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There is something that happens when you get in a room with the right people that just cannot be replicated by a course, a podcast, or a live stream. The energy shifts, the excuses fall away, and you leave with a level of clarity and momentum that you couldn't create on your own. The Think Media Mastermind is that room. It's a live, in person, two day event in Las Vegas. It's small by design, intensive, and by application only because we make sure the room is stacked with incredible creators and business owners. If you're serious about using YouTube to build your business or grow your side income, stop waiting and go apply right now@thinkmediamastermind.com all right, let's dive into today's podcast.

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Imagine posting your first video on YouTube ever, and it gets 35,000 views in less than a week. This is what just happened to one of our students, Sheri, who at 77 years old just started her YouTube channel. And her first video does this and gets her monetized. But here's the thing. I'm noticing a pattern. This is not just a fluke. This is happening more and more. And here's what's wild. These are just regular people. These are not previous content creators. They're just starting YouTube on the side and finding success early, often within the first one to three videos they upload on a new channel. After coaching hundreds of creators. At this point, I've noticed a pattern. There are four things that creators do when they first start a YouTube channel that gives them the strongest start possible. And that's what I want to break down here for you today. The first thing that I see all these channels do to have a strong start is do their homework. This just means before you rush out and press record, let's slow down, take a second, and actually think through the video we're about to make. And this comes down to three key areas. It's actually kind of like taking on this whole research and development phase of your YouTube channel, which, to be clear, you could get stuck in for an awful long time in too long of a time. It's not worth overthinking here, but it's definitely not worth underthinking and taking some time before you even down to press record, before even try to write a script. These channels stop, pause, and assess what's going on. So that means they're gonna start learning more about YouTube. They're gonna start understanding how things work. What does make do well on YouTube? What does YouTube care about? And so you start learning about things like click through, rate and you start learning about average view duration and how what YouTube really cares about is top t o p time on platform. And so you start thinking through, okay, how can I create a video that would get clicked? And how can I create a video that would get watched? The third thing that starts to happen here at this phase of doing your homework is also assessing, okay, what, when am I actually going to be able to do this in my real life? This is mission critical. The number of small channels or new channels that I see try to just rush into putting a video out. While it's awesome to again, punch fear in the face and press record. What's even more strategic and how to have the strongest start possible is to actually go ahead and schedule this into your current reality. And that means taking a look at even your next couple of weeks. This is something I don't hear a lot of people talking about. And I love the idea of going out today right after you watch this, pressing record and getting after it. But maybe here's the advice that I'm saying. Don't publish that first video again. We're talking about the strongest start possible on YouTube right now. What do you have to do? Step number one, do your homework. Spend more time researching and developing your game plan. Don't just charge in with no strategy. Start to understand how YouTube actually works so that when it comes time to sit down and create the video, you're aware of the parts of the process that are gonna help your video hit the algorithm and get views to the tune of thousands or even more. So it's important to mark down in your calendar, when are you gonna film this? And more importantly, when are you gonna plug in the steps of researching, scripting, designing a title and thumbnail, and of course, filming and publishing. This all takes time. And so to do this well, actually, the first thing that I can say to you is to give yourself a little bit of breathing room. Give yourself some grace here. Like put calendar. That's a deadline that's going to force you to move, but put that actually further out than you think. Whenever we start something new, it can take a lot more time than we think to just get off the ground and get going. So go ahead and build in that time. The creators that I'm seeing get these results, give themselves space, and you should do the same thing. This actually makes me think of someone that I was working with in our coaching program who came back to YouTube after a break so they'd be consistent. On YouTube, they posted one video every single week for an entire year. But then they took a break to the tune of six plus months. They jumped into coaching and before we just started creating videos again. We started here, we started researching and developing. We started getting more clear on the niche and on the audience and fine tuning the overall positioning that this channel would take on. And sure enough, this actually delayed posting a video for several months. But in those several months, we were still meeting consistently and working through the overall strategy to actually inform the ideas for YouTube videos. And sure enough, with their second video back, after this break, they took their second video back, was an outlier and over performed videos in their previous catalog. Why did that happen? Wasn't an accident. It was on purpose. Step number two is keep it simple. And keep it simple everywhere, as much as you can when it comes to the gear that you're using. A lot of these creators that I'm seeing publish their first, second, third or fourth video and getting these kinds of results actually are just using their phone or they're using a camera that's a little bit older. They didn't spend a whole bunch of money on the craziest lighting or the fanciest microphone or building a whole new YouTube studio set. They actually just used what they had. This makes me think of one of our students, Carrie, who spent $100 on her YouTube setup, and she used this setup to generate outlier videos. Because it's not about the setup. The gear isn't the reason that you're going to be able to have it the strongest start on YouTube. It's actually the production process. It's what happens before you get there. It's thinking through, okay, what is the video that I'm making, what is the way I'm going to title and thumbnail it, what is the way I'm going to script it as we'll get into in a little bit. But you're thinking through the content more than you're thinking through the gear. You could spend a hundred dollars if you already have a phone and you could be ready to go. Don't overthink it. Keep it simple. The second place to keep it simple though is also just the content format. So when I say format, I mean the way that you're going to film this. So for example, vlog style is a way of it's a certain format. Live streaming is a certain format. Video podcasting is a certain format. Talking head instructional videos is a kind of format. So it's worth thinking through not just the gear, but then whenever you're turning on the camera to record how Are you going to do it? You know what I mean? Like, is the. Is the way that you're going to create content going to require you to take on a whole bunch of other skills that you may not be as familiar with? And let's be honest, when you're new and you're starting a channel, especially if this whole YouTube thing is new, there's a lot to learn. And most of us aren't starting YouTube, already having editing skills, already having sound design dialed in, already knowing storytelling and like, all of this other stuff, right, that goes along with making a YouTube video. And so a lot of these channels keep it simple. They choose a format that lets them create easy. They choose a format that's frictionless. So if you're using your phone, you're using simple lighting, you're even using the window. When these creators are starting out, they're keeping the format simple. They're gonna sit down in a normal, everyday spot. I've seen these in the car. I've seen these in the living room. I think Sherry's video is just in a bedroom. But what matters, again, is the content value, not the production value. So actually. So make sure that these first few videos you're gonna post, you're actually gonna record them in a way that makes it easy to get through and doesn't require you to film something and then stitch together a whole bunch of additional footage, which could simply slow down. Timeline. The third place to keep it simple, which we're kind of already talking about, is workflow. So this just means, you know, this usually has nothing to do with while you're filming. It's everything that happens after we're filming. So after you've filmed, what is the process? What is the workflow? How does the footage get onto your computer? Really, the journey is how does the footage get from what you just filmed over to published on YouTube? And we know there's a lot of steps along the way there. I think about one of our students, Jamie Morgan, who actually just recently got her silver play button in a ridiculous time frame. It was like, in less than a year, she grew to over a hundred thousand subscribers. And she, to this day, at least as of the time of recording this, still uses her phone to record her videos. And her workflow, though, is crazy simple. All she does is record on her phone. That footage is just saved to her camera roll. She goes into the photos app on her iPhone and simply trims out the beginning and the ending, and then uploads the video right from there into YouTube using the YouTube Studio app. That's a workflow that's simple. And that's not me saying you need to go do exactly that, but it's a great example of how if you keep things simple, you can create much easier. And this is a mission critical piece of a strong start to YouTube, because this whole section right here, this is where most creators get stuck. And this is why most creators could even film something, but then the footage or the video doesn't even make it onto YouTube itself. And by the way, if you'd like a custom game plan to help you understand where you are in this whole YouTube journey, you should totally go to mycreatorquiz.com We've put together a free two minute creator assessment. Give some information about your channel, about your journey, wherever you're at, even if you're just starting. And the cool thing about this is you're going to get results in a custom game plan with action steps. So if you're thinking about, okay, what are some ideas for my workflow? How could I keep it simple? How could I be researching better? You can go to mycreatorquiz.com and get your results today. So I just told you to keep it simple. And I mean that across the board when it comes to your setup, your editing, your workflow. Because the number one thing that I see kill new creators is not lack of effort, it's just you're using a process that's too complicated to repeat. And that's why I want to tell you about Riverside, who is the partner of today's episode. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, doing interviews, or even just recording content with a guest, Riverside makes the whole process super simple. And I'm not just saying that we use it. First, the recording quality. You can record up to 4K video with separate audio and video tracks for each person. And Riverside records locally on each person's device. So that just means if the WI fi takes a dip mid recording, you didn't lose the session. That alone is worth it. But here's the part that ties in so well with what we're talking about today. Riverside actually has this AI powered editor that lets you edit your video by editing the text. You don't need to learn a complicated timeline. It removes the filler words, cuts out the pauses and generates captions. And their magic clips feature automatically puts your best moments into shorts, TikToks reels automatically. And for podcasters, Riverside actually hosts and distributes your show to Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube, all from one dashboard so if you're someone that wants to create content, but you get hung up on the whole, how do I produce this podcast Part. This is the answer to keeping things simple. Use Code Think Media at checkout for one month, free of Riverside's pro plan. Again, that's Code Think Media at checkout. Link is in the description and show notes below. All right, back to step number three. Step number three. What are these creators doing so that their first few uploads are getting thousands of views? Well, they're posting with a plan, and this specifically comes down to for the video, they think through the idea. This right here is where everything hinges, the idea. In the current landscape in YouTube, we are in a war of ideas. And most specifically, though, how to package those ideas. Packaging, which is title and thumbnail. These three things, the idea, the title, and the thumbnail, are what will be responsible for those first few videos getting some explosive results. Just like Sherry, this goes back to the very first step. These creators are actually blocking time in their calendar not to hold a camera, but to be on their computer researching what is the best way to present the video. So the all starts here with the idea, thinking through, okay, who am I trying to reach? What is my audience? What's that? What's the video that I want to make? But it's not good enough to just have an idea. And this is where a lot of people just starting YouTube, they have an idea and they go straight from the idea to uploading, to publishing. And this is where things can go wrong, because on YouTube, the way that we get these kind of outlier results, more explosive results, the art form is taking the idea, but then packaging it. And packaging just means the way that the video is presented, which on YouTube comes down to the title and the thumbnail, right before people watch you, they have to click you. And before people click you, they have to see you. And in order for people to see you, which means YouTube is serving up your content as a suggestion for people, right? Like, hey, here's a video. Or people are searching to find you. You have to make sure that your title and thumbnail is presented in a way that is clickable. So posting with a plan comes down to understanding this thing that I call the hierarchy of viewer decisions. So a lot of creators, when we're just starting out, we think it's as simple as I post the video and then people watch it. But we forget that there are several steps before people just watch your video. People just don't jump in to your video. And a common thing that I'll hear is like, man, I don't know why I'm not getting as many views. Like, my content is better than people. I did research, Nathan. I did look around. I did try to study some competition. And, like, my content's better. I have more credentials, I have more experience. I'm putting more effort into my videos. But the mistake is not putting the same level of effort or more into how you're presenting it. This is what the game of YouTube all boils down to. And this is why it's actually worth spending more time working on the overall idea, your title, your thumbnail, your script than it is actually recording the video itself. Not to say that it's not important, but to get these sort of results, you won't get them without people clicking you, and you won't get people clicking without them seeing you. And what they see has to be something that's enticing. So it's not as simple as people jump into your video. The third piece that I see these creators working through as well is they're thinking through a Call to Action, a cta. And this actually is having having the strategy to think about. Because I post a video, not only am I hoping to get views, not only am I hoping to get subscribers, but I'm actually hoping to encourage people to take some sort of action that could benefit you off the platform. And so I see a lot of creators are able to monetize from the very beginning. So, for example, the creators that I was referencing before, Kat and Cho, when they jumped back in and restarted their YouTube channel, that second video was an outlier. You know, what was in there was a call to action to point people towards their course, to point people towards a lead magnet. And so this, again, is YouTube. Strong start. You're like, nathan, what the heck? If you're saying that you probably just need to go record a video, get off the starting line, then come back and apply this framework into your upcoming uploads. But if you're really trying to get the strongest start possible on YouTube, you are going to be thinking about, okay, what are the ways I could get people to do things off platform? Getting on an email list, checking out other websites that you have created or other products and services that you have available, this is huge. I mean, there's no way around it. This will take some time, but it's absolutely worth it. In posting with a plan is the way that you can get closer to these outlier results. These are what these students are doing. And by the way, one of our favorite tools to use for this whole posting with a plan Part of the process is Vidiq. They make the process of validating video ideas, thinking about titles, even coming up with thumbnail designs. This whole process can happen actually within seconds through their tools. And right now you can jump in for $1 if you go to vidiq.com think to get access to their full suite of creator tools, it's again $1. You'll get 30 days of their pro plan to be able to unlock everything. And especially if you are trying to have a strong start to YouTube or that strong next video, spending more time planning and having tools that will help you plan better is going to be the secret sauce. So again, that's vidiq.com think we've got the link in the show notes as well. The fourth thing that these channels all have in common that are seeing early success is they don't go it alone. Creators that get these early results almost always have someone in their corner in some way, shape or form. And because the reality is you can't see your own blind spots and to be able to have a video in your first 2, 3, 4 uploads that gets these kinds of results, it's almost always on purpose. So even getting coaching from something like a YouTube video or a podcast just like this totally counts. You could also be starting this journey with other people you're keeping in contact with or you know, someone that's doing the same thing so you don't feel like you're by yourself. The whole point is to have a feedback loop of some kind. And that's what these channels have is some way as they step through the process to be getting feedback because you don't know what you don't know, especially when you're just starting. And so to have someone who's been there before look over your work will ensure the strongest start possible because you're actually taking in strategies and advice that's been curated for what you're trying to accomplish. Talk about the strongest start to YouTube. Not going alone and assembling your own Avengers is the best way, the strongest start because you get to combine all of the experience of other people to give you feedback along the way and to help you learn that much quicker. And by the way, this is exactly what Sheri had. She had just jumped into one of our free YouTube challenges that we do and she followed the process, went through all the steps. She had coaching and accountability along the way, but and then published her first video. And if you think that might be helpful. If you're like man, I would love to be able to go through all of these steps with somebody to be able to help me do my homework, to keep things simple, to help me post with a plan and to not go alone. Would love to personally invite you to our next Mastermind. It's right around the corner and this is the place to be to get hands on in person eyes on your channel to help you strategize your next steps to connect with other people that are on the same journey as you where you can learn the most up to date information when it comes to growing on YouTube and especially if you're looking to take this from a part time thing to a full time thing. Again, this event isn't for everyone, but if you'd like to apply, you can do so@thinkmediamastermind.com link is in the show notes below. In the meantime, let me know which of these steps are you struggling with or which of these steps do you think you've done? Well, Would love to hear about it down below 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.