← The Think Media Podcast
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- [00:00]
A
Hey, before we jump into the show, I wanted to give you a heads up that my free YouTube strategy class is available right now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com on the class, I reveal the one YouTube strategy we use at Think Media to generate over 330,000 views every single day. So if you're new to YouTube, this will help you start right and avoid mistakes. And if you're a YouTube pro, this training will help you multiply your. Your growth. This class is 100% free, and you can watch it now on demand@thinkmasterclass.com now let's jump into today's show. You don't need to quit your job. You don't even really need to show your face or have a lot of free time to win on YouTube. Lisa's built a YouTube channel that just last year brought in $40,000 of income. With five kids, a full time nursing job, and, oh, a two hour daily commute.
- [00:55]
B
Anybody that's out there that is thinking about doing a faceless channel, it's not as hard as you think.
- [01:00]
A
Kids are out of the house. Maybe there's, there's some extra time. What would you say to that person who's thinking about jumping into this YouTube thing? Welcome to the Think Media Podcast, the number one show bringing you unfiltered tips for building a profitable YouTube channel. I'm Nathan Eswine, one of the co hosts here of the Think Media podcast. And today I'm hanging out with Lisa Goodwin, who's made a channel that's called the DIY Diva. I just want to say, first and foremost, we got a lot to learn from you. I'm excited to hear about what you've been up to. I'm stoked for this conversation. How are you doing today?
- [01:30]
B
I am fabulous. And I am just, I'm like, beyond honored to be able to be on the Think Media podcast because I've listened to every. I've listened to, like every one of the podcast episodes, some of them even two or three times. And I hear Sean in the back of my head, you know, all his little Sean. I guess you could say it's kind of mannerisms, but it's like Shauna Rhysms.
- [01:54]
A
Yes. Love it. I love it. Well, maybe we can pull out a few of those, right? You know, success leaves clues. Make part twos. Chasing multiple rabbits. Hey, I'm with you. We can nerd out about it, but I'd love it if you could get everyone up to speed here. Your channel right now is currently sitting about 60,000 subscribers. Would you Mind just explaining your channel and your niche, like what are the kinds of videos you're making?
- [02:14]
B
You bet. So my channel is the DIY Diva. And I love to make things, I love to craft and I like to share my ideas with other people to show them that you can have nice things, you can make nice things for your home and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. So that is where my whole focus is. And it's just so much fun to craft. And actually for me, I really enjoy making YouTube videos. I enjoy the editing process. So it's like a well rounded create creative outlet for myself.
- [02:48]
A
I love it. It's almost like, you know, looking at some of your videos, it's almost like you can feel that double joy that you have about the thing you're doing, but then also the fact that you're making a video for somebody. So anyway, that's just really cool to like to actually watch as I was going through your channel. But I would love to jump in, if you don't mind, if we can kind of just kick this episode off hot and heavy. Like what I said was, no joke, full time job, you've got a long commute, you have a full family. And you know, I would love to walk through your YouTube schedule and I'd love to just start here because this is a lot of, this is the, this is the very thing that a lot of creators are trying to crack, which is like, what do I do when I'm tired? What do I do when like life happens? And like I have this, all these other responsibilities, how do I actually make YouTube work in the margins? I thought we'd start here because clearly you've got this dialed in. And so I'd love to walk through your YouTube schedule and what a typical day or even week looks like for you. You up for that?
- [03:43]
B
Absolutely. So, okay, so Monday through Friday, I work 8 to 5. I have to drive an hour in the morning, hour in the evening. So a lot of times what I'll do is I will always be listening to podcast, YouTube podcasts, you know, trying to think, okay, what am I going to do to be 1% better? What can I do? Every single video. And then I literally make lists. So I have tons and tons of lists. I love lists.
- [04:09]
A
Let's go.
- [04:10]
B
That's your best friend.
- [04:12]
A
We love it. Okay, so right here before we keep going, it's just funny, you've already dropped the gym that someone might have missed. And the fact is you're turning your commute into a classroom. Right. Like, yes. You know what I mean? And so can we hang here for just a second? Because I think this is a missed opportunity is trying to hack, so to speak, the stuff you're already doing in your busy life. You know what you're already doing? Getting in the car and driving to work for a lot of people. You're using this as an opportunity to double dip. Yeah, I gotta get to work, but what can I do on the way? So could you actually break down even in a little bit more detail, you're listening to podcasts or would you be listening to like, course modules? Are you, like, how do you use this time? What have you learned about getting the most out of this car time?
- [04:52]
B
A lot of times I have my, like my playlist. Think media is always on my playlist and I'm always looking for new ideas and new things that I can introduce into my own, like a next video I'm going to be making or something nice. Then I also listen to a lot of, not only podcasts, but sometimes I'm not watching the videos, but I do. Sometimes I'll have somebody pop into my head that, oh, they were talking about this, they were talking about filming or whatever. Something that I can listen to and not really have to focus on, you know, like, because I'm like driving down the road and going, oh, oh, yeah, that's really interesting. Oh, wait a minute. So. But I like to, I like to have a plan for everything. And even before I get in my car and start driving to work, the big thing I think that helps me a lot is I am, I'm not a night owl. I am definitely a morning person. So typically I will get up at 4am between 4 and 4:30 in the morning.
- [05:54]
A
Whoa.
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B
And so that is like my. For me, myself, I've found that that's the best time for me to work on my editing or my video or even to like piece things together. And then that way I have that done every single morning I get up and I'm working on a video. I'm. That's just like, that is the most important time because I know that's when I'm going to get the most accomplished.
- [06:18]
A
Okay, so huge right here. Because common advice, especially in kind of our culture right now around this creator thing or building your own business thing is this idea of like hustles, like, get up early, stay up late. What you're saying is, okay, you've chosen to get up early. Do you mind if I ask how much time does that give you by any reason you chose 4:00am like, is that before you get out the door to work, like, how much time does that give you to work on YouTube stuff?
- [06:43]
B
I think that's because I'm getting older, so I'm.
- [06:48]
A
That's the ham right there.
- [06:50]
B
Just an early person. And I love getting up. And once my brain, like, kicks in between 4 and 4:30 in the morning, I'm like, okay, okay, just. Just get up and start doing something. So I make my coffee the night before, turn on the coffee pot, go turn on my computer, get ready. And then it just. It just goes. That is when I'm the most productive.
- [07:10]
A
Oh, my goodness. I just, like, the coach in me is just lighting up all over the place. Lisa. Cause it's like, this is. And this matters so much. We have a lot to get into. I can't wait to talk about your videos. Your how do you do video? Ideas, thumbnails, all the good things. But it's like, for someone who's listening, who's trying to figure out how to make this work, it's like, this is probably the conversation you need when. Which is why we're starting here. How are you supposed to do anything with the titles and the thumbnails and the editing if you can't identify where to place it? So what you've chosen to do, real life example, you're up at 4am every day because it's in line with your natural rhythms anyway, so you're gonna put some time in before you leave. And then in your. On your drive, you are learning and ideating before you even get to work. So that's crazy. How do you feel at work? Do you mind if I ask, like, having gone through all of this in the morning, I don't know, do you have ideas buzzing all day, or do you, like. I would imag feel a little proud. Right? Like, you get to work and it's like, man, you've already, like, sown some seeds over here in this YouTube thing.
- [08:05]
B
Oh, no, no, no, no. I don't get proud. I'm just like, okay, onto the next thing. So when I get like a sense
- [08:11]
A
of, like, accomplishment where you're like, I just know for me, like, when I got it, it'll be like, man, okay, like, I already did something today. Like, I chose myself first, so to speak, before jumping into the job.
- [08:20]
B
True.
- [08:21]
A
Yeah, true.
- [08:22]
B
Yeah. And I do especially, I have to say, so I like to have a pretty set schedule because it just. It's become a habit and it works the best for me. So when I Have a video that I'm getting ready to publish, and I know it's going to come out on the day that I want it to. On that day. I feel very accomplished when I go to work, and I'm like. And it's not that a weight is lifted off or anything. It's just like, I did it then I really. That's the moment when I feel proud, when I put all of these pieces together. Everything's come together, it's working, it's flowing. And then, boom, hit that publish button. It's scheduled, ready to go. And I'm like, yay. Happy dance.
- [08:59]
A
Let's go. Hey, that sounds like a creator on a mission. Video published equals the win. I love it. Okay, so already we're talking about how you're starting your day. Well, we're starting it. You like getting after things when you get. Okay, so you do work. Does anything happen during work? I don't know, breaks, lunchtimes in relation to YouTube. And by the way, what is your day job?
- [09:20]
B
My day job is I am a registered nurse, and I focus on diabetic foot care and orthopedics, primarily for people's feet, which is completely off the spectrum of what my YouTube channel is.
- [09:34]
A
I was gonna say yes. And also, though a pretty demanding job, I would imagine. Like, that's not an easy thing you're dealing with people with. Right. Helping people. And I'm sure all the admin and everything you have to do on your feet a lot during the day. Okay, so like, how. What. What are some things maybe you're doing during your workday over the years that have helped you still kind of work and chip away?
- [09:53]
B
At the YouTube thing, I always have my list. So I will literally be just, you know, writing things down. I'll have an idea pop into my head. I write it down. My lunch break. I get an hour every day for lunch. Typically, sometimes it doesn't happen, but when it does, I. Since I do live pretty far away from town and I want to make the most of the time that I do have, so what I'll do if I. If there's things that I need to buy for an upcoming video or if I need to get some, you know, film footage from, say, Pottery Barn or Goodwill Dollar Tree, I'll use my lunch hour and I'll go shopping for the stuff that I need. So that way, when I'm home on the weekends, that's my filming time.
- [10:34]
A
Oh, so smart. Okay, so I can't wait to get into your video process because you are clearly there's a level of systems and being dialed in here that has to exist as someone who's doing this with the full life that you have. So you're, you already kind of know what's going on, like on your lunch break and you know what's coming up. So stoked to talk about that. You mentioned weekends, how it sounds like you're trying to film on the weekends.
- [10:56]
B
How do you use those usually on the weekends? Those are my filming days, especially Saturday. A lot of times Saturday I will have the videos already kind of on the back burner of what I want to be doing, especially for the crafting. And I'll make sure I have everything. Then I just sit at my, my craft table and I get really excited about that too because I can just sit at my craft table and just craft and just have fun and do a project and then I'm like get so excited because then I get to, you know, put everything together. But then once I have all the crafts finished, it's like, oh my gosh, it's done and it's so pretty. And then I'll put it on a shelf or something and do like my B roll video for that for the ending. And it's just like. So it's almost like when I finish a video, but it's when I finish a craft as well. So I just, Yeah, I try to get as much done as I can on Saturday and Sunday, filming wise.
- [11:50]
A
Yeah.
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B
Because when I get home from work, that's usually I'm kind of like, I'm like I'm not in. That's not my zone. So much.
- [11:58]
A
Yes.
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B
So but that I will do thumbnails. I will work on video, on the titles, I'll work on my descriptions. And I just have like a running Google Doc. Well, I probably have at least, probably five or six hundred Google Docs. I'm like, oh, video ideas. Oh, wait, I just saw this video. I want to put this in. Oh, wait, key. You know, tags. I know tags aren't important, but I'm still going to put these tags in there.
- [12:23]
A
Oh my. I love this. Okay, so kindred spirit here to Sean and to myself and a lot of us. I think media is the Google Doc. The reliable, trusty Google Doc. Okay, so evenings are kind of off. I mean, it sounds like you're still doing stuff, but it's like prime time for you. Seems to be morning commute to work. Actually, during work, evenings are banked for filming. Do you mind if I ask the question that someone's probably Thinking about right now, because I did mention something at the top of the episode, which is five kids. So, like, how does the whole family thing, if I can phrase it that way, fit into to this? Like, how. How do you. What do you make of that? What have you learned about balance or play or, like, I don't know, like, how do you navigate this through your week?
- [13:05]
B
Kids always come first. Kids and family, no matter what. That's. That's first. First and foremost is family. And this is. This is kind of like my me time, my quiet time. Thankfully, most of my kids are grown and I'm a grandmother now, which is really cool. So I have grandbabies and I love them, but it's, you know, it's just, you do what you've got to do in order to get things done, and if that means that I've got to be planning 24 hours a day, and then I do, because it's. I just. This is really important to me. I. I enjoy it. I love filming, I love making crafts, and I love sharing it with the world, too. So I will make time for it. And I know that everybody has downtime and you have it. You're just like, I'm not feeling it today.
- [13:55]
A
And.
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B
And that's okay. And I think that I've learned that I have to give myself grace when that happens, because it's gonna happen.
- [14:03]
A
Yeah, that's right. It is gonna happen. I. I love you just naming this right off the bat, and I'd like to shift gears and kind of move into your content creation process and stuff. But I appreciate you starting here because this is the conversation we're having a lot of which is something's gotta give. It's kind of, you know, like, actually this idea of balance some people might push back on because it's like, there's no way everything is exactly at the same level all times, every hour of the day. Point is what you've described. And I think if you're listening podcasts and you can. If you can hear or see in Lisa's voice is like, she. She really is excited about this. You actually are fired up about this YouTube thing about what you're doing on it. Your niche that you've chosen, and that itself is its own fuel source that then motivates you and moves you to be like, yeah, okay, 4:00am it is. Okay. Commute's going to look a little different now. It's like it's my own little library, you know? And then, hey, if I'm like, I got a Google Doc, you know what I'm saying? And I'm just like dropping stuff in there. It's like propelling you through all of this and yet you're still here saying family first. And guess what, you're going to have off days. And guess what, you can have grace for yourself and move on. So I just want to say, like, I appreciate this. Thanks for taking up the coach role here at the beginning of this episode because I know someone needed to hear that. I would love to jump into your content. Is it true that you're still faceless, mostly faceless, on your YouTube channel? Like, have you shown your face before? Real quick, if you're listening or watching to this right now and you're totally identifying, you're like, this is me. Got the full time job, not a lot of spare time. I want to encourage you. It's actually not about finding more time as much as it is about having a system for how you actually go about creating videos in your real life. This is about getting way more strategic than you are right now. And I want to encourage you that this is something that Lisa had to learn. She didn't just know this right away. And she actually was one of our students inside of Video Ranking Academy, which is this repeatable way to research Reverse Engineer instead of guessing when it comes to your videos. And we actually put the core of that whole strategy into a free class. You can check that out@thinkmasterclass.com again, that's thinkmasterclass.com link is in the description and show notes down below. All right, back to Lisa. Is it true that you're still faceless, mostly faceless, on your YouTube channel? Like, have you shown your face before?
- [16:14]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [16:14]
A
Okay.
- [16:15]
B
I just show my face occasionally. A lot of times my focus is more on my crafting and what the actual craft is. So what I've. I actually started dabbling a little bit into Etsy as well. So what I've been doing is like sharing the different projects and the different things that you can make with the things that I make. So it's like the beginning of the video will start off and it's me and then I'm talking through the whole thing, which is actually easy, a little bit easier because then I don't have to come down to our studio, which is our basement, and do a voiceover. And then, you know, it's almost like that's a four step process for editing. So if I'm doing it this way, then I'm knocking out extra steps and I have everything done in One sitting. And it's, it just, it seems to work. So I am doing a little bit more of my face on the camera.
- [17:12]
A
Yeah.
- [17:13]
B
And. But doing it faceless is so it's a lot easier for some aspects, but then not for other aspects like the editing part versus voiceover versus oh, I got to make sure my hair looks okay. Oh my gosh, my wrinkles are showing. Oh, no.
- [17:30]
A
But this is real stuff though. This is, this is a real, a genuine factor in doing this YouTube stuff. And I do want to say you've said it's been, it seemed to, seems to have worked. I would just want to kindly point out I appreciate your humility, but for someone who's listening, like, your most popular videos have well over hundreds of thousands of views, nearly half a million views. And your most popular, most popular too. So, like, it is working and it's from this approach. And I wonder if you could speak to someone who's considering this. Like, how would you talk to maybe, I don't know, like a younger Lisa who's maybe back at the beginning of this and is thinking through the faceless approach. How would you have encouraged yourself to walk through that decision knowing what you know now?
- [18:10]
B
I wish that I had this motivation when I was younger. I wish I had the focus to actually sit down and do this because I've always been a crafter. I just, I never thought about YouTube and making videos for other people. And I think part of it was that I, I didn't feel like the things that I could make would be as good as some of the things that I've seen other people make. And then I just, one day I was like, you know what? I'm going to make videos. So my first channel was not crafting. It was all horse related. But I had a craft video actually. It was like a trash can planter video that went crazy. And I should have known right then and there you need to switch your channel, you need to switch your focus. So. But if I would have just like stuck with it, maybe it's because I've, you know, I've lived. I'm older now, so I know what I want to accomplish. And I just. Anybody that's out there that is thinking about doing faceless, a faceless channel. It's not as hard as you think. The camera, you can, you can edit it out. If you have an oopsie, edit it out. Or if you want to be more genuine. A lot of times people like to see that. They want to see the mistakes and things like that. Because it's like, hey, she is human.
- [19:32]
A
That's right. This is a great reminder because. And I'd also love for. Maybe we can clarify what faceless means in your context. Because I actually really love this approach to your content, which, if I could phrase it this way, not that you aren't planning, you certainly are, but just it's like the way that you're pulling it off is almost like this documenting approach. Because it's like you're, you're an artist, so you're doing the thing. Like you are crafting, you're creating, you're building things, but you're kind of documenting how you're doing it for the sake of a YouTube video. And so I would love to kind of like, how does that look like? Because when a lot of people hear Faceless Channel, especially in the age we're in now, we, a lot of people will jump to, oh, AI. Or it's like, like an AI avatar that's some software generated for you. Or it's like it's all virtual. It's all like slides or something. But your Faceless for you actually involves you. Right? It just involves your hands. It's this like top down angle of you filming yourself, right?
- [20:31]
B
Yes. Which, that was a work in progress because when I first started doing it, I was trying to figure out how to get the camera so that it would be like overhead. And I'm like, we have it at an angle and it's, you know, and it's like, okay, now I got to make sure I get the angle of it. So it's just trial and error, trial and error. And then we had a thing where we built and it went on the side of my desk. And every time I would start sanding a project, the whole thing would start shaking. And I'm going, okay, I got, I got to switch that. So it's just trial and error. And now I finally figured out a system that we have a camera mount from the ceiling that drops down and my desk is right underneath it. So that way I can. I have my desk, I have this mat that actually is set up so I know exactly where my filming range is.
- [21:21]
A
Smart.
- [21:22]
B
And then I don't have to mess around with any of the, like, anything from the camera itself. It's a. I don't even know what is it. It's a Sony camera. It's the A's something. It's one of the mirrorless cameras.
- [21:36]
A
Yeah, yeah.
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B
So it films in 4K. And then when I'm editing it, I can zoom in and out without affect, affecting any of the, of the image.
- [21:45]
A
Can we talk about what's your process for finding in packaging videos? So packaging videos, if you're listening, is just kind of like, okay, what's the title? What's the thumbnail? What's like the idea that I'm working with? I'd love to hear how you, exactly how you walk through deciding what you're going to make next. Like, what do you do with the spark of an idea and how do you find those ideas and how do you bring it through the finish line? I know that's quite a big question so we can get together but like how do you come up with ideas for videos? Start there.
- [22:15]
B
A lot of times I'm inspired by watching other people watching. There's. I have YouTube channels that I love to watch, crafters that I love to watch. But another thing that I like to do in this, I look at Pottery Barn for inspiration. Different.
- [22:30]
A
Oh, nice.
- [22:31]
B
You know, Crate and Barrel, different high end stores. And I'm like, how did they do that? So then my brain starts ticking of how could I do something like that? And we are so fortunate and so lucky where we are now versus 10 years ago with all of the, you know, okay, some people may not like AI, but it just makes the research so much easier. And you can bounce ideas. It's like I have an assistant that actually helps me and Even within the YouTube studio, all of the help that's there for us and the inspiration tab, I mean you can be inspired just by looking at, you know, some of the things that they've offered now. Some of the video suggestions I'm looking at, I'm like, yeah, I don't think that's really possible. But you know, it's, we are just so lucky. So I will look up ideas, I will look on Google, I will, you know, go back through my history of my previous videos and just trying to bounce things off of my brain. And then also sometimes I'll actually ask my husband, which is really funny because he's like, yeah, I'm not a crafty person. And I'm like, I know, but what do you think of this? And he's like, that's cute. Like, okay, that's.
- [23:46]
A
And we have to like divulge a secret really quick. Not so much a secret, but like your husband is in the same YouTube building thing too and it's because of you, right? I mean like quick little shout out. You've essentially coached your husband to a successful YouTube channel. Could you like briefly explain what he's doing, how that happened.
- [24:07]
B
One of my, like, I guess, bucket listings that I want to accomplish is I want, I want that little YouTube button. The little plaque.
- [24:16]
A
Yes, yes, the.
- [24:21]
B
I'm. He's going to get there before I am because he started his channel and he's at over 80,000 now. I'm kind of his inspiration because I'll, I'll see something, or even looking through my emails and I'll see like, you know, they put the headlines that they want you to, oh, open this email. And I'm like, that would make a good video. It's so good. And he actually, I told him there was one video that I watched and it was an AI channel and it was just a AI voice talking. I think it was like the 15 foods you that never expire. So he made it. I told him, you need to make this video. And he did. He has over 5 million views on that video. Oh my.
- [25:01]
A
Okay, so you know what? Actually, Lisa, the actual hack came out is you, if you're listening, you just need to live with someone who's chosen the same lifestyle and then you just battle each other to perfection. You know, you're just gonna. I mean, it's a joke, but also, how cool. Like this whole other thing, whole other way that you all could be connected is 5 million views. What are we talking about? About? Okay, okay. So clearly you have found success yourself, sharing the success with your husband. The whole family is in on YouTube. This is awesome. How do you use AI? Maybe I'll just ask you that way. Like at the beginning stage of a video, you mentioned your AI can be a helpful assistant. What does that mean to you? Because a lot, there's a lot of AI overwhelm that's happening right now because we're told there's a tool for literally anything. It used to be the saying of like, there's an app for that. It's like, now there's an AI for that, or you can go build your own app for that. We're just in quite a landscape. So how do you navigate AI? How do you use AI as an assistant? That's been helpful for you as you're coming up with video ideas?
- [26:08]
B
Well, if you think about it, we're all using AI right now every single day. Anytime you put something into Google, say, how do I do this? How do I do this? Google? It's an AI that's helping, and that's helping to answer your question. So I actually have. I have chat GPT and I have made a couple of custom GPTs, I'm not very good at that. But even just putting in ideas and even the YouTube, on the back end of the YouTube studio, there's an AI in there as well. But at first when AI was coming on the scene, I was like, okay, nobody has watched Terminator, have they? They don't understand this is what's going to. Is going to take over the world. You don't get it. This is kind of. Then I figured out, okay, I just started talking. Not really talking to it, but asking questions, diving a little bit deeper with some research like, okay, this is the audience that I want to connect with. What are these people looking for?
- [27:06]
A
That's huge. Okay, so, I mean, that's again, just more of your system and being dialed in. And AI is just simp. It's just a part of it. It's another tool. Like you just mentioned, your Google Calendar is a tool. AI systems and processes can be the same thing. Do you find it helpful when you're brainstorming titles? Do you mind if we talk about YouTube titles for your videos? Like, yes. What's your process there? You mentioned getting inspired. So, like, kind of copying and tasting, so to speak. Here's an idea. Even if it's not in your niche, I loved how you explained that it could be in an adjacent niche, or my favorite is an entirely different niche because all of us have different interests, all of us have different YouTube homepages. So even if your niche is photography as an example, it doesn't mean you couldn't get inspired by something else you enjoy, which is woodworking. And you see a video that you watched from a woodworking channel because you're naturally interested, but you adopt this other set of goggles, so to speak, which is like, you're not just watching YouTube videos as a consumer, you are also watching YouTube videos as a creator, which I can tell you can't turn that off either. And so I'm sure you're like, oh, that title. Or, oh, how they did that in the video. So what's the title process for you look like now?
- [28:12]
B
I like to see if I can create curiosity. But I should say I do have one more AI tool I forgot about because I just use it.
- [28:20]
A
Vidiq Shout Out.
- [28:22]
B
Yeah, Vidiq is awesome. Because I'm going, okay, I like this title. I think I'm going to use this. So I will. When I upload my video to YouTube, then I'll have my working title and I'll probably go through like five or six until I kind of fine tune it myself a little bit. And I'm going, you know, I'm just not loving this. But when I put it up on YouTube and then Vidiq says, you know, we can give you some ideas. And so then I look at their ideas and I look like to look at, see where they rank. Not always is that going to give me the best idea. And sometimes I kind of buck the system and like, you know, no, I'm not going with that this time. Yeah, I'm going to trust my gut on this one. And sometimes you have to, because it's not going to be right all the time. But that also then helps to inspire me to go, okay, well, I could change this or I could change the front of it, or I could change the back end of it and just kind of play around. But I think everything is a work in progress. So even videos that I've done a year ago, I still go back and look and it's like, well, let's see if I can make this thumbnail better. Let's see if I can change this title and make this a little bit more interesting now versus what it was a year ago.
- [29:33]
A
That. Could we hang here for a second? So does that mean that you are actually going back to videos you've already posted in, changing those videos titles and thumbnails, or are you drawing inspiration for the future videos?
- [29:45]
B
Oh, no, I changed those too.
- [29:47]
A
Let's talk about that. Okay, so you're literally going back to older videos, changing titles, changing thumbnails. This is a common question that we'll get. How do you approach that? I'd love to hear.
- [29:56]
B
Well, again, I look at Vidiq when it, you know, I'm bringing it up and, and I look at the. I look at my views, I look at how much time people are spending on it, and I look at the thumbnail now versus what I was looking at it a year ago. And what we're seeing it through our own lenses. And it's like, you know, that's. That just doesn't work right now.
- [30:17]
A
So good.
- [30:18]
B
It's. I remember, like, a long time ago, people would tell you if you wrote a book or something to put it away for a couple of months, pull out the manuscript again, and then reread it and see what you thought. So to me, it's like doing that step where I'm going back and saying, oh, no, let's, let's change this. And usually I get, I can sometimes get the video to go back up a little bit. It's not going to go huge, but sometimes it will increase. And then I some, I mean, like some of the videos that I posted last year, and I know it's because of the time of year, but those are my most popular videos now.
- [30:56]
A
Okay, that's awesome. Because I love this approach of going back and doing this to older videos that you've posted. I do always. I'm hesitant to answer this with a blanket, yes, go do it, because I think it's dependent on the stage that you're in as well. So someone like you, I would say, who's a veteran in the YouTube space at this point, 10 years, multiple channels, all the good things, you, you just, you can look at an older video of yours and you have that skill set that you've developed to be like, oh, yeah, maybe I would tweak this or change this. I think a lot. If you're more at the beginning stage and you're just starting YouTube, you know, I'd love to hear what you think, Lisa. I often, often am recommending just keep going. Kind of just like keep, keep making videos. Count the uploads, not the views, until you've actually developed enough of a SK set to be able to go back and change things. But. So when did you start going back and changing things?
- [31:44]
B
Probably within the last six months. It hasn't been for very long. But I do have to say, I do love how you guys always talk about your counting uploads. That's what you need to focus on. You don't count subscribers, count the uploads. And I'm like, that is such good advice that I wish when I started that I had. Because the more you upload, the better you're going to get the. You're going to get better at your thumbnails, you're going to get better at your titles, descriptions, the video production itself. So it's. I could not agree more. That's probably one of the wisest things that I have heard. And it's.
- [32:19]
A
It's true, man. Well, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. It's a different scoreboard, right? It's a different scoreboard. Could we talk about something that's a little taboo in the YouTube space? Tags, keywords, SEO. You know, you mentioned tags, I think, a little bit earlier, even if you're like, you know, as something that you would jot down potentially. So, like, how do you. What's your approach with tags, keywords, especially, you know, in your niche where there could be very specific things that you're making videos about. Or products you're reviewing or what have you. How do these, what do you make of tags and keywords this year?
- [32:57]
B
You know, I think that everybody says that tags, you don't need them, they're not important. But I look at it, if they weren't important and we didn't need them, why do we still have that space when we're doing the upload port? Why hasn't YouTube gotten rid of that? So to me, I'm gonna keep putting tags in because to me, that's what my video is about. And so it's like, if it's a dollar tree video, I'm putting dollar tree. If it is, you know, Thanksgiving, I'm putting Thanksgiving. And any words that I can, that I think it's important, it's gotta, even if it's gonna get like 0.5% of the viewers are going to type in Thanksgiving and my video comes up, I'll take it because that's someone else that I'm reaching.
- [33:44]
A
I love that answer, Lisa. And that might, that might be one of my favorite answers because we just get in the weeds so much about this in the YouTube strategy space, which is its own interesting little niche. But, like, I love how you answer that. It's like, well, kind of like if the box is still there, you know, it's like it must do something, you know, or YouTube wouldn't have it there. But I love how you phrase that, like the keyword stuff. Yeah. YouTube has openly admitted it's not as big a deal now for, you know, for a video's performance. But I, I, it's almost like there's this counter argument to it, which you articulated, which is like, if you do keyword research and you become aware of tags that your audience is using, you become aware of how your audience is looking for things, phrasing things, and that is invaluable data to me because now you know how to better reach the people you're trying to, if you're aware of how they're talking. And tags and keyword research can help do that. So I, I love that answer. Before we jump into, like, money, which kind of, wow, check out that segue before we just talk about money, which I'm excited to, I, I wanted to ask you one more question because the, your second most popular video on your, on your DIY channel has 463,000 views as of the time you and I are recording this. But, but the video length is over 40 minutes. Your fourth most popular video of all time has nearly 200,000 views and the video is just under three hours long. So like I get stoked when I look at a channel and I see, wow, we have like. And even honestly your most popular video is already over an hour, right? It's an hour and a half and you've got like nearly half a million views. You've clearly been successful with very long videos that are racking up hundreds of thousands of views. I thought we were all supposed to make shorter videos. I thought we were all supposed to make 12 minute videos. Here you are crushing it with super long form. How was this on purpose? Like how did you get a video to be that long? What's the strategy behind these longer videos?
- [35:41]
B
The strategy behind that is I have lots of other crafty people, crafty friends that are in the crafty space of videos and people like to watch compilation videos. So getting the watch time is important. Excuse me, getting the views is important and having them stay on the platform as long as possible is very important. So what I like to do is do a compilation video. So it's like taking videos from the past, compiling them into one giant video. Especially when it is around things such as crafting. Because people love Christmas crafts and they love Thanksgiving like fall crafting. So if I can take from this 250 videos that I have from this channel and compile a two and a half hour long video with these crafts just by season, wow. It's like, you know, especially if you don't have the time because life happens and you know you've got stuff to do. So if you don't have the time, you can go back, take the videos that you do have, chop them down, redo them, but you're still using. You're just re. I'm reusing my content.
- [37:02]
A
That's incredible and is such. It's like your catalog, your videos just become this ever growing asset vault, so to speak. Right? Because what you're saying here and for you know, as an example, you know, if you're listening is kind of like. So your most popular video is just under two hours. The title twenty Dollar Tree Christmas Crafts. You have to try another popular video that is longer. Eighteen Dollar Tree Craft room organization hacks and ideas. And then my favorite here, the three hour monster video with a couple hundred thousand views is 40 easy Christmas DIY is the best decor ideas for 2024. This was, you know, when he did that. So like I'm just thinking through 20, 18, 40. But I also see that you've messed around with like five, like five things, 10 things and so when you think about, I guess, someone who's listening, and it was like, ooh, maybe they just had an idea. They're on their commute, you know, and they, oh, there's an idea. Lisa just gave an idea. Compilation video. What would be some, like, big sister advice that you would pass on of, like, hey, okay, before you go to this compilation thing, here's a couple things I've learned, because clearly you've done this with great success, but anything you'd pass on to someone who's about to go try a compilation video here in the next couple weeks.
- [38:19]
B
Yes. You need to get a. What are those? The. The drives where you can keep all of your videos.
- [38:25]
A
The hard drives or external hard drive? Yeah, yeah.
- [38:28]
B
You want the removable hard drive so that you can. Once you've uploaded your video to YouTube, do not get rid of it. You want to keep that video because you can revisit that in the future. Your future. You. And take those videos and you can make a compilation. You can also use those for B roll in the future. So if you're just sitting, you know, talking, but you want to have something be interesting for your viewers, you've. If you've got 100 videos, if you've got 50 videos, you probably have a lot of B roll that you could be using and utilizing for future videos, depending on what your content is. For me, it's easy because I have this focus on crafting. I could probably, with the videos that I have right now, make five videos where I'm just sitting here talking and have B roll going over almost the entire video and just showing, you know, different craft tools or, you know, these are the best things for your craft room. These are the best ways to organize. Most affordable. I mean, literally, I can just sit here and start thinking things. I'm gonna have to start writing them down now. Nathan.
- [39:34]
A
Hey. Ideas in real time. Here we go. Okay, so that's a genius move. Don't rely on, like, trying to download the videos from YouTube. They're going to be far less quality. Be saving your videos into some sort of external storage source, be it the cloud, be it a hard drive. And then I would kind of like a tactical nerdy question. When you put stitching together these videos, what does that look like in your editing timeline? Like, are you literally just like, back to back to back to back? Is there anything you're cutting out in videos? Will you kind of. Will you re. Hook the video, so to speak? Right. Like, if it's like, you're coming into 40 Christmas, you know, crafts. Do you keep, like, the same intro from one of your old videos? Will you film something new? How do you approach that from, like, is there anything new I need to punch in or anything old I should remove?
- [40:21]
B
Right. I totally will. When I first started doing it, I just put them all together, put a new intro on it and a new ending. That was it.
- [40:30]
A
Great.
- [40:31]
B
Now I'm getting a little more savvy as far as that goes, because I don't want to just, you know, put six Christmas craft videos together. And have they. You already did that last year. So now I'll just piece it out and I will bring all of those into my editing software, all of the videos, and then I'll bring down the music because I do like to put music in. Not as much, though, as I used to.
- [40:53]
A
Yeah.
- [40:53]
B
And I'll take the music out and then I will chop and I will. Like what. I don't know what they call that where you're, you know, doing something to where you're Just a lot of it ends up on the cutting room floor.
- [41:05]
A
Yes, right. A lot. You're just kind of like removing any fluff from videos.
- [41:09]
B
Any fluff?
- [41:09]
A
Yeah, any fluff. Okay, Got you. Nice. But the cool thing. So that's still some work you're doing, but. But still less. Because imagine, like, if you were to try to film a 40, like, from scratch, or like, there's like weeks of time. Right. Okay, so that's awesome. Could we talk about now shifting gears a little bit to how you're monetizing things, how you've connected your YouTube channel, the videos that you're putting out to money, for lack of just putting it bluntly, like, because YouTube's paying you, you've. You're obviously monetized. And by the way, do you remember how long it took you to get monetized on this channel?
- [41:43]
B
This channel I started in April. So I think this April was my third year for the channel.
- [41:49]
A
Cool.
- [41:50]
B
But my very first year, April, and then I was monetized, I want to say, by November, the same year. It was either October or November the same year.
- [41:59]
A
So it's like 6ish months or something. Oh, okay. Wow. Well, that's. That's very quick. Okay, so the channel is like three years ish old, but you were monetized in six months. So six months in. YouTube's starting to cut you a check, which is pretty cool. But you and I both know that's not, like, necessarily dependable.
- [42:14]
B
Yeah.
- [42:15]
A
And it's also not like life Changing every time. So how have you diversified your income streams to use, like, the nerdy language? Just like, what have you started? Flip. What are the switches you've started flipping on over time so that when you post a YouTube video, you're getting money from other places than just YouTube Partner Program.
- [42:32]
B
Yeah, because I agree that. Do you. I mean, you can't. I love the YouTube money. That's. That's fun. That's my fun.
- [42:37]
A
My goodness. Hey, I like that approach, making videos.
- [42:39]
B
You know, I gotta have this.
- [42:41]
A
Come on.
- [42:44]
B
So. But what I like to do is I have multiple baskets, because you can't put all your eggs in one basket. You've got to have different income streams. My goal one day is I'm gonna have 10 different income streams. And if those 10 different income streams brought me $1,000 a month, there's $10,000 a month that I'm making.
- [43:04]
A
Nailed it.
- [43:05]
B
Okay.
- [43:06]
A
How many do you have now?
- [43:07]
B
Okay, so I have my YouTube AdSense.
- [43:09]
A
Okay.
- [43:10]
B
I also have. I have a website, but that was for my horse channel, but I still use stuff from my video for that. So you are videos or budget equestrian, then I'm associate or Amazon associate and Amazon influencer. So that's three.
- [43:25]
A
Wow.
- [43:26]
B
And I have my. Oh, I have written books on you or on Amazon too. So. But that's. That was like. That's way old. So that's four. That's another revenue stream.
- [43:37]
A
Yes, it counts.
- [43:38]
B
And what else?
- [43:40]
A
Amazon brand deals or anything or you do like we said Etsy, too.
- [43:45]
B
Yeah, I have my Etsy store too, so. So I got five right now. No brand deals. I haven't ventured too much into that. My husband does tons of brand deals. He does tons of things like that. And I'm like, that's you. You do that. I'm just crafting. I'm having fun.
- [44:01]
A
A fun. I like it. I like it. Well, you can, you know, help him get a 5 million view video. And when the time comes, you can be like, all right, I'm cashing it in. Help me with some brand deals, you know?
- [44:10]
B
Yes, yes. And it's like, I just want one video. I've got to make the video. It's like the video of all time. I will feel like I am successful when I have a video that hits 1 million views.
- [44:22]
A
Yo, that's like. I'm telling you what. That's the bucket list, man. I just. That's like, for every creator is like, we know we can be so successful. You already are without ever having that. But it's also like no, but like it's like the play button, you know. No, but I like it. If, if I can try to get it. Why not? Yes, I like it. Okay, so we're already, you're already like halfway ish there to your goal, which is so cool. Can we talk about the Etsy side of things? So like what does that ecosystem look like? I guess most importantly, how does that connect to a YouTube video? Like how do you get people to go from a YouTube video to giving you money on Etsy?
- [44:56]
B
Etsy is just another avenue of income. And I love obviously being creative because I make all of the crafty stuff. But now what I'm doing is turning my videos of crafting basically into like 40 minute long commercials for the products themselves. And then at the very end, very, very end, and people know this, they, I have a special coupon or a special coupon code so that when they go to Etsy then they can put in that coupon code and they get like the last one I did, it was 9.99 and I gave them a coupon code for $7. So they got it for 2.99.
- [45:36]
A
Wow, nice. Okay.
- [45:38]
B
And I figure I'm already making, you know, I've already made the projects and this is actually I'm using those projects then in my advertising for Etsy, for the listing images and stuff, just like my thumbnails for YouTube. So I'm just multi purposing all of this content between the different places.
- [45:58]
A
Okay, okay. So I'm seeing how it all connects now. Have you, I'm curious, like is you see yourself getting to 10 income streams? You know, at some point do you already have an idea of like what some of those other streams might be? I mean, guess we kind of talked about brand deals at the time came but do you have any other things like that you would want to build that would be on Etsy or your own personal thing or anything?
- [46:18]
B
I don't know, probably just I'm new to Etsy so having I've got like 150 items in the store and it's like been two, two or three months. So I would really just like to get that up to $1,000 a month in income.
- [46:34]
A
Yes.
- [46:35]
B
So once I hit that, I think for me I get motivated by the challenge of it in the, you know, working through it and then once I cross that bridge and I'm like, okay, now what else can I do? But I don't want to leave anything in the past. I want to, you know, I'm not just Going to switch gears and like, okay, by YouTube now I'm going to do Etsy.
- [46:55]
A
Yeah, yeah, sure, sure, sure. So you see it's kind of like this whole ecosystem that just is building on top of itself. Things are compounding and connecting. That's love it. We're all about that here at Think Media. So that, that's epic. Kind of to reiterate the current stuff you have in place still, like last year yielded like 40k. And it's just what, what gets me is like that this was, that's not like the only income coming into your household, right? Like they're still working full time and so like, do you mind if I ask how, how long do you, would you see yourself still holding down, you know, full time job while you're doing this YouTube channel? From our conversation today, it's like, wow, things are very dialed in. Doesn't mean it's like not there's a lot on your plate. But like, do you see kind of like dual wielding so to speak, like for a number of years, do you see yourself crossing over to just YouTube at some point or are you just enjoying how things are sitting right now?
- [47:46]
B
You know, When I started YouTube, I was like, this was going to be my retirement plan. This is what I want do to retire. But with the type of job that I have, it's, it's not as stressful as say like working in a hospital type nursing situation.
- [48:03]
A
Okay.
- [48:03]
B
And I love what I do. I love being able to help people in that aspect, like their health and making them, you know, better when they have, when they need it. But then I also love my creative outlet. So it's like at this point in time I, I'm going to keep doing both as long as I can. But at the same time, I love YouTube. I love this whole, I mean it's just so much fun to learn new things, meet new people, see what, you know, how things are changing. There's so many people now my age that are just getting started on YouTube and that is so just, that is incredible. And I, you know, I'll be able to do it still when I'm 75 years old. Hopefully I'll still be up there crafting. My hands might shake, but I'm still going to be doing it if I can.
- [48:52]
A
Let's go. And there will be a gold play button, you know, sitting behind you and a Million View video. Come on. I'm putting it out there right now. I love it. Well, hey Lisa, as we, as we close out, I'd love to Ask you, you're sitting here with just quite a bit of experience and you've got receipts to back up what you're doing. It would be hard, in my opinion, for someone to be listening to this and be like, I still don't believe it. It's like, no, you're literally making this happen in real time with a busy life. The classic question I'd love to hear from you, knowing what you know now, if you were going to start over tomorrow, is there anything you do differently? Another way to phrase it is kind of like, what would you say to someone who. Maybe. Who maybe. Who maybe is in the season where it's like kids are out of the house, maybe there's, there's some extra time, there's grandkids that might be entering the picture. Like, what would you say to that person who's thinking about jumping into this YouTube thing?
- [49:45]
B
I think I would say just try it, Give it a try. Don't pressure yourself into anything, but just hit the record button. Make a video. If you don't have, if you don't have a camera, you don't need one. You have your phone, you can literally record a video. You could. It doesn't have to be anything, you know, special. My videos were nothing special for a very long time. So I mean, just believe in yourself that you can do this because I know you can do this. If I can do this, I know you can do this. So just keep working. Keep. What is, what is the. This fish? Nemo. Just keep swimming. Dory says just swimming. Keep making videos. Just, you're gonna get better and you're gonna get better. What's really cool is you'll actually have a library of where you were when you started, where you, you are now. So just believe in yourself because you can do this. And it doesn't take that much to get started.
- [50:46]
A
Huge thank you to Lisa today. Right. Like, what got me is that she didn't have a single advantage that most people think that they need. She, you could argue, didn't have any free time at a full time job, five kids, family responsibilities. And even in her content is like rarely on camera. And she actually built a real YouTube income anyway because she stopped guessing. She started following a system and one of her lines is going to stick with me personally. I don't know about you, but was like actually riffing off Dory. Shout out Nemo. Right? Like just keep swimming. Just keep posting. Count the uploads, not the views. And so if you're on the fence, I just, I want this to be your invitation. If you've got something that you're good at and you've been waiting until you feel ready to get started, this is your nudge. And if you want the strategy, the same one that Lisa actually had to learn to grow with purpose, instead of guessing, we actually put together our core teaching inside of a free class that'll walk you through exactly that. You can go to thinkmasterclass.com to watch it. Totally free. Again, that's thinkmasterclass.com this is the Think Media podcast. I'm Nathan Eswine, and I can't wait to connect with you in a future episode.