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- [00:00]
A
Hey, before we jump into the show, I just wanted to take a second and say thank you for listening. I know that life is busy and you have a lot of options when it comes to the content you consume. So whether you're new here or you've been listening to the Think Media podcast for years, I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you. Okay, let's jump into the show. Getting views is brutal right now in 2026, because there's actually over 20 million videos uploaded every single day to YouTube.
- [00:28]
B
36% are still trying to get their first 1,000 subscribers.
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A
We're going to cover the four biggest mistakes that keep people from reaching their first a thousand subscribers on YouTube, how to fix them, and the exact steps we would do if we were starting from zero on YouTube right now. You want to get to your first a thousand subscribers this year. Three types of videos that will quickly get you there.
- [00:51]
B
Number one, this is your YouTube 2026 blueprint. Sean, let's jump right in. I want to start with what we asked everyone. So we asked, hey, where are you currently stuck on YouTube, getting your first 1,000 subscribers, getting consistent views, turning views into income, or staying consistent, not burning out. By far the biggest answer was getting 1,000 subscribers. What do you make of that?
- [01:15]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think that it makes sense. People were having trouble growing trouble getting views, trouble getting discovered. And the thing is, is I don't think the problem is motivation. I don't even think the problem is talent. I actually think it's four fixable mistakes that anyone can do. And the truth is this, though, that getting views is brutal right now in 2026, because there's actually over 20 million videos uploaded every single day to YouTube that can feel discouraging and make things feel impossible. But if you fix these mistakes, it's going to give you an edge. And I really believe you could get to a thousand subscribers in the next few days or even weeks by applying these. So let's hit the first mistake and unpack these together. Number one, the wrong foundation, not having a clear niche. Now, one of the biggest debates on YouTube is like, oh, you don't really need a niche anymore. Individual videos can pop off and get discovered. And I agree with that. Like, I mean, you. You could be one video away from a thousand subscribers, because if one video breaks out, gets a lot of views, it could earn you those a thousand subscribers. But here's the problem. That's an unsustainable model. If you just make one random video, but you're not really sure what you're building on. You're not really sure what you want to be known for. You're not really sure what you want to build momentum around. So niche can sometimes feel constricting, like I'm just a gardening channel or something like that. But I think your channel needs a clear theme. It needs a clear topic. If you have no clear niche, you have no clear audience, going to have no growth. So can you describe your channel in one sentence to a stranger? Nathan we coach people all the time. We do channel reviews all the time. And a lot of the channels that are stayed, that are stuck under a thousand subscribers, we open up the channel, we look at the COVID we look at their avatar, we look at their videos. And the emotion we feel is pretty consistent. We feel confused. We're confused. We're like, what's your channel about? These videos seem kind of random. These titles suck. He's like, this is. This channel is not very clear. There's no clear theme, there's no clear brand. So you don't have to overthink this step. But having. If you don't set the right foundation up on YouTube, don't be surprised that you're not growing.
- [03:31]
B
And the foundation's mission critical. Sean, as you know, someone said here from our community, scriptural homesteading, Shout out said, under 50 subscribers a month hoping for a breakout video. And I actually really empathize with the sentiment here, which is I want something to fix it. I'm just waiting, right? I'm waiting for the video that's going to make, you know that YouTube's going to push and make people aware of me and the subscribers are going to come rolling in, but I would actually want to challenge that a little bit. Scriptural homesteading. I don't know if you want to break out video without fixing this first mistake. If you blow up with no foundation, that's actually one of the most terrifying instances for me to start coaching someone. Sean is like, hey, I just blew up. And like, you can just tell. You don't know what just happened. You know, you're like, I popped off and I don't know why. Without a clear foundation, without the niche, without. Without knowing what you're in. Sean. I mean, you've seen this too. People can pop off for reasons that actually aren't in the direction you want to go. And so now YouTube's like, oh, all the impressions that we put over here for you and all the views that you got and subscribers you got from that, that's what we know. What to do with you right now. So when you actually start uploading videos that are more in line with where you want to go, there's resistance that can happen there because you're actually fighting against what YouTube's been successful with with your channel before. And that's a tough battle.
- [04:40]
A
Yeah. So getting clear, getting the right foundation, huge mistake. Fix that by sitting down, making a simple plan. In fact, if you want help making that plan to start and grow your channel, we're doing a free three day event. It's called YouTube Growth Sprint. It's going to be a ton of fun. It's@yt sprint.com we actually do giveaways, Software, tech, cameras. Nathan, you're going to be there. I'm going to be there. Our coaches and we will walk you through getting fierce clarity so you have the right foundation for your channel. But also the second mistake is making videos nobody's looking for. So kind of like, you know, this video was inspired because we did a community tab post. So thank you for commenting. We, we're listening. Like when you're commenting on our community tab post, we did this survey and like Scriptural Homestead said, I'm under 50 subs a month and I'm hoping for a breakout video. It's a great strategy. You want to make sure that video is the right video that will attract the right audience because you've set up the right foundation. But a lot of times the reason our videos don't get views is the second mistake. We're making videos that nobody is actually looking for. We're making videos that there's not actually demand for or maybe like the content of the video, there is demand, but we haven't actually like positioned it properly. Right. So the truth is this. Yes, YouTube is an entertainment platform and it's a story platform, but it's also a utility platform. People come looking to solve a problem, looking to learn something, looking to connect with a particular type of, of community. And so one of the reasons people stay stuck under a thousand subscribers is low demand. Like they're making low demand content or they're making no demand content. Like do people want to even, you know, you're like, well, some famous vlogger just kind of talks and tells their story. So that's what I did. Well, yeah, but nobody knows you. So when you just upload your story like your some random video, a rec of your day. Again, we're pro vlogging. There's a, there can be a strategy behind all this, but you're posting videos nobody wants you're answering questions nobody's asking. You're. You're making videos nobody's looking for. So you want to get to your first a thousand subscribers this year. Three types of videos that will quickly get you there. Number one, answering questions people are already searching for. The strategy is called answer specific questions. Figure out. There's a cool software program called answerthepublic.com. it's a free website. You could pay, but it gives you, like, three searches a day. It tells you the questions the public is asking. That's why it's called answer the public dot com. So answering specific questions on YouTube with valuable content, that's a great format to get to a thousand subscribers quick. The second one is teaching specific skills. Tss. Teach specific skills. You don't have to be some kind of expert. You figured out how to do stuff. You know how to cook a steak that aligns with the cooking channel. You know how to set up software or run QuickBooks or an Excel spreadsheet. You know how to use AI. You know how to bake sourdough. Obviously, this is all over YouTube, but people are sometimes surprised, Nathan. They're like, yeah, like, I can't figure out the rhyme or the reason on my channel. I've made all these random videos over here that nobody's looking for. But I did put out my sourdough recipe, and that video has 5,000 views. Yeah, because you. You people are, like, looking for answers. They're looking for it, though. There's demand for it. So, number one, answer specific questions. Number two, teach specific skills. Number three, review specific products. This do what we're saying. You know, it's kind of, like, preachy, but I'm like, we're gonna get you to a thousand subscribers. Do this. Like. Like, try this. Like, figure. Well, Shauna. Nathan, I'm not really sure how this fits on my channel. Figure it out. Like, figure out your channel branding and answer specific questions, teach specific skills, and review specific products. Why? Because people aren't searching for you yet, but they're searching for specific products. People aren't looking for random esoteric topics. Sure, maybe some. You might get lucky. But they're looking for, like, should I get peloton or should I get, like, a Nordic track bike? So whatever your niche or topic is, there's products, and products are searchable. People are like, you know, should I try alpha gpc brain nootropic? Or should I try the qualia mind? You know, like, these. Some stuff I've invested in. Do I want the element electrolytes or should I get the relight ones? Like, you'd be shocked. You're like, oh yes. That video's got hundreds of views, thousands of views. And what happened? It brought awareness to your channel. You post a couple of these videos, answer specific questions, teach specific skills, review specific products. You post those over the next couple weeks and months. The byproduct is a thousand subscribers. A lot faster than you would realize.
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B
Sean, I have a video title for you. Ready for this?
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A
Yes.
- [09:25]
B
How to keep your cucumbers fresh for weeks. Over 350,000 views was posted one year ago. I just got to hang out with Amy Cross. Shout out is one of our students and we nerded out over this for a lot of the episode. Here's another one. Ready? The best way to wash fruits and vegetables. Even more specific, how to wash and store fresh strawberries. 144,000 views. What are we even talking about right now? Oh, I don't want to try that strategy. I don't think. No, it's going to work. You have to try. You got to start somewhere and just like Sean said, start connecting yourself and what you're doing to things actually people are interested in and looking for. That's how you start to become known. And that I think is the best way to get to your first 1,000 subscribers. But hey, on your way to 1,000 subscribers, mistake number three could be the actual bottleneck.
- [10:16]
A
Hey, quick pause before we get back into the podcast. If you're posting on YouTube but not getting the views or subscribers you want, this will help. Go to mycreatorquiz.com It's a free two minute assessment that reveals what type of creator you are, where you're stuck, and what to do next to grow. You'll get instant clarity, a simple plan, and it's totally free. So just go to my creator quiz.com to take the free two minute assessment or click the link in the show notes. All right, let's jump back into the episode.
- [10:46]
B
Mistake number three could be the actual bottleneck, which is poor packaging.
- [10:52]
A
Poor packaging.
- [10:53]
B
And packaging. Just to define that really quick, that just means, hey, your topic, your title and your thumbnail. So that's packaging, like the way that your video is presented to people. And when it comes, you know, I want to shout out DC Knowledge and entertainment. Shout out. Appreciate you sharing this. He's at 809 subscribers and he's just hit a wall. And this sounds about right. Like to close the gap to getting to 1000 and beyond, I think you really got to get More strategic with what you're doing when it comes to your topic, your title and your thumbnail. Because Sean, I mean we've seen this all the time. Massive, massive changes in view count can happen on the other side of you spending way more time up front before even pressing record and thinking about what is the actual point of this video? And, and is this a video that people are actually interested in? Great. We've identified that. Guess what? Battle isn't over. You get to spend a good deal of time, an entire devoted YouTube session in your workweek. I understand if it's a side hustle. I'm literally saying one of those days you have to work on YouTube should be purely devoted to title, thumbnail. And if I might even be so bold, the opening line, like your first 30 seconds and getting this dialed in. What have you noticed about this, Sean? When creators can get good packaging, what starts to happen on the channel?
- [12:09]
A
Yeah, I think packaging is really still underrated because the bottom line is this, if you're spending six hours on your video but only 60 seconds on your title, you're doing it wrong. And that could be why you're not getting views. We're talking about getting to a thousand subscribers, people in our community. I've hit a wall at a few hundred subscribers. This is the area to improve. And these last two things, stack. Mistake number two, making videos nobody's looking for. That's actually identifying the topic you're going to talk about. But then mistake number three, poor packaging. Once you've identified the topic, you've sat down and wrote a world class title. You've made a smart, intelligent thumbnail that ties together. And the cool thing is this is a learnable skill and it's one of the highest return on investment levers for small channels. So when you stack, fixing these mistakes and mastering packaging. Now for time's sake, we'll keep going, but again, just want to encourage people. We're going to go really deep on this. And during our YouTube growth sprint, we'll be talking about how to master packaging. We have a session where we'll walk through actually some cool free AI tools to make really great thumbnails super fast. So like the tech is becoming easier. This doesn't have to actually be super technical, but there is tools that can help you go faster. But there's also psychology to learn like mastering packaging, starting to understand really online marketing, human psychology, getting, you know, how do you really craft words? How do you, you know, get people to take action and actually click on your video and AI is very powerful and we're going to be covering some really cool AI tools during our event. But it also is a little bit overrated. Like a lot of people are hitting a wall with AI because they're still lacking the coaching and the insight and the understanding. And good news, we'll fix all of that for you during our event. So if you're interested, that's ytsprint.com and it's a free three day event. We'll link it in the show notes below. We get so, so much incredible feedback from of how much you'll learn and how much you'll be challenged to do. It's not just about taking notes. It's actually about getting a kick in the pants and getting some momentum to either restart your channel, break through that wall you've been hitting, hit a thousand subscribers and beyond, or to start from scratch, it's the information I wish I had. So as we land the plane, Nathan, you kick this one off. But the fourth big mistake is the wrong definition of consistency. And so I want to pass this to you, but with what's. It's so. It's almost like it's so oversaid. Like you just got to be consistent.
- [14:42]
B
Agreed.
- [14:42]
A
Or just be consistent and someday the growth will come. And I just want to say, like I. With a deep empathy for some individuals listening to this, we've been able to coach people long enough. There's individuals, it's not like five months of being consistent. Some people been consistent for five years and they're like, when's my breakthrough going to come? I've been doing this for such a long time. I think the problem is consistency is defined wrongly by 99% of creators because they think it's just about not quitting volume when it's about so much more. So, Nathan, unpack this.
- [15:16]
B
No, a hundred percent, Sean. I think this actually might move the needle the most. I heard this recently. I think you'll appreciate this. That saying that says practice makes perfect is actually completely false because practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect. Practice makes perfect. It just means you can actually get incredibly efficient and really, really good at doing things the wrong way. You know? So the big key here is, okay, there's so much more than just an upload schedule. There's so much more than a lot of these tactics that I think a lot of creators want to reach for. And it's actually taking a step back and thinking through. But wait, wait, wait. How are you actually walking through the process of putting a video even together and getting it out there when it comes to your packaging. Like, not just that you spent more. This is where the nuances. Right? Not just that you spent more time on your title and thumbnail, but do you even know what you're doing to spend more time on? Right. And so for me, the creators who are posting hundreds of videos and who are still aren't at a thousand subscribers. This is it. It's glaringly obvious. Sean, there's someone that we're working with in our one on one coaching program who was on YouTube for nine years. Nine years. Nick and Lisa from the Ready Life. You can check out their YouTube channel. The Ready Life on YouTube for nine years. Jumped into coaching and it's some ridiculous stat. It's so ridiculous that I don't have it on hand, but it's like within the first year or so of us working together, all of the amount of views that we got from their videos is like five times what they ever did in nine years. And the reason why, though, it's not like we're tooting our own horn here. I mean, maybe a little bit, but it's like they actually just had strategy. We actually just got more intentional. They were practicing for perfection, but they weren't doing perfect practice. Right. And so things didn't add up. And so things change when you actually start to be consistent, not just in the things we immediately think of with my schedule, with my workflow, with blah, blah, blah, but like how I'm actually showing up to each of the parts of the process that it takes to move a video from ideation to publishing.
- [17:15]
A
Yeah, and here's like a checklist. Because when we say the wrong definition of consistency, it's oversimplified that it's like, just keep posting videos. But posting a lot of low strategy videos is not the same as being consistent in the ways that matter. Here's a list. Are you consistently studying what's working? And as the game changes, are you consistently looking at your data and being willing to pivot? If you're listening to the data that it's telling you, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. So if you've been posting for five years and you've been stuck that whole time, that actually says you're not listening to the data because the data is going to drive you in a different direction. The other blind spot could be, are you consistently getting feedback? Are you creating alone? Are you creating in a community the wrong definition of consistency? If you're just in isolation watching your Own videos thinking they deserve views, but you're not listening to the feedback of the audience and the lack of views. But you need someone in your corner. And so, like, the top channels that are growing are consistently getting feedback. They build. That's why they're part of masterminds. That's why they're part of coaching. It's someone else who could see your blind spots. Even the elite, I mean, not all amateurs have coaches, but all professionals do. You can't name one person in professional sports that doesn't have a coach. And most have five coaches. They've got like a health coach, They've got their actual code, like. And so, okay, well, we're just at home, creators and business owners and doing different things. Nevertheless, it's like the people that want mastery are consistently getting feedback. Consistent quality of your videos. Maybe you had one good video, but like, you've been kind of lazy lately. Consistent value in your videos, consistent branding in your videos. And overall, again, consistently improving all of the above. So that's a dimension that most don't think about. Again, they're like, I just keep uploading volume. It's like, no, consistency means a lot of other things. And there's four principles I like to live my life by, Nathan, that apply to YouTube. And it's this. Outwork, out, learn, out, strategize and outlast. A lot of people might be outworking and they're like, why is it not working? Because if you've been working for five years and haven't gotten results, but you're missing some of the other pieces, yes, it's going to take hustle and energy. Outwork, but also out, learn, study, improve and do that for life. Out, strategize. It's a little bit different than learn sitting down. What's happening now? Do I need to pivot? Where's the market going? What are the more macro trends? What is the total addressable market? What is my unique selling position? What is. It's a whole different level of strategy. And then Outlast is doing it. Enough repetitions over time. So ultimately, as we land the plane, you know, set the good. Set a good foundation, start making videos people are actually looking for with the three formats we gave you, improve your packaging and then commit to being consistent, not just in uploads, but in all of these different categories that we gave you. And let me encourage you, if you want help with all of this, we're doing a free event. And so not only will this video, go apply it right now, Help you get to a thousand subscribers. But we're doing an event called YouTube Growth Sprint. This is about getting a kick in the pants. It's about getting momentum, and it's entirely free now. Full disclaimer, by the way. Again, you can go. All we're asking for is your name and your email. You enter that and you will have an option to upgrade your experience. Sometimes you're like, it's not free. No, it is free. Like, you could just say, no, thank you. I don't want the VIP experience. I don't want, you know, any of you. Like, we have a, like a starter kit for you or, like, a thing to help you jumpstart. You can say no, thanks to all that stuff. The smart move is to invest in that stuff because it's actually pretty affordable. But whether you want to do some of the upgrades or not. I'm Sean Cannell. This is Think Media. This is Nathan S. Wine. We're hosting an event, ytsprint.com and it is entirely free, y'. All. It is three days long. It's going to be super fun. It's going to change your whole YouTube future, and it's going to be totally worth your time. And again, if you want those upgrades, just go to the website. We'll link to it in the description down below. YTSprint.com but whether you take the free path or you want to upgrade your experience, I can't wait to hang out with you that want to join us for that event.
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B
100%. Well, hey, we can't wait to see you there. Make sure you register. YTSprint.com this is the Think Media podcast. I'm Nathan Eswine and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.