Sean Cannell (0:00)

Hey, before we get into today's episode, let me ask you a question. Do you want a step by step plan to start and grow on YouTube fast? Well, we're doing something brand new and it's called YouTube Jumpstart. It's a free three day online event and it's happening July 23rd, 24th and 25th live and online. You're going to get the exact blueprint we use at Think Media to grow, get views, and even earn money before hitting 1000 subscribers. No fancy equipment needed. We're also going to be sharing some of the latest AI tools and YouTube strategies that we've never taught publicly before. So don't miss it. You can go to tubejumpstart.com to register for free and save your spot. And that is tubejumpstart.com to get access to this three day free online event. All right, let's jump into today's episode. Over 1 billion hours of YouTube is watched per day. That's crazy. In the next five to 10 years, your company's YouTube channel could be more important to your brand and business than your company's website. And I think that's a massive opportunity. YouTube just dropped a massive report about the future of the platform. And if you're trying to grow going into 2026, this might be the most important episode you've listened to all year. Subscribers and followers don't matter like they used to. Now you could start a new channel and go viral and get discovered from scratch in a matter of days. So here's a couple action items. Stop chasing subscribers and start chasing specificity. The videos we watch are getting shorter and longer. What does that even mean? What do I do? Do I go shorts? Do I go long form? Well, YouTube's report reveals that. Welcome to the Think Media podcast, the number one show bringing you unfiltered YouTube tips for building a profitable channel. My name is Sean Cannell and today's episode is brought to you by tubejumpstart.com we're hosting a three day event for free that's coming up soon. I'll link to that in the show notes, but let's get straight into the content. So I wrote down eight of my biggest takeaways from YouTube's culture and trend report. We'll talk about how this affects the future of YouTube, but on every single point, we'll also talk about how we can make this practical for you to apply to your channel, whether you're starting, whether you're established. Here's number one, YouTube is now the center of global entertainment. The quote from the report, YouTube isn't just shaping entertainment, it's defining it. So why this matters right now, YouTube leads in streaming watch time across the board. So YouTube is capturing more attention than Netflix, than everything than TV. Whether it's TV, mobile or desktop, YouTube is the king. Over 1 billion hours of YouTube is watched per day. That's crazy. And there's debate about this, but right now they say billions of monthly active users. There's kind of a ranging number, but for sure there's 2.5 to 2.7 billion monthly active users. Some projections have it more near 2.9 billion. So that just speaks to the potential audience size being absolutely massive. So I know YouTube can feel competitive, but I don't think any of us realize just how many people are watching YouTube. And even the biggest channels have something like 400 million subscribers. That's still kind of a small percentage of the total viewership on YouTube. So there's good news for you. YouTube's healthy, it's growing, it's alive and well. And here's the action Item for number one, treat YouTube like your digital headquarters. So you want to be thinking about you're building up something that's almost more important than a website. Your YouTube channel is the hub of your brand. A friend of mine, Marcus Sheridan, said this. There's an argument to be made that in the next five to 10 years, your company's YouTube channel could be more important to your brand and business than your company's website. And I agree with them. So if you think about building your YouTube channel, build it for search, build it to be discovered, build it for scale, build it for longevity. Unlike TikTok, unlike Instagram, unlike Facebook, on YouTube, your content compounds over time. And I actually go deep into a high level conversation on this episode on the Think Media podcast. I'll link it up in the show notes. I did a strategy talk at YPO in Miami at their Global Marketing summit and I was talking to CEOs and we were kind of having this conversation of YouTube being a digital headquarters. Not just a brand of place you post videos, but being this place where again, you can upload podcasts and shorts and long form in the community tab. And the whole ecosystem of YouTube continues to develop. This isn't just for Hollywood studios level of thinking as a new or small creator. Treat YouTube like your digital headquarters and know that YouTube is now the center of global entertainment. Number two, interest is more important than subscribers. How people discover videos on YouTube has changed. So let's get on the same page with what's really happening in social media in general right now. In a way, we've moved from social media to interest media. And what that means is that subscribers and followers don't matter like they used to. Now you can start a new channel, post content, and go viral and get discovered from scratch in a matter of days and weeks if you understand audiences and tap into viewer interest. So here's the quote from the report. Creators and their audiences create and consume content in conversation with one another. Audiences that initially are drawn to creators through shared special interests and stay for the innovative ways those creators explored and expand those fixations. So what does all that mean? Think about your own behavior. You come to YouTube really not looking for a person to follow, but looking for a problem to be solved or a topic you're interested in. Music, movies. You want to learn something. You want to grow your business. You want to start drinking raw milk and biohacking and making America healthy again. You want to follow politics. Special interests, like knowing what is, what is the category, what is the niche, what is the interest that you're going to be tapping into? And based on the quote from the report, you want to then be creative in the fact that you meet them on the interest. But it's your job as the creator to explore and expand on those fixations. It just makes me think that if you take any IP intellectual property that people love, like Lord of the Rings or like your favorite show that's at right now, Love island, or something like that, you have not only just the show or the content, but then you have the conversation around it, and then you have the theories, and then you have people going deeper, and then you have the controversy and then you have the conversation and people reacting to people talking about Love Island's reaction to the reaction. YouTube is the public forum. Creators and their audiences create and consume conversation with one another. You might think it's weird, but are you noticing people are reacting to other people's reactions, talking about what's happening in politics and what did Joe Rogan say? And people reacting to that person. And that might not be relevant for your channel, but I think it's understanding that we're tapping into interests. And the good news is if you're just starting right now, subscribers don't matter like they used to. And I think the quote of subscribers don't matter anymore. It's kind of been taken to an extreme. It's really more of a mindset. It's understanding that you don't actually need subscribers For a piece of content to go viral. But subscribers are still helpful to of course qualify for monetization and to build an audience that is saying I do want to keep hearing from you. And so that subscribe button is still important, but it's just different than it used to be. And YouTube's algorithm recommends based on interest signals. So you need to know this if you want to grow in the next six to 12 months. The YouTube algorithm is looking at viewers watch history, what they engage with and topical relevance, not what people are subscribed to. So what are people actually watching right now? What content topics are they clicking on? And those from a viewer perspective that interest expressed to the YouTube algorithm is determining what they're shown next. To the degree you understand this and apply this to your next few videos, is to the degree that your next few videos could really be your breakout videos. And one of the trends that's noted is audiences are not subscribing as much, they're binging. What resonates that it's much more about consumption than subscription. What people are watching, what they're devoting their time to, determines what the algorithm shows them next, whether they're subscribed or not. So here's a couple action items. Stop chasing subscribers and start chasing specificity. Get clear. What topic is this video about? And am I tapping into a trend? The keyword still matters, meaning the phrase like the search term, love island, Lord of the Rings, a particular character, a particular update, a particular trend, or something search based, which is still very relevant. What's the pain point? What's the problem? And think about it like this. Make content for one person with one problem or one passion, knowing that if you reach one person, the YouTube algorithm is like word of mouth on steroids. If that person is interested in that, clicks on your video, resonates with it, and actually consumes it, spends minutes or 30 minutes or an hour on your content, then the YouTube algorithm is going to start showing that video to a larger group of people similar to that viewer, and then larger and larger and larger. And that's how you can get exposure starting from scratch. Consider writing search friendly titles. It's more powerful in today's world to be thinking about humans and emotions. But the search SEO aspects, search engine optimization, still really matters. It's like, is this video clear? Is the metadata letting YouTube know what this is about so that it can recommend the video to people interested in that topic? And then study your analytics. What are people actually not just watching but what are they dwelling on? Where are you getting the most watch time? Number three, the barbell strategy. Go short and long. Here's the quote. The videos we watch are getting shorter and longer. Well, Sean, that doesn't really help me. Like, what does that even mean? What do I do? Do I go shorts? Do I go long form? Well, YouTube's report reveals that you should do both. And so it speaks to the fact that there's two extremes that are winning right now. Micro content for reach YouTube shorts and deep content for retention. So should I do shorts or should I do longs? Yes, that's. Yes, absolutely. Now, Neil Mohan also revealed, the CEO of YouTube, that shorts now average over 200 billion views per day. The YouTube shorts views are up 186% year over year. And shorts views are now nearly three times TikTok's daily views. So YouTube shorts and shorts on YouTube are exploding. Massive opportunity there. What does that mean? I should ignore long form? No, long form's exploding as well. I think one of the best examples of this is we recently had Pat Flynn on the Think Media podcast. I'll link that episode up in the show notes Killer episode. And he's behind two super powerful channels right now. One is Deep Pocket Monster and the other is Short Pocket Monster. And what's so fascinating is his Deep Pocket Monster channel is publishing videos that are like 45 minutes long, an hour long. They're kind of a lean back experience stories, almost like many documentaries. This is all in the Pokemon niche. And what's fascinating about Pat is he's also the owner and founder of Smart Passive Income. So he's an entrepreneur, marketer, email list builder, he's got that whole thing. But because of his passion for really his family. And as his son started to get into Pokemon, he got into it too. And it's turned into this massive wave. So he started really a long form channel, Deep Pocket Monster. But then recently he launched a shorts channel, Short Pocket monster. And in 199 days on his shorts channel, he got a gold play button, grew over a million subscribers and also earned over six figures from YouTube shorts ads, which is just wild. And So I know YouTube shorts do not pay as well as long form views, but if you get enough views, you can have some significant monetization opportunity there. So he is like this case study of the tension of really doing both. So what should you do? It's a really good question. The barbell strategy. Go short and go long. So shorts shorts are great for rapid discovery and reach. Long form is good for deep connection and monetization. Many creators are doing either or, and I think it's nice to keep it simple at the start. I've been getting some comments from some people in our community. They said they've gone all in on shorts and have been exploding and doing it. But there's a level of energy and creativity and shorts are a particular style and a particular skill set. Awesome longs also take energy and doing both takes kind of a lot of energy. I get there's AI tools, we love them, that's cool. But I like to keep it simple at the start. So if you're, if you have limited time, limited resources, it might be a good idea to just keep your YouTube plan as simple as possible. You call it a napkin plan. Like, what am I doing? Am I doing one long form video a week? I'm thinking about it, I'm strategizing it. That's my plan. You can always expand later. Or am I going to be, you know, really mastering shorts? The best creators and the biggest creators are combining both intentionally. But keep in mind the biggest creators a lot of times have teams or, or they get really good at repurposing and using AI tools and you want to be thoughtful and strategic. And by the way, if you want help developing your plan, if you failed a plan, you plan to fail. And I think the number one word, everybody that is starting and wanting to grow on YouTube right now that you need to be thinking about is the word strategy. Like, what is my strategy and why? Because, Sean, should I do shorts? Maybe like, let's, let's talk about it a little bit. Should I do longs? Probably, but let's talk about it. We're actually doing a three day event where we're going to talk about it and myself and the Think Media team will help you put together a YouTube growth plan that is simple. Going into 2026, the event's called YouTube Jumpstart. And if you want to register for free, it's three days, it's three main sessions. I think we're going to maybe have a bonus session. It's going to be a lot of fun. Anyways, if you're interested in that, tubejumpstart.com or I'll link to it in the show notes. But the number three is the barbell strategy and really being thoughtful that both shorts and long form present an opportunity for you. The key is to reverse engineer. What are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish on YouTube? How much time do you have right now? What do you like the most? What do you feel confident In. And if you want more help with that, then definitely join our event called YouTube jumpstart number four. Authenticity still wins the intimacy effect. So here's the quote. Viewers are drawn to intimacy, vulnerability and authenticity. There's three good words for thinking about the next YouTube video that you put out. Intimacy, vulnerability, and authenticity. That comes right out of the Culture and Trends report. So why this matters is polished. Studio content is being outperformed by relatable real life storytelling. And one of the examples they gave was the format of Get Ready with Me now in the beauty space, people previously would maybe sit down, do a tutorial, polished, walk you through it. These videos could do very well. But then there was kind of like a hybrid approach and people started to do Get Ready with Me. And as they were going through and doing a beauty routine makeup, they started to share personal story with it, started to talk about life, spill the tea, talk about topics and different things. They combine two things. And so this idea of the intimacy effect is thinking about, all right, what is it you teach? What kind of content are you sharing on your channel? What problem do you solve? And could you bring into it not just the fact that it's a informational tutorial, but could you pull in a personal story? I think this is insurance for you on YouTube in 2026. Meaning what? Insurance from you being replaced by AI. Because raw information is available in ChatGPT, but your personality, your stories, your point of view, your experiences, that's not available and cannot be replaced by AI. The intimacy effect cannot be replaced by by AI. Although some people are debating that AI is getting a little weird. I know recently a guy was like, I fell in love with ChatGPT and my wife and kids are uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm uncomfortable too, bro. Like, what's happening? But you get it. You probably feel it. So this might seem for some of us that do education or tutorials, we're like, man, I'm just trying to, you know, just deliver the information. But we need more you in the content. And smart creators are gonna be thoughtful about building their personal brand with their points of view, values, stories. And it doesn't mean you're just fluffing up content, but you need these little elements in there. And from the article, how can in your next video, you have intimacy, vulnerability and authenticity increased. And so being real, even while being strategic. And here's another action item. Don't hide the process. Process videos are crushing right now. You're the guinea pig. You do a challenge. I tried this for 30 days. I did a seven day test. It's a story of doing the thing instead of just teaching how to do the thing or sharing that process. Do this with me. Get ready with me. You might think it's maybe a tutorial based education. Business owner too. Well, do people want to see a vlog of my life, that content format, would it work for me? Well, I think you're thinking about it wrong. If you do business content and then the vlog of your life is like, yeah, today I went and got lunch and I got a haircut. Well, that's not the vlog content that'll probably tie in. But what about bringing people behind the scenes into the process of how you do business or how you do the thing that you do? So using storytelling, even in tutorials or business videos is a big opportunity. Number five, TV viewership is exploding on YouTube. Here's the quote. More people are watching YouTube on TV now. Why this matters is YouTube is now being watched like Netflix. It's being watched on big screens from the couch, often while multitasking with friends or family. And this changes the kind of content that people enjoy and also how they engage with it. So YouTube has dominated TV watch time since early 2023 per Nielsen reporting. So YouTube has been dominating TV for a while now. So here's a couple action Items for this 1. Consider making longer content. I'm a huge fan of longer content. It just means people are spending more time on the platform. And if people spend more time on the platform watching your videos, YouTube will love you because that's what they value. Top time on platform. And you're not just fluffing up your content because if you do that, people will jump off. But what could be more developed, longer content that's more like a show video, podcast, documentaries, story driven content, video essays, tutorials. If your video adds value over time, don't artificially cut it short. And so be thinking 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes of content that has depth, that has a reason to be that long. You're typing into thinking about the sections of the video time codes, chapters designed for lean back viewing. Now you might be there for me. I like to when I get off a workday or whatever, I sit on the couch or in bed and watch YouTube and sometimes I actually do this thing called a PEMF mat and I do 30 minute sessions and I want to click start on a YouTube video. I want to click play and I want to find a video that I can just let play for that whole time. I don't really want to reach over and have to change it. So I'm being selective. I truly am leaning back. I'm like laying down and being shocked by a pulse electromagnetic field. And that's just a weird biohacking thing that I'm into. But consider lean back viewing, because what are viewers doing? They're cooking, they're cleaning, they're co viewing, they're not necessarily sitting at a desk. Now, this does not invalidate mobile or desktop viewership, but TV is exploding. You might be like me, where you also maybe turn on YouTube while you're doing chores, while you're cooking. This is a very real thing. Now here's another big action item. Think about TV friendly playlists. But I don't know how effective playlists are. I like compilations a lot better. Think about repurposing your videos into compilations. For time's sake. We should maybe cover that in another video. And if you watch the YouTube version of the podcast, let me know if you want to know more about that. We call them content marathons. I think there's a lot of strategy around compilations, but the big idea is that you could stitch together videos that already exist in your library into longer videos. The short story in the kids niche is, by the way, if you have kids and you put them on YouTube, kids, you know this to be true. It's like two hours of Peppa Pig, it's two hours of Blippi, it's two hours of Paw Patrol. And what is it? It's just a bunch of episodes stitched together. Well, that same mentality can be true for adults. There's different ways of perhaps taking different videos you've done, and you're maybe not just slamming them together with no strategy. You're just thinking about, can I stitch this together? And what's called, you know, a content marathon. If you want more on that and you're able to comment, then let me know. But the big idea is repurpose long content into TV friendly playlists, or again, compilations. One hour videos, two hour videos for real. And consider building a weekly show because TV viewership ties into the known concept of a TV show. It's regular, it's episodic. This podcast is an ongoing show. It's a video podcast we upload twice a week, typically Tuesdays and Thursdays or whenever the video is done and ready. You know, life gets real. And so people began to build rhythms and habits. Plus, more consistency for you just gives you more at bats. And there could also be something that is maybe a show you haven't launched yet. What kind of content could you create that's episodic? We coach a lot of creators at Think Media, and sometimes we could be so fixed in our thinking and in our mindsets, and we become fixed when we say, but the videos I make take, you know, a whole week to make and sometimes longer. And that's what it is. So how could I possibly do more content? Think differently. Perhaps launch a different show of a different format that's more sustainable, that's more repeatable. It doesn't have to replace your other thing. But there's a way to do it. It might need to be more simple or different. But this is why we're thinking strategically as we review this culture and trends report. And lastly, on this point, Think visual flow. We had a discussion in our company, Slack channel, where we started screenshotting. And we were looking at all these tests they were doing on the YouTube homepage. And they were doing some. It was like, whoa, it looks different. And titles were smaller, thumbnails were bigger. And this was probably. It doesn't mean that's what you're going to see right now, because I think YouTube's always testing different looks. But here's where we see the trend going. Your experience when you log into Netflix and what that looks like and feels like, and that user experience and user interface is probably what YouTube's going to look like. You know, the homepage of YouTube was bigger thumbnails. Interesting. Strategically thinking about how would that influence your thumbnail design was organization of videos, what's standing out? And so be thinking visual flow. And be a consumer of YouTube. Like, try YouTube on different surfaces. If you don't do that, of course, the greatest homework of all time. Sean, my YouTube coach, told me to watch more YouTube. Honey, I'm just. I'm just doing my homework tonight. I'm busy. I'm doing my homework. What are you doing? I'm watching YouTube. But meaning watch YouTube on your desktop. Get familiar with the interface, update your YouTube app, really click through, experience it. Watch YouTube on your TV, figure out that experience, and you're watching it as a viewer, but letting that experience inform the wisdom and perspective you have as a creator, because it really will perhaps pivot your content strategy Number six, massive payout potential. I hear Jerry Maguire saying, show me the money. Although I don't think Jerry actually said that it was. It was the other guy. But here's what massive payout potential means. The quote from the report says the YouTube Partner Program paid out more than $70 billion to creators from 2021 to 2023 YouTube ads. And I guess, you know, there's super chats and super stickers and channel memberships and other things included in there. But that's nuts. That's YouTube owned by Google, cutting checks to creators like you. Well, Sean, I'm not monetized yet. Well, that's what we're, that's what you're here for. That's why it's a good idea to hit subscribe on the Think Media podcast. Cause we're gonna get you monetized. The YouTube Partner Program paid out more than $70 billion. And so the YouTube economy itself is so massive and there's a huge earning potential on the platform and this continues to grow. In fact, at the time of recording this, it's just a wave like the recent numbers. It's actually really, really healthy right now. And YouTube isn't just a creative outlet or a hobby outlet. It's a financially viable business. And YouTube doesn't just support massive creators, but also micro niche creators that are generating real revenue through all these different ways that YouTube is supplying creators. Of course, YouTube ads is the main one, but YouTube has incorporated shopping, which would be affiliate marketing, merch and merch shelves, channel memberships, and they have whole teams devoted to this. So the future is bright for making money on YouTube. Couple action items, create quality content and get monetized as soon as possible. Sean. No, duh. That's like literally why I'm here. Yeah, I feel you. But like, I hope that this episode lights a fire to just be that much more strategic to be thinking about. Okay, I'm really going to focus on interest. I'm going to create quality content. I'm going to improve my game. I'm going to get to those a thousand subscribers and 4,000 hours a week watch time. I'm going to unlock this monetization potential. But also, and this is our main message at Think Media, diversify your income streams. Because you don't even need to be monetized to start making serious money on YouTube. One of our students in our video ranking academy program, Jen Devore Richter, sent us an email when she was at 546 subscribers, so her channel was not monetized. And she sent us an email and she said, I just had my best week ever. I earned a $11,000. Now how'd she do it? Well, to be clear, she had created her own products and services, but that's how modern YouTube creators that are succeeding are thinking. They are thinking about taking their power back from the platform and saying YouTube is a chance to reach the right people, even just a handful of them, and then have the right monetization strategy. And there's so many different things you could do. Of course you can do affiliate marketing from day one, even before you're monetized on YouTube. And there's a lot of other opportunities. In fact, on the third day of YouTube Jumpstart, we're going super deep into all of the newest and best ways to make money on YouTube. How to actually do it. We're going to be talking about the creator economy, math, how to make big money if you have a small channel. So again, that's another one of the topics we'll be covering on the three day online event that's coming up soon. Number seven. Podcasts and hybrid formats are growing. We're talking about eight of the biggest takeaways from the creator and trends report. Here's the quote. YouTube has over 1 billion monthly active podcast users. Now, I don't know if they mean YouTube Music Podcast consumers, because let's break it down. If you want to start a video podcast, that is what this very show is. What's the difference of it being a podcast? Well, on the one hand, not much because it's you upload a YouTube video and if you're on YouTube consuming this, it's a YouTube video. But the difference is you check a box, you add it to a playlist that has this box checked that says, hey, this is a podcast. In doing so, you upload your podcast art and that episode is distributed to YouTube Music. So then I would imagine that YouTube could track that, being 1 billion users, whether on YouTube Music or on YouTube direct the video version maybe being just played in the background, Maybe you have YouTube Premium and you lock your screen like I do and listen to podcasts all day long in their video format, but you're just listening to the audio. The punchline is YouTube would know that those are podcasts because of the way you've uploaded them and optimized them and organized them. And it's got a billion monthly active users. It has been a fact for A While that YouTube is a bigger podcast platform than Apple and then Spotify and of course there's competitors. But then here's what's cool is if you start a video podcast, optimize it properly, tap into the YouTube side of it, you then extract the audio, which we do, out of this episode and upload it to Apple and Spotify and Google Play and the other 15 places that I don't even know who listens to it there, but shout out if that's where you're listening to the Think Media podcast. Love and respect if you're on like SoundCloud or somewhere else. So why does this matter? Well, viewers use YouTube, like Spotify. They watch, but they also listen passively while cooking and working out. And that's true even if it's not quote, unquote, a podcast. Many videos that are maybe educational I will turn on and listen to, not just watch. Here's a couple action items. Start a video podcast. Even if it's solo episodes, this is a pretty cool case study. Like right now I am talking in my home office to my camera by myself with my. We call it a battle station at Think Media. You know, I got my microphone and my lights on and whatnot. But some of you are on Apple or Spotify right now and I'm in your ears and I'm super pumped. If you're working out, go one more. Let's do another set, let's do another rep today. You can push it a little further if you're, you know, you're doing chores. So it doesn't have to be in the interview show. There's a lot of different ways you can do it. You could do solo rounds, you could do interviews, you could get creative with it. You could, you could invest in researching the different types of podcasts out there and how people are getting creative. They don't have to always be hour long episodes or three hour episodes like a lot of podcasts these days, but they could be really short. They could have maybe some musical elements or different segments. You could get creative. But I am just a huge fan. The podcast opportunities are extensive and video podcasting, in my opinion, is the only way to do it. Turn a camera on, don't just do audio. And it's the ultimate format because you can then clip it for shorts. It's the most practical, I don't want to say easy, but simple way to do the barbell strategy that we already talked about. Because your long form episodes logically get cut into shorts that can lead back to the long form episodes. So clip it for shorts gives you other searchable and, you know, potential viral clips that could pop off on YouTube shorts and then link back to the episode, but also be strategic. One of the questions I get a lot is, Sean, what even is a video podcast? Like, what's the difference? What does that mean? In my opinion, what that means is it means you're thoughtful about the audio consumption so you want to optimize for audio Optional consumption, meaning that there are certain videos that I will post, even on the Think Media podcast channel that I will not post on audio. They're just like a separate upload because they're too visual, because they need to be seen. And my hopes is if you listen to the audio version of this podcast, you probably understand it's like, okay, Sean's talking to me. There's structure to the content. Even if there's titles or something on the video version, it is optimized for audio. And so a video podcast is an audio podcast that you turn the camera on. That might be my simple way of saying it. And I think that's a massive opportunity in 20, 26 and beyond. And so before we get to number eight and land the plane, I do want to thank you for being a listener of the Think Media podcast. And if you love episodes like this, like, rate, share, subscribe, wherever you watch or listen. And then also if you want to start or grow a YouTube channel this year or you feel stuck, I do want to invite you to join me in the Think Media team for our three day online event called YouTube Jumpstart. We're going to be talking about the best way to get views right now, the best way to grow and get subscribers, how to make money. We're going to be sharing some of the latest stuff that we're doing at Think Media. It's going to be a great kick in the pants, but more than anything, it's going to help you bring some clarity to the chaos, develop a real strategy, put a plan together so that you're not just making random content or just hoping a video breaks out, but you have a real step by step structure to the way forward for growing your influence on YouTube going into 2026. And so that's coming up soon. And TubeJumpStart.com is the URL if you want to register for free. Or you could check out the show notes wherever you watch or listen to be a part of that event. That's coming up soon. So we've got to cover the last big takeaway from YouTube's 20th anniversary culture and trends report. Which is wild that YouTube just celebrated 20 years. I started YouTube in 2007, doing a 10 part video blog series for the pastor of my small church in Marysville, Washington, an hour north of Seattle. Been a crazy journey and so I wasn't quite there on YouTube in 2005, but for me personally, I've been on YouTube for 18 years. YouTube just celebrated 20 years. And, and what's wild Is future is bright. The horizon of YouTube looks incredible. And I'll link to this report in the show notes if you want to review it yourself. But this was my eighth and final big takeaway from this culture and trends report. And it's this. From creator to founder, your channel is a seed. Here's the quote. Events like VidCon and companies like Complexity Media grew out of creator led momentum. So they really identified a pattern and a formula that's been happening now over the last 20 years. Content, community, commerce. What does that mean? It means that it starts with creating some content. It starts simple, with posting videos. Dreaming big, but starting small. Good content, focus on content. Content that taps into an interest, Content that adds value to the conversation. Content that entertains or inspires or educates. So it starts with great content and then what happens? It starts to form a community. A community starts to build around that channel. Subscribers and viewers and an audience. And even if that audience is small, you start to build a community and then what happens? Opportunity for commerce or really the opportunity to form a company. Now, I know half our audience is like, you already have a business, an offer, you want to get, lead sales. This is still relevant for you because you don't even know what other doors YouTube could open up. But it's kind of a conversation of order in some cases. And what we've seen in the last 20 years of YouTube is people were like, I just want to make videos. You know, I want to jump into the creator economy, start creating content and then it turns into a company. So whichever way you start is okay. But the formula is great. Content starts to form a community and then you might form a company or have commerce around it. And so they gave a couple examples that the Vlog brothers eventually created the event VidCon, which is still, I think, the number one online video conference in the world. Smosh created A media brand, lonelygirl15, created scripted fiction. Mr. Beast eventually built Feastables, chocolate bars and Mr. Beast Burger. It started with videos, it started with content. Eventually it led to bigger brands, other businesses, and different ways of monetizing and bigger than just YouTube ads, actually building companies and expanded brands and events. So there's a bunch of action items I have for you. The first is to think of YouTube as an incubator. We started talking about YouTube being your headquarters. So YouTube is like an incubator. You can test ideas and if you're thinking as a visionary, the ideas you're testing. The cool thing is you can kind of practice in public or do small tests There's a really good book I like. It's called Good to Great. And it talks about bullets and cannonballs. And in business, it talks about you don't necessarily want to risk all your savings or risk all your energy or your efforts by shooting cannonballs, like a huge amount of effort, but all the time, you should be shooting bullets. Small amounts of effort, small tests. YouTube's a place to test things, test ideas, test concepts. You know your community tab, would you like this or that? If you were going to do merch, you'd be like, would you buy this? Yes or no? No. Okay, cool. I'm glad I didn't make it. You know, it's an incubator, and your next upload isn't just a video. It's a brick in a future you can't see yet. Final big thoughts. And this might be the most important part of the whole conversation. Number one, start small, but don't think small. I've learned that sometimes growing up in a small town, that your small town can make you small minded. I've learned being a business owner and having a small business, that sometimes your small business can make you small minded. But I'm inviting you to think big in small places to start small, but don't think small. So respect your beginnings. You might be filming in a bedroom, you might be filming during your lunch break, you're filming in your car. It might be like, very difficult to dream big, but I think that's important. You know, there's even a Bible verse that says, do not despise small beginnings. It kind of means, like, do not disrespect small beginnings. That's a, it's a blessed place to be at that place where you're in the grind, you're just starting. You got a smartphone and an idea. You're just experimenting. It's an important season. Respect that season, because everybody starts at zero. Everybody started somewhere. And the mindset when you're starting small is you're not just a creator, you're a founder in disguise. One of our big missions is to help creators think like business owners. Like Jay Z said, I'm not a businessman, I am a business man. There's two different creator mindsets. The I'm just a creator or the I'm a media company. And even as a solo operator, you're building a media company. If you're publishing media. Oh, we're a publishing house. We're, we're doing a podcast, we're chopping up short form. And who's helping you? Oh, it's just me and AI. Like, we're just like a founder mentality. You're building a platform, you're building a brand, you're building a business, and let's dream big. Like, second thought, ask yourself, if this channel grew, what could it become? Could it become a brand? Could it become a book? Could it become a studio? Could you start building the creative culture in your small town? Could you start rallying other innovators and entrepreneurs and creators and artists and musicians? Could your YouTube channel be a hub or a brand or a movement? You can be the spark for that. Your YouTube channel could be the spark for that. This is not the kind of thing that happens overnight, but it takes someone to capture a vision. It takes someone to start seeing further into the future. And it takes someone that sees into the future, but then applies the grid it takes to the present to do the work. And vision gives your uploads meaning. What is the vision for your channel? What is the dream for your channel? What is the mission for your channel? Sean, relax. I'm literally just trying to do tutorials of how to do barbecue. I think that's awesome. And I want to ask you to say, could you set a higher vision? Could you think about establishing a mission? Could you think about establishing values, core values, the principles with which you're building your YouTube channel on? That's a creator who thinks differently. That's how a founder thinks. That's how a CEO creator thinks. Thanks. And it attracts others who want to build it with you. We're talking about from creator to founder and the fact that your channel is a seed. And I've got two more thoughts for you. One is turn pro and act like a media company from day one. Stay consistent. Use your brand and your name, intentionally. Document your journey. Keep improving. And you don't need a team to act pro. You need a mindset of growth and ownership. There's a great book by Steven Pressfield that's pretty famous in kind of the entrepreneur, artist, creative community. And it is about making the decision. It starts first really in your mind. I know that could be kind of, you know, woo, woo. But it's like, oh, it starts with thoughts, you know, let's think and grow rich. Well, that is where actions come from. First starts with beliefs and then it starts being thoughts. And then we take action on those thoughts. But mindset matters. And so when you click from your mindset that I'm going to stop dabbling, I'm going to start dominating, and I'm going to turn pro. Well, Sean, I got a full time job. It doesn't mean you can't be a professional with the five hours a week that you're devoting to your YouTube channel and applying with another level of strategy, intentionality, care, craft to what it is you're doing on YouTube. So act like a media company. Turn pro. And then lastly, your next video matters. You can't scale what you don't start. Your future is waiting for your next upload. Rome wasn't built in a day. It was built one upload at a time. And so I love dreaming big. But then the most important next step is that after this episode, we lock in. We take action, we schedule, we shoot, we edit, we post, and we keep posting one video at a time. Because that's how you build influence on YouTube.