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- [00:00]
A
Really quick. If YouTube growth matters to you, you can't afford to keep guessing. The YouTube Growth Sprint is a free three day online event designed to give you clarity, focus, and real momentum fast. You can register for free@ytsprint.com and we're also doing a bunch of cool giveaways, including gear for your YouTube channel, software that'll help you get more views and subscribers, and going to be a lot of fun and you're going to learn a lot. So just go to ytsprint.com to register for free. All right, let's jump into today's episode.
- [00:37]
B
Wow. Okay, so we got cucumbers. We're talking about strawberries. Yes, I promise. We're talking about YouTube. What happened there? 18 million views. What did you post? Was this like a tutorial or what was it?
- [00:47]
C
Our whole thing started after teaching about strawberries and we ended up starting a trend that went viral on social media about strawberries in a jar, which hit 8,18 million on Instagram.
- [01:00]
B
Amy has built her YouTube channel around helping families reduce food waste and save money on groceries. And she's turned this into a real business. We're talking multiple six figures at this point, a best selling book, various revenue streams, and it has over 350,000 views. And he just posted this a year ago. Welcome to the Think media podcast, the number one show bringing you unfiltered YouTube tips for building a profitable channel. I'm Nathan Eswine, one of the YouTube coaches here at Think Media, and today I'm joined with Amy from Cross from the Cross legacy. And Amy, welcome. How are you doing?
- [01:34]
C
I'm really great. I'm really excited to be here today.
- [01:37]
B
And I think we should start right here, Amy, with one of the most fascinating things about your channel. So your most popular video at this point is called how to keep your cucumbers fresh for weeks. And it has over 350,000 views. And he just posted this a year ago. I love it because it sounds almost ridiculously specific if someone's listening. Like, did he just say cucumbers? Yes, I did. You can go to Amy's channel and see this for yourself. But this clearly resonated and solved a problem for people. Take me into this. Did you know this video would do well? And how did you come up with that?
- [02:11]
C
Well, I came up with it because I do it. So we only go grocery shopping once every month and we have fresh produce the whole entire time. So I love teaching zero waste produce tips. But our, our whole thing started after teaching about strawberries and we ended up starting a trend that went viral on social media about strawberries in a jar. And so then I started going through the other produce items and answering specific questions like, we're talking. And so I was teaching about cucumbers, which ended up getting picked up and has a lot of views right now. Not as many strawberries, which hit 18 million on Instagram.
- [02:52]
B
Wow. Okay, so we got cucumbers. We're talking about strawberries. Yes, I promise. We're talking about YouTube. That's why I love this place. Okay, tell me about the strawberry thing really quick. What happened there? 18 million views. What did you post? Was this, like, a tutorial or what was it?
- [03:06]
C
So kind of a little bit of the backstory, because I think it's really important, is during the pandemic, I was on some Facebook groups, and there were so many scared moms that were on the groups, and they were saying, like, oh, I don't want to go to the grocery store, but once every two weeks, because we're not supposed to leave the house. And you know what happens if the store shelves are empty? And then other moms are chiming in saying, well, you know, I don't know what to feed my toddler because blueberries only last for four days in the refrigerator. And I'm like, wait a minute, what are you talking about? Blueberries last six to eight. Like, the blueberries in my fridge are a month old. That blew up on Facebook that day. And so the owner of that page is Jordan Page, and she messaged me, and she's like, amy, you know, some skills here that people don't know and they need. And so she asked if she could share my Instagram and share if I would share the strawberries in a jar trick. And so, anyways, I realized really quickly I didn't want to share my kids. And so I made a brand new Instagram that day with strawberries in a jar that she ended up sharing with a couple pictures of the inside of my fridge that are absolutely beautiful. And. And that's what it always looks like. And that strawberries in a jar post kind of started everything. And 12 weeks later, it went viral, and it's absolutely changed our lives.
- [04:17]
B
Okay, so this is just blowing my mind for so many different reasons. Number one, I think you and I should have a second conversation entirely about how you're storing things for that long. I'm going to share your channel with my wife. This is awesome. Thank you. But to get back on track here with YouTube stuff. Okay, so we had an explosive start to this Whole content creation thing. And you started on Instagram and then when did you come over to YouTub? Like, how did you make that transition?
- [04:40]
C
So we started the blog to put up the instructions up on a website. Like, I didn't know anything on how to do any of this. I took a course over 4th of July weekend back in 2021 to do that. That's right, the same week. And I started Instagram. And then October 8th through 10th is when this went crazy. And we went from 3,000 followers the night before to 65,000 followers in 24 hours. And so then I was also in the media around the world. They were picking it up and writing newspaper articles about me. Like, it was. It was really crazy during that time. And it was such an awesome experience. But during that time, we haven't had been out of the house in over a year. We live in Washington. We were like one of the strictest lockdown kind of places. And so things were just starting to open up where you could, like, go and meet some friends. And there was a mom's group in our area that wanted to get together for the first time. And so a couple of days before I went viral, so, you know, God had a plan and all of this. He scheduled me to meet with these moms. And I'm really an introvert. I'm like, I don't like talking in front of people very much. And so we did this live event with like 20 moms that showed up. I didn't know any of them. It was just in somebody's kitchen. And we filmed that video vertically. And we were doing Instagram lives at the time because that's how I kind of started learning how to talk to the camera and not being so shy. And so. So we filmed that video. And then it ended up being like eight videos after that that were all vertical that were on Instagram because, I mean, I just got 65,000 new followers in a couple days. And so we took those first videos. They're vertical, that they were live events. And we just copied them and we put them onto YouTube. So some of those videos are. They still, like, pop up all the time and people are commenting on them. They're like, oh, if the people in the background would just be quiet. Like, people don't know. If it wasn't for that day, none of this would have happen. Like, I would have not had been comfortable talking in front of a camera. Like, all of the things. And so we haven't taken those videos down. But they were never meant to be, like, our true YouTube video. But some of them are like, have 200,000 views on them. Yeah. So that was kind of the end of October through January where I didn't do any horizontal videos. And then January 2022 is when we finally did our first, like, horizontal video on YouTube.
- [07:08]
B
Okay, so before we get into the horizontal video, because I'd love to break down, you know, how you're coming up with ideas and how you've learned to create in the, like, long form format on YouTube, coming from vertical right on social media platforms. But I want to parachute into this is a crazy moment because here's the thing, Amy. As a coach, I hear all the time the big objective is how can I. How can I grow as fast as possible? Is honestly what's at the core for a lot of people. And I get that most of the time coach as coaches here at think me have to be like, great goal, love the enthusiasm. The reality is it takes a long time for a lot of people. So you did what a lot of people would like to have happen to them. I just want to ask, like, what did you do? How did you feel? Like, did you get paralyzed? Like, what enabled you to keep posting? Because to go from a few thousand to tens of thousands overnight is something a lot of people want. But do they really like, how did you all react in the moment?
- [08:05]
C
Well, we always had, like a calling on our heart that we wanted to make a generational change. And so even the name of our Everything is the Cross legacy. That's our family motto because our last name is Cross. And we've wanted to make this family change. And so being able to speak to young moms. Instagram was mostly young moms. And that is really my heart. I just turned 50. Like, I'm not a young mom anymore, but that has always been in my heart, like talking to MOPS groups and other young mom groups. And so I really love that connection that I was making with the young moms on Instagram. And it seemed like that's really where the algorithm had me because I was talking to toddler moms and stuff. I kept waiting for, like, the bubble to burst. You know, how people, like, follow a video or something and they, you know, want to subscribe and then, oh, maybe they won't like the next content that gets put out. And so I kept waiting to lose followers. And we didn't. We just kept adding, which is kind of funny because we were kind of at that hundred thousand mark on Instagra. We really started focusing on YouTube and it took Me a full year to monetize on YouTube. So I mean, it was persistence and it, you can't really get people to switch from short form to long form or switch platforms. And so it, it took a lot. And you know, I was kind of at some points like ready to give up a little bit. Like, is this worth it? We're doing so well over here. And it was like, we have stuck with it. We have never missed a content creating goal that we've put out and, and it's just been amazing. Wow.
- [09:35]
B
Okay. Just so many cheers. This is fascinating to hear. And I also, that's such an honest answer to be like, yeah, we kind of. Because I'm sure on one hand when you just jump up tens of thousands, it's like, okay, well here's our moment. How long can we sustain it? And for it to just kind of keep going. That's just like cheers to you all for keep going. For continuing to push through. I'd love to hear about long form video now making the transition from social media platforms over to YouTube. And it's a different way to create content. Right. Long term video. As we dive into your creation process, I'd love to start with what's your current upload schedule? What are you guys doing now on your YouTube channel?
- [10:13]
C
We are kind of crushing it right now. We decided, we have, for the last year, we have decided to do three videos every week. And so we have put up 12 videos every single month since January 2025.
- [10:27]
B
And that's long form.
- [10:28]
C
Long form, yeah. Wow.
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B
Okay.
- [10:32]
C
So I have a team. It's not just me, but I'm the one behind the camera that, you know, we've already always, since the beginning of this, we at first we just had friends that were helping us because we knew that the most important thing that I could do was be able to answer questions to other moms. Like, that's the thing that nobody else can do it. Only Amy can do it. And so, you know, being able to push out editing and all the other things to other people that could do that and me really constantly concentrate on the things that God has a calling on my heart to do.
- [11:02]
B
That's a level of clarity, Amy, that I fight for people to get to as soon as possible. It sounds like you did. You know that like from the beginning you're like, as soon, okay, as soon as possible. We're going to outsource things. Is that some mindset you had going into creating or did you realize it?
- [11:17]
C
Yeah, it just, we went viral so quickly on Instagram. I was spending, like, 12 hours a day just answering questions, like, okay, so it was like, answering questions, like, yeah. It was just so crazy. And so I ended up having a friend in my neighborhood. She started, like, helping me put up some more instructions on the blog. Like, just another mom, you know? And then I had another mom that was on our team for a while. Like, I just need some grocery money. Like, things are really tight right now. Is there anything I can possibly do? And, you know, she ended up being my right hand for, like, two years. And I've had a follower, you know, say, oh, I know a little bit more about websites than you do. I'm not an expert. You know, maybe I can help you. And just building this team around me. I've just people that have people that see that our mission, like, it's more than a number. It's about truly helping families be able to afford groceries. Our grocery budget is $135 per person, so it's just two of us here at the house. We're only spending $270 a month on groceries, and we're mostly organic.
- [12:17]
B
Yeah. So let's all go subscribe to the Cross Legacy and lower our food budgets. I love it.
- [12:24]
C
But what I'm teaching is even lower than what people on food stamps is getting. Like, there's there really, you know, hope to be able to have fresh food in your house and be able to make easy meals. And so, you know, really to be able to relieve some of that stress on people's shoulders. You know, 89% of my followers are women, you know, so moms, you know, whoever's trying to buy the groceries in the house and release some of that stress is, you know, who's following me. And if we can touch one life a day, we've done it right.
- [12:54]
B
I love this, Amy, because I know it's kind of fun that I kicked off the conversation talking about a cucumber video. And that's what it could sound like on the surface, but clearly what's underneath already, just a few minutes in our time together, is you have content that's actually really solving problems. You know what I mean? And you have more than that. A very clear mission that's on your heart that you guys are carrying forward. And even it's so magnetic that's bringing other people to you. And you have a team now and everything that's just so cool. So maybe you're listening to Amy right now and you're thinking, I know something that can help people, but I just don't know how to turn it into a real money making thing. This is exactly why we put Together our free YouTube strategy class. This is where you'll get the most up to date information about what kinds of channels are growing, what mistakes are keeping creators stuck, and how to start building revenue on YouTube even if you don't have a huge channel yet. So if you want to stop guessing and get a clear plan, go to thinkmasterclass.com we'll link that right down below. But again, that's thinking masterclass.com all right, back to Amy. Would you mind if we shift gears? I'd like to talk about your content creation process now. Three uploads a week you mentioned, obviously it's you having a team. Could you walk us through what a typical research day is like for you or do you handle that, that that part of the process? Like how do you choose what video ideas to do?
- [14:14]
C
That's funny. Content day where I'm like trying to figure out what I'm going to do for videos normally means I'm playing a game on, on my phone because that's like the only way brain can like concentrate. But we have since the beginning of January 2025, every two weeks we've put out this meal series video. And so it shows the meals that I'm making with those ingredients that I'm bringing home because people are like, oh, but what are you actually making? And so as we've kind of progressed through this now, we had 25 of those videos in 2025 and then we started the new series for 2026, the same concept. I'm actually like talking a little bit more about life outside of the kitchen too. Like still trying to, you know, protect our family and you know, all those kind of things. But you know, talk about fun things like, oh, it was actually sunny while I was making dinner, you know, or you know, those kind of things.
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B
Life stuff.
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C
Yeah, just little life stuff in there. But people can see also I have a chronic illness called reflective sympathetic dystrophy. So I can have like good and bad days and I have to, to plan for them. I have to make sure that, you know, I have meals ready or easy things that we can do because I can have a bad day or a bad week, especially during the winter time. But so those two videos people don't really know but those we are building for our next book. So it really is showing like two years of process of these are only the ingredients we have in our house. And these are, you know, the 700 meals I made with those, you know, and so that has been our focus on really making sure that we have all of that content to end up putting on the blog. And we send it out in newsletters, you know, so all of those meals that we're actually eating, you know, every night for dinner. And then we show our grocery haul every month where I spend less than $270 at the grocery store. And I also love showing videos of, oh, it's been, well, Today it's been 34 days since I went to the grocery store and this is what we're eating. So a lot of those kind of videos too. A lot of content creators, especially after my Strawberries in a Jar went viral. They show a lot of different washing techniques and stuff. Mine's actually researched and, you know, I know what I'm doing and I've done it for 20 years plus, you know, and. But there's not a lot of people saying, oh, this is what it still looks like three to four weeks later and I'm eating it, you know, so powerful.
- [16:39]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Wow. Okay, so you clearly have, at this point, you have content pillars dialed in. It sounds like you've got a rotation, you've got things going on. Have you found a pretty big benefit from doing. From creating videos in a series format? Is this kind of something you've done from the beginning or how did you come across this idea?
- [16:59]
C
Yeah, this series. The series is really to hold me accountable, honestly, like to make sure that I'm really showing what we're using. And a lot of times I'm not cooking with recipes. So it's like, oh, I did this and I threw a little bit of that in. And this is why I use this. Where if I had broke that down on a piece of paper, I might not have understood why I put cottage cheese in something instead of Greek yogurt. You know, it's because, you know, that's what I had in the fridge and that's what I used. And, you know, so teaching those kind of skills, that doesn't have to be a, you know, set meal plan, a set recipe. You can have ingredients and make healthy meals for your family.
- [17:34]
B
Okay, man. So how, when you think about how's your process look like right now? I know it. At some point you were obviously doing this thinking of titles. Titles. Thumbnails are the big thing that I know stump a lot of people when it comes to shifting over to YouTube and now making long form video. I gotta put a thumbnail and I gotta think of a title. What I'm noticing about a lot of your popular videos is they're, they're very head on and if we talk about the cucumber video, but how to keep your cucumbers fresh for weeks, it almost sounds, it just sounds so simple. I understand what the video's about and obviously it's gonna appeal to the right person. You have several more of these kinds of videos. Strawberry hacks how to make your berries last weeks in the fridge. The best way to wash fruits and vegetables. I could go on and on. What have you learned about titles and thumbnails that resonate with the audience you're trying to reach?
- [18:22]
C
Well, it seems like our videos do well kind of having the same look to the thumbnails and so people recognize that and want to click on it. You know, oh, it's Amy standing in her kitchen. That's what I do. And so anyways, but lately the last year so we've been utilizing chat GPT a little bit more. We have been iq we have the Think Media chat plugin thing. And so being able to like I have this idea and I'm going to be making it with these ingredients. What do you think is going to speak to my audience and you know, letting chat help a little bit with the SEO and the description, that kind of stuff. But it's always my idea, my recipe, what I'm trying to come across and then just letting the algorithm, you know, do its thing.
- [19:05]
B
Do its thing. And I guess true at this point you're about to close in on 100,000 subscribers, which congrats. I'm sure that'll happen in the next couple months here. And at this point, yeah, YouTube kind of knows what to do with your videos. It knows what audience to put your videos in front of. Doesn't mean you can slack on the titles and thumbnails. But at least this point for things are pretty dialed in. Like you, you have a system down clearly and you know what you're going to put out there. What do you, how's your equipment process like? Like, you know what I mean? Like okay, when you start filming long form video, I mean did you stick with your phone that you were using over on Instagram or did you buy a camera? Like what was your equipment journey like as a creator?
- [19:40]
C
So we still haven't invested that much money into it and we're four years in the first year up until we monetized. The first money we spent when we got monetized was on a camera and it was just a 500 Sony camera. And then yeah, that's all we did. We. We did it on phones and I had two friends that were here and they would film different angles on their phones and we would just do it on our phones. And so we still do almost all of our B roll on phones because we're over by the stove and it's just easier and you know, like, and having cameras, it's just hard sometimes.
- [20:15]
B
Okay.
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C
Yeah. So. And then I have a dji. What's that called? The.
- [20:23]
B
The pocket.
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C
The DJI Pocket. Yeah, I have a dji. What is that? Osmus? I don't know, Whatever.
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B
Yeah, yeah, I'll say that again. Do you use that for like blog content or anything?
- [20:34]
C
Yeah, so when the team's here. So we actually have content days that we film. And I just recently moved, so it used to be always on a Monday we would have content so we would film all the content for the week. And so that's what we have done the last three years. So when my helper is here, she doesn't like me to say your name. When my helper is here, she's the one that deals with the white camera. I have a DJI that whenever I'm filming like selfie kind of videos or talking videos, then I will use that one because I can, I can manage that one better. But like literally I think total maybe $1,200 and four years away all in on your setup.
- [21:13]
B
And that's still the case. Like how long have you been using your current setup? A couple years now.
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C
Oh yeah, yeah, since January 2022. So. And then the next year is when we bought 2024 I think is when we got the DJI like okay. And that was just to move it. So this is kind of fun. I don't think you know this, but now we live four hours away from where we used to live. And so I still have the same camera helper that comes and she flies over to. And so we do 12 videos in three to four days. And so it is long 12 hour days for three, three, three to four days depending on what we're doing. But yeah, she flies over right now because the pass is bad, but when the weather starts getting better then she'll start driving over again. But it's about the same for a 30 day out ticket as it is to pay mileage for her to come. So it just works out. Yeah, it works out. But again like we set this all up from the very beginning, wanting this to build a brand that will change our lives forever. Or not even our lives. But Our grandkids and our great grandkids someday to have a life change because of the Cross legacy.
- [22:22]
B
Wow, okay. So in mad respect, that's a whole other level. Talk about batch filming is like a three day shoot. Like, I just know that's, that's not easy. A lot of organization and energy. My goodness, to be able to do that. I'm so curious, like, as you're doing your batch filming, could you give us tips for maybe someone who's at the white belt level? Because I would say you're at the black belt level of batch filming content. So I think a lot of people have heard this phrase, batch your content, film more than one video and you're sitting down. Which is great advice, but I also think a lot of people get stuck and overthink it. Have you always batch filmed content? And maybe better yet, what's some advice for the white belt out there who's like, okay, this week I'm going to try to film more than one video at a time. Tips, feedback, advice, what you got.
- [23:11]
C
So since the very beginning, Mondays were content days. So like it was a business. It's content. We made the content on Mondays, just like having that set schedule. My husband actually started the channel a couple months ago, a couple months before we moved. I want to say it was about June. He did about five videos and realized this is a lot harder than it looks. Anyways. But you know, setting this up as like it's your main priority, you know, your main work priority for us. You know, family's always first for us. But then as you know, we transferred over here to eastern Washington to figure out those systems that we needed to make sure that this was still working for us. I knew I wasn't going to want to film 12 videos by myself. Like that was not going to happen. And you know, I'm a girl, I have to put eyelashes on to make it look good in the camera, you
- [24:04]
B
know, like, come on.
- [24:05]
C
Yeah, you know, it's, we have makeup days or no makeup days, you know, and try to use, utilize, you know, those days as much as possible. But you know, we are, we have been able to make some big decisions for our family and work around things. Our grandma lived with us for her last chapter of her life and I got to help her through hospice and you know, just being able to be like a 24 caregiver to her. And the people on my team were so great. They would come and sit with her in her bedroom and chat with her and you know, watch, watch, you know, a show or whatever, while we were filming in the other room and everybody would just kind of switch off, you know, and on and make sure her needs are met. And then now being able to move here closer to family, you know, it's just. It's just our lives are changing because of YouTube and the possibilities of what are happening because of YouTube. And you know, my goal, my big goal is we just turned 50. My husband turned 50 in August. I just turned 50 in January. I want to retire him in the next five years, by the time he's 55.
- [25:07]
B
Oh, I love that. Oh, my goodness. You're pulling at my heartstrings, Amy. I might have to pause the interview. It's just so meaningful. This is what I love about this stuff is there's all the metrics, there's all the stuff. And we're about to start talking about like, hey, your business infrastructure. Like, I want to talk about the best selling book. I want to talk about a TED Talk and all that's really cool and fun and there's a place for that. But I also just. This is why I love them, this thing, this whole YouTube thing, because of exactly what you're talking about. The impact you can have and then the ripple effect that that has obviously on the people that you're creating content for, but then just what that does to your life and the people that are closest to you and having a team that you can pour into that can help you, it's just, I'm just. You're preaching the choir. I love it. I absolutely love it. I would love to shift into. You've made this thing a business. Like, this is a multi six figure business for you at this point. What do you mind sharing? Like what, what, what you guys did last year, like revenue wise and then love to kind of break down where that comes from. Like, how much is YouTube? How much is whatever else you got going on?
- [26:08]
C
Are you answering me? Ask me another question or was that it?
- [26:11]
B
Well, yeah, that one. We'll just start there.
- [26:12]
C
Okay, I'm sorry. So in 2025 was our best year we've ever had. Like honestly, some of those years prior, like we were paying the team with a prayer and a hope that everything was going to work out. And we really built this as a business and, you know, started with smaller products. So we started with like an ebook first and that kind helped, you know, solve some of our income issues. But this year with the book sales, we have hit $250,000 in 2025 on sales and income that has came in we call them the three pillars. So it's YouTube, it's book sales, and it's our media buying from our website. So then we still have our Amazon affiliates and, you know, clubs and stuff on top of that. But $250,000, like, we're hitting at least $20,000 in income on that.
- [27:04]
B
Oh, my goodness. Just, I mean, massive shout out to you all and big congrats from our whole team. And I'm sure anyone who's listening right now, that's crazy. Best year yet coming from multiple revenue streams. Let's talk about the book, because how. What was the process like to get that thing started? And how big of a role does that play in that? 250.
- [27:26]
C
So the book started out. The first version of the book ended up being an ebook that I put on Amazon before I even knew how to do shop, Shopify and all those kind of things. And so. And that was just 25 produce items. Me teaching the tips so people could download it. And we. I took a bunch of different YouTube classes or watching a bunch of YouTube videos on other authors. And I learned to be very strategic on titling that and what categories it goes into. So I ended up being a number one bestseller on Amazon for over a year because of that book. Because it was under Fruit Gardening. Like there was no other books coming out under Fruit Gardening. If I would have put it under Cooking, I wouldn't be a number one bestseller. But now I can always have that. I've had a TED Talk and I'm a number one bestseller after my title forever because of this ebook. And the ebook on Amazon only makes me $2. So we realized really quickly we wanted to not encourage it on Amazon and we built it into our website. And then I get the whole $9 off of it or 14, whatever. If it's on sale or not.
- [28:33]
B
On we go. Okay. So. Wow. So this book, though, the ripple effect from the book. What's that been like? Is this. Has this helped open doors alongside you're alongside just what you're creating as a content creator, even on social media. But. And on YouTube as well. But having a book to say that you are a number one bestseller. Genius advice, by the way. You can rewind to listen to that.
- [28:53]
C
Right?
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B
What category are you publishing under? But also like, what is that? What are the doors of that opened up? How did the TED Talk come into place? And what else? What are some other cool things that you've gotten to do because of the this.
- [29:05]
C
So let me keep talking about books for a second because so that ebook was just the first of it. And so that ended up being the first 25. And then we went through two more seasons. So we did summer produce items and fall produce items. And it was actually the day that my grandma passed away, we were driving the four hours to get over here to our kids and I got a phone call from a publisher and they wanted to publish the book. And so I just thought it was so exciting. And we started, you know, going through this whole process to make a physical and you know, we worked on it for a couple months and just I kind of was in the spot that day in the car. Like, I've been taking care of grandma now. Now what am I going to do? Like I have been taking care of her for more than two years and now what am I going to do? And so, you know, being able to work on the book and we kind of already had the blueprint for it because the, the main book that we have is the Zero Waste Produce Guide, goes through 75 produce items, a to Z. And then there's recipes and tips and all those kind of things. But it ended up that publisher was going under over the course of the months and they kept trying to push out a product that I didn't like. And so I ended up being able to get out of that contract and then self publishing. So we are able, yeah, we are able to self publish this book through Lulu Publishers, which is an American publisher. And so I can order two to 500 books and have them delivered to my house and then I sell them on my website. And, and these books I sell for $56. Yo, so I'm paying 20 to $25 depending on how many I buy at a time. You get, you know, a discount as you buy more. But then we're making 20 to $25
- [30:52]
B
on each book, every book. Okay, could you explain a couple things for someone who doesn't know what is self publishing and what have you, what have you learned about that? Why do you like that?
- [31:02]
C
So with self publishing then I'm the one that, you know, hired the editors to go over the book and I. That's putting out the money, you know, every month to make sure that the books are getting delivered here to the house. We still have them on Amazon and I still send them through Amazon, but they're, they're all from me, from my house. But being able to do this, we were able to start getting money instantly. And so if we would have went through the publisher, they wanted to wait. We wanted to put up the book in November. They wanted to wait until April and then it would have been the following April, which is next month. It would be next month that I would have got my first revenue check. So in that process, we have moved closer to our family, we've remodeled our house. Like we've made big life changes because this book is getting sold every single day.
- [31:52]
B
Wow. So that's the big difference is obviously what's in the name. Self publishing just means you're publishing your book. Right. Which does mean there's no, I guess there's no advance that's happening. You're doing everything up front, which means you get the money up front front. Very, very cool. Okay. And. And what are some helpful resources that you found for doing that? If you don't mind sharing that. That company again or any.
- [32:12]
C
The company that I use is called Lulu Publishing. And so, and then I, I have a website and then I send them through Shopify. So. Okay, my website and Shopify and Lulu Publishing, all through that. But I mean, it's been like $200,000 worth of sales in 2025 life just from the book. The book.
- [32:32]
B
Okay, so it's a heavy hitter.
- [32:34]
C
Yeah. And so overall, the income streams you were asking about YouTube is about $3,000 a month. It's kind of funny. I was on a collab with Mary's Nest. With Mary, Yes. Yeah. Like almost two years ago. And she messed up my algorithm. All of a sudden I had all these older followers on my, my, my channel and. Which was fine, you know, all the things. But I had always thought that I wanted to talk to younger moms. And then all of a sudden, you know, I get all these women that are even a decade or a generation older than me on my channel, but I found that they watch longer videos than 30 year olds. So they will say. And watch it on TV all day, you know, so you don't complain about the watch hours, you know, or hitting that older generation because they will watch longer videos. They don't doom scroll, you know. So. Yeah. So anyways, YouTube right now is hitting around $3,000 a month. It's not huge, even though we're putting out all this content. But again, we're trying to change one life a day, you know, reach one new person a day. And if we can help them have the courage to have groceries in the house, especially if it's fresh produce that they know that they're not throwing away. The average family is throwing away over 40% of the food that they're buying. And so we have zero food waste, you know, and to be able to really show that and teach that and, you know, give families hope that they can have food in their homes, you know, even during this scary time, like, there's scary things in the world happening. And we all know now what it's like to have empty shelves at the grocery store. You know, like, all those things our great grandparents had warned us about, like, we've been through, you know, and to be able to really help families have food security and is just. It's just a calling on my heart.
- [34:20]
B
Oh, it's awesome. And I think it's so cool to think about the various formats that you get to carry this mission through. There's obviously YouTube, but before that it was Instagram even, right? And then a book, like an actual. A physical thing that can sit on someone's kitchen counter, I'm sure just means the world to you, right? Like, yeah, like, that's. I just love that there's so many different ways that you are downloading what, you know, know in your mission and putting it into all these different things. Maybe it's a video, maybe it's a book, maybe it's a blog post, and that's just really inspiring. What have you found about the kind of, like, the cycle of everything? I've often found that, okay, you make a YouTube video that maybe does well or even does average, but the comments you get on it, I know that you'd obviously be very familiar with. This is responding to people, replying to people. I'm sure emails, you've gotten any kind of feedback you get from these various outlets. What's your process for kind of taking all of that in and then carrying that forward into the next piece of content, be it a book, a blog post, or a video. I think this is a cycle that I do see creators slip out of, which is not keeping their ear to the ground, not listening to where their audience is now. What's your process for staying connected?
- [35:26]
C
We even just yesterday we put up the meals video that goes up every two weeks. And I had made English muffins in it, and there were so many comments on that. Like, teach us how to make English muffins. They're $6 at the store, and you made them from a cup of flour, you know, and so we decided we're filming that on Monday. It's going up on the channel on Friday. Like, you know, we literally just put that video yesterday, and it's going to be up on the channel within 10 days, you know, and so really Being able to hear those pain points. On my birthday, I did a big grocery giveaway, and we reached families that had sent in stories. And there were so many families that were saying, like, they stopped buying meat. They didn't know how to buy meat, like, it was too expensive, you know, like, those kind of things. So now we're building content, you know, right now on how to stretch out that ground beef and, you know, how to be able to afford it or how to be able to buy bacon and, you know, still get those things that you still want for your family. And so really always being really flexible of knowing what's going on, like, and being able to change the content if we need to change the content to be, you know, what's really in the moment, what people need, you know, what they're scared about, you know, kind of thing. And then with me talking about produce so much, it's really seasonal. So I love being able to talk about, like, you need to use up your potatoes. Like, they should have been planted on, you know, St. Patrick's Day, so that's why they're eyeing. But, you know, like, use those up, and then next fall when they're fresh again, then you can bring them back into your house kind of thing. And so it's those kind of things. Like, people don't realize that, you know, apples are only grown one time a year and they're stored in a warehouse all year long, you know, but if I got it from the grocery store, you know, it's fresh. Well, it's been in a warehouse since September, you know, so it just kind of those. Those things of being able to really hear what people's pain points are and being able to build content. Content around that. And even though we are only filming once a month, like, it's still coming out really quickly for things. And. And sometimes I just stop everything and I do a talking head video to, like, answer a question that. That comes up.
- [37:34]
B
This. That's actually I was gonna ask you next is like, will you even pivot and adapt an upload schedule based on feedback you've gotten from some place? It's like, no, we need to talk about this now.
- [37:42]
C
Yeah. And sometimes like, oh, I went and took all this B roll between the dollar store and grocery outlet. And I was going to talk about, like, oh, maybe this is a better choice. And that was a better choice. And then we like, kind of sat back on it and we were like, no, that might make somebody feel like I'm like, downgrading, that they're only Able to get the groceries at the dollar store, you know, and so instead of it, you know, we've really tried to work on what people are going to feel when they, you know, listen to the messages that I'm sending, you know, because we want to give them hope all the time, man.
- [38:14]
B
Okay, so you're very. What I'm hearing is. Yep. It's just a part of it. It's a part of your week. You're always connected. You're listening. You guys are resp. So much so that you will just readjust things. I love that. That's actually really cool to hear it.
- [38:27]
C
I personally read every single comment that comes in through YouTube and Instagram. So, you know, Instagram sends a bunch of links, you know, many chats and all those kind of things. But I still sit down and I read every single comment. And YouTube, I answer every single comment that I see. And sometimes YouTube blocks it and you can't see it. But, I mean, I could spend four hours a day answering questions, but they are all answered before I go to sleep, like, every single day.
- [38:53]
B
Okay, can I ask you a question right here? And when I ask this question, this is not a challenge. I'm not, like, judging or anything. This is purely for the sake of who's listening right now. What made you decide to keep doing that versus passing that off to a team member? Because you could have a lot of YouTube advice and YouTube strategies. Like, well, Amy, you should. You should be passing off responses to someone on your team, and you should really be brainstorming. You should really be writing the next book. You should really, like, what has you keeping that on your schedule? Like, nope, I'm going to respond. Even if it takes hours. Every day.
- [39:23]
C
Every day, every day. That. That's just the calling on my heart to really make sure that we're connecting. Like, I don't want to be an influencer. I want to make a difference in people's lives. And I do want to say something about those expert comments, though. Like, that is kind of one of the reasons why I stopped posting videos inside, like, the group. And then, you know, to get expert opinions because people forget to go back to the group and make the comment there. Then they' be like, oh, you should have your teleprompter moved, or this or that. I just have a lazy eye. I don't even have a teleprompter. Just a reminder to other content creators that you don't need to make a negative comment on somebody's video about their thumbnail, anything. Like, send Them an email, go back and go to the group, whatever. Like if somebody is really trying to speak to their audience, that's what kind of questions and comments you want in your feed that, you know, encourage other people. Because yeah, if I get, oh, you were looking somewhere. It's just I'm tired. My eye doesn't want to do what I wanted to do.
- [40:25]
B
Moving on. Yeah, yeah.
- [40:27]
C
You know, or those kind of things, you know, it's just, it's just funny. But sometimes those, those other content creators can kind of put a damper on things and, and I've kind of realized like, you know, or I get emails like, oh, your book is priced too high. Well, our book is priced so we make 15% on it, you know, so like that's not too high. But the fact that we are printing a full color book in the United States. States, like it's a huge thing and we're a small business supporting another small business that's supporting families. And you know, and so I've kind of learned those just to take it with a grain of salt, like you're never going to see this book in Costco and it's never going to have, you know, crazy printing numbers, you know, at one time, you know, we're, we're printing 500 at a time and they line the hallways of my house. You know.
- [41:17]
B
That's actually kind of cool. Yeah, very cool. Well, I love hearing that. I'm curious about the TED Talk. How did that opportunity come about and what was that like to go from being in a video, writing a book, but then being like on stage? What was that like for you?
- [41:34]
C
That was crazy. Like that was a 13 minute memorized speech. Like memorized like 13 minutes. Like it had to be perfect. It took months and months. But somebody on my team at that time we submitted one TED Talk application. So some people, they will do because there's TEDxS all over the country, they will, you know, submit two or 300 and do it every season. I was kind. We submitted one and a copy of the video of what we were doing and that we, we ended up with a TED Talk. So it was exactly a year after we went viral is when all that happened. So that was like another big push and that was our big push to get the first ebook out because I was going to be in the news with the TED Talk and stuff and so that really helped. And then something else that we did during that time that actually didn't help or I wish I didn't spend money on, I kind of would like to talk about it, if you wouldn't mind. So during all this, we were trying to build a strong foundation with multiple sources of income, which I'm really glad now that we have because like the website and AI and SEO, like has changed things in the last two years and you're not making as much money, you know, with it AI as you were, you know, kind of thing. But we invested a lot of time and a lot of money into making a course. And we realized after we made it that people don't want to spend money on a course when they can't afford groceries. And so it was actually like everybody's like, oh, you have to have a course. You have to have a course. It kind of flopped for us. Like I've barely broken even on it. We still have it up on some of our older videos. We still get young people that subscribe once in a while, but I haven't talked about it until years because it's like something that just didn't work. It, you know, it didn't work. But we were able to take all of those lessons in the course. And then I was able to make, I was able to make another course with that that I teach at food banks. And so like, God set this all up that I didn't make money on it, but I still was changing the lives. And so, you know, those kind of things are so important. But, you know, not always is, is it, you know, you need to build a course or you need to do this? You know, being able to have one thing that you can sell in every video is amazing, you know, and I really encourage that, whether it's ebook or anything, to be able to kind of push those cells and not be so reliant on the algorithm.
- [43:59]
B
I think I so appreciate you sharing that. And how meaningful is that, huh? I. I've seen it over and over again, Amy. Like this, I call it leftover, you know, which is like this thing you made over here that you made for X purpose you thought was going to do y thing didn't do that, to use your words, like flopped. It didn't really do anything. But then to see how you can repurpose and remold and re gift that redistribute it in some other way, shape or form. I think a lot of us underestimate the ability to repurpose things. Just because it didn't work over here doesn't mean we couldn't make it work over here. So that's just cool to hear what a meaningful stuff story. But I also think you're freeing people from feeling like they have to do what everyone in this space is encouraging and coaching people to do, which is you got to make a course and you got to make the funnel and you got to do the membership and you got to do X, Y and Z and X order. And so hearing you just say, if you don't mind me, what was it you said again? You're like, you have a video that reached one person and you had like one offer or one thing in there, like that's a win. Yeah, yeah, that's. I love the simplicity of that. And if you're listening, listening, maybe if you have any advice, Amy, because you've. We just talked about like your whole story is just so cool. Explosion at the beginning, Strawberries, you know, on the YouTube and building a team and the ripple effect of all the success from not just monetarily, what your book is doing, multi six figure year TED Talk, everything. But to the person who's maybe at the very beginning, what would you say to them when they're thinking through, through a first layer of monetization that's outside of YouTube, what would you encourage them to start thinking about or maybe what direction would you point them about how to figure out which thing to go build?
- [45:41]
C
So I wished I didn't spend so much time at the beginning on our website, like making a blog. Like at the time people were like, oh, it has to be a blog, it has to be a blog. You have to do a blog. Like that's how you make money as a blog. And, and it's way over my head. I don't want to learn all of those terms. I don't want to do all of it. You know, I did it for the first six months and then somebody else came in and now we have had to put a big chunk of change into re. Redoing the website. So right now it's currently it's getting redone by a professional, you know, and they're missing all the mistakes that, you know, we had done in the past, which will help our monetization of that even reach even further, you know, but even all those mistakes that we made, I wished, I just wish for that we didn't invest so much time and effort and money into the website and I would have focused on YouTube sooner so because we didn't really focus on YouTube, you know, until, you know, we were six months into this, you know, still Instagram, all the things building this, you know, as a business and that's kind of one of the things that I wished I would have been able to hire professionals, professional sooner and just do it right, you know, set that groundwork right. I don't remember what your other part of that question was.
- [46:58]
B
Yeah, what's the first thing?
- [47:02]
C
And then. Okay, now I remember. And then I just think it's so important and it's so life changing if you have something to sell, like even like a five dollar recipe or My husband, as he's trying to get back into making his YouTube channel, we just moved and there's a lot of things happening at this house. We bought an 80 year old house. So he's had other priorities to deal with. But like he would make like woodworking plans or something and you can sell those on Etsy. Super easy. Even to get like a $2, you know, plan for something is super easy. Working on Canva and making out, you know, whatever you're, whatever you're an expert in. So I really believe, you know, whatever that is on the calling on your heart is what you should be talking about. And you know, what, what, what you want the news to call you and ask you about what, what do you want to be a speaker on stage about not trying to be somebody else but being, you know, whatever, whatever your path, whatever your journey has been, you know, for us is how God has led us through struggling times where we couldn't afford food. And you know, that's that journey, that struggle that we had went on, you know, 20 years ago is why I'm teaching people today that we can have food security in our house. And honestly, I don't need to be on a grocery budget. Right? We are making a pretty decent income and I am spending less than $270 a month on groceries and showing exactly what we're making because I know that there is another family out there that can't spend, you know, a lot on groceries. And if I can keep showing every single time, this is what I'm making, this is what I'm doing. You know, we're going grocery shopping this afternoon and we haven't went grocery shopping for 34 days.
- [48:48]
B
Wow, Amy, thank you so much for just keeping it real. This was actually a very refreshing conversation for me to be able to talk to someone like you who's honestly at a level of success that a lot of people dream of being at. And just to hear how real you've been, your sincerity and most importantly, your mission, your heart for people is just all over the place. And so, man, I just am cheering you on. All of us here are. And I'd love it if you share. Could you, could you tell us where we could go find you to learn how to keep our food longer and reduce waste and get that $135 budget per person. Where can we find you?
- [49:26]
C
So the main two platforms I'm on are YouTube and Instagram. But everywhere. Even.com were the cross legacy, which is our family motto. And my book is called the Zero Waste Produce Guide. If you buy it from my website and not from Amazon, there is a 15% discount code. Think Media 15. What?
- [49:48]
B
Just for us? No way. Could you say that one more time just so we're all clear? What do we do? How do we get that?
- [49:54]
C
Go to thecrosslegacy.com and buy the book the Zero Waste Produce Guide. And you have a coupon code. Think media 15 for 15% off.
- [50:04]
B
Man, that was such a powerful conversation with Amy Cross. And one line that really stuck out to me was this idea, what do you want the news to call you about? What do you want to be invited to speak on? Because Amy's story is such a powerful reminder. When you consistently solve real problems for people, you never know what opportunities can come from it. A loyal audience, real business, best selling book, even things like media features in a TEDx talk. And she told me after the interview, actually, Amy has been featured 54 times in the last year in the news all over the globe. And if you want help turning your knowledge, your expertise, your social media story into a real YouTube strategy that could pay you, you gotta check out our free masterclass@thinkmasterclass.com Inside this free YouTube strategy class, you're going to get the most up to date information about not just what to post, but how to grow and how to build something sustainable beyond just chasing views. So again, you can check that out@thinkmasterclass.com. we'll link it right down below. And hey, if you got value out of today, like rate, share, review wherever you watch or like listen. This is the Think Media podcast. I'm Nathan Eswine and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.