495: He Made $30K on YouTube While Working a Full-Time Job (Full Strategy)

Summary

The Think Media Podcast – Episode 495: He Made $30K on YouTube While Working a Full-Time Job

Date: March 12, 2026
Host: Nathan Eswine (for Think Media)
Guest: Lee, creator of Stray Reviews

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the practical, behind-the-scenes strategies of "Stray Reviews," a YouTube channel that generated $30,000 in side income over one year—while the creator, Lee, kept his day job. With just around 12,000 subscribers, Lee reveals his step-by-step process, workflow, and revenue streams, demonstrating that predictable success is possible even for small creators. The conversation is packed with actionable insights about monetizing niche review content, building sustainable systems, and leveraging discipline over passion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin and Evolution of "Stray Reviews"

• Backstory: Lee’s channel started out with reviews of high-quality boots, inspired by his teenage son’s suggestion to share his honest thoughts on YouTube.
• Channel Focus: Reviews and roundups of rugged, higher-end, heritage-style boots, jackets, and related gear.
  • Memorable Moment:
    • “I just thought it was normal to, like, post a boot review and get 30, 40,000 views. But I didn’t realize at the time that I was actually working a strategy that I didn’t know.” (03:02, Lee)

2. Revenue Streams and Income Breakdown

• Four Revenue Streams (04:00):
  • Affiliate Revenue – Primary income; product links in video descriptions.
  • YouTube Ad Revenue – RPM between $4–$8 (better than entertainment channels).
  • Sponsorships – Brand partnerships.
  • eBay Sales – Selling excess reviewed products.
  • Notable Quote:
    • “Those four streams really are where the money comes from.” (04:52, Lee)

3. Affiliate Marketing Tactics

• Making Information Accessible: Proactively placed a contact email (using a custom domain) on his YouTube channel, opening the door for brand outreach.
  • Quote:
    • “If they can’t get a hold of you, you’re not going to see things happen. You can’t build relationships.” (11:11, Lee)
• Actionable Insight:
  • Pro tip for new creators: Set up a domain and professional email early—even if you’re just starting out. (08:45, Lee)

4. Video Types: Reviews vs. Roundups

• Definitions:
  • Review: Deep dive on a single product.
  • Roundup: Comparison of several items in one category (“Best of” lists), often yielding up to 60% more views.
• Strategic Product Selection: Targets mid-to-high price-point products where viewers actively seek reviews before purchase.
• Keyword Research:
  • Leverages YouTube search, trends in Google, and tools like VidIQ to find “low-hanging fruit” with high search demand.
  • For high-ticket items: “If I’m going to spend over a hundred bucks, I’ll look for reviews on YouTube.” (17:34, Lee)

5. Topic & Content Research Process

• Workflow:
  • Analyzes competing channels for video ideas that perform well.
  • Monitors own analytics as the channel grows—what are viewers searching, which videos are driving views?
  • Buys products out-of-pocket if affiliate opportunities are likely to yield ROI.
• Example:
  • Reviewed Birkenstock sandals—invested $125, made $450 (ad revenue alone) and gained 100+ subscribers from one video. (16:50)

6. Getting Brands to Work With You

• Media Kits: Maintains a stats page (not public, only for brands).
• Pitching: Craft emails that focus on product benefits; offer inclusion in roundups if a single-product review isn’t likely to generate significant views.
• Making the Product Shine:
  • Product is always the “hero” in thumbnails, not Lee’s face.
  • “Treat these brands with a measure of honor...make it look good and succinct. They like to work with you.” (21:24, Lee)
• Thumbnail Branding:
  • Consistent color palette, inspired by his cat’s fur (channel’s namesake).
  • Only 3–4 words on the thumbnail, never repeats the video title text.

7. Efficiency & Weekly Workflow

• Scripting:
  • Uses AI tools like Letterly (voice notes transcribed, cleaned up) and Subscriber AI (analyzes channel’s tone and audience) to speed up scriptwriting. (35:47)
• Filming Tools:
  • Pocket 3 camera and Hover X1 Pro autonomous drone streamline B-roll and shots.
• Batching:
  • Annual short retreat in November to develop a 50–60 video topic list for the following year.
  • Each week:
    • Friday—scriptwriting and B-roll.
    • Monday—evening “talking head” shoot.
    • Weeknight editing (total production: approx. 12+ hours/week).
  • Post consistently every Saturday at 7:30 am (viewer analytics-driven).

8. Title, Thumbnail, and SEO Strategy

• Title Structure:
  • Start with search-oriented phrase (“Best boots for men under $200”), finish with relevant brand names.
  • “Clarity beats cleverness” (citing Sean Cannell).
• Thumbnail Design:
  • Bright, simple, product-centered, cohesive colors (drawn from channel branding).
  • Avoids logos; only uses all caps and no more than four words.
  • “If you want to brand your thumbnails, don’t put your logo on them. It’s a waste of graphic real estate.” (29:19, Lee)

9. Analytics, Retention & Optimization

• Focus on Views and Retention: Checks package performance, strives for 6–8 minute reviews, succinct and actionable.
  • “Be bright, be brief, be fun, be done.” (32:03, Lee)
• Video ideation:
  • Reviews analytics each week to refine future topics.
  • Prefers roundups for newer or low-search brands.

10. Discipline vs. Passion – Mindset for Consistency

• Quote of the Episode:
  • “You don’t rise to the level of your passion, you fall to the level of your discipline.” (07:11, Lee)
• Routine Advice:
  • Excellence must be sustainable. Only adopt improvement ideas if they can be repeated every week.
  • “You’re better off doing one pushup a day than you are doing a hundred pushups once a month. Same with YouTube—consistency over time always outperforms one-off bursts of effort.” (43:13, Lee)

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamped Highlights

• On First Affiliate Win:
  “Imagine your favorite store going, ‘Hey man, we want to send you some samples.’” (06:19, Lee)

• On Review Channels:
  “If somebody’s thinking about doing a review channel, do it, because it’s probably the lowest hanging fruit on YouTube.” (17:34, Lee)

• On Analytics:
  “I know that there will be people that disagree with me, but at the end of the day, it’s about views… And then I like to look at my retention—are people staying with me?” (32:03, Lee)

• On Avoiding Overediting:
  “Motion graphics and sound effects… you don’t need it… It’s annoying anyway. But it’s adding time to your editing process. Just release that. Production-wise, scale it back until you can do it every week.” (42:49, Lee)

• The Discipline Principle:
  “You don’t rise to the level of your passion, you fall to the level of your discipline… every discipline pays us back.” (07:11, Lee)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:42] — Revenue Streams Breakdown
• [05:42] — Early Growth: From Hobby to Weekly Discipline
• [07:11] — The Discipline Principle
• [08:32] — Why Every Channel Needs a Contact Email
• [12:10] — Reviews vs Roundups: Strategy and Search Impact
• [15:41] — Topic Research & Content Selection Formula
• [20:43] — How to Pitch Brands and Media Kits
• [25:12] — Title & Thumbnail Strategy, Branding
• [32:03] — Reviewing Analytics and Retention
• [35:35] — AI Scripting, Filming & Workflow
• [41:11] — Systems, Sustainability, and Eliminating Distractions
• [44:08] — Final Takeaways and Closing Reflection

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Takeaway: Building Predictable YouTube Success

Lee's story is proof that rigorous discipline, sustainable systems, and strategic niche selection can generate real income on YouTube—even for smaller creators. His central message: Don’t rely on randomness—design a process you can repeat every week, prioritize discipline over fleeting motivation, and let consistency compound your results.

Action Steps for Listeners:

• Pick a high-intent, searchable niche.
• Commit to a sustainable and repeatable publishing schedule.
• Eliminate unnecessary elements from production.
• Focus on systems, not just inspiration.
• Make your contact information accessible for brand deals.
• Use analytics to continuously refine your content.

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Recommended Resource:
“If you want a simple system you can follow, check out Think Media’s free YouTube strategy class at thinkmasterclass.com.” (11:15, Nathan)

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Transcript

[A]

Hey, before we jump into the show, I just wanted to take a second and say thank you for listening. I know that life is busy and you have a lot of options when it comes to the content you consume. So whether you're new here or you've been listening to the Think Media podcast for years, I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you. Okay, let's jump into the show.

[B]

Last year brought in $30,000 in side hustle income through his YouTube channel. And the wild part, as he did it with a channel that's currently sitting

[C]

around 12,000 subscribers at that time for, I don't know, $260. That was like the most I'd ever spent on a pair of boots. And my teenage son was like, you need to review those. And I posted maybe like four or five videos a year. I didn't realize at the time that I was actually working a strategy that I didn't know that strategy till after I joined VRA. When I'm going to spend over 100 bucks, I'll look for reviews on YouTube. If somebody's thinking about doing a review channel, do it, because it's probably the lowest hanging fruit on YouTube. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be better than some of the other people on your niche.

[B]

Lee is one of the most dialed in small channel creators I have ever had the honor to sit down with. Okay, it is time to lean in. This is a Take Notes episode. He's literally breaking down his whole playbook. It's crazy. He just shared everything. His four revenue streams, how he picks topics that keep getting views, his simple weekly workflow that makes things predictable, and the way he even reviews his analytics so he knows what to repeat. It's just crazy. It's loaded with gems. Lee, it's so good to have you here. How's it going?

[C]

Great to be here, Nathan. Thank you so much for having me on today.

[B]

Yeah, let's rock. Well, hey, your channel is called Stray Reviews. Can you give us some context on your channel and what kind of videos you make? Because it's funny. I mean, your profile picture, it's just a cat's face. But then I look at videos and I see boots and jackets and fill us in. What's going on here?

[C]

Well, actually, that profile picture is of our cat who. Who came in as a stray. So when we. When I started the. The channel is actually, I had bought a pair of really nice boots. It was the nicest pair of boots I'd ever bought at that Time. I don't know if you remember way back in, like, 2016, you might have been, like, 8 years old, but, like, Thursday, boot company had just come out of, like, their crowdfunding part of their business. Okay. So they were huge. And so I picked them up and at that time, for, I don't know, $260, that was, like, the most I'd ever spe a pair of boots. And my teenage son was like, you need to review those.

[B]

Get.

[C]

Get on. Get on YouTube and review them. And I was like, maybe, you know, so I did that, and I posted maybe like four or five videos a year. And I just thought it was normal to, like, post a boot review and get 30, 40,000 views. But I didn't realize at the time that I was actually working a strategy that I didn't know that strategy till after I joined VRA. And so, yeah, back in 2023, I just decided, you know, I'm going to do this every week and see what happens.

[B]

This is amazing. Okay, so first off, shout out to your son, the OG YouTube strategist, to be like, yeah, to make a video about that. And then. Hilarious. You were like, oh, this is just normal. Like, tens of thousands of views. No, not normal. Awesome, but not normal. That's right. Okay, so that's the starting ground. I'd love to hear really quick before we talk about, like, you know, systems and where we from there, because what a start to YouTube. Last year, you brought in around $30,000 in side hustle income, which I think is just super awesome. And I'd love to hear if you could walk us through that stack. Like, how did that stack up? Is that, you know, all YouTube? Is it because of YouTube? What's responsible for that income?

[C]

Yeah, there's actually four revenue streams for my YouTube channel, and I would say the most money comes in through affiliate revenue. And so that's just simply you make a partnership with a brand, maybe they send you a sample to review, and then you get a code or a link to that product, and then you get an affiliate commission for it. So that's the. That would be the biggest one. And then there would be ad revenue through YouTube, which is fantastic for my particular niche. The RPM is between 4 and $8 on that one. Yeah. So not too bad. It's better than, like, an entertainment channel or something like that. And then there is sponsorships, would be the other one and then the fourth one, really. And I think a lot of people don't really think much about it. And it's when You. I don't know if you can see in my studio here all of the stuff. See all the shoe boxes, all of the jackets, all this stuff. It's really cool and everything, but, like, I don't have room for all this stuff, and I don't need it after a while. So ebay sales has become a revenue. A revenue stream for the channel.

[B]

No way. Yeah.

[C]

So those four streams really are where the money comes from.

[B]

Okay, I'm interested in the ebay thing, but I do want to touch on the biggest bucket here is affiliate income. Okay. And this is a point that I know just in coaching people. And this question comes up a lot. Like, what's that whole. What's the whole thing about putting links in your description?

[C]

And.

[B]

And obviously you had a YouTube strategist in your house tell you, dad, make a video about those boots. But, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, how did you. How that's such a big portion of your income? Did you just keep making videos like that? Because it looks like, okay, stray reviews. We're reviewing different things. So how did it. How did your journey on YouTube continue after such a strong start, by the way? Post a video, tens of thousands of views? Did you just keep doing more of that? Like, what did. What did life look like, you know, in your YouTube week after that happened?

[C]

Yeah. So somewhere along the line, I had another video pop off. It was back in 2023, and that was actually just before I joined VRA. Had a video pop off. And you could say it's part lock, part whatever, but I get this email one day. I remember I was, like, late at night, and I shouldn't have been on the computer, but I was on the computer anyway, checking my email, and I get this email from an online store that just happened to be my favorite place to go get clothes. And imagine that like your favorite store going, hey, man, we want to send you some samples.

[B]

Yes, please. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

So that was very cool. And so my initial motivation was like, yeah, I guess if they want to send me free stuff from my favorite store to review, then maybe I'll just start making weekly videos and see what happens. And so I started making weekly videos, and of course, they set me up with an affiliate account. And that's when I started to get, you know, maybe 50 bucks in a month or 80 bucks in a month. This is pretty cool, you know, I mean, that's coffee date with the wife or night owl, something like that. Yeah, that's kind of where it all started there. Yeah. And then it just went week to week. It was a bit of an adjustment to say I'm going to make one every week, considering I was just going to make one every day, you know, whenever the motivation struck me.

[B]

This is fair. Yep.

[C]

So I just started making them every week. And I think one of the, one of the things that I like to say about YouTube and what I learned about YouTube through that process is that, you know, I like to look at YouTube not so much as a business, but as a discipline. And you know, the, the old saying, you know, you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fault the level of your systems. I like to say that you don't rise to the level of your passion, but you fall to the level of your discipline. And so I decided I'm going to make this a discipline because every discipline pays us back. Right. So if you have a discipline to work out, it's going to pay you back in fitness, or if you have a discipline for nutrition or financial discipline, it's going to pay you back. And sometimes that discipline doesn't pay you back right away. You don't go work out for three months and all of a sudden start seeing a six pack ab. Right. But if you start, you know, you do that for a year, you're gonna get it. So I just decided I want to make this a discipline and I want to see what the rewards bring back. And that's how I started just doing every week and I've done it every week since, since 2023.

[B]

Wow. Okay, so so many gems there. I don't even know where to begin. But I want to start with something that at least I'm curious about. So maybe someone listening could be as well. How did the, how did the original company get your email? Like, does that, did they, did you have that on your channel strategically or like, how did, do you know how that happened?

[C]

Yeah, no, it was on my channel. And so, you know, of course I'm kind of a nerd. So I decided a long time ago, even before I was doing that full time, I went and got a domain and set up a proper email address.

[B]

Oh my.

[C]

So you know, contact@straight strayreviews.com and because even back then I was like, yeah, you never know what's going to happen. Might as well. And so, yeah, okay, previous experience there.

[B]

Like, how did you have the foresight to be like, yeah, I'm just gonna kind of, let's go ahead and put a domain. You know what I'm saying? Like you're saying Stuff that, like, nobody thinks of until it's, like, after the fact. So did you have experience with something before?

[C]

Yeah, well, domains are cheap. So if I go way back to, like, 20. You're going way back now? 2008. Okay. So I was working for a ministry.

[B]

I've been.

[C]

I've been a pastor for about 30 years, and so that has been. My main job is in ministry. I've been in ministry for a really long time.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

And not like the sexy big church ministry either. Like, I've been like, our church plant in a poor neighborhood, you know, that sort of ministry. And I've been a part of that for a long time. And so I was a part of a ministry back in 2008 who decided, look, we're just gonna fire half the staff because of the financial downturn, so. So I lost my job and I knew how to build websites, and I had a lot of connections with pastors and ministries in the area. And I just thought, you know, I'm going to build websites for ministry. So that became sort of a tool in my belt that when YouTube came along, I had that predisposition, you might say, to register the domain, pop up a website and have something for people to go to.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

That's very cool. And a pretty cool tactical gem just for anyone who's listening to think about. Because just like you said, and I'm sure, you know, when you started posting on YouTube, it's like, who would have thought you would be where you're at now? And last year was the year that it was. Right? And so. But just planning, you know, and planning, like, positively thinking about, like, man. Because a lot of people will say, what if this doesn't work? What if YouTube doesn't pan out? What if it's too hard? And I think on the flip side, what I've learned to ask is, like, what if it does? Yeah, right.

[C]

Like, what if it's awesome?

[B]

What if it's awesome? And what would I be proud of myself for putting in place? Right? It was like, okay, that's cool. All right, so, like, big, big tip right there. If someone's thinking about affiliate stuff and how to start adding that to their YouTube money plan. Yeah, we'll keep going deeper, but already it's like a pretty tactical thing, is make your information available, right? Like, just be contacted.

[C]

That's right. If they can't get a hold of you, you're not going to see things happen. Yeah. You can't build relationships.

[B]

Quick pause here. If this episode is hitting. Here's the big takeaway. Lee isn't winning because he's lucky. He's winning because he has a process. And if you want a simple system that you can follow, I want to point you to our free YouTube strategy [e-mail] Sean breaks down the one strategy that we use at Think Media to drive serious views and how to build a channel that doesn't rely on hope, randomness, or even just AdSense. When you register, you'll also get some free resources to help you apply it. You get an action guide and a simple money plan. So if you're ready to stop guessing and start building something predictable, thinkmasterclass.com is your next step. Again, that's thinkmasterclass.com okay, back to Lee, because we got some more nerding out to do. Okay, all right, so let's jump back in. You are creating content. Now. How do you, you know, because you're doing reviews mostly. Is that dominantly like what every video is? It's a review.

[C]

Reviews and roundups.

[B]

Yeah, reviews and roundups. Okay. What's the difference between a review and a roundup for you?

[C]

Typically, a review would be one product. And you know, um, I, I like doing roundups. I prefer roundups because the roundups tend to get on my channel anyway, about 60% more views. And when I am planning a review, what I like to do is ask myself, what are the words people are looking for to find a review? So a lot of people are looking for things like best leather jackets, best American made boots, best moc toe boots. And so the niche is sort of like, you know, heritage made stuff that doesn't go out of style kind of high end casual gear. And so, you know, there's, I don't think there's anything south of $130 on the channel just to kind of then, then go up to. I reviewed a pair of boots not long ago that were $750 because I like to review products, number one, that have a certain financial barrier to entry. Otherwise nobody's going to be looking for a review for a $20 sneaker or whatever, unless it's a Converse All Star. Right? So there we go. Which people still look for that, believe it or not. That's huge. So I like to look for something where there's a barrier to entry and we're people are searching for it. And so when I started out a lot of things in that first year, what I would do is I would go to other channels in my niche and I would type in like a product Brand usually like Red Wing. And I'd go, oh, look at all these videos popping up now. This guy's got 10,000 subscribers, but there's 20,000 views on his Red Wing video. And so I started choosing those things to review to build up the channel as long as they within the niche. The cool thing is when you've got 100 videos up or 150 videos up. Yeah. Now you can look at your own analytics and see what your audience is looking for instead of somebody else's. And so yeah, that's, that's how I do it and keep it coming. And if I do a roundup, it's stuff that people are looking for. Best leather jackets for men under 500. People are searching for that. And then you don't have to pick brands that are like super popular. You can just pick, you know, four brands that you think are good that don't necessarily have that. That search behind it. Yes, yes. Okay.

[B]

And so for the. If you have, let's say because I'm looking at some of these on your channel, you're, I mean, obviously like some of your most popular stuff. It does look like our roundups of boots for men, one of the ones you did just a couple months ago. Strategic timing, 65,000 views. The best winter coats for men. And you've got names in the title. I'm assuming these are brand names.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

So this is a big unlock what you're already doing, which is what I spend a lot of my time coaching on, Lee is better ideas, better topics. So what's your, like you have a formula. What's your process now? What have you learned about. Cause you're saying things like, well, I'm making sure people are searching for this. What's your process? Let's say like we get to just spy on you for a second, you know, like SparkNotes version. But if you were going to start researching or vetting a topic for your next video, where would you start? What tools do you use?

[C]

I do like to use. I do come back to just using YouTube search a lot and I do use analytics sometimes I'll use Vidiq a little bit. But yeah, when I go back and I just see what's getting views, I want to, I want. The way I see it is if this is getting a lot of views, then it would really serve my audience well to help them with that. I'll give you an example. One of my highest viewed videos is for Birkenstock Arizona's. Now I there, you know, Birkenstock Arizona sandals. I'm not a huge like, you know, sandal wearer, but respect, Yep, not a huge sandal wearer. But you know, I noticed that when I went through the process when I looked at some of the other channels and saw, you know, maybe videos that they did that got a lot of views or when I looked at trending topics on Google or whatever, like these things had a disproportionately higher search volume to them. Disproportionately higher volume. And for that particular, you know, pair of sandals, I was like, I'm not even going to try to get samples. I'm just going to buy a pair because you know that $125 or $150 that I spend on those sandals is going to pay me back four times over. And so I got the sandals, I did the review, I cut a short and it's got nearly 100,000 views now. And the $125 that I spent on those sandals has paid me back $450 in ad revenue. And just an ad revenue, just an ad revenue. And they've also gained me another like 100 plus subscribers. So if you're strategic that way and then the thing about it is for certain brands and you just kind of put yourself in a viewer's shoe and I don't know about you, Nathan, but when I'm gonna spend over a hundred bucks, I'll look for reviews on YouTube 100 and I honestly feel like if somebody's thinking about doing a review channel, do it. Because it's probably the lowest hanging fruit on YouTube. And when I, when I started I was like, should I do? Because I'm actually a professional life coach. I'm credentialed with the ICF as an acc. I've been formally trained from Professional Christian Coaching Institute. And I thought maybe I could get my personal channel going and do life coach stuff and whatever.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then I was like, but I've got these companies reaching out to me to review stuff. And I decided that I was going to do the low hanging fruit and do that because it is. So if you're a life coach, it is so difficult because what you're doing is you're building an audience. It's not so much search based. There's not a whole lot of people out there searching what's my purpose. But there are people going white's MP Sherman review, you know, red wing boots. And so I, I may still get this life coach thing going one day, you know, channel. But I'm going for the Low hanging fruit right now. You know, I'm going for like, what's which easy. I think more people should talk about reviews, honestly review channels. Because when you go on and you look at YouTube, education stuff, videos online and stuff, it's, it's like they're telling you things like, oh, create a narrative and add value and all this stuff, which is cool, but when you're a review channel, it's a little bit different and I would say it's even a little bit easier anyway, so I don't, I don't want to get off on big tangent, but. No, if you're thinking about doing reviews, do reviews.

[B]

No, this is so strong. I like, this is actually, it's reinspiring me, Lee, because, you know, one of, well, I'm sure you know, like one of our video strategies at Think Media

[C]

is rsp review specific products.

[B]

So you're living proof that like your whole channel is rsp. You know what I mean?

[C]

RSP you're doing versus, like, that's another huge VRA strategy. And so you're able to implement these things right away. All you really need to do is make the product the hero. So. And that, that, what's cool about that is, I don't know if you notice on almost all my thumbnails, it's the product, my face isn't in it. Something like that. So. Especially if you are already in the mindset of a shopper. Right? Yeah, I was already buying the boots, you know, I was already looking for leather, Jays. I was already, you know, I was already shopping at these places, you know, that were coming to me. And then I was able to send out emails to some of them, go, man, I just bought a pair of your boots six months ago. They are fantastic. Now I'm doing a roundup where I'm doing, you know, a boot that you make that would fit in there. How would you feel about sending out a sample and wow, half the time they say yes, the other half the time they say no or just don't reply. But that half the time they say yes is totally worth it.

[B]

It's totally worth it. Are you adding anything to those email. And maybe it's different now than it was before, but in terms of just like, have you noticed, do companies like to see subscriber count, view count? Like, what's the consensus there? Do a lot of companies want to see that stuff? Have you had to provide that before?

[C]

With some companies, they want to see like a media kit. And for me, that media kit is just one page on my website. It's not in the menu. I'll send them a link and it'll give numbers and other partners that I've worked with and some statistics about the channel.

[B]

Gotcha.

[C]

And so some of them want that, some of them will. Once they get my email, they might just kind of jump on and look at the channel.

[B]

That's true too.

[C]

You know, make sure that, you know, the videos are quality. And I think that's important for people who want to do review stuff like, yeah, really make the product look good. Like put it on a turntable, light it up real nice and you know, make it make, make their product the hero. And they're going to want to work with you. So. But if it's like you or if you got like you the, the boot out in front of the camera and you're not showing your face and you just sort of like meandering on about it and whatever, you know, I wouldn't expect a whole lot, but when you treat these brands with a measure of honor and this is their product and you make it look good and you light it up nice and you keep your review nice and succinct, they like to work with you, man.

[B]

Okay, this is like worth rewinding. If you are at all implementing review videos already or if you're thinking about it. I hope you're getting as pumped up as I am and like, I don't even have a channel anymore and I'm like, man, maybe just start a new review channel.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, just because it sounds like so much fun. Okay, so I want to get into a little bit more tactics and specifics around how to pull off a good review video. We've already talked about ideation topic selection, but I want to get into title, thumbnail design, and then even content architecture. Okay, but real quick, kind of like a behind the scenes note here. Lee, where are you calling in from right now?

[C]

I am calling in from nowhere. Western Illinois, John Deere country, man. There is like, like the, the Quad Cities uniform is a pair of jeans and some hey dudes. Like, so. Okay, that's what I'm calling in from.

[B]

Yeah, well, it definitely goes to say we're definitely not in the same place. So I'm out here in Tennessee. But what's CR crazy is even where you're at, which I love that description. The reason this still kind of feels like we're in the same studio is because we're recording on Riverside. Who is the partner of today's episode. If you've ever wanted to do interviews like this or start a podcast. But the part that gets in the way is the editing man. Riverside has made this whole process so much easier because it's not just a recording tool, it's a full workflow platform. For starters, you can record up to 4.4k with clean, separate audio and video tracks for each person. And it records locally on each person's device. Which just means if the WI fi got weird, you're not going to have to risk a reshoot. But the real win, especially if you dread editing, is their AI powered editor. You don't need complicated timelines. Just edit the text and the video instantly updates. AI can remove any filler words, it can clean up those awkward pauses, and it can even generate captions and automatically. And their magic clips feature can even turn your best moments into clips, perfect for shorts, reels, or TikTok, all from the same dashboard. And for podcasters, Riverside can actually host and distribute your show to Spotify, to Apple, podcasts, even YouTube. So instead of spending hours in complicated software, you can just finish an episode in a fraction of the time. If you want to try it, use Code Think Media at checkout for a week one month free of Riverside's Pro plan link is in the description and show notes below. And again, that's Code Think Media at checkout for one month free. Okay, Lee, so I want to jump into how you're architecting your titles and thumbnails. What are some things that you've learned when it comes to, you know, especially with. When it's the product? Cause I already love what you said. The big, the big take home point is make the brand the hero, make the product the hero. You're doing that well in your thumbnails. I can see it as a coach, but if you were to articulate your strategy to someone who's just getting into this, what would you encourage them to think about when it comes to titles and thumbnails for review? Videos?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, I would, if you don't mind. I'll just rewind just a tad.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

When I review. When I choose a product to review, I choose a product where I am 90 to 95% sure that it's something I'm going to like. So, I mean, I want to, I want to start there.

[B]

You know, you're not speaking anything and everything like you're. You're really spending some time correctly what you're gonna go for.

[C]

Okay, Right. Because that's gonna help quite a bit. Like when you're shooting it, when you're Reviewing it, things like that. I hate to give bad reviews. Yes.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[C]

So title and thumbnail. Because about 40% of my traffic comes in through search A. What I like to do is I like to load my titles with SEO.

[B]

Walk us through it, how you do it.

[C]

Okay. Like, how many times have you gone on and searched for the best of something? So if you look at my title

[B]

too often, the best.

[C]

The best leather jacket. Under a thousand dollars. The best, you know, boots. The best, whatever. So a lot of times I like to put. Put my head into the mind or put my thoughts into the mind of someone who's maybe looking for the product. What would they be search for? Yeah, and so that usually will go sort of at the front of the title. The best, etc. Etc. Etc. Got in the back end of the title. It's usually the brand. And so because a lot of people are searching, you know, here's a freebie. Go get a pair of Red Wing boots and then. And then review them on YouTube. Because everybody's looking for Red Wing boots. Everybody's searching fresh concepts. Just go get a pair of Red Wings. Go review them on YouTube. But so I'll do the. I'll do the title that way. The best such and such. And then I'll put the brand name, especially if they're looking for, you know, that particular brand. And so that's how my title is. I don't, you know, Sean says, like, you know, clarity beats cleverness all the time. Right. Every time.

[B]

Y.

[C]

So be. Just be really clear with your titles. And then for the thumbnails, that's kind of where I try to maybe be a little more clever or elicit some curiosity. Maybe ask questions like, worth it or, you know, put the price if it's really expensive. And then I also like the product to be the hero of that thumbnail. And so I want the product to look good. I use a combination of AI and I use Photoshop to make these and usually their AI backgrounds, but with the actual product sort of placed over them because I wanted to jump out. And I like to try to keep the colors the same so that when somebody sees one of my thumbnails, they know it's a stray review.

[B]

Can you talk about that real briefly? Because this is a common question is like, you know, how do I. How do I get my branded thumbnail? And this. This is playing with fire, Lee. I'm sure. You know, like, because we can take a. We can pursue a branded thumbnail at the cost of a good thumbnail yes. Just stuff gets stuffed. Your logo and your little picture and, like, whatever. So you've done it really well. Your thumbnails look cle and spaced out. And so. And I can. Here's what's funny. I look at your thumbnails, I see a vibe. I get a vibe. I see consistent colors, consistent, even formatting. So how did you. How did you arrive at a thumbnail that feels like you?

[C]

Part of that was. I know this is going to sound funny, like, when I chose that yellow color, I actually used a color picker and took some of that yellow out of the cat. So I just kind of hovered it. Oh, there's a nice one right there. Boom. You know, and I got a nice yellow, and it popped. So that's kind of where that yellow comes from. And then just kind of keeping that consistent vibe. I wanted something that represented the product. So a lot of the products are more rugged. You know, Red wing boots are rugged, and leather jackets are rugged, and I wanted something sort of outdoorsy, rugged, that sort of thing. And I wanted to keep that. You know, it's funny, early on, I was like, dang, every time I put my face on one of these things, I get less views.

[B]

You cut that pretty quick. Yeah.

[C]

If you want to brand your thumbnails, don't put your logo on them. It's a waste of graphic real estate. And so don't put your logo. Rather than that. Just use the same colors. And also say, you know, I like to use all caps. Use all caps. Maybe, you know, I try to keep the. The words four or less words.

[B]

We go, okay.

[C]

And I do not ever want to repeat the text on the thumbnail. And the. That's just in the title, because that's just a waste of text. Then. So elicit some curiosity. You know, here's the thing. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be better than some of the other people on your niche. Like, you know, if there are people that are, you know, in my niche that have, you know, their silver play buttons, there's a guy with them with a million subscribers, I'm probably not going to be better than him, but I keep track and vidiq of the other guys that are my size. Yeah. And I like, kind of look at what they're doing, and I just try to do it better than them.

[B]

I love that. That's like. Yeah. Choosing your. Well, I hear a couple things. First off, I hear it's like you versus you as part of this, you know, And I'd love to talk about how you review your analytics to help you out just a little bit. But I also love what you're saying of. Because here's what's crazy. You know, I'm a musician, Lee, and something that's commonly said in the musician world is very similar to the creator world, where it's like someone asks you, what do you do? Oh, yeah, I'm a songwriter. Okay. Immediately, if they don't, if they haven't heard your name, they just assume nothing good's happening. It's like, you know, it's really weird. It's like if you're not Beyonce or Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift, you're just not really a successful music. As if there isn't all these little steps along the way of like thousands of songwriters everywhere making like a good living that you've never heard of. It's the same thing here. Right? And so it's kind of like if you know your. Your zone, you know where you're playing at right now, it's just kind of cool to hear. Like, man, okay, last year, like as a side hustle, like 30K, you know, from doing these YouTube reviews and having a money plan, strategically, that's how small channels, right. Can bring in big income. It's just awesome. It's awesome to see, man. I want to jump into a little bit of your review process and then I want to get into how do you do this every week As a side hustle, I want to get into scheduling. But let's talk analytics for a second. What have you learned to pay attention to? What are you looking at in your analytics? Especially knowing a lot of your traffic comes from search. Yeah. Just like your game plan, usually when you crack open YouTube studio, you.

[C]

Yeah, I know that there will be people that disagree with me, but like the. At the end of the day, it's about views. I'm not selling Porsches, so I can't make $30,000 on 100 views. And so I like to look at views because, you know, bottom line, that's going to give me information about how my packaging is doing and things like that entitle and. And then I like to look at my retention. People staying with me, what are some things that I can do to hold their interest a little bit better? Sean says be bright, be brief, be fun, be done. And that has sort of been like a mantra of mine with these videos. You know, I don't want to do 20 minute reviews. And part of that is just putting your own self into the mind of the people looking at these things. When I'm looking for a review for something, I don't want a half hour review. Like just get to the point.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, what's good, what's bad?

[C]

You know, is it worth my money? Is it going to last? And so I try to present with that information. Most probably the vast majority of my, my reviews are around the eight minute mark, maybe six minutes to eight minutes. Some of the roundups might go up to 11 or 12 minutes. And getting after it, it like, yeah, get in there. Be succinct. And you would be surprised at how many people will come back and they'll comment and they'll say, I picked this up because of your review. And so that kind of is some affirmation. I'm doing something right here. But the process, usually what I'll do is in November I'll actually go away and I'll have like a little YouTube retreat, right? I'll just go away for a few days and I'll look at my analytics, I'll see what topics got the most views, I'll look at my competition and I'll make an, I'll make a list of like 50 to 60 video ideas. I'm not going to do them all, right? And so I'll make that list and that sort of like becomes the foundation of the next year. These, these are the things I'm going to start working on. That way I can work in advance, I can whatever, I can reach out to brands early enough to see if I can get some samples from them. And so I do that early enough and then inevitably I'll get emails. People will say, hey, you know, can you review this boot of mine? And so a lot of times, and this happens all the time, let's just say a sneaker, right? And somebody, somebody will reach out and say, hey, you know, do you want to review my sneaker? And I'll do the test, right? I'll go and search for that sneaker brand. I'll see if they're getting any views and I'll come back to them and I'll say, look, how about this? How about we include your sneaker in a roundup? Because more people are searching for best sneaker than are searching for sneaker brand xyz. So you kind of following me with that?

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[C]

So if, you know, anyway, so that's kind of how we'll do and we'll roll that way. And when I review a product, I do like to use AI to shorten the the time. So there's two AIs that I use for writing a script because everything's scripted out.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I use a teleprompter because early on I discovered without one, it took me too long to edit these videos.

[B]

Fair enough. Right?

[C]

You know what I'm saying?

[B]

Yeah. For real. Get the script. Yeah, that's right. Read it, deliver it, move on.

[C]

Exactly. That's right. And so I. I have an AI, it's called Letterly. And I have it on my phone, and I'll talk into it while I'm giving my observations. While I'm putting it on. This is what I decide about the fit. Everybody wants to know how stuff fits. Like, I've noticed that too. Like, everybody wants to know how does it fit? And so I. I give it information. Like, this is how it fits. This is how it feels. This is my observations on the construction quality, all this stuff. And I put. I give it to Letterly, and then laterally we'll take it, and it'll kind of clean it up for me a little bit, make it. Make it nicer. It'll also create blog posts and things like that out of it. But. And then there's another AI. It's actually. It's called Subscriber and Subscriber AI. And what Subscriber AI does is it will actually crawl my channel, determine my voice, give a profile of my viewers, and it will write my scripts based on that. So I'll go on to Subscriber and I'll say, I want to do a comparison video in this format. Here's links to the products so that it will pull in the. The specifics about the products and put it in the. In the script. And here are my observations. And so I copy and paste my observations into it. And, you know, three minutes, it has a beautiful script for me, which I will then kind of throw into notion, and I'll clean up and make it sound even more like me. Or, you know, check for hallucinations, things like that. But that's what I do on Friday. That's my Friday activity is writing my script. And I might shoot B roll at that time, too. Hats off to the Pocket 3 is probably the best tool in my tool belt. So, like, if you're like, what camera do I get? Just get the Pocket three. Stop asking, you know, like, it's.

[B]

It's move on. Yep, just.

[C]

Just move on. And I use Pocket three on a selfie stick. When you see my shoes walking by there in slow motion, that's me holding out a Pocket three with On a selfie stick. It's not a came. And then there's another great one bonus information. The Hover Hover X1 Pro, something like that. It's a drone about this big. And you just like, you go like, all right, follow me. And it'll follow you. Get out in front of me and act like a cameraman. It'll get out in front of you and get on the side of me and then. And follow me that way. Do a rotation around me. It's super. It's like just super easy. So I use that a lot too. And so I'll do my B roll usually, like maybe Saturday afternoon, whatever. I want to do my B roll. And then Monday I'll shoot my talking head. And so now we're at. We're at probably 8, 9, probably about 12 hours. And then I'll get another few hours into editing it, which is usually sort of like a couple hours in the evening. Throughout the week, I check my analytics to see when my most of my viewers are online. It's Saturday mornings, so I have every Saturday morning at 7:30 a new stray review drops. And if I get around to it, I'll drop a short in the middle of the week. But you know, they're not shorts viewers. My audience is really short views, you know.

[B]

So, Lee, you are what we would call a complete savage, my friend. What podcast? Just rewind that whole whatever, five minutes. Like, what? You just broke some brains there, Lee. Okay. You're like, yeah, I'm talking out loud to AI while I'm trying on stuff. I got this drone that follows me around to plug stuff into my voice. Created homie. Okay, wow, wow, wow. That is just a masterclass. So, so cool.

[C]

Here's.

[B]

Here's what's amazing, Lee. And this is a perfect segue into where I want to go next. You're a guy that clearly has some systems down. You've like, you've got a routine. I just side quest really quick. I love the fact that you have a YouTube getaway. More of us need that. I just love that kindred spirit at Kendrick's Beer. But like that. You got routines, you've got a system. You just know what's up. You. You come across very dialed in to. You're just, you know what your audience is because you're in your analytics, you were able to say 40% of my audience is coming from search. And you know that headspace and you're aware of that. So you're creating and planning around that. This is like a level of Mastery, where it's like, no wonder 12,000 subscribers to be bringing in $30,000 last year. It just makes sense, man. I know that there's a lot of reps and skill that I'm sure just over the years, and who even knows the through line through your whole life that, like, leads to now and you being able to execute at this level. So, like, that's awesome. But for the person who just heard you spout off, like, you know, acting like you're Yoda out here, just like, you know, crazy lightsaber stuff, the force, whatever, and they're over here, like, as a Padawan, trying to figure out what to do, what is what has helped you develop this routine? Like, how did you get get into this zone where now it feels like this is autopilot? It's predictable. And funny enough, now it seems like YouTube is pretty predictable for you off the back of understanding these things and having the stuff that you put in place, like, baby step us. What is some advice for someone who feels like life is random? My approach to YouTube makes no sense. I feel like I'm just throwing darts of energy everywhere and not hitting anything. How can that person get more calibrated and more into a workflow and a routine like you just described?

[C]

Well, I think it's key to be in a place or, like, create a system where there's almost like, there's tension between excellence and sustainability and to ask yourself, you know, what is the level of excellence I can execute every week? Not, like, what's the level of execute? You know, excellence I can execute, you know, now, but can I do this every week now? If. If I have an idea, like, I should. I should do this, and this may work, and this may increase retention or it might get. Whatever. If I have an idea that I feel like I couldn't do every week, I just don't do it. And so sort of just eliminating those things that are like, oh, they're big ideas. They're good ideas. But, you know, I might be able to do it for one video or every fifth video. And so you have to be able to, you know, even if the best you can do every week is something on your phone, you know, or the best that you can do every week is, you know, whatever, then do that until you're able to stack another discipline, you know, until you're able to stack another, you know, process to make it 1% better.

[B]

So starting with one thing, starting small.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Not trying to. It's really, like, where I hear you saying is actually removing A lot of things. Yeah, like removing pressure, clearing things out. What do you think is something that people should stop doing? Something that you see maybe you notice in the VRA community or you just notice with YouTube or YouTube creators in general or even yourself, something that you stop doing and it gave you a pretty big return.

[C]

I think one of the things that I see a lot that people, they should stop doing it anyway. But like motion graphics and sound effects, that's probably adding, you know, another if depending on how proficient you are, that's probably not adding another hour or two to your editing process. You don't need it. Bing, bing. You don't need that stuff. It's annoying anyway. But it's taking time. You know, it's take adding time to your editing process. Just release that. You know, that's not something you need. You. You may decide that adding background music is just too much work right now. Just eliminate that and make the absolute best videos that you can make with what's in your hand right now and you have time to do. I knew a guy back when I was in grade school, before I started working out. There's a guy said, look, Lee, you are better off doing one push up a day than you are doing a hundred push ups once a month. And if you could just apply that to your YouTube, like, you're better off making one video every week, that's pretty good. You can make it good with your content, you can make it good with your writing, but production wise, if you gotta scale it back so that you can make it every week, then scale it back so you can make it every week and then just add little things as you go.

[B]

Wow, man, this is. Thank you so much. All right, huge shout out to Lee. What in the world? That episode was a masterclass because he didn't just share tips, the guy shared a machine. And the line that he said, I can't stop thinking about was when he said, you don't rise to the level of your passion, you fall to the level of your discipline. And man, that's the difference. Can I just tell you? And you can hear it and you can see it in Lee. Like, he's a confident creator. That's what I want for you. And he's confident because he built a process that he can run every single week. The results just compound. So if you're ready to stop guessing and start building a real YouTube system that works for you in real life, your starting point is our free YouTube strategy class. Thinkmasterclass.com this on demand training lays out the core strategy that we teach inside of Video Ranking Academy, which is the exact same system that Lee used. So head to thinkmasterclass.com watch it and start building your system again. That's Think Masterclass. Hey, you know you got value added today. How could you not let Lee and I know, like, rate, share, review wherever you watch or listen? This is the Think Media podcast. I'm Nathan Eswine, and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.