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The Think Media Podcast
444: What's Actually Working on YouTube Right Now? (22 Strategies I Use)
01:29:25
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- [00:00]
A
The economy is shifting fast. If you're an entrepreneur or creator serious about scaling with YouTube, this is your moment. October 2nd and 3rd in Las Vegas, we're hosting the Think Media Mastermind. It's exclusive, it's application only, and spots are almost gone. Apply now atthink media mastermind.com I think the biggest mistake that people are making is that if you treat YouTube like a hobby, don't expect expect it to pay you like a business.
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B
It's too possible to grow on YouTube.
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A
You could get the right views, build your audience, find your customers if you just improve your strategy and increase your clarity. And I think there's another big reason why a lot of people are not getting views on YouTube. There's a three question YouTube audit for fixing a broken YouTube channel that's not getting views. Number one, did they click? Number two, did they stay? Number three. So I'm going to share something that nobody is talking about when it comes to actually growing your YouTube subscribers. So what is actually working on YouTube right now to get views and subscribers? Recently I was interviewed on the npcast podcast and we got so tactical in the conversation. I was like, man, we got to share that conversation with our community. In fact, I cover at least 22 distinct tips and strategies and a lot of the cutting edge stuff that most people are not talking about yet. And so buckle your seatbelt because this is a power packed episode. Let's dive in.
- [01:30]
B
Okay? Most people struggle with how to grow on YouTube, get subscribers and actually increase their business revenue. It is completely possible though. You just need to learn from the right person. And today, dude, I'm pleased to have Sean Cannell here, the CEO of Think Media, co founder of Video Influencers and one of the most respected voices when it comes to YouTube strategy and digital influence as well. So his YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers and the very first video he posted on Think Media channel was over 14 years ago. So believe me when I say he knows what he's talking about when it comes to digital marketing, video and YouTube. So welcome to the show, Sean Cano. Nice to meet you. Nice to have you on board.
- [02:23]
A
Honors all mine. Thank you so much for having me. And shout out to everybody listening to this. Super grateful to be here.
- [02:28]
B
So you posted this video in your YouTube channel 14 years ago, but you've been doing a lot right in your career. So walk us through a little bit. How'd you start?
- [02:41]
A
Yeah, you know, for me today it's crazy because It's I think three silver play buttons, a gold play button on YouTube. Four different channels that have grown over a hundred thousand subscribers or over a million. Running a team now of 31W, two employees and probably 10 more contractors. Multiple seven figure business. But I didn't start there. You know, to your point, you know, where did it all start? And for me, I actually got into video itself back in 2003. This was two years before YouTube started. And I just started volunteering at a local church in a small town. And the youth pastor handed me a video camera and Adobe Premiere editing software, which was on CD ROMs. It wasn't creative cloud because there wasn't really a cloud. It was just the CDs to install the software. And I was filming on mini DV tapes and capturing video footage minute for minute with a Canon HV30 camcorder over FireWire and editing these really embarrassing videos for Wednesday night youth group. But it actually was training me in creating consistent content because I made a video every single week that played Wednesday night for our youth group. And so, you know, fast forward to today. I've been doing video for 22 years. And then when I got on YouTube was actually 2007, we started a video blog for the pastor of the church. Again, terrible, low quality equipment. We actually went 10 episodes. It's like a mini reality TV show vlog before anybody was using terms like that. And so I just got into the game early, made a ton of mistakes, very embarrassing first videos. And anybody listening to this, that's kind of the learning curve we all got to go through. Your first videos will be your worst videos. There's a four step framework to YouTube success and it's this suck, suck, suck cess. You know, you put out three. You know your first video is bad, your second video is worse, your third video is a little bit better. But by your fourth video, you start to get a hang of it. And so I've just been doing this YouTube thing and this video production, video creation thing for coming up on two decades. And I've learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes. But I've also invested the 20 to 30,000 hours to learn a lot that can help people get results for their business, their brand, get leads, get customers, get prospects, and tap into the power of YouTube right now because it's real. And even though competition is fierce, it's still possible to win on YouTube.
- [05:22]
B
Amazing. You don't know that, but you are the reason I'm here right now talking to you. And you are the guilty guy because I have a bunch of stuff here. Camera, lenses, lights and et Cetera and I, I was trying to learn. I'm still trying to learn, of course, but everything. I've been watching your channel like since forever, dude. So I really want to thank you for that.
- [05:46]
A
Well, I appreciate that. You know, I'm guilty of giving people gas. What do you mean? Well, here's what it stands for. GAS is Gear Acquisition syndrome. So when you watch my stuff and think media stuff, it's like, oh, I need a new camera, I need a microphone. And so I apologize for the gas, the gear acquisition syndrome that you may get from watching all the cool software and tech and cameras we talk about. But I found it's such, it's not only fun for business, it's a fun hobby really. It's, you know, the fact we could be creative and film videos and make these studios and film video podcasts. Like what a cool way to, you know, spend money. And for business owners it's a write off. And we're building media companies and we get to be creative and it's a really exciting time.
- [06:29]
B
Yeah, the cool stuff about you, it's that you don't, I mean you talk about equipments and et cetera for every kind of budget, right? So if people have no budget, what they can do, they start with a simple iPhone and et cetera. And if you want to get more professional. So it's really, really amazing. So Sean, let's bring your story or today. Okay. YouTube hosts around 5 billion videos with over 360 hours of content uploaded every single minute. So is it still possible to grow on YouTube?
- [07:08]
A
You're right. Competition is higher than ever before on YouTube. But the truth is this competition is highest for lazy content. A little extra effort will set you apart. And most creators are not losing because of competition. Most entrepreneurs are not losing, losing because of competition. They're losing because of a lack of clarity. In today's world, you just have to be more strategic, more intentional, add consistent value and have really a more solid plan. Because it's not that YouTube is too crowded, it's that a lot of people's strategy is cloudy. How am I going to be different? How am I going to stand out? You know, there's a famous quote that says when something is new, you've got to be first. When something is mature, you gotta be best in business and in marketing and YouTube is matured. So that shouldn't be too overwhelming because when I say best, you just gotta get into the top 10%. Competition is highest for lazy content. And most people are still, they're having Time management problems, energy management problems. They're overwhelmed by AI, they're doing too much. Their approach to YouTube is lazy. I'm not even putting them down. It's just they're not organizing their efforts and getting strategic. So if you can just get into that top 10%, you don't got to be top 1% like the leading creators that are getting hundreds of millions of views. You could get the right views, get build your audience, find your customers, if you just improve your strategy and increase your clarity.
- [08:42]
B
There's a quote of yours that I really love. You said like those who go into YouTube without a plan or strategy are the ones that end up losing something like that, right?
- [08:54]
A
100%. You've got to have a plan, you've got to have a strategy. And I think there's another big reason why a lot of people are not getting views on YouTube and it's because they're making selfish content. Selfish content gets skipped. Service content gets shared. You know, it's inherited in the name. YouTube makes us think that it's our tube where we could talk about ourselves, talk about whatever we want, or just make up our content ideas in our own mind. I mean, I think as business owners, business leaders, we do want to serve the customer. But you've got to become obsessed with the viewer and think about what's in it for them, what's going to add value for them. Some people get into this mindset of one, maybe trying to be too artistic, but it loses practical value, or two, if your YouTube channel looks like a portfolio of customer testimonials and about your business videos and tutorials about your product, you're just missing out on the idea of really trying to ask yourself what would entertain and educate and inspire the viewer. What would actually be worth watching for them? If you put a low amount of effort into creating the content, why would you expect a high amount of effort for the viewer watching the content? And so if you start to come in with a service mindset, one of the biggest opportunities on YouTube is the compression of time, meaning this. Everyone's so busy, we all have too much to do. And so some of the top creators, they'll, they'll put 5, 10, 15, 20 hours of research into their videos and then put that into a five to 15 minute video. That's an act of service. If you will take your time to not just let AI do some research, but to really process the thoughts and organize the ideas and make a great piece of content, it'll get rewarded. You, you know, one of the ways to hack this. I recently had Ken McElroy, who's a big real estate investor. He's one of the rich dad, poor dad. Robert Kiyosaki authors, got almost 500,000 YouTube subscribers. And his video creation is relatively easy because what he does is he has to do board meeting presentations. And board meeting presentations are usually pretty boring. But in preparation for the meetings, he's looking at the numbers, the research, the trends. So he's tying into what he's doing anyways, but then turning that into more consumer facing friendly information. So he has to put 10, 20, 30, 40 hours into building decks for the boardroom. But then when he presses record and turns that into content, the end user benefits from the fact that he's done the heavy lifting, he's done the research, and then of course he has the skill of contextualizing that information to serve a broader audience. On YouTube. So selfish content gets skipped, service content gets shared. When you become obsessed with adding real value to the viewer, then ultimately it's one of the best ways to cut through the noise.
- [11:59]
B
Some people, they just hit play and wait for the miracle. They should do this kind of research that you are talking to us right now and you teach something that's very interesting. I mean, you say that we need to start with the end in mind. I mean, you gotta understand the problem, think about a title and visualize the thumbnail. But before shooting. Okay, so let's dive a little bit into that. What are the biggest mistakes in your point of view that people are making when it comes to start a YouTube channel today?
- [12:36]
A
Yeah, I think we could come back to starting with the end in mind in a second. I think the biggest mistake that people are making is that if you treat YouTube like a hobby, don't expect it to pay you like a business. I think the first big shift is switching your mindset from just being casual to being competitive. Let's think about it like athletics. What's the difference between an amateur athlete and a pro athlete? Or what's the difference between somebody that is doing a sport as a hobby or someone that's doing it as a professional? Someone that does it as a hobby might buy some cool gear, might pay for their gym membership or their pickleball paddle. They might have a few things, but they're lacking a lot of the distinctives of a professional. They're casual, they skip practice, they might not practice at all. You know, they're doing it for fun. That is where 99% of entrepreneurs and creators are. They're treating YouTube like a hobby. Well, what's a professional do, man? When you think about a professional in any athletic sport, they study, they review game tape, they got a nutrition plan, they practice consistently and constantly. They put in a lot of reps, they show up for the games where. What else do professionals do? They have coaches, they are pursuing mastery in the discipline that they of their athletics. And so you think about most aren't doing that on YouTube. If all you did was a little bit of that, you would start getting better results. In today's world, you can't win on YouTube if you're casual. You have to step into that competitive mindset. I want to say though, that this is accessible to everybody. YouTube doesn't reward dabblers. It rewards doers who turn pro. So turning pro is a mindset. And professionals don't wait for motivation. They train, they practice, they post. You know, if a business owner or a brand is taking YouTube seriously, then show me that on your p. L. Show me how much money or time or coaching or consulting you've invested in it. When you've got a cash flow problem or an operations problem or a sales problem in your business, a lot of leaders, they'll hire consultants and help to come in and help them solve that issue. How many people have you hired to help you solve your social media and your YouTube issues? None. Well, you're just treating it like an amateur and like it's a hobby. When you finally get serious, it's a mindset shift. So I think it's about having systems routines, not missing practice. And YouTube rewards mastery. Most people hope they just get lucky on social media. They post and pray. But hope is not a strategy. And so by turning pro, getting into those details of your strategy, it can really take you to the next level, which we could talk about reverse engineer more. And starting with the end in mind, if you want.
- [15:34]
B
I'd love to to have you walking us through that. So let's say first I started shooting videos and uploading on YouTube. Okay, but no one's watching. What is the first thing I should do to fix it? I mean, because in the SEO realm, you have the audit that you can do in the website and check if there's something wrong. So is there a YouTube audit that helps identify areas of improvement?
- [16:04]
A
Yeah, I think there's a three question YouTube audit for fixing a broken YouTube channel that's not getting views. Number one, did they click? Number two, did they stay? Number three, did they subscribe? So let's break it down. Did they click at the End of the day on YouTube, it's going to be a matter of is somebody they're scrolling on YouTube. Where most views happen is because your video appears on their home page or is suggested somewhere else. Search is still an opportunity, but it's much smaller than being suggested by the YouTube algorithm, especially on the homepage. And so did they click? This is the reason people aren't getting views is they're making videos about the wrong topics. They have weak packaging. What is the packaging that's going to be the title and the thumbnail. And really how the beginning of the video and the content itself is all aligned with the topic, title and thumbnail. And then they have flat delivery. Like once they get into the content itself, they're not being thoughtful about improving the best practices that will increase viewer retention. So if you just communicate flat information, you're not going to win in today's world. But if you're weaving in good information with your personal point of view, with some stories to illustrate, with metaphors or examples that bring epiphanies and illumination, and there's a lot of opportunity to just use your smartphone to shoot raw, authentic videos with no editing and get a lot of views, that's happening on YouTube right now. There's kind of a return to this raw, authentic, unpolished content. But the key is in this case, it's not about the camera, it's about your message. It's not about the production value, it's about the content value that actually you have something to say. And some unique insights are brought to a world where most people are just echoing chat, GPT and AI answers to questions. Well, that can then be the key to really standing out and breaking through the noise. 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 over 350,000 organic videos 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 okay, so what is next?
- [19:37]
B
What else can I do to improve my YouTube views?
- [19:41]
A
Okay, so let's go a little bit deeper on this three part framework. Did they click, did they stay and did they subscribe? So a couple thoughts here. Is your content timely, relevant and specific? You know, if you don't get a click, you don't have a chance. And so even if the video is good, mastering packaging, how you title the video good thumbnails. And it's really not the algorithm that's ignoring you, it's the audience that's ignoring you. If they're not interested in the topic itself, and if the title is not compelling and creating curiosity that makes people want to click, then you're not going to get any views. So practically, if you want to get more views, so practically, if you want to get more views on your next video, write better titles. If you want to get more views on your next video, come up with more timely, relevant and specific topics that your audience cares about. If you want to get more views on your next video, come up with better thumbnails that create a curiosity gap that people want to click on. And if you want to get more views, also build the skills of holding the viewer's attention. And again, you don't need a better camera, you need a more compelling message. And so it's kind of like anything, you know, we've all been to business events, seminars, and you're sitting there and you're listening to speaker after speaker and some speakers don't hold your attention. They're not that interesting. And you start to check out and you start to scroll on your phone. That's sort of the test. This actually happens. The top 1% of YouTubers have stolen a strategy from Classic TV that helps them improve their YouTube videos. Focus groups, they actually have regular everyday individuals sit down and watch their YouTube videos before they post them. They sit them in front of the video and then they press play and let the person watch the video. And then they just study them to see how long it takes for them to look away and pull out their phone and start scrolling. Think about when we're watching a TV show, something on Netflix, a movie there's some shows that grip our attention and we can't look away, and we're not tempted to grab our phone and multitask and say, I'm kind of listening to the show, but I also want to scroll on Instagram to see if I can get some additional dopamine hits. What you're working on improving is just the fact that you're keeping the message compelling. You're weaving a through line of storytelling. You're not saying too long at any one point now. I mean, you're listening to this, you might be kind of overwhelmed. You're like, how do I have a chance? This is learnable. All these things are figureoutable just like anything else. This is a skill to develop. And so you just want to work on the skills of how do I get people to click, how do I get people to stay, and then how do I get people to subscribe? Which is that kind of next step.
- [22:36]
B
Okay, so we just ask them to subscribe. Is there a specific strategy that you usually have in mind?
- [22:43]
A
Yeah, so I'm going to share something that nobody is talking about. When it comes to actually growing your YouTube subscribers, the Surface level is just a call to action. I mean, talk about an outdated point. Like, hey, in your videos you should say, subscribe for more. Or if you're video editing, you could have a little subscribe button come up with a click noise and it goes click, click and it kind of reminds people to subscribe. Those are great, but that's basic. The really next level is the reason that people are going to subscribe is because they feel a connection to you as the creator. The truth is people are not going to subscribe for information. They're going to subscribe because they feel a connection with you. Information attracts but personality converts. And here's what I mean. On my video podcast, the Think Media Podcast, I recently posted a video and. And one of the points in the video was a little short narrative that just talked about one of the personal recovery habits that I've done lately. And that's going to a banya. Have you ever heard of a banya before?
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B
Yeah, I've been watching your video. So let's pretend I haven't. No, I haven't.
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A
Okay, so a banya is a Russian steam bath that is a super hot sauna. It could go to 200, 210, 220 degrees. I don't know about 220, but two tension crazy. You could go super hot sauna, cold plunge, red light, therapy room, steam room, and jacuzzi and I've learned that as a driven, high performing entrepreneur that kind of pushes it too hard a lot that I'm investing more in recovery than I ever have before. That if I'm going to last be at my best, I need to invest in recovery and active recovery. But here's what's fascinating.
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B
Yep.
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A
Was me bringing up that story. Someone commented and I noticed some videos get a lot of comments and some videos don't get as much. Oftentimes videos with a lot of good information don't get as many comments. But videos where I get raw, authentic, share a few personal anecdotes. Not just random side quests, but illustrative points that tie into these things that are just true about me and true about my life and who I am. They provoke conversation and comments. So someone said in the comments, they said, man, Sean, when you mentioned Banya, I fell in love with you at a whole nother level. And so I've noticed if I mentioned that, you know, growing up, even though I grew up in like a Christian home and as a church kid, I also was super into Wu Tang, kind of like Macklemore said, you know, that's what happens when Wu Tang raises you, you know, in underground hip hop and west coast hip hop. Or I grew up snowboarding or grew up in Seattle and grunge culture Nirvana. And whether that's sports music, the banya, food, biohacking. People connect not just with information. They connect with shared beliefs, shared values, shared experiences, and ultimately your personality. The truth is, if you have any success on YouTube at all, you're going to get a lot of views, but you're not going to get a lot of subscribers proportionately, because people will pass through. This is our, all of our habits we'll pass through. We'll watch different YouTube channels. We're like, that was a great video, but we didn't feel a reason to subscribe because ultimately there wasn't a connection. There wasn't a negative thing. We just didn't want to follow for more. But there's certain individuals where there's something about their personality, their style, the, the uniqueness about them that it's like, I want to follow and keep learning from this person a lot more. So the perspic. So the opportunity is dialing into those details that make you you. This is the only insurance in a world of AI, by the way, because AI is making information more common than ever before. But personality and story and those nuances about you are going to be your only difference. And so people don't subscribe to information. They subscribe because they feel connected to the creator. And so think about how you can weave those things in. Again, if you lose a few people because they're like, hey, just give me the raw information, you still are going to gain the right people that connect with the fact that you go to the banya or you're into off road trucks, or you're into these other details that you just weave into the story, not taking a major detour, but that use those points that people can connect to. And this is true for brands in general. People realize this for a while. You know, you could buy clothes from anyone, but there's a reason people buy clothing from Patagonia. Values, ethos, what it means, how the clothes are made. You're actually buying an identity. You're buying being part of a tribe, you're buying being part of a movement. There's a reason why I follow Nick Baer from Bare Performance Nutrition and why I buy my protein and my creatine from him. You know, you could get creatine anywhere and it's really not going to be different. Like your general creatine monohydrate, I think is a way to say it 5 milligrams a day. Or some entrepreneurs are like, you know, let's, let's do 10 or 20 or 30 because you're going to get some brain benefits. Like the creatine product is so universally the same. Ultimately, however, the difference is the label and the brand and the brand story that is connected to it. And so I connect with Nick Bear, his, his faith, his lifestyle. He's a family man, the hybrid athlete side of things. I don't want to be a big, you know, steroid pumped up gym bro. The fact it's like lift heavy and run far and I'm sharing all this stuff to tell you even why I resonate with his brand. The YouTube channels and the brands that stand out are going to be weaving in these elements and that is how you ultimately build subscribers in today's world.
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B
On YouTube, do you have any device? Because sometimes there are people that they don't want to show up. I mean, they don't want to show their family, for example, they don't want to show their lifestyle. What is the balance for this kind of people? Because as you're saying, we need to have, we need to establish this connection. But if we don't talk about us or the stuff that we do, it's impossible to establish this connection. So what's, what would be the balance.
- [29:15]
A
If you want to establish an authentic connection with viewers on YouTube. You don't have to share your whole life. You get to choose what aspects you want to share. But that doesn't mean you still can't share some aspects of your life. In fact, it's essential in today's world. You know, Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example. Like, he's kind of famous for being known. You don't see his family, you don't see his wife, you don't see his kids. But you do see that he's into the New York jets and he's into sports and he's into crypto and finance, and he's into sneakers and kind of streetwear. And he has a certain distinctive about, you know, he's very New York City cursing. The whole deal comes with the package. So we might feel this pressure of like, I don't really want to share my lifestyle. Well, you don't have to share your lifestyle, but again, if you're just sharing information, then what is going to have you be distinct from others? Part of it is going to be your unique point of view and starting to cultivate your own disruptive ideas, your own perspective that's woven into the content. But I do think there's something about is there appropriate to your brand? I know some creators are creating in a business or in a brand where there might be limitations on their look, but all the way down to your clothes, to accessories, to maybe a pair of the glasses that you wear, the studio that's set up behind you, these become kind of your brand identity. Points to the colors, to the look, to the feeling and to the aspect aspects of your lifestyle that you do include. So maybe you could include that. Fitness and biohacking is a piece of it, but you just have decided that family is not going to be a part of your content and brand mix. And so an exercise listeners could do is really plan on paper and sort of type out what are, what are kind of my core messages. So that's like the buckets of content. I'm going to be teaching tutorials, maybe I'm going to cover some trending news in our industry. I'm going to, you know, be sharing maybe some whiteboard stuff. I'm going to share my screen and do some updates. You're kind of figuring out the formats, the core content pillars, but then also make a list of just things about you, what are quirks about you, what are you into? Again, maybe you are super into fashion and clothing or certain brands and you just brains it doesn't mean it's in yet. Just write that down. What kind of music are you into? You could brainstorm that. What is your views of family? And do you want to take it there? And you can list out all those distinctives about you as an individual or more as an organization, and then circle a few that you could really lean into. And again, for some, it's this idea of, man, how. How lame is it to just post a picture of your lunch on social media? We need something more profound than that. You know, that's a bad idea. Is it a bad idea?
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B
Terrible.
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A
I mean, it is if. If it's just random and it's not according to the value proposition that you're putting out there. But if part of your story is that you're getting in shape and you're counting your macros and you're counting your calories, then all of a sudden your meal took on a whole lot of meaning. And, you know, if you tap in, what's fascinating is, if you ask, you also tap into some of these subcultures. It's one of the biggest opportunities on social media in today's world, is tapping into subcultures and movements. For example, the Carnivore diet. If you look at. I know we're talking about YouTube, but if you look at Instagram right now, you start talking about Carnivore. And Instagram is very good at SEO in terms. They just announced that now Instagram could be scraped and be showing up in Google and being discovered. And it's. You don't really need hashtags, but the very words you say in your video, how you're scripting things, somewhat of the caption, but if you're doing videos and reels on YouTube, it'll be seen. Well, Carnivore might not have anything to do really with your business, but if you are on the Carnivore Diet as a business owner, entrepreneur, leader, and it ties into a piece of your story or a piece of your content, you're kind of jumping on a trend and a topic and into a community that could lead to discoverability for your business. You know, there's a concept that's been popularized. I don't know who said it first. Maybe Gary Vee. Maybe Alex Shamozi stole it from him. Maybe neither of them said it first, but they said, you are the niche. You are the niche. What are those pillars about you? Alex Hermosi fitness philosophy, how to get double protein without paying for it at Chipotle. Little bit of dry, dry humor. And then fierce business advice and marriage. Him and Layla Hermosi have made a very concerted effort to talk about marriage as business people, marriage as entrepreneur, finding the right person. These are different content pillars and you are the niche does not mean that you haven't niched down in your business. You need to have a problem that you solve. You need to have an icp, a clear customer profile. Right? Who is your ideal customer profile? Okay, that's the business side. But then once that's clear, the fact that that's happening in your back end business, your website, your sales, your marketing, your follow up, you being on the carnivore diet or you really being into family or you really being into parenting can be a bridge and it's just you being authentically you. Again, it's the combination of both. Let's settle the should I niche down question once and for all. Yes, both. And you should niche down in what problem do you solve? Who is your content for? What makes you different? But then you also should be the niche in tying into these different concepts and ideas and this can then track right into your YouTube videos. I was just having a conversation with a high level entrepreneur going to do like 53 million this year in his business, has a couple of very successful YouTube channels that have worked from a search perspective, serving lawyers. He wants to start building out his personal brand. And first I was like, hey, what are some of those keys about you that make you different? One of the cool things you can use AI for is if you've been using ChatGPT a lot, if you talk to it about a lot of things and you've built up a good base of memories inside of ChatGPT, then you could just use this prompt right now. Hey, if I was thinking about building a personal brand, what are some of the buckets, distinctives and things that stand out to you that make me unique that you would say I'm passionate about? What do you think my values are? What do you think the ideas and beliefs and values that I'm kind of willing to die for, really willing to fight for, really to debate, are throw that into ChatGPT. If it's built up a good memory of you, it'll give you a pretty incredible answer. And then ask, hey, what are some contrarian YouTube video ideas that would tie into my core beliefs and my unique point of view and how could I tie those into business? So this individual was telling me family's a big one for him. I don't want to sacrifice my family. Kids is important to Me, I built this really high performing business. But like family is an anchor. So then some of the YouTube titles that were suggested by using this process were what every dad needs to know about building a multimillion dollar business. There's a YouTube title you call out amazing. You call out an audience and then you tie it into your niche. So this might sound funny, but it's like what the Carnivore diet taught me about Facebook marketing, you know, or Facebook ads. And what's so interesting is these distinctives now start to connect with individuals and you could connect with multiple different groups of people. You could call out audiences on YouTube and doing this, it's kind of a parallel strategy. But one of my recent videos that did very well started with this over 50 question mark. Here's why you should start a YouTube channel. Right now I'm calling out that's kind of modern SEO in the meaning this people aren't actually searching that. But the YouTube algorithm knows people's ages. Even if it really doesn't know your age, it knows by your habits what you're clicking on. It's building up this knowledge on your previous watch history, your previous user behavior. So this video, not because of search, but because of suggested takes off in the algorithm, because I called out a specific audience, I've done this. I've created content for real estate agents, Christian content creators. And by the way, these are distinctive pillars for me. You know, I'm not super deep in real estate, but own a couple properties, pretty knowledgeable, serve real estate agents. And so it's enough of a vertical for me where I've got the chops, the knowledge, the passion, the understanding. And so we do a lot to serve service professionals and real estate agents with YouTube. So I'm not sub niching endlessly, although you could, you could to whatever level. You kind of have some expertise in depth, depth in. And I'm not calling out Christian content creators because that's a tactic. I'm calling that out because of my own faith and because of the depth I have there. It's an authentic extension of a sub niche, a subculture that I can speak to, relate to, that's authentically me. But it cuts through the noise when an outdated tactic is like how to grow on YouTube. The new way is are you a Christian content creator? This is what's working on YouTube right now, dot dot dot. And you're calling out maybe an age group, maybe a particular niche, individual or tribe if you will, using Seth Godin's term from the classic book. And so tapping into some of these things can really help you cut through the noise in a crowded YouTube space.
- [39:45]
B
That's a master class, dude. Thanks for that. That's really amazing. That's gold. Thank you for that, Sean. I usually go to YouTube to specific channels to watch. Okay. I rarely search for something. I usually watch Think Media, the Diary of CEO Calling, and Samir, which I love them. I mean, so I know those channels. So when I woke up, 6am, I'm gonna work out, and then I want to check if Kali and Samir, they launched a new episode. Okay? So it means that I'm loyal to those channels. I watch your channel, like, all the time. But how can I do with the subscribers that are not loyal yet to my channel? How can I keep them coming back to watch my videos?
- [40:38]
A
If you want to keep subscribers coming back to your channel, you have to understand the restaurant rule. So when you think about the restaurant rule, think about a restaurant you love to eat at. You maybe have to discover it in the first place. So what do you do? You go to Yelp, you see some reviews, and you go try a restaurant for the first time on YouTube, you go to the. Before you discovered the diary of a CEO, before you discovered Colin and Samir, you probably were recommended a video. You were searching a topic, or you had let YouTube know by your behavior or by your search the things you were interested in. When YouTube realized, realize you're interested in the creator economy or YouTube growth or social media growth. It also knows what Colin and Samir are making content about. And early on, one video was recommended to you. So what happened? You clicked on it. You also then watched it and voted with your time. Not just a view, but actually the minutes or even hours if it was a longer podcast that they posted, you consumed it and then you made a connection. So you wanted to keep coming back. Well, when you think about the restaurant rule, step number one is, can I even get somebody through the door? Can I, you know, show up on Yelp, get someone to try the restaurant, and then come and check it out? Step two is, then what's the experience at the restaurant? You sit down, man, that meal was incredible. The food was hot, the service was friendly and kind and fast. Great ending experience, man. I want to return in the future. Well, now you come back for a second time. Here's where things get a little bit challenging. Think about the experience. If you go to a restaurant, have a great experience, but you come back, but then all of a sudden you're shocked. You're like the Food was kind of late. Like, what's happening? I'm super hungry. The food didn't come out in 10 to 15 minutes, it's 20. This just happened to me the other day. I was sitting at a restaurant and I was like, what's. I had my 2 year old son John sitting next to me and they also didn't even communicate to me why, but I, and I was able. It was an open kitchen, so I was looking at the kitchen. I didn't know if they were. There was barely anybody there, but I didn't know why. 10 minutes past, 20 minutes past, 30 minutes past. Where's the food? I've got a 2 year old. Like, I've got what's happening? And they didn't tell me why. Well, listen, you have one bad experience, you might give them another chance. But what would happen if you have a great experience at a restaurant, then the second time you go back, food is cold, it's a little bit delayed, so you give them a little bit of grace, but you come back a third time, come back a third time, you know you're missing a few items, it wasn't cooked properly and the server was kind of rude. Maybe you have grace to come back an additional time and if that next time the service is sub par, you might lose that patron forever. So the restaurant rule challenges us to not just think about delivering a great video cooked up one time for viewers and for the YouTube algorithm, but for asking ourselves, how can we give people a consistent experience of, of excellence? One good meal gets them in, but it's the consistency that's going to keep them coming back. And the mistake that 99% of entrepreneurs and content creators are making is they misunderstand consistency on YouTube. Consistency on YouTube doesn't matter anymore. And what I mean is this, just uploading volume doesn't impress anybody. We started this whole conversation by what, 500 million hours of YouTube or whatever. 5,5000 hours of YouTube is uploaded every day. What was the stat?
- [44:28]
B
Do you remember? Five billion videos. 360 hours of content every single minute.
- [44:35]
A
Okay, so 300, 360 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every single minute. Nobody's impressed by like, I just need more videos. Like, I just need actually more content because there's so much. So consistency is not a badge of honor in terms of, wow, you've uploaded a lot now. Consistency is good practice for you. Consistency, if it also includes quality, is the key. And consistency in 2025 on YouTube means this. Not just consistent uploads, but also a Consistent value, Also a consistent experience, also a consistent feeling. Because the restaurant rule simply states that I went to the restaurant and I had a good experience, but when I came back, it was consistent. You're open, you're in business, you're delivering hot, delicious, cooked up food. The YouTube creator of today needs to deliver hot, delicious, cooked up videos consistently. And for some while. They, you know, I never want the menu to change. I want that same meal over and over. Restaurant owners that really understand what it means to stay in business is they bring creative ideas. Why does Starbucks change its menu and reinvent itself? Why does it have summer drinks? Why does it have. I don't even know how they can keep coming up with drinks, but they, you know, they die in pink. They, you know, add caramel, they add shaken chocolate, espresso, they added olive oil recently. You know, different types of, like, how is there more drinks? You got to innovate. You have to bring new product lines, new innovation, as well as have your consistent staples. So the opportunity for creators is this. And people that want to win on YouTube is you got to keep growing. You got to keep evolving. You have to be committed to delivering a consistent level of excellence, insight. And you are going to watch your YouTube channel become a content graveyard if you just keep repeating the same thing and you don't innovate and iterate. But if you commit to continue to grow, you keep reading, you keep growing, you keep growing your own knowledge. Of course there's gonna be some level of repetition, but you need to be able to say a lot of. You have to bring fresh ideas, a fresh perspective, and in some cases where a lot of business advice, marketing advice, things like that, in one sense, doesn't change a lot. You have to master the skill of saying the same things in new ways. You know, one of my favorite examples of this is Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey's built an empire when it comes to personal finance. And if you actually look at Dave Ramsey's empire and all their content creators and all their products with a critical eye, you could probably say they're not saying a lot of new things. And yet they've been in business and impacting people for multiple decades. What are they teaching? Hey, don't spend more than you make. Cut up your credit cards and follow the same seven baby steps. Well, then how do they keep winning? Well, they continue to say the same thing in new ways. Bitcoin crypto didn't used to exist, now it does. So you have Dave in his classic baby boomer style, being like, I don't know what this bitcoin thing is, but how about we just invest in true and tried investments? And he taps into a trending topic, but brings his foundational principles.
- [47:54]
B
Perfect.
- [47:54]
A
They have a call in show where there's all kinds of stories. I'm going through a divorce. We didn't have a prenup. My wife racked up $400,000 of credit card debt. All these fascinating stories that's also entertaining but ties into their same principles. So you have to figure out, how can I find fresh and innovative ways. It doesn't mean you have to constantly come up with literally new, tried and true principles, because wisdom isn't going to change that much. You know, like, at the end of the day, some of those foundational principles. But the greatest marketers, the greatest content creators are experts in coming up with fresh ideas, fresh packaging, fresh storytelling. And it actually is endless. Why is it that there's only a few musical notes on the musical scale yet we will never run out of new music that entertains our ears and gives us emotions and fresh experiences? It's. You're finding fresh ways to combine the notes, you're finding fresh lyrics and tying into the zeitgeist. You're tying into the psychology of what's happening now. There was somebody who just had a viral Instagram reel I saw called the List, and this guy was just playing a guitar and he was talking about Epstein's List. And what's on the mind of everybody right now at the time of recording this podcast is this absolute cluster that's happening in American politics in regards to how the government is handling and it seems how both the right and the left are just absolutely dodging and hiding and lying, and we don't even know about Epstein's List. Well, well, what are you. You're tapping into these new things that are always happening and culture is always happening. Things are always shifting. There's always something to connect to and tie to. The true innovative content creator is going to leverage that for their business, for their frameworks, for their proprietary process, and tie into the opportunity of really saying the same things in fresh ways. So I think about the restaurant rule. You got to keep showing up and not just being there consistently, but consistent value, a consistent experience, consistent surprises and delights. Wow. I've been here. I've been coming here. How do you continue to bring just these fresh little moments and experience, like the book Unreasonable Hospitality from that great restaurant, Madison park or whatever it is in New York? Right? That is, think about how do we. Wow. In Surprise and delight by having this experience with their brand and with their restaurant. Those are some ideas that I think can help people.
- [50:39]
B
That's really amazing. But let's say I don't have this kind of. I don't provide this kind of experience for my listeners yet. Okay. But we learn as we practice. I was listening to Hormozi and he was saying, dude, I produce lots, tons of content and I don't post the majority of them. So do you think it's a good strategy for the people who are beginning to shoot videos? I mean, because sometimes I watch myself and my videos on YouTube talking about marketing. I'm like, okay, you're talking about experience. You're talking about having people to love your content. I don't love all the content that I produce, though. I think I shouldn't upload it. But should I keep recording this type of content and have people to criticize? And then let's say I shoot 10 videos a month, but I post just once a month. What is your advice on that?
- [51:46]
A
Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting tension. I think the. The framework for should you upload quantity or should you upload less and focus on quality is this. At the start, it's quantity because it's about reps. The more quantity you do is the more reps you're putting in. And this is less about the impact your content is going to make. It's more about how the content you're creating is impacting you. By doing more reps, you're getting practice, you're learning, you're refining your voice. And by the way, this is a powerful mindset because too often we are attaching our YouTube views, our self worth, or whether we should keep going to how many views we're getting on YouTube. And if in the beginning you count uploads and not views, then you've redefined your success metric and now you can feel great about it. How many views are you getting? 0. How many uploads have you done? A hundred. Success. You know, when people start a podcast, I heard it said that like 99% of podcasts will never get past episode 10. Why can predict your failure when it comes to video content creation if you can't even get 10 episodes out? And why don't they get past episode 10? I'm not getting the results yet. I'm not getting the ROI yet. Well, you had the wrong belief system at the start. You need to count uploads, not views, because it's about repetitions at the start. But then you Go into season two. If season one is quantity, season two is quality. And that would mean now that you've posted 10, 20, 30 videos, 10, 20, 30 podcast episodes. Now you also have a data set and some experience to look at. What did you learn, what worked, what didn't, and how do I refine that process? You know, I was talking to Dan Martell recently and he was talking about how it's not about 10,000 repetitions, it's about 10,000 iterations. Because there's a famous quote that says, you know, Thomas Edison, I haven't failed ten thousand times, I just learned ten thousand times, I just learned 10,000 ways. It didn't work. The mistake a lot of people make is they've uploaded a thousand videos, but they're all the same, they never iterated. So it's not 10,000 repetitions, it's 10,000 iterations. So that's when you move in equality. You know, Thomas Edison didn't try 10,000 of the same light bulb. He every single time was like, that version didn't work. Let me try a different version. That version didn't work. And so for the business owner that understands this, you just keep pivoting, you keep trying things. And once you have a data set now you can actually have math that supports the insight and the pivot that you make. So I would actually encourage that. Yeah, maybe at the start you're doing 10 videos a month. You do that for a few months and then you narrow it down. Now let me increase quality and do four videos a month or less. And then you are assessing the results and you're like, okay, instead of doing more volume, I'm doing, I'm applying the best practices to the best ideas, the best topics, and the data driven decisions that I can now make based on the data set of videos I've uploaded. And then you're asking and then, and then that moves you to season three, which is both it's quantity and quality. And so now you've practiced and got the reps. Season two, you've dialed in the details and found your voice and you're better at creating quality content. And now it's a question of scale. And there's really two options for some. You don't have to go to this stage, you might just find a sustainable workflow. One video a week works for you. But if you follow the Gary Vaynerchuk, Dan Martel, Alex Hermosi model, that means that you then start investing insane amounts of cash around a team and systems to scale your content empire. You know, they're uploading 300 pieces of content a week and that could be 300 pieces of video content, chopping up vertical videos, YouTube videos, slicing and dicing it in multiple different ways. They have staffs of 10, 20, 30, 40 devoted to content. Six figure salaries for directors of content that are leading teams of video editors. Some have followed this model and they're outsourcing overseas in the case of acquisition.com or Martel Media or their domestic edit bays in a physical office locally with them of media producers that are amplifying their brand. So the thing is, it's oh, they're doing a lot of volume. Yeah, it's not just volume, it's quality volume. By that third stage, they're iterating, they've learned what works and they've established a team and systems and the dollars to support it. So to expand it to a big level. So lastly, it's about self awareness. It's like, where are you on the journey? Are you at a repetition phase where you're just doing the reps and you need to stop stressing about not getting views? It's working on, the content is working on you. It's not that the content isn't working, the content is working on you. You're learning, you're growing, you're using your season in obscurity to prepare you for popularity. I've interviewed close to a thousand different entrepreneurs and content creators now that have been successful. And almost all of them might say that their first year of video podcasting, they got no views and they barely knew their voice. But by year two or three, they started to figure out their voice, their message and dial in their strategy. Almost all of them posted 10, 100, 200 episodes before they really started getting momentum. You have to endure through the valley of no views to come out the other side to start getting that momentum. And those that last, those are the ones that get results. 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'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 per day every single day on YouTube and generate over a hundred thousand dollars 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 and how to break 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 going to get access to our 1000 Subs Club email newsletter which delivers actionable weekly tips to your email inbox that will help you get to 1,000 subscribers fast. And we also do really cool weekly giveaways that includes lighting and microphones and YouTube equipment, plus 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.
- [59:50]
B
How can I not get confused with repetition? What is that? Because, for example, let's say, and that's real. I've recorded more than 60 podcasts. I started one year and a half ago and I won't stop. I know it's about consistency and I learn and the conversations that we have. Just like I'm having with you, it's really amazing. And my audience, they love the content that we bring. Let's say I would love to have 10x audience that I have and I do not for a while. So how can I understand if I'm doing everything in the same way and not in the interaction way that you mentioned? You got what I mean? I mean I'm repeating the same kind of format. So is there a time to change? Is there a specific time that, okay, after I have those KPIs, after I know that this happened, this didn't happen, now I'm going to do something different?
- [61:01]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think there's two things. If you've been consistent on YouTube or consistent with video podcasts for over a year, over 60 episodes, and now you're trying to decide, like, do I need to pivot? What's wrong? Why am I not getting more views than I think I should be getting? The big principle and fix for this is you need an outside perspective. The cool thing is, let me give you a way to do this for free with AI. And the second way to do it is hire a coach. It's priceless to get an outside perspective. This is actually why, you know, courses content can never replace a coach, because a coach is putting their eyes on your stuff. And with a course, you just have, you're kind of still guessing. But let's talk about how to do it for free. So one of the most powerful opportunities for people on YouTube using AI right now is going to your advanced analytics and exporting 100 videos very fast and easy to do this into an Excel spreadsheet, your top 100 videos from the last year. In your case, you could export all 60 of your video podcasts and it'll give you an Excel spreadsheet, all the data now in the previous world, you. What are you gonna do with that? You know, I don't know, just stare at it, open it up. It's kind of hard to read. All you gotta do is upload that file to chatgpt and then just start prompting intelligently. You have actually an incredible amount of valuable data in front of you that is seconds away from getting crazy insights using ChatGPT. So you go to your YouTube analytics, export a advanced report of that'll be in a spreadsheet, upload it to ChatGPT, and then ask, what can you learn? You know, what insights do you have from me from the videos on my YouTube channel? And again, you're gonna get insights from all 60. Which titles work best? Which themes do you see? Which patterns do you see? And you can add these fields in advanced analytics about even CPM and RPM, which matters because the higher the RPM for YouTube ad revenue is actually an insight into the value of that topic. It's what advertisers are willing to pay for that topic, patterns in the titles. So what you essentially are getting is an outside, intelligent perspective from AI on your channel for how you might pivot and start asking these curious questions when you look at these, how much am I repeating? How many topics am I repeating? How might I talk about some of this core genius that I have, but in fresh ways? How might I take you know, after 60 videos I've found on my channel Think Media and even many of my superfans might realize like every time the earth circles the sun, I kind of reset and talk about the same things again. Like every year I'm going to talk about how to get subscribers and every year I'm going to talk about how to get views. And every year. But we have innovated a lot, whether that was bringing in stories and who we interview and how we interview them. Like, one of the trends we've noticed lately is actually that regular, everyday, relatable creators are crushing on our video podcast and outperforming famous celebrity entrepreneur influencers. I think for a couple reasons. One, these famous celebrity entrepreneur influencers are pretty common and they're everywhere. And two, the other day we had a billionaire on the podcast and I actually had someone articulate the problem. He had great information, but what the person in the comments said was, hey, you know, I clicked off this episode not because it wasn't going to be good because I just. But because I realized this is way too out of reach for me. As opposed to Denise Jordan who came on our podcast recently. She's 73, going to get a silver play button and that means a hundred thousand subscribers is built up a multi thousand dollar a month income in retirement and is proving to the entire world that anybody can win on YouTube and you're not too old and everything is figureoutable. And she definitely, you know, isn't a tech expert or, you know, savvy when it comes to the gear, but she figured it all out. So can 100 of people listening to this. Well, again, billionaires on some channels are exactly what people want to listen to. You just it's understanding your audience. But that was an innovative campaign that we discovered. Where was it about trying to get the latest big name on our podcast. That's always cool if you could do it and it might fit. But it was actually going a different direction and highlighting our video ranking academy students. And it was also though packaging those stories incredibly well, which was a conversation we had a little bit earlier. Nobody knows their name so their name shouldn't be in the title. It was, it's not helpful. It was how in fact, Denise Jordan, who's 73, was the video that said over 50 and then the title kept going. We might say how this single mom, single mom is earning $5,000 a month on YouTube with a bizarre strategy or unique strategy cuts through the algorithm. So number one, analyze the data on your channel, export your A spreadsheet from your YouTube Advanced analytics, upload it to ChatGPT and start asking questions and getting insights. You could also take screenshots from your analytics and that's a way to get an outside perspective. Number two, and the shortcut, always hire a coach, hire a consultant, Hire somebody that can jump on for 30 to 60 minutes. Because that outside perspective of. Let's look at your titles, let's look at your videos, let's actually review your videos. In fact, in. And let's go back to AI. Here is. I've never shared this anywhere before. This is crazy. Perfect. So one of the most powerful YouTube growth strategies that nobody knows about or is talking about is taking a screenshot of your audience retention curve in YouTube after a YouTube video has gone public, number one. Number two, exporting the transcript of your video. You want to make sure it's got the time codes. There is a website that will make this really easy for you called Tactic IO. That's T A C T I Q dot IO. It allows you to export the transcript.
- [67:48]
B
Of your video better than the transcriptor.
- [67:53]
A
Well, yeah, the key is you're going to want to make sure the transcript. There's like different. There's like CLV or sl. The different ones. Okay, because you want. Here's. Here's what the insight is. Right now. AI is giving smart YouTube creators an unfair advantage by combining the audience retention curve with your script and the time codes. Because then you can ask, what about why do you think this declined so much here? Or why did this drop here? And what did I say? So did I go too long? Did I, you know, and your. Because you could screenshot the visual of the audience retention curve and then minute for minute, combine that with the transcript that has the time code and then start prompting ChatGPT. Listen, you know, when we talked about turning pro, this is a whole different. No one's doing this, you know, oh, my God. Hobbyists and amateurs are not doing this kind of stuff. Turning pro is just going to a whole nother level and then being willing to just get 1% better with every upload. Because this level of obsession is. It seems insane, but this is what the pursuit of mastery is. It's just, okay, I'm gonna get a little bit better on my next script. It's not about getting, like, trying to reach this place of perfection. The pursuit of mastery is just about continuous improvement. And so we're always striving to just be better communicators, communicate better. But what we also might look at and what a lot of listeners might see is if you need to have the boldness to take a screenshot of your audience retention curve. When it's a hockey stick. And the hockey stick effect is like, I didn't hold anybody. They dropped. They went straight down and then flattened out. Like, only one out of ten people kept watching. After 30 seconds, well, take that screenshot, connect your transcript, and then let AI pick you apart and be like, obviously, like, the opening few sentences of your video were horrible. There was no curiosity. It's anything. Here's a way you could do it differently. And it's those things that we do daily that help us ultimately achieve mastery. It's not what we do once in a while, it's what we do daily that helps us pursue mastery. So just a little bit each day, wow. Post a video, review it, improve our script a little bit better. And then eventually this stuff becomes muscle memory. These are the routines and the habits. And inside of our program called Video Ranking Academy, there's a 7R system. And the sixth R is review. This was a different level of review. You know, reviews like, I don't know, kind of look at it like, how many views did it get? I mean, that's a shallow level of review. This level of review is like, okay, really analyzing. What did I say? How did I say it? Of course, there's the visuals as well. And so those are a few thoughts. And so again, analyze your analytics. You've got a great data set. AI can help you. And then what's so cool is the playing field has been leveled that anybody listening to this, if they have no extra money to invest, you're not at a disadvantage. All these free AI tools can help you get from where you are to that next level of success on YouTube. But if you want to go faster than then reinvest. And that would be in team, in systems, in coaching, in consulting, because then that'll bring you the jet fuel to continue to say innovative and competitive when it comes to your YouTube channel.
- [71:09]
B
That's amazing. That's really amazing. It's. For me, it's complicated because, dude, you need to understand about storytelling. You need to have, like, lots of experiences in your life. You gotta learn about camera, light, editing, and a bunch of stuff. So for me, it's kind of impossible if someone wants to get successful on YouTube with just a cell phone. Because this person, he needs to master everything. I mean, what do you think about it? Because it's a lot of skills that you should have.
- [71:58]
A
Yeah, well, listen, you're right, and I think Everything is figureoutable and every problem is solvable. So I think question number one for the individual that's listening to this conversation by now and then just being like, you know what? I'm learning what it is going to take to win on YouTube and that is a journey that I don't want to do. That's not something I want to commit to. That self awareness is powerful. But here's the mistake that I believe. The mistake business owners are making is they're asking themselves if they're interested in YouTube as opposed to if YouTube could be effective for growing their business. Number two is the solution. YouTube will be effective at growing your business. Marcus Sheridan said recently that he believes that in the next five to 10 years, your YouTube channel will be more important to your business and your brand than your website.
- [72:56]
B
Oh my God.
- [72:58]
A
So. So in my opinion, investing in YouTube is not an option, it's a necessity. But what you're bringing up is where people get blocked, is they go, well, I don't even want to be on camera. Or I don't want to invest in the rigor and the mastery in the learning that it's going to take to win on YouTube. You don't have to. So how does a business owner think? A business owner thinks about who, not how a business owner thinks about. Also not because I don't want to do this. We can't do this. They ask, how could we do this? And there's really four levels. You could, number one, decide you're going to be like a founder led channel or video podcast and you're going to have to punch fear in the face, learn communication and work on content. And I think a good filter there is, Are you passionate about it? The ones who really win not only have a level of skill and then they refine that skill, but they also have an actual interest and passion. You're never going to stick with something that you're not passionate about. So you might not get excited about uploading your advanced analytics and audience retention curve, but there's some people you're going to geek out on that. So it's a self awareness thing. What are the strengths and things you're curious about, interested in and willing to do? Do you want to build a founder led personal brand? Then you got to make the decision today to punch fear in the face and learn communication. It doesn't mean you're already going to be great at it or even that your charisma is developed, but you at least say, I have an interest in this and that's the path I want to take. But if you don't guess what, you can hire a face and you could be the strategist. You could, you could send them this podcast and you could get your team connected to our materials and our training, but you can hire a face. It could be somebody working at your company, it could be somebody internal that you take a shot on. There are many businesses now are hiring external content. Many businesses are hiring. I just heard this as a recent stat about travel brands. People are getting six figure salaries to just represent a brand and travel the world and be a content creator for them. And there are many local businesses that are having job roles where someone is coming in to be on staff and to be a face and a brand voice and to be a content creator internally at the company. So it's the wrong question if you're like, I don't want to do this. The better question is who is going to do this for my brand and business? And then you also can go faceless. You know, you could just, if you don't want to be on camera, you could share screens, video, essays, narration. If you look at the Hustle, you look at Forbes, you look at Vox, a lot of these channels, you don't see anybody. You do see a good voiceover, typically from a human and not AI. Although AI is getting incredible. And they tell stories, they do business breakdowns, they do all kinds of different video essay, mini documentary type videos. And they're crushing. And so it's less. It's not a personality based thing, it's the art of the storytelling. And so that might be a team, a small team that is assembling content. And fast forward to today. AI is here, avatars, voice clones, animation. And this is a real thing. It's, it's very polarizing. Listeners might be wondering, what about the energy consumption, what about the environment, what about fake news? I don't, I would never follow an AI avatar. I don't like it. Okay, well those are your preferences and those are your opinions. But AI is here to stay and it's a big opportunity and it is already proven. I mean there's this girl on Instagram's got 300000 followers, has a list to her Amazon affiliate links of her skincare, favorite skin care things or favorite workout clothes. She's not even real. She's posting pictures of her traveling the world. I'm in Paris, rising grind. She's got like her food for the morning. These are AI generated images. People go, that's so weird. What like, that's not okay. Well, for 300,000 people, the market decides. So if you hate being on camera or you don't want to put in the work, I mean, for the founders and CEOs on here, there's nine out of 10 things in your business that you don't want to do and you don't want to put the work in for. You hired somebody for it. Yeah, but it's really good you're listening to this because it's up to you to see the future leaders see more, and they see more before they. They look down the road. They see more than everybody else, and they see it before everybody else. So you gotta be looking down the road thinking about what's your plan, what's your strategy, how are you allocating finances, how are you investing time and energy of your people, HR and finances into this? It's solvable. And, and so if you don't want to do this stuff, no big deal, there's somebody who can do this stuff to take advantage of the YouTube opportunity that exists for everybody listening.
- [77:54]
B
Let's say, let's talk about the amount of content the platform shifts, the content trends. Everything is changing all the time. How can we stay up to date and keep our YouTube channel growing?
- [78:12]
A
Yeah, I think it's true. There's a lot of content, there is a lot of competition. But here is why YouTube will never be saturated. It's because new things will always be happening in the world. So the way to cut through the noise on YouTube, admittedly, if you're trying to jump into, like the traditional SEO mindset of answering a specific question that is generic, you're going to get buried in the algorithm and in the midst of the competition. But the cool thing when it comes to YouTube is it'll never be saturated because new things are always happening. Here's what I mean. I was doing a master class today with a couple hundred real estate agents, and the stack of opportunities for them are, number one, local search. They're still, especially in different areas, there's like, not a lot of local competition still. In 2025, the National association of Realtors said only 9% of real estate agents are doing listing videos. That's crazy. So I think we exaggerate how many people we think are doing something. There's still a big opportunity, and one is local search. But here's the other thing is when someone is moving to an area or wanting to make a purchase or in real estate, the Fed is always changing rates, cities are always changing policies, stats and education and crime rates are always changing. Yeah, politics are always changing. So whether that's insert the month, insert the year, market update. The Fed just changed rates. The big beautiful bill just went through. What does that mean for new housing programs or new incentives? There's always something to talk about. And one thing that the ambitious that are listening to this can bank on is that the majority of people are going to be lazy and the majority of people are actually going to burn out and get overwhelmed. Now, that might sound. It's kind of maybe a, you know, maybe a negative point of view, but it's an opportunity. Like, that's why I actually think one of the most important skill sets to master in the modern age is definitely not time management, it's energy management. And I don't even know if it's energy management. I think it's mental health. How can you manage your energy and your optimism and your strength to just be consistent and not burn out? Because what you can bank on is that most will not be able to keep up. Means you're that much more strategic. You put that much more team systems, your own personal life systems. Steve Jobs said business is a game of attrition. I just figured if we're in business long enough, our competitors will be gone once, you know, after a decade or two. So I think that if you can stay in the game and then jump on these new things and that you don't just have to be in real estate to jump on the new things. There's all kinds of entertainment channels. There's always a new show. Love island right now is going crazy. You know how many people are making five to $10,000 a month or more on YouTube talking about love island right now? And just the drama of the show. Do you know how crazy it is that people can work from home now and commentate on Netflix shows, on reality TV shows, and make thousands of dollars a month using intellectual property that is not theirs through fair use. We call it OPC Other People's Content. Not opp, like Naughty by Nature, but OPC Other People's Content. And you can commentate and theorize. So whether you're talking about Harry Potter and the new HBO remix that's causing all kinds of drama around Harry Potter, whether you're talking about the latest Superman that's dividing the world in regards to, you know, Superman's always been an immigrant, but the rights offended and, you know, they said the movie's gonna fail and it broke records. There's always something to talk about. And whether that's again, Tying into politics and the intelligent creator. This does not mean that you're chasing trends and abandoning your niche. It means that you're becoming a culturalist that can spot trends, understands human psychology, and can hack culture related to your business and brand. You're looking at headlines, you're looking at what's happening. So that's how you cut through the noise. You, you jump on what's new and what's now. There's always something new and there's always something now. And you pivot and adapt. Those that hope the world doesn't change are going to get left behind. The world is always changing. One thing is, you know, guaranteed and that's change. So pivoting, adapting, staying innovative and creative. And this conversation, if you go, that's not one of my favorite, you know, running a team, running a team of 31 people and trying to be a good CEO and I wear multiple hats. I am trying to be a CEO while also being like the lead content creator. So it's kind of two full time jobs and I got a two year old and four year old. I got to figure it out. You know, no excuses. Everybody listen to this. You know, we could really get into that kind of victim mindset and that, you know, limited mindset. Like it's just so hard. How am I going to have time to, to do YouTube? Figure it out, you know, like, how am I gonna have time? I got so much to do. Yeah, you and everybody else, like you could either whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. So there is a way to figure it out. So one of my favorite things in leadership is asking this question, who is waking up thinking about this? Because at the end of the day, if you're going to manage your energy and you're going to win in any endeavor, you actually can't wake up thinking about that many things. So this becomes the question of who on your team is doing this. That's why it's figureoutable you. Maybe AI can help you come up with creative ideas. You're delegating this to somebody that helps you with research. You know, one person I've collaborated with and done some coaching with and I've learned a lot from is Patrick Bet David from Valuetainment. And he had to start super simple, low budget, nowhere near the production value that they have now. He recently shared with me his checklist of how many roles hired full time roles go into his video podcasts. It's like over 10 people and it's these I mean, there's an audio person, there's a video person, there's a research assistant. There's a person who's taking notes of what clips are we going to chop up. There's the talent that's on the show. There's then the video editors post process. There's the people, multiple video editors, the people doing the shorts. So at any level of mastery, you start simple. And maybe it's. It's you waking up thinking about this first, but eventually it's. It's who's waking up thinking about this. And if it's not your skill set, don't worry, you can find somebody. Find somebody to help you identify and spot the trends, identify the content packaging again. Dan Martell, right now, his numbers are crushing. He was just on our podcast, Think Media podcast. Insane episode with the level of tactics that he was breaking down. But he has one, taken the responsibility to find the right people and also train those people and also let those people develop. But he's created systems and routines and containers that he's able to create all the content he's creating in just three hours a week.
- [85:55]
B
He sits down, oh, my God.
- [85:56]
A
Certain questions are asked to him. He sits down, certain raw content outlines are handed to him, and then he can expand on that. So at the end of the day, you know, atomic habits. We don't rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems. These things are all solvable. As you build out systems, as you invest a team. And we're not on this podcast, we're not gonna tolerate a victim mindset. Oh, I just don't have any money for it. Then you're gonna put in the extra hustle right now to increase revenue, to get more leads, get more sales, to build that base following, and then to reinvest the revenue you create in scaling. It's really business 101. The shift is we're shifting from just being CEOs and business owners to being the leaders of media companies. And if anything, you're just an investor. I want to invest in the right people, the right who, and that's a great book by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy is who not how the how am I going to Crush it on YouTube this year? It's either going to be you or it's the who that you identify, empower, and fund to help you scale it. Those that make excuses will get left behind. Those that lean in and seize this opportunity. Goldman Sachs said that the next two years are going to be the best two years in the crater economy, that the crater economy is going to double between now and 2027. So this is not a time to be sitting on the sidelines. If you're waiting until 2026 to go all in on YouTube, you're going to be watching from the sidelines and you're going to be wish. You're going to wish you started today. And so the fortune favors the bold and fortune favors the strategic. This is figureoutable. You just gotta punch fear in the face, press record and go all in. Hey, if you've been getting value out of this conversation and want to go a little bit deeper, I recently updated my free on demand YouTube strategy class. And you can get access to that@thinkmasterclass.com or just click the link in the show notes. You know, there's been a lot of changes on YouTube and there's some new updates you need to know, but there's also the fundamentals. And on this class, we cover the one strategy that we've been using at Think Media to generate over 120,000 views every single day. Now, the class is totally free. You can click the link in the show notes to watch that and you can watch it on your own time. Grab a journal, grab a pen, set aside an hour, lock in. And it's definitely going to help you increase your views, your subscribers, and also get fierce clarity when it comes to your approach to YouTube. What's your brand, what's your angle, what's your positioning? These things are so crucial and important. Now, if you also got value today and you're still listening, it means the world if you Smash like on YouTube or rate or review the Think Media podcast wherever you watch or listen. Seriously grateful that you've been a part of this community, whether you've been here for two months, two years, 20 years, I guess it hasn't been around that long, but if you've been a part of the journey, super grateful. And if you actually listen on the audio podcast, leaving a review or a star rating on Spotify really helps us spread the message and reach more people. And so would really appreciate that. If you haven't subscribed, do so because we've got so many great episodes coming your way soon. Until then, 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.