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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 at thinkmasterclass. Com. Now, let's jump into today's show. I want to start today with a question most creators never ask themselves. What stage of YouTube growth are you actually in? Because I've noticed that the creators and entrepreneurs that are growing in this era, the ones that are hitting $1,000 months up to $10,000 plus months, aren't the ones that are posting the most. They are the ones who understand the stage they're in and the identity shift that they need to step into the next stage. So in today's episode, I'm actually gonna guide you through the exact framework that I just shared on a live class to help you go from zero to predictable income with what's called the five stages of YouTube success. I haven't shared this anywhere else like this. I just did this training and I and I wanted to give it to you Here on the audio podcast, you're gonna get absolute clarity on why you might be hitting a ceiling right now. What your next stage on YouTube requires, the identity shift that unlocks your next level and how to grow in the middle of the most competitive moment in YouTube history. This isn't theory. This is the roadmap that we are seeing working right now. So let's dive into the training. I want to welcome you to this free training we're talking about from side hustle to sustainable success. The five stage system to reach $10,000 a month with a small strategic audience. And I haven't shared this training anywhere else. So this is brand new and this is what we're going to be covering. We're going to be talking about the five stages of YouTube growth. Why most creators plateau and how to break through those plateaus, how to grow faster in a changing YouTube landscape, how smart creators are leveraging new tools like AI and then the proven system for building a 10k a month YouTube business. And at the end of today's training, I actually have a free assessment for you. Our team's been working hard and this will Help you not just identify your stage, but will give you practical tips for how to have a personalized roadmap for going forward and avoiding time wasting. Stop. So you can stop wasting time on the wrong strategies. Know exactly where you stand. But let's Talk about the 10k a month opportunity and really the challenge ahead. Because there's so much opportunity on YouTube right now, but there's also some big challenges. This is the truth. There's really never been a better time to be a creator, but it's also never been noisier. It's kind of like the tale of two cities. It's the best of times and the worst of times. There's really good things happening and there's really big challenges. You know, if you look at the math right now, YouTube recently celebrated its 20th birthday, and they revealed that they've paid creators $100 billion over the last four years. It's crazy, right? And new stats came out that actually shows the growth of the creator economy between now and 2032. And the creator economy is projected to grow by 4x in the next seven years, reaching over 848 billion billion worldwide. So the 10k a month opportunity on YouTube is a real opportunity. There's massive money in the system. But here's the bad news. Here's the challenge. Right now, on average, there are over 20 million videos uploaded daily to YouTube. That's more than 13,000 videos every minute. Like, as I've described this point, 13,000 videos were uploaded to YouTube. That's kind of crazy, right? So even as we're talking about this, there's so much content, and that's really the power of a framework we've developed here at Think media called the five stages of YouTube success. We're going to be going through these today. So you can identify where are you at, what do you need to fix, and what is it going to take for you to go to the next stage? And by the end of this training, you'll know exactly which of the five stages you're in, what's holding you back, and how to reach predictable income with YouTube. Now, here's the problem, and we got to cover this first before we dive into the five stages. Have you ever noticed we hit ceilings like we hit ceilings in life, right? Sometimes you have breakthrough seasons, sometimes you plateau and you get stuck in life. We hit against ceilings. And those ceilings could be for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it's skills, sometimes it's mindset, but most often, and this is actually a YouTube insight that I think Nearly all creators don't actually realize it's a fundamental shift that can change everything for you. Yes, skills are important and even mindset is important, but I think the biggest block is identity. Identity how we view ourselves and how we function based on our self perception. And this is actually backed up by science. So the truth is this. Everyone has an internal thermostat. You have an internal thermostat for success, for love, for wealth, even stress. And so at times, like in life or in business or your YouTube channel, things might heat up to 85. But if your thermostat is set at 70, you'll always bring things back down. This is why we sometimes self sabotage in relationships. That's not what this training is all about. But it's like, why do I always blow up things? Well, it depends on your internal thermostat, your identity, maybe the identity you learn from your parents, the identity you learn from your environment. And so if life dips below whatever the thermostat is set at, you'll hustle to also raise it back up. So it's like if your thermostat's set at 70 and things drop to 58, well, that's your thermostat. You're going to raise it back up. But if things get too intense, you might self sabotage down. We all know lottery winners, they inherit a lot of money and they lose it all. Their identity wasn't set up to be able to sustain that level of success. So unless you actually raise your thermostat, your identity, you'll always return to the same level. This is actually called the upper limit problem. And so raising it expands your capacity to handle success, pressure and growth. And so again, whether that's lottery winners that lose it all or business owners that implode, so at one level of YouTube, you know, you're making some videos, you're getting some momentum at the different levels of success. But then maybe things get a little complex or even you get some negative comments, you even have some success. We don't know how to handle success sometimes, so we start to like, get a little uncomfortable. What are people going to think? Is my family going to be affected? There's all kinds of things that can start coming at us. Have we ever seen a celebrity that succeeds but then self destructs privately because their results exceeded their setting? And I've learned this personally because I've been through all five stages of these five stages of YouTube success. Like every day of growing my business and my YouTube channel has been actually a struggle with my identity. And so, like, early on, you know, I had to first figure out how to create videos and shoot videos, of course. But then I started to get a little bit of adsense and a little bit of affiliate revenue and I started to have some other responsibilities. Now I need to email brands. I need to, I hire like an assistant, an editor, but now I need to talk to them and manage them. And I found that sometimes I avoided important work by hiding it behind busy creative work. Like sometimes in our YouTube creator career or entrepreneur career, we're like, I'm just going to go make content today when maybe we should be working on something else. Or I'm just going to go kind of maybe avoid the important work to just do the fun creative work. Sometimes I've dodged learning new skills that I needed to grow. What we'll discover in this training is that the thing to fix your next level of success might not be the thing you think, but I just want to keep doing the thing that I've always done. So we avoid those important growth skills because of our identity. Sometimes we avoid conflict, hoping problems will magically disappear. Right? You avoid difficult conversations or maybe addressing an issue. Business owners, you know that you're like, yeah, that person's kind of toxic, but I just don't want to have a hard conversation, you know, and sometimes numbing stress with unhealthy escapes on the journey. You know, it's been interesting. There's been times when I've struggled with addiction and struggled, struggled with substance abuse as I've had high levels of stress and also high levels of even success. It's the upper limit problem. It was my thermostat. I'm like cutting my, you know, the limb of my own tree. And this is what the five stages of YouTube success really solves. And so for me, I've found that this is the big key and that's why these five stages matter. They're really thermostat upgrades. And yes, there's new skills in everyone. And yes, there's tactics, and we're going to cover those in these in this class. But the big epiphany is identity shifts that raise your capacity for the next level. So let's dive into the five stages of YouTube success, because the real barrier isn't the YouTube algorithm, it's our identity. Tactics matter, but identity is what unlocks the next stage. Because when you step into a new identity, the tactics follow. You start being the type of person who looks at every problem as an opportunity. You start being the type of Person who realizes everything is figureoutable. You start being the type of person who realize I can learn new skills. What mentor do I need? What investment do I need to risk? Sometimes we're so risk averse, we realizing that when we step into the identity of an entrepreneur, we realize that there is no successful business without risk. Maybe you're afraid to share something in a YouTube video. Your breakthrough video is on the other side of a level of courage. But you're not quite stepping into that boldness, confidence and courage in your voice as a creator because maybe you feel fear of people. You're afraid of what people will think, you're afraid of risking things, of what it might do to your brand. These are all identity challenges. So let's go through these five stages. Here we go. Number one, you've gone from create, from consumer to creator. The first stage is creator. And the shift is you've gone from consumer to creator. Now, I will admit there is a stage zero and you might be in stage zero. And let me know if you're in stage one. You could type a one. Drop it in the chat if you're on the replay or the comments. This means, let's define it really quick. This means that you've started your channel, you've uploaded a video and you're learning by doing so. You're at stage zero. If you haven't posted yet, you haven't stepped onto the five stages. But here's what's so powerful is step one is actually a massive shift because there are millions of people around the world that want to get into the creator economy, but they're still hiding on the other side of fear. Fear of what people will think. They haven't punched fear in the face yet. I see a lot of zeros here in the live chat and I see some ones. We, we've, we've started our channel and here's, here's all you need to shift your identity into becoming a creator is you got to upload a video, you've started a YouTube channel, you got to set it up, Gmail, start your channel, name it. You know, some of you don't even have avatars. You've got, you know, like a letter on YouTube, you haven't actually thought of a name, but as soon as you press record and post a video, you've started your channel. Now here's the important thing at this stage as well is at this stage it actually is about uploads and not views. I know we want to get views on YouTube, but at the creator Stage, it's about counting uploads and not views. It's such a massive shift, and I want to encourage all the ones that you're dropping if you're at the creator stage, because most people are learning, which is great. They're watching YouTube videos like this. They're scrolling on Instagram, scrolling on TikTok, scrolling on YouTube shorts, but they're just consuming all day long. So as soon as you become a creator, I want to say congratulations, it starts to, like, shift your nervous system. It's like, now I've stepped out in boldness. I'm using my smartphone, I'm using tools, I'm making something. I'm getting uncomfortable, and I'm just starting to learn by doing. And. And I think you should give yourself grace at this phase as well. Like, I'm just practicing in public. I'm just uploading videos. I'm counting uploads and not views. And maybe you've posted five, 10, or 50 videos, maybe you've posted more on that. You're learning on the fly, but you're no longer just watching, you're creating now. There's a financial benchmark at every single one of these stages. And the financial benchmark of the creator stage is you haven't made income yet. You're still in the creator stage if you haven't made income yet. But here's the big identity shift. You've shifted from consumer to creator, and it's a big one. It's a giant leap. And here's my reflection question for you, though. If you're a zero, you're at stage zero, and you haven't stepped into stage one and got on the map of, like, I'm not just a consumer anymore. I'm a creator now. What's holding you back from pressing record? What is holding you back from pressing record? And is that a legitimate excuse? Oh, what are people going to think? I might get negative comments. Anyone who's posted content on YouTube for a while is eventually going to get a negative comment, by the way. You could just walk down the street or you could go to a Thanksgiving, you know, party at your, you know, your relative's house. You'll probably get a negative comment. Like, you're gonna get a negative comment anywhere. Like, there's something about just overcoming the fear, the hesitation. We wait when we're in that consumer. Well, I'm learning still, but until I lose £20, until I get that blowout, until I was, you know, I'm going to get Invisalign. I want to like, fix my. Like, we have all these excuses, like, start before you're ready. Punch fear in the face and start. What is holding you back from pressing record. But here's stage two. Stage two is the momentum maker. This is when consistency starts to compound. So now you've got some breakout. At least one breakout video or breakout videos. Now, what is the definition of a breakout video? Well, a breakout video, if you're posting for a while and maybe you're in the land where you're like, bro, I've been editing for like seven hours and I got seven views. Like, it's pretty discouraging. Like, it's kind of tough. But then you post a video and anyone who's been there knows exactly what this feels like. You've been getting seven views and all of a sudden a video gets 700. You've been getting 28 views, and all of a sudden you get 2,300. Or one of your videos hits 10k, 50k, you get a break. Momentum maker might be multiple videos. You're like, I'm. It still feels kind of random, but I'm starting to get the hang of this thing now. I'm starting to get a little bit of momentum and you're starting to develop some new skills and some routines. You're no longer just throwing spaghetti against the wall, hoping it sticks. You're like, okay, I got a little bit of rhythms, a little bit of new skills. And your analytics show growth. Maybe not all the time, but if you've been posting for a while, you eventually, if you've posted at least 10 videos, YouTube is now telling you, where do your videos score out of the last 10. And you post 10 videos, you drop a one out of 10. You're like, let's go, bro. One out of 10. And then also, you work really hard all weekend long on a video and it's 10 out of 10. You're like, that was my greatest video. What happened? You know, it's stressful. It's an emotional roller coaster posting content on YouTube. But you're starting to see some. Some growth, maybe some blips. You're starting to see some growth. You're developing some momentum. So let me know if you're at this second stage. And here's how you know, too. This is you're not at momentum maker stage until you've earned your first dollar online. And by the way, that is another massive milestone. Don't ever let somebody talk down to you and don't ever talk down to yourself. Once you've earned and Crossed that threshold of earning a dollar online because again, you go to Thanksgiving party, you know, like, why are you doing YouTube for? You made any money at that? You're like, yeah, I've made $3 and 64 cents. Like, oh, so dumb. What? You know, I make more money at my job. You're like, yeah, bro, but you didn't make $3, $4 online. Like, I crossed that threshold. There's a book called Zero to one and it's about starting businesses and it's, it's about going from zero to one customer. It's about the fact that you don't go from zero to like 10,000 fans and like massive success. You, you just gotta like get one. And so what I'm saying here is you've made $1. So when you made that first dollar on, on Amazon affiliates, they don't even send it to you until you hit like the threshold. You're like, it's just being held in Amazon jail. But I made it. Now I just gotta get to the threshold so they actually send me the check. It's like when you get your channel monetized, you started to make a little bit money. Momentum, maybe not a lot, and your day job or your part time job, or maybe your partner is the main breadwinner or whatever it is. It's a massive milestone and it's a massive identity shift. And there's another level too. You're in the momentum maker phase if you're making anywhere from a hundred to a thousand dollars a month. Because at this phase, you know, YouTube channel maybe got monetized or maybe it's not like we have a lot of students, they want to get leads and clients for their business, right? So your YouTube channel, it's when that sale comes in, that lead comes in and it converts. You know, maybe you're a service provider, a real estate agent, maybe you have some kind of product or service and you've been hustling on YouTube, but you're like, dude, I closed one. And then in a lot of cases you could go to bigger money because maybe you are selling something that's a hundred dollars, five hundred, a thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars, you only need one. And so you kind of are building momentum. Not super consistent yet, but you've earned your first dollar online or got your first client. And at this stage you're typically earning between $100 a month to $1,000 a month. Who's a two right now? Drop a two. If you're at that momentum maker stage. And if you want to share. How much are you earning a month? Are you on average earning a hundred bucks a month? Earning, you know, 300, maybe a thousand. Thirteen hundred dollars a month. I love it. We're seeing a lot of twos. We're seeing. We see it. 1.5. Good to see you again. Homeschool ways. We were hanging out in the VRA group earlier and doing some coaching there. A lot of twos. Congratulations. You know, you are a momentum maker. And if you haven't earned that first dollar yet, this is the perfect class to be on 204 videos. Respect for the hustle. But it sounds like there should be some changes now, maybe some systems changes, strategy changes, and perhaps an identity shift. And so 750 bucks. We're talking real money in the creator economy. $100 to $300. Congratulations, lavonda. That's incredible. And so might have sold a book or two. Amazing. You have something to sell. YouTube is bringing you an awareness of a product. You're an author, you've got a book. That's incredible. So let me give you kind of an illustration of somebody at this stage. So this is Christina Dapino. She actually is a history storytelling creator. She uploads a video a week and she runs a history storytelling channel where every video is deeply researched, an emotional story. And then she especially creates content for females that are 25 to 45 as her audience and has been posting consistently now. She posted for 14 years, creating on multiple different channels, and was stuck at $500 a month. Cool. But also like a lot of work, right. There needed to be some shifts there, a ton of consistency, a ton of effort. But she was capped out at about $500 a month. And eventually this was her breakthrough YouTube strategy and high retention storytelling. So the breakthrough was YouTube strategy. There's. There's always a strategic pivot when you go to the next level. And that could affect all kinds of things. Titles, thumbnails, your whole approach to your YouTube channel. Maybe a pivot of your niche or different things, but also high retention storytelling because that began to shift things in a major way for her. And she's doing long form historical storytelling videos. So including things like emotional arcs, strong retention and research depth that she tied with YouTube strategy. Better hooks, better titles, and a clear content pattern. Well, she was able to shift from 500 to $7,500 a month. And as she started to apply these best practices, she starts building more momentum. And she's now projected to hit $10,000 a month from AdSense alone. But here's a couple takeaways. Consistency compounds. It's not just about doing the same thing over and over again, though, because you've heard that, right? Like the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, over thinking you're going to get different results. So, yes, we consistently post, but we're also improving in her case, high retention. Storytelling. Storytelling wins in her niche. And also one video can unlock everything. She had a breakout video that really kicked her channel from a few hundred subscribers to tens of thousands. And so as you start making tweaks, you can really elevate to that next level. But here's the identity shift for the momentum maker stage. It's from dabbler to serious creator. From dabbler to serious creator. What does that look like sometimes? Well, all the time, like, we do all kinds of YouTube coaching inside of our VRA elite program and our different programs, and we are doing channel reviews and we'll look at a channel and they might be consistent in the sense that they've posted a lot of videos, but we can immediately tell that they're not being. They're not improving their content and we see weakness in their title. They're not applying best practices, they're not applying good YouTube titles, good thumbnails, good packaging. You click on the video, the hooks. It's just all of these mastery points of YouTube itself. So it's still kind of this dabbling mindset. They're maybe just kind of posting vlogging, having fun, you know, posting when they feel like there's random content, there's no strategy to the channel. It's like a dabbler mindset. It's not bad. It's kind of like very hobbyist. It's like, cool. I'm kind of posting random content on YouTube, but it's a whole shift in identity. Like, I'm gonna get serious. And that's actually all it takes to shift here. The serious mindset is like, I'm gonna lock in. I'm gonna treat this thing like a real skill set that I'm going to intentionally master. I'm getting serious. And so here's three habits of serious creators. You become a true student of the platform. A true student of the platform. You ever, you know, not enjoy school like I did. I wasn't a big fan of school. Like, I hadn't found my thing yet. English, math, geometry. Like, you know, I'm so grateful that I'm hanging out with you and got to turn this YouTube thing into a. Into my job and my career into A business because I hadn't really found my thing. But what I've noticed that's fascinating is I get to speak at all These events, like VidCon, VidSummit, all these different places. And, and I've noticed that sometimes even people at these events, they'll kind of come in, kind of sit back, listen to the speaker like this. I wonder if this guy's got anything to say. Kind of lean back, kind of critical. I don't know. They're on their phone, they're on Tinder, like, bro, what are you doing? Like this, this session is going on, you know, like, and there's like this attitude to where I heard one person say, yeah, you know, I don't take notes anymore. I don't even know why they told me this. We were at a conference and they, they're like, yeah, I don't take notes anymore. I was like, is that a flex that feels. That's like the opposite of a flex. I still take notes on every session of every speaker that I sit in 100% of the time. It's just one of my habits. 100% of the time on church on Sunday, I take notes. It's because I learned that actually retention skyrockets. When you start taking notes, you don't really care. But I'll show you my notes app. It is every notes. Like, if I'm in a room, I either shouldn't be in the room, like I don't want to be there because I don't care about the content, or I'm leaning in. So my point is this. Becoming a true student of the platform is a whole different mindset of. I'm getting serious. Like, serious people take notes. Serious people got a journal. Serious people got notion. Serious people got their iPad. Their, their organized. My notes are not organized on my iPhone app, to be fair, but they're very searchable. You're a student and a good student. Like you're thinking about. I'm a true student of the platform. I'm trying to learn everything too. You care about excellence in the details. So you're looking at the nuances. Not just throwing random content out there, but you're dialing in the details of YouTube and then you've built real routines and rhythms. You've learned that if you don't build routines and rhythms around YouTube, especially as life gets busy, I'm sure a lot of us on here, you got work, so school, kids, responsibilities, part time job, full time job. YouTube's going to take some real routines and some real rhythms. If you're ultimately going to be able to break through to the next stage of YouTube success, which is a content pro, this is stage three. A content pro, at this stage, you have mastered packaging and communication and you're leveraging it into income. Now. Let me have a disclaimer here. When you become a content pro, it doesn't mean that you're like Craig or Nathan are tech creators on our Think Media channel who are video pros. Like, you give them a camera, they're dialing in every setting and every detail. You give them a lighting kit, they're going to make it look amazing. You give them your smartphone and you're going to wonder like, how did they. They get 10 times better results on my smartphone than I did. Because they're video pros. You don't have to be a video pro to succeed on YouTube. Plenty of creators have proven that. It's not really the technical skills, although those, those help. It's the content skills. Content is understanding packaging and psychology and communication. There's plenty of people that can just jump on camera and even do a live stream. And, and their live stream might be kind of janky. Like, the software is not great. There's people that we have in our community that use Zoom to just do interviews and trainings. I'm like, why don't you upload upgrade to streamyard? They're like, yeah, whatever. And their content pros, even though their technical skills aren't super high, so a content pro, they're at a level where it's like, you're now, you've dialed in your titles and hooks. Like you know what you're doing. Your watch time is going up. That's retention. Like, you're holding audience retention and you're working the system. A lot of people in our community, you've mastered our 7R system or you've got some kind of system. You're like, I've got a routine. I know how to structure a video. And there's a financial benchmark to this. You know, you're at a content pro level when you're pulling in a thousand to $3,000 a month, consistent, repeatable revenue. Now, you're still maybe platform dependent at this point. Point. Okay, so you still, like, maybe it's inconsistent or maybe it's just affiliates or only YouTube AdSense. You make some good money, but there's some up, up, up months and some down months. So drop a three in the live chat if you can, if you're a content pro. And again, you don't need to like humble brag. I don't know if I'm like a total master of YouTube yet. If you know how to like post videos and you know, one out of three, one out of five, you know, it's popping off, doing pretty well. Like your channel's monetized, you've got some momentum. You have figured out your audience, your niche, you've got a level of clarity, you know how to make content. If somebody was to sit down with you at coffee and they said, hey, you know, I want to start getting into content, you're like, I got stuff to share. You, you could like, oh yeah, you, you look at somebody else's content. You're like, there's 36 things you could do to improve this video. Like, you're starting to understand storytelling arcs, audience retention. And so that's going to be a level three. It's a content pro. Now, I've already shared some income results, but I do want to just give a disclaimer. I'm not saying that these results are typical as I share student results and my own results. These are just real examples. They're not promises. Most people that watch a training like this get zero results because they take zero action. And this is not get rich quick. You've probably learned that by now, right? YouTube takes time, patience and so skill. But if you're ready to do the work, I'm going to show you what's working right now. And I want to show you a story of Jacqueline. So Jacqueline has been a part of our community for a few years and she committed to becoming a content pro. Now again, technically she shoots on her smartphone and she's good. I mean, she's got some good shot composition there. She, she has a, it's the wild Floridian. So she does like tropical garden Florida gardening. And her content is like, she's figured out audio and she's got decent video, but it's not fancy mirrorless camera DSLR out here. It's about the hook, it's about the content, it's about the structure. And she has mastered creating content. She also realized that she wasn't going to be a massive volume channel because her niche is very specific in terms of gardening. Florida gardening is a hyper specific niche. But here's one of the financial results that she got being also at this level. So she was able to earn $55,000 from one affiliate program. Now I don't have time to go into affiliate marketing and all that stuff. Definitely subscribe to this channel if you're new Here and we have lots of trainings on that. But you know, affiliate marketing is when you recommend a product that you love and use and if someone clicks your link, you earn a commission. So she talks about these raised garden beds that specifically are rust proof and good for her climate. And so she finds a product that she truly believes in that ties into her channel. She makes a series of videos that also lead people, if they want, they're like to make a purchase, right? And lots of people do. So she actually kind of makes not just one video, but a series of videos from different angles about this product. And she decided, though this was the identity shift when it came to YouTube, that she was going to stop dabbling, she was going to get serious and that she was also going to learn skills like she was going to really like start to master content and become a content pro. And it wasn't overnight, but just from this one affiliate program. In the first year she earned a thousand dollars. Now it took 12 months to do that. But in the second year she earned $15,000. And in the third year, total revenue from this one program now is $55,000. One affiliate program. And so that wasn't from a viral moment, it was accumulated reward of multiple videos strategically posted. Here's her own words. I only post about two to three videos a year about this product. I don't even promote it in every video. But that's the power of once you start to learn the fundamentals of YouTube and tie them to to smart income strategies, you can make good money. So Content Pro, 1,000 to $3,000 a month. And here's the point too. That's just one affiliate program. She has multiple streams of income, so she's earning a lot more than 55k in a year or whatever. 35k that year divided by 12 months. I didn't actually do the math, but just that one affiliate program at this point is bringing in serious monthly revenue. And this is what happens when you stop doing, guessing and start becoming a content pro. Here are some of the fundamentals you're learning, the skills you're installing, the systems, you create content that pays you again and again. But here's the identity shift from amateur to pro. Now, before, right, we went from dabbler to serious. That's a mindset shift. I'm not dabbling anymore. I'm getting serious and I'm really becoming a student. Now, as we step into this game of being a content pro, we shift from amateur to pro. And I have a question for you. Tell me in the chat. If you're here live, what is the difference between amateurs and pros? Like, in sports, like, whatever it is, it could be sports, movies, you know, acting, music. Like, for. Maybe you've done some of those things. Like, maybe you. What is the difference between an amateur and a pro? This is a big identity shift, but let's make this interactive for a second. So skill level. Okay. Mindset. Okay. Level of success. These are pretty good. But. But what are some of the things getting paid? Okay, these are kind of the results. Here's a good one. Practice, dedication, and discipline. Yeah, skill level is kind of a result, but what does it take to get that skill level? So I wrote. I wrote a couple things down. What is the difference between an amateur and a pro? Amateurs try things and they hope something sticks. Amateurs wait for motivation before taking action. Amateurs rely on inspiration instead of systems. You know, I'll make videos if I feel inspired. Amateurs practice only when it's convenient. Amateurs go it alone and guess their way forward. Amateurs repeat the same mistakes over and over. Amateurs consume more than they create. Amateurs get discouraged easily. They focus on quick wins, hacks, and shortcuts. If you're. If you're still just like, I'm looking for, like, the secret tweak. I'm looking for that secret hack, that secret tactic. It's an amateur mindset because pros think entirely different and their identity is different. Let's think about pros. They operate from a plan, not a guess. You're not going to meet a pro that doesn't have a plan. Like, their plan is going to be written down. They're a pro. If you're at a pro level, you got a written plan. They show up whether they feel like it or not. The pro mindset, it's like, is there practice tomorrow? I don't know if I feel like it. No, I'm a pro. I'm there. I'm at practice. Like, they. They follow routines and systems. They practice on a schedule. They hire coaches. Not all amateurs have coaches, but all pros do. They correct mistakes quickly. They're willing to get feedback and receive feedback and change. They invite feedback. Hey, tell me what to do. They are correctable and humble. Pros would be humble amateurs. Like, I'm going to keep doing it my way. All right, well, that's fine, but if your way is not working, they create more than they consume. They stay committed. They play the long game. And amateurs just think about their next video. Pros think about the next level. Okay, who do I need to become to Level up to another level. So when we're Talking about the five stages of YouTube success, this is a big identity shift, man. I'm going to make a mindset shift to turn pro. Now, by the way, as a side note, if you want an audiobook or a recommended book, we'll link it in the show notes. You know, description of this too. There's a book called Turning Pro. It's one of the best books every creator should read by Steven Pressfield. And it's this big idea that is an identity shift away from an amateur mindset and lifestyle and habits and inner identity to a pro mindset and lifestyle and inner habits and really, identity and identity can be challenging to shift because again, like a thermostat, we keep drifting back to, oh, you know, I'm going to skip practice. Well, a pro wouldn't do that, but an amateur might. And listen, this isn't some hardcore, like, you know, hustle, you know, culture or whatever necessarily. Like, you gotta rest and stuff, whatever, you might take a day off. It's not the point. But consider, pros are disciplined. Pros follow the system and they don't follow their feelings. What's on the calendar? That's what I'm doing. What is the checklist? I'm following the checklist. Not driven by emotions, but driven by discipline. It's different. So that book's called Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield, if you want to check it out. But let's go to number four because that was just level three. Now we're talking about the five stages of YouTube success. And we're on number four, which is business builder. At this stage now, you're building revenue systems for a sustainable business. You got offers and systems in place. Now hear me when I say systems. It's interesting because you kind of need systems at all of these phases. Even at the very beginning, your system might just be terrible. But what's a system? A system is the fact that like, I go to my garden, I shoot on my phone, I open up cap cut, I edit video, I upload the video to YouTube. Like that actually is a system, even if you're just trying to remember it in your mind. And then here at Think Media, we teach like our seven step system that's about YouTube videos, like ranking YouTube videos. But the business builder understands that you need systems, plural. Like eventually it's a system for managing money. Like, how are you getting, how are you doing tax prep? Like, how are you doing creator finance as a content creator? Or, you know, how are you running what Are the systems of communication. At this point there is some level of delegation. So there's a team involved. And what's funny is that team might be very simple, but I even think about it. Think Media. Today we have 30 employees at Think Media. Our team is growing. In fact, there's some Open positions@workwiththink.com if you want to look at some of the stuff we're doing. That's workwiththink.com and when we, for when I first got into like Business Builder and honestly I was probably more a content pro, I hadn't made it to Business Builder yet, but I started to delegate a little bit. We had a communication system. It was called Facebook messenger. And in one Facebook messenger thread eventually got to a point where Heather was there, Kyle was there, I want to say Susan was there. And I think I delegated to a contractor, Jay, some editing. And Jay was in there as well. And in this one Facebook messenger thread was everything like, hey, can we get a reimbursement for the food? You know, we went to the CES in Vegas. Hey, here's the latest video to review. Hey, here, where is that? You know, where do we send this invoice? Okay, hey, this one brand deal wants to pay us 300. Like really real, not pro, but it was a system, it was a communication system. One crazy Facebook messenger thread. Well, eventually I realized like that's not going to scale very much. And, and so, you know, fast forward. Today we use a software called Slack and then we use a software called money.com and then we also have a software called Milanote to like really master packaging. I'm not saying you need all that stuff right now. What I'm saying is at this level, systems start to function at all different places inside of your creator business. And so you have some type of an offer or some type of a business product or service, you've got some systems, there's some delegation happening and there is some consistent predictable revenue. Stage four, $3,000 a month to $10,000 a month. So you know, you multiply that, that's a 36k to 120k a year business. So I think again, you could be a business builder and depending on what's your vision, of course. Where do you live, cost of living, what's it going to cost for you to go full time? How much money do you need to make to make this a full time thing? Maybe you need 36k a year. $3,000 a month is $36,000 a year. Your YouTube business multiple income streams is bringing that in. How much do you need to live on a year? It's a good question to ask if you're setting your YouTube goals. 120k, that's $10,000 a month. 120k with the potential to scale even higher than that. And so let me actually share a story about Carrie and Aguilar. So he went from new creator to a multi multiple income streams with his YouTube business. So he's doing some new stuff today. But previously he was running a niche education channel called Shirt School. So it was helping people do print on demand. So you know how you can like do teespring as a creator, but he would help people figure out how to print their own merch lines. And how do you do that, how do you set it up, how do you sell it, how do you do paid ads? That was his skill set. So he did a channel where he would teach people how to start and grow profitable T shirt and apparel businesses. And so he got serious about YouTube and he actually was able to get monetized in about four months and he got to 5,000 subscribers. Now one of the promises of this class is that you can make good money with a small audience and especially if you shift your identity to being a business builder and not just being a content pro that hopes they're going to make big money off AdSense alone. Because with Carrie, it wasn't just ad revenue that he was earning money from. He started to earn money from ads, affiliate marketing, digital product sales. And so here's how it broke down to have kind of this business builder mindset. $700 a month was YouTube ad revenue. $3,000 a month was affiliate revenue. And then he had recurring digital core sales and he was doing weekly uploads. And in a year he got to 5,000 subscribers. But his revenue fluctuated from 5,000 to $10,000 a month. There's the model. And so he had something to sell. In his case, he's doing education. So he had an educational program around starting apparel businesses. He had his weekly uploads, affiliate revenue. He's able to link to software solutions for people that want, want to do these print on demand type businesses. So it's, it's choosing your business model, it's choosing your niche. But what does this reveal to us at the business builder stage? That you don't need a big audience to build a 10k a month business. Again, this was at 5000 subscribers. What you need is the right mindset, the right system and the business builder identity. Here is the identity shift from content pro to entrepreneur. From content pro to entrepreneur. Now, this is interesting because there's actually another book that you can check out. It's called the E Myth, or the E. Myth Revisited. And it actually talks about this idea that what a lot of us do and where we get stuck is we are technicians. What does that mean? It means that if you own a cupcake shop or no, if you love making cupcakes and you love making cakes, you love being in the kitchen, you love cooking the cupcakes, you love cooking the cakes. But eventually someone's like, you should open up a local business. So you open up a local business, but you find yourself in the local business cooking the case, cooking the cupcakes. But now you're trying to, like, lead the person that's running the cash machine, the teller, but you don't even really know how to do that. Like, how do you manage people? And then you got like, there's other things I got to do. Like, I got to take care of this place. Like, how are we going to clean this place? Like, how are we going to market? How are we going to think about all these different pieces? And so the technician, in this case, the technician in the YouTube world is a content pro. I have figured out how to make videos. I have figured out how to master packaging. I have figured out how to make some money with adsense and get some views. But am I lacking skills that a business owner has? Am I lacking skills that an entrepreneur would have? And so it's a big identity shift from content pro to entrepreneur and thinking not, like, just working in your business, but now you're working on your business and you're building the skill set and the mindset and the identity to step into a different you, your next level. Which brings us to number five. The fifth level is creator CEO. And remember, I've got some additional case studies and I got a quiz for you or an assessment that's going to not just help you clarify the stage you're at, but we'll give you a roadmap to help you go further faster. Totally free. I'm going to share that with you in a second. And then also, by the way, we do have a limited holiday special towards the end of the year on our VRA Elite program. I'll tell you about that as well. It's not for everybody, but some of you might want some help on this journey as well. But number five, creator, CEO, lead people, multiply systems and build legacy. So at this point now there's A team, there's operations. Now there can be Solopreneur creator CEOs, but I've never met one who doesn't delegate their finances to an accountant or a cpa. It might be some kind of online service. You're not doing your own bookkeeping. That is not the creator CEO mindset. They've maybe outsourced to a video editing service or maybe they still edit their own videos. There's creator CEOs that still love editing, but they've outsourced other things. They maybe work with an agency to bring them brand deals. They're thinking about the team they're going to build around them. And then in other cases, it might be building an actual small, medium large media company mindset. It's up to you in terms of your vision. But there's team, there's operations, there's multiple streams of income, and there is a long term vision. Do you know one thing that creator CEOs have defined that 99% of creators have not defined? Creator CEOs have a mission statement. They have core values. They are thinking about what is the bigger vision of this and they're thinking about culture. Because in the early stages of starting to build teams, I see it happen. There's a lot of turnover for people who like I need some help and they kind of delegate but they don't really know how to be a leader and they're not really giving clear instructions. And then that person gets frustrated so that person quits and then there's turnover. Like there's a lot of stress because their thermostat brings them back down to a level of chaos because they didn't become the creator CEO skill set and identity for that next level. You know, personally I've been at every stage of the five stage YouTube success path path, you know, and I started with nothing but a message and a smartphone. This was me filming in my Ford Taurus with my Droid X mounted to the dashboard. And I started at zero, like stage zero before I had posted videos and I posted my first video. So I became a creator. And you know, they were awkward. Early videos were terrible, but that's how everybody starts. And I had to shift from being a consumer to becoming a creator. And pressing record changed my entire life. But then I built momentum one imperfect upload at a time and I jumped into that momentum maker stage stage two, where consistently consistency beats talent. And I didn't know the entire path, but I kept uploading. And that consistency also helped me create clarity because I made a lot of Mistakes. I learned from my mistakes. But my breakthrough came when I started upgrading my skills and not my stuff. This is a big unlock. My breakthrough came when I started upgrading my skills and not my stuff. If you're. If you've got. This is funny. If you have financial, spending habits, problems like me, then let me know. And type GAS in the comments. Type G A S. You've got gas. I've got gas. What. How's your partner feel about that? I've got gas. What does it stand for? Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Are you with me? Come on, it's about to be Black Friday, Cyber Monday. You're gonna spend. You know, I need new lights. I want a new camera. I want a new lens. I'm telling you, there was so many days when I was like, I don't want to shoot those new videos yet until I get a new lens. Anybody dropping gas? Yeah, we got our Think Media community. We all got gas. And our. And it affects our families. Our families are uncomfortable. The odor. Okay, you know, so it's Gear Acquisition Syndrome. You got gas. Now, it could be something else, but here's my point. You, like, sometimes we chase shiny objects. If I get the right software, if I get the right camera, and those things can all help. But I learned this. My breakthrough came when I started to upgrade my skills and not my stuff. When I started to realize, man, I need to change. As I started to invest in mentorship, that was the biggest one. When I got in proximity to people at a higher, higher level of courage, at a different level of thinking, that's what shifted my identity the most. As I would. And by the way, you might do that from subscribing to the Think Media podcast, because being here and listening to this instead of Love island is going to shift your identity in a positive way in the creator economy. You know what I mean? I mean, more power to you if you're watching Love island, but it's not ultimately probably going to help you shift your thinking. But as I started to invest in coaching, I mentors way more important than cameras and gear. I love both, and I love Gear Acquisition Syndrome. But ultimately, that was a big shift for me. And thinking about things like, how do I become a better communicator, a better storyteller, a better strategist. And so that's why things like courses and mentors and books, they change everything. And I learned how to turn momentum into a real business because I still hit lids, my thermostat. And my leadership level was Facebook messenger and not good leader. And I Had to say, how do I grow and improve? To think about different systems or to get help from individuals that could help build better systems. And it's, you know, started in a sketchy, you know, home office, still in a home office, but you know, built a multi million dollar media company. Now all these different levels. Stage four, I started to shift things into being business minded. Systems, how to package offers, leads, funnels, products and a couple of just results. Just from ad revenue alone, as we're talking about 10k a month. Think Media generates on average $30,665 a month. There's a year screenshot of revenue and so that's just ad revenue. We have 21 different income streams at Think Media. Side note, I don't recommend that if you're at stage zero, stage one or even stage two, you don't really need multiple income streams at the start, you need momentum. But we've got 21 different income streams and ad revenue is the tip of the iceberg. We have our second channel, this channel where we're streaming this Think Media podcast. In the last year, this channel has earned $67,631 from ad revenue. That's 5,600 bucks a month just from ad revenue. And so at the creator, CEO level, fast forward to today. Multiple income streams, multimillion dollar business and a growing team. But here is the epiphany for you and here's your thought. At every stage, I had to become a new version of myself. At every stage, I had to become a new version of myself. Who do you need to become as we're going into 20, 26, what old habits, mindsets, beliefs and identity do you need to let go of? What even negative self talk and things you told yourself, oh, I could never be that or I could never do that. Honestly, if that's your script, you're right, you never will. I used to think as I was editing videos and more power. I love editing, but it's like I was stuck in editing. I had to let go of it. And it was my favorite thing to do. I'm a pro editor, did it for the 20 years, but I had to let go of it because I had to ask myself, what do I need to let go of to go up and delegate something? That was a different version of me. It was a different version. I had to let go of something. But I used to tell myself I could never delegate. Nobody could ever edit as good as me. People are going to notice. I had a lot of scripts, I had to rewrite the script inside of my mindset. Here's the identity shift. You're actually shifting from just being an entrepreneur to a CEO. That's two different identities. An entrepreneur knows what it is to work 80 hours a week and you're just getting started. Like knows what it is to put in the hustle to do whatever it takes. Important, but that's working a lot harder and not necessarily working smarter. The CEO is thinking about vision, is thinking about long term, is thinking about leadership, it's thinking about systems. And the creator CEO, it's possible, is maybe wearing two hats. You still might very much be full time as the face content creator. You could do this in a faceless channel. In fact, if you're a faceless channel, you're almost more like a CEO because you're not even on camera. You have the systems of how are you doing your voice and your B roll and your editing. Or you're doing it yourself, but you're already kind of thinking about multi team members, even if it's all you. But it's a shift into the CEO mindset. Now here's the financial benchmarks. At this level, it's 10k to 100k per month. You're no longer capped by YouTube. It's capped by the size of the business you choose to build. And some creator CEOs run lean seven figure solo style media companies. Some build multiple seven figures, even eight figure brands at this level. So here's my question. Drop in the chat. What level are you at? Type a number. Are you level one, Creator level two, Momentum Maker, level three, Content Pro, level four, Business Builder, level five, Creator, CEO. What level are you at? Drop that in the chat. And this is the five levels of YouTube success. And I want to encourage you, we've got some resources to help you go faster. We've got that quiz in just a second, but I'd love to hear from you about what level. I see some 2.5s. I see some ones, some zeros, by the way. Zero. If you haven't posted your first video and let me invite you today, in the next 24 hours, set up your YouTube channel. If you're commenting, it's already set up. Grab your smartphone and upload your first video. Boom. It will change so much, it will shift your identity. Is it really that big of a deal? Am I going to get views? That's not the point. The point is punching fear in the face and shifting into becoming a different person. I posted a video on YouTube. I'm no longer just a consumer. I'M a creator. And so we got a lot of twos, a lot of 2.5s, 3 and 4. I love it. So here's the thing, though. When it comes to going up on these levels, how do you ascend? How do you go faster? I've got three tips for you for how to accelerate on the five stages. Because overnight success is never is never overnight, right? YouTube growth, business growth, identity shifts. They take patience and consistency. So how do you actually accelerate these identity shifts? Let me give you three ideas. Number one, develop self awareness. Develop self awareness. Self awareness isn't super common, but one of the powerful points of not just this training, but the quiz assessment I'm going to give you in a second is actually like being honest of where we are. Like, one of the first steps when you set a goal of figuring out where you want to go is actually identifying where actually are you. Like, if you ever were to go to an airport and maybe you hadn't bought a ticket yet, and you went to the ticket counter of your favorite airline and you said, I'd like one, please, they're gonna go to where. Like, where do you want to go and where are you now? If you were ordering a ticket online and you're like, yes, I want to get to Florida, I'm gonna go to Disney World, they're gonna say, well, where's your nearest airport? So developing self awareness is where even are you and where are you at really in terms of maybe your self talk or your skill gaps? Self awareness. The assessment will help you do that. 2. Invest in new skills. Best investment you can ever make is in skills. And you know what skills to invest in. Let me encourage you. This doesn't do a ton of. It doesn't do a ton of good for you to start studying being a CEO when you're a momentum maker. What it does do a ton of good for you is to think about, okay, Content Pro is my next phase. So what should I be studying? Oh, I need to master this platform. I'm a student of YouTube. I need to get traction and more consistent views and even some of these income, income streams. So it is identifying what skills you need. Let me give you a warning. Public enemy number one in 2026 is distraction is doing too many things. Too many platforms, too many shiny objects, trying to learn too many things. You're listening to 46 different podcasts. You're watching YouTube all day. You're part of 10 different programs. You're trying to do too much. We need to put blinders on and get hyper focused. Like, if, if YouTube skills is your thing, I would go super deep on the Think Media podcast. It's not just self promo time. It's like you've identified, you want to master the platform. If YouTube skills is your thing, join one of our programs. If business skills is one of your things, well, we have hope for you for that as well because we have coaching to help you with the back end and the different things. But then you identify, okay, what skill, what conferences are you going to in 2026? Right. What events are you going to? You don't have to go to event, but some of you should, like, some of you can. It's not for everybody, but this is what I'm asking myself, okay, what skill do I need for the next level? And then number three, get in proximity to the right people. That's my favorite one by far. At this point in my career, the biggest shifts that have happened for me, I hired a coach this last year that I paid $43,000 for the year. Now, that sounds like a ridiculous amount of money, and it is a ridiculous amount of money. And I want to say, by the way, I did learn information and tactics that I didn't know. There was a lot of good information and tactics. But I can tell you my biggest takeaway. My biggest takeaway was being in the room with this individual and a small group of other people that shifted my identity. Like when I got in this room, I just, I went in discouraged most days. Like, man, I got problems. You know, I'm like looking at, you know, finances like this. I'm stressed, I'm dealing with different issues. And I would come into this room virtual. This is all virtual coaching. And, and just the proximity to somebody that was further along pulled me up and shifted my thinking, shifted my identity. It's a real thing, like getting in proximity and getting around people that can help you go to the next level. Okay, so really quick, there's two paths. I want to give you two different resources right now to help you go through these five stages. There's a bunch of free stuff I have for you. And then we also have a special deal for the holidays on one of our programs that can help you accelerate even faster. So this is a brand new class. I'd love to know your feedback. Drop in the chat. What did you like? What did you learn? Did you enjoy this content? But here's path one. You can go implement this on your own. Rewatch this. Save this video for later, but subscribe to the Think Media podcast. Like, if you're watching this and you haven't clicked subscribe on the channel. What are you even doing? Come on. Like, come on. Hit the subscribe button. Stay plugged in to our free trainings. We're going to be doing these two podcasts a week. We're going to be doing, you know, trainings like this throughout 2026 and then also keep publishing and improving. Know that we are committed to giving you the best free content in the game. Think Media, our other channel, Think Media podcasts. Our trainings lock in like, we're here for you. We want you to win. We're on a mission to help 1 million purpose driven individuals create a full time living doing what they love while making a difference in the world with YouTube and to experience that success without losing their soul. Sean, why is your mission statement so long? I don't even know what you just said, but that's our mission statement. And but here's another one. Path number two is get help and compress time. Get personalized direction, get accountability, get proven systems and get a community of serious creators. And for just a couple seconds, I just want to tell you about a really cool thing that we have a special for the holidays on our video ranking Academy Elite program. Now, I don't know if you've ever heard about this before, but this is actually our exclusive group coaching program for serious creators that serious creators join to grow faster, stay consistent and earn more with YouTube. And so this is weekly small group coaching sessions, monthly masterminds, virtual with me, where you can ask your questions directly in a very personal, intimate setting, virtually quarterly planning events, biannual channel audits, and then thumbnail and tech office hours. And so this is why creators who join VRA Elite move through the stages so much faster, because they're not guessing anymore and they're being guided now to get into this. You just got to apply at Viral Video Coach and I'll tell you a little bit about it. But if this is the season that you want to accelerate, we don't accept everybody. We want to make sure it's a good fit for you. But you can apply atviral video coach.com now here's the power of this program. Most creators get stuck in three places. One, too much info and not enough direction. It's probably not an info problem for you. It's probably an execution. And what is my example? Exact plan. That's what we do for you inside of this program in a group coaching setting. No accountability or feedback. It's a tough spot to be. Nobody holding you accountable, accountable and nobody giving you honest, honestly, sometimes kind of harsh, but it's the feedback you need because we're going to get you results. We're obsessed with helping you win. What is a pro athlete? What did, what did Tim Grover do for Michael Jordan? He made him work. He gave him feedback. He gave him, you know, he gave him the details. He was an outside perspective. We're going to give you feedback. We're going to give you accountability. Trying to build your channel alone. VRA Elite solves all three of these fast. And so this is different than our other programs. You get weekly direction. You can jump on these when you want, but there's weekly small group sessions with our coaches. Real accountability, real time support, coach feedback, a commute, a community of serious creators, which, by the way, in and of itself, a lot of people in our community are part of our Do It Yourself program called Video Rank It Academy. This has a group coaching aspect that's just a different group of people. You step into this, you're in a serious room, and that's an identity shift in and of itself. And then strategy based on your stage. So there's no more guessing. So actually, meet Lorena. So she went from $150 every two months to $10,000 months. And this is what she discovered, that every leap she took equaled more income. And so every time she took a leap in commitment, whether that was the next leak, she actually started with our VRA program. Then she joined VRA Elite. But it was also implementation. You know, you have to do the work. So she started to implement at another level. She realized that the Elite is the place where serious creators go when they're ready to be like, I'm taking my YouTube game to a whole nother level. I'm taking it serious. And before Elite, she was dabbling, inconsistent, and capped. Like, she didn't ma. She didn't know the fundamentals. She had no consistent plan. She had no accountability. She had no strategic feedback. By the way, as a business owner, she was also doing some paid ads, but she was dependent on doing paid ads on meta and YouTube. But when she stopped paying, and if you're a business owner, you know, Andromeda and different stuff, people are getting wrecked right now with paid ads. 80% of sales stopped when her ad stopped. But she started to invest in organic YouTube, things started to shift. And the big turning point for her was this leap into VRA Elite. And the investment was a stretch, but it paid for itself fast. And she started to get regular feedback from our coaches. And it changed everything. And she said this Elite wasn't just content, it, it was a conversation. This is group coaching with real YouTube experts. It was direct guidance and clarity and a whole ecosystem. And after VRA Elite, she now has a predictable scalable business. Now, yes, her channel has 12,000 subscribers, but it's not a huge channel. And she's now earning between 8,000 to $12,000 a month. Now, I'm not saying results are typical or results are guaranteed, but what is guaranteed is, is real expert feedback, is coaching and accountability. That's going to get you to implement and post videos and good videos that's going to get you taking your content game to a mastery level. And so again, she went from dabbling to being a predictable business owner, right? A business builder. And here's one of her number one unlocks. Ask your coaches a lot of questions. So she pulled on the coaches like, you have a whole suite of resources, AI tools. You've got myself on the monthly Masterminds. And so the moment that changed everything, when was her shift on? This is a real business. This is not a side hustle. And just like she wasn't going to be an amateur anymore. Pros hire coaches. So that's what this is. I'm not saying it's for everybody, but you might want to go to Viral Video coach, even if you're just curious, and fill out the application to see if you qualify. And so again, the takeaway was every leap was more income for her. She joined VRA eventually. It paid for itself. She joined Elite paid for itself. And so she has been ascending through our different coaching opportunities. So again, if you want to check this out, you can apply@viralvideocoach.com and here's exactly what you get inside of VRA Elite over the next 12 months. There's weekly small group coaching sessions on Zoom. Powerful, intimate, real coaches, real support. Our coaches are legends, man. These are not only are they YouTube experts, not only are they business experts, but they are also incredible humans that will help you not just know what to do, but unlock you. It's identity shift stuff, the mindset shift. It's the whole thing. You've got the identity piece and the mindset piece, and then you've got the tactics and the channel reviews and everything that's happening. Monthly Virtual Mastermind with me. Ask me anything. This is the war robe. Like we're in here, like chopping it up and really talking about high level YouTube stuff that'll help you break through any stage. Then you also have A monthly pro level YouTube workshop. So like advanced thumbnail psychology and split testing storytelling that retains viewers. Viral hook lab, high retention video editing techniques, data driven video optimization, high performing content systems, AI powered YouTube production, real stuff monetizing beyond AdSense. And you also get biannual channel audits. So these are guaranteed channel audits? Yeah, channel review. But like strategic audits of your YouTube channel, you get thumbnail and tech office hours. So if you have kind of a fear of the gear or you're getting stuck on tech troubleshooting, Best Buy's got the Geek squad, think media's got Alex. We're going to solve every single one of your issues. Like we'll hop on with you, like help you master the tech side of things as well as real time thumbnail feedback, gear recommendations. And then there's a private community and it's just for VRA Elite. So it's a smaller group. Now. The investment for VRA elite is a $6,000 a year program. It's like hiring a personal trainer. Right? This is real group coaching. But here's our special. We're doing this thing called six for six. You buy six months, you get six months free, 50% off. So it's only $3,000 for 12 months inside of VRA Elite. But again, you still have to apply because if you know this is your season to accelerate your channel and you want to have your best year ever on YouTube, then apply right now to take advantage of this 6 for 6 offer. There's only 50 spots available because we only onboard the amount of people we can take on. Right. This is a group coaching program that's high touch. And so instead of the normal $6,000 a month investment, you're getting six months free. But it's only available until we cap out. And that's going to probably be in a week or two as we are doing this training towards the end of the year. Right. And so while you're watching this, take 30 seconds, open up a new tab. You could go to viralvideocoach.com we'll drop the link in the chat. The link is also in the description pinned comment. If you're on the limited replay, but there's zero pressure, just take the first step to lock in this six for six opportunity while it's still available. And then there's a couple bonuses. You're going to get our build your dream team without breaking the bank resource. So you might not be ready for this yet, but it's here when you need it. But a lot of you are ready. And when it comes to building a team, it doesn't mean you're going to hire a W2 employee in another state and have state taxes and have a healthcare plan or any of that stuff. Right. For people that even make it to creator CEO level, it's super simple online services where you can use where you're hiring a 1099 individual or a service that's going to help you edit and we're going to help you with that. So this is your step by step hiring blueprint or if you're a little bit further along, you definitely understand that here at Think Media we have been through every stage of like even sole proprietor to what is our entity structure and all that kind of stuff. That's the power of the mastermind. We help you crash through these different lids or break points. And so again, just an extra bonus, build your dream team. And then also our AI Advantage masterclass. So this is going to be coming up soon. You're going to get access to this and I'm going to be doing my personal AI system. Our AI expert who we have some internal AI tools. I'll tell you about those in a second. But Brian is the greatest AI expert I've ever met in terms of under. He's the one who programs and helps build the tools that I'm building. All of our coaches get together all of my knowledge, the data from our community, the data from our channels. This is how we program those tools. He's the guy that builds them, but he's also an AI genius. So anyways, we're going to be doing a class coming up. It's going to talk about accelerating your YouTube channel with AI. And so this is an elite class. You're going to get access to that. And then there's a Couple Elite Creator AI tools. One is the YouTube Stage Accelerator. So this is your personalized AI tool to rapidly move through the five stages of YouTube growth. Super cool. So this tool, besides the fact you'll have human, to be clear, human coaches on these training sessions that happen weekly, me on the monthly Mastermind. But you've got access to this proprietary tool that we've created at Think Media. This actually comes out in a couple weeks, but you're locking it in during this six by six offer. And this will help you know exactly at a higher level how to rapidly move through the five stages. And you're going to get the creator voice clone script system. This is super cool. So once you've posted some videos, we're going to use your Existing videos. You could put these into the AI. It then helps you write scripts faster that will have retention but will be in your voice, your exact voice tone and style to also trigger the algorithm, help retention, get views. And so again, couple cool tools that are inside of that. So just so you're clear on what VRA Elite is and this special 6x6 offer, you get the weekly small group sessions, you get the monthly mastermind with me, Sean Cannell. You get the monthly pro level YouTube workshop. You get the biannual channel audits, you get the thumbnail and office tech hours. You're going to get the bonus, the build your Dream Team Bonus 2, the AI Advantage Masterclass Bonus 3, the Elite Creator tool suite and then bonus and then the private VRA Elite community as well. So when you add up all of these things individually, that is a individual value of $9,479. But you can save big during the six by six promo that we're doing as well. And this is really again, it's speed. It's the fastest path to your best year ever on YouTube and in your business, right? If we zoom out for a second, this is. Most creators are trying to climb the mountain alone, right? They binge videos, they try random tactics, they second guess every decision. Well, imagine having a clear roadmap for every stage. Real accountability from think media coaches so you stay consistent. Expert feedback on your channel and your content. Tools to speed up your workflow and sharpen your message. And a team in your corner helping you grow strategically, not randomly. That's how you make real progress. So whatever your season is, this will help you go faster, whatever stage. And as you know, following our systems and our programs, our students have generated 29.2 billion views. So this layer's on top. I know some, you might be watching this. You're a part of video ranking academy. This might be the time to apply atviral video coach.com to see like I want to take it to a next the next level and get into small group coaching and get into these monthly masterminds with myself. And so if all you got was a personalized roadmap for your next stage of growth, confidence and consistency, to publish every week, expert feedback that accelerates your channel and your skills and a proven plan to grow your income with YouTube your way, would that be worth the three thousand dollar investment? Think about that. That's for the entire year. That's for 2026, your best year ever on YouTube. If you want to inquire, apply@viralvideocoach.com and to be clear, we do not accept everyone into VRA Elite. Jump on. You might want to, just because you're curious, go toviral video coach.com you know that this special offer is not cheap, but it's an investment into real coaching. But if you get there and we learn about your channel and where you're at, we'll resource you with some other stuff. You'll jump on with Keith or Harrison, we'll have a conversation with you, be like, listen, Elite's not right for you right now, but here's, here's something that's maybe more affordable. Here's something that's free. We just want to help. And so you can inquire atviral video coach.com we only bring on creators we know we can help that are serious about growing a profitable, purpose driven YouTube channel. And that's why there's an application. So it only takes a couple minutes and if you're a good fit, we'll invite you into the program and you can take advantage of this limited special. So it's our six for six limited promo. You buy six months, you get six months free. You're locking in the year of Video ranking Academy Elite, including the Elite AI tool suite. And again, it's a three thousand dollar investment, but that gets you a full twelve months. And let me be clear, this is not for people looking for shortcuts, hacks or overnight success. And it's not for course, collectors who consume content but never implement. But this is for disciplined creators and business owners who are ready to execute, grow and win this year. I think you know who you are. You might be like, bro, love the podcast. Great subscribe, you know, love the content. I'm at like stage zero or one. It's probably not the time for you to join Elite, but if you're like, even if you're at stage two and you're like, man, I want to lock in and I understand the power of getting in the right room, of getting accountability, then check it out, viral videocoach.com because if you're ready to make this your best year ever on YouTube and in your business, then just apply there and listen wherever you are today, creator, momentum maker, content pro, entrepreneur, you know, business builder or creator CEO, your next level is not just tactics, it's an identity shift. So whether you walk this path with us or you walk it on your own, remember this, you're one stage away from the breakthrough that you want and you're one decision away from accelerating your entire future. And I promise you this as well. You could take this free assessment. So it's entirely free. You could go to mycreatorquiz.com and it's a free assessment to find your stage. If you want to click the link in the description or you can click the link in the live chat. If you are here live during this training, I encourage you to check this out. It's super fun. You just answer a few questions and it's not just going to tell you your stage because you might have been able to self identify. It will give you some resources on here as well to help you go further faster. That is my gift to you today for hanging out with me on this class. Hey so thanks for listening to the podcast today. I hope you've enjoyed this conversation around the five stages of YouTube success and I want to invite you to take the free assessment if you want more insight into your stage as well as next steps and a roadmap for growth entirely for free, just go to mycreatorquiz.com or click the link in the Show Notes. If you It'll show you exactly where you are in the five stages and what to focus on next so that you stop wasting time on the wrong strategies. And you just heard a little bit about our Video Ranking Academy Elite Group coaching program and a limited time holiday offer that we're doing called Six for Six. You basically pay for six months of high touch, high quality, incredible, incredible community YouTube coaching with myself and the Think Media team and you pay for six months. You get six months free. It's basically 50% off right now. If you want to apply for that or just inquire about that, you could go toviral video coach.com and we'll also have that link in the show notes. So whether you're stuck at stage two or you're already a content pro that's trying to build a real business, then go to Viral video coach coach.com Fill out the application and we will help you define and know your next move and to see if it'll be a good fit to work with us. And then I also want to encourage you to stay locked in. You know, it's the holiday season, the end of 2025. We are so committed to making your year on YouTube in 2026 your best year ever. And we've got a lot of great stuff coming up on the podcast. So stay locked in, stay subscribed. If you haven't left a review on the audio podcast, come on. I mean what are we doing? If you've been getting value. At least give us five stars on Spotify. If you're over on Apple Podcasts, can you take three minutes? Leave a star rating? Maybe some words if you got some critical feedback. I am all ears because we want to make this podcast better for you to help you reach your YouTube goals faster. Depending on when you're listening to this, I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope your holidays are going well. I hope you're able to put in the work right now and hustle because it's a good time to be hustling on YouTube during the winter arc. But also of course having some time and margin for your family, your faith and everything that you've got going on during the crazy holiday season. Sending you love and respect and gratitude. Thanks for being a part of of the Think Media Podcast community. My name is Sean Cannell, your guide to building a profitable YouTube channel and I cannot wait to connect with you in a future episode of the Think Media podcast.