← The Think Media Podcast
The Think Media Podcast
432: 8 Years. No Growth… Then THIS Changed Everything! w/ Dan Martell
01:17:59
Loading summary
Transcript71 lines
- [00:00]
Sean Cannell
Hey, quick heads up. Before we get into Today's episode, our YouTube Jumpstart online event is actually happening right now, but there's still time to join. It's a free three day training where we will walk you through how to start and grow on YouTube fast. Even if you're starting from scratch, you'll learn the exact blueprint we use at Think Media to get views and the best ways to start earning money even before you have 1000 YouTube subscribers. No fancy gear needed. Plus we'll be sharing some brand new strategies and AI tools to help you go faster. So to get access, just go to tubejumpstart.com right now to grab your spot and get access. Now, this event is live with limited replays, but those replays will be coming down. So if you want to get access to everything for free, just go to tubejumpstart.com and you can see all of the details. That's tube and jumpstart dot com. Now let's jump into today's episode. If you want to know what's working on YouTube right now, then listen up because our guest today generated over 10 million views in just the last 30 days. But here's the thing. He struggled for over eight years. Consistent uploads, never missing a week, frustrated with slow growth. Dan Martell is a serial entrepreneur, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and today he has over 1.6 million subscribers a on YouTube. In this episode, Dan reveals his five content creation rules for growing on YouTube and any social media platform. The 702010 strategy for rising above the competition in a crowded marketplace, and some unusual ways to use AI to create an edge. Whether you're starting from zero or trying to scale, this is what's working. Now let's get into it. All right, Dan, I've been looking at some of your recent videos and you've been pulling massive views lately. What do you think is genuinely nuanced social media and YouTube that you've been doing to get the results you're getting?
- [02:02]
Dan Martell
I love that. Here's the thing that we do that I think few people are willing to do and that's to go do the research before you create the content. So in our world we call that pre validation. And essentially what we do is we've, we used to use tools, we eventually built our own because my background software. But essentially the concept is this, is that in the category of content you create, there's a bunch of creators that create content. And if you could figure out what are the outliers on their channels to create content that's going to give you directionally accurate content focus. Now here's the nuance. You have to take things that are honestly an outlier. So an outlier would be like a person that has a hundred thousand subscribers subs and Normally they get 20,000 views and all of a sudden they got, you know, a million views on a video that's an outlier. We also filter that through things that have been outliers in the last six months. What I've discovered with the algorithm on YouTube is that it changes it. It like it'll decide certain types of contents are better for their audience because they're always running experiments. So we also filter that list of ideation through the lens of in the, you know, recency in the last six months. So the good news is I think YouTube loves YouTube and YouTube is very much a platform that rewards retention. And I think if you understand the nuance in human psychology and editing and sound design and visual effects and pacing and road mapping and if all these terms sound foreign to you, you've got some homework to do. Because again I'm a software guy, a business guy that you know, because I've been spending so much time in the media space have had to learn these things because it's, it's the art form that we're practicing and that's, that's the big thing is just making sure the concepts of the content that you create is one part your heart wants to talk about it and the other part is it's pre validated and the algorithm wants to hear about it.
- [04:03]
Sean Cannell
Is there software that you use to identify these outlier video opportunities?
- [04:08]
Dan Martell
People are going to get annoyed with me because I have an incredible team and they use software. We built a software, we call it Neo I think for obvious reasons because it's cool name and it does a lot of these things. But I mean if I, if I'm remembering correctly and I'm making this up, I think it's like the 10 of 10 is one of them. The viral hit something is another one. But essentially you just want to pre validate is the idea.
- [04:37]
Sean Cannell
Yeah, one of 10 is one of the softwares I think you mentioned in one of your videos. View stats. Mr. Beast team built that. Vidiq also has an outliers feature.
- [04:46]
Dan Martell
Yeah, we've used like two over the years. It's almost like we use a bunch of different tools that do overlays on top of channels. And I only know them because when I go sit down next to my team, I See it on their screens. But the big idea is find the outliers. Use those as concepts as input to the ideation. It doesn't mean copy anything. And you should always give your unique perspective and we can talk more about that. But those are the, that's the essence of what we do. That if you're not doing, it's just going to be really hard to compete.
- [05:15]
Sean Cannell
Walk me through what's changed, maybe on your channel in the last six to 12 months. Observing some of your breakout videos. A lot of AI, a lot of get rich in the new era of AI. Five AI agents, discipline and productivity angles. Maybe. How did you figure out your buckets? How did you refine your buckets? And what's happening in your mind in terms of is this an extension of the outliers strategy or how are you identifying, you know, these topics that have really been taken off for you?
- [05:47]
Dan Martell
Yeah, I mean, the one thing that we do that everybody should consider is I essentially sit down with my team every week and we do an media ideation meeting. We literally just had it before this convo. And part of that is I, as I'm scrolling through social media and I find things I find interesting, I save them in this notes file and it's a shared file amongst everybody that's kind of on a producer side of the media team. And then they typically review Those, you know, TikTok videos or Instagram videos or YouTube videos prior to the meeting. And then what I do is I go through them and I share what I like about it. One of the things that I think most people don't do is they get stuck on a format and they don't test new formats. And if, again, if these are terms that are new, like formats, if you watch and search Mr. Beast format, you will literally see a diagram that talks about, you know, like the one versus a million or the buried alive. These are all video formats. So in many ways we always take an approach of like, what's working that's, you know, tried and tested. That's about 70% of our effort goes into kind of running the play on that kind of content. 20% is kind of this idea of, of like, it's a derivative of some of these formats, but it's not like a departure of it, if that makes sense. I use this concept of derivative versus departure. And then 10% is moonshots. It's like creative projects. These are the vlogs. These are the, you know, we're doing this challenge video. We're, we're always testing Things that could become new formats. Because I feel if you don't, you'll just get stuck in this sea of sameness that everybody just blends in, looking like everybody. And the truth is, is, is, you know, even as creators, like, we want to create, you know, so this formulaic pattern, blueprint template stuff, you can do it. And a lot of people have made a lot of money with it, but, you know, for what I want to create and what I'm interested in. And that's, that's the difference about that ideation meeting. It's this, this Venn diagram of like, what is Dan talking about and interested in and what do we know the market, the, the essentially the algorithm likes. And that middle ground is what we're trying to hit using that kind of 70, 2010 approach. The AI stuff. The reason why that became front and center is I actually spend most of my time in AI. So I have Martel Ventures, which is an AI venture studio. So, like, we have, you know, AI engineers and data scientists and prompt engineers, and we have like a whole team of people building AI software every day. And here I was on YouTube, you know, really teaching productivity and mindset and, and business strategies and not even talking about the AI. And I sat down with the team like six months ago and I said, look, let's, let's create a video that's kind of a, you know, that 20%, which is like this, our audience wants this from me, but let's add the AI blend to it. Boom, almost a million view video. Well, I'm not going to argue with the algorithm if you want that. And that's actually what I love to talk about. Let's figure out more that again, it's what am I excited about speaking about and also that my audience wants to hear from. And it's not something you can just like go hardcore one way. I think if you've been known for one thing, you have to slowly. And that's what you'll start to see over the next three months, is more of the AI business stuff. Because when I say it's part of my life, anybody that's ever visited Martell Ventures cannot believe the level of sophistication of what we do with AI. And yet if you followed my social media content, probably wouldn't have heard a whole lot about it.
- [09:19]
Sean Cannell
Well, let's go deeper in AI, but isolate it to content creation. And so maybe what have your. We could hit it at a couple levels. Your thoughts of how disruptive AI is going to be to content, and then Mindset and execution around using AI as somebody that wants to produce content. Many busy business owners and everybody listening to this is wishes they had more time. And so AI is a massive opportunity. Google's new video seems very disruptive. Are we even going to have content creators anymore? Let's talk AI in relation to content creation. Go big picture. How disruptive do you think this is going to be?
- [09:59]
Dan Martell
I will tell you how ignorant I am as somebody that spends all of his time in this space like few weeks ago. Okay, My opinion for a long time because I'm an artist is that look, I want to use AI in every aspect of the production, the editing, the ideation. But when it comes to on camera, there's something beautiful about the relationship you get to have with your audience. Dan to viewer. And we built AI avatars and generative voice and generative video and generative everything. Like essentially that's what we built in house for ourselves to prototype, to ideate, you know, to do pickups. Because if I miss said a word or I miss, you know, communicated something, it saves me from coming back in the studio to re record it. Awesome Sauce helps the team with storyboarding and, and, and kind of like creating, you know, the, the, the pre production stuff using AI in the B roll. I mean we built this whole tool called Turbo B Roll, which is a B roll search tool on top of 60 terabytes of, of data on our NAS. Okay, so like heavy AI but not customer facing or viewer facing. A few weeks ago I'm on a call. I do these calls every week. They're called AI expert round tables. The anybody creating AI content. I usually, if they've like got big audiences, I like what they're saying. I invite them to one of these calls and I'm on the call with five other creators. And again these are AI experts. They all do different things, automation, technical media, but they all have content, you know, half a million, a million, et cetera. And one guy asked me, he goes Dan, what are you doing when it comes to generative video or essentially, you know, AI avatars? And I said the truth is just like I'm not behind it. I just, I don't. The same reason I don't think AI should be singing songs. I think the songwriter should sing the songs. And to the degree that we can capture the voice and the purity of it, I think, you know, let's say let AI do the algorithm and distribution stuff. And he goes interesting. Well he said have you ever heard of these people? And he starts naming all these People, I can't remember their names. I said no. He goes, well those are all AI avatars. And I was like, really? He goes, yeah, they have millions of followers, they make millions of dollars and they're not real people. And on that call, out of the five people, the other two spoke up and said, yeah, if you go to my feed that you saw that you invited me to this meeting, that's not me. So I got duped by an AI avatar. And then the guy that's telling me this, he goes, yeah, for the last three months all those videos, those weren't me. And then the fourth guy, I'm not even making this up, he goes, he sits back, lets us have this whole argument discussion. And he said, hey, I didn't want to say anything because I was really enjoying kind of your guys different perspectives. But I also, if you look at all my videos, 600,000 subs, those were not me, it's my team that makes these videos. And I was like, oh, okay. But then I leaned in and I asked, I said, okay, well how do you think of like the relationship you have with your viewers? And they had some really nuanced thoughts. They say, well I think for news content most people don't really care what who says it as long as they have access to the information. So if it's an AI avatar but it's on news like it doesn't matter. Maybe different if you're teaching and you're telling stories and it's talking head, but it was it. And I said, well what, you know, their argument was, I think in the future people are going to be okay with the AI as long as they know it's AI as long as the information is really good. And I will tell you again, this is only a couple of weeks ago that conversation changed my perspective on AI avatars. Because when I was hearing the Gary Vee's out there talking about it, I was like, I don't agree. I think people buy from those they know like and trust. Trust is not something that you can do synthetic. It requires the soul, requires the belief. And I think I'm leaning towards that. So we have not decided to do any major strategic changes, but we definitely continue and have built the pipeline of production of AI avatar Dan. And we'll probably experiment in the near future and see what the audience says and what the algorithm says. At the end of the day I just care that I help people. And if the algorithm says we don't care, Dan, if you're the guy sitting in front of the camera or an AI avatar of you. We just want the information and, and there's a bottleneck called Dan's time that can get removed so we can produce more of this, so that the people that want it have access to more of it. I'm not going to be the person that sits in the middle and be romantic about it.
- [14:24]
Sean Cannell
What do you think about it from a scripting perspective? You're a writer. You wrote one of my favorite business books that everybody should get. In fact, we have a conversation about buy back your time that was on this very podcast that I'll link in the show notes. And you're, you're a content producer. Is your team helping you write the content? Are you also writing your own content? And then is AI helping you with that? What are your thoughts on that side of it?
- [14:45]
Dan Martell
I love this question. So this is essentially what NEO does really well. So NEO ingests everything I've ever said. Dan Martell said we're talking board meetings, coaching calls, presentations, podcasts, YouTube, all the basic stuff that people do, but nuance, big time nuance. And what do I mean by this? We pre process the information so it's not a transcript, but we actually extract stories, aphorisms, metaphors. There's a whole list, I think there's 12 different kind of content types that my Head of Word, so I have a person, Joel, that's literally his title's Head of Word. And he's responsible for every written word that goes out in my life. And what he does is he uses NEO to process everything I've ever said, to pull out essentially the unique perspectives because that's a big idea that again we can talk about and all the metaphors and all these different components of things that only I say. And then he uses this to create newsletter captions, scripts, et cetera. But it's all based off of me. And so like there is no AI generation. It's AI to filter, to co create. But none of it is synthetic in the sense that it's additive, it's just extractive and then, and then helps with the discovery, if that makes sense.
- [16:12]
Sean Cannell
Is NEO a front facing product or just internal?
- [16:15]
Dan Martell
All these right now are internal. I've debated if I'm going to commercialize them or not. That's kind of what Martel Ventures does. But a lot of these, you know, there's a difference between building internal tools versus commercializing them. And you know, it's. They were, it was worth just building them for ourselves, obviously. Um, but yeah, I show my friends when they come visit the studio and they're like, can I get access to it? So not yet, but do you have.
- [16:43]
Sean Cannell
A personal preference between ChatGPT, Gemini Quad?
- [16:51]
Dan Martell
Dude, this is nerdy. This is. I love this question. Okay, so Neo, because the frontier models, that's what they're called, change and evolve so much. NEO has a thing called an eval function. And an eval function is essentially. Think of it this way, if you gave it like, you know, a book to process and identify a certain thing, each model would have a different output. So you could think of like each output as a potential error rate. Right? This model got 60% accurate. This person, this one got 70% accurate. This other one got 90% accurate. What happens is these models get better, but they also change, right? So like I would say OpenAI recently, in the last four weeks has gotten just as good, as good as like, Claude, you know, for like, so is Gemini. Gemini is getting good. And it's interesting because depending even on the tonality of type of writing and obviously the pre prompts you put in there kind of to frame everything, different things will write different ways. Right. But like we, we built Neo so it's model independent because certain things seem to work better using, you know, an anthropic model versus, you know, Gemini versus an OpenAI model.
- [18:03]
Sean Cannell
Before we go on, we're going to get tactical into YouTube stuff and your five content rules. But one last question on, on AI, do you, are you a user of those models directly? Like, some people are talking to ChatGPT every day and I've probably used Claude.
- [18:21]
Dan Martell
Seven times so far today and it's noon and Chad GPT probably 13 times. I have them on my phone, I run them as background processes. I use them to do deep research. Help me with my thinking. Do like literally the research function of these things are next level. And then that's not including all the tools I use on a daily basis so far this morning that we built ourselves that use these models. So yeah, heavy user.
- [18:47]
Sean Cannell
Got it. Okay, so you've got 1.5 million subscribers and you're still experimenting. What's the biggest shift you've made in your content strategy, if any that's maybe been recently working. You've touched on this at the beginning, but has anything come to mind?
- [19:04]
Dan Martell
Yeah, I mean, we recently brought on head of media management. His background is in production. And the big shift I think people are going to start to see, we just shot a few new videos that aren't out yet is just a lot more focus on the Artistic part of a video. You know, when I look at some of these, the, the Ryan Trahans and you know, obviously Beast, but everybody, you know, everybody knows Beast. Like, you can see why they got these incredible retention rates, you know, and some of it, I think they do it, you know, by design and other ones, it's just by second nature, just what they personally like, like as a preference. But this new media manager we brought in, he's bringing a level of artistic production that I'm really excited about that's going to feel a little bit more playful and fun. And the truth is, Sean, it's just me, right? Like, you know, we spent a little bit of time together, but you can, you know, if anybody follows me on Instagram and they see all these reels, like, I live a very different life than most people in the sense that, you know, I only do one on one meetings on a scooter. I take my team wake surfing almost, you know, once a week, every other day if, if they're doing well. I like to use, you know, all my fun stuff like my cars and my plane to do cool adventures. And I have no problem having a camera around yet I think from a YouTube point of view, the B roll might demonstrate it. But it's just we're not shooting in, in those environments and I have no problem doing it because I don't shut up. Like, I talk a lot, man. So like, if I'm on my boat, I'm always talking about business opportunities, vision, dreaming, what are we doing, you know, AI. So I'm, I'm hoping, you know, again, Sam owns my creative direction and, and kind of the, the metrics on the YouTube side. So he decides. But from what I'm seeing, I think that's going to be a really fun, you know, and just understanding stakes and designing challenges like Mr. Beast. Like, I've listened to every interview Jimmy's ever done, period. Full stop. Like, you name me the, like from Colin Samir to Joe Rogan to, you know, my first million to, you name it, I've watched it because I'm a student of the game, you know, and I care about understanding if somebody's executing the highest level and they're willing to share their best practices with. I've watched Dan Mace, his editor on the charity stuff. I watch his 3 1/2 hour video on how to edit videos. And I'm not an editor. Like that's how much I care. And I just think he's already told us what YouTube wants. YouTube wants great YouTube videos and great YouTube videos has all those things I talked about and I just, if anything it's doing those things better is what I'm trying to refine. It's like how do we. And again, how do we use AI to identify some level of algorithmic assessment? Right. Cause I'm a software guy and I think we're going to get to a place where before you publish, you'll be able to pre process your video through this assessment of the video's probability of being happy by the algorithm. Right. Is the algorithm happy with what I created so that you don't have to like, you know, what most people do publish and then thumbnail test and package test and like the title chest and da, da. And I watched the team do this non stop and there's just refreshing and re. I know when there's a video that went out because everybody's on their phone refreshing. You know, Is this a 1 of 10 or. You know what I mean? So I think that's the, the thing that people are going to see that will definitely add because retention rate is. Is everything. Right. It's like, can I get more people to watch? Can I get them to care where the spikes. The spikes is an interesting one because the spike tells me that people shared the video and people came back. You know, can we create more spikes in the video?
- [22:50]
Sean Cannell
There's a lot of nuggets in what you just said. I want to unpack a few. You mentioned you're a student of the game. I think that's a big takeaway that, you know, I think sometimes those that are even listening to YouTube conversation like this, they need to consume more YouTube from a perspective. You know, hearing an entrepreneur like yourself that also knows who Ryan Trahan is is a unique insight. You know, you're paying attention to those that are getting big views. And then to apply like Ryan Trahan thinking to business content is a genius move. Let me also know if I understand you're mentioning that you've already. You're pulling crazy views. It looks like 9 million views I think in the last 30 days when I looked at. Or something like that, which is wild and it's down, man.
- [23:32]
Dan Martell
We, we were doing 20 million, which is also.
- [23:35]
Sean Cannell
Which is also equally.
- [23:37]
Dan Martell
And I want to be at 100 million. So I'm like, there's levels to this.
- [23:41]
Sean Cannell
So you're clearly. You're like you're already winning and then thinking about improvement. Beginner mindset. Always, always getting, you know, better. But if I'm hearing you right, what you're saying is, is bringing maybe more storytelling, lifestyle because you're also, you are doing it. So like, how do I bring that, bring people with me onto the boat or onto the plane? Am I, am I catching that? Like, can we make it more fun and more playful and get, get out of the talking head and into the real world?
- [24:06]
Dan Martell
Yeah. I mean, we call these hybrid videos as a format and we've done a few so far where there's a storyline to teach. The educate part, there's the B roll and the placement or the container, Sam calls it, for the inspiration. And then there's a level of entertainment which is, you know, then how do you add. Oh, while I'm teaching you about speaking, while we're at the event, we also go and do this like, you know, some kind of weird challenge thing. That is something I would normally do. But you just sometimes, like a lot of the reality TV shows, it's just the thing happened, they just might have happened in a different sequence. And I think that's like a lot of people should understand this concept of, you know, delegating to other people to help you with the creation. Right. Every task you keep is a tax on your potential. So the reason why I don't know a lot about the details of the software is because I am very big fan. I wrote the book as well. Buy back your time to allow certain things to go to other people to be accountable for so that it always happened. And like, for example, I do this program called Kings Club and I've been doing it for a while. We started recording at Kings Club. Well, Kings Club's now become a format and a container. So what, what does a container mean? It means something I was already doing. We now have this moment in time and then we can shape the container. So how do we shape the container to create better content? Well, we created this visual hook with this talk box. It's a square box with my logo on it that's blue. And everybody goes, what is that? When the video shows up. But it's a mic and the kids have to talk into a mic. Just right off the bat, having somebody that's real ask you the question versus some person that's off camera changes the flow in the format. Then it's okay, what are the questions? We know that will do well. Okay, pre validation. Okay, well how do we get the kids to ask that? I'll tell you how. You teach something that gets them to want to ask those questions. So then the content I teach at King's Club is now informed by the content I want to produce, by my answers, because I need to get the kids who want to ask the questions. Sure, I could sit there and see the questions to the kids, but the truth is, it's not that hard. Right. Like, these questions are like, why don't schools allow kids to use AI in school? Well, that's on the back end of me teaching them how to use AI to become successful entrepreneurs. You know, zero surprise that out of the 12 questions I answered, somebody asked that question. So I just think there's this future of organic content that's a little orchestrated by having a team. Think of the containers of where you're going in your life and how can you prompt the activity that is part of a best practice of a story arc and a narrative that we know YouTube loves.
- [26:49]
Sean Cannell
That makes a lot of sense and appreciate all that clarity. Okay, so one of the amazing parts about your story is, I mean, you've been on a growth wave for quite a while. And these days, especially when I think about YouTube entrepreneurs, you're a one. You're up there. You could throw out some names, but, you know, Cody Sanchez, Alex Hermosi, and those who are hitting big, big numbers. And, and you're just. And you continue to rise. And as many people believe, they're like, okay, well, Dan just came out of nowhere, you know, for most people, because you just came out of nowhere onto a lot of people's radar. But what's interesting about your YouTube channel is you didn't come out of nowhere. And if you go to your oldest video, 10 years old, basic talking head video, it looks like you're in kind of like a loft, kind of like a little bit more, you know, I don't know, country decor. Forgive me if that's the wrong. It's just like a residential upstairs. There's maybe a banister there. And you're, you're, you're, you know, you're shooting a video and you have over 2,000 uploads. So you might. You could tell me, you know, I want to respect the journey. You've been on a wave for a while, but, like, not. Not 10 years. You know, your rise has been wild in the last little bit. Speak to the journey and what's the real story behind. Behind how long it took you to get here?
- [28:12]
Dan Martell
What I want everybody to hear is a simple question.
- [28:15]
Sean Cannell
Are you ready to start your YouTube channel, but you don't know where to begin? Or have you been posting videos but you're frustrated because you're just not getting the views and nobody is seeing them. For a limited time, you can get the number one bestselling YouTube strategy book, YouTube Secrets, for free at ytsecrets. Com. This book is the proven blueprint that has helped thousands of people go from zero subscribers to a thriving channel. All I ask is that you pay shipping, and then I will mail you the brand new, updated second edition of YouTube Secrets. And when you place your order today, there's a couple other super cool things that I'll hook you up with. First, you're going to get instant access to a free deep dive masterclass where I will break down the exact strategy I'm currently using to generate over 120,000 views per day every single day on YouTube and generate over $100,000 per month on the platform, as well as the three biggest mistakes that most creators make when starting and trying to grow their channel. That class is free to watch instantly when you pick up this special offer. Now, you're also gonna get my video series called the Perfect Video Recipe. One of the updated chapters in the second edition is titled the Perfect Video Recipe. It's actually a formula for how to structure YouTube videos to get maximum views and how to break through in the YouTube video algorithm. This is the exact formula that readers of the book and our students are using to generate millions of views. And again, that'll just be included when you jump on this limited offer. Third, you're going to get access to our 1000 Subs Club email newsletter, which delivers actionable weekly tips to your email inbox that will help you get to 1,000 subscribers fast. And we also do really cool weekly giveaways that includes lighting and microphones and YouTube equipment, plus, plus software that will help you on your creator journey. But here's the thing. Supplies are limited on this free book promotion. So if you want to grab this offer, go to ytsecrets.com right now and just place your order covering shipping, and I'll get this book in the mail to you right away.
- [30:19]
Dan Martell
What I want everybody to hear is a simple question. Why not you? Why not you? I mean, I'm lucky, Sean, that I had somebody come into my life when I was a teenager, when I was in rehab. I have a crazy upbringing. You know the story. It's just something happened. One day, this guy named Mark Pence. I was about to leave. I was gonna run down the driveway, tell them to call the sheriffs. I just don't want to be at this place anymore. And he kind of. He just said. He said, why not now? Why not you. You know, you're gonna get out, you're gonna relapse in a year, hopefully maybe two, maybe three, maybe five, you're gonna come back, you're gonna go through this. You don't kill yourself. And I remember thinking when he said that, why not you? And I'll tell you why this is relevant to my YouTube journey. Because it is kind of crazy to think to yourself, maybe, maybe if I show up and I do the thing, I could be one of those people. I mean, Sean, it's kind of bananas. I gotta imagine there's millions of people every year that say, I want to be, you know, Mr. Beast. Not even Mr. Beast, like maybe Dan Martella or Hermosi or Sanchez. I don't even know. Maybe their aspirations is like a tenth of that, I don't know. But they don't truly believe it. And I got fortunate when I was a young kid that some man said, why not you and why not now? That when I decide, and it took me a while to decide to do something, I just assume if I'm willing to dedicate a decade, and that's what I made a commitment to myself, the first upload. I will do this for 10 years in a row, and I will publish every week, and I will never miss a week. And I have it. The difference between Dan in that first video was me at my home, to Dan that has a media team and produces videos that get 9 million, 20 million views a month is about two and a half years ago, I decided to stop being an amateur. Okay, what I call a marketing department, and decide to go pro and build a media company. And those are two different things. And I've been blessed over the years in the last two and a half years to have this conversation with close to a thousand of my friends that have come to me because they've also said, enough's enough, enough, enough. Creating content for marketing purposes. I want to stand and have impact with my message. I want to invest ahead of revenue to build something meaningful. And again, I'm the byproduct of other people that showed up in my life and, and express this to me. And that's all that. That shifted. And then, you know, when, if you haven't read Steven Pressfield's book Going Pro, the big thing, I don't know if he talks about it, but my philosophy is very simple because I've obviously been an entrepreneur and, and done really well in my life is calendar and bank account. How much time am I dedicating to the output? The. The Craft versus how much money am I spending? You can't tell me you want to be number one in a thing or be successful in a thing and then spend little time or little money towards achievement like those, your. Your. Your dreams. The effort has to be aligned with the size of your dreams. And I get this all the time, people. Literally yesterday, one of my buddies, he just sold his company. He came to me, he's like, I want to work with you. I want to go pro. I said, are you willing to go all in? Because if you're not, I can't help you. The word calling, which is, I think what we are called to do, has the word inside of it. All in. If you're lucky enough to find your calling in life, you have to go all in. And that's the thing. And Sean, I didn't want to be famous, known, thought leader. I didn't want any of that. What I had a desire to do, though, is to support other people and to inspire the next generation and hopefully, you know, create a different message to these kids. Because the alternative to what they were consuming, I didn't align with. And I can't complain about it if I don't give them a better option. So that's what shifted in two and a half years ago when I went from literally 2,000 view videos, right? That I did for eight years. Eight years, every week. Never missed a week. Religious, disciplined, you know, consistent. I just wasn't great. The, the difference. I didn't look at the numbers. I didn't even work on thumbnails. I didn't think of packaging. I didn't think of storyline, cadence, messaging out. Like, none of the stuff I do today was even in my realm of decision making as I created that content, which is fine. It gave me reps, and those reps gave me the foundation to get to a place of belief that when I finally said, okay, do I want to be one of those people? I went back to that question, why not you? Why not me? Why not now? And I, I think everybody listening, if you're watching this, why not you? The last mile is barely crowded because most people are not going to do the work to get there.
- [35:21]
Sean Cannell
I'm thinking about two people listening to this, and I want you to speak to the second person, the first person. You gave some very practical tips. If you're just being an amateur, you're not uploading consistently, you have not invested your calendar or your bank account in this, then you shouldn't be complaining about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't do. But I want you to speak to the second person. They're listening to this. They've been creating content for two to three years. They have invested, maybe they haven't taken a ton of risk, but they've invested time, money, maybe they've invested some gear, maybe got some education. They've been practicing, they've been listening to information like this for a while. They're two to three years into this. They've been uploading semi consistently. What, what would you say to them? More reps. How do they break through, how do they break out? How do they self evaluate and is there a point? Seth Godin wrote the book the Dip. When to quit and when to Stick, Determining if you need to pivot, what are your thoughts? For that person that's been doing the content game in their own mind, they're like, I, I'm putting the energy in, maybe do I need to do more energy? What are your thoughts, Dan?
- [36:33]
Dan Martell
It's a fun question to consider. You know, my answer for a while would have been, you just gotta put in the effort and get better. And if you're not getting the results right now, you're just not good enough yet. Right, comma, yet is always the thing I go back to. But then I was sitting down with Chris Doe in Austin a couple months ago and he was listening to me again. Somebody at the table was like, how do you know I'm going all in, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. How did you do it? I said, look, I'll tell you, but most people are not willing to do it. They're not willing to put in the effort, the challenges. They're not willing to work. And Chris goes, I agree with that, Dan, but I also disagree a little bit. And he says, because what sometimes is missing is the X factor. And he goes, dan, you underestimate. Like, you have that and Cody has that and Alex has that and Simon has that and Gary has that. And I'm like, he's not wrong, Sean. I mean, we all know these people that got, you know, faces for radio, like, and it's not, it's just some people, their mind doesn't translate into what the viewer wants. And it's interesting because in the same breath, you know, we have these massive channels with people that are just super quirky, right? These streamers that can't, you know, they're just like train wrecks. But then we watch because we want to watch a train wreck. So I think what I'VE resolved is I think you have an X factor for you. It just may not be the one you want that you might have to figure out for yourself. So you might have a, a format or a creative process that's going to be very unique to you. That may not be the one you're trying to do right now. And just understand that in regards to like the ones that have gotten some traction but not to the level they want. Again, I go back to Mr. Beast. I. I've heard him say it three, four, five, six times when he talks about the early days. One of the things that he did that I think is a master class in expert. And he talks about how he found a group of friends and they would get on Skype and they would stay on Skype and they would talk about everything. YouTube for 16 hours a day. And every time they would upload as a team, as a group, as a pod, they would share the videos, they would criticize the videos, they would talk about it. And that steel sharpened steel is how you create great art at scale and learn the fastest. And that's exactly how I've built all my companies, my AI venture company. I have an advisory board of AI experts. I meet with them, I show them the products, they give me feedback. They don't hold punches. Same thing with the media side. When we started focus on YouTube we built an advisory board. These are people that have massive audiences on YouTube. We send them the videos, the rough drafts, the, I don't know, the software that's called like Shade or something that everybody uses for editing. And we just, we just share the, the raw footage beforehand and we make commitments to give feedback to each other because Steel Sharpensteel and I just think that some creators, because they're scared to get the feedback or it takes time or they're. They just can't get that feedback. They just don't go seek it. And I just can't see a world that if you're getting yourself around other people that are further along than you and being a student of the game and showing up with open ears and eager heart and, and, and willing to take action that you can't over time improve and compounding growth compounds. I mean my son, it's a fun story. My son is 12 now. He's been doing YouTube as he, he records himself playing a video game. He edits the videos and he uploads it using Cap Cut. And when he started he got his channel to about 2000 subs and he got taken down by YouTube the reason why he was using copyrighted songs and he was doing some funny follow stuff that wasn't allowed. The emails were all the strikes were going to an email address that his mom set up that he wasn't seeing. And one day he woke up and his 2000 subs were gone. His YouTube channel was deleted. You can imagine at the time, a 10 year old, his heart was broken. And I said to him, you can either in this moment accept that that's what it is, or you can take everything you've learned so far, go back to the drawing board and get back to where you're at a third of the time. That's usually what it takes third of the time to get back to where you're at. And the key part this time though is use your friends to get feedback to build something. And every time you take a shot on goal and this is what Mr. Beast talks about. Make it 1% better. He wasn't doing that the first time. He got lucky. A couple videos went viral. He built an audience. I said the next time, dude, if you really want to get there faster, ask for feedback. Make it 1% better. Every upload, every upload, every upload. Dude. I watched him the other day, a 12 year old watching a video on retention, like how to edit for retention. You know, people that do this at scale, that don't even know how to edit that, like it's so interesting how we all can tell you what a professional athlete does different than a weekend warrior. That's essentially what you got to do if you want to find, you know, you got to measure the data analytics side is a big area that most people don't even think about. They don't look at the top performing views, they don't look at the data, they can't correlate decisions. And I think that that's the difference between, you know, 9 million, hopefully 100 million views a month.
- [41:56]
Sean Cannell
There's a lot in that to unpack. I want to process an idea with you. So some, sometimes you got to suck it up and get better because you're not good enough yet and you need to do more reps. But Chris do talks about, well, some people don't have the X factor. I'm curious your thoughts on a couple things. I think one, I think self awareness is a superpower and I think there's, there's kind of probably like I was processing this with Patrick at David. There's maybe like being really aware. Are you kind of like a, A list, B list or C list? And I Don't mean like celebrity. Are you, are you, you know, elite level? Are you pro? Could you kill it in college? You know, sports and YouTube has a long tail that there is a lot of abundance and prosperity if you're at a C level in a particular category. It's also there's Coke, there's Pepsi, but you might be a niche beverage like Poppy, you might get acquired later or you're a niche beverage like Jones soda. So can you maybe capture a market, find your tribe, find your community? The, the, the long tail on YouTube is big curious your thoughts on that versus also this idea of other models and approaches. One of the things we say here at Think Media is that everyone on our team is a full time YouTuber but only a handful of us are on camera. Because if you love YouTube and you love content creation filming, now again, you might have to deal with the fact that like you, are you the real on camera talent or do you want to be the channel manager? Do you, do you love design? Do you love the strategy piece and find your way to plug into the system? Because we have people doing design, people who love YouTube and they love strategy. They pop on a video every once in a while. We've got people that you know. And so I also heard you talk about this recently as one of the AI opportunities for making a faceless channel. So even ways to get in the game, could part of the self awareness be as well that like. Okay, Layla Hermosa Hermosi told me, I said how many CEOs should really build personal brands? All of them. She's like, no, not on YouTube. Definitely not all. Because some of them just like if they're really on video, like do they even have the desire? They don't have the desire, but do they eat? Like they're just super awkward. But they could still do YouTube at their company if they maybe have other talent or somebody else that represents it or their approach being from a media company Angle HubSpot went all in on media. But I don't think the CEO or the CMO does any of the content they brought on other people. They acquired the hustle. So I'm throwing a lot at you, but when it comes to perhaps pivoting your approach that there's a way to leverage this opportunity of YouTube, it just might look different than you. You think, what are your thoughts?
- [44:37]
Dan Martell
That is exactly what I'm trying to say is I think some people, you know, let's say in the entrepreneurial space, want to be somebody that other people look up to. For the business advice, for the, you know, the entrepreneurial advice. And the truth is, is maybe you haven't lived enough to give any unique perspectives, because that's the other thing where I've brought it up a few times, but I just. I want to really let this land for a lot of creators that the best way to create unique content is to live a lot, to do a lot, to try a lot. The reason why Mr. Beast is Mr. Beast is because he started when he's very young. And if you just look at the amount of hours and reps and it's not. See, a lot of people think it's 10,000 hours, but it's not 10,000 repetitions, it's 10,000 iterations. And that's a nuanced belief. I did eight years of repetition. I've done two and a half years of iterations. And that nuance is what makes great people great, is they didn't just do. So, like, if you're trying to be one of these people and you find it hard or the audience is not resonating, then, yes, please try a different format. Maybe, maybe a podcast interview style is what you want, and next thing you know, you're an Oprah. Maybe you want to do, you know, talk, like, AI generative stuff, and that's just your angle. And you really like the script writing and the ideation discovery and the unique perspectives and. Or you want to do some kind of unique format where it's more vlog style. Like, I just. I totally agree that every person on Earth is here to have impact. Like, I know this for a fact, that whether we're creating content or not, the end of the day, I think every person's here to become their best version of themselves. What we call, you know, the person you're creating, God's image, or I like to call your 10.0 version of yourself. And in that journey, sharing what you learn with other people is how you feel fulfillment, not happiness. That's a fleeting moment. But fulfillment is do hard thing, teach somebody else. It's why everybody has a secret desire to write a book. Everybody has a secret desire to be. To have their advice be asked of them is because they want to feel like their life had meaning. Now, that might be for most people, their family, their kids. That's their outlet. Maybe it's your church, Maybe it's your CrossFit gym. Maybe it's your, you know, your local charity or whatever it is. Maybe it's Facebook lives. Maybe it's get ready, get ready with me. In the morning, Facebook lives. And that's. And that's what's going to be. And maybe it's YouTube. I just know that everybody can do it. They just got to find their way to do it that aligns with their soul and their. Their energy. And I think that when they find it, the market goes, oh, we like this version of you. And I know I've discovered that certain things I do that are just fun for me and not hard and all of a sudden go viral. Other stuff, very scripted, very produced, doesn't do well. Well, no, duh. I didn't enjoy it. I didn't want to do it. How about we do more of this other thing that feels like that's what the market wants? So I'm. I'm 100 in alignment. Does. Does every CEO need to do a level of YouTube that's on the level as. As what we just talked about? No. Should they have a platform where they can express their ideas? Go one to many. For their existing employees and their potential employees and their partners out in the world? For sure. Should they be comfortable being in front of a camera? Hell, yeah, you should. Are you good at communicating in sound bites and hooks and proses and metaphors and similes and aphorisms? Maybe not. Could you learn it? Yeah. Turns out you can. I, trust me, I had to learn all this stuff. But if you don't want to do it, then why would you bother learning that? Because you don't need it. But the truth is, though, your life will get better if two things are true. More people know who you are, and they like what they hear. You know, reach and reputation. And that was. That was the big thing. Like, for me going pro, I just realized that my vision for my life is going to be easier to accomplish if those two things are true. And I had enough people in front of me saying, go do it, even if you're scared.
- [48:40]
Sean Cannell
So many golden nuggets. We've already gotten tactical, but I want to go a little bit deeper and walk through your five content creation rules, and let's dive into these. I'll feed them to you. Rule number one, you say, build your collection. What does that mean?
- [48:57]
Dan Martell
I think most people have stuff out there in the world. They just got to go collect it, right? So I'm a fan of. I call it belief collecting. So I have this manifesto, and that's what it says on there. So on my phone, I take things that I resonate with and I write it down. Okay? So I take the. The message. You might say Something in this interview, Sean. And I'm like, oh, I like to. Actually, you did say something. You said everybody's a YouTuber, not everybody's on camera. Okay, so I'll ask myself, what does that mean? Well, that means that, you know, there's different. And I'll try to write out what I felt with that statement and I add that to my list. It's literally this long running list of ideas and concepts, et cetera. Because if I don't write it down, I don't remember it, I can't reuse it in new opportunities. I'm a big fan of that. I literally, like, even before this conversation, I was like, what are some of the messages I would hope that I could get across today that are on my heart and unique that I've been talking about? Right. I don't just come on here and I say, oh, hope I say something good. No, let's do a little prep. But it comes from my collection. And the collection is literally the concept of as you read, highlight stuff, rewrite it in your own words, as you talk to people, as you listen, as you study, as you watch, collect that stuff so that you have like a body of work to pull from.
- [50:12]
Sean Cannell
Do you? You're a big reader yourself, Huge reader.
- [50:16]
Dan Martell
So I think I'm at like close to 1800 books.
- [50:18]
Sean Cannell
Do you. How many books do you read in what format, like roughly a week, do you typically consume them?
- [50:24]
Dan Martell
I would say it's 30% audio, because I do a lot of training on a bike and that's where I listen. Or if I'm driving. And then the 70% audio, uh, I would split that into Kindle is probably again, 80%, 20% physical book. The only reason they're physical books is I'm on vacation, I don't want to be distracted and I just want to get a book done. Or it's a book you can't get on Kindle. But for the most part, I love Kindle. And the big reason why is I highlight only things that speak to my soul. And when I write, like, buy back your time. One of the exercises, I went up in the mountains for five days to rewrite the final draft of my book. I went through every highlight I've ever taken in every book to make sure if there was a concept related to what I was writing about that I integrated into my book. And it was something I will do for the rest of my life. And it's how I create my content today. I think that's actually how the world works. We're all, every person is speaking every day to team members, to your kids, to your brothers, to your family members. And then those people hear things and go, oh, I like that. And then they, they adopt it. And then hopefully you've given them a shift in perspective. I always call myself a professional POV dealer. Points of views. I've got points of views in the world. If you adopt them, your life will change. So I go around going, what do you need?
- [51:43]
Sean Cannell
What do you need?
- [51:43]
Dan Martell
What do you need? But I've captured them myself, the highlights on my Kindle, a hundred percent. The easiest way for me to do that.
- [51:49]
Sean Cannell
Before we go to the next rule, you have a powerful prompt, and that is ask yourself. Listeners can ask themselves this right now. Struggles that you've overcome in your life and part of your collection could be your younger self. What kind of untapped potential do you think is there for listeners, their content creators, to maybe tap into their stories, their pain and their trauma?
- [52:12]
Dan Martell
Well, the truth is, the worst thing that's ever happened to you is potentially the most powerful thing you have to help somebody with. And I understand how scary that is to even think about because most people, they took that story, that memory, and they've buried it and they put it in a box and they locked it up and they've got tons of shame around it and they hope nobody ever hears about it. And I was that person for 15 years and a decade ago, luckily, through chance, I kind of got to a place where I was like, I want people to know who I am. And you can't know me if you don't know me. And the truth is, is the person with no secrets is the freest person in the room. And that moment of transformation, I don't care if it's the first time you learn to ride a bike or the first time you wrote your first song or the first time you publish a video. Things that are hard are relatable, and that's what creates inspiration. And it's interesting because I heard a long time ago, when it comes to storytelling, the bigger the hero, the bigger, the bigger the monster, the bigger the hero. So sometimes, because we don't want to share these stories, people see us, especially folks like me or you, that, you know, we look, looks like it's easy for us to succeed, and they think that, that we always win and it's just not true. So when we tell these stories of setbacks and challenges and overcome, that's the actual transformation that can be transferred to somebody else. It's the glue the story is the glue. And I think asking yourself that prompt of saying, you know, what are the things that I went through in my life that were really, really hard? When did I feel the lowest? Then what did I go through to learn how to overcome that? And now that I've been through it, what did I take away from it, which is essentially how stories are told? And can I package that up into a 15 second reel, a 60 second reel, a 15 minute YouTube video, 45 minute keynote? I think most people would realize that sharing those, the lives or the reels or the stories, that's what's real. People resonate with that. And sure, you can teach the how to create content stuff too, or how to make more profit in your business, but the trust behind that stuff comes from you being honest with, hey, I had a really hard time in this part of my life. Here's what I learned, and I think that's what inspires people. You got to use your mess to become your message.
- [54:33]
Sean Cannell
What would you say to somebody that's trying to determine if they're ready? I've heard one person say that perhaps you shouldn't. You should share your scars, but not your open wounds.
- [54:44]
Dan Martell
I love that. I love that. I mean, I'm gonna probably write that down. Sean, here. Here's what I said to a woman a couple weeks ago. She today is living this beautiful life. She has a baby. She was, you know, I was doing an Instagram live and she's pushing her baby around and she knows my story. And I picked her out of all the hundreds of people raise their hand and we're talking. She's like, I want to share my story, but I'm scared. I said, tell me your story, if you don't mind me asking. I mean, it's a story of addiction and rehab and almost taking her life. And now she's a fitness trainer and she's supporting people and she's got this beautiful young family, but nobody that part of her. And as she's telling me this, she just is beside herself, just, you know, full of feelings. And I shared with her what I did when I kind of got to that place in my life is I said, you need to learn to tell that story without having to relive the feelings. Kind of what you just said with the open wound is you need to get to a place where you can share the story without having the other person have to relive the trauma with you. Because that's what I was feeling on the call. And it was really tough for her to say. And I said, the reason why is because it was until you just shared it. And I think in that time, that was the first time in a public format she'd ever shared it. I said, you had this story that was sitting at the bottom of the ocean because you didn't want anybody to find it. And now you're bringing it up and it's going to be tough. But I will tell you, when you bring it up to the sunlight, it will sanitize things, it will help you process things, it will help you. You know, we all know this is why we do talk therapy, right? But I told her, I said, start with your immediate friends, the people you trust, then go to a broader audience, small group, maybe your AA meeting, right? Then go to a broader audience, maybe some of your clients, you know. And I think what happens is we have this fear of how they're going to respond that most of the time is so not true. I had a fear if people found out about what I went through as a kid, my investors would ask for their money back. That's, I mean, just dumb stuff. And it turns out when you are authentic to who you are and you share your message from a heart, people want to see you win more. Because if today they're looking at a person that looks incredibly well adjusted and just this beautiful life, and they're like, you went through that. I had no idea. Nobody knew. And I just think it's truthfully, honestly the most powerful thing and you just have to share it in a way that gets you to a place where it is a scar, not an open wound.
- [57:08]
Sean Cannell
So that's build your collection. Rule number two is the content creation flywheel. What is this?
- [57:14]
Dan Martell
So this is the idea of what we were talking about with neo, where you want to take your ideas and then you want to produce derivative concepts from these core concepts so that it feeds your short form, your long form, your written content, your LinkedIn, and that's the flywheel. So we've designed this kind of like publishing flywheel where the core YouTube video will be splintered and kind of repositioned as short form for all the different platforms. And that's what's unique about the world we live in. Sean, I'm sure you talk about this for the first time. Your follower count is a vanity metric. If you produce great content, you have the probability of going viral than anybody else, regardless of how many followers you have. And two, the same format, shorts specifically are the same format for all platforms, which is the first time in the history of social media content in the last two, three years. So that's the flywheel idea is just start with a core concept, splinter it, publish it all over the place, use that as a feedback to feed your other ideas, and then just kind of keep building that flywheel.
- [58:18]
Sean Cannell
You just blew past that. The, the opportunity of right now is sure, competition is higher, sure there's challenges, but it's pretty unprecedented that number one followers are a vanity metric because the way algorithms work, anybody starting from scratch with good content can blow up nothing and go viral. And though that there's also vertical video is on every single platform. So if you create good content vertical, that's a great place to start to give you leverage across multiple platforms. I think I heard you say it, but you said that you start with a core YouTube video. It sounds like you're a proponent of seeing things in a world of YouTube first, because the quality and the authority of YouTube naturally becomes a core concept, a core piece of intellectual property that gets divided up on other platforms as opposed to starting on another platform.
- [59:09]
Dan Martell
It's the most full featured media content type that you can repurpose for audio, for podcasts, short form for, you know, the stories and clips and whatnot. But then part of the flywheel is we also use Twitter to test hooks, right? We use Twitter to create, you know, these YouTube videos that I do where it's like the 40 brutal truths, right? That video has been viewed by 40 or 2 million people. But that's a byproduct of me pulling together 40 of my top performing tweets. And I think there's just like, that's the flywheel part that a lot of people kind of ignore or they miss, right? Or when I do my Q and A. And I think Hermosi Layla does this as well. Like every Friday, I do Friday Q and A on Instagram. And my answers to the people ask me the questions becomes inputs to the team to decide if there's unique points of view. I have to then front load in my YouTube scripts so that we create long form from it. So everything is a flywheel, all of it there. It's one's an output, it's also an input.
- [60:09]
Sean Cannell
Rule number three, be 100% you. What are your thoughts here?
- [60:15]
Dan Martell
I think most people struggle because they're awkward, because they're worried about what people are going to think. This is my feedback. One day I was driving with my buddy and he kind of got quiet and then he asked me, he goes, hey, this, this content thing, like I want to do It. But what if nobody watches? I said, that's a fair question. I asked him, I said, do you have friends? Smiled a little bit. He said, of course I got friends. So how many friends you got? I don't know. I got some friends. Said, you got like five friends? Yeah, I got five friends. Ten friends. I got ten friends. Cool. Here's what I know. There's 8 billion people in the world. If you've got ten friends, that means people like you for who you are. And if you put you in front of the camera, then the right people out of those 8 billion will find you. And there's probably about 100 million that would fall in love with who you are. And trying to be anything other than you is creating a prison that you have to live in for the rest of your life. Because trust me, if you're lucky, and I think you should be, you will walk around this world with anxiety. If you're not who you are, you'll walk around with anxiety, and it'll always feel hard, and you'll always be worried that somebody's going to get you eventually, they're going to figure out who you are. You might as well just start that way. And I think that is. It's interesting when I tell people, Sean, and I don't know if you know this, I do not approve any of my content before it goes live. Dan Martell sits in front of a camera, talks a lot. Eventually, the team goes through that process. It decides what they want to publish, and they decide, and they hit publish. I consume the content as a consumer like everybody else. So I had to get okay. And I did that because I didn't want to be a bottleneck. And again, I wrote a book called buy back your time. So I designed it that way so that I knew I was never editing any of the stuff. I didn't go, oh, I don't like the way I look there. Oh, I didn't like the way I sounded here. Because I'm. I don't have that creative input by design. Because I knew that if I started shaping this narrative of who I was, I might wake up in three, four, five years and then be worried to go out in public because what if somebody sees me eating a Cinnabon? Or. I mean, my secret addiction. It's not a secret. Is chocolate and peanut butter. I mean, I'll literally make myself sick eating chocolate and peanut butter. So I'm just who I am. And I just think that is actually the most creative and unique thing you can do. Isn't that wild that the most creative and unique thing you could ever do is be a hundred percent you like the thumb print, the, the fingerprint of your identity and soul is the thing that when you do and think about it, all the people we adore, from Oprah to the Rock to Dana White to you name it, is because in listening to them, you just assume that's who they are. And it's backed by anybody that knows them and says, oh my gosh, I met Oprah. She's exactly who I thought she was. Not surprised.
- [63:08]
Sean Cannell
Do you think one of your points here is be consistent on and off camera. Do you think you get to have an inside look and you know, and you wouldn't be calling anybody out, but you think there's people who are living in disaligned 100% business space, content creator space.
- [63:24]
Dan Martell
Yeah, I've met them. It's sad. They're sad. It's tough. I don't know how they do it. I think they'll eventually just stop and everybody be like, oh, why did they stop uploading? I'll know why. Because it got, it got hard, man. I can't even imagine trying to pretend to be a certain way and then have to deal with something like, it's, it's just heavy, man. It's heavy. You're wearing a mask. The person who has no secrets is the freest person in the room. Don't do the disservice starting off thinking you have to be a certain way to get an audience, when the truth is, is we have proof after proof after proof that if you are just authentically who you are at your current stage of where you're at in life, and all people want to see is that you're trying to get better, not necessarily that you got better. They, they want to just see you, you, you try. That's, I think, super freeing. And the ones that don't, man, I, I like. I remember one time I met this guy on camera. Charismatic, outgoing, super jovial, talkative in person, introvert, anxiety prone, couldn't look me in the eyes. What happened to that guy? That was a character you played. That's not who you were. And you never talked about that guy. So then when I met you, I was confused. Now all of a sudden, I question everything you've ever said. That's not, that's not how you build trust with your audience.
- [64:54]
Sean Cannell
And it feels like in a world where we're getting more public, more surveilled, more out there than ever before, this becomes a, an Important aspect for longevity in the short term, but for especially for longevity and being built to last as a content creator, to just be thinking about character integrity being integer.
- [65:16]
Dan Martell
Here's what's going to scare people, because I live in the world of AI. Yeah, Every video that's ever been taken will be searchable with everything that you've been in frame. I guarantee pictures of me picking my nose are going to end up on the Internet. Me being heated in a moment are going to be. And, and, and good news is I'm zero. I don't hide any of it. There's no world. Think about when you're on vacation. If you look around the pool, how many people have their phone out and they're just taking a photo of them with their family, but you're in frame or a video, a story, you're in frame with AI, it'll be very plausible and more likely than not that you'll just have that out there whether you like it or not. And if you think you can hide, you're just delusional.
- [66:05]
Sean Cannell
Okay, rule number four, Build your content stencils. You said clear problem story teach. These are a structure that works across all formats. Break it down.
- [66:13]
Dan Martell
Yeah, I'm a big fan when I'm trying to do something at scale to create stencils. So think about painting a wall. If I wanted to put a bunch of birds on a wall, I could there do it by hand, and some artists love to do that. Or I could create a stencil and have a spray can and just put all these bird silhouettes all over the wall one, a tenth of the time to do it. Now when we create these kind of like content stencils, it allows us to add the art part within the framework, still being authentic to ourselves without stressing ourselves out and staring at a blank piece of paper. That's the power of a stencil. So when we sit down to do a YouTube script, we have a stencil. When we sit down to shoot reels, we have stencils. We have. We have stencils for every content format. And then that way if we learn something new or we want to try something different as a derivative, we edit the stencil, see if it got us a result. If so, then we lock it in as our main stencil going forward, if that makes sense.
- [67:07]
Sean Cannell
Got it. And so one of the main ones pulled from one of your videos was you want to have a clear problem and a hook that stops the scroll. Expound on this after I break it down and Then a story. You maybe illustrate it with a personal experience or a client situation. And then teach something. Maybe give a framework, a quote, metaphor, or solution.
- [67:25]
Dan Martell
So kind of like what's great? Yeah. If people go back and listen to our conversation, I try to do it. When I answer the question, I just did it with the stencils. Right. Sometimes the story is a metaphor. Metaphors are like stories, but they're quicker to tell. Right. Or you want to. You want to say a quote. Right. Like, why not you? Or, you know, like, avoid labor, look for leverage. Like, you have to start thinking about, how can I say something that's going to stop the scroll? Because you're fighting against the thumb. That's what I think about all the time. It's like the thumb, literally mental. And then follow it up with a story, because story is the glue to the teach. Okay, so I was talking to a friend or I ran into this issue, and again, the bigger the villain, the. The bigger the hero. So if you can really sell the. The confusion and the pain and. And it's not a lie. It's just. You just got to be honest about how you're feeling. And then the teacher. But here's what I learned. And then you just make that concise and direct, and it's a good payoff. That's, to me, is what makes a great piece of content for short form.
- [68:29]
Sean Cannell
Yeah. So someone's listening to this. Your next 60 minute, 60 second. Your next 60 second or less vertical video hook. Something that stops the scroll. That could be that, that story, that hook, that metaphor. And, you know, the other day I was standing in line to get coffee. Kind of illustrates it and what I learned. And then there's that takeaway, and it becomes second nature, powerful. So that's rule number four. Build your stencils. And then as we land the plane on rule number five, make it easy. And so what are your thoughts on this one for your content creation rules?
- [69:02]
Dan Martell
So I'm a big fan of productivity. And for me, anything that feels like we've made it, we've produced a lot of great stuff in a short amount of time. That's. That's easy. So, for example, my reels, when I shoot reels, I don't sit down with a phone and just be like, all right, I got to come up with some ideas. What I like to do is I research while I scroll, and I save them in a folder. Now, what makes it easy for me is when I save it, my team has access to that. They pull those reels that I think are interesting. They write a question that would prompt me to give a similar point of view or perspective as that question. And I use the format stencil. You just told me, right, that stencil format as the answer. So I can sit down and in a 60 minute window produce 10 really great, you know, viral shorts. That was easy and it was fun for me because it's based on content I saw get, you know, views and it's pre validated and I have a unique perspective on it. My team does all the heavy lifting and the prompting. We sit down, I literally just show up into the studio, I sit down the same seat, they set up the cameras, I shoot and then I move on with my day. And that's just easy. And I think if you make your content easy that you'll want to do it. You'll, you'll create more because the energy, this is a big one. Everybody listen. The energy felt when you create is felt by the viewer. So if you, for example, create content at 4 o' clock at the end of the day after you just went from problem to puzzle to challenge to setback, and you think you're going to sit in front of a camera and do an inspirational, top things I learned about being happy in life. You are crazy. So even like when you shoot your content energetically, how you prep, dude, before I shoot, I do bicep curls every time. 100%. Why exhaust the body, tame the mind. I want to exhaust the body, get my mind straight, hydrate, you know, And I just think these are all little tricks that you learn over time so that the, the, the audience gets the best version of you. Because the energy that I feel when I create the thing is felt by the audience. And even if I'm trying to be motivational and positive, but I'm super annoyed and pissed off. Can't do it.
- [71:21]
Sean Cannell
All right, one question as we completely land the plane to end our conversation today, but before we get to that powerful ending question, let's give a shout out and roll call to your stuff. I want to mention, of course, your book. Buy back your time. Legendary book. Every content creator, every business owner, everybody listening to this should, should pick it up because it's going to help you produce better content in a more efficient way and lift your life and business overall. And we also have a whole conversation listeners could check out as well. So we'll make sure to link up your book, we'll make sure to link up that previous episode of the Think Media podcast where we had that conversation. But you Got some cool stuff going on. And so your YouTube channel, maybe some websites, resources, you've got newsletter, let us know how we could go to a deeper level.
- [72:06]
Dan Martell
I mean, anybody listening, I'm a big fan of chatting with people on Instagram. So if they go find me dan martell2ls on. On to Martell on Instagram and just give me a follow, then I'll just. I'll reach out, we'll have a. Like, I want to give people everything I have my philosophy in life. I want to die empty. Sean. I don't believe helping other people does anything, but just support all of it. So if anybody's listening and they want to, like, learn more about how I do the media stuff, I do coach entrepreneurs on the business side. But a lot of the business stuff that I coach is definitely using organic content to create audience because I just think it's one of the coolest ways to build trust and brand in this world. So Instagram is my favorite. Yeah. And then if anybody's listening and is is actually an AI engineer, like actually created custom software in the AI space and they want to potentially partner with me, just find me on danmartel.com forward/ventures and we'll see if there might be a fit there. But other than that, Instagram is my favorite because that's where I get to chat with people.
- [73:01]
Sean Cannell
Final question. Is it too late to start YouTube today? And if you were starting from zero right now, what would you do differently?
- [73:11]
Dan Martell
Yeah, well, the first answer is it can't be. And I'll tell you why is there's still people that aren't consuming YouTube, that are coming on the WI Fi and the Internet and Starlink. So the audience continues to grow, the algorithm continues to evolve. Just look what's happened in the last three years. We see these new innovations like the AI avatar, and my philosophy is, you know, you want to be ahead of it so you can disrupt yourself before you get disrupted. You know, the AI avatar is a huge opportunity. That's day zero for anybody to kind of get on YouTube. So that's. That's my answer to the first one. And what was the second part?
- [73:48]
Sean Cannell
If you were starting YouTube from zero today, what would you do differently if you were starting right now from zero?
- [73:55]
Dan Martell
If I was starting from zero. What a fun question. It all depends what my goal would be. But I'll tell you, man, this AI avatar really mess with my brain because I think the part of me that is the innovator and likes a really unique challenge that hasn't been done before would, would, would go towards that path. One of the reasons I started YouTube is because it freaked me out and I didn't want to do it. Which for me is always the right path. Right. It's kind of interesting to consider, but every time you've been scared, it's on the front end of the thing you want. So fear is technically the path always, if that makes sense. So the part of me that is scared of the AI avatar and didn't like it is almost a part of me that would say if I was starting today, that's probably the path I'd want to take because it's the most foreign. So that's what I would suggest.
- [74:52]
Sean Cannell
That's interesting. That's because it's, it's unique, it's new. Let's say I know we're at time here, but you do want to be on camera. Yeah, but, but it's 2025. You're Dan Martel, but nobody knows you. No followers on Instagram, no followers. You've done your business thing, but now you're ready to flip the switch and go personal brand, like many people listening to this are considering doing just your first thoughts, your first couple moves, you're.
- [75:18]
Dan Martell
What are you doing first thing? As I hire somebody to be my co creator on the video editing side, I think that part should not. That's because you're. It's already hard enough. Right. So find somebody, align incentives and then really study the, the art, man. It's like go watch all the Mr. Beast videos, understand what he was saying and just allow yourself to create. I think that's why we're born. Just because I want to create more doesn't mean I don't appreciate what I got. And I think that your desire to want to help other people with what you've got, who, who's showing up in your life and the things you've learned is beautiful. And I don't. I know 2025 and there's a lot of people doing YouTube, but the truth is a lot of people don't stick to it either. So I'm not, I'm zero worried. I think competition winners win and losers will give up. And winners have lost more than a loser ever will. That's by definition why they're a winner and anybody can win if they're willing to just never give up.
- [76:15]
Sean Cannell
Dan Martell, appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Well, I've got to say that was one of my favorite Think Media podcast episodes of all time. And if you're watching on YouTube. I'd love to hear your biggest takeaways and feedback in the comments. If you're listening on audio, it always means the world. If you leave a review, give us a rating. And hey, by the way, if you want to take your YouTube game to another level, we're actually doing a really cool three day event that's entirely free called YouTube Jumpstart. If you go to tubejumpstart.com or just click the link in the show notes, you can register to join myself and the Think Media team live or catch the limited replays. And they are truly limited. We're doing this event, we're going deep with five tactical sessions. Talking about your niche, your positioning, how to brand yourself to stand out, talking about some of the strategies that most creators don't know about that are generating big views on YouTube right now, and talking about the deeper monetization strategies that don't actually require a huge following or a lot of views to make big money. If you're interested in being a part of the YouTube Jumpstart event, you can go to tubejumpstart.com or again, just click the link in the show notes and take advantage of all the other stuff that Dan mentioned in the episode. One of my favorite books is Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. We talked about that. That'll be linked down there. If you want to grab a free copy of YouTube Secrets, the second edition that'll be down there as well as everything else that we talk about. I want to say thank you for being a part of this episode. This is the Think Media Podcast. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel and I will catch you in a future episode.