← 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@think masterclass.com now, let's jump into today's show.
- [00:38]
B
And once I started doing that consistently, Sean, the channel took off. Right. I went from 300 to 400,000 views a month, which I was getting on average to over a million.
- [00:47]
A
That's Benazadi, a New York Times bestselling author who's now running the second biggest channel in the entire health space on YouTube. But almost seven years ago, when he started YouTube, he struggled for months just. Just to get a few thousand subscribers. And then after experiencing some growth, he hit a plateau. He got stuck and had to reinvent his entire strategy. And in this episode of the Think Media podcast, he's breaking all of the lessons down, including how he repositioned and rebranded his channel, his packaging strategy that started to make his videos go viral, and one strategy that brought in almost $700,000 in gross sales in the last 30 days alone. And I haven't heard anybody talking about this. So if you're just starting on YouTub looking for some wisdom, or you've been stuck and you're wanting to scale your views and income, this episode is for you. Let's dive in. So, Ben, what is the biggest thing about YouTube you believe right now that you didn't believe years ago?
- [01:46]
B
Well, I used to think YouTube was slow growth, and it can be, but it doesn't have to be slow growth. I really believe there are ways to maximize your reach. And even if you are a new channel, I see it with my channel, we're not new, but I see some months that we've had where we've hit over a hundred thousand subscribers, like within 30 days. And the first thousand subscribers took me almost seven months when we launched a channel. But I don't think that's necessary. I don't think you have to have the slow growth. There are ways to figure out virality on YouTube that I didn't believe was possible before.
- [02:22]
A
Sean, when did that first hit you? Like what happened or what video where that epiphany started to be revealed to you.
- [02:29]
B
It was a video I did about 15, 16 months ago on foods that RFK Jr. Was looking to ban. And what I didn't realize back then, we actually did this accidentally. It was during the perfect time where he was, you know, coming on board to the government, RFK Jr. He was talking about Maha, make America healthy again. There was a lot of buzz around it. And I put this video out right before he came on board. And what I realized when this video went viral, it's our biggest video yet. It has over 4 million views since then. But what I realized, we picked the perfect time on a very important topic and we released it at the right time and we were ahead of everybody else that were releasing similar videos. So we got the views there and we could do that with other videos and other trends. You talk about this trends, what is it? Trend surfing, I think you call it. So finding out what trends are happening out there and being one of the first people to do it, or even if you're not the first person being the best at it, the best video out there. I realized we could do this in other areas and we don't have to wait 6 months, 12 months, or a year for the growth. We could get it in a day as soon as the video comes out. Like that video went off the day that it came out.
- [03:34]
A
How long did the video take you to make? You spotted it, you did some research, and then did you intentionally turn it around as quick as possible?
- [03:41]
B
I did because I knew I wanted to be one of the first videos out there, to your point. So, yes, I intentionally got it out as fast as possible. How long did it take? Well, I did some research on the foods he was looking to ban. I read some different articles and I put the script together. That probably took me three hours of research and then an additional 45 minutes of recording. So let's say. Let's say four hours total time. And that was it. That was it.
- [04:05]
A
Wow. Okay. So, I mean, not nothing, you know, not just 10 minutes. Not rushed. I think that speaks to the power of substance and quality, but also for the results. I mean, it took you four hours to get 4 million views. That's crazy. So the return on investment of time. I'm curious, since that video came out, what do you do to try to see breaking news stories or relevant news stories for your niche?
- [04:34]
B
I have a person on my team who looks at different articles and looks on chat, looks on Cloud T, what's trending out there? I also keep an Eye on it in terms of my social media feed. Now I don't spend a lot of time on social media personally, but I do look at videos that are doing really well that pop on my feed and I'm like, okay, is this something that I might want to make a video about? Like for example, I saw a video pop up on my TikTok feed the other day, this viral video that had millions of views on TikTok about microplastics being found in testicles, in the brain and in your day to day products and how they're hidden everywhere. And I knew a lot about this topic, but I never thought about recording a video until I saw this go viral. At least I saw the viral video on TikTok and then that inspired me. Okay, I'm going to record a YouTube video and go a little bit deeper on the microplastics, but also how to remove the microplastics. Not just the problem, but actually the solution. So that's part of the research as well. But I do have somebody who's dedicated to actually looking at studies and articles and seeing what's popping out there. So I'm blessed to be able to have that. But you don't need that. For those who are wondering, you could be the person that I was looking at the TikTok feed, looking at the Instagram feed, seeing what's popping out there. And then also one real quick going on YouTube incognito mode, I'll go on YouTube.com in incognito mode and I'll see what's showing up on the homepage because that's what's doing well. YouTube is showing that to the masses and if it's relevant to something I want to record, I'll look into recording that video.
- [05:56]
A
And those are some good tactics. The YouTube incognito mode is fascinating because. Yeah, again then there's no algorithmic change. You know, normally we're seeing what the algorithm is suggesting us based on our watch history. But Incognito is going to show you even the concepts, even if it's not the exact news story like the concepts or the formats or the titles that could inspire our next viral video idea. And then I would agree with that as well. I think, you know, a lot of people might doom scroll on social media and it doesn't lead to a positive benefit, but true social media consumption to pay attention to trends. If you condition your algorithm on Instagram or TikTok to be feeding you news, in your case being in the health niche, then those are a place where lots of information breaks quickly. And YouTube, I'd almost say it breaks fast on YouTube too, but maybe it's not quite as fast. So it could give you a head start to be using TikTok, Facebook Reels, Instagram to get video ideas to make these kind of news and trending type of videos. Have you then since that time, what has been maybe one of the second most successful ones where you spotted a story and then how did you end up packaging it on YouTube to turn it around and what were the results?
- [07:08]
B
Fasting. So fasting we. I see a lot of articles come out on, on intermittent fasting, like long fast. Sometimes there's articles about people that eat no food for 20 days, 40 days, and those tend to go viral. And I love, you know me, Sean, I love talking about fasting. I've been teaching it since 2014 and practicing it myself. So anytime I could record a fasting video, I'm excited, I'm excited to do that. But what I noticed is every time I recorded a fasting video, breaking down the timeline of what happens in your body. We're kind of talking about this with Dr. Berg, but with fasting water fasting, what happens inside of your body hour by hour, when you go without food for 24 hours and then 30 hour mark, 48 hour mark, 72 hour mark. So I did videos on 100 hour fast, 72 hour fast, 48 hour fast. And I was hopping on the trend. And those videos, all of those fasting timeline videos are my top performing videos. And Sean, I love recording them. Fasting is one of my favorite topics to talk about. And I think that's part of the reason why they're so successful, because I'm so animated and excited when I'm recording them. But that was the second one there, the fasting part. It's been one of those things that kind of come and go, the popularity of fasting. But when I see it pop up in these viral videos or these articles that come out, this guy fasted for 20 days, no food, and it goes viral. It inspires me to record another fasting video.
- [08:23]
A
I love that. Now you, in just a second, I want to ask you about one of the biggest turning points for your channel. Because you're not new to YouTube, but you definitely went through a season of a plateau. And I think there's a lot of creators that can relate with that, entrepreneurs, business owners that maybe at one point they were getting views or YouTube is giving them a certain amount of results, but now they're Trying to reinvent themselves. They're trying to figure out what pivot is needed. And you've done that in such a major way. I mean, I think now you're like the second largest channel in your space. You know, almost 7 million views in the last 30 days. So I'm excited to get into this in just a second, but I did want to give a shout out. The topic of this podcast is not as much like health and your main expertise, but as we both. Well, as anyone who listens to Think Body Podcast knows, and you know, our friendship, health is an edge. If you want to have your best energy, your best ideas, then tapping into things like fasting or, or your diet, your exercise could be a big deal. So I do want to just let people know you're. You're just dropping a brand new book. I think it's a relaunch. What's happening. I'll make sure to link that up in the description. That can really help people feel better and as a result, get better results in all areas of their life.
- [09:29]
B
Yeah. Thank you, Sean. And as an entrepreneur, you know, you know how important it is to improve your health. I love seeing you transform your health with the biohacking. You were talking about your labs and you've transformed your health, and it's no coincidence that it's transforming your productivity and that that is the case. You know, the bigger your goal, the bigger the mission, the more energy that is required, the more vitality you need to have. And it starts with your health. And it doesn't matter what your career is and what your channel is about. And yes, I do have this book coming out. It's a relaunch of Keto Flex that came out in 2021. It's being relaunched, it's revised completely. My publisher, Hay House, picked it up. And I'm really proud of the book because it's a customized version of how to apply these tools that I talk about ketosis, fasting, even things like anti inflammatory elimination diets like the carnivore diet. We hear about fasting, we hear about ketosis, we hear about these biohacks, but how do you customize the approach so you could benefit? Because not everybody gets the same benefit. And I was tired of seeing people struggle doing the things that I was teaching in a general format because they failed to customize it to their unique needs. So in this book, I wrote out the customization of it. Here's how men do it. Here's how women do it. Here's how women with a menstrual menstrual cycle, do it differently than women who are postmenopausal. And it shows you the game plan. And there's a beginner version and an advanced version. So there's biohacks in there, there's fasting tips in there. It's called Keto Flex and it's coming out on July 21st.
- [10:54]
A
Amazing. So we'll make sure that's in the description. And definitely, if you boost your health, you could boost your whole life business, YouTube channel. But I want to talk about the pivot. So there was a big turning point on your channel after being plateaued for a while. And the way you have articulated it is kind of shifting from niche content to viral content. Can you define those terms and how that. What that process was like for you?
- [11:21]
B
Yeah, you know, I learned a lot about this from you, Sean. I learned a lot from. About YouTube from you and Think Media, of course. And, you know, I remember you talking about on stage at your event, Grow with Video Live, that there are essentially like two different types of content out there. There's the content that's really SEO focused, searchable, and then there's that viral virality part. And, you know, you really helped me with the searchability of my content, especially in the keto space. Right. We were Keto Camp. We were dominating keto. We had all the search words and the. And the. And the SEO going on. And you really help with that. And then I finally decided to go into more of the virality and open myself up and get out of the keto space. And I changed the name of my channel first and foremost from Keto Camp to Benazotti. So that separated that number one. Number two, I started creating content that was outside of the space of just ketosis and fasting. And I started looking at topics that were more viral, right? The microplastics, things like liver, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance. These are things that I was not talking about before, maybe in sprinkles, but not a dedicated video. And once I started focusing on more viral content with the theme, like the title being such a great title and the thumbnail being such a great thumbnail, and then me delivering that content with the value being at the front of that content, the thick of the thickness, or I should say, like the meat of the content being right at the beginning and holding that viewer on that video as long as possible. You always talk about top time on platform, like, what can I do to engage them right off the bat? What can I do to deliver the most massive Tip in that video right off the bat and then keep them as long as possible. I started thinking about this more often and strategizing this. And this went into my scripts, this went into the iteration of the content. And once I started doing that consistently, Sean, the channel took off. Right. I went from 300 to 400,000 views a month, which I was getting on average to over a million. And then we went as high as over 12 million views in a single 30 day span. And then now it fluctuates between 6 million and 7 million and sometimes 8 million. But way above what I was doing before when I got out of the niche of my topic, which was keto, and I opened it up to more broad topics when it came to health.
- [13:32]
A
Yeah, that's. I want to unpack some of these things. I think one of those terms, broad appeal, is such an interesting term for really exploding your YouTube channel. I've heard the most viral channels, which I want every especially business owner and entrepreneur to take this with a grain of salt because usually your intent, if you're, you know, have a very specific offer or very specific product. But nevertheless there's a lesson here. And some of the most viral channels actually ask themselves, does this topic appeal to 80% of the population? That's a crazy amount. And that's typically going to be. That means it doesn't just isolate men or women. It means that food or health oftentimes does like something that's broad enough appeal that like almost any human would be interested in clicking on this now again, what's fascinating is especially in the business space, you've heard maybe recently Alex from Ozzi talk about when it comes to business results, his niche secondary channel that only talks about like very specific things actually drives more business to his company than his more viral channel. But this is also coming from somebody who does both. He's got broad appeal brand, but also is getting those business results. What I want people to hear, and you can maybe expound on this is we are always asking ourselves to think media. How can we make this as broad appeal as possible? We might still want to call out something specific, but how can we package it, how can we title it to, to push up the level of how broad appeal that it is? Is that kind of how you've been thinking in your strategy?
- [15:05]
B
That's exactly it. And you know, it's, it's really a matter of, of testing a lot of videos. You know this Sean, not every video is going to be a winner. Right. You talk about that. And if you don't put out enough content, it's going to be hard to get that data. So we release five episodes or five solo videos on my YouTube channel every week. It's a lot. It's a lot. However, it gets us so much data to see what are the winners, what are the average performers and what are the duds. And we're constantly testing different themes and things we think that are mass appeal and sometimes it is and they crush. And then sometimes I think it's mass appeal and it's a complete dud. I'll give you an example. Like there was a video I recorded on dementia, some of the latest research on dementia, how to prevent it and in some ways how to dramatically slow it down. It's a very important topic to me. And I posted it on my channel. I'm like, this is going to be crush. And it totally underperformed, completely underperformed compared to our average. I'm like, okay, my audience doesn't really care about brain health. And then I saw, I thought of a video, another video on natural ways to whiten your teeth. I almost didn't record it because I thought, do I really want to record this? Like, do people really think it's important? I guess they do. It's vanity. So let me just test it out. Right. Again. You do enough content, you could test things out. So I record this video on natural ways to whiten your teeth. I put it out there and it was one of the fastest growing videos on the channel. It's got over 2 million views now since we released it. Right. So my audience cares more about vanity things like teeth whitening versus like dementia. Right. But I wouldn't have known if I didn't test these things out. Sometimes you get duds, sometimes you get average performers and sometimes you get these rock stars. But I put out enough content to test that and to get the results, the data back fast versus doing a video a week. I wouldn't know that data for a lot longer than what I'm doing now.
- [16:51]
A
I love that. And then you, I heard you say, of course, the power of packaging. We've been talking about that. You know, you need to master packaging or get ignored this year on YouTube, that's the game. It is that topic. It's that title and that's in the thumbnail. But you know what? I think it's under talked about is what you're saying, is that next piece though. But packaging is not enough. If the delivery, the script or the outline isn't packed full of value, you know, you Want to keep time on platform. We, we've been talking a lot about the term of vpm, which is value per minute. How dense is the value per minute for the viewer that's watching? If I gotta hang on your video for one, two or three minutes before I get another epiphany or another nugget, then I might bail. I probably will, right? Cause there's other content out there. So I'm kind of curious. As such a good teacher, an educator, you know, you've turned your knowledge and your experience into a online business that's changing lives and that is incredibly lucrative. How do you think about and how have you grown in creating like a world class piece of content itself? The way you teach, the way you think about structuring your teaching, the way you think about scripting your videos?
- [18:01]
B
Yeah, so it starts with the script, right? Well, actually it starts with the theme. It starts with me understanding what is the title of this video. That's where it starts for me. And then it's the next step is the script of that. How do I deliver the mass the best value to deliver the promise of that title. And you know, I see a lot of people in my health space that I'll speak to that also. I could tell they use scripts and there's nothing wrong with that. I use scripts for my videos, but they're very robotic with the scripts. You know, either they're reading a teleprompter or they're looking down and looking up and they're just kind of reading what's on the script. And I could tell it's robotic and I can tell that it's not really helping as much as it is hurting them because their views are going down. I see this with the research I'm doing. I go into it. I don't want to be that type of person. I want to bring my personality to it. Although it is scripted, I am bringing my personality, I'm adding in stories, funny stories. I'm bringing my personality to these videos. I want it to be entertaining, I want it to be personable so the audience relates to me and I want it to be educational. So what I'm, you know what I used to do is I used to start the videos with this long hook and a build up and then explain why I'm choosing these five tips. You know, I've changed that with a short hook and then going right in to those tips and delivering massive value right away, you know, and, and I've spoken about this before with you, Sean, when you interviewed Me. And then I'll add some Q and A at the end if I want, if I feel like I want to add some questions, I'll add it to the end. But it's like right off the bat, massive value. They see the thumbnail, they see the title, okay? They're interested, they're curious about what this is about. They want to learn more. I don't want them to click on and then see me speak for a few seconds or even a few minutes and be like, oh, this is too long winded. There's no personal, too robotic. And then they go to the next video. Like you said, they're going to do that. So I show up and I go into it like, how can I impact millions of people on this video? Like I'm looking at, at it like there's going to be millions of people watching this video. How can I bring my personality? But here's the thing, you got to be healthy and energized to do that, right? If you're not healthy and you feel depleted because your diet is crap and you're not fasting or whatever it is, like it's going to be hard to do that. That's where the health piece comes into play here. So I have the energy to do that. I show up and I typically do it fasted because I feel better that way. And then I show up and I deliver. Like I'm on stage at a conference and I don't extend the video just to make it longer. When it's over, it's over. And I, and I, and I deliver on the promise of the title, which is something that you've taught about, taught to us before.
- [20:21]
A
Sean, I want like you're dropping obviously pro level, elite level YouTube advice and you're a real authority, second largest channel in your space, you know, 6 to 7,8 million views a month. But YouTube is still such a massive opportunity for new channels to start. We're seeing it happen every day. You know, you're one video away from a new channel growing. You lived in the era where we were chipping away at like search based videos and wanting to do hundreds of them to get traction and grow our channels. And you know, recently we had this woman, Sherry, she's 77, with zero social media following, just her phone, posted her first video ever on a brand new channel and got 37,000 views. That happened a couple months ago. So that's like right now on YouTube you can start from scratch. A lot of people have been highlighting the fact that we're no Longer in social media, we're in interest media and so in a way followers don't matter and of course we still want subscribers, but it's like one individual video can blow up. I'm kind of curious though, because now you've so honed your craft, you're speaking on stages, you know, now you've packaged what you know into a book, you're teaching at this high level. And I think that some people might feel the gap is too big between. I'm just starting though, and I'm like not an expert and I'm not a pro communicator. How can I compete? What advice would you give to somebody who's early on in their journey in terms of what it might take to start and stick with and develop their skills, their communication ability, their YouTube knowledge. For those that would come to you and say, hey Ben, like I want to start a channel, what would your first couple steps and advice for me to do that, not just like techn, like tactically on how to set up the channel, but for me to develop as a communicator and someone that is conveying what I know or even developing what I know.
- [22:08]
B
First step is I would go on Think Media and look at the oldest video on there and watch Sean stumble his words talking about how he's not going to be entertaining and he's not going to be this xyz. Look how bad Sean was and look how great Sean is now, right? Every master was a disaster. So don't compare your chapter one to Sean's chapter, whatever. My chapter, whatever. Like you are on your own journey, first and foremost, only compare yourself to what you did yesterday, right? You're only comparing yourself against. You're only competing against yourself. So know that going into it, number two, I would find a topic or a channel that is something that lights you up. Don't start a channel on a topic because you think that's what people want to hear or it's going to go viral. That's not going to last if you're not passionate about it. If you don't care about the topic, it's not going to last. It's not going to be something you do for a very long time. I love talking about health. Sean loves talking about YouTube and media and growth and mindset. If he didn't love it, he would not be here today. He would not have the longevity in his space and I would not have the longevity in my space. So find something you love doing. Don't let and I hear Sean say this all the time. You've probably heard him say it before, too. Don't let the fact that you don't have the fancy cameras and the professional mics get in the way. And I'll share this, Sean. Like, I just moved into this house and we built this beautiful studio. It's a dream of mine. And you know how you're a studio guy, you get it, right? But when we moved in here, the studio was being built out for several months, so I had nowhere to record. So what did I do? I simply put my phone on a tripod. I sat on my couch, I sat at the kitchen table, and I thought, is this gonna hurt my views? No, I got the same amount of views with no fancy background. Just a camera on a tripod, the same exact views. All the stuff behind us, it's for my enjoyment. It's not going to really help my channel. It's for me, not for the channel growth. Right. So don't worry, don't get held back about you not having a studio. Like, sit in your backyard, just have good audio, use your iPhone. That's all you need. The story you just shared about the woman, Sherry, that's a perfect example. Like, that was recently, like YouTube. Yeah. There's a lot of people on there, but it doesn't mean it's too late. You haven't missed the boat. As a matter of fact, it's the perfect time. Right now is the perfect time to start. So find something you're passionate about. Don't get fixated on the equipment, and don't compare yourself against somebody else. The way to get better and become a great communicator. To answer your question, you got to put in the reps. You got to put in the reps. And as hard as it is, watch those videos and see yourself on camera. It's awkward, it's weird, but watch yourself. Maybe, maybe mute the video and then watch yourself with it being muted. Do you look like you have personality? Does it look like a good video? Like, do different things to look at it from different angles. And when you change your perspective on things, you start to notice different things. Okay. I could have done this with my facial expression or I could have said it this way. It's weird to watch yourself and listen to yourself. But I think it is very important I do that to this day with my speaking. I watch the video with my keynote coach. He looks at me and we look at my facial express. We break things down because that's how I get better. So it's the repetition. But it's also looking at those reps from a lens of how could I improve? And just going from there. That's what I would say.
- [25:23]
A
Sean, man, that's. Those were some incredible tips you just listed off. And I love that one about actually watching your videos back. And I think, I mean, having a mindset too, because sometimes we can downward spiral into watching our videos back and it leading us to a negative place. But how would you encourage people to kind of hold it in grace where you can sort of like allow yourself room to grow and not be overly critical of yourself? Because our first videos are your worst videos. You know, the formula for success that I learned from you was four steps. Suck, suck, suck, Cess is. You told me that on one of our previous podcasts together. Right? And it makes sense. And so it's like you go back, but also it's such a genius tip because it's what pro athletes do. They watch game tape. It's what pro teams, sports teams do is they watch the game tape. Where did we fumble? Where did we make a mistake? What was. You know, and so that review process is huge. How would you encourage individuals to hold the tension between being either too hard or too soft on themselves as they're wanting to grow?
- [26:26]
B
Yeah, that's true. Good point. It's either too hard or too soft there. So, number one, if you're too soft on it, if you're not actually looking at it from that lens of how could I improve? Maybe have somebody else watch it with you and get their constructive feedback, but have that conversation with them. Like, I'm looking for feedback that's going to help me be a better communicator. I want you to see things that I might be missing, and then you watch it with them. Now, if you're too hard on yourself, watch Sean's first video and get a good laugh. And you know, I would go into it thinking, man, yeah, I might. I might suck. Now, I might not be the greatest communicate communicator, but, like, it'll be so cool to be into this game now for one year, two year, five years, and look back at that video as like an example, like Sean does with this first video. Like, look at how I was and look how I am now and how it inspires so many people. So know that it's going to inspire so many people when they see what you're going to achieve with how great of a communicator you're going to be with the reps you take, and then you're going to Be able to show them how you were like Sean shows them that video. And I look at my old videos and it's so funny, but I look at it back at it with pride. I'm so glad that I went through that, that I continue to stick with it. Like stick with it. Sean just shared the formula that sucks, suck, suck success. That is how it works. But you got to make sure you're improving every single time. You're not perfect, but you're making that progress. You're getting a little bit better each time. So if that's not in you to see it from that lens, bring somebody in, a business partner or your wife or husband to look at that video with you and then see what you could improve upon and then go from there and just know that it's going to be a video that you can inspire so many people with because you're going to be so much better off in a year, two years, or however long you stick with it.
- [28:02]
A
So Ben just said something that I want to pause on for a second. Getting outside eyes on your content is one of the fastest ways to improve. And that's literally what we do at Viral Video Coach. Com. When you go to that website, you're going to have a chance to apply to work with our team, whether in a group setting or a one on one coaching environment where we give you specific feedback to your channel, your strategy, your business plan and help you package videos that get views and drive results. And here's the part that I love. We have an outlier guarantee. If you don't hit 10 times your normal views multiple times within the program, we'll extend your coaching for free. So if you're tired of doing YouTube alone and ready to accelerate your results, just go to Viral Video Coach. Com, fill out the application and we can't wait to talk to you soon. So I want to talk about something that actually some individuals at the beginning of their journey think about and certainly those that plateau think about, and you mentioned it earlier, you changed the name of your channel. You really changed your brand. You evolved your brand. And as somebody who's been building your business, building a personal brand, building and developing your career as an author, speaker, content creator, like that's I think a question people have is when should I do that and will that hurt my channel? Will I what happens if I leave behind a previous brand? And I'd love to hear the story of, you know, I remember Keto Camp, I think is that what the channel started as? It was named Keto Camp from Day one.
- [29:35]
B
Yeah.
- [29:36]
A
So, so when you even first started your channel and you thought about branding and name and then how long did it go and then why the change and what were some of the decision making frameworks or like mental models you were using that you felt were necessary to. To change your brand?
- [29:52]
B
Yeah, so I, first of all, I had, I had a challenge even calling it Keto Camp because I didn't want to niche down that much even before I started the channel. But then I decided to go with Keto Camp because I loved talking about keto. I could fit fasting into that conversation. I wanted to dominate that niche. So I went into it like, I'm going to dominate this keto niche. So we called the Keto Camp and we started doing all the things we learned from you and Think Media, right? These videos that we're ranking and you search how to do keto without a gallbladder. We're like in the top five, how to do keto. If you're a woman with a menstrual cycle, we're like top five. So we started ranking all these videos and I became known as the Keto guy. I would go to these events and they would hear that the Mr. Keto camp, you're the keto guy. And it was cool, it was great. But there was so much more that I had to teach that I wanted to teach. I love talking about things outside of keto and fasting. I love talking about mindset. I love talking about so many different topics. So, you know, we stuck with keto camp though. 2018, all the way until 2023. So five years. And then at that point I wanted to reach more people. I wanted to get out of just being the keto guy. There was just so many keto videos I could record and I was just, I was kind of getting a little burned out with just keto, keto, keto. So for me, it was a personal preference to open up the variety of topics. I wanted to reach people, I wanted to go viral. Not just keto viral, but health viral. So at that point I decided, all right, the channel is going to change. Should I call it like Metabolic Freedom, which is the name of my last book? Should I call it something related to metabolism? But I thought, I don't really only talk about metabolism. I talk about mindset. I talk about Bob Proctor's work, I talk about all this. A lot of the authors that we read. So if I was the Metabolic Freedom Channel, there would be a disconnect there. So what if I call it Benazotti Right. We see other big channels like Jay Shetty and other channels that are named after the person. Then I could open it up to different topics. That means I could interview other people. I could interview Tony Robbins. I could interview Patrick Bet David. I could interview people that are not just in the health space, because it's the Benazotti show now, not the Keto Camp podcast. So that was exciting to me, and that's when I made that transition. And now it's opened up a whole new world of new guests on my podcast and new topics to cover and things that I enjoy talking about. So for me, it made sense because I mastered that niche. I think I did a really good job of becoming that authority in there. And then there was so much more that I wanted to speak about. So it was kind of calling, tugging at my heartstrings, talk about different topics. And for me, I felt like I was ready, and that's what I did. But I. But I also think it was great to go into it as a niche. If you're wondering, should I go into it as a niche? That's a great. A great avenue. I did that, and it worked. And then I opened it up. I felt like the time was ready, and I opened it up after five years. So I think it's still a great approach, the same way that I did it myself.
- [32:35]
A
So it was about five years of Keto Camp and then the pivot.
- [32:38]
B
Yes.
- [32:40]
A
And then. Do you think there's been any downsides, any confusion, or has it been all upside?
- [32:45]
B
Oh, there's always. There's always some downside. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure people that were subscribed to my channel and wanted Keto stuff, and then I started talking about other things. I'm sure some of them subscribe, unsubscribe. Excuse me. You know, Keto events that I used to speak at and do keynotes at, I started getting asked to less of those keynote events because I wasn't just the Keto guy anymore. I was other. I was more than just that. So, yeah, there's always a downside to it, but I was okay with that. I was okay to lose some of those subscribers. I was okay to not speak at certain Keto events, to speak about things that I'm passionate about. And you know what? Because of that pivot, the channel took off. It absolutely took off. We would not be, as you said, number two in the health space for YouTube channels if we stuck with Keto. There's only so many people you could reach. It's not the 80% you talked about earlier. It's now we're focused on the 80% plus, before, maybe it was 20% and we got to those 20%, and I'm grateful for it, but it was time to go to the next level and that's what we did.
- [33:46]
A
I'm curious what you think about this, because the evolution is inspiring. It's there. I think there's a lot of lessons. But for listeners, I think it's important to know where you are on your journey. A friend of mine, Rory Vaden, teaches a concept called she Hands wall. And it's this idea that we look at individuals that are maybe have broken through the wall. And you might look at somebody like Dwayne the Rock Johnson. You're like, well, this guy does everything. He's like a rapper actor, he's got a tequila line, he's done wrestling and he's doing all these things and he's succeeding at all of them. But what Sheehan's wall would teach is that that's not what you do at the start. The problem is if you do too many things at the start, you bounce off the wall and you don't break through because when you have diluted focus, you get diluted results. So in order to break through the wall, you want to become known for one thing. And it's interesting, as you're now telling this story, you really are the perfect example in the sense that by niching down at the start, you became so known for Keto and your brand grew for that. And the expansion isn't a change. It wasn't like a pivot away from you, just went broader. And I think about, you know, even someone like a Gary Vee. Someone thinks of him as a very much variety creator or even variety business person, but not realizing that he went so deep in Wine, Library tv, a Thousand episodes, Just About Wine, before zooming out into social media strategy, business strategy, and now like all kinds of stuff, like developed a cartoon line and all of these things. So I think it's interesting, I'm curious your thoughts. The Power of Being Zig Ziglar said it like this. You don't want to be a wandering generality. You want to be a meaningful specific. Because when you are in a busy world, you become known for one thing. You break through. But what that affords you the opportunity to do is what you're doing right now. Like, you've got the credibility, the authority, the momentum, and you have zoomed out. But. But it wasn't the thing you did first. What's your take on that?
- [35:52]
B
I agree. 100. I haven't heard of the she she hands wall is what you called it.
- [35:57]
A
It's named after the. The Peter Sheehan, a friend of his. And so it doesn't have a lot of necessarily meaning that's just his last name. But the idea of like where you are and where you want to get to, which is, you know, full time on YouTube or a six figure, seven figure business or a number one New York Times bestseller, things you've achieved, like you've, you know, launched bestselling books and done all these different things, you broke through. Someone goes, I want to do what Ben did, but you want to reverse engineer the process. And there was steps to it.
- [36:24]
B
That's exactly right. Yeah. That's where we get into trouble because we look at other people out there and they're giving advice. Like me. I'm giving advice, you're giving advice. But we're giving it sometimes we're giving it from where we currently are, but we're not thinking about the person who was me five, seven, eight years ago. And there's a different answers, a different coaching for that person versus the person who's I am now. Right to your point. So I think it's still a great idea to go into your YouTube channel as a niche. I really do. That's what I did. It worked for me and I opened it up later on because like you said, the wandering generality, meaningful, specifically that, that you become a meaningful specific. You dominate that space. And you also said something very important. I did not get away from keto. Okay? I still talk about keto. I talk. I have this book coming out, Keto Flight. I'm still talking about keto. You're not getting away from that niche that you still love. I love talking about keto and fasting. I'm not getting away from that. I'm just adding more to the conversation. And some people are not going to like that. They just want keto stuff from me. And I'm okay with that. It's okay if they unsubscribe. It's okay if they stop following me because I could reach so many more people talking about different topics. But I didn't start that way. To Sean's point. I started very specific, very niche. And we've heard the phrase the riches are in the niches. And there's some truth to that, but not for the entire. Your entire career. Like I believe that. But I opened it up and now the riches are not in the Niches for me, the riches are in the virality for me. But I didn't start there. So the advice that I would give new channel owners here, probably a good idea to start with the niche, dominate that and there'll come a point where you want to open it up. You're not getting away from the niche, you're just adding to the niche. And that's exactly what I did.
- [38:04]
A
When you're talking about your results expanding you, I mean it still took a courageous move to pivot your brand changing. Typing in the new name of a YouTube channel always feels a little bit nerve wracking. Like what's, you know, is it going to mess with the algorithm? Like what's happening? You know, it's been keto camp for so long, you change the name. But, but as far as business results, I'm curious first of all, what is like your product suite. I know you have a lot going on, but if you were to put them in buckets, book sales, you have a membership site. What, what are maybe what's your core offer? Give us a vision of what your kind of the way you serve people with different products and programs.
- [38:38]
B
Yeah, our number one is going to be affiliate. Affiliate products.
- [38:42]
A
Okay.
- [38:43]
B
But what we do, Sean, is a little bit different. We, we reach out to certain companies that have products that I use and would want to endorse and we negotiate higher terms for those affiliate deals. So it's not, there's a standard 15% commission or 20%. We're negotiating much higher commissions, CPAs and commissions. And once we get that dialed in, then I'm recording content that takes the viewer on YouTube to that solution of their product. So we're plugging it into our viral videos. And that is the number one driver of my business right now. It's been doing really, really well to give you a number, Sean. In the last 30 days, just from YouTube, just from what we're doing here, we've been able to bring in over $700,000 in gross sales just from that, Just, just from the YouTube channel. That is in an include AdSense, doesn't include email, it doesn't include people joining the course, just from that one strategy. And what we learned is that in the beginning when we started doing this, we wanted like 40 different companies to do this with. And then we, we, we realized we actually don't want 40, we want like five and we want to go deep with those five. So we took it from 40 to five and now it's actually just three. We have three companies. Olive oil company. It's a protein shake company in a creation company. And we've been able to significantly increase their gross sales. And of course we get a commission, but that commission's based off that deal that we've structured. So that's the biggest bucket for us is that right there with, with YouTube. And I don't see one other person in my space, in the health space doing what we're doing with that. It's been a game changer for, for my growth. I don't know if you want me to, if you want me to stop and ask more to that before I lead to the other buckets, but that's the first strategy.
- [40:35]
A
Yeah, that's. No, I mean, it's under talked about, I would say. And it's. You know, people have heard of affiliate marketing, but I think what you're saying is an entirely different approach by building a deeper relationship, reaching out, kind of like a brand deal, but it's more of a partnership. Right. And so I'd also imagine what would be some of your frameworks there, you know, your integrity would be the foundation that you're looking for alliances with stuff you already love. And how does those, how do those conversations come about? Email? Do you try to have a meeting with the founder? Like, what is your way of developing those alliances?
- [41:12]
B
So for me, thankfully, I'm at a place where I have a team that actively reaches out and sets the meetings. It's not me. Now, if, if it was not the team, it would be me. I would be the person doing that. I'd go to their website and we show them our YouTube stats. Like, here's what an average video does. We get about 233,000 on average per video. That's on average. And you know, here's what we can do.
- [41:34]
A
What was your average again? Your average video?
- [41:36]
B
233. That was 2025 this year. We haven't calculated, but 2025 was 233k average video.
- [41:42]
A
Yeah, yeah, right.
- [41:44]
B
So we'll reach out and show them the stats and be like, but we don't want just like a standard affiliate account. We want to, we want a special. We want to create something special where it's a win, win situation. So we're. My team is negotiating a special, not 15% commission, but we're looking at 30 to 50% in some cases commission on top of that, reoccurring subscribers. And here's the thing, Sean, we learned about this the hard way, bro. We realized that we send a lot of people to buy These supplements, these products on Amazon and we don't get any of that because people, even though we have an exclusive 20% deal my community gets, people still go to Amazon because it's quicker, convenient and they don't even care about the discount. So when we started running, when we started asking these companies, can you show us the data when this video came out, can you show us your Amazon sales versus the day it came out? Spikes and spikes and spikes. And we realized we're not getting any of that. So we actually negotiated. We want a piece of that too, right? So we look at these things and now we're getting a piece of their Amazon sales. A reoccurring customer. So it's been such a machine, right? It's been such a machine. But we were able to do that because of the YouTube growth. They see what we're doing, they want to be a part of it. But we're very, very selective. We're not taking on these 40 companies, we're doing a handful now. All this is going to change, Sean, because we're actually developing my own product that we're launching in September. So we're actually going to focus 100% on my product because Sean, I can't control, I don't get their email when they buy from somebody else. I can't run retargeting ads. They're not even running retard. There's so many things they're missing out with on that we're going to do and we're going to own all that. So come September, no more promoting other companies. We're going to promote my own product and control all the, all the aspects of it.
- [43:28]
A
Have you announced what type of product that is?
- [43:30]
B
I haven't announced it yet, so I, I can't say. But I, I'll tell you this and I'll send you some. It's a morning drink, an evening drink. And there's something else that's stacked. It's only three SKUs. We're not going to do anything more amazing.
- [43:41]
A
Okay. Excited for that. And it's, that's an exciting, you know, by the way, this is an idea I would encourage. You know one, if you're an established creator, it's a genius way of thinking. But even if you're a newer creator, I think it's underrated to think about user generated content establishing, you know, partnerships early on with how you can, you know, basically this is business development, like forming alliances, having conversations. That's why it's priceless to get to events or to have conversations to build a personal brand. And. And I would also imagine, like, what would you say? Have some companies said no or have. Is. Has it just not worked out? Like, in terms of volume, you. You wrote down some rules ahead of time, and one of your rules was, like, aggressive consistency. Do you think that some individuals may be like, we try once, and we just don't really strike the ground enough times when it comes to, you know, developing these relationships?
- [44:36]
B
100 aggressive consistently? That's exactly what I wrote. That is important because not all of these partners that we've tried out have worked out. Sometimes videos did. Didn't perform the way I thought. And sometimes. Here's another thing, Sean. This is more of an advanced tip, but if you're going to, you know, create something similar to what I'm talking about here, you got to look at their checkout page, and sometimes their checkout pages are awful, awful. And you're losing out on a ton of affiliate commission because of that. And we've had conversations with these companies, and they were not willing to change their checkout page, so we stopped working with them. So that's one thing right there. And then there have been some situations where they were. They didn't want to negotiate to our terms. Right. They were happy with the standard affiliate deal. 15% commission, 20% commission. So we. We obviously didn't partner with them. Right. So. But we wouldn't have found that out if we weren't aggressively consistent and reaching out actively. My team has had tons of meetings with companies. Not all of them have been partners with us, but now we found the three. But we had to put in the work and be consistent to go through that. But it's just, you know, it's just so cool because YouTube is the number one generator of my income right now. But even more important than the income part, it's the number one generator of the impact that I'm able to make. What we did, Sean, you're gonna like this. My team, they did this. I didn't even think about this. They surprised me with this. They downloaded all of the comments on my YouTube channel for the past two years, all the comments, and they put it into ChatGPT as an. As a file. And they told Ask Chat to calculate add up the total amount of weight loss from those comments.
- [46:22]
A
Wow.
- [46:23]
B
And it was over 1 million pounds of fat loss from my YouTube videos.
- [46:27]
A
Dude, that's crazy. And that's. And that's all that. And that's. That's, like, what has been shared. Because not every. Not even Everybody has told their story of the impact that you've made.
- [46:38]
B
That's right. That's right. And it's just. I feel so good. Like, when I talk about that, I feel better talking about that than the 700k because it's just so fulfilling. It's like a psychic. It's a psychic reward versus a financial reward. The financial reward is fantastic. I love that. But this feels so good. A million pounds of fat loss. These are people that are. They came across my YouTube video. It's just so cool. Like, so when you start putting content out there. I read a lot of the comments, good or bad. I read a lot of them because I want to see the impact I'm making. And if somebody has a negative comment and they have a point to it, like, it's good feedback for me. I put my ego aside and I listen to the feedback and I'll respond and I'll make that necessary change. But I'm looking at my comments, Sean. I'm looking at the positive, I'm looking at the negative. And it's so fulfilling to me to see the positive comments. I just love it. And YouTube is the number one platform that I see that versus all my other platforms.
- [47:27]
A
Man, it's so inspiring. And I do want to make sure that we close the loop on these other income streams, though. So if you were to kind of rank them, we don't have to go into too much detail. But that's. That's incredible that these kind of like advanced affiliate partnerships is your biggest and your number one. What would you say, like, number two, three, four, because you got a lot of different things going on.
- [47:47]
B
Yeah. Number two is going to be book sales. And YouTube is the biggest driver of those book sales by far, by the way, more than any other platform, any other resource. So YouTube, excuse me. Book sales are number two, which is nice. And number three. Number three is going to be keynote speaking. It used to be my courses. I'm actually. My courses are not a priority for me anymore. It's actually the partnerships, the book, the book writing and the book selling and then the keynote speaking. And because of the YouTube growth, primarily, I'm able to charge 20k for a keynote in the US, 30k outside of the US and I love doing the keynote speaking. You know what's really cool, Sean? When I do book signings at these keynotes, hundreds of people in line, it's so cool to shake their hand and give them a sign book and meet them. And I ask a lot of them, like, how did you Discover my work. How did you find out about my work? 90% of them, Sean, I watch you on YouTube. I listen to you on YouTube. I watch you on, it's like YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. It's not Instagram. It's not Tick tock. It's not other platforms. And it's just so cool to see the impact that, that I'm making. And another quick story now, when I go to airports, I'm getting stopped by people saying, you're, you're the, you, you're the health guy on YouTube. I follow you. It's like it's so cool to be recognized as that. And it's just that didn't happen before, right? So anyways, it's, it's, it's, it's the partnerships, the book sales, and then the keynote speaking. Those are the top three buckets in terms of income.
- [49:14]
A
Man, I love that. Well, I have one more question for you, but I do want you to do a full roll call to your stuff. And so, you know, we can definitely pick up the book because if we master our energy and our health, we're going to be able to master every other our lives. You can talk a little bit more about that and then shout out your channels. Anything else you want to point people to. And then I got one final question for you.
- [49:33]
B
Yeah, thank you, Sean. So the book is Keto Flex. If you go to keto flexbook.com we're giving away a few thousand dollars worth of free bonuses if you want to get it there. It's available on paperback, Kindle and Audible and Spotify. And I narrated the entire audio myself and I added some coaching sessions that are only exclusive to the audio on there. So if you'd like to listen to audiobooks, go get it. Ketoflexbook.com My main website is benazari.com which is also name of my YouTube channel. If you go on YouTube and just type in Ben Azadi, you could see the content we're putting out there, which is five new episodes or solos every single week.
- [50:09]
A
And I love it. And so of course, have everything in the show notes. Ben, my final question for you is across the board, you know, some channels are up, some channels are down. Your numbers, you're breaking records. But it's fascinating. We did a podcast recently and we were analyzing even Mr. Beast, which he was obviously crushing it. But there was a season where 200 to 300 million views was every single one of his videos. And now, you know, sometimes I might get 50, 60, 70, and you know, with Respect. His library grows over time, but it's, it's like sometimes a 60 drop from his highs. Whether it's competition, whether it's, you know, changing viewer behavior, a lot of people kind of feel it right now, and it's something you've been through. They feel that maybe they hit a plateau, they need to reinvent. But content creation is exhausting. So sometimes it's. I just feel like I would ask, what final encouragement or advice would you have for somebody that loves YouTube and they've been doing YouTube for a while, but they're feeling a little bit discouraged or they're looking at the numbers and they're wanting that spark to reinvent themselves, even like you did, because you were in this exact spot, plateaued on your channel. What's some, like, final thoughts you would have for that individual?
- [51:23]
B
Yeah, like you just said, every channel goes through it. Including Mr. Beast. Every channel goes through it. It's just the nature of YouTube, Sean. You know this, the algorithm, world affairs. Like when there's a war going on, when there's a new president, there's going to be people that don't care about health or certain tech gear. Right? They care about what's happening in the world. So views are going to go down on these channels. But if you could be that person who doesn't give up during those times where other channels, they're seeing their views decline, you're seeing your views decline. But some people, they stop posting as much because they see that. But you know, you stick with it because you're so committed when that goes away. The world affair, the YouTube algorithm, whatever changes, you're going to be at the forefront ahead of those people who gave up because of whatever's happening in the world. So that's the way I see it. Like we see the fluctuations too, up and down, but I never give up. And I'm always experimenting with different topics and different themes because you never know which one will take off during that slump. You could still get a video to take off. Even during those slumps, you could still get a video, go viral. Even with craziness in the world, you get a video to go viral. So experiment with different videos, don't give up. And when that algorithm changes or whatever is happening, you'll be at the forefront ahead of people who gave up or stopped posting as much because of that dip that we all experience in the YouTube world.
- [52:42]
A
Hey, if everything that Ben just shared lit a fire in you, that's exactly why we created our two day Las Vegas YouTube mastermind. Imagine being in a room with myself, the Think Media coaches and other serious creators and business owners getting specific feedback on your YouTube channel, on your titles, your thumbnails, as well as having hallway conversations that will change the trajectory of your business. And you know, personally, this is my favorite thing that we do at our company, Think Media right now. Because number one, in person connections are priceless. There is just so much digital noise, there's so much AI slop on the Internet that getting in the room and getting real connections with real humans, just as refreshing in today's world. But secondly, it's because it gets the best results for individuals. I think what's hard is it's hard to focus and there's so much to do in the day to days in our business. But when you set aside two days, fly to Las Vegas, connect with our coaches and like, open up your analytics in the lobby, do business breakthroughs on stage in the room, that's where the results happen. And then when you go to thinkmediamastermind.com you can see just a few of the stories that happen from the Think Media mastermind. So I want to invite you to the next one. You can go to thinkmediamastermind.com to apply. And until next time, my name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel. This is the Think Media podcast and I will catch you in a future episode.