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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 made $65,000 from one YouTube video?
- [00:24]
B
Yes, and it's an Excel tutorial. But there is a story behind it, and I think that's one of the reasons this video probably works so well.
- [00:31]
A
John, a computer Hora has over 661,000 subscribers, over 76 million views on his channel, Excel Campus.
- [00:38]
B
The videos that have performed the best are ones where we've started with the end in mind.
- [00:42]
A
We're going to be learning about this one video that made $65,000 in the system behind it and the surprising power of niche channels and boring topics. And he's living proof that even simple, boring videos can change your life. There's never been more opportunity to make money on YouTube, but the game is crazy changing. And if you don't know the rules, you could miss your chance. In this episode, you're going to meet a creator who made $65,000 from one single YouTube video and went on to build a seven figure business teaching what most people in the world would call a boring topic. But he didn't start there. He started like most of us, uploading videos that weren't perfect, wondering if anybody would watch, and struggling with the fear that his niche was too. Too small to matter. Today, John Acumpora has over 661,000 subscribers, over 76 million views on his channel, Excel Campus, and he's living proof that even simple, boring videos can change your life. And coming up in this conversation, we're going to be learning about this one video that made $65,000 in the system behind it, the surprising power of niche channels and boring topics, and how John has reinvented himself over the past 15 years on YouTube. So you can get some insights and of what's next with AI, new tools and evolving your own content strategy. This is a masterclass in turning simple videos into a real business. John, welcome to the podcast.
- [02:13]
B
Sean, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
- [02:16]
A
So I want to start with this conversation. You made $65,000 from one YouTube video. Can you tell us that story?
- [02:23]
B
Sure. Yeah. So that is a video that's now been on YouTube for 10 years, believe it or not. So it's been a long stretch, but that's all AdSense revenue and I think it now has over 15 million views like you said. So and starting out I had no idea that this video was going to do well or this well I should say. It's actually a three part series which is kind of interesting. It's part one of a three part series of videos and it's on a topic that in my niche Excel is a popular topic, which is pivot tables. So the video is on pivot tables, which makes it broadly appealing to a lot of people and like happy to dive into the specifics on what you know, might be making it work. But as well it is as it is, it's definitely been our number one video and it still is today, which is blows my mind. It's still like today getting, I looked this morning over 1500 views a day on weekdays. That 10 year old video is still producing today.
- [03:24]
A
That's crazy because you know, we call these ranked videos and you know, historically in SEO that would be search based, which I'm sure it's gotten some traffic from that. But also algorithm based, like suggested based. And what is a ranked video? It's a video that gets 1,500 views a day 10 years after you've posted it. So it's like such a cool example of that. I do want to learn about some of the unique strategies that we could apply to our own content. But have you correlated the fact that if that's a video in a series, that that one video also has probably lifted the other two parts in the three part series?
- [04:01]
B
Yeah, it has. Those other videos have over a million views. I'm not sure exactly how much. It's definitely a huge drop off from the first video. But the, the first video covers a lot so you can get a lot out of that first video. You don't necessarily need to watch all three parts to kind of get the ultimate solution. So I think that's part of it. But yes, and I think that, you know, obviously we've picked up a lot of other views to other videos as well just from this video attracting so much attention over the years.
- [04:31]
A
And the thumbnail shows a before and after transformation. Can you break down that strategy?
- [04:35]
B
Yeah, so again, this is a 10 year old video that I have not changed that thumbnail on. I, I've, you know, I've talked about this video with, with people over the years. I'd love to get your opinion too, but most people say don't Touch it. So that's basically what I' but the. Yeah, the thumbnail, although it's not great quality, kind of shows the before of a messy spreadsheet, like messy data on a spreadsheet. And then the after picture is a nice looking dashboard, like an Excel dashboard. So that's the transformation that the video promises and of course delivers as well.
- [05:09]
A
I think that's a powerful insight for everybody listening to this to think about what is the next video they could make that shows transformation. I mean what people want and even defining the transformation from, you know, maybe you want to lose £20. So you have before and after. It could be weight loss. What's interesting is in a topic like Excel from messy and disorganized, could be a closet, could be a spreadsheet to organized from broke to now you're making some money. And transformation is so often what people watch on YouTube in the fact he showed that in the thumbnail is so powerful kind of that split screen. I think about the meme that said how it started. How's it going? It's just a format that works so good for humans. Now you also framed it around a fictional character named Andy. Yeah, tell us about that.
- [05:59]
B
Yeah, and I think that's one of the reasons this video probably works so well is there is a story behind it which is yes, this fictional character named Andy. At the time I got like, it's just basically an an or illustration of kind of this kind of nerdy looking character that. And I got it off Fiverr at the time. Like I downloaded a pack of. There's like several different poses that he's doing. So I use those with a PowerPoint slide deck to make essentially a story. Of course today you could use AI tools to. To make that a lot better. But I think the point of that is that the audience relates to this character because the essentially the story with Andy is that he's been given this spreadsheet from his boss is asking him to do an assignment which is create a dashboard. He doesn't know how to do that and he thinks it's going to take him a long time. And so the video goes through how you can really do this easily with a feature of Excel called pivot tables and make that process easy so it doesn't have to be this complex thing where you're coding stuff. So I think that story really is what has helped this video take off.
- [07:04]
A
It's another fascinating principle on the power of storytelling more than just basic information. Because when I think about Excel, right. You all at times, just think about raw basic tutorial. Have you done some of those?
- [07:16]
B
Yes, I would say, like most of. And this is a lesson I need to take for myself. Most of my videos are that way. Right. It's just kind of the how to tutorials. But I have tried to mix story into it and different ways to make it a little more exciting. I think even just the before and after transformation that we were just talking about is, Is a way to incorporate story into something that, you know, might otherwise be boring or, or not interesting.
- [07:44]
A
So, yeah, we think about that a lot on Think Media. Before your, your video quality sucks, before your skin's yellow and you're like, how do I get my white balance right? Like, your lighting is. Is not great. So the transformation can even happen in tutorial and how to content. I think that's also. I mean, when you're breaking this down, you made $65,000 from one YouTube video just from AdSense alone, by creating a PowerPoint deck and then talking over it.
- [08:14]
B
Yes. And then. And then it goes into an Excel tutorial. Yeah. Yes. So those components.
- [08:19]
A
And when you take us back to when you were first filming this, like, what was the technical requirements to essentially put this together?
- [08:26]
B
You know, a screen recording app. I've used Camtasia for years. Um, we still use that to record the screen and yeah, PowerPoint and Excel, I think we're it. Uh, I don't. I don't know. I think I was on camera at the beginning of that video, but it was probably a webcam, now that I think about it.
- [08:45]
A
So we're living in a world where with simple software, PowerPoint, Excel, which is the software you're doing the tutorial of, and a basic webcam, you were able to create content. Now, the art form being the story and the art form being the problem it solved, but that you. Again, it was able to make tens of thousands of dollars. But that video also didn't just make ad money. So what that reveals is that YouTube actually paid you $65,000. But this also connects to your bigger business. Can you explain, like a framework of how you turn one video into a system for your business?
- [09:22]
B
Yeah, so this actually, back then, with this, with the business, I can get more into what we sell in the business. Now it's mostly online courses and a membership. Back in 2015, when we launched this, I was actually launching an add in for Excel or like a plugin for Excel, and that was my main business back then. So this video series was also a launch for that plugin. This was launch for that software. So. And I kind of use the product launch formula to do that. So that's why it was a three part series. And we don't even sell the, the add in anymore for other reasons. But we obviously still grow our audience from this video and really we've kind of shifted to using YouTube for a platform for lead generation instead of just selling products directly.
- [10:20]
A
Okay, I got so many questions. So first of all, how, how much did the software sell for at the time?
- [10:25]
B
Yeah, so it was sold for. I think it's low, like 15 maybe. Yeah, somewhere around there. 15 to 30. We had like two levels when that.
- [10:35]
A
Was like lifetime access to software.
- [10:37]
B
Yes, yeah, exactly.
- [10:39]
A
And then did you build it yourself?
- [10:41]
B
Yes. Yeah. So my background is in corporate finance, but I was always more of, kind of on the, I would say developer side. I look at Excel as like a tool for development and creating apps. So it was something I coded myself.
- [10:58]
A
So, okay, so you code and you develop a software which is, I think it's interesting because this is still such a great model in a 2026 world. With vibe coding, with AI, with micro SaaS, there's just so many opportunities to make money in non traditional ways and use YouTube as a marketing platform and a way to reach people. Also, a lot of our listeners have probably never heard of the product launch formula before. There's a good book, I've read that book and have followed Jeff Walker for a while. But can you define what that is?
- [11:28]
B
Yeah, so it's same thing back in. I think that book came out in around 2015 and I read it, the book by Jeff Walker, Product Launch Formula, Reddit. It talks a lot about, you know, from my memory, the marketing like psychology or psychology around marketing and the different kind of pieces that you need to have in a launch to of course speak to the buyer and all those different kind of trigger, like mental triggers with FOMO and the story and all those pieces that go into a launch. So yeah, I was really just reading that book, kind of applying it to a YouTube video and launching this product and that really, I think kind of launched my journey into this digital business of selling online courses and things like that as well.
- [12:18]
A
Yeah, I want to encourage listeners, of course we always have strong resources for you, recommended resources if you want to check them out. We'll link it up in the show notes. That is a great book. I think it's called Launch or Product Launch and that explains that. But what you just took deeper there is this term marketing psychology. And at the beginning of the episode we're talking about. You know, there's never been a better time to make money on YouTube. But the game is changing and I think it takes more strategy, more nuance. And a lot of creators, I would argue 99% are kind of like living on the surface with a level of intentionality, craft. And so you didn't just lob out a video. But there was, there was a purpose to it. There was a business back end to it. We have a system and the first R is reverse engineer and that's a good way to start. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Start with the end in mind. It's, it's such a business principle that like what, what end goal are we achieving and what would would need to be true? And how could this video lead to the next thing where a lot of us get stuck? We're just making a video and we hope it does well and we hope AdSense pays us. But like before, you had so many other things in, in place when this video came out as well. And then it also became, as you mentioned, sort of like a lead domino to the bigger bills business you built today. So things have shifted. What would you describe as like your business model and how that works with YouTube?
- [13:49]
B
Yeah. So now, and I love what you said about starting with the end in mind, like we could elaborate on that too. But in terms of the, the business model now YouTube is our number one source of leads. So I started off doing both blogging and YouTube back in like 2009, but it really didn't get going until maybe 2015 or so. And for a long time the blog was our biggest source of traffic. We got a lot of traffic from our blog, a lot of opt ins to build our email list from the blog. Um, but YouTube had always been a very close second since, you know, in the last three years or so our blog traffic has seen a huge decline for a lot of reasons. AI probably being the biggest one, but a lot of reasons there. But YouTube has stayed really strong. So we've still had a lot of leads. Like essentially we're getting the majority of our leads to opt into our email list from YouTube and then we have what I'd consider probably like a digital, like a kind of standard digital marketing company with selling online courses where we're using the email list to grow the email list, to invite people to a masterclass or webinar and then sell our training programs and products from that.
- [15:08]
A
I gotcha. And you were talking about, you could elaborate on start with the end in Mind, especially as a seasoned content creator, business owner, entrepreneur, what are. How do you think about that? And is there certain prompts you give yourself, questions you give yourself when you're architecting not just content strategy, but business strategy overall?
- [15:28]
B
Yeah, it's a great question. Like, I think that when you said that, it just kind of a light bulb went off because it's something that I struggle with, honestly, with YouTube, because there's such a creative side, which I love about YouTube. Right. We can just think of an idea, create a video. Um, but that video might not have a good. We might have like. Or for me, I might not have the packaging for the video. Correct. You know, typically, and I know I've heard you say this a lot, that we want to start with that packaging, start with the end in mind. Right. Start with the title, the thumbnail, and then create the video. A lot of times I do that backwards and. But I think that it's good to just know that you could still do it backwards sometimes and things will turn out okay. But really the, the videos that we've probably have performed the best are ones where we've started with the end in mind, understanding either is this a video that's going to recommend another video, a series of videos, or is it going to be something where we want to have a call to action, to a lead magnet or a webinar or something like that, and kind of working backwards from there is obviously going to help the entire funnel perform, perform better.
- [16:41]
A
You're a YouTube veteran, and when it comes to YouTube success, there's many pieces. But in our pre conversation, you were filling out some of the key principles of breaking down YouTube success, and you wrote down three. I think this is a powerful framework for listeners. The first thing you said was listen and engage with the audience. Can you explain like, the depth of that and why that has been critical to the results you've gotten on YouTube?
- [17:09]
B
Yeah, I think YouTube is. Is unique in that it is this platform for education and entertainment, but the audience is able to interact with. I guess it's not so unique. I mean, there's other social platforms that do this, but I feel like YouTube has the ability for you to still create a community within your channel, within your kind of platform. So I think it's. It's very important to, even if you're not replying to every single comment that you get on your videos, still read them all and understand what your audience wants, what they're still struggling with. I think that's been really helpful in even creating new Videos. I might publish a video and get a lot of feedback with questions. And I realize the video is too advanced for the audience, so we could remake this video to be maybe a little easier either easier to understand. Maybe I didn't do something right. To explain it correctly, or maybe it's that we need to bring it down a level so it appeals to more people. So just engaging and. And asking those questions of the audience, listening to what they're asking as well, has been very helpful in. In growth.
- [18:19]
A
Yeah. I think I remember a quote that's so important there and some from Albert Einstein, and it says, if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. What's fascinating is that you're in an interesting spot, and I think most of the people listening to this podcast are as well. When you start to have, you know, listeners to this, if they have a parenting channel, are, you know, they've been parenting for five years, 10 years, 15 years, and they've read five, 10, 15 books, and they listen to podcasts and they get into what's called the curse of knowledge, and they then just assume that maybe there's going to be an understanding of terms. They under. They think that, like, what level they're speaking to or if they're speaking to somebody else who could understand all that. They're explaining things, not simply. They're explaining it in kind of a complex way, you know, not by intention, just because it's sort of what naturally happens.
- [19:13]
B
Yeah.
- [19:14]
A
It seems like one of the things you've aimed to do is by also listening to your comments, you're like, okay, I need to refine this down more. How do I refine this down more? And I think that probably one of the biggest keys to YouTube success is the very hard skill of learning how to take complex things and make them simple or how to take things like, what should I. Am I even teaching too much in one video? Should I break this into parts? How do I distill down those parts? How do I maybe illustrate it? What's been your journey with that finding, especially in a topic like Excel that you teach that has beginner, intermediate, advanced.
- [19:48]
B
I think, you know, one thing is learning from others, and you're a great example. I've followed you for years, and I think, especially when you're, you know, I learned early on a lot about cameras from you and lighting. Right. And these are all. And I'm a pretty techy person, so I could kind of pick it up. But you did a great job of breaking that down easily. So everyone could understand, you know, a camera without having to know an F stop and all these technical components of a camera. So I like to learn from others to see how they're explaining things and just try and figure out how I can do that easily because I can get into very, some very advanced topics. I've. I teach coding and I've taught coding. So that can get very advanced very quickly. And I might be in a unique spot where we have a tool, Excel, that like billions of people use across Google sheets and Excel. And there's such a broad demographic of experience, right. You can code with this thing. You could do amazing, complex stuff, or you might just be planning your next potluck right with it, or your next baby shower. Right. So trying to appeal to all of those different people is challenging, but you have to kind of figure out which are the people that we can help the most and which are the people that are in best alignment with the products and services that we sell. So it's that balance. But I think learning from others is kind of one way to do it. And then of course, reading books and education on how to be a better communicator is something I'm always trying to do.
- [21:24]
A
Yeah, that's a juicy tip. Because we get so focused on views, thumbnails, titles, and somewhat video editing, but content delivery itself, communication itself growing as a skill of a communicator is a lifelong journey for the person that wants to take YouTube seriously. So you have kind of these three pillars. Of course there's many more, but three big pillars of YouTube success. Number one, listen, engage with your audience. Number two, post consistently. Now listeners are like, yeah, if I've heard, of course, be consistent on YouTube. But there's some nuance to that, like break down what when that became clear to you and maybe even like when, when did you first get a thousand subscribers, first get your channel monetized and did kind of switching your mindset into being consistent on YouTube have a role in that as a content creator, you know that getting professional quality could be a huge hassle. You want your podcasts and videos to look and sound amazing, but you don't want to invest in a full blown production studio to make it happen. That's why here at Think Media we use Riverside. Riverside is a platform that lets you capture studio quality content from anywhere. I literally record in a home office right next to my 5 year old's bedroom and it looks and sounds like a pro studio because it records up to 4K video with uncompressed Audio and it's also super easy to record and collaborate with guests. They don't need to download any apps. They just tap the link in their browser and they're instantly ready to start recording. One of my favorite features is the separate audio and video tracks for each speaker. This is a lifesaver. If your guest's dog barks or their kid runs in, you can just mute their audio track without messing up yours. And Riverside doesn't just stop at recording. It has easy video editing built in and the editing workflow is flexible and fast. You can even edit by deleting words in the transcript, and videos update automatically. There's actually a really cool feature called Smooth Speech that can automatically remove filler words like and ah from your transcript and video and with a single click. Plus right after recording, you can generate captions and clips that are optimized for YouTube shorts, TikToks and Instagram Reels directly in the app. It's the ultimate all in one tool for content creation. So if you're a creator or business owner at any stage that wants professional quality without the headache, you've got to check out Riverside. We've got a special link and offer for you and it's right there in the show notes. And personally, I've got to say we've used a lot of different platforms in the past, but ever since switching to Riverside here at Think Media and everything changed, I'm absolutely in love with it. So just go to the link in the description or the podcast show notes to learn more and to start creating studio quality content today with Riverside. When did you first get a thousand subscribers, first get your channel monetized and did kind of switching your mindset into being consistent on YouTube have a role in that?
- [24:15]
B
Yeah, it did. I'm not exactly sure when the first thousand were, but it was probably close enough. 2015 timeframe for sure. And I think the consistency part has been key. You know, that's 10 years now, so consistency over that time has been challenging. Like it's not. I don't post every single week. There was a period of time when I did that, but right now we don't. But we try and post at least twice a month on a long form, short form, we are posting three to four videos per week. So that is more consistent. And I think that it probably depends a lot on your audience. But my audience definitely, I found, expects me to post and they show up. You know, there's certain people, I think with every YouTube channel, there's certain people that always comment first Right. Or comment on the first day. And there's some expectation there that they want content every week, which is amazing. So we try and do our best to live up to that. But I. I think that it really helps, obviously, with the algorithm to be posting, you know, as frequently as you can. I don't want to say weekly, but as frequently as you can, that could be monthly as well, to just meet those expectations of your audience.
- [25:33]
A
And you mentioned vertical videos or short videos. Are you. What is your workflow for that? Are you just repurposing clips or are you intentionally crafting vertical videos that you're recording?
- [25:45]
B
We are doing both, but mostly crafting new content for Vertical because it's, It's. It's. To me, it's a diff. A bit of a different format in terms of consuming, especially an excel video in 60 seconds. You can't go into the depth of explanation that you could on a longer form, but you can still show transformation. And that's one thing that I think the. The vertical videos do well. They're the. The vertical videos that do well, the shorts that do well show some kind of transformation. It's like, here's our problem. Even if it's an Excel spreadsheet. Right. Here's the problem. Here's maybe the way that you always have done it, which is really slow, and here's a faster way, and that format works really well. And it's something that you could do in 60 seconds or 90 seconds or so and show a transformation. And people love it.
- [26:35]
A
Yeah. And I'm looking at your channel. You've got 1.3 million views on a short 593,000. You kind of have your face like a tutorial in a green circle. And then it also makes sense, like, I think, to make it look good to have the formatting of which part of the screen share is best visible and vertical. Some video editing that would take place there. But I think what's interesting is I'm curious your thoughts on long form versus short form. There's a big debate on YouTube about it being harmful to your channel and messing with your subscribers. And it sounds like you're a big believer in YouTube shorts. What has been your experience?
- [27:18]
B
It's a good question. I'm still not honestly sure if I'm hurting my channel or not. I haven't figured that out. And I don't know, like, have you?
- [27:31]
A
No, I. Well, I have. I look at the, like, the net. Net, and I look at the analytics in the last 30 days, and shorts has gained subscribers and it's gotten views and it's net positive.
- [27:44]
B
Yeah.
- [27:44]
A
But I also look at the YouTube analytics that shows the crossover and what I've learned is that you're kind of building two different audiences. Oftentimes the crossover is a small percent. I've also had YouTube shorts get as many as 22 million views or maybe more on my podcast channel, for example, 40 million on the main channel. And that'll lead to what I would call like almost inflated subscriber numbers because then a short like that grows 5,000, 10,000, 25,000 subscribers, which pumps your numbers up but doesn't necessarily translate to your long form views. I think my takeaway, it doesn't matter so long as you just realize that the critics don't matter. And here's what I mean, it's like somebody might say, oh, you know, why do you have 300,000 subscribers, I think, you know, or 400 on our podcast channel, but your videos only get, it's like, well, one reason is because 30,000 subscribers gained from shorts, like aren't even really seeing those other videos you're posting. Yeah, but those vanity metrics, like, why do you care about, you know, Roblox22 who's commenting, you know, on your video? And I always think about these comments like, bro, I see you in the comment section but I never see you at the bank and who cares, you know, But I'm also aware like al. So I don't think, I, I personally don't think it's algorithmic harm, but what I think is happening is it can sort of, you're getting kind of mixed data and, and I also realized that it's a very small percentage of crossover, but it's still crossover. So you do get a million views on a, a short and it's like only 3, 1% or 5%. Watch both shorts and longs and discover you. Dude, what is 1% of a million? 10. 10,000.
- [29:31]
B
Yeah.
- [29:32]
A
So 10,000 new humans have discovered, if you will, your main content. Like I shot saw a short and now I'm potentially a fan, a super fan, a true fan. So I kind of think about it like that. It's an interesting thing to manage because it can, it can fluff up like your top end numbers sort of make the optics of your channel misunderstood by the critical eye. We were never building for the critics anyways. But I'll, you know, try to pay attention and for listeners to the podcast, you can only comment on the video version. But I'm always, I like to ask the Question. What's your experience today? What's your experience now? Some people have reported that it was been more harmful to their channel in the past, but it's a, A couple years ago YouTube Shorts was new, like a new product from YouTube and they're committed to the health of the platform overall. So there might have been certain seasons where algorithm got confused. In my opinion. I feel like it's getting better and they just continue to work on the overall experience to the entire platform. So betting on YouTube itself and the fact they want you to live stream, they want you to do shorts, they want you to do long form videos. But it's an ongoing discussion and that's why I bring it up is because different people have had different experiences. Yeah. So I'll pass it to you.
- [30:46]
B
No, that's really good, thank you. I'm sure your audience will love that because it's super helpful. Yeah. And I feel the same way. Like one thing the way I also kind of look at it, I think I look at it the same way you do. Like YouTube will figure it out. Right. They're allowing us to have both of these on one channel. They'll kind of figure out how long term that's going to benefit us and the platform. We've also are posting all of that short form content on other social platforms. Facebook does really well for us. Of course, Instagram and TikTok do as well. But ultimately like I said before, our business model is to bring leads into our email list. So I just look at it as these are all different opportunities to bring leads in to the email list, to our ecosystem and like build a relationship with us. So why not use shorts unless it's really going to hurt the long form channel. Why not use use this as another opportunity with not much extra effort to. And I guess I the only the argument against that would be to have two separate channels. Right. For shorts and long. But I still think we do get some crossover there. Like you said could be 1% and but we, I found that we have very like loyal long term audience members. Once they kind of build the trust the know like and trust kind of going back to the, the Jeff Walker book. Once they build some of those elements with us, they stay a long time and so if we can provide short form content or long form content that satisfies like how they want to learn then let's do that.
- [32:27]
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 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 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 we've covered these three pillars of YouTube success. Listen and engage with your audience to post consistently and then thirdly try different packaging, different titles and thumbnails. What's been your evolution with figuring out how to position your videos? Title your videos, thumbnail design?
- [33:59]
B
Yeah, it's changed over the years. I think at first it was all about search related videos. Like that was really my main focus. Coming from the blogging world and kind of the SEO world. I just looked at YouTube as another platform for search when I first started. In the last few years, several years, I've kind of changed that thinking to also create more browse type videos. Right. That are appealing in that sense and those definitely do better short term because there's a lot of emotion tied to a thumbnail and a title and they're, you know, drive a lot more views. There's a lot more curiosity based content there. So those tend to work short term but from what I've seen, they typically plateau after a certain amount of time where the search based content tends to perform really well. Like besides the video we talked about at the beginning, that's mostly still, I think that's about 40% still browse that, that video from with 15 million views, it's about 40% browse but still gets a lot of search traffic as well.
- [35:08]
A
It's an interesting thing that you're breaking down and to define for the audience when, when you say browse. It's like this idea that the YouTube algorithm is recommending your video. Another way to say it is there's like search based traffic and there's suggested based traffic. Traffic means views and Suggested is the YouTube algorithm suggesting your video, putting it on people's homepages, putting it on the right side or underneath videos. And what the. It's interesting the connection you made because oftentimes suggested short term can go mini viral or legit viral because it taps into emotion and it can spread quickly but it usually plateaus and it might even stop and search might be slow, but it could last for 10 years plus. But I love the connection you made is that if a video actually is kind of optimized for search and arguably both. If you could have it optimized for search but tapping into emotion and including curiosity, you're tapping into modern YouTube mastery. But if it's got some search traffic that can lead to suggested because suggested is going to be the bigger traffic source. It's over 70% or 80% of views on YouTube come from suggested. So it's. The math is clear as far as the views opportunity. But what, what is fascinating is I have found if you nail search then and people are satisfied and the video, you know, watch time, people are clicking on it, events can start to spread. So yeah, you're not going to, you're probably not going to earn $65,000 from a search based video going slow. But that is like a tutorial search based video that eventually is also tapping into both. So I think the big takeaway said a lot there. But the big takeaway would be experimenting with different packaging. And I would encourage listeners to. You're obviously here but to be a student of YouTube and to actually master multiple skill sets, it's like having different tools in your tool belt. It's like you're kind of a, you're limited if all you can use is a hammer. But if you can use a hammer and a saw and a screwdriver, well now you have these different tool sets, you know how to intermix them. And I'm got a question for you and that is what do you think has surprised you most about your YouTube growth?
- [37:23]
B
How? Yeah, it's a great question. I think you know a few things but one is how, I don't know, I was going to say inconsistent. It is, but how it can change quickly, right? I think it like growth can change pretty quickly or it can start to grow faster very quickly off one video. We obviously like have this long running video that's very popular. We have other videos that have performed long term that have helped that growth be a little more steady. But you can also then publish a video that you weren't expecting to do well and it crushes, it goes viral, whatever that is. And you can get a lot of subscribers and growth from that very quickly. So it can happen fast. For me, I, I almost like the kind of slower long term growth aspects of it. Of course we all love those spikes, but it just makes it a little more consistent. And that's one thing I love about YouTube. I mean, it's amazing that even today I'm getting 1500 views from a video that's 10 years old. It hasn't just, you know, have a, two weak shelf life on a social media platform and it's gone. Like it, it can last a really long time.
- [38:35]
A
I want you to expand on that a little bit because Having been on YouTube for so long, I feel like Elon Musk said, starting a company is like eating glass and staring into the abyss. And you're talking, you know, some seasons it's like I feel like I'm on top of the world. YouTube's growing, other seasons it's slow. And sometimes we might even get a little delusional as business owners, as entrepreneurs because we think that the growth was because of our own doing. Now we need to master these skills. But one of the biggest social media and YouTube delusions was the pandemic. People going through the pandemic when everybody was home watching content all day with nothing to do, seeking to learn new skills. Numbers just shot through the roof for a lot of creators. Fast forward a couple years and people go, what's wrong with me? Their personal identity attached to results. What's wrong with the algorithm? What's wrong? And these are all, these could be good questions because it could be self improvement. How do I need to pivot? How do I need to reinvent? But maybe the better question is also what's changed in the environment? What's, what are some of the external factors? Never to project, blame or take a victim standpoint, but to be aware of market factors. So at 15 years, have you experienced what, what has been your experience with the seasons of YouTube being up and down and then from a broader perspective, maybe from revenue being up and then a month, I don't know if you've ever had a negative month. Have you had, you know, emotions where you're like, oh, there's highs and lows and what kind of resilience have you tried to build with your mindset or how you think about that?
- [40:19]
B
Yeah, it's a great question. I think, overall, you're absolutely right. Like, the season. There's been seasons, like 2020 being one of those where a lot of things went really well for, you know, for. In terms of views and stuff for about a year or so there, maybe a little longer. But I think you really nailed it. Like, most of the seasons I kind of take internally or they are on me to make things happen. I try not to. I mean, YouTube's always changing. The world's always changing. We have AI. We have all these things that are changing. Right. But at the same time, especially with YouTube, I think it. I don't know, I'm, like, addicted to it for some reason, because you get that instant feedback from it. It's challenging, but it. It almost forces you to grow and learn. Right. We have to learn how to package our. Our videos in 2025. Like, there's new strategies for that. So we are always constantly lear of. It doesn't stay the same. And then it requires an element of faith, too, whatever that is for you. Like, it's. It's especially for me. I was like a finance person stuck in a cubicle for the first 10 years of my career. I've never. What. I thought I would be here on video talking to you about creating YouTube videos. So it takes a level of, like, faith and trust that. That this is going to work out, but you have to put the effort into it. Like, it's. It's not something that the algorithm's not out to get you. I don't know. I don't have that sense that the algorithm's out to get me. I know there's a lot of competitors. I have to keep up with them. I have to figure out what they're doing and how I can stand out in a crowded space. But that is business. That's why with that Elon quote, you eat glass and stare into the abyss. It's staring into the abyss. Yeah.
- [42:05]
A
I heard one person say, entrepreneurship is a full contact sport. I love contact.
- [42:10]
B
Yeah.
- [42:11]
A
You know, business is war. And I've also heard that one overemphasized like, relax, you're in a Cuba. You're. You're at line at Starbucks. You don't need to use wartime analogies for growing your YouTube channel. Like, are we wartime or peacetime? That's actually our theme this year. I think media is wartime leaders. Be like, you guys are seriously on webcams and your home offices. Like, this does not compare to. You're like, okay, relax. But in one sense, business is War. And to your point, competitors, market dynamics, interest rates, there's risk. You, you step out there, it's just gonna take, it's gonna take risk. It's gonna be uncomfortable. I am curious what keeps you going? Like, what keeps you, what's like underneath for doing this for so many years, Whether that's, you know, family or your why or how you connect, Continuing to put in the work and press through all those seasons when you feel like you're, you know, eating glass and staring into the abyss and through the highs and lows.
- [43:14]
B
Yeah, well, a few things. Like, one, I did start out in the corporate world, so that has its own set of challenges. Right. And that's a, that's a whole nother topic. But it's, it's also not great. At least it wasn't for me. Right. So this has allowed me this, this business and this kind of YouTube journey has allowed me a lifestyle that's been absolutely incredible. Like, I'm extremely grateful every single day for the life I get to live because I do have two young kids and I get to spend a lot of time with them. I work from home, you know, out of my home office, so I could spend a lot of time with them, which is incredible. Get to coach soccer and baseball and all this stuff because I don't have to be at a 9 to 5 job or working weekends. You know, I was working corporate finance. That's a 60 hour plus you know, kind of environment a week. So to be able to do this is like, and have the freedom that comes with it is incredible. Is it easy? No. Does it require work? 100%. And probably more so than I ever thought it would. But I also have to just remind myself how grateful I am to have this life that we get to live. And I think too, like again, you, I feel like you are someone that also has a very strong work ethic. Like, I think I've. And maybe I'm wrong on that, but I, I don't know, I feel like I've picked that up over the years, just following you, that you also have that about you.
- [44:36]
A
I'd say that's an understatement. I appreciate the comment and I won't even humble brag it away. It's probably more intense than you even realize.
- [44:42]
B
Yeah.
- [44:43]
A
And it's kind of like, I mean, I grew up on six acres, farm life with a tractor, with a mower deck, you know, mowing the fields, a riding lawn mower, mowing the front yard, a weed eater, edging and a push lawn mower for the little yard I cut so much grass, then started hustling and doing neighbors lawns and entrepreneurship and you know, shoveling horse manure in horse stalls. And I think that foundation that especially helped me because that kind of salt of the earth work ethic that I learned especially from my stepdad, I translated that into like I'm sipping matcha tea editing a video on Adobe Premiere. Like this is not that big of a deal.
- [45:26]
B
Yeah.
- [45:26]
A
And if I'm grinding doing this, like I'm in, you know, comfortable slippers in my home office and taking breaks and like playing video games like relax. And so I, I do think there is something people want instant riches on the Internet and they miss out on, on the fact that it takes work and hard work takes time. And I, yeah, I think also I, I appreciate you being vulnerable on the Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. Exhilarating at the top, terrifying at the drop and worth it for those who hang on, which is something you have absolutely done on the long haul. Now I am curious, I want to go a little bit deeper into this, this mindset stuff because there's some people listening to this and I think they could get stuck into some traps. There's maybe delay, maybe they're posting and do I keep going, I'm not getting the results. Or maybe they're hesitating to start or maybe they're being held by, backed by a couple things. I want to give you some of these that you shared with me earlier. And one is perfectionism. Like what has been your experience with perfectionism when it comes to YouTube videos?
- [46:30]
B
Yeah, I think that, you know, it ties with that work ethic because I've struggled with it big time and it's really can slow down publishing, right. Just publishing a video if you're working on it. Just working on it forever to try and get it perfect. And that's the perfect. Perfectionism is such an illusion. I still suffer from it. I still want this thing to be perfect. And what I've learned too is that with my audience, especially because they're all data analysts. Right. They're all very analytical people. They're going to find the flaws in the video and let me know about it. They are trained to do that and I'm almost excited that they do because that means they're learning. That means they're doing their job and they're good, good analysts. So they're going to let me know anyways. And I have. Even when I think something's perfect, it's still not. And it never Is So it's a constant battle. Like, I haven't. I can't say that I figured it out, but over time, I've learned to let it go a little bit and have some team members also, they could kind of say, okay, this is ready to go. Like, we're not waiting on it anymore. That helps too. But, yeah, it's a constant challenge.
- [47:41]
A
Yeah, I want to encourage listeners. You gotta punch perfectionism in the face. You wrote down the only way to help people is to publish anyway. And in entrepreneurship, it's like, we want to increase our failure rate. Like, the only way to grow is to fail faster. Like, winners have failed more times than losers have even tried. Like, you have. You have more. Because what's a failure? Well, it's reframe. It's actually an experiment. Like on YouTube, we have. We do have the opportunity to post experiments. You didn't have a failed video. You had a video that gave you data and feedback you can learn from. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. It's also funny, is that also if you post, there's the fear that someone might post, you know, expose your errors, your mistakes. You're putting yourself out there on the Internet. They're pointing out your mistakes. I'll never forget I did a review of an Asus computer monitor, and I purchased this monitor. I was going to upgrade my monitors. I figured, let me also review them. The opportunity to do affiliate marketing. If anybody wanted to check the market out the monitor out and on the box. In my defense, their IPS is. Is something that's a part. Is one of the distinctions of a monitor, especially if you want to use it for design or color accuracy. I'm supposed to be a tech expert. I'm a tech YouTuber. I'm supposed to know about technology. And IPS stands for image in panel switching. So a technical term. But you know what it said on the box? The manufacturer on the box said image perfecting screen. And so I quoted that, oh, no. But I got shredded because the video did well and people in the comments were like, oh, this guy thinks he's a smart, smart YouTuber. Oh, image perfecting. So what IPS stands for.
- [49:26]
B
And.
- [49:28]
A
I've just had to learn that when you're creating content, you know, you. You gotta have thick skin. It's important to have a soft heart, but thick skin, you know, not to let it get to you.
- [49:39]
B
And.
- [49:39]
A
And I'm like, hey, at least the video is getting views. And what I've learned is even though I've. I've in A way had to make mistakes in public and experience a level of criticism for that. I get smarter every time. You know, if you publish a video, I'm like, I'm never gonna make that mistake again. I know that it's in panel switching, not image perfecting screen. Now, this is like almost eight years later or something. And I'm telling you about it because I experienced so much trauma. It's burned in from the interaction there. And, and so I get to learn. You get to practice in public and learn.
- [50:09]
B
Now.
- [50:10]
A
I do want to encourage listeners. You need to take your craft seriously. You, you want to, if you put out horrible information, you might be deserving of criticism. Like, bro, this is so wrong. There's so many errors. Like you're, if it's a majority of errors, like you're literally, this is literally fake news. Like, you're. Yeah, so, so of course you're, you're, you're, you're wanting to be accurate, do your research, present your video well. But I, I hope listeners can over phone overcome the fear that, like, what if I say something wrong? Or what if I say a feature wrong? I think if you have good intent, you put in the work, like one mistake here, one mistake there, it doesn't stop. I'm still making those mistakes today. I'm still, you might mention a stat wrong. Mention something wrong. I mean, is that happening to you? And what's. Can you remember? Maybe any kind of interesting comments you've gotten that have been maybe a little saucy.
- [50:55]
B
I've had so many, like, even just on pronouncing, like, you said things wrong. I know, because I was teaching coding and there's a character on the keyboard that I call the curly bracket. It's kind of under the above square bracket or under the square bracket above the script. Above the square bracket. See, now we're going to get comments. But anyways, I call it a curly bracket, and that's. In other countries it's called a brace, and other countries it's called something else. I don't know. But yeah, I got, you know, the same thing. All these comments from just something very simple like that. That's one I can remember. I used to say the word basically too much as kind of a filler word instead of. In my older videos, I would say basically a lot people didn't like that. So. But to your point, it helps you grow, it helps you become better. And a lot of times I've just taken what can be negative feedback and realized that sometimes, like, it's People are mentioning this to help me. Like, it's actually they're, they're not always just some like, punk kid that's just being a smart ass on YouTube. They actually want to help me and they're just kind of loving on me, you know, and that's kind of one way to reframe it. That's not all the time, but a lot of time it is. Sometimes it takes a, a day or sleeping on it for a night to, to kind of realize that, like the moment you read negative feedback, you don't always think that, like, I'm not superhuman in that way or bulletproof, but I do try and reframe it. Just say, oh, that's very helpful. And usually also when we get comments like that, I reply or our team replies with something nice like, hey, thanks for the feedback. Right? Not trying to start an argument of I was right, you were wrong kind of thing. Just more of a thanks for the feedback. We'll take that in consideration. And that I think ultimately helps also. Just having that mindset helps just push through the perfectionism to keep publishing because you're right. Like if you can encourage your audience or we can help, just keep publishing as much as you can, hit that button. You'll learn and grow so much faster.
- [52:57]
A
I want to talk about the probably most important part of the conversation, which would be your lessons from the different seasons of building a channel that everyone can benefit from, whether they're just starting, whether they're in kind of a solopreneur season and doing it full time, or whether they're scaling their business and lessons and takeaways from that in the last section of our conversation. But before we get there, can you shout out your stuff? I want to acknowledge you and thank you so much for coming on the channel. It's so cool to see not only the excellence and quality of content you've put out there, but also the long haul. Just something about OGs on YouTube that have been doing it for a while have reinvented themselves, have a purpose behind what they're doing. And so really I'm grateful for you, John. Where can people follow you before we have this final part of our conversation?
- [53:44]
B
Yeah. Thank you, Sean. I'm at Excel Campus, so my brand is Excel Campus. Our website's excel campus.com and our YouTube channel is also Excel Campus, along with all of their social platforms.
- [53:56]
A
Amazing. So we'll link that up in the show notes. I do want to unpack this a little bit because I've kind of identified three seasons for YouTube creators or entrepreneurs and personal brands or brands that want to use YouTube to get leads. And it's the startup season, the solopreneur season. Since there is a possibility to in startup, it's a side hustle and the solopreneur, maybe it's full time, but you're like, it's just me and an assistant or a va or something. And then there's the scale season where it gets into team and all kinds of different things. You know, you've been through all of these seasons and if you were to drop like some of your best advice in each one, take it back to startup. I mean, you're working in corporate. You have the idea of getting this started. What is this? Late nights, early mornings? What's your advice for those that are in that season? 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 best selling 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 going to 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 through in the YouTube 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 gonna 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 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.
- [56:52]
B
I didn't leave my corporate job until 2016, and I started the blog in like 2009, 2010. So it was a lot of years of doing it at nights, on the side and weekends. Of course, I didn't have kids back then, so it was a little easier, but it was slow for me. And I didn't necessarily see that this was going to be a business. When I first started out, it was just a hobby, honestly. And I was selling, you know, I was making a little bit of money here and there selling the apps and the add ins. Once I launched my first online course, that's when things took off. And probably about three or four months or so, I basically replaced my income from my day job with the revenue from the online course. And one little tip there too is when I started that, of course I had an email list. I should say of course, but I had an email list. I think there's probably about 5,000 people on it at the time. Maybe something like that. Most of those leads again coming from YouTube or the blog. But I also used affiliates to promote the. The launch initially of the online course. So that helped a lot.
- [57:59]
A
Explain that, because some, some people hearing affiliates are like an Amazon affiliate. No. You're saying you had other people like email their list or share your course with their audience, right?
- [58:11]
B
That's correct. Yeah. Yeah, My apologies. You're right. So affiliates or partners, essentially they were just sending out emails to their list to promote. I did a webinar to launch the course. So they were promoting the webinar.
- [58:24]
A
How'd you get those relationships?
- [58:25]
B
They were through, really building relationships through other content creators from YouTube. And then I'm part of a program through Microsoft called the MVP program, where it's an award program, but essentially it's a group for creators in this space, just for Excel. So I get to meet a lot of the other creators and build relationships that way.
- [58:49]
A
Hmm, really interesting point, because I think we could get so myopic on just YouTube, but many, many things are happening at the time blog, which is less of an opportunity today. Yeah, but you're building A list. You've got partnerships also sending for you. You do a webinar, you make a course, and that's the big pivot point to being able to leave your corporate job and do this full time.
- [59:12]
B
Yeah, that's right. So just being able to build that email list, however you do it, whether through partners, affiliates, or ads. We. We haven't done a ton with ads, but over the years. But building that email list was key.
- [59:25]
A
Were you by yourself during this moment, though, still, like, putting your course together, making your videos like, no help, Nobody else hired?
- [59:32]
B
Yeah, that's correct. I didn't. I don't remember when. My first. Oh, my first hire was in 2017. Yeah, 2017.
- [59:40]
A
What was your first hire?
- [59:41]
B
A customer support.
- [59:43]
A
Okay.
- [59:43]
B
That was my biggest pain point at the time. Especially with, you know, having our list grew pretty quickly. Once you had, you know, we probably had 20,000 or something on the list and then just emails coming in.
- [59:54]
A
That's okay. Where'd you find the customer support person?
- [59:58]
B
That was. She's based. She's still with us, actually. She's based in the Philippines. That was. In fact, I. I read the book Virtual Freedom from. I know. He was just on your. Oh, gosh, he was.
- [60:10]
A
Ducker.
- [60:11]
B
Yes. Thank you. Just on your podcast. Yeah. Back then. And. And hired someone. Yeah. In the Philippines. And she's been amazing.
- [60:19]
A
Yeah, I'll. I'll link that one up in the show notes as well. Because as you think about these different seasons, think media podcast listeners are some of the brightest individuals on the planet. You identify the season and you want to identify the pain point you have in that season, which could be, man, how do I get my first hire? What would I need to know? Who would I need to know to figure out how to get my first hire? Chris Ducker is a legend when it comes to that. His book Virtual Freedom is a great resource. If that's the season you find yourself in, I'll link that up in the show notes. Plus, that episode was a bunch of. Was really powerful. It's doing very well about some of the changes in personal branding. So I'll link that up in the show notes. I still want to recap through these seasons. Really quick to give some juicy takeaways as we land startup, though. Nights, weekends. It's a hobby. You have a main job. How do you keep the fire going? And it's growing slow. A lot of people can relate to that, man, is this worth it? Like, you know, when's the breakthrough? I could. Instead of taking Saturday to plan a Video and edit it and upload it and shoot it. I could maybe actually like take care of myself a little bit and do something else instead. I already have a full time job. Everybody else is going to barbecues and watching Netflix and I'm doing this side Hustle stuff. What was your mindset in the side Hustle season?
- [61:32]
B
Yeah, I think part of it is the passion for the craft. And it sounds weird because I'm teaching Excel spreadsheets, right. But I do have, and I still have this passion for it because like I mentioned earlier, I see it as kind of a blank canvas for creating and developing apps. It's not just this grid where you dump numbers into it. So it's more than that for me, but I do have a passion for it and maybe like a little bit of a gift or maybe a lot of bit of a gift, I don't know. So it would. I think that feel fueled it a lot. And I still will wake up with an idea of like how to solve some problem or create some crazy solution in a spreadsheet and I get really excited about sharing that. So that's partly competitive, it's partly an ego thing. Right. Just like sharing this, I'm the one that came up with it kind of thing. Right. So I have to understand that, that that's part of it. But that I think fueled me for a long time and continues to do so. So people listening to this that might not be into spreadsheets or might hate them, might think, well, I don't understand that. But everyone has their own passion for their craft. And I think when you can mix those two, it makes life a lot easier. I'm not trying to force myself to work on spreadsheets every day so I can get better at it, so I can teach people. It's actually a passion.
- [62:49]
A
I think what you're saying could really be an epiphany for some individuals and maybe an invitation to pivot what you're doing. Because entrepreneurship isn't about chasing money. It's about loving the game so much you'd play it for free. And I agree with you. I think the side hustle only works if it's not just on the side of your schedule, but at the center of your passion. When you love the grind, the grind loves you back. And money comes and goes, but love of the game keeps you in the arena. And so I love that one. And then how about the solopreneur season? That might sound easier to individuals because it it as soon as you break through first online course Replace your income. That's what a lot of people, you know, that's what we want. We're like, I would imagine when I hit that season, then it's, it's easy from there. But you know, as Notorious B.I.G. said, mo money, mo problems. And so then it's like, what is maybe the mindset or a lesson you've learned for that season where you're trying to now run a business, but now it's momentum has bringing its own challenges and pressure.
- [63:58]
B
Yeah, it does. Like, and I learned a lot about myself during that season because I, like I said, I hired someone, eventually hired another, another person, a few more people. And also I have this team and I like, honestly, I'm still trying to figure out if I'm built to be a business owner or a manager. Right. Like, it's a constant battle for me. So I think that's a big piece of it. Right. All of a sudden you have this revenue, you need to support it. And that can be a challenge on its own. At the same time, there's still a lot of benefit to that, but it does mean you now have to manage your time. You have to manage team for a portion of the day when maybe you'd rather be shooting a YouTube video or working, you know, working on it or something like that. So there is this constant balance that, that I'm still find myself in. I might like, still think like I'm or view myself as in that solopreneur phase still. But I think. Well, go ahead.
- [65:02]
A
No, go on.
- [65:03]
B
Okay. So I think though, that one realization I've had is that that's okay. Like for me, I admire and I know you have a bigger team and a, you know, big business. I really admire what others can do. But I've also, in the last few years especially, I really kind of looked at life and says, like, what do I really want and what's going to make me the most happy? Is it going to be having a big team of people and managing that and figuring all that out, or is it doing what I love to do, which is creating YouTube videos and courses and helping other people too? So just kind of being okay with whatever that is for me is, has been really important. It's taking a lot of stress off.
- [65:46]
A
This is like the wisdom section of the podcast because, you know, thinking about what is it you're building and not needing to compare yourself to somebody else or try to build what somebody else is building, but minding your own business, what is your business, your vision? And I love the questions you're asking family purpose, time margin. You know, as you I appreciate your kind words. I don't think doing what I'm doing at Think Media is the model for most, but it actually is something I love. I think my favorite part about what I'm doing is leadership. Our team me asking the question of how do we build a world class culture and a safe place that people love to come to work at where they can do work that makes a difference with people they would want to do life with anyways, you know, and, and to build that environment and to see if it works. They do say stay small, keep it all. And that sometimes scaling a business even into multiple millions of dollars, which might sound mystifying to listeners. Ryan Deiss is talking a lot about this right now in scalable, you start getting into the between 5 to $10 million range and now like you don't make money anymore.
- [67:00]
B
Yeah. How does that work?
- [67:02]
A
Like what, what do you mean? It's like you're doing like almost $10 million a year and you're like, yeah, but margins can compress or now you're offering healthcare. And so self awareness is a superpower or being just intentional and what it is you want to build and how you want to build it. And so I love some of the things you've shared. We also are in a mastermind together. I'm curious your thoughts for listeners about how doing everything you've done and staying reinventing yourself, how important coaching has been for you or connecting with other entrepreneurs like we got to get. We were recently in Denver together and you know at Think Media we have some of those things. We've got an upcoming event in Las Vegas. But for you, has that been an important part of the journey by trying to continue to learn and level up and connect with others in like coaching environments?
- [67:52]
B
Yeah, it's been so huge and I've always been been into like personal development and just learning and growing. But when you take that to the next level of connecting with others in your industry or a lot of times I get to connect with others outside of my industry, which has been really helpful too because you get to see other ways people are doing business and running their businesses, which is very helpful. Like I said or like we just talked about, you didn't have to figure out which way you want to run your business, but you can get a lens into that and maybe even I think one, you know, even one of those learnings that we just talked about was from masterminds is realizing that there's other people in the Mastermind we're in that don't have massive team or, you know, a leadership team and that kind of stuff, but you really thrive in that. And that's amazing. So learning from others in different ways that you can live your dream is, has been incredible. And I'm kicking myself because I, I haven't been to a Think Media event yet, but I next one, I'm going to be there because.
- [68:55]
A
Yeah, amazing. Yeah. And I, I have learned every, every new level of the game demands a new skill set and oftentimes what got you here won't get you there. And so always again, we're both in the same place. And of course, listeners to this are the same as well, because you're listening to this podcast this long in it's about skill building. You're always learning, learning new skills, pivoting, adapting. And so I'm so grateful for all the wisdom that you shared today, John. Want to acknowledge you and want to also encourage Think Media Podcast listeners that I would love if you're on the YouTube version, to share your biggest takeaway and any questions you have for future episodes. Of course, if you listen on audio, you can rate or review, and that always means the world helps us get the podcast out to more individuals, whether on Spotify or Apple Music. And I want to talk to three of you who've been listening for six months to a year and have heard me say that, but you haven't done it yet. Can you give me one minute? It's going to take you one minute to do a star rating on Spotify. Could you do that? And maybe three minutes to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. But seriously, Think Media Podcast love you show notes and resources, of course, are always there. Some really good books. Lifelong leaders or lifelong learners, always studying and leveling up. So there's some good resources we'll put down there. And until next time, my name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel, and I will catch you in a future episode.