528: How to Become a Full-Time Creator on YouTube in 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Think Media Podcast

Episode 528: How to Become a Full-Time Creator on YouTube in 2026
Host: Sean Cannell (Think Media)
Guest: Nikki Saunders
Date: June 30, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features a candid, in-depth conversation between Think Media’s Sean Cannell and Nikki Saunders, a creator and business builder who has grown an audience of over 300,000 followers and built a six-figure career. The core of the discussion focuses on Nikki’s seven-year journey to becoming a full-time creator, the realities of the creator economy in 2026, overcoming burnout, and actionable strategies (and mindsets) for aspiring creators. The episode unpacks the myth of overnight success, dives into essential experiments and mindsets, and provides a wealth of practical advice for building a sustainable creative business on YouTube and beyond.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Myth and Reality of "Overnight Success"

• Nikki’s Journey:
  • Nikki details how her path wasn’t instant: “It took long and then happened fast. Five, six years that you were doing cool, this one year that you figured it out. Here’s all the brand deals, here’s the community building, and that’s when it started to click.” (01:14)
  • Started in 2016/2017 helping Eric Thomas with content, went live on Instagram, then podcasting, before fully committing to her own niche and platforms in 2023.
• Key Concept:
  • “The idea of gradually, then suddenly. How do you get out of debt? Gradually, and then suddenly you’re out of debt. How do you go full time? Gradually, then suddenly.” (04:08)

2. The Power of Experimentation and Collecting Data

• Try Everything:
  • Nikki advocates for broad-based experimenting: “Try building a community. Try doing writing when it’s not your natural… Go live every single day for a whole month. Post non-edited videos… The thing I’ve learned by doing things that I wasn’t comfortable with is that I needed to collect data.” (07:02)
  • Don’t base decisions solely on feelings; learn from audience and platform response.

3. Building a Sustainable Creator Business

• Key Discoveries:
  • “I discovered that I’m a great community builder. I love working with brands, so brand deals have been great for me. And I love experiences—bringing people together and creating something.” (08:59)
  • Nikki stresses the importance of knowing the “world you’re building”—your unique, authentic space—and catering to your ideal audience.
  • Creators should harness their storytelling, audience-building, and project management skills for brand partnerships and even executive-level roles at major companies (11:48).

4. Redefining “Full-Time Content Creator”

• Alternative Paths:
  • Not all creators need to strictly be independent; some become in-house talents or contractors while maintaining creative freedom and a full-time income.
  • “Being a full time content creator, perhaps by definition means you make a full time living creating content. And so if a company could pay your salary so you could be the face for them, then you’re a full time content creator.” (14:07)

5. Mindsets & Principles for Long-Term Success

• Curiosity and Celebration:
  • Celebrate small wins: “I was so happy when Instagram gave me 10 cents. I was like, we got something interesting… when YouTube gave us a dollar… we’re about to blow.” (15:54)
  • Progress comes from iteration, learning, and not giving up in the slow periods.
• Impact Over Pure Views:
  • “Impact brings money. That’s a very hard thing to like really grasp in this whole attention-views era.” (19:35)
  • Even projects that seemed quiet (like her podcast, “Nikki and Moose”) brought outpourings of community support and laid the groundwork for future success.
• Multiple Projects & Iterative Learning:
  • Success often comes after several “failed” starts: “It’s crazy how many people we’ve talked to that it’s like, ‘okay, now you’re full time on YouTube…’ they’re like, no, it’s channel five.” (20:21)
  • Each iteration brings lessons on niche focus and not diluting your message: “One was not talking about seven different things in like a month.” (22:47)

6. Navigating Algorithm & Niche Trap

• Niche Focus:
  • Avoid using broad, trending content that brings unrelated audiences: “It dilutes your subscribers… We were continuously putting out stuff where we should have just archived that one.” (23:39)
  • Sometimes, viral content destined for mass appeal should be unlisted to protect channel focus and community.

7. Authenticity, Burnout, and Sustainability

• Authenticity & Self-Awareness:
  • “The more that you are aware of who you are, your personality, what makes you stand out, your childhood loves… is what’s going to make you stand out from the AI stuff, from all the competition, because they’re running off of a framework and you’re running off of authenticity.” (42:24)
• Addressing Burnout:
  • “If it is not creating any type of fun or happiness after awhile, let it go… The hardest thing to recover from is burnout.” (37:38)
  • Nikki had to end her successful podcast due to burnout despite its achievements: “When I couldn’t get more ideas, that’s when I knew I was burnt out.” (37:59)

8. Practical Advice for Aspiring Full-Time Creators (Start Here)

• Commit to the Long Game:
  • “If you do not want to do this for ten years, don’t even try… You have to have that long-term thought process.” (34:15)
• Balance Creativity and Business:
  • Creators need to learn the business side: “I wish I would have focused on that sooner. But… I was able to focus on the creative more. And then… I gotta get more into the business side.” (35:43)
  • Diversify within your talents: “From a business side, what are the different streams? Are we willing to do the brand deals? Affiliate? Merch? Courses? Events?” (36:42)
• Let Go When Needed:
  • Don’t let comparison or sunk cost keep you stuck—“The smarts of a really good creator is understanding when things need to die.” (39:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Success Timeline:
  • Nikki: “It took long and then happened fast. Five, six years that you were doing cool, this one year that you figured it out.” (00:52)
• On Experimentation:
  • Nikki: “Try everything. You don’t know what you don’t like until you try everything.” (06:16)
• On Building Your Own World:
  • Nikki: “What is the world that I’m building… For me, I’m big on introverts and ambiverts feeling seen and heard by being their authentic self.” (09:37)
• On Authenticity & AI:
  • Nikki: “Self-awareness is what’s going to make you stand out... because they’re running off of a framework and you’re running off of authenticity.” (42:24)
• On Celebrating Small Wins:
  • Nikki: “I just needed something to be like.… the great thing about content creators is that we have, I say ideas are like clouds, you can’t touch them. The fact that we can create a video and it not only gets impact, but there’s also monetization from it.” (15:54)
• On Burnout:
  • Nikki: “The hardest thing to recover from is burnout... When I couldn’t get more ideas, that’s when I knew I was burnt out.” (37:50–37:59)
• On Making Money and Impact:
  • Nikki: “Impact brings money. That’s a very hard thing to like really grasp in this whole attention views like era that we’re in.” (19:35)
• On The Creator Lifestyle:
  • Nikki: “Happy. In a Honda… I focus more on happiness and freedom than I focus on anything material.” (30:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Overnight Success Is Never Overnight
  [02:06] Nikki’s timeline and gradual journey
• Starting in Content & Early Lessons
  [05:19] Client work, freelancing, being on a team
• Experimentation and Data-Driven Approach
  [06:56] Try everything, collect data, “tiny experiments”
• Building Community & Business Models
  [08:59] Community building, brand deals, in-person experiences
• On Redefining the Creator Role
  [13:28] High-level roles for creators in companies
• Juggling Part-Time & Full-Time Journey
  [14:29] Mindsets, celebrating small wins
• Focusing on Impact
  [19:35] Monetization, shutting down a podcast, impact over views
• Learning from Multiple Projects & Mistakes
  [20:21–23:39] Multiple channels, niche focus, and content mistakes
• Niche Trap and Algorithm
  [24:09–25:19] Consequences of viral, off-topic content
• Burnout and Letting Go
  [37:38–39:27] Recognizing burnout, knowing when to quit a project
• Principles for Aspiring Creators in 2026
  [34:15–37:41] Commitment, business acumen, value of experimentation
• Opportunities and Challenges in 2026
  [41:10–44:50] Competition, AI, self-awareness and authenticity

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Final Takeaways & Practical Principles

For Aspiring Full-Time Creators:

• Be in it for the long haul; think in 10-year terms.
• Embrace experimentation—collect data; don’t just follow trends or feelings.
• Diversify your income with brand deals, products, events, etc.—all within your talent and passion.
• Focus on building an authentic world and community—people invest where they feel seen and heard.
• Learn to balance creative work and the business side—you need both to thrive.
• Celebrate every tiny win; success isn’t always loud at first.
• Be ready to pivot, let projects go when they no longer spark joy or progress.
• Prioritize self-awareness—lean on your unique strengths and story.

Nikki’s Closing Advice:

“If you do not want to do this for 10 years, don’t even try. You have to have that long-term thought process.” (34:15)

“If it is not creating any type of fun or happiness after a while, let it go. The hardest thing to recover from is burnout.” (37:38)

“The more that you are aware of who you are… is what’s going to make you stand out from the AI stuff, from all the competition… you’re running off of authenticity.” (42:24)

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Where to Find Nikki Saunders

• YouTube: Nikki Saunders
• Instagram and all platforms: @ThisIsNikkis

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For further actionable strategies and insights, check out the companion episode on Nikki’s AI workflow and tools (linked in Think Media’s show notes).

Transcript

[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 [e-mail] 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 [e-mail] now let's jump into today's show. Is it still possible to become a part time or a full time content creator even with increasing competition, even with algorithms changing? Well, the answer is yes. And today's guest proves that not only is it possible, but that it's not overnight.

[B]

It took long and then happened fast. Five, six years that you were doing cool, this one year that you figured it out. Here's all the brand deals, here's the community building, and that's when it started to click. I didn't even know what I wanted to do. I was one of the kids that just didn't know what they wanted to be in life. The whole point of going full time is to be able to wake up with pure joy of wanting to do

[A]

this for the listener that would aspire. If they are starting from scratch today or thinking about some principles or how they might approach that, what just advice would you have for people that want to go full time as a content creator?

[B]

I wish I would have focused on

[A]

that sooner Today on the Think Media podcast, we're actually joined by Nikki Saunders, who has built over 300,000 followers across platforms. A six figure income. But she didn't start there. She started with nine to five jobs and freelancing and serving in the Navy and figuring out her path. And the cool thing is that there are principles you can apply to your own journey. So if you want to go part time or full time as a YouTuber content creator, then this is the episode for you. Let's lock in because it's pack full of nuggets. Here we go. Overnight success is never overnight. How would you answer the question of how long did it take you to go full time as a content creator?

[B]

I would, I would really have to say from a long version, probably about seven years per se. And then it like ramped up in like a year, year and a half. Right. So I started creating content on Instagram, going live, everything like that. When I was Helping Eric Thomas, that was the only thing that I had that I could do on a consistent basis was go live.

[A]

But what year was that?

[B]

That was 2016. 17. Something around there. Right. And I started to see how the Instagram was growing, but it wasn't kind of making any type of money. And then this is where I realized, okay, we were. The pandemic started. And so everybody was like trying to figure out content, trying to figure out different ways. So I had started a podcast called the Nicky and Moose and that was doing good. It had a few views, we had one sponsorship. It was, it was making little. So it gave me that itch of like, okay, this kid, this has something. Right. But it wasn't until probably when I went all in on my own channel, all in on being consistent on multiple platforms and a specific niche where it was like, okay, that, that five, six years that you were doing cool. This one year that you figured it out. Here's all the brand deals, here's the community building, here's the merch, here's all that. And, and that's when it started to click. Like, okay, content can actually make me full time. I don't have to worry about 9 to 5 stuff. I don't have to worry about figuring out different freelance stuff and all of that. And. But it happened. So it took long and then happened fast.

[A]

Interesting. There's a book from Mark Batterson that I think is called Gradually and then Suddenly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That like everything. How do you get out of debt gradually and then suddenly you're out of debt.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How do you get into debt gradually?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And then suddenly you're like, wait a minute, how do we get. So far?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

So this idea of gradually then suddenly. That's fascinating. Now, of course, you're sitting in the place today where a lot of people want to be. They want to be part time or full time income. They want to be generating real money from content.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we can talk about those principles. But I'm fascinated in the timeline and in the lessons of how you got through those gradually years.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So just to kind of put the timeline together, 2016ish. You're doing freelance content for Eric Thomas, among other things. And that's. And then you start doing stuff on Instagram. And then before we hit record, you said around 2023, you sunsetted a podcast.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Went all in on your own stuff. And that's been your growth wave. Okay, so what were you doing to pay the bills since 2016?

[B]

Yeah, so I had different client work. Right. For Content creation, running social media pages and things of that nature. And that was cool. I think that helps me get in the game of like really figuring out the love that I had, which was just content creation itself. Right.

[A]

Would you recommend and did you do that intentionally that if like the thing you wanted to do eventually by yourself, like have a personal brand, if you could do it for somebody else or you could do it as a freelancer, it just helps you like compound something you love and practice and get paid for it.

[B]

Yeah, I'm big on. My big brother C.J. always told me, like, before you can get a team, you gotta be on a team. Right. And so I take that in all kind of different aspects of before you get big, you have to be on other platforms that are big. You have to be with around different teams that are big. Right. And so seeing it from different personal brands, different big companies, how they do things, I was like, okay, I know what to do and what I don't wanna do. Like one of the things that a lot of people do that I don't personally like doing is the daily webinars and stuff. I can't do that. I could do quarterly, you know what I mean? Like, maybe I could do that, but I had to go through what they did. I had to see it from their aspect. I had to see the money that can come from that. Try it and then be like, no, I'm not going to do that, or yes, that works for my thing. The, the thing that I learned very well was try everything. You don't know what you don't like until you try everything.

[A]

When you say try everything, could that look like, try live streaming, try shorts, but what else could that look like?

[B]

Like that could be, try building a community. Try, try doing writing when it's not your natural right? So start a sub stack, start your own blog, go live every single day for a whole month. Go and post non edited videos, just you on your phone for three months straight. The thing that I've learned by doing things that I wasn't comfortable with or that didn't come natural to me is that I needed to collect data. It's sometimes not about how I feel, it's about what the audience wants and what the platform wants. Right. With a sense of how I feel. And so there's a, there's this book, I think it was called like Small Experiments or something like Tiny Experiments. And what was good about it is like everything is an experiment. So what you're doing is saying, okay, I'm going to do this from this day to this day and it's only purely for collecting data. And so whether it is from a money standpoint, whether it's from a view standpoint, whether it's from a feeling standpoint, how does that all play into part? And so that's how I was starting to make my moves. Not just off of feelings, not just off of views, not just off of money, but all three of them. To be like, okay, I like this because I've seen it being on these big teams, I've seen where the money thing happens and how a lot of creators get burnt out and just miserable when they're just focusing on the money or they're only focusing on the views and they don't got no money, so then they get burnt out off of that way and then they're almost guaranteed to go back to a 9 to 5. And so I was like, okay, let's do three metrics and see how that goes along to figure out what is my like full time, part time formula.

[A]

So what did you eventually discover?

[B]

I discovered that I'm a great community builder. I love working with brands, so brand deals have been great for me. Right. And I love experiences, meaning not necessarily like the mastermind style like that per se, but more of bringing people together and like locking in on like finding a hotel and us just working and creating something. Yeah. So in person experience. Yeah.

[A]

Tangible.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Relational.

[B]

That, that's what, that's what I realized.

[A]

So people can do that with you. You have like an awesome.

[B]

Yeah. Like so one thing that has been real big for me is what is the world that I'm building? Right. Not what is. And I say community because that's like the common trend word. But what is the world that I'm building, how for me, I'm big on introverts and ambiverts feeling seen and heard by being their authentic self, creating content, being a global brand without burning out, that's my biggest thing. How do we create that world that allows them to do that with the right systems, with the right support and all of that. So for me it's, it's looking at my own life and that's what I've realized that the best creators do is like looking at their own life and what has made them get to the next level, what has helped them be happy, what has helped them go through, get out of the burnout and everything like that. Why am I not creating that for others? Why am I just keeping that and realizing people be like, yes, I want to be a Part of that I want, I actually want to pay for that. Like, like, yes, especially in this AI world, education is so available. It's how are you making me feel accepted but also guiding me through all of this overwhelm. And so that's what I've been building with Lion's behavior where okay, I have the educational side when I want to tap into it. I have the in person stuff when I want to tap into it. And then of course I love working. We're talking about so many different tools and all that. I love working with different brands because that's another, another way of working inside of like until I can figure out my own quote unquote tool or my own product. I'm looking at how these other AI tools are doing it. I'm seeing their launch product, I'm seeing how they're doing it and the importance of how creators are. Like, my, my goal now is like what is the big company that just needs a content creator that in an executive role because like to be fractional. Yeah. Why?

[A]

Because you're now thinking about from the place of influence and authority that you've built about becoming like a fractional team member of the right AI tool partner.

[B]

Not, not even from an AI tool per se. Because what I'm realizing is like business owners suck at creating content, right? Yeah, content creators suck at the business side.

[A]

True.

[B]

Right. So how do we com collab more? Not necessarily just like, okay, I talk about AI, get more AI tools, more that. But like I have a strong tool and most content creators have a strong tool of storytelling, of attention of the already a built in audience. And these business owners are like, you're exactly what I need. And I'm, I'm trying to create content and it's not really working well because you're getting people who are building the actual product to try to create content. Let us do it, let us like. But that's a role that's like a high. Like I know exactly what you need. I know how many content creators you probably need on your team. I know the campaign you need and things of that nature. I'm looking at things in that nature now of oh, content creators have a whole new role if they look at it in that way. It's not just the product service, but it's also Fortune 500. They may be able to put you in a C suite type vibe.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you know what you're doing.

[A]

That's actually kind of fascinating. You know, I want to unpack these years before you went full time. But I think as even a side quest for somebody who's aspiring to be a full time content creator, they could maybe redefine. What does that even mean? Yeah, meaning we've had multiple people, like in our VRA program become even employees or contractors to be the hired talent to represent a company.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's a little bit different than what you're talking about because you already have your own, you know, like you're very established and you've got like that independent income. But as you know, what does me, I think a lot of us want to be independent. But being a full time content creator, perhaps by definition means you make a full time living creating content.

[B]

That's fine.

[A]

And so if a company could pay your salary so you could be the face for them, then you're a full time content creator. So I'm curious though, back to these years when it's part time, when you're juggling multiple things. What do you think are like the mindsets or the principles that. Did you always want to do what you're doing right now?

[B]

No, I didn't even know what I wanted to do. I was, I was one of the kids that just didn't know what they wanted to be in life.

[A]

If you've been feeling stuck on YouTube or you wish you were getting results faster, I recommend checking out viral video coach.com. you know, years ago in my life, I was experiencing chronic pain in both arms. It was up to a level 10. It was so frustrating. My hope was actually going down and I ran into a bunch of dead ends. I bought some books on it. I didn't actually read them. I'm sure the books were good. I bought some online courses and again did about half, but still found my stuff unable to fully solve the pain. But then everything changed when I hired a specialist. And that really is what viral video coach.com is. We have a coaching program here at Think Media that will give you the accountability and the support and the feedback so that you can see the things that you can't see. The opportunities on your channel fixing what's broken and whether you want to start and accelerate or whether you're an expert and a business owner that wants more leads and customers and just wants the shortcut to doing YouTube. Right. So just go to viral video coach.com, fill out a short form, and then we'll walk you through all of the next steps. There's a link in the show notes. You could use that as well. And with that, let's dive back into the podcast okay, so do you think by your personality you were just one who just like enjoy life and experiment?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So you're sort of following where life takes you and your career was more organic.

[B]

Yeah, because so I started in the Navy as one. I didn't even have a job. Right. So. Which is so not recommended. So I was doing all like the grunt work, painting and everything like that, but exploring everybody else's job to see what I want. Right. And then I went into it still exploring what I wanted to do because I felt like that really wasn't it. Right. And then when I got out, and then I was like, I have something about this content thing. But I went into let's manage social media not knowing I was getting closer. Right. Everything is still closer to what I am doing right now. But I never had that. Like, I know this is what it is and I live very like, what's meant for me is meant for me. If I get an idea, it's from a higher power. If it's this, like, if I'm going a certain path is coming from a higher power, I'm great with that. When I'm looking at now the path of like the part time side, I'm looking for like little momentum things. Like, I was so happy when Instagram gave me 10 cents. I was like, we got something interesting. You know when YouTube, fine, like gave us a dollar what that we're about to blow. Like, I just needed something to be like. Because the great thing about content creators is that we have, I say ideas are clouds, like you can't touch them. Right. They're just in our heads. And the fact that we can create a video and it not only gets impact, but there's also monetization from it. It's now a matter of how do we multiply that. It's okay, I got 10 cents. Now I said I wanted to make money, I didn't say how much. This, that's, that's another thing. How are we getting specific with how much we want to make? But I didn't say how much, but we made it. So now how do I make it into $10? How do I make it now into 100? How do I make it now into a thousand? Now we're starting to get specific with, okay, I don't want to just make money with content creation now I want to make six figures in content creation. Okay. What does that all entail? Okay, that's multiple streams. Okay. Do I have my affiliate? You know, do I have a conversation with brand? Do I have different courses, merch, things of that nature.

[A]

So I really love. I'm listening to like principles of how to go full time as a content creator. Curiosity is in their experimentation, try experiments, celebration, celebrating small wins.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And like, yeah, I remember when I made my first $2.12 from affiliate marketing. Yeah. 2010. It is illogical that I should be excited on the one hand because I could go wait tables that night and make a hundred dollars in tips.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But I wanted to click my heels like a leprechaun because I was like, well, this is real.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's $2.12.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So how do I scale it so that that grind to being a part time or full time content creator can feel overwhelming. And it is. And it could take a lot of time. But celebrate when you first get monetized, when you make that first 10 cents from a creator program or whatever it is. What else on the journey do you think? And thank you for your service, by the way, as well. From your upbringing or from maybe your mindset, maybe where you see other people getting stuck and giving up. What is it that keeps you going? Or that could be a useful tool for listeners where when they're building a side hustle and they're maybe overwhelmed with their main hustle and their nine to five.

[B]

Yeah. So I have to remember that impact brings money. Right. And that's a very hard thing to like really grasp in this whole attention views like era that we're in. Because, for example, when I sunsetted the podcast. Right. I thought no one really was watching it. Right. Because you're looking at.

[A]

So give the full story. You had a podcast just again.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Called Nicky and Moose.

[B]

We had it for like three years.

[A]

That's a long time.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

How many episodes?

[B]

It was 182 or 84. Something around there.

[A]

Which to principalize this, if that's a word too. I think it is interesting that you had more than one project before.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Your thing took off.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It's crazy how many people we've talked to that it's like, oh, yeah, okay, now you're full time on YouTube. You got a silver play button on YouTube. So this is your first channel. They're like, no, it's Channel five. Yeah, it was Channel three. No, I had a couple channels, I had a couple experiments and whoever you work for as well. Yeah, that's interesting. But I'm interrupting you. So that podcast goes for three years and then you eventually make the decision to shut it down?

[B]

Yeah. And I, I shut it down and then I heard an uproar of like, yo, why'd you. Why'd you cancel it? Why'd you stop? Oh, my God, we love it. I still hear it to this day. Yo, I'm Nicki and Moose fan and I'm like, where were you?

[A]

Yeah, they were not vocal.

[B]

Right? Like, we came out with this. We started a Patreon. Where were you? Right. Oh, my God, I loved it. I wish you would come back. Are you thinking about coming? No, not. It's not happening. Right. But it taught me that the impact. Because. Because they were saying this, brands would start looking at it of like, oh, you got their attention and they followed you to your next situation. Okay, how can we work together? Right. And of course, I think in any content creator's journey, there's going to be a season where you just focus on money. Right. It's almost like that weird survival mode,

[A]

trying to pay the bills.

[B]

Right. Okay, I gotta, I gotta figure this out if this is going to be a thing. And what I realized, because I had that part time stuff with E and everything like that I was able to like focus on the money, but really focus on the impact more. That's why I was okay starting a whole brand new channel because we had like 18,000 subscribers and everything like that. I could have just pivoted, unlisted some things and try to make it work. I started a whole new channel and. But I took the lessons that I learned from that channel of like, okay, we're not going to talk about all these other topics. We're going to.

[A]

So I want to unpack this a little bit. So I was going to ask you that the lessons you learned, you got to do a podcast. It grew to a place where people were sad it was ending.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It grew to 18,000 subscribers, but it also had some flaws or some lessons.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

And then you launched more informed each time in every iteration of your brand. What were those lessons or mistakes you'd say you made?

[B]

One was not talking about seven different things in like a month. Right.

[A]

You guys talked about like seven.

[B]

We talked. So even though we thought we had the theme of like business and personal branding. Right. We were still relying too much on trending content. So if Kevin Hart did something, a launch, and we would try to focus on the business side and everything, but we were still leveraging Kevin Hart's brand. Right.

[A]

So you might have had a breakout episode. You're like, cool, I got views.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it wasn't necessarily everybody was clicking to learn about business and branding.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Whatever you packaged it as. And the temptation could also be to package it in such a broad appeal way that it'll get max views but won't necessarily build the best audience. It might harm the audience over time.

[B]

And I didn't know that until it dilutes your subscribers or whatever. A great example that we did was we interviewed Anthony o'. Neill. Right. Amazing, amazing interview. We talked about his content journey. His brand is going growing his YouTube and all of that. But there was one question that we talked about, which was a, why did you leave Dave Ramsey to go on your own and create this brand that you have still going around what we normally talk about.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But people saw that and thought drama, right?

[A]

Of course, yeah.

[B]

Right. Like, oh, Anthony o' Neil left Dave Ramsey. And so looking at that views. Great, cool. We thought this was great. Realizing also retention was low because once they got the answer, then they left.

[A]

They don't care about the rest of the stuff.

[B]

They don't care about.

[A]

They care about that one thing in the top.

[B]

Anything else. So something that we thought was like, okay, this was gonna make a lot of money. Right. It was, it was decent, but we knew it could have been better. And then we realized that one hurt the channel. And so our views started to tank because people were seeking more information like that. Yep. And we couldn't figure it out for the life of us. So we were continuously putting out stuff where we should have just archived that one, we should have unlisted that in hopes of keeping that.

[A]

Which is smart but also counterintuitive because basically in a way like a video that's going viral.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

For you.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Is a video that actually should be archived and made private.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because ultimately it's conditioning the algorithm with a long term audience that you don't really want or that the next upload that's coming is not something that's going

[B]

to satisfy them at all.

[A]

That takes. It seems like it's a lesson that for many content creators is hard to learn and you sometimes don't learn it until you might learn it painfully. What do you think it is? Do you think it's ego, ignorance that we chase algorithms and not necessarily impact God?

[B]

I think it has to do a lot with both. Right. With ignorance and ego and that we just don't know anything else. Like it's just getting now where being a content creator is a thing. Right.

[A]

Like a practical career. It's unconventional because this conversation is like, it's curiosity, it's seasons, it's persevere over here. It's do this, but at the same time there are principles and there's so many patterns. Yourself, hundreds of people we've now interviewed, you know, our students, your students. Like it's wild. It's not quite as linear.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Other careers, but it's a real career.

[B]

Right. And we're starting to see it now. I think this is like the third, fourth year in Forbes where they just have Forbes content creators and everything. Like it's a thing. But before it was, it wasn't necessarily like we would still just look at as views and followers and you know, just pure metrics. And so we didn't understand, we knew, okay, there's impact to it, there's money to it, but you don't get that until you get the views and the followers. So we thought, right.

[A]

We thought it was only big views.

[B]

Yeah. So, and so it's a, it's an ignorant situation because you don't know anything else until you're in the game. When you're in the game, you then you start to go outside and you start to hear what people are saying. You start to read the DMs, you start to get the emails and you're like, oh, okay, this is, this is a different, this is not what I expected. You know, this is a relationship that I'm building with the audience. This is a true connection that I was there Monday at 9pm situation and I took that away. And now a father and daughter is riding in silence, going back to their crib when they were used to, used to listen to the show like that. That right there had changed a lot for me to where it's like, okay, the things that we come out with has to be impactful. It has to be in order to level up or create some type of connection with our, with our audience. It can't just be views because it doesn't do anything. It doesn't make our audience feel any better and it doesn't bring more money to our pockets for the long term. If I can make my audience happy, they're going to continue to pay me for long term. Yeah, right. Where we can it for people who build communities, we hear this, this lovely term called churn rate, right? And so some people have like a three month churn rate or whatever. I have people in my community for over a year, like, and they plan to go nowhere. Not necessarily because they're using all the resources that I have or anything like that. They're like, yo, I feel the most seen and heard here. I know you care. And that's the Most important, like the impact is, is so important. And so yeah, the, the views are great and I look at it in the sense of the metric still has to attract people that don't know us. Meaning the brands.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, so there has to be a strategy of. All right, we still have to pay these types of bills with this type of metrics. But now if we're thinking about long term bills. Right. Long term money, how are we building this connection? What is those different pieces of content that was going to connect it? That's why lives are so important to me. I do like probably a two and a half, three hour live every Monday just for that. I want to pour in so much to you that you are like, I love you. Where are we going next? I'm taking this ride with you. Right. I think lives are the most underrated, but best converting content.

[A]

Interesting. That's because of depth too. If someone's hanging with you for 30 minutes, an hour, two and a half hours, three hours. Okay. So in a second I want to get like kind of just your principles that you would encourage somebody who's starting from zero or somebody who wants to go part time or full time and your advice to them today, in today's world, with today's tools, maybe what you would do differently in just a second. But before we do, I'm curious, describe where you sit now. When did you go full time? What does it feel like? What are some misconceptions people might have about you? How many Rolexes do you own?

[B]

None.

[A]

What's the lifestyle of a six figure, you know, full time content creator.

[B]

Happy. In a Honda. You know what I mean? Happy. But that's the thing. Happy. I focus more on happiness and freedom than I focus on anything material or anything like that. Right. We, we work so hard to have that. Like if I'm not, if I don't wake up, like, okay, I love what I do right. Then I'm doing something wrong. I might as well just go back to the 9 to 5 situation. I might as well go back to freelancing or something like that because I was doing stuff I didn't want to do. The whole point of going full time and doing the things that I do now is to be able to wake up with pure joy of wanting to do this right. And not focusing on like, I don't have to worry about money in a sense of like I'm checking my bank accounts like I used to.

[A]

If you're an entrepreneur or a creator that wants to scale their online business, that's why we created the Think Media Mastermind.

[B]

I have so much more clarity as to my ideal target audience now, which means my content is about to be so much better and more targeted towards the exact person I'm trying to reach.

[A]

Super intimate, high level strategy.

[B]

I had the skills that I already knew sharpened. I feel like I went to my next level.

[A]

For entrepreneurs and creators that want to scale with YouTube, this was the first time that I was able to get in a room with a lot of other serious youtubers and talk with other people who love creating content and love YouTube. Usually I don't get to do that. So this is really special. You can check it out atthink media mastermind.com yeah.

[B]

Not sitting here like I'm going to Bora Bora every single week either.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I'm not on the flex economy, as I like to say. There is a whole section of people who like to just create the content of what they're doing with it. I'm more of like, I'm happy, I'm blessed, my family's good and in great health and that's the only thing that matters to me in my little Honda. And I'm okay with that. Right.

[A]

And how big's your team grown?

[B]

We are now. We actually downsize. We have probably about three people now. Right.

[A]

So seven years plus one, two years of explosive growth.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Six figure creator business, three team members, 500 agents, AI agents, you know, absolutely. AI agents, tools. You're doing this, you're scaling.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I love that there's already been many principles we've pulled out of your story. But I am curious. Your advice.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

For somebody that first comes up and is like, is this still possible to be a content creator full time? And if so, or if I want to. And I actually love how, you know, we have similar values in like not really flex economy, how we, you know, might steward or manage our money.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But what I love about the creator economy is I think it's probably grossly overrated of becoming like a social media millionaire. And it's also grossly underrated of how practical it is to earn a few thousand or a couple, you know, tens of thousands of dollars a year.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

As supplemental income. Like maybe you still got your main thing, but you could go more part time, you know, if you will. The long tail. So saying that for the listener that would aspire if they are starting from scratch today or thinking about some principles or how they might approach that advice would you have for people that want to go full time as a Content

[B]

creator one, that this is a journey that they have to have in mind that if you do not want to do this for 10 years, don't even try.

[A]

You think it's 10 years?

[B]

I don't.

[A]

I'm saying some people say three at least.

[B]

No, no, no, no, no. I'm saying that in, in a mindset. Right. If you do not want to do this for 10 years, let alone time

[A]

to commit to it. Yeah. Once you're successful, now this is what you have to do.

[B]

Because the way you actually love creating content, that's what do you love creating content? Do you love talking to your audience? Do you love the good experiments and the bad experiments? Like, like the best thing is like if you get hit, how are you going. How, how are you gonna act? Right? How are you gonna act when. When that, when you get the below like 10 views, how are you going to act when that account is still at $10 every single month? How are you going to act? Do you still love it? Right.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And so that's why I say in, you have to have that long term thought process of if I could do this for 10 years, I'm good. Like this is, this is for me right. Then also being very balanced and or try to be balanced as much as you can with the creative and the business side.

[A]

Did that come naturally for you or.

[B]

No, that did not come naturally.

[A]

Which one did you have to learn more?

[B]

I had to learn more of the business side because I'm a natural creative. So the business side was a lesson. But I wish I would have focused on that sooner. Right. But because I had the side situation, I was able to focus on the creative more. And then when I wanted to be like, okay, this is full time. Like I, I gotta get more into the business side. I gotta understand the different streams. I gotta understand and not the different streams. Like how typical entrepreneur creators talk about of like real estate. Yes. Cool. I'm talking about my talent. How are we creating multiple streams with just my talent? The what people know me for. So being open minded to what are the. From a business side, what are the different streams? Are we willing to try not stay but just what are we willing to try? Are we willing to do the brand deals? Are we willing to do the affiliate and broadcast other people's content? Other people's stuff that is not ours. Are we willing to get into the merch side? Are we willing to do courses? Are we willing to do events? Are we willing to like what are we willing to do? And being open to at Least trying it once and if you don't like it, that's okay. Like, it's all about building our, like our monetizing creator formula. Like, and, and understanding that's going to take a little bit of time. But because I'm trying some things, I'm going to collect the dollar here, I'm going to collect the hundred here, I'm going to collect. So the open mindedness of doing that has to be there. And then probably the last thing I would have to say is if it is not creating any type of fun or happiness after a while, let it

[A]

go, let it go, let it go. Like if you're not having joy doing

[B]

it, have to, you have to let it go. Because the hardest thing to recover from is burnout the heart. Like it.

[A]

Have you been burnt out?

[B]

I've been, yeah. That's one of the main reasons why I had to stop the, the podcast. I was burnt out. I was.

[A]

What did that feel like?

[B]

Drained? Impossible.

[A]

Like impossible to film more.

[B]

Yeah, it is, it was, it just wasn't. I didn't want to come up with the ideas. It felt more like a routine now. Right. It didn't. When I couldn't get more ideas, that's when I knew I was burnt out. Because one of the things I do know that I can come up with an idea in 2.3 seconds. I'm very blessed on that one. But when that stopped, I was like, okay, there's something wrong, but let's go through this. You know, sometimes you got to push it through, right? But sometimes you don't need to push it through. Sometimes the signs are really there and you have to take the time to be okay. And it's not a failure, it's a lesson. Like the podcast was not a failure. We did 180something episodes. That's not a failure. We build an audience that's not a failure. Right. We had a YouTube channel that hit over 18,000 subscribers. That's not a failure. It was more of, okay, here are the lessons. The season is done. Stop pushing yourself just because you're like, oh, we got to be consistent. This is finally going to blow up. The way that we. The, the comparison drug is a drug that we need to stop taking. Okay. It is, it is horrible because you look at, especially from a podcast standpoint, you look at these podcasts that's been in the game six, seven years and then you see them blow up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So you're in year three and you're like, okay, I got three more years. And then it's gonna go, but you're dying inside. Like, what was. There's a statistic that most podcasts don't make it past three. Three episodes, you know, and then even a smaller percentage make it to 20. Yeah, I should be celebrating that I made it to 20 for sure. I should be celebrating that we made it to 50 if we didn't do anything more. That's okay because so many lessons happen from that. But the smarts of a really good creator is understanding when things need to die. That's the best part you need to learn is like, when do we need to let certain brands, certain products, certain services, when do they need to die?

[A]

That's such good advice for anybody that wants to go part time or full time. So many nuggets in there. I do have one additional question for you, but I want you to give a shout out Think Media podcast. Of course. We'll link this in the show notes. And this is a two part conversation. The other part's all about your AI tools. Genius workflows. We'll link to that episode in the show notes. But if people want to follow you, where can they follow you at?

[B]

This is Nikki's, on all social media platforms. Nikki Saunders on YouTube. Oh, everywhere. I'm literally everywhere. It's a great. It's a great feeling.

[A]

Final question, like, what are some of your feelings of maybe the challenges and opportunities people should consider?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In a 20, 26 world, AI algorithms changing, increased competition. I mean, on YouTube, YouTube revealed that 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every single day.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That feels overwhelming.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

But, you know, in our community, we're watching our students. Recently, Sherry, she's 77. She had zero social media following. Okay. Across every platform. She had no platforms. She had just a smartphone. And we did a cohort for five weeks. She posted her first video. At the end of the Cohort, she got 37,000 views. Just shot on her iPhone. Now again, whole process. And it was about actually the passing away of her dog.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Tapped into an identity of other people who've lost animals and pets, but the structure to it, super basic, but like an art form all the way through. Yeah, but what did it reveal? It revealed that you can start a YouTube channel. This is four weeks ago. You can start a YouTube channel right now.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Post your first video and get 37,000 views, if that's possible, then it's not too late to start. No, but it. Competition is fierce. There are challenges. AI is disrupting everything. I'm curious, kind of your perspective for people of what it means to navigate and go forward today. Challenges and opportunities.

[B]

Challenge. Well, I'll say opportunity. This is probably the best year to figure out who you are.

[A]

What do you mean?

[B]

Meaning self awareness is what's going to make you stand out in social media, in content creation. The more that you are aware of who you are, your personality, how what makes you stand out, your childhood loves and everything like that is what's going to make you stand out from the AI stuff, from all the competition, because they're running off of a framework and you're running off of authenticity, you know. And so the thing that even myself this year have tapped into when I talk about, I read this book, Almanac of Naval Right, and he talked about people tapping more into the things they liked as a child. As a child, right. Because it has a pure effect of who we are now. And I had to tap into that of like, okay, what are some of the things that I liked as a child that really can stand out in content creation? Right. I used to love music videos, so that breaks down why I love the visuals and the storytelling. I loved computers and all of that. That breaks down the educational side of me and always wanting to find out the latest updates and things of that nature. I used to go to camp, so that's why experiences are so important to me. And me being so aware of that makes me navigate how I create content, how I do the business side more, because I'm leaning more on my strengths of what I had instead of, oh, that, that happened in the past, or I'm an introvert, so I don't even like doing these types of things. But the more that I'm aware of myself, the more that I can relate to people and give them exactly what they want. Because this is exactly what I wanted when I was coming up. This is exactly what I did. So I think even though we have so many tools, we have so much competition and everything like that, the still what is rare is authenticity. And that's why we hear that so much, that people are so sick of hearing it. But because it's still not like it's, it's still not tangible. Like, not everybody is authentic, not everybody is consistent. And that's why we continue to hear consistency. But I think if we tap more into who we are, do the personality test, do anything that you can to figure out who you are, you're gonna become a better content creator on a business side.

[A]

That's a really powerful tip at the end there. And not just surface level stuff and not just surface level authenticity, but really unpacking your childhood, unpacking those unique things about you. Growing in self awareness, becoming a superpower to supercharge your content strategy. Serious gold. Nikki thank you. Grateful for you and Think Media podcast like rate, share, review wherever you watch or listen. If you made it this far, send me a massive love and respect and gratitude. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. Cannot wait to connect with you in a future episode. Until then, keep crushing it and we will talk soon.