback tools using Claude and Gemini to sharpen every detail about the repackaging of this video idea. What was the result? They got a hundred times more views than they normally did on their previous videos. With over 208,000 views in just a few days, their video ranked 1 out of 10. And it's been driving consistent leads to their business. So this wasn't a fluke. It was the fruit of focused feedback and strategy. But I know that not everybody has a coach or can afford a coach right now. But the key is this. You got to get an outside fresh perspective on your channel and your content because a lot of us are stuck because we're too close. And the harsh truth is this. A lot of YouTube channels look a lot more like a hobby than a real professional brand. A lot of YouTube channels look a lot more like a hobby or a side project than a powerful mission. And so Your homepage, your YouTube channel, your thumbnail should scream, who's it for? What is it about? And why should people subscribe? Number three. Use these three alignment questions to get out of YouTube jail. So these are some powerful questions that will help you on your upcoming videos and even the reworking of your YouTube strategy. First, what do people want? What are people searching for on YouTube? What are people asking ChatGPT and AI? What are the trends that are happening right now in your industry? What are the trends happening adjacent to your industry that might be related that you could tap into? What are the biggest pain points of the people that you want to reach with your content? The second question is what do you know? Because it's at the intersection of something you can talk about at a level of skill. It's not like you have to be some super expert, but you're competing with others on YouTube that that are at various levels of experience and expertise. So it's really helpful if you're developing mastery and going deep and staying in your lane, if you will, with the things that you know. So what are your biggest skills? What are your biggest passions? The things you love to research? What is your experience and life experience, good and bad? The stories of failure that contain powerful lessons that could help transform listeners. The stories of success that contain valuable insights that can serve your audience. So what is it you know? And the third question is, what's working on YouTube right now? Don't miss this because it's a New year, It's a new YouTube environment, and YouTube's always changing and competition is rising. So you're asking yourself, what formats work on YouTube right now? What are the types of topics or the types of titles or types of title structures that are working right now on YouTube? What's changed? Subscribe to the Think Media podcast for more on this, because that's what this podcast is all about, helping you learn what's working now on YouTube. So ask yourself, what do people want? What do you know? And what's working on YouTube right now? What are some of those fresh content opportunities? The intersection of those three questions is where you're going to get momentum to break out of jail. Number four, if you're stuck right now, maybe views are going down, you're plateaued, you don't know how to get out of this rut. I want to encourage you to think about three words. Rebrand, restart, reinvent. Because the truth is, you may not need a new channel. You may just need a new approach. That could be a small change of video strategy, maybe a new series, or it could be a massive change. So one of our video Reiki Academy students, Kimberly, started her YouTube journey in 2010 when she was in law school. And what began as a creative outlet grew into a successful channel in the beauty and DIY space. And eventually she really built a niche empire around tech, fashion, and for a while there, especially when they were popular, she dominated search results for popsockets. You remember those, you put them on the back of your phone, they helped you, like, not drop your oversized Samsung or iPhone. And even built her own phone case company. But after years of following trends, something fell off. She plateaued in a way, she might have been like, I was free once and I had lots of success, but now I'm in YouTube jail. But here's something she realized partway into her YouTube journey. She said, I realized I was creating just for clicks, not for connection. So in 2021, Kimberly made a bold move. She rebranded her entire channel. She walked away from the niche that had brought her views, income and recognition. She pivoted towards her true passion for legal, storytelling and justice. And with a background in psychology, sociology, and a legal doctorate, she began telling true crime stories with a victim focused, deeply researched perspective. It was a complete shift in content, but it connected on a deeper level than ever before. And she said this, I finally knew my why. And that changed everything. And so, using the same principles that she had Learned in our YouTube growth program years earlier, she continued to create content. But the big Key here is she rebranded. She really restarted, and she reinvented her channel, her strategy, and she really re tapped in, asking herself the question, what am I really passionate about? What's really driving me? What. What kind of content do I really want to make? And so this time she was creating content from alignment, and it worked. Today, she's been working with major brands. In every video. She has a loyal audience. She creates content that feels meaningful. And her story proves this. You don't need a new channel. You need a new approach. And I think here's an important mindset shift. Rebranding isn't a step backwards. It's how you restart wiser, smarter, with all the lessons that you've gotten up to that point. And so while it might feel like a few steps back and even be painful because you already have momentum in one direction, you are ultimately making progress forward as a result. And sometimes your next level is on the other side of letting go of what used to to work. So here's a few thoughts. Maybe you need to launch a new series. Maybe switch up your titles, your thumbnails, your energy, your editing. Maybe clarify your channel's promise, what every video delivers. We often say small tweaks lead to giant peaks. So it could be just a subtle rebrand, a fresh start, like a new season, season three, season four of your YouTube channel, or an entire reinvention of like Kimberlya did, whatever that is for you. Remember this, YouTube rewards reinvention, not repetition. People like novelty, they like new. And YouTube could be challenging because if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you will get diminishing results. The best creators know how to continually rebrand, restart, and reinvent. Number five, Use smart tools to break free. The truth is this. If you're not using software and AI as a content creator, you're going to get left behind. Not only to just help you go faster, but also for brainstorming, having conversations about your videos, your channel, your topics, doing deep research and all that kind of stuff. In fact, I'm curious, what tools do you actually use as part of your YouTube workflow? If you watch the YouTube version of the podcast, drop it in the comments. If you're on audio, you can't really comment. But if you hear this right now, can you leave a review? Maybe drop a review on Apple or Spotify? It actually really does help the show. But one of the tools we talk about at Thick Media here a lot is Vidiq, and specifically the outliers tool. Now, what's an outlier? An Outlier is simply a video that you post on your channel that does better than the typical video you post on your channel. So if you normally get a hundred views a video, if you posted a video that got a thousand views, that would be a 10x outlier. And the cool thing about the tool is there's actually a free version. If you go to vidiq.com think or use the link in the description, you can get Vidiq, you could get the Google Chrome plugin and, and that'll start showing you a little colored code on your own videos and other people. So you can quickly spot the outliers on a channel. But once you get inside of the software, which I think you gotta sign up, there's a dollar trial if you wanna check it out. But once you get inside of it, you can actually start researching outliers in your niche. So what you're doing is you're typing in your channel topic, maybe you're doing homesteading, sourdough, some kind of a channel like that for a conversation example. And you type in like sourdough recipe. And what you're going to look at is it's going to bring up outliers. You can in fact even say, I only want to see videos that are at least a 5x outlier. Now here's the big idea here. You can see a lot of small channels that are getting big views. This doesn't just mean videos that are getting a lot of views, it's it means videos that are having disproportionate success to the channel's size, focusing on channels of all sizes. And what you can do is target in the details of the tool. So you can say, I only want to see videos in the last six months. I only want to see videos that are at least 5x or above in their outlier score. They're getting five times the views of the channel. I actually only want to see channels that have under 50,000 subscribers because maybe that's similar to your channel size. You don't want to see channels with millions of subscribers. They're more established, they might have a team. It's possible for you to break free, it's possible for you to get out of YouTube jail. And so by spotting these video idea opportunities with like an outliers tool, it's a great way, if you're in a rut of videos, to get fresh inspiration and fresh strategy. I actually call this the viral remix formula. I think that's the way to think about this. You're spotting viral videos Seeing their titles, seeing their thumbnails, even studying the content. And then you're not copying it, you're remixing it. And the thing is, you could try to do this without software, but it's going to be tedious and challenging to even find the channels that are breaking out. That's why a software tool like Vidiq helps you identify those viral videos in your niche, helps you then study why they're winning. Like, what's the topic, the packaging, what's their delivery, Helps you remix the idea, then through your voice and angle. And you may even use a very similar title or thumbnail idea. That's proven. But what you're going to do is you're going to personalize it, Hence the viral remix formula. And so that's just one example of tools. We'll be covering more tools on the podcast in the future. And if you actually want to give the outlier tool in Vidiq a try, you can go to vidiq.com think or just click the link in the show notes. You can try it out for just $1. I'm an affiliate. That's the relationship. And so if you sign up and love it like I know you will, then eventually I'll get a commission of some kind. But if you don't like it, you can also just cancel and you'll be short a dollar. But you still will have made Progress on your YouTube channel, because one or two outlier video ideas applied to your niche can absolutely break you out of YouTube jail number six. If you want to get out of YouTube jail, stop going it alone. So there's a movie called the Shawshank Redemption. And in the movie, Andy Drufus is a quiet, determined man who's wrongfully imprisoned. And so over the years, he forms a deep friendship with Red, who's played by Morgan Freeman, who. Who becomes his closest ally. And while Andy is secretly digging a tunnel to freedom, it's Red's encouragement and belief that keeps his hope alive. Andy didn't just escape with grit. He escaped with community. Because even in prison, it wasn't just the digging that got him out. It was the friendship that helped him persevere. Isolation is part of the trap. And. And I hope that you feel like on the Think Media podcast, you've got myself and the Think Media team in your corner and that you feel a little less alone listening to this podcast. But I want to encourage you to seek out and form deeper community. And hear me, I'm not just slipping this point in because one of the Things that we offer at a deeper level here at Think Media is a private YouTube community. I'm sharing this point because it's actually based in like, real scientific truth that if you want to do something hard, a community is going to help you get there faster. There's tons of people that have created cool communities. There's different things you could be a part of. I am imploring you to seek one out or to build one or to link arms with some people, maybe locally. Could be tough if you're in a small town, so probably online. Get in the community and here's the data. Multiple studies confirm that joining a community dramatically increases your chances of success, especially when pursuing creative goals like growing a YouTube channel. Research from University of Wisconsin shows that people with a strong sense of community report significantly lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression, while those with negative or no community connection are up to five times more likely to struggle mentally. YouTube is a mental game. It takes so much resilience and grit and you're going to have highs and you're going to have lows and you're going to feel discouraged and you're going to want to quit. And that's why having a community can be a huge key when you're digging your way out of YouTube jail. The CDC also links strong social ties to better physical health, resilience and longevity. So for creators, isolation can reduce your motivation and creativity. I don't know if you've ever felt like it's just hard to get up and film today. You feel kind of like you're in sludge, your energy is low. While engaging in a community, it actually boosts your accountability. It's a kick in the pants. You see other people doing it, it keeps the fire lit, it encourages consistent action and fuels innovation through shared ideas and feedback. So simply put, being in a community isn't just encouraging, it's actually an evidence based strategy. So join a community, take a course, ask for feedback, hire a coach, have the humility to realize that you're going to do a lot better if you get connected to a community. Now, we've covered a lot and we're going to get to number seven. And I've saved the best for last because we're going to finish this podcast super strong with an activation to get your fire back on YouTube. But I did want to give you a heads up that if you want some deeper dive tips on how to get out of YouTube jail, we're actually giving away copies of my book YouTube Secrets for free. All I ask is that you cover shipping. So if you go to yt secrets.com or just click the link in the show notes, it'll take you over to a website where you can enter your information if you just pay for shipping. I'm going to mail you the updated second edition of YouTube Secrets. It covers our seven step framework for YouTube success. In the second half of the book, it covers some advanced strategies for getting views and subscribers. So if you are interested in me mailing you a copy of this book and some cool bonuses as well, go to ytsecrets.com or just click the link in the show notes to claim your free copy of of YouTube secrets. Okay, let's dive into number seven, which is get your fire back. And we're gonna actually do an activation together. A four step framework that'll break you out of the mental YouTube jail that a lot of us can find ourselves in. Maybe you're feeling burnt out, maybe you're feeling low on purpose. This is actually based in neuroscience, so we're legit gonna be rewiring our brains together. So here's step number one. Name what you're feeling. You're actually going to articulate and think about what is the feeling you're feeling right now in YouTube jail? The truth is this. You cannot heal what you don't face. So what are you feeling right now? Don't judge it, just name it. Here's some examples. I feel stuck. I feel invisible. I feel like I'm wasting my time. I feel like quitting. I feel like I'm in YouTube jail. So step one is you're just naming the emotion. Step two, you're going to challenge the thought. So now if you're like, I'm stuck, you're asking now, am I really stuck or am I just in a season? So you could ask, is this truly permanent or is this just temporary? So don't skip step number one, you're going to name a feeling and identify. I feel like I'm wasting my time. You're going to ask yourself, are you wasting your time or are you, are you practicing? Like, am I comparing my chapter two to somebody else's? Chapter 20, is there any progress I've made that I'm ignoring? In the early days of YouTube, it's important to count uploads and not views. I saw someone comment on our episode where Pat Flynn said that. And they said, no, I want to count views. And they missed the point. No, of course, eventually we want views. But early on, the mental frame is, I'm practicing. So Even if my videos aren't getting views, it doesn't mean I'm not making progress. I'm learning what doesn't work. So is there any progress I've made that I'm not ignoring? The fact you got your channel set up, the fact that you're learning your camera, the fact that you're learning how to edit, the fact that you've done 55 unique skills that your neighbors that are just eating ice cream, watching Netflix haven't done. I'm not putting down their lifestyle choices. I'm saying your ambition and you stretching yourself. There's a lot of progress you've made, even if it isn't subscribers or views yet. So what you might discover is you're not stuck. You're processing. You're not behind. You're becoming, you're growing. So. So step one, you're naming the feeling. Step two, you're challenging it. You're, you're asking the questions around it. You're challenging that feeling, that thought. Number three, you're gonna reframe the narrative. And thoughts are a lens. So if you change the lens, you could change what you see. So we kind of touched on this, but it's, it's things like this, like, this is not failure, this is feedback. This dry season is training me for the next level. I'm not starting over, I'm starting wiser. I'm in a reinvention phase. This is not a dead end. You may have heard the story of Thomas Edison, who's famously credited with inventing the commercially viable incandescent light bulb. Although many inventors actually contributed to the concept before him, his version was successful. He pioneered something new. He created a long lasting filament. He used carbonized bamboo that could last over a thousand hours. He had a practical vacuum sealed glass bulb and a complete system. He had dialed in the wiring, the sockets, the switches, the generators. He didn't just invent the bulb, he created the whole infrastructure of electricity lighting. But he didn't do it on his first try. In fact, he failed over a thousand times trying to get this light bulb to work. And that's where the famous quote comes from. And it's this. I have not failed a thousand times. I've successfully found 1,000 ways that won't work. That's the power of reframing the narrative. And I have learned from interviewing now over 500 very successful YouTube creators and entrepreneurs that are using video to grow their businesses that this is the mindset that they have. It's not that they feel different than you or that they haven't failed a lot like everybody has. Feeling stuck, feeling invisible, going through seasons of insecurity, feeling like you're wasting your time. It's all real. But you challenge that thought, you reframe the narrative, and you're like, I'm testing. I'm experimenting. I'm finding ways that don't work, and then I'm doing a different version next time. So Thomas Edison didn't just create the same wiring and switch and generator and bulb every single time. He was checking off the list the ways that didn't work. Which brings us to step number four, which is take action with the new frame. So action is the bridge between belief and breakthrough. And so just shifting your belief and reframing your experience up until this moment, you is not going to be enough. The key now is breaking out of YouTube jail and the negative mindset we can be in and asking yourself, what step can I take now aligned with this new mindset? And so that next step might be audit your last video titles with what we talked about earlier. Looking at your channel through the lens of a stranger. Look at your last few uploads with a fresh perspective. Study three viral videos in your niche. Use the viral video remix formula we're talking about. Or grab a tool and spot some outliers and actually sit down and study. This is like, journal, open, iPad, open. You got your tablet and you're like, okay, let me really break down. This video is doing well in the niche. What is going well about this video? What can I learn from the hook, the opening, how they communicate? Outline a new series you feel excited about. Change your channel banner to reflect your new vision and your about page. It's not because if you just change that, your channel's gonna start getting views. It's because you're actually reframing the entire strategy. You're pivoting your entire mindset like Kimberlya did when we talked about her earlier. And so these are the actions you will take from this new frame. Small moves can create big momentum, and consistency will compound your confidence. So let me give you one final bonus tip, and it's this. Remember, YouTube jail isn't always about the algorithm or punishment. It's about the internal narrative that we tell ourselves. Which reminds me of the story of the elephant and the rope. When a baby elephant is young, it's tied down with a heavy chain, and it struggles, pulls, and fights, but it cannot break free because it hasn't grown large enough or strong enough to do so yet. However, over time, they replace the chain with a simple rope. But by then, the elephant doesn't even try to escape. Not because it can't, but because it believes it can't. The rope isn't holding the elephant. The belief is. But here's the truth. You're stronger now. You're smarter now. You've grown. And the only thing that's holding you back is the belief that. That you're stuck. And so I hope this episode gave you a new frame and a fresh perspective. And I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.