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How She Built a Six-Figure YouTube Business in Under Two Years | Alexa Saarenoja
00:35:29
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- [00:00]
A
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast where each and every Friday I sit down with a wonderful content creator and I chat with them about their channel and just get an overall scope of what their life is like as a creator. So if you're interested in that, definitely subscribe to the show. It's absolutely free. And speaking of free, we have no advertisers on this show. I'm only going to tell you about things that we personally offer creators. I, I offer one on one coaching. I offer a Mastermind group which is one of the biggest in the whole space where you can chat with other creators. We do mastermind calls, we have creator led calls, I do exclusive podcast recordings distributed to that group. It's just an overall probably some of the best money you'll spend as a creator as it's so inexpensive. And then we also offer channel reviews and audits where I'll record a screencast video six to eight minutes telling you where I think you should be spending your time. And then beyond that we have the Entrepreneurs Minute, which is my email newsletter if you want to keep up with me, things that I'm interested in, things going on behind the scenes, definitely take a look at that. And then our Entrepreneurs Toolbox which is a running list of all the links, tools and resources mentioned here on the podcast. And with that said, we'll go ahead and jump into this week's conversation. Hello everyone. Welcome to this week's conversation on the Creators Hub podcast. I'm joined today by a friend of the show, previous guest on the show, but since she has joined us she has grown tremendously on both YouTube as well as monetization, just her overall journey. We're going to be talking about today of kind of where she was then and where and who she is now. Alexa Sara Noya is her name. I was afraid I was going to mispronounce that, but I think I did a a fairly good job. Alexa helps people build their personal brands on YouTube. So this is the perfect show for her because literally we're talking to creators all across the different span of whether it be YouTube or other outlets where they might be want to grow their personal brand. Over on her YouTube channel she has just over 54,000 subscribers, 340 some odd videos uploaded and I believe in the past year or two she was able to make six figures from her business and we'll certainly be able to dive into that. But Alexa, how are you doing today?
- [02:15]
B
Awesome. Thank you for having me back.
- [02:18]
A
So since the last we spoke, I feel like you have just your graph and trajectory has just completely been accelerated. So give us an update on what's been going on. Maybe a couple things you've implemented. Implemented and then we'll kind of do more deep dives.
- [02:32]
B
Yeah. So it's been a whirlwind of a ride. You know, the first the channel grew really fast and then I hired a business mentor and then I just started selling high ticket courses or high ticket mentorship and online courses and it just kind of exploded and I don't know what else to say beyond that. It's been really incredible ride to make a business so quickly with YouTube and to feel confident that it's sustainable and will keep going is, is quite a feat. Having been an entrepreneur for the past 15 years, I've succeeded so quickly in, in entrepreneurship. So it's really nice after all those years to have it finally pay off, even if it's in a completely different style and platform than my original job.
- [03:12]
A
That's awesome. And what was your original job?
- [03:15]
B
I was an architect designer and I also taught architecture at a school from remotely from finland in the U.S. sure.
- [03:24]
A
For people listening to this and they hear you say that and they're like, wait a minute, so now you're helping people grow their personal brands on YouTube? It's almost polar opposites. People struggle with the imposter syndrome. What would you tell those people of maybe how you got out of that mode of like, hey, I do know what I'm talking about. I've done the due diligence, I've done the research. I know I can help these people. How did you possibly get out of that block yourself?
- [03:50]
B
Yeah, for me I was, when I started, I was like a knowledge reporter. So I was learning YouTube and growing my channel as I was teaching it. Since I was a teacher for over a decade in architecture, I just knew how to teach and to distill complex ideas into simple, understandable things for people on my channel. And so I think I started there so it didn't feel like an imposter because I showed up as myself. I said, you know, I'm trying to grow my channel. I don't, I'm just going to teach you what works for me, what I'm learning from the people that I'm learning from and we'll just go from there. And people really, I think they felt safe to be on my channel because I wasn't selling anything. I didn't have anything to sell. And I just, you know, helped bring whatever I Could to them. That worked for me, and it seemed to work really well. And I think that's an easy way to get out of imposter syndrome if you just are upfront like, this is what I know, this is what I'm trying to do. And I think a lot of people don't realize how much people actually enjoy watching people on journeys. Like, we love to watch underdogs. So someone, if they're starting something on YouTube, it's always nice to watch and see their journey and see them succeed and support them on that journey. So I think that if you feel imposter syndrome, just show up as yourself and then there's nothing to be an imposter about, because you can't be an imposter to yourself. So that's what I love that.
- [05:02]
A
That's a really good way of looking at it. I want to ask you this because you've seen so much success as of late and you're doing so well. What would you attribute in the past, you know, 300 and, you know, a year per se, on your YouTube channel and your business? What do you think? What do you think has been one of, or maybe a couple of things that have been maybe some of the best growth. I don't know how to put this, but the things that have helped you.
- [05:26]
B
Grow the most, taking action when you get an idea or maybe an instruction from your business mentor to just take action right away like that, I think has really propelled me further, faster than anything else in life is just jumping in with both feet, going all in. I think we talked about that last time I was here was like, how I went all in. I still kept that mentality the whole past year and a half now, almost two years soon. So, yeah, it just go all in, but also like, you know, no fear is gonna be there, but just go anyway and take action. And know, like my mentor said it the best the other day. He's like, if you knew your 20th video was going to take off and. And blow up your channel, how fast would you fail to get to that 20th video? Because so many people are afraid to post their first video. But it's like, if you knew your 20th video was gonna take off, you would just take. You would just make those videos until you got to that 20th video. So I think it's kind of like that idea of like, I know this is going to go somewhere good if I just take the leap and go for it. And the worst that could happen is I face plant, but then I face plant and I learn Something, and I get back up again. So I think that the biggest thing that I've had to go through that is positive and it's negative, but it always turns out positive is taking risks and going for it and just jumping in and going with fear. Like, fear's always gonna be riding shotgun, and you just keep driving the car forward. I felt like that's the biggest thing.
- [06:43]
A
Are there things that you've done to help yourself? I was reading a book, I don't know, it might've been sometime last year by an author called Mel Robbins. And she was talking about this met method of like, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then just do it. It sounds so stupid. It sounds so. Just stupid. Simple. But what are things that you've done to implement maybe that have helped you to just, like, get off the proverbial couch, per se, and actually do the things and the ideas that you've listed in your notes, app or wherever you have all of your ideas?
- [07:14]
B
Yeah, I think it's like I've almost become addicted to the jumping, to be honest, because it's always resulted in. In good things this time around, like, with this experience. And so I think, yeah, it's kind of like that. Mel Robbins. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. But just to associate jumping with good things. Like, it's like when you. When you're, I don't know, bungee jumping. I've never done bungee jumping, but I can imagine when you're standing on that cliff, it's so scary. But once you do it, it's just like, oh, my God, this is so awesome. So I'm trying to train my brain to remember, oh, my gosh, this is so awesome with taking that risk. And when I do that, and I know, and in my head I'm like, it's going to end up good no matter what. Like, I don't see any. I don't in. In my life. I feel like everything you do in life is. Is for a reason. And the results you get back are to teach you something specific for your journey. And so I just trained myself to, like, now really enjoy that jumping because it will result in something positive.
- [08:08]
A
I agree with you with that sentiment of getting kind of the addiction of jumping. And I found that the harder the thing is or the more I resist it, normally the other end of that thing, whether it be starting a new channel, launching a podcast, type of video, whatever it may be on the other side, I found way more success that correlates to the bigger fear, the harder thing. And I know that's hard to hear. If you're listening to this and you're thinking, oh man, I have that thing that I've been wanting to do or the different, you know, direction for my channel, and I'm just so fearful of doing it. But hearing these people in this podcast say, normally the greater return is on the other side of the, the thing that you're most fearful of or, or the, the jump that you're most scared to do. Would you kind of agree and line?
- [08:56]
B
Yeah, 100%. And also, it's like, nothing is sacred in life. Nothing is safe in life. I was just like, I think the reason I have so much ability to jump now is because I did work for, you know, a university for over 10 years and then was dropped like that. And so nothing against them. It's all like, bottom line. And I get that. But like, when you are, you know, when you have so much passion doing something for someone else and then you're just let go, it's like, I never want that feeling again. And jumping on these things or taking action from my own business is, is much less painful than experiencing that, you know, So I don't know if I just correlate it with that. Like, I never want that again. So it just keeps me forward. Like maybe running from the pain is what I'm doing. But yeah, I don't know. So, yeah, I think that the bigger risk you take, the bigger reward and once you know that, you can become more addicted to it because it's more fun. It's like, it's going to work out, it's going to be awesome. And if it doesn't work out, it'll reroute me to something that will.
- [09:52]
A
So, yeah, so when you're bringing on new clients and they are going to hire you or thinking about hiring you to help them build their brand on YouTube and beyond. What does that look like? Can you give us a behind the closed door of like, okay, I'm bringing a new client on. They're wanting to grow their channel, they're wanting to grow their brand and their voice. What do you do? What do you walk them through?
- [10:15]
B
The first thing is we get really clear on what they want to do. Like what's purpose they want to serve, why they want to do it, who they want to help and how much they want to help. Like what is their goals and really get clear on where we're going before we start. And then once we know where we're going, want to make sure that there is a market for it that the that they can speak to their audience's pain points, that they understand their audience. Because I think oftentimes people that I work with, they come with scatter, scattered ideas, or they come. They're not sure exactly who their audience is, even though it. Even if it was them five years ago, they. They maybe might have forgotten how they really were five years ago. So we try to get really clear on their audience. I'm a big fan of nich down. I always have been and I still am, even after, you know, a year and a half or whatever, not so long. But I still love niching down. So we really start really to get clear with who their niche is first. And then once we do that, we start to make videos and we test different things in their niche, different pain points. We see what resonates. Once we find something that resonates, we double down on that. But then we also continue to experiment because what works today might not work tomorrow. So even though you have something working, you want to still keep experimenting to bring new ideas in. So then when one of those works that keeps going, and then, you know, if that expires, then you have something else coming in. So we really want to clarify, like, who they're trying to serve and also how they want to be represented with their personal brand. Like, how do they want to show up, what's their main pillars of truth or what they believe in and what they stand behind and stuff like that. And also think about, you know, bigger picture. Like, if they could do collaborations, people that they collaborate with make sure that they are aligned with their values and their business and showing up with integrity and authenticity and all of that. That's a big part of working with someone as well, is like, under, like revealing who they are and what level of comfort they have, revealing that. And I feel like most often when I work with people, it's. It's about, I would say, 20% actually YouTube strategy and about 80% personal development, like, getting over the fears, just taking the leap. All of that stuff that we were talking about earlier. I feel like the majority of what I work with people on is more that than actual YouTube strategy, to be honest.
- [12:23]
A
So you mentioned niching down. That's a big thing. It's a big topic. I. I talk to my clients about this almost daily when we're talking about niching down. I want to ask you a specific kind of case study and use case. Let's say I have a creator and they're approaching me and we're having a conversation about here's what my main channel is about. And let's say I'm wanting to launch a podcast, or maybe I have a different type of content that's not, you know, in that bucket of content that we've niched down on. Do you suggest they start a new separate channel and do these things kind of in tandem under their name or do them under one channel and one umbrella? This is a really hot topic right now, and you know YouTube better than most. And so, you know, what's working right now, 20, 25 and going forward, what would you say to that?
- [13:08]
B
So just to clarify what you're asking, they're coming with multiple ideas, or they already had a channel with multiple ideas.
- [13:14]
A
And then they already have a channel we've niched down. Let's say they're covering Hot Wheels cars. That's kind of their. Their main thing. But then they. They're also into fitness. Right? And so instead of making a channel about, hey, I'm a fit guy, talking about Hot Wheel cars, what, what would you recommend the YouTube coach? Because there's a ton of people listening to this thinking, well, I want to talk about everything. I was talking to a young man at my church yesterday, and he started a YouTube channel, and he's like, man, I'm all over the place, but I can't believe really get much traction. You know, one video vlog might be about this one topic, and the other next video might be another completely different thing. And so he's not really getting much traction. He's not being able to grow very quickly or at all, because the YouTube algorithm and the people watching don't really know kind of where to categorize him. So what would you do?
- [13:59]
B
Yeah, I would. I would put them on separate channels. Hot Wheels on one channel, fitness on another. However, if you're into fit, like, if you're a fitness coach and you're really into Hot Wheels, you could talk about Hot Wheels to make that, like your signature difference, like, make you unique. And it would attract people that are also interested in Hot Wheels and fitness, you know, but you're not making videos about Hot Wheels on the fitness channel. But you are. You're showing, like, maybe in the background, you've got posters of Hot Wheels and stuff like that in the background. So it's kind of like it's your personality. It's, it's. It makes you different. It makes you. You. And it makes people that like that topic, you know, drawn to you. And if people don't like that topic, they're not going to Leave because of it. But it's just, it's kind of like, you know, if someone wears bright red glasses on their videos, they're known as like the red glasses person. So that they would be known as like the Hot Wheels fitness person. So. But yeah, I separate them. If you were specifically talking about Hot Wheels, specifically talking about fitness. Yeah, that's what I would do.
- [14:48]
A
Yeah. Because a lot of times people come to me and they're like, oh, I want to start a podcast. But the podcast ends up kind of hurting their channel in a way because it's these, they're normally doing these six to eight minute talking head videos or vlog style videos and then they do a 30 to 45 minute interview, you know, kind of about the same topic a lot of times even directly about the same topic. And YouTube kind of, that viewer doesn't kind of correlate or cross over. And so I think that's really good to hear. You hear you being real specific about that. When it comes to monetization, how are you monetizing your channel now? You obviously offer one to one on one coaching. You have like this six month mentorship thing that you're doing. You have the ad revenue that you're getting. And so I did mention at the top and it's that, you know, you, you've done, you know, six figures, which is something you mentioned off air. That's so encouraging to you. And you never thought that you'd be able to do that on YouTube. And congratulations by the way. So break down how you are doing it and some things tactically that you've done to help get there.
- [15:46]
B
Yeah, so most of my income is coming from the high ticket mentorship program. So the six month mentorship program and then portions of it, I just started, I just tested a group program. So I did that recently at a lower price point. And so that's part of it. But I wouldn't say that's a big chunk because I just started that and then I have the AdSense, I have affiliate links, but those are quite small compared. So I say like 90% comes from high ticket for me. I do have one to one coaching, but I haven't really done so much of that now that I have the mentorship program really in full speed. So that's where most of it comes from. And how did I get here? It's funny, you know, like when I first started I did one to one calls, like one hour one off calls. And I charged, you know, those were just whatever, one off, one hour, one off calls. And that was the majority of my income. And then I started doing the high ticket I ticket program and then it flipped and now it's all in my high ticket, which is great because it's like less calls, more money. Before it was just like lots of calls, lower money. But then I think that's just the evolution of business. It's like you, you start with lower ticket or, you know, just lower fees in general. And then you improve and you get better and you get more clients and then you can charge more and then you have less people at a higher fee. And that's where I am now. So I don't know if that answers.
- [17:03]
A
All your questions, but yeah, it does. And the, the, just to be clear, the mentorship program is a six month duration and then the cost of that is, is what?
- [17:13]
B
On average it's 9,800. So it's basically $10,000 for the six months. And just to give some perspective or reference or whatever you want to say, last time we were on this call, it was 3,600 for the same program, basically. Well, it's a different program now because it's more geared towards growing your business. So that just shows how much evolve in like a year. So when last we were just looking, it was like a year ago that I was on. So I just think it's really interesting, you know, that you can evolve your pricing as you grow.
- [17:44]
A
I interrupt the show just briefly to tell you about two different things. First is our YouTube channel review service. For $50, you get access to myself and my opinions on your channel. I record a screencast video telling you where I believe you should be putting your time as a creator. And then lastly, we do offer the Mastermind group, I record an exclusive podcast episode, those folks over there, every Friday. You also get access to our Mastermind calls, our creator LED calls, our creator forums. It is probably the best money you can spend in the creator space. With that said, let's go ahead and get back to the interview with your current clients where they would say to you, hey, you're undercharging. Because these are conversations that I've had and it's helped me kind of increase my prices and kind of going into 20, 26 and beyond, kind of my business plan going forward. I've had some conversations with some really great clients that I've worked with for a long time and they tell me, hey, listen, you're, you're undervaluing your. That this has been such a great help for me. You probably should be charging More. These are all indicators for me that I probably should have, you know, upped my price. Some, some areas of my business I will. Some areas of my business I won't just because I kind of have some of them kind of built as onboarding to get people kind of in the ecosystem. But for you, if you were charging right at 3k, now you're almost at 10k. You know, you can do the math. It would really just take 10 clients to do that program to get you to the six figure mark. So I mean, what made you decide to make the leap of. And what, what were the fears of like, oh no, will people buy this at this rate?
- [19:15]
B
Yeah, it's funny, I, I made. So I had a business mentor for a year who got me to the multi six figures this year. And so I have a year, I have an. I hired him on for another year. And our goal for the next year is to go for a million in revenue. And it's a big hairy goal or whatever you want to call it. But in order to get there, I really have to stretch myself, I really have to push myself. I have to really think out of the box and everything. And one steps is to increase your pricing. And increasing your pricing is very scary, especially when you're very new to this. And just in general it's scary because like you say you get the imposter or you didn't say that, but you know, there's that imposter syndrome and you feel nervous, you feel like you're gonna piss people off or like whatever and you will piss piece of piss piece pips some people off. But yeah, I don't know, you just, it's like, it's like the worst thing that could happen is you don't succeed and then you go back and you lower your price. And it, the worst thing is to be. I think it's, it's more worse to be paid at a lower price knowing you could have gotten a higher price than being charged at a higher price and having to go back down. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like, yes, like if you charge a price you're not worth. That's almost worse knowing that you could have made more. Um, and I think that you show up differently. So I think that when you raise your price, it's not only benefiting you, it's, it's actually benefiting the client because you take it more seriously, they take it more seriously, you show up stronger. 247 messaging with my clients. And if they're messaging me, I'M responding right away, you know, so it's like it just creates such a different ball game and a mental space for yourself and for your clients. So I think that. And it also separates you from the pack too, which is good because at a lower price point, everyone's competing, but at a higher price point, less people are competing. It's harder to get clients, I guess, but it's just as hard to get. I realized this too. It's just as hard to get lower paying clients than it is higher paying clients or high ticket versus low ticket. It takes the same amount of effort. It's just one. I enjoy the higher ticket better because the people are more willing to do the work. They're more willing to show up. They are more invested monetarily, but also emotionally, mentally, everything. They're ready to go. They're really driven and motivated. And I feel like you will find that in the lower ticket, but not as much and not as at a higher percentage as you will in the higher or ticket market.
- [21:35]
A
Yeah, I've found it, I found it to be hard to balance because there is something to be said about pricing certain people out that for me and my brand I want to bring into the ecosystem and give them an opportunity. So, you know, maybe a lower ticket item of being a part of a community where there's not much work on my end where they can get help with other people and still get communication with me occasionally. And then maybe the, the next tier would be like you said, the, the five days a week kind of instant messaging availability of. To communicate with you. Maybe that's a different tier of a much higher price. And so you're getting much more value monetarily like you are. And then they're getting kind of that instant communication with you. And so for them the value is just immense. So I want to talk about kind of pivot just a little bit to the, the state of YouTube and where we are on the platform for you. I love looking at people's channels and see how their thumbnails and design and everything has pivoted and changed over time as you've learned about the platform. So what is working right now on YouTube? Alex? So I want to ask you that question. What, what have you found to be some maybe like some secret sauce that, that you're finding with your channel and your clientele when it comes to growing on YouTube?
- [22:47]
B
Yeah, I, to be honest, I think it really depends on your niche, what is working best. But like I've noticed some, some people just have like the whiteboards that's still working really well. You know, whiteboards and not even a thumbnail, just them drawing on the whiteboard or something. But I fell in love with AI generated thumbnails for a while and not AI generated like, like. Well, I did. I went the whole like cinematic like Hollywood poster way for a little while and that had amazing click through rates. It also attracted a different crowd to my audience or to my channel, which was really interesting to see how the audience changed based on the, the thumbnail that you use. So that attracted more of, of the younger audience. And then I went back to still using AI but making the scene look more normal like in an office or a. You can't really tell that it's AI generated so much. It's not like me on a mountaintop climbing or like you know, climbing up this cliff. It's just like me in the office smiling. And those have really good click through rate as well. So I think that, I think that in general YouTube is going more towards being authentic and being, you know, going back in that direction because there is so much AI generated stuff out there that people really want to see real people. So I think the overly AI generated stuff is kind of falling off now. Like the, you know, like the dramatic stuff. Of course entertainment's a little different. I focus mostly on educational content. So I think that like actually just showing your realness, like showing if you're the, your personal brand, like if you are the image of your brand, then just showing your face. I think we're going back to that more of just like human like with text and human in an object in text. That sort of direction, I think.
- [24:22]
A
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think we're going to see a shift. It may not be until next year or the year after, but I think people are going to get sick and they're going to get tired of all the AI stuff. I'll be honest with you, I've almost completely stopped watching stuff over on TikTok and like reels because at this point I don't, I don't know what is. My wife will ask me, she's a teacher and she'll say, is this real? What is this? And it's gotten so good, but it's so outlandish and it's almost like, no, I want to just hear from real people. Like I just want to hear real voices talk to me. Whether it be entertainment, edutainment, whatever you want it to be. I want real humans telling me I don't want some, you know, I get it that you sometimes you may want a quick fix or whatever it may be, and AI is great for that. But, man, I think we're going to see a big transition and shift into that. I love the thumbnail design that you have going now. It's very simple, just a big, high quality image of yourself with, like you said, a background, very minimal text in the thumbnail. It's the way that I think YouTube's going. How are you implementing outside of YouTube, like, let's first start with like vertical video with like YouTube shorts. How are you implementing other types of programming? Let's just say shorts, live streaming and podcasting. Like, are you doing any of that? All of it. Just a couple things.
- [25:38]
B
I do shorts, but I'm. I'm pretty lazy with my shorts. I just use AI to clip them from my long form and then I upload shorts pretty much every day and then I've done one live, to be honest. And I have on my calendar to do more. I really want to up my content and value this next month ahead. Um, so I'm thinking of doing starting up Lives weekly, but. But yeah, I haven't yet. And what else? What else did you say? Shorts, Lives.
- [26:06]
A
Do you do any podcasting?
- [26:08]
B
Yeah, I started a diaries of a content creator, kind of stealing from the whole diaries of a CEO, but diaries of a content creator on my own channel. And it's just, it's mainly for an outlet for me to talk about everything behind the scenes because I know a lot of people originally when they came to my channel in the beginning was because I shared my journey to monetization and everything behind the scenes, how much I was making, how I was making it, all of that. So now I've restarted that. But I wanted to have a clear distinction on my channel between those two types of videos because there are two camps for that. Some people love it, some people not interested at all. And so those thumbnails are very different and that, that will help people to distinguish them. Also, it's a podcast, so it's in the podcast list which distinguishes it. But it's just like me sitting on my floor and it's very casual, it's unscripted and it's just me talking about whatever topic for that day. But yeah, so that's what I'm doing. And I don't really post on any other platforms or anything. Like I have Instagram, but it's more just family photos. And I've started posting on LinkedIn some, but mainly just posts like written posts.
- [27:08]
A
Sure. What research are you doing as far as finding out what's working on YouTube, like outliers? As far as video? Do you look at other channels? Do you take kind of bits and pieces from things that are working for other creators, you know, behind the scenes? What are you doing to prepare and optimize not just your channel but the people you work with with?
- [27:29]
B
Yeah, for me, I, I feel like I have so much information because I have a school community with like, I think 8,000 people in it. So I have so much information of what people need that I have like lists and lists of video ideas. So for me, I'm not researching so much for my own channel. Um, and I don't. I'm not a obsessed with virality or going like making, you know, of course it's nice to get lots of views on your videos, but I'm more of like, I just want to provide value and help people and as long as my income is stable, that's the way I'm going to go. So. But with clients, I do, we do more focused on research, like looking at what other people in their niche are doing, finding outliers that are most like, recent within the past three months and then doing their own version of those. But for me, I'm just, I have, I have so much information from my clients, from my school community, from my comments and my videos that I just use that as my research. So I guess it is a sort of research in that respect, but it's, it's mostly just taking from what my audience and clients are asking from me and posting videos about that.
- [28:29]
A
You mentioned school community. I have a community as well, and I'm looking to do a decent bit of overhauling going into the new year. Would you say school is a great platform? Like what other, what other ways? Obviously this is a way to monetize. It's a way to curate a community. Give us the process of that. I talked to a guy I don't know, it was a couple of weeks ago. He runs a pickleball community on school and he's making insane money on, on this community. And it's got like, I don't know, like a thousand or fourteen hundred members in the community. So when you're talking about curating a community, what would your advice be? And platform agnostic. What are your thoughts?
- [29:09]
B
Okay, so. So my community's free. So for me it's, it's kind of like whatever I do and there's kind of an extra bonus, I feel like, because it's, it's not, it's not a paid community. So I think paid and free are very different. But I think one of the main things is to create, create a community that people feel safe to express themselves. So my community is all for about YouTubers trying to grow on YouTube and I'm very strict about keeping people out that are trying to sell things or be spammy because that's very hard in a free community. Anyone can come in. That's the one downside I think of a free community versus paid community is paid communities really keep out the spammers and the people trying to sell stuff, but trying to create a sense of community where people can feel safe to express themselves. And then if you do challenges in there, that motivates people. If you, you are like, like, I go in there live once a week for an hour, call answering Q&As or I bring other people in there. I should have you in there actually, if you are interested to talk about their, what they do and stuff like that and how they grew their channels and such. But yeah, I think, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a great way to get people off of YouTube and have deeper conversations with them and learn more about what they need from you and want from you and what you can provide them and how you can help them. So I think it's awesome. I think it's an awesome opportunity. And yes, it is a place to also monetize so you can make posts about things you're launching and stuff like that as well in there. So it's great for that. But I really like it because it allows me to actually get to know my audience and not just comments in YouTube videos. We have a conversation like, I know these people by name. I see them every week. We really grow together and get to hear their wins and everything and help them with their struggles. So, yeah, I think it's an amazing place to build community and I think a lot of people like to feel part of something, especially if you're doing YouTube growth, because it's such a lonely journey if you aren't in a group. And a lot of people still out there in the world think YouTubers are ridiculous. Like, I mean, when I was going from architecture to YouTube, I. I don't know how many people like laughed in my face about it. So I think it's really great to have a place regardless of what your niche is, a community for your people to gather and, and get to know each other and also network and stuff like that as well.
- [31:09]
A
So as far as like for people who don't know Skool, it's S K O O L. It's much cheaper than it used to be to run a paid group there. It used to be like a hundred bucks a month. Now they've kind of taken that down and kind of reduced the feature set. Would you say it's a good place to curate community as far as, are you happy with the different, I guess you would say, features of being able to conversations, archive those conversations, have new members find them. What would your advice be? Would this be a good place to start?
- [31:40]
B
Yeah, you know, I don't know if I'm the best person to ask that, but I really enjoy school so far. I feel like they're always making an effort to improve. They really listen to you. You know. Sam Ovens reached out to me when I just started my community there and it was growing really fast. He reached out to me in the DMs and asked like, what would I like to see? What do I think is the biggest problems? You know. So I think they really care about what people think of their community and how they use it. And they're constantly updating things. They're adding, adding new tier. Like they're just adding so much stuff and almost they're adding so much stuff. I can't keep up half the time with what they're doing. But I think it's, it's awesome because people are getting what they, they're asking for and they're really always striving to improve and make it more user friendly and you know, good for the people, the community members and everything like that. There's some things that I have trouble like finding in there sometimes, like, especially when it comes to like payments and invoicing and all that stuff. It's a little, it's a little vague for, because my texting is in Finland. They're very about the way they need things reported for taxes because we pay like 50% tax. So that is that stuff like that is a little bit difficult for me. But yeah, other than that I think it's an amazing platform, but I have nothing to compare to. I've never had a membership on like Circle or you know, anywhere else or Patreon or any of those other communities. So I really can't really compare it, but I like it. I find it's easy to use.
- [32:58]
A
Yeah, sure. As people are listening to this, I want to ask you a final question. What would be your advice right now for people starting growing monetizing on YouTube? If you could Only give them one thing to work on. If you're like, okay, I can tell you that you probably are wasting your time trying to do a lot of different things. But to be most efficient, because a lot of creators are hobbyists or they're trying to get to where you are full time, what would be that kind of overarching advice that you would give everyone listening to this show if maybe you were listening to this a few years ago?
- [33:30]
B
Go communicate as clearly as you can and as quickly and swiftly as you can. Your concepts. I think a lot of people tend to ramble. Their ideas aren't clear. That's the biggest thing I see with people I work with. It's, it's. You're taking your. You're taking people on a journey through your video, and if that journey isn't clear, they're not going to stay because it's, it's. They want to get something out of it. People are busy. They have very short time, very short attention spans. And if you don't have a clear destination, they will check out. So I would say if you want to spend any time focusing on something, it would be clear communication.
- [34:03]
A
That would what I would say, yeah, clear communication. Clear. Like, this is who I'm trying to reach. I mean, clear with messaging, clear with targeting, clear. With niching down, clear. I could not agree more.
- [34:16]
B
Yeah.
- [34:16]
A
Again, if you would like to check out what Alexa is doing, maybe have a conversation with her about your personal brand again, I will have links to everything down below in the show notes. Alexa, love having you on. Maybe we can make this a yearly tradition. Love, love seeing the growth that you're experiencing. And I hope that you reach that big, hairy goal of a million in revenue. I think it's certainly possible for you to do so. So thanks again and we'll talk to you next time.
- [34:44]
B
Yep, thank you. Bye.
- [34:45]
A
And that, my friend, is a wrap on this week's episode. If you're a creator and you'd like to get in touch with us, all of our services will be linked in the show notes. As previously mentioned, our creator coaching program, our creator Mastermind, our creator channel reviews and everything, such as the Entrepreneurs Toolbox, as well as the other list of resources mentioned here on the show. But if you've made it this far, I want to ask you a favor. Go ahead and subscribe to the show. Whether you're listening on a podcast player or you're watching over on our YouTube channel, subscribe. That way you're notified every Friday when we go live with a new interview, and there's going to be a ton of extra stuff coming in the new year, so you don't want to miss that. With that said, hope you have a great day, and I'll talk to you guys next week.