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- [00:00]
A
Hey, before we jump into the show, I just wanted to take a second and say thank you for listening. I know that life is busy and you have a lot of options when it comes to the content you consume. So whether you're new here or you've been listening to the Think Media podcast for years, I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you. Okay, let's jump into the show. You've been able to build up your YouTube channel to $2800 every single month.
- [00:26]
B
Yes, it mostly comes from AdSense, but we have learned that you can't rely on AdSense fully.
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A
Ali Reynolds is the creator behind Ali's Organic Garden and Homestead, a YouTube channel with over 96,000 subscribers.
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B
I think our biggest shift was the intent, because if you keep what the intent of that title was and what you want to deliver, that's when we create our best videos.
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A
She's going to be revealing why after 13 years of just throwing videos out there, the thing that changed everything, everything. And some of the mindset shifts from along the journey. We're going to learn some insights that you can apply to starting and growing your own YouTube channel. Ali and Kevin, welcome to the Think Media podcast.
- [01:09]
B
Hi, and thank you.
- [01:10]
A
So let's dive straight in with just this question. We've promised in the title that you've been able to build up your YouTube channel to generating around $2800 every single month. So what was the process to get into that number? Where does that money come from, and how long did that take?
- [01:26]
B
Well, it. It mostly comes from AdSense at this point. Now, we have learned through joining VRA that you can't rely on AdSense fully. So we've been getting some affiliate links. We've got some garden affiliate links that we've been adding to this. So as we're learning, we've just been adding. We've got some, you know, beds, raised beds that we're doing. We've got homesteading supplies that we're starting to add to it. And I think each month we're just kind of growing what we. What works into our. Our YouTube channel the best.
- [02:05]
A
Now, we're going to unpack your story more later. But the big idea is you've been doing this for a lot of years, but it's been recently. Thirteen years, to be specific. But it's been recently that there's been a growth curve and you've worked with our team. You've done some stuff. But I'm just curious to, like, hitting these new numbers of anywhere from 1,500 to almost $3,000 a month. How long has that been happening?
- [02:32]
B
Roughly about a year and a half. And it goes up and down a lot. I mean, we've stayed consistent. But our videos, the type of videos that we were putting out, we weren't sure what to put out. We once we kind of started figuring out our true niche because we didn't really have it, we were kind of throwing everything out. So about the last year and a half, we've been consistently staying on the upper end and adding those affiliate links. Just this year, really.
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C
Yeah.
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A
Got it. And so then when it comes to affiliate links, you mentioned a couple, but which programs have you found that have earned for your channel the most?
- [03:07]
B
VGo gardening raised beds. Those have been probably one of our better ones and ver as well, because.
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C
For tools and miscellaneous stuff like that.
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A
So how did you find those? And I mean, from your way of explaining that to others, maybe give us the big idea of what does your channel teach and how it's helping people and then how you connect that to talking about products and using affiliate links.
- [03:32]
B
Okay, so I do a lot of raised bed gardening and. And we've got small space here. And so raised bed gardening seems to just work the best for us. And we're getting more. We can do more food in a small amount of space. So. And we actually didn't do the reaching out. We didn't really know how to do that until now. So they reached out to us and we didn't know really how to go about it. And we're just like, sure, we'll get a free raised bed. And then we saw the potential of what could happen with that. And so they keep reaching out to us. Yes, we're getting free product through that, but we're also getting a percentage of that as well. And so putting those raised beds works in so nicely into our. Our niche because there's a lot of gardening in it. And because we're doing in small space, raised beds fit in really nicely with that. And some of the others is the vever where we do a lot of preserving food. And so there's a lot of tools to help us with preserving foods. So those two have been like, hand in hand working really good for our channel.
- [04:37]
A
Does your family and friends understand what you guys do?
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B
No. No, I think they think we're ridiculous.
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A
Explain that more. Like, go into that. Like, what do you think? What do you think's going through the reds?
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B
Well, it's almost like I don't even talk about it anymore. Because it used to be, oh, we're going to film for YouTube. And you'd be like, you would hear them go, oh my gosh, you two old people are crazy. What's wrong with you? You're not. Matt's off road, you're not this, you're not that. And it's like, of course we're not that, we're us. And so I kind of quit talking about it because there is this kind of laugh behind the scenes. But I think even our son in law, who's probably been our biggest critic has been going, oh, that one got a lot of views. And he's starting to watch our videos and he has nothing to do with homesteading, gardening or any of that, but he's starting to see the shift recently. And maybe we're not the stupid old people he thinks we are.
- [05:39]
A
No, and that's, I mean, I think a lot of people are relating to what you're talking about because it doesn't matter really what channel topic you have. It is weird to do YouTube. It can feel lonely, it can kind of feel isolating, it can, you can be surrounded by doubt in a way, or even criticism. And what's also interesting is you could kind of say like, look at us now. I know you're humble people, you wouldn't say that. But it's like, now you're about to get a silver play, but. And now you've got, you know, money coming in. But you did this. You've been doing this for 13 years. What motivated you to start and keep going when growth was slow?
- [06:19]
B
So in the beginning I started an online business, gardening business, as well as just like a cottage industry in home business, nursery. So it's small and we thought we'll promote products. We didn't even know really what YouTube was all about. It was not even. You didn't get paid for it then. I don't even think it was monetized back then when we started. So it was just to promote product products that we had, period. That was it. So we'd put out one to two videos a year. So I mean, it's not going to be anything. And then during 2020, I think we're up to like 4,000 subscribers at that point. And we're like, hey, we're getting, you know, a couple hundred dollars every couple of months, let's start putting out a few more videos. So we just thought we'll just put stuff out. And I almost think that hurt us a little bit because we had no intent. We, we didn't know where we were going, and we'd put a video out that was, I mean, honestly, really stupid videos. And then we realized that we weren't getting the views, and so we kind of cut back a little bit. And then I think it was in 2023 that we decided into 2022. We decided to start doing more videos on a consistent basis. I read your book. And so that kind of, like, sparked a lot of interest and then started joining vra, and that's when we're like, hey, you know, we got to change our tune here. We gotta figure out what our niche is. And it actually took us quite a while to figure out our niche, and I think we've got it nailed now and where we can kind of be a little bit more consistent now. So going through that, I didn't want to keep going, and I've done that. I don't want to do this anymore. This sucks, basically. And Kevin was like, no, no, we can make this work. He's. He's kind of like, you know, no, we. We just gotta be more consistent. And the consistency is what helped us. Um, consistency, figuring out our niche. Those. Those two things were the biggest things that helped us.
- [08:12]
A
So there's a lot of nuggets I want to unpack, but if I understand the story, 13 years ago, you think more like online gardening business, a little bit of video. But you got more serious in 2020 and really doubled down in 2022. So it's when and in parallel, you found video Ranking Academy, YouTube Secrets, but also the consistency, the focus. It's been years, but three years of really getting serious about YouTube. Is that true?
- [08:39]
B
Right? Yeah. And I think creating better videos, better editing, all of that, having a. Having a hook, titles all of these things. I mean, I remember probably one of the worst videos we ever did. It was like, hey, I've got this sickly little, little plant out here. And let's just title it How I Helped My Squash Plant Get Better. You know? And it was. It was such a bad video. It was very easy to make.
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C
It was poor.
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B
So through a little bit of embarrassment, I said, I'm never doing that kind of a video ever again. And I think from that point forward, we realized that we needed to shift. And I was trying to be somebody else, too.
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C
Gotta be you.
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B
I followed a few other. I didn't watch much YouTube, and I started watching a few of them, and I was like, ooh, I want to be like that. I want to do that. That's. That's. That kind of video I want to put out there. So I tried to be like that. Well, it's not who I am at all. And so once I quit, knock the crap off, it started just being me then I think that's where it started to change and be better.
- [09:47]
A
Hey, we're about to get back into the podcast in just a second, but I have a question for you. Do you want to grow your personal brand this year? Do you need more leads and sales in your business? If the answer is yes, then right now is the best time to go all in on YouTube. Today's podcast is brought to you by ThinkMasterclass.com, where you can get on demand access to a one hour deep dive training revealing how to start and grow a profitable YouTube channel. This year, for a limited time, you can get access to this on demand class entirely for free. Where you will learn the three biggest mistakes that people make when starting a YouTube channel. The new rules and changes that have been happening on YouTube and how you can use them to create an unfair advantage. And the exact strategy we use at Think Media to generate, generate over 350,000 organic views every single day. The data is clear. 70% of viewers claim that YouTube makes them more aware of new brands. So don't wait any longer to start growing your brand and business with YouTube. Just go to thinkmasterclass.com to get access to this. No fluff, highly tactical, free on demand training. That's thinkmasterclass.com so, you know, it's interesting, you guys are a team and I'm curious, Kevin, what, how do you, have you always been doing the same roles? Are you behind the camera? Are you video editing and what's been your workflow throughout the years with software and how you get a video done?
- [11:18]
C
Yeah, I do all the filming and editing. Allie does all the writing. But yeah, it's, it's hours of work. You know, she puts in tons of hours doing the, the script and you know, then we're several hours filming and then it's a ton of hours doing the, the editing. So we've got, I think one of the big helps with editing was, was having backstock of video that we could use for overlays. And that kind of thing really helps helps the product out in the end and makes it, it makes it easier. You know, she'll say, oh, I've got this plant and I would like to show it. Then, you know, if you've got that in your, in your stash, then you could just put it over the top and it works very well, so. But that's. Yeah, that's all.
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A
You have a desktop computer.
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C
What's that?
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A
You have a desktop computer or a laptop that you use. And what software do you use?
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C
I, I use a. I use an Apple laptop and we use the, the, what is it? Final Cut Pro. And then we've also got a NAS with all of our, all of our media on it.
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B
You started with just the Apple, I.
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C
Believe, but we started with just the, the Apple computer and then the Final Cut Pro.
- [12:23]
A
So for listeners. And NAS stands for Network Area Storage. And that's like having a big super hard drive, basically. Because at some point, actually in any content creator's journey, data storage and data management becomes a big question. And it's usually not a problem. Day one. But year 13, you start just thinking about, like, what, what's my workflow with all of this? Now I am curious a little to get a little bit more specific on how long a video takes for you. You mentioned, you know, Ali's scripting, then there's the filming, then there's going to be editing. I'm sure you've gotten more serious about this over the years, but how many uploads a week or a month and how many approximate hours goes into one upload?
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B
We try to put out one a week. We've slowed up a little bit for reasons which I'm sure you'll get into, but we've had to slow up a little bit so that we can create a better content. But typically we strive for one a week. That seems to work really good for us. It takes me probably four hours to come up with ideas, do some research and sometimes a little bit more. But just, just to get good information. I want it to be solid information. And a lot of times I'll write a complete script up, put my. And I have my title there. And then I realize it doesn't match the title and I have to totally redo the script. And then you're editing.
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C
I don't know, we're probably what, two to three hours filming.
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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C
And then editing. I'm gonna say four to six hours, depending on the link. You know, like a, maybe a 15 minute videos. Probably four to six hours. 30 minute. And it did. It all depends on, on how much B roll that we use. So that takes a long time. You know, you talked about the NAS and the management. I'm still working on the management part. That stuff just gets lost.
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A
Yeah. How to label it, where to file it.
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C
So that's actually probably the biggest time is looking that stuff up.
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A
Yeah, staying organized is a really good power tip. Or lack of organization could just, you know, slow you down. But a lot of this, you know, we learn just from the pain of content creation, editing, trying to, you know, improve our processes 1% better every time. So about four hours on ideas and research and are you done Ali, after about four hours with a final script. What do you want to say? Your research or is that a different part of the phase?
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B
That's pretty much, that's pretty much it on a good day without interruptions. Yeah.
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A
So saying that, I mean it would seem like maybe you're dividing and conquering the work here, especially once it hits editing, but it, it seems like maybe 10 to 20 hours a week to get a video done, right?
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C
Oh yeah, yeah.
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A
Ye, yeah. Twenty being obviously that's, that's no small amount of time. But if, if things are really efficient, 10 is maybe the fast track, Correct?
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B
Yeah.
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A
And so a couple takeaways before we keep it going because I want listeners to, to have some nuggets here and maybe a few follow up questions. One of the biggest mistakes you mentioned from Staying Stuck was not having intent. You're like, we just we or we were not being intentional. And it sound like when you shifted from kind of just being random on YouTube to being intentional on YouTube, things began to change. I'm curious. That makes a ton of sense to me. I've been doing this a long time, but can you expound on that a little bit? Maybe if you had a friend starting. And there's certain things that sometimes we're stuck as creators. We don't know why we're wondering why we're not getting views, but we're not. We can't see the Matrix yet. You know, at some point eventually it clicked for Neo and he could start do dodging bullets using a movie reference from the movie the Matrix. It's like you eventually kind of clicks a little bit and you started to get more intentional. What did that mean?
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B
So I mean, when I start looking at it, doing a video, I do want to look at what obviously is, has interest, but I want to create a title that has that, that's, that's going to make people. I think our biggest first, first video was how to Grow Great Garlic. And I think, or it just. I felt like that one. I knew exactly the title was what it was going to be and I wanted to put everything in there that followed that title in order for people to stick with it. I felt like they would continue to view if they're getting what the title says it was going to offer. And so I felt like. I think our biggest shift was the intent. I constantly remind myself, because Kevin will throw out ideas, and I go, but what's the intent? But what's the intent? Because if you keep what the intent of that title was and what you want to deliver and don't veer off, I think that's when we create our best videos. I think those are the ones that get the biggest views and the biggest view durations when I do something and my intent isn't true, and I don't follow that title. And I don't really, you know, where I may be just throwing a video out there too fast because I feel like maybe I need to have that video out this week. It's better not to do that video and slow up a little bit and follow the intention of that video. So, I mean, a simple thing, growing great garlic. Everything need to follow in with that growing great garlic. Everything it takes to make growing great garlic, which could be something simple. But I went into it pretty deep, and that's when our channel started to change, was with that one video. I followed the intent, it followed the. The title, and we went from 5,000 views to 10,000 views in a month. So.
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A
Wow.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So the turning point was this great garlic video.
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B
Yeah. Actually, I should say subscribers, not views, but yeah. Yeah, that was kind of our first turning point. And then once that season kind of passed that it slowed up a little bit. I get impatient. He's like, he'll come around. And I'm. I'm a perfectionist, I guess, now over these videos. And. But that is my biggest question when we're talking about what we want to do in a video is what's the intent of this video? And if he'll come up with an idea, I ask that question.
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C
Yeah. And she's. She's really good at staying focused on the intent. And that's. That's really what has helped.
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A
So, yeah, I love that idea of focus, intent. And it's so easy to. To veer off or get distracted. It's like taking side quests. The title makes a promise. There's the content in the video, but if we start losing the viewer's attention, we drift from kind of the core mission or the core purpose of the video. We might lose, you know, and there's so much you can include in a video, but, like just staying on that core promise of the title and. And that sometimes you might get inspired. You have other ideas. You could move Those to another video. Great. We could cover that or that might inspire this. But like keeping the main thing. The main thing. That's a powerful tip. You talked about a breakout video, how to grow great garlic. But one of your most successful videos got 820,000 views and counting. How we produce 80% of our food on half an acre homestead. So walk me through the day you posted that video. Did you know that video was going to be different?
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B
Yeah, actually, that one probably took 60 hours. It really did. I started out with so many ideas, and then I would narrow it down and change it. And what I wanted to do was create a little bit of an interest of what we do, not necessarily teach. It was more for entertainment, I think, and I think those are great. But it had little nuggets of teaching throughout that video. But when we were doing it, it felt good. It. You know, we told our story behind us and it. It actually felt really good when we were doing it and when we were filming it, when I was writing it.
- [20:09]
A
So you sat down to craft. You. You sat down to craft a next level video.
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B
Yeah, we did.
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A
I'm going to spend more time on it. More research, more thought, more structure.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And it paid off.
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B
It did. Yeah. And that. That video actually means a lot to me.
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A
Tell me about that.
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B
Well, when I first started, I didn't know. Sorry. Because we got to include our grandkids in it and they're our life and our little places are life and. Sorry. So it just meant a lot to me to be able to share our experience with our grandkids and that we get to be here with them. And we're so. We're so lucky to have these grandkids of ours. And I wanted to share how special it can be when you live a life that's so wholesome and include God in it. And that's part of what we did, is we. We gave credit to God because what we have is because of him. And so that's. It just meant a lot to me. And when we first started, it was just a video. And then it started to change as we were building this video. And it become to me kind of a beautiful video. And it just. I don't know, it's just special because it just. It included our kids or grandkids and generations. And that's where I felt like it was so good because it was the true us. It was. That's when it was like, this is the true us. This is who we are. And we wanted to share that.
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A
Kevin, what did that Video mean to you?
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C
About the same. It was. It was very. We had so much fun doing it and including our grandkids. Like she said, it's just. And it. It is. It's just our life. And it was just. When we launched it, it was like, oh, I don't know, is it gonna go? And then it just. It took off and it was just. It was really wonderful to see. And. And, yeah, we hope everybody out there that sees it enjoys it.
- [22:08]
B
When the first day we launched it, I remember calling Kevin up and I was like, well, that sucks. We put all that time into it, all that love into it, and we have 500 views, you know, the first 24 hours. And then it was like the next day it was like, there's a thousand. He goes, well, that's 1% better.
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C
There's Sean, 1% better.
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B
And then it totally just took off after that. So it took a couple days, but I'm always skeptic with things, but we both felt like it was going to do good. And you just can't be disappointed if it doesn't.
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C
Right.
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B
Because you never know when it comes.
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C
Yep. But it's done. It's done. It just keeps going and going, and it's just. It's really fun to see. And we're. We're looking forward to our next one like that.
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A
You know, I think media, we talk about, you know, why we should start YouTube channels and post videos, even if we don't grow a big channel or make money doing it, depending on our goals and our mission, because we can build legacy, we can build a library of videos. We can express our faith, we can express our love for family or include generations or our grandkids and create something we're proud of and express our creativity. So it's really inspiring to hear your story about that. What's also inspiring is, you know, a video that gets on its way to a million views, and at its current velocity, it seems like it probably will get a million views eventually, which is amazing. That video is still getting 32 views per hour a year later. What have you kind of learned? This is the core promise of Video Ranking Academy. But having this idea of, like, you do put a lot of hours into these videos, sometimes as few as 10, sometimes as many as 60. But now, looking back at posting that video, does it feel different where you're like, yeah, I mean, had it stopped at 500, I might have been pretty sad, like, if it just stopped and never got another view. Like, wow, we put a ton of hours into that but to have. Essentially, it's a ranked video, a ranked video that you posted a year ago, and still, Every single hour, 32 humans still watch that video. What does that feel like?
- [24:17]
C
Oh, it's pretty wonderful. And the comments we get on it are just incredible. You know, the. In the comment section, it's just, it is really neat. You know, like she said earlier, you know, we, we praise God in it and we get so many comments thanking us for that. And I just think that's. That's amazing.
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B
Yeah, well, it is. It's. It's. It's neat that it's still going and, and it shows that there's interest in what we're doing.
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C
Yeah.
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B
So it makes it easier to keep going.
- [24:45]
A
Sometimes. And sometimes you could go through a lull on YouTube, even the most successful channels do. And sometimes you're. You lose the wind in your sales. But that's a good point. You know, it's like a breakout video. Someone thanking you in the comments for posting can just be renewed vigor and energy. I am curious. This is a big tension. You now have been on both sides of the coin, meaning you've been on the, okay, we need to get a video done. Sometimes in your own words, you kind of rushed it and you're like, ah, I. You know, we sort of rushed it. If we would have slowed down and really kept it aligned, kept the intent strong. So you've spent 10 hours up to 60 hours on one video. What would your advice be for trying to find that balance? Quality versus quantity. Even as you're now approaching getting your silver play button soon and continuing to.
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C
Grow your channel quality all the way.
- [25:38]
B
Absolutely.
- [25:39]
C
Yeah.
- [25:40]
B
Yeah. Because. Well, for one, just for yourself, I, I think just for you, I mean, practice was great and learning was great. It's good to have those, those videos that weren't so great because you can look at them and go, what could have I done better besides 100%? But, you know, you can look at that going, well, I don't want to repeat that. And then you have one that's good and you go, you try to grab the little morsels out of that and grow off of that. Those are the ones that we actually want to be proud of from now on. We want to be proud of everything that we put out there. We don't want stuff that's. I. Not so great. I mean, the views, whatever, but I just want quality video. Whether we get views or not, I want to feel good about each one of those videos that get posted.
- [26:25]
C
Well, I think some of Our, our best videos are videos that we've got all edited, all done, and then we leave it. We don't post it, we just leave it sit, think about it overnight, look at it again in the morning and go, oh, I want to change this and we'll change it. And I think those ones come out the best. Don't rush it.
- [26:41]
B
That was, that was one thing about our one video that did really well is we did kind of have some parts in there and we did a lot of B roll and we did kind of let it sit a little bit and simmer and. Because I just wasn't sure what to put in some of those spots. And then we'd go, oh, we need to add that because this would be really special for our grandkids to see down the road, you know, or we need to add these little parts. And so slowing up actually was really good for us. And we are in a slowed up stage right now just to kind of. We're re gearing and, and I think it's okay to re gear.
- [27:17]
A
You know, you just articulated a tip that I don't think has ever been said that way on the Think Media podcast. That is one of the most, I think, profound tips for anybody making creative content and YouTube videos, and that is sit on it, if possible, sleep on it, let it simmer. That has been my experience as well. I know that I could feel like I have a deadline. Doesn't matter what you're creating. If you, if you're gonna, you know, you write the script, you shoot the video, you put it out there. If you try to shoot it and post it in the same day or even shoot it and post like you get the edit done and if you rush it out, you will always find tweaks and improvements. If you, if possible, sleep on it. There's just something about. You've put all that energy and as the day progresses too, you know, tired eyes rarely see a bright future. So sometimes too you're just at more like feeling the pressure of the deadline. If you sit on it and let it simmer Think Media podcast listeners and return to it maybe. And the result being maybe you reshoot the hook, maybe you add some different footage, maybe you just restructure some things, maybe it's going to be titled differently, maybe it's a different thumbnail with fresh eyes and rested eyes. Those small tweaks can be absolutely the difference between the video getting a hundred views, a thousand views, or a hundred thousand views, like just by letting it simmer a little bit and I also want to encourage listeners the biggest debate between quantity and quality. You all mentioned. Practice was a season we were doing more quantity because we were practicing. But with what you know now with the experience under your belt, having these breakout videos, the coaching that you've been doing in VRA accelerator, all this different stuff, you're at a season where you're like, we're going to slow down. Quality all the way was the quote, Kevin. That's a powerful quote. YouTube this year. Quality all the way. If you're just starting day one. Well, quantity is much more about the practice of getting your reps in. But I would agree if you want to stand out in the algorithm right now. Quality all the way. Are you a business owner or serious content creator that is struggling to crack the YouTube code? Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or just plain frustrated with slow growth? If so, then our new one on one coaching program@viralvideocoach.com is your premier ticket to YouTube success, becoming the authority in your niche, attracting engaged leads and loyal customers. We offer one to one coaching with our YouTube experts that'll help you get get results fast and a supportive community that's cheering you on. So if you're ready to stop wasting time with trial and error and to stop leaving money on the table, then head to viral video coach.com to apply to see if you qualify for our coaching program. But heads up, this offer is not for everybody. It's only for serious content creators and entrepreneurs that are ready to take action. So if that's you, head to viralvideo coach coach.com to apply or click the link in the show notes. All right, let's jump back into the episode. I'm curious, you know, you've had a chance to work in our one on one coaching program called Video Reed Academy to do coaching with Nathan. Not that I want to expose all of our secrets, but I am curious some of the nuggets, you know that in coaching, what have, what have been, some of the insights that it's been nice having maybe outside perspective feedback on your channel or videos, just anything specific that's come out of that that our listeners could benefit from that have been happening in our coaching program?
- [30:50]
B
Well, one of the things that when I used to do a video, we never had a cta. I mean we threw videos just out there. And Nathan said, do not make any more videos without a cta. And I'm like, but that's all I do. So I think, you know, and, and just the encouragement of course, is just huge. I mean, the Whole group. But mostly we've worked with Nathan. But I mean just each, each time we've, we've chatted with him, there's always something that I write down that is so helpful. You know, sticking to with you are. Don't put anything out there without a cta. Stay true to who you are, you know. And then he tweaks our, our hooks a little bit. You know, I'll send him something and he's so helpful with that. And he always reminds me of the same thing over and over, over again. I'm so thick headed and one day I'm going to get this. So little, little helps. Little tweaks of you know, authority, you know, put that authority in there, which I tend to not do. And so I think authority has been, you know, in the very beginning as well as maybe titles too have been very helpful for us. What is. There's the three A's that he talked about authority anyways, but a thick headedness. So those have been, those have been really, really helpful to me. I mean, yeah, we've been in the accelerator for a little bit and I think just those one on one conversations are probably the most beneficial for Kevin.
- [32:20]
C
And I. Yeah, he's a great coach and all your, all your people that are fantastic. Yeah. And including you, you're. You're all right.
- [32:27]
A
Appreciate that feedback and I, I think there's some interesting things that I wanted to unpack there. I am curious. You mentioned the encouragement of one on one coaching and I agree. Just having someone in your corner, having someone encouraging you, like you said, it maybe is very hard to find with family and friends or even imp. To find someone who can even relate or understand. So to be a part of a community who is just as that we're all weird. Like what are you guys are like filming yourself like putting videos on the Internet. Yeah, we're YouTube crazy people. But where we get to be with other people who are kind of doing the same thing, want to make an impact or build an income. But you mentioned earlier you used to imitate others. You used to kind of. You hadn't found your voice. You hadn't found your authenticity. I want to unpack that and I think that's also. It sounds like you mentioned some of the encouragement he's encouraged you to be you. Have you found that also in that coaching environment that having that outside perspective has helped you find your own voice more or empower your own voice. And then how have, how would you encourage others maybe in your own journey that we're Putting ourselves out there on YouTube. But we might not have hit it yet. Like people listening to this, right? It's not a bad thing. It's just part of the journey where we maybe you might not have found your voice set, you might have posted 100, 300 videos. You're listening to this, but you might not have tapped into your authenticity yet. What are your thoughts on that, Ali?
- [33:50]
B
So I mean, just to kind of take it back just a little bit. I just remember doing one video and I mean I literally dress different. It's like I gotta be like them because that's so cute and it's so farmy and it's that. But I don't dress like that. So I always wear a hat when I'm in the garden. So that made sense to me. But. But it was, it was just this imitation of other person. It felt like a fraud in a way. I mean, I felt like I was trying to be, I mean this glorious thing that they were on, on YouTube and I thought it was pretty cool to watch them. I enjoyed watching them. But then when I turned it back on myself. And when you try to be somebody else, it's so obvious. People can see right through that, you know there's. You can't. When you're you, they know you're you.
- [34:38]
C
Yeah.
- [34:38]
B
When you're speaking the way you speak and even though it may be hick talk, they know it's you. But when you try to put out something that, that is absolutely different than how you act on a day to day basis, I think people see right through it.
- [34:53]
C
People see right through it. Yeah.
- [34:55]
B
And so I do feel like when we shifted and I was like, I'm tired of this. I don't want to try to be like this. I mean, they're getting great views and everything, but we. It's just too hard. It's so much easier just being you.
- [35:08]
C
They have their audience, we have ours.
- [35:10]
B
Yeah. And that was something we didn't really realize. I think when we first looked at it, it was. The audience was just of a whole. But it's not that way with YouTube.
- [35:18]
A
What year did that epiphany hit you?
- [35:20]
B
Year and a half ago? Well, I don't know. Probably the, probably the first. We probably tried to do that probably the first nine months to a year one when we were really getting into it. So probably the end of 2023.
- [35:37]
A
So to remind listeners of the timeline, you first start the online gardening business thing 13 years ago, but you get really serious in 2022. More serious, you start uploading more consistently in 2020. And then by 2022, you're at like 4,000 subs. I guess what I'm getting at is your discovery, in a way, of your true self, which was always there, but you're like kind of clicking into. Another good word for it would be alignment. There's something so powerful as humans, when we're in alignment, it resonates with other people. If we're aligned with our values, our true self, our strengths, our weaknesses, who we are, what we care about, you know, the quirks about us. If we're in alignment, it resonates with others. If we're in that alignment with authenticity, it comes through. And when we're out of alignment for some, they might be able to fake it. It doesn't mean you can't get views. It doesn't mean. Yeah, it doesn't mean you can't even have a breakout video. But I like what you mentioned. I felt like a fraud.
- [36:38]
B
Yeah.
- [36:38]
A
Like, and. And, you know, we could over. We could catastrophize how bad that is. I don't. It doesn't. I wouldn't think you were lying. You're just trying to kind of find your voice. You're kind of imitating other creators, but you're wanting an alignment and so you don't feel internal congruence. So you're less powerful on. On YouTube because you're not in your strength. You're trying to. If we throw out a niche biblical reference, it's kind of like David wearing Saul's armor. It's like, this isn't. This isn't my thing. King David, David and Goliath. He eventually is like, listen, I'm going to do the slingshot thing that I know. I'm going to use the stones and the slingshot. This armor doesn't fit me. I haven't practiced in this. This isn't me. And he stuck with really how God created him to be. I'm throwing out some thoughts. There is this kind of making sense. Am I articulating this?
- [37:28]
B
Well, you are. Yeah. Yeah, I think. And I don't know if I can speak for everybody else, but I think I kind of can for at least a majority of people. Is we're looking for views when we first start out. We're looking for subscribers when we first start out. And I think when we let go of that and don't worry about that and just try to create a solid, good, well informed, entertaining video, I feel like those are the better ones. I think that's when you start being who you are, and then it just takes care of itself from there.
- [38:02]
C
Yeah, we went to the. To your VRA Live, and you were on stage and you said, authenticity is where it's at.
- [38:08]
B
I think that was actually a good help for us. I mean, I think we were already on that road, but that reinforced.
- [38:15]
C
That definitely reinforced it. And it really made you. Made us think. And that's.
- [38:20]
B
Yeah.
- [38:20]
C
Where we're at.
- [38:21]
A
Well, I got a couple other questions for you, but I do want to put a pin in this for listeners. You're like, if you're still on a journey, but now, I mean, you're about to get a silver play button. You've crossed so many milestones, you're reaching heights that so many of our listeners want to achieve. But I just hope listeners are encouraged. I want to encourage you. Don't quit, keep posting. Don't overthink your lack of authenticity because you're doing your best. It's like, well, because sometimes it might paralyze you. Am I even being authentic? You're like, that is me, but is it me? And, you know, you can get stuck in your own head. Keep going, keep posting, do your best, make your next video as good as possible and be encouraged. Because, Allie, you saying, you know, after 13 years, I kind of, like, really locked into my voice at about year 12, basically 11 or 12. Only after a decade did I truly find. But you, both, Kevin and Ali, are speaking from a place of wisdom, and from that place of wisdom and real experience, you can help all of us go faster. And I really want to acknowledge you for that. And then again, encourage listeners, authenticity is a journey and so many powerful nuggets in there as we land the plane. I am curious. You know, you did mention posting videos for 13 years, and eventually there came an epiphany of, well, we've actually been doing this without intention. We have been doing this kind of randomly. Did you have any. What was going through your mind when you had the realization of, my gosh, we've invested so much time, so much energy, so many years in this. Was there any feelings of regret or loss or frustration? Are you always optimistic and just like, well, it's all learning? Or did you think, like, man, shoot, was there kind of a gut punch at all having. You don't know what you don't know, but as soon as you knew it, you might look back and be like, I, you know what? Let's just take a break. You know, this weekend we're, you know what? Now I'm Kind of frustrated, like, at least we know now. Does that make sense? I'm trying to get. Also, I want you to be speaking to our community because there's a lot of individuals, you know, we talk about. You edit for seven hours and then you get seven views. That gap feels like something that's. It could be discouraging. It could be frustrating. Multiply that by. You're posting for over a decade. Not consistently, immediately, but that's a long time. What was going through your mind when you kind of had the realization, like, well, we've put a lot of energy in this, but we've kind of been doing it wrong.
- [41:02]
B
And I wanted to quit all the time. Kevin's my great encourager. I mean, there I would go, well, when is enough? When is enough? You know, when is 100 views on a video enough? When are we going to quit? And I would always say, we need a date. And he'd be like, no, we're just going to keep doing it. So he was always really good to encourage me because I think you need Kevin's.
- [41:23]
A
The secret that's the problem is everybody needs a Kevin.
- [41:28]
B
If they want to keep doing YouTube, I guess.
- [41:31]
A
Yeah.
- [41:32]
B
But it was. I mean, it has been up and down, up and down. And I mean, I think in 10 years, we put up 30 videos. So it was not much at all. And. But then when we started putting more time into it, more thought into it, using the reverse engineering, started following the steps, all of the VRA steps started. You know, we joined vra. The more we started to learn, we saw that other people were going through this, too. And it's okay. I mean, it's. It's okay to have those ups and downs. And there is a lot of ups and downs, emotionally. The channel itself, the comments. The comments. Yeah. I mean, all in all, we've had pretty good comments, great comments. But one comment can bring you down, and you cannot let that happen. Happen. Because I think that that was one of my biggest struggles in the beginning was I'd get somebody that would make a comment and it. And then we realized it probably doesn't. You know, it doesn't. It's not even relevant. So once I learned to let that go, that made it a lot easier. Once we started getting more consistent, once we decided to start being more authentic. Authentic. Once we started to actually do what we love instead of what we thought that was the most important to do, it started to get a little bit better. And then everything just kind of has changed a little bit. I can't Say it's easy right now. It's. I mean, we're going through a lot of changes in our life right now, a lot of challenges. And that's the hard part is those. And. But just like, we keep working towards it. I mean, I'm still building videos in my mind if I'm outside and writing stuff down, putting little notes in my phone when I'm outside. This is a good idea, you know, to put into this video in the future or whatever. So these things are. I think that's pivotal is for us is to. It doesn't matter if it drops. It's going to come back up.
- [43:16]
C
It'll come back up.
- [43:17]
B
Things are. It just seems like it's ever revolving.
- [43:19]
C
When it seems like when it comes back up, it comes back up bigger and better. Better.
- [43:23]
B
Yeah.
- [43:23]
A
I think. I mean, my biggest takeaway, too, is I think it hit all of our listeners when you said, I wanted to quit all the time. Everybody listening now no longer feels alone in the same way they would now. I. Oh, you're not the only one. Like, so that's. That's so true. Like, I wanted to quit all the time. When is enough? And I know listeners, we get that question, when should I. Is there a time when I quit? Is there a time when I shut it down? Is it a hundred views a video? I'm stuck at 400 views a video. When do I quit? Answer. Get a Kevin.
- [43:55]
B
You need a Kevin.
- [43:58]
A
You need a Kevin to just remind you, you know what? Just keep going. You know what? There's gonna be ups and downs. You know what? Like, we're just gonna keep. And I think also the big takeaway of getting out of. Of just maybe your own thoughts and just your own staring at your channel and getting into a community, like, video rank it academy. And again, I don't. I'm not. I don't want to overly promote that. It's just. But, like, get into some community. Get into a community with someone else. That and a group of people who can help you see something you haven't seen. Give you a system, give you a framework. There's always tweaks. We can make changes. We can make some powerful insights. Okay. Truly landing the plane. But you mentioned you're going through some transition, and not only have you reached mountaintops, you know, sometimes when you summit a new mountain and your YouTube journey, you kind of realize, like, you're still at the base of a whole nother range of challenges and mountains ahead and you're running a homestead. You're. You're adding some business stuff, maybe that's a conversation we could have, you know, thinking about a course. That's definitely a conversation for another time or building an email list. But from running a homestead, transitioning a business, raising kids, how are you finding time for all of it and what are maybe just some of your advice or at least the challenges you're learning in this season.
- [45:13]
B
Right now, this has probably been our most challenging year. I have a friend, a small nursery, organic nursery, right in on our little homestead here. And I've done it for 17 years and through that, you know, doing some of the videos and stuff. And we've decided this year that we can't. We had to make a decision. Is it going to be YouTube and going that direction and figuring it out or is it going to be the nursery? Because that was, you know, it was a full time job. 8 hours. 8 hours open a day and then all the work that goes behind that. So we bailed. This year in May, we made the decision to close the nursery.
- [45:53]
C
The brick and mortar day.
- [45:54]
B
Yeah, the brick and mortar. We've kept the online because of the YouTube and we're going to try to direct more in that direction. So that's been a huge shift. It's just Kevin and I here at the house. We've got grandkids and we've only got two kids, but we want to spend more time with them. Time is so precious. And we learned that this year. We took care of my brother until he passed in our home. And so that kind of brought everything around to us to realize that life is short and you never know when it's going to end and you got to do what you really love to do. And I never thought I would say I love doing YouTube. I never thought I would say it. I actually hate admitting that, but I kind of do. I will complain all the time about it, but so we've had to shift that way. We, we can only film maybe an hour, maybe 15 minutes a night because we are so tight. But we just try to make sure that weather, yeah, we work around weather and everything. So I mean we're, we always try to film on Mondays and Tuesdays. No matter what, even if it's just 15 minutes, these little bits are going to add up and sometimes it's good just to do them in little pieces because then we can go, oh, we need to add this. This would be better to add to it. But it is, it's really difficult. Time is really difficult when you're working a full job and doing this as well. And so we decided to bite the bullet and cut out a big portion of our life, you know, which was my job. He still works full time, but.
- [47:22]
A
Okay, so. So that.
- [47:24]
C
Excuse me, go ahead.
- [47:25]
A
Is that was. What is the limitation on the filming? Just so I understand, your schedule, the online nursery or Kevin, your full time job, so you have the hour once you get home.
- [47:34]
C
No, I, I can pretty much get home when I need to. But you know, we work around weather, we work around light heat. You know, sometimes it's just so hot we just can't be feeling.
- [47:45]
B
Or wind or cold.
- [47:46]
C
Or wind or cold.
- [47:48]
B
Yeah. And of course when I was running the nursery, the brick and mortar, you can't film during that time because you got people in and out all the time. And so it had to be. Everything has to always be after hours. And weekends are very difficult. It's a very, very busy place around here. And so it's. We take care of our folks. We got 96 year old dad and an 88 year old mom and your mom. And so, you know, we have to care for these, these people. These are the things that are important and probably more important than YouTube.
- [48:18]
A
So yeah, they live with you.
- [48:21]
B
They don't. They live three miles away.
- [48:23]
C
They're very close.
- [48:24]
B
So yeah, but it's just. There's always going to be a challenge for somebody and I think scheduling has been huge. But our schedules get broken all the time just for strange things and we just have to live with it and just. And not try to push those videos through. There is no video important enough for some.
- [48:45]
A
Well, I am, I'm sorry to hear about your brother passing. And I also hearing everything you just shared I think speaks deeply to everybody listening because you kind of just hit it all. I want to acknowledge both of you, like Kevin, full time job, grandkids, taking care of parents, online nursery now as well as the nature of your content, some people might say, I mean, I think myself, I do a lot of stuff in this office that I've got air conditioning, I can turn on the lights. Wind is not going to be an issue. I can close the windows. But like you have the weather, you're completely acts of God are like, you know, something you have to deal with in terms of filming kind of meaning you can't necessarily film when you want to. You have to film if you have the energy for it and the environment, you know, is conducive. But in the midst of all of that, you're doing it. Y' all are resilient, gritty optimistic creators that are, are realizing it's not about your resources, it's about your resourcefulness. You're finding a way. So my question and I want both of your answers. Kevin, I'm curious, yours first and then Allie, what would you tell the creator who is. They could be a business owner, a creator, maybe they're a mom who's just seeing the impossibilities because maybe some of those things resonated with them. Yeah, but my kids or. Yeah, but you know, I'm working with my parents right now or. Yeah, you know, part time job, full time job. I'm just curious, Kevin, like what? You know, empathy for sure. But also maybe a little bit of a challenge to those that are seeing the impossibilities in their schedule.
- [50:35]
C
Yeah, it's, it's definitely tough with us. And you know, like Ali said, the scheduling is, is big, you know, and we try to put out weekly videos but if, if a parent needs something, we put it off and we go do it. Then we come back and work on the video and, and do our, do our best to make the best video we can. But you know, life, life's tough. There's always something in it. You know, whether, whether you have parents or friends or whatever you've got. There's, there's always something in the way. You just gotta push through.
- [51:06]
A
Good. Ali? Yeah. What are your thoughts?
- [51:08]
B
I mean mine are simple. You just gotta do it. I mean it's, you can figure it out. There's always something that you can. We don't watch tv, we don't watch our phones, we don't do anything like that, you know, and those are big time suckers. And so we don't do anything like that. We, we are true hard workers and we may only have five minutes here and there and you use those time, that time wisely. That is, I think time is so precious that if you don't schedule it to the best that you can and just do it, you know, and maybe not whine so much about it and just say, well, today is just what it is and we're going to do what we can. And like I said, five minutes here and there can actually add up a lot both ways. You know, wasting time or using it wisely. So I just doing it, just, just putting your head looking forward and going, I'm gonna do this. No matter what, I'm gonna do this and nobody's gonna get in my way. I'm gonna have, I'm gonna be veered off the road a lot But I'm gonna do it.
- [52:10]
C
There's always a snow bank.
- [52:13]
A
I think this was like a mini masterclass. And what I heard from you, you kind of just broke down, like, six tips. How to stay consistent on YouTube. Even when life gets hard, push through it. In tough times, life isn't always easy. But showing up matters. So just do it. Number two, make sacrifices and set priorities. You can't do everything, so it's inspiring. You can make a choice. The results you're getting on YouTube, also in your case, comes with the sacrifice of, we're not going to watch tv. We're choosing to do what we want to do. We're going to focus on what matters to us. Put in the work work ethic. I. Probably not to your level, but I grew up on six acres with goats, with a bunch of dogs, bunch of cats, with horses. And so I was shoveling horse manure, mowing with a tractor on a mower deck, mowing fields. And I will tell you this. I am so grateful for the work ethic of my stepdad and my mom that they instilled for me. It's why I truly actually believe I outwork my competition. Because they didn't grow up with the real. I'm like YouTube. I'm like, you know, y' all know I like in the wind, in the mud, like, with the tractor, like, getting stuck, like. But real work ethic number four, stick to a schedule. Number five, don't complain. Complaining drains. Drains energy. Use your energy to create instead of complaining. And it's okay to delay. Huge insight. Let everybody listening to the fake media podcast. You don't have to post this week. Oh, awesome, Sean. Thank you so much. I felt the stress. But, like, for real, like, you don't. You just don't have to post this week. You could post the week after. Like, if something comes up, life comes up, family comes up. If you need a break, you need to take a rest, or your kids, your family needs you, it's okay to delay. So that was a very rich masterclass y' all shared. I have one final question, but before we do that, just give us a roll call. Your stuff, how people can follow you, what you have coming, your website. If people want to take advantage of your online nursery or just whatever's going on, give us a breakdown.
- [54:15]
B
Okay, so we have a website that has gardening supplies. It's alliesorganics.com. we have a handcraft from the farm.com, which is things that come from our place, wooden spoons and things that we spin from the goats that we have here, that we shear. We have our YouTube channel, Ali's Organic Garden and Homestead, and it is on Half acre Homesteading. And I think that's about it.
- [54:45]
C
I think that's it.
- [54:46]
A
Okay, so one final question. If everything disappears tomorrow with everything you've learned, your YouTube channel, your subscribers, my gosh, can you feel the pain? 96,000 subscribers, your channel gets deleted, your affiliates, but you still had your knowledge and everything you've learned, and you still have your land. So you're still on your homestead. How would you start again?
- [55:13]
B
Oh, wow. Well, go out and pull weeds.
- [55:20]
C
It would probably be more continuing, but.
- [55:22]
B
Yeah, Yeah, I mean, I might go, nevermind. And then, you know, sleep on it.
- [55:30]
A
The emotional reaction is fair. You know what? You're like, I give up.
- [55:34]
B
Yeah.
- [55:34]
A
But then, of course, Evan comes in, he's like, you know what? We're just going to keep going.
- [55:37]
B
Yeah. And it's exactly what it would be. I would be so. Can I say pissed off?
- [55:44]
A
Please.
- [55:46]
B
I would be so ticked off if that happened that I would. I'd throw my hands up in the air and go, I give up. And then Kevin would go, well, we know how to do it better the next time. And then the next morning, I would wake up and go, you're right, honey. Let's get going. So, yeah, we would probably do it again.
- [56:05]
C
Yeah, we probably would.
- [56:06]
B
And smarter this time.
- [56:07]
C
That's smarter.
- [56:08]
B
But if we didn't have that know how, I don't know. We'd probably have to do it all like we did before. Before.
- [56:14]
A
I. I love what you said because the knowledge is priceless. And you. It would be very discouraging. But the real big takeaway of today's episode is we all need a Kevin. We all need a Kevin in our corner giving us that encouragement.
- [56:29]
C
We need a Sean. Yeah.
- [56:31]
A
Appreciate it. But it's true, because there's going to be those days. And. And I think this ties a bow on the whole episode. Like, the emotions, Ali, are being transparent to share is what we can all feel. The days when it's just like, you know what? I've had it. I give up. I want to quit. This is it. It's discouraging. We get all these setbacks, and then the mentality that we need is like, all right, well, maybe we should take a break. Maybe we should pull some weeds for a while. Maybe we should relax. Maybe we need a nap. Maybe we need to, you know, take, take, take a rest. Tired eyes rarely see a bright future. But then let's get back to it. Let's roll up our sleeves, get back to it, and then keep posting one video at a time, getting 1% better with every single upload. And I just want to acknowledge Kevin and Ali. Thank you so much for coming on. This has been an incredible conversation. It's been great spending this time with you and I also want to honor you Think Media podcast listeners. If you got value today, smash the like button or rate and review wherever you listen to the podcast. If you're on the audio version, my name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel and I cannot wait to connect with you in a future episode.