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- [00:00]
A
Hey, quick heads up. Before we get into today's podcast episode, if you missed our recent three day YouTube growth sprint event, you can still catch the limited replays, but only for a short time. Just go to ytsprint.com, enter your name and email and we will send you the links so you can watch the free trainings. People have been asking for the recordings and they are coming down soon. But if you want clarity, traction and a real plan for your channel this year, just go to ytsprint.com and watch the replays while they are still available. All right, let's jump into today's episode. Imagine reaching your first 1,000 subscribers in just nine days, being monetized in 15 days, and getting your first brand deal within two months. We've got Marco from Just Dream Italy. You hit a thousand subscribers in just 9 days, got monetized in 15. Can you walk us through some of the key strategies or decisions that contributed to such rapid growth?
- [01:05]
B
Right, so at the moment when it occurred, I wasn't expecting it. What happened is that there was a niche, a niche there, there was a demand for the type of content that I produced. The combination of elements that are in my video. Yes. The way they're presented, yes. But I think the really quality that I provided was missing in kind of the other competitors in that niche. So I really focused on the video quality, the almost storytelling quality of my episodes. And it connected. It was a home run on the first video and I was expecting, you know, 100 views or something. Then I, you know, the first day it was just like going up, going up. And then it, it just exploded. And I'm like, wow, what's going on? This is amazing. And really, yeah, I think it worked because of the quality, the way that I had put everything together, which was in the end, a work of an accumulation of efforts leading up to that point. So I had a vision in my mind when deciding to make this channel. And it was a vision that I had about a year earlier. Me and my wife, we kind of embarked on this journey of buying our own home in southern Puglia. And this was during the pandemic with this kind of urge to go, get out there, do something different with your lives, travel. And obviously during that time period, nobody could travel. You couldn't go to locations, you couldn't go and view homes to buy in another country. We're like, okay, well how do we see it? How do we do it? And we kind of worked with a local agent who was able to do it with his cell phone Give us his impressions, really walk us through everything. And this is the power of the connection of video, right? He was able to share me that home via his cell phone. Walking through it, the idea kind of picked up from there, saying, like, you know, if we're in this position, there are others in this position who would like to view properties remotely. And it was right around that time when I think a couple other channels, which are the other kind of like, main channels in this niche of, like, Italian home tours, opened their channels and started to get a lot of views and they really focused on showing the home. So, like, this is a beautiful home. Let me show it to you. And I would see those. And I say, you know, these are nice homes, but, like, where are they? What's going on around them? Because. Because when you buy a home in Italy, as a foreigner, you're not just buying a beautiful home. Yes, you're buying that, but you're buying the location that it's in, the culture that it's in, and of course, the amazing Italian food that you would have while you're there. And so the idea, just after, you know, a few months of our experience of going down there, it just clicked. I was already a huge fan of, like, Casey Neistat, a huge fan of other YouTube channels where, you know, they're creating this engaging content where you can, you watch one video and then you click on the next one to kind of follow the story and know in this package the cinematic package of their day to day. And I was thinking, well, what if I apply an idea like that to the idea of, like, this Italian home tour? But it's not just a home tour. Like, I'm taking you to the place, then we're going to get something to eat, then we're going to go view the home. I'm opening this window for you to enter in on this experience with me. That's how the formula was made. So it's going to be a travel vlog, a food vlog, and a real estate vlog all in one. Now, how do I do it? And so I kind of started thinking about, well, how do I do it? Right? This is just kind of this pipe dream at the moment. This is probably 2021. And I just started researching, right, I researched, well, how do you make videos? Like, what, what do people film these things with? How does editing work? How does this magic of this real life end up being appearing on your screen the way that we see it? And it led up to that point, okay, this is the first video that I'm going to upload.
- [04:46]
A
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- [07:52]
B
So the way I approached it at the time was skill by skill. So let's say the first skill was working with my first camera. So the first camera that I bought was an A7C, a Sony A7C with a couple of Sigma lenses. And it was, okay, how do I learn? I need to learn how to use this camera. How do I learn these settings? What are these different settings for? So on any particular day, you know, I would dedicate an hour to, I would call them experimentations. Just experimenting with different videos in my house, in my study room, outside in the yard with my kids. You know, I love using my kids as subjects and to kind of master that. So I focused on the technical first, mastering this equipment. I'm not learning this all at once. Every single day I'm practicing and every single day like I learn a new concept and I start to experiment with that concept. And during the course of that year, I did two things and it was very strategic and very purposeful. I said, I'm going to start making vlogs, family style vlogs, which nobody's going to see except for me, my family, my really close friends and my parents. And so I opened a private YouTube channel that nobody's ever going to see except for them. And I said, you know what, these are starting to look decent. And my friends are saying, wow, these are really nice.
- [09:06]
A
You sort of also just peeled back the curtain that your first public video on the channel you wanted to share publicly blows up. Channel grows super fast. Monetization 15 days. Brand deal 2 months. But there was a hidden practice channel which sort of reveals that many creators have done a lot of, if you will, bad videos or practice videos before they get to good videos. In your case, you did them privately and for your family. But nevertheless, you were practicing, experimenting and getting experience. And even the mindset of doing free work. I think that holds a lot of people back that they're, you know, they want to get paid instantly without putting in the time or the skill development. One of our core values at Think Media is the pursuit of mastery. And I see in this entire thing, thing that your mindset was this pursuit of mastery. I think that's a big principle we as creators can learn from modeling the masters. Casey Neistat has given us examples and you're like, okay, here's a master that I could try to vlog like Casey. And if I what's cool when we model the masters in music or content or videos is some people, they might be uncomfortable with the word copy. But this is actually a proven principle in apprenticeship that when you're apprenticing under somebody, you should copy them like you copy what they do. You copy their methodologies and in doing so, that's how you become a master yourself. At first, when you're apprentice, it's best practice. Their shots may be even, can I match their color grade? Can I match their editing? Can I match that when I watch one of your videos? You have your own unique style, but you were modeling the masters on the way up.
- [10:42]
B
Absolutely, absolutely. I think that's really a key for anybody who wants to start YouTube is don't be afraid to look at what channels that you admire, what they're doing, you'll never end up copying them. And if you think you are, you won't be like, you're in your own niche. You're looking outside the box from where you are, the area that you're in. And in my case, it's outside of my niche. What are people in other niches doing? I was looking at, you know, what are the people in other niches doing at that high cinematic level? What are they doing? And how can I apply that to my videos? And, and so really understanding who's your, who are your model channels for specifically for YouTube? What are they doing? And asking yourself, how are they doing it?
- [11:19]
A
Are you thinking about starting or growing a YouTube channel this year? And you're wondering what's working right now, not just to get views, but also to grow your subscribers. If you'd say yes, then I'm excited because coming up soon, we are hosting a free five day YouTube challenge where I'm going to be teaching through my seven step YouTube success system, entirely for free. Over 10,000 creators have used this system to start and grow successful YouTube channels and to monetize them in many creative ways. And we're going to be taking five days to go through the best strategies that you can apply whether you want to start a brand new channel or grow your existing channel. So if you want to join me for the free 5 day YouTube challenge, just go to tube1k challenge.com to register or click the link in the description. All right, let's get back into the video. Now. One of the other things I'm curious how your process Leading up to your first video and second video, which your first video was the best undiscovered town to buy a home in Italy. And your second video, spectacular Italian townhouse tour and the breathtaking coastline of Nardo. Now you're in our video Ranking Academy program. And part of at least what I observed from your videos is you're backing it up with the great content. We've established that. So that's going to get the average view duration that's going to hack the algorithm. No title or tag makes the video go viral independent of itself. However, it seems that there is some research and strategic positioning that came with your first videos and your current videos. And that whether that's a searchable area, whether that's something like to buy a home, which is a specific question, how to buy a home in a specific area and town, home townhouse tour in a specific area. So some very searchable audience desire elements there. How did you go about researching and crafting your first video ideas and how you eventually turned the packaging of those videos and the titles you came up with?
- [13:30]
B
So those first videos, I really didn't know what I was doing. The titles, the thumbnails came at one in the morning, right before I published them. And I was sick of myself at that point. I said, look, Marco, like you've been at this for a year. You've had. I'd filmed those episodes in February, I think, and I published them only in April. And so they're on my drives for so long. And I was getting sick of myself. I said, you just have to publish. Just publish it. Even if you're not satisfied, even if you don't think you know what you're doing, publish it. And so I made my channel name at 1:00 clock in the morning when I published my first vid. I didn't know what my channel was going to be called. I didn't know what my thumbnail was going to be. But at that point I said, don't let perfection be the enemy of progress. Along those lines. And so I just, I said, no, let the video do the work. Go with your instinct. You know, the title has to be relatable to the audience that you want to see it. It also has to describe what the video is about. And you should also use attractive adjectives like the undiscovered things, like the best place to just as principles of YouTube. And those are, those are principles that I did learn from from vra, especially in discussions on the Facebook group where people were discussing titles and how to make Engaging titles. And so I interiorized that.
- [14:46]
A
That's great advice and I love that you said perfect is the enemy of progress. I'm curious now, talking a little bit about the financial side. You get monetized in 15 days, but you also got your first brand deal right when you were around 8,000 subscribers. What do you think attracted brands to your channel so early on? And do you have any tips for how that came about or how you've continued to pursue brand deals and sponsorships since that time?
- [15:13]
B
So every sponsor that I've had has reached out to me, which means they see something good in my channel. So I'm always flattered when that happens. I think I have the, the privilege of being the only person in my niche who has sponsors and I think that's because of the formats of my videos. The other, I don't, you know, I can't speak for their experiences, but when you're just filming a home and nothing else, there's not, you can't really insert a sponsor. And that just doesn't work with the narrative. And, and so I, I think I found out quickly that, you know, my format isn't only engaging and nice because I thought it was, but also because it, it allows like a sponsorship to be inserted into it inorganically. And so I think that's why, you.
- [15:53]
A
Know, one of the big principles that I heard you say is that quality attracts opportunity. And so many people are trying to email brands and reach out to brands. And it's not necessarily a bad approach, but the way you positioned your channel, it attracted deals that you never had to reach out. And this big idea of be sponsorable, some channels are more sponsorable than others. And the fact that you were telling a story, cultivating an audience, giving a place where people could be integrated into the travel, food as well as real estate aspect of your channel, it's attractive to brands. And so I think as creators, if we think about what would be attractive to brands, how could I make my channel more sponsorable? As a very interesting insight, I am curious, going full time as a YouTuber is a big decision. What were the key factors that influenced you to decide to go full time? You mentioned you had a full time job. At what point did you make that leap and what factors led to that decision?
- [16:59]
B
So I had decided that I was going to do it full time, probably around halfway 20, 23. I said, look, this is going to be the goal. And then by about August, September, like I realized it's doable because the income was matching my professional income. And I just knew that, like, I was, I'm being held back by doing this other job more than anything else. It just got to the point where it didn't make any sense. Like I was earning as much and I can earn more, make more videos. Like, that's what I wanted to do. I want to make more videos. And that's the only way that it, that it can happen.
- [17:34]
A
So speak a little bit to that. Eight months of, of balancing both and the mindset it took and what was, you know, driving you and what was that? Practically the challenge of working full time with trying to build a YouTube business on the side.
- [17:47]
B
It was incredibly difficult. It got to the point of being very stressful. And at certain points I was thinking of stopping doing YouTube because of it and thinking that it was like, like a crazy dream. And so I did teeter even in that direction. Even though the channel was successful, there were a couple of videos where, you know, they weren't as successful as the other ones. And so I said, you know, what if all of a sudden, you know, that the views drop and I'm stressing out? We have two young kids both working, and is it really worth it? You know? And so I was able to make the decision. Luckily, because the income was there, it would have been a much harder decision if the income wasn't there. And me betting on the income being there in order to be able to, you know, support a family with it, it was there. And so at that point I said, this stress is unnecessary. This isn't doable for any normal human being. So I'm done with four hours of sleep at night because I'm editing until 2 in the morning. There is a period of your life, you know, where you do a sacrifice because you have a vision to see if it'll work. And I said it from the beginning, like, if it doesn't work, okay. But I can at least say that I did it before I did it. I was very much frustrated with myself for not trying it. And so the fact that I did do it, I was already satisfied. Like, okay, you know, I, I, I had this passion in my head for this project. I did it and you know, it didn't work, you know, or I chose to continue working for my job because I thought that was a better decision. I was ready for that. But luckily it turned out great, and I'm glad it did.
- [19:15]
A
The law of sacrifice. In order to go up, you've got to give up. And I love that you had the practical handles. There's the finances but also, I know like 100% of listeners right now can relate to the feeling of, man, this is hard, this is heavy, this is stressful, especially when you're doing both and the two young kids and all of the pressures of life. Finally, let's just talk a little bit about the impact on life and family. You mentioned in our pre emails that you YouTube has changed your life and your family's life. Now when you like, look back over the journey, how has this impacted you and what do you feel like have been the most rewarding aspects of this creator journey?
- [19:55]
B
Yeah. So beyond the sacrifice, once you get over the hump, there's, there's freedom there. And so once I've gone, now that I've gone full time, we have the kind of freedom to choose basically where we want to live. And so we're, we're moving down to Italy 100% now to, to our home down there for me to focus on the project. And my wife has 100% more flexibility now to choose to work what she wants to work any personal projects that she has. And we both have the flexibility of dedicating our time to our kids and we can, you know, spend time traveling, going somewhere else. Ten years ago, YouTube wasn't like this, but now it is. You know, this is an amazing opportunity that exists for us this day and age and it's been a blessing for us. And so we're, we're moving and this is my, the house that we're selling. This is why it's all empty now. And we're, we have the freedom to go down and live in southern Italy, which is a place we love so well.
- [20:51]
A
Marco, thank you for adding so much value. Appreciate you. My name is Sean Cannell. Your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel like Rate, subscribe wherever you're listening and share this one out. And we can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.