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How to Pivot Your YouTube Niche Without Losing Your Audience (w/ Simple Lucas)
00:28:01
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- [00:01]
A
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's conversation on the Creator's Hub podcast. I'm joined today by Lucas from the Simple Lucas YouTube channel. A bit about Lucas. He is an employed mid-20s married guy trying things out on his YouTube channel that could be useful to not only himself, but his viewers as well. And his channel is about how we can realistically apply simple habits and systems to better our productivity and well being. Lucas, how are you doing today?
- [00:30]
B
Hey, not too bad. Little, little jazzed. Having on my second cup of coffee right now. So happy to be here.
- [00:37]
A
If this is your first time listening to this show. I sit down with creators each and every week and I do a breakdown of what makes them successful. We talk about their failures, we talk about their successes and so much more. And we're going to do that today with Lucas. Don't forget, if you are looking for, you know, any help with your YouTube channel, we got a bunch of different services that we offer. All of those will be in the show notes, everything from coaching. We have mastermind calls, creator groups and mastermind groups. We do YouTube channel audits. All of that is down below. So Lucas, how did The Simple Lucas YouTube channel come to be? Tell us the origin story.
- [01:13]
B
Okay. Yeah, so originally the channel was called I don't understand anything. I don't know why I called it that at first, but I've always made videos and stuff for fun. I've mostly had unserious, just random channel channels where I post just, you know, garbage like whatever, whatever crazy stuff I was making in high school. But I got a job out of college and I was on my own and I was thinking, yeah, it's like, it'd be interesting to try, actually try a YouTube channel where, where I actually try to see if I could make it happen and take it seriously. You know, I, I, I always felt like I could do it, but I've never really tried, so, so I made. I don't understand anything because I was a philosophy major in college and what that taught me by the end of it was that I really don't feel like I understand much of much of anything. So. So yeah, so originally I was just telling stories. I was trying to get used to talking in front of a camera. So like every day or two I would sit down and try to think of an interesting story from my life and just tell it because I wanted to become a better storyteller. And anyway, that's the origin.
- [02:22]
A
So early on when you were kind of starting this channel and you were trying to find place you know, on the platform, what were some of the, the harder bits, the things that maybe were roadblocks along the way? Was it being in front of a camera, was it being a storyteller? What were the things that you kind of had to get over to, to become the creator that you are now?
- [02:44]
B
You know, watching what I was making in particular, like, I hadn't like chosen a niche or anything. I was really just making stuff that either I wanted to make or stuff that I wish existed.
- [02:58]
A
How did you kind of settle in on because you did a lot of stuff early on about, you know, shoes and going barefoot and telling stories about that and then stories of productivity and well being. How did you land on the channel where it is today? What made you make that pivot and kind of where, where the channel is now?
- [03:15]
B
I started making videos about barefoot shoes just because I had accidentally, you know, bought some and, and then I was interested in getting more, but there was no content about the shoes that I wanted to get. I was like, man, if there's just like a couple minute long video that just showed what the shoe is, I could feel better about paying a hundred dollars for it, right? So, so I bought them and then I just made the video that I wish existed. And slowly it kind of got views because I think it, it was searchable. It wasn't that clickable, but it was people, people were like me looking it up. So then I was like, oh, if I make videos like that, people will actually find it. And I made more of those videos and I tried to make other videos about other things that I was interested in. The thing was that the barefoot shoe videos would get views and the other other videos wouldn't. So I was like, well, I guess I'll just double down on the shoes videos and see how, see where that goes. It's like I could probably be one of the best creators in this niche. You know, that's. And that was kind of my goal at first. So that was how I really grew my channel and I had to really challenge myself to try to keep it interesting for me and make videos about shoes that I would actually be interested in watching. A couple of things happened. Like, I was never that passionate about that niche. You know, I was interested in it, but ultimately I, I'm pretty pragmatic when it comes to that sort of thing. I don't, I don't care that much about shoes. I just wear them. And that philosophy made me interesting, I
- [04:39]
A
think, for me to see the transition from when you did the footwear stuff. And the shoes. And then you. About, you know, four or five videos ago, you did the video about the world's simplest productivity trick, and it got, you know, now it's at 1.8 million views. It's only four months old. It was obviously a huge outlier for your channel. So talk about. Now that you've decided to make that pivot, you know, what are you seeing? What were the difficulties in that? And. And now are you really set in doing the systems and productivity stuff? And that's kind. You want to be known for that as opposed to being known as the barefoot guy.
- [05:15]
B
I don't. I don't really want to be known as the barefoot gu. At one time, that was. That was fine for me, but. But what I found is I was trying to make the most interesting content I could around the barefoot shoe niche, and people outside of the niche started coming in when I was, you know, doing the. I bought every weird barefoot shoe on Instagram or whatever, right? I was kind of trying these different styles, and people thought they were really funny, but then they were like, wow, you're great. I'm really interested to, you know, hear what she had to say. But I didn't realize her whole channel was about feet. So then I was like, well, I mean, I. I do have more to say. So then I kind of was like, oh, people would be interested just to see. I don't know. At that point, people. People were communicating that they'd be interested to see other stuff besides just the shoes. And. And even just having a channel only about the shoes was almost putting some people off. But I'd already learned the lesson that people don't watch the videos unless they're about barefoot shoes. So I had to kind of unlearn that and say, okay, well, let else. So that's when I reintroduced experiments like what ended up leading to the style of the wall staring. Simplest productivity trick Video was the video where I tried Alex or Mosey's routine for a week. That was a fun experiment on my own. Yeah, I figured it'd be highly clickable. He was about to release his next book, and nobody had made the exact video that I was thinking about making. So I tried that out. That was an experiment. And then it kind of slowly got a decent amount of views. That one has a hundred something thousand views as well. And people enjoyed that. So that was like my kind of my test run of not nothing to do with barefoot shoes at all, right? So then. Then I was kind of like, okay, yeah, maybe I can. Maybe I can Pivot the channel just in the direction of. I don't want to leave my old viewers behind completely. But I also, you know, there's so much more that I'd have to say, and I'm like, I'm more interested in. And I can talk at length about, you know, just trying to better myself. Like, I wanted to try Alex Hormozi's, you know, tips and tricks. Anyway, so it's so easy to make a video about that. Cause I was, I. I wanted to do that anyway. Same thing with the wall staring video. It started out as I, you know, I stared at a wall instead of my phone for a week or something, right? Like, it's just like, oh, I really need to lock in at work right now. And I've heard of these different kind of focus tricks, and one specific one was staring at the wall. Like, when. And if you, if you can't work, just stare at a wall until you get bored enough and then go back.
- [07:54]
A
The curiosity of that video was what made it so good is that when I saw that thumbnail, I was like, well, what is he talking about? It's the simplest. The world's simplest productivity hacked hack. And then this guy, like, superhuman. And then just you sitting there in a blank room, staring at a blank wall. And that was just, to me, the viewer. I was, I was so intrigued. Which is what I try to get my clients to do, right, with packaging, is you want them to be so intrigued that they've never heard you or seen your stuff before. That's how we get new viewers, and that's how things take off on YouTube. Now, can you talk about the, The. The thought process on your end? The creator of. How do you make people like us, the viewers? How do you get them to be intrigued to click on a video?
- [08:36]
B
I feel like the thumbnail is, like you said, it grabs your attention, so it makes you look at it and you're like, huh? And then the title kind of gets your interest. I've found that the more simple my thumbnails are, the better they tend to be. And the more realistic they are, the. The, you know, the, the more attention they're likely to get. So, like, if it just looks like a real photo, it does better for me than if I, like, edit it a bunch. So, like, I kind of have that in my pocket of ultimately, this. I like the split. Thumbnails don't work that well for me. I have that in mind. And then I'm thinking, that thumbnail in particular, I've seen a lot of these videos where it's just like a stick figure guy and it'll be like, oh, like how you know to get eight hours of sleep in six hours or whatever, right? And then it'll be a little stick guy and it'll tell you stuff with a. With. With a bunch of pictures of stick figures throughout the video. And those thumbnails get a lot of views. And it's usually just one or two stick people. So I was imagining the thumbnail for the wall steering video as kind of a funny little guy, you know, stick figure, smiley face, sitting in a chair, looking at a wall, and then it's saying superhuman. I thought was funny. So, yeah, I think that's kind of something I'm experimenting with now. Is, is this thumbnail so simple that if I drew it with just like a stick figure and a text in an arrow, like, would it also be clickable?
- [10:02]
A
You know, the authenticity and the real human nature of it is important to kind of focus on in what you said, because I agree, I've seen that to be the case, like in the tutorial space, which I do technology tutorials on my channel. I found that to be the case when I do overly edited or I even experimented at a time with like, using AI to help me, you know, create certain elements. I've found that the ones that work better are just the natural edited video thumbnails. And obviously, you know, what works for one channel may not work for another. But I love the idea of thinking of it as kind of like bare bones of like the stick people. And then how. How would that be applicable? If I put myself in the thumbnail? I just. I think that's a wonderful way of going about doing it now as far as when you've made the shift, because that's when you did it about 4 videos ago now we're. Now we're really leaning into kind of this space. Your most recent video is I added two hours to my day, and it's got a picture of you with your coffee and your laptop standing up again. Very good thumbnail. Very good title combo. I love that. What is something that you wish you would have known sooner? Now that you are in this space, you are kind of running with the new niche, the new space on YouTube. What is something you wish you would have known sooner?
- [11:19]
B
The very slow process of learning and making mistakes and tweaking things is what has gotten me to where I am right now. Right. And that's how I'm going to continue going where I'm going to go. So it's hard to say. I wish I would have known this sooner because every video I learn, you know, at least one or two small things.
- [11:44]
A
I think that if you have used a process to get you to where you are now, then that's wonderful. And I think that for you, a lot of it is just trial and error to figure out what's going to work, especially when you're transitioning from one space to another on YouTube. So I completely understand that.
- [12:00]
B
There was a time where I thought, okay, like, I'm in a niche. I. I want to be one of the best people in this niche. I have to gain some, like, kind of authority. And I think I thought that I maybe had to put on something and become like, an expert. There was one particular where I did a bunch of, you know, research and tried to extrapolate and push the narrative further and kind of talk, like I really knew what I was talking about and people called BS, like, immediately. And everybody hated that video, right? Versus when I was just like, I don't know, like, this is just my. My real candid thoughts. Whatever come. People resonated with that a lot more. But as soon as I tried to tell people something, I think that that didn't really work well for me. Trying to act like I know a lot more than I do or like I have more authority than I do. That that didn't work well for me. And it's something that if I could go back, I would probably have, you know, dampened that a little bit. It's good to try to learn more and try to, like, become more knowledgeable. That that's maybe one thing.
- [13:01]
A
I interrupt the show just for a few seconds to remind you that we have a ton of different offerings for creators. Everything from $5, which gets you in our mastermind group. You get access to our exclusive podcast that I record for that group each and every Friday. We also have channel reviews and audits where I record a screencast video talking over where I think you should be spending your time on your channel. And then we have one on one coaching where I sit down with you for 30 minutes, all the way up to 90 minutes, where we can go over strategy. We can talk about specific questions that you may have, whatever it may be, just check the show notes and I think we have something that might fit your needs. With that said, back to the show, let's now transition over to your video making process. I watched two of your most recent four videos all the way through. I think you are a good storyteller. I think that if I were your coach, I would tell you that's probably your best trait. I think that you are very good at taking a topic or whatever the video is about and moving it from beginning to end in a way that's very interesting, which to me is the attributes of a really good storyteller. Now did you start there? Probably not, but you're getting there with all the videos that you're uploading. And we get better every time we do something, so that's wonderful. So tell us the whole process. What does it look like from when you have an idea until you hit publish?
- [14:23]
B
I have found that you get disproportionate returns for the time you spend planning. You know, so like I've, I have grown to really enjoy and love the planning process for a video and like really hashing out the idea before I start. At least like enough I don't have the whole video scripted or planned out before I start. At least if we're talking about, you know, one of these ones where I'm doing a challenge where I'm trying something, you know, I think it's important for that to be kind of real and candid and you know, I don't know exactly where it's going to go, but. But yeah. So I usually, I think about, okay, what's the video that I would click on? So I'm knowing the, you know, title and thumbnail for the most part pretty early on, or at least a good idea of it. Like I know that it's a good idea even if I don't know this exact wording. And then, and then I'm thinking, okay, as soon as I click on this video, what am I, what would I expect to see as a viewer? Or like, what would I be surprised not to see if I clicked on this video? Right? So then I'm thinking, okay, if it's a wall staring video, I better see a guy staring at a wall quite a bit. Probably. Like, you know, if that's in the thumbnail, I'm expecting to see that, you know, like maybe throughout the video and like have some like progression there, right?
- [15:49]
A
Like delivering, delivering on the packaging.
- [15:52]
B
Yeah, totally. I mean, yeah, I guess that's that. That's a short way to say it is to deliver on the packaging. And I'm knowing that before I start the video, even though I don't have it scripted, I know I better be, you know, like actually prioritizing the wall staring bit or. Yeah. Cause it's like, you know, I could have done that once and Then it could have been 20 more minutes of me doing random other stuff. Right. But. But I think it worked out that. That I didn't do that. So. So that's one thing. And I think the other thing that's worked really well for me, once again, this. This is really most relevant to. If it's unscripted and you're just doing it, is while things are happening throughout the day or the week or like, me doing it, I'm outlining live my thoughts at the time and how I feel like the video's going and the progression of that. And that really helps. Later when I'm in the editing room saying, okay, here's how the whole week went, or even at the end of the week, I've thought about it enough that I understand the kind of arc that happened. So that was super helpful in that, well, staring video. And that's what made that conclusion, I think, kind of satisfying and cohesive and. Yeah, so. So that. That's another really beneficial thing. And I didn't do that. In the most recent video, you just talked about the. I added two hours to my day. I got so tired that I just kind of stopped, like, understanding where I was at. And that video took months to edit because it was so hard to figure out, like, like. Like what. What is the progression of this story? Where does it go? Yeah.
- [17:20]
A
And for those people looking to get better at storytelling, because they hear that all the time, all the. All the gurus. I love that word, by the way. All the gurus say, you know, you want to be better at storytelling, you got to be able to do this and that. Okay, that's great. You can say that. But what is something that. That. That you. They can grab onto in this conversation that you and I are having that has helped you, how do you become a better storyteller?
- [17:42]
B
The first thing I did on this channel was I just am going to sit down and tell a story about my life to the camera. And I think, you know, like, just coming to love. Getting to tell a story, I think is really helpful. Like now when I get to tell a story to my friends or whoever in real life, I'm like, oh, okay. Like, I'm gonna tell this story, like, from the beginning, right? I gotta set the. Set the tone, set the context. So I think just everyone's probably gonna have a different storytelling style, but you just gotta do it more and more. So if you want to get better at storytelling on YouTube or in a video, like, you know, you should probably tell more stories to your Friends and family and think, I want to tell this story well, and just kind of figure out what works for you and like how people respond. And if you have to even just tell the story in front of a camera, you don't even have to post the video if you really hate it or leave it unlisted. But then when you're editing it, you might notice, man, it's pretty boring at this part. Like, you know, when you're editing yourself back, if you're bored, you know, you either gotta maybe, I don't know, that's just a sign that, that, yeah, if
- [18:59]
A
I'm bored while editing a video that I'm working on or a client is wanting me to watch over, then a hundred percent, you know, it's, it's a, it's a telltale sign of, okay, maybe this bit or this part we can redo or rearrange, whatever it may be. So I completely understand kind of what you're going towards. I would like to transition for a minute because although I did mess up in the original intro and say that you were unemployed, you're actually very much employed and have a job and you are juggling YouTube in your job. But you have, you know, you want to make money on YouTube. You want to make this something that can be a venture that is fruitful with the time that you're putting in, like you said, months to edit that most recent video. So what are ways that you are making money on YouTube or if there's only a couple, what are ways that you're looking to make money on YouTube?
- [19:48]
B
Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I've been making Adsense for a couple years ad revenue from being a partner or whatever. YouTube partner program. So I mean, that's, that, that's the earliest way that I started making money. You know, $20 or something that would come in or I think you don't make any. They don't send it to you until it's a hundred bucks maybe is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So slowly waiting for that to rack up. So that's one way that I'm making money that, that isn't huge yet. Although over, over the last couple years, you know, like there's been a decent amount. When I was making barefoot shoe content, I had affiliate links. I waited too long to do that. That'd be one thing that, that, that maybe I would wish I knew earlier is if I'm making a bunch of videos about zero shoes, maybe I should sign up for the Xero affiliate program. Because even if I'm not trying to sell them. People are buying them and they're, and they're clicking the links, you know, and I learned that pretty quick. So I ended up making a decent amount of money when I started switching out my links to their website with affiliate links when I could. So like at that time that might have been more than adsense. I made a video about like zero shoes, made a basketball shoe and that video got it randomly popped off and got a hundred thousand views because it was like breaking news because an NBA player had started, had signed with them and was using these shoes. Nobody knew that yet. So I was the video where everybody learned it and a bunch of people bought those shoes and they were like 150 bucks and I was making 10% of each sale or something. So I made like a thousand bucks from, from that video or something. And anyway, so yeah, those are the main ways I've made money. You know, I've also been sent a lot of free shoes. So like, I mean, I didn't have to buy shoes for a couple years when I was making videos about them because I could just tell a brand, hey, I, I like the shoe and I'll make a video about it. Like would you send it to me? And then a lot of times they would.
- [21:55]
A
That's awesome. Yeah, it's cool to hear the different ways people are monetizing the different kind of where they are in the different seasons of their channel. So you've come today with three things. If you're watching the video version of this podcast, you'll be able to see him kind of reveal those, but if you're listening, you'll be able to hear it just the same. So talk about the three things that you'd like to leave creators with today.
- [22:18]
B
I was just thinking about like, what do I think might be valuable for the creators here to hear our fellow creators and just like what's unique about my perspective? Maybe so yeah. So I did bring three things. There is a visual if you need, but I'll just read it out loud. It's very simple. It says Lucas is three things. So the first one, be inefficient. My videos are made what they are and videos that I'm proud of by me just going through them over and over again. And it is not an efficient process and I'm getting better at it and more quick. But if I was prioritizing efficiency, I think my videos wouldn't be what they are. Sometimes they take too long.
- [23:03]
A
Sometimes we can be over efficient as creators because we live in a very much A hustle culture. A culture especially, it's kind of the antithesis of the space that you're getting into because you're getting into productivity and the whole system space. You know, I consume a lot of that content, or I did. I have a lot of kids and so I'm not able to consume as much content in general, but I did. And I will say it can become a bit much where we're trying to over do things, we're trying to make things so efficient that it becomes a machine. And there's really not much human nature to it. There's really not much authenticity in it because we are just, we're ironing it down so fine that it becomes just this thing that we do. It's like, oh, we upload a video this week. So we do it and we do it and we do it that way. But the inefficiency sometimes brings out the. The roughness of a video that makes it what it is, the uniqueness of it. And I remember early on when I was graduating college and was when Casey Neistat was releasing a video every day. And I thought to myself later on, what made his videos and vlogs so good? It wasn't that he was the smartest or the funniest or the best at what he was doing. Yes, he was good at all those things, but he was just so. It was so intriguing to watch him make a video. Like, you could just see him processing and the wheels turning and the things that he was moving. And he'd start drawing something here and then he'd cut to this other part here. I would assume that he got that to be an efficient process, but I don't think it started there. So I completely agree with your premise.
- [24:40]
B
You're, you're, you're totally on the money of what I'm saying. It's like there's, there's this temptation to make everything into a machine. And it's like for me, that's where the soul is lost is if you mechanize everything and just turn it into, okay, how do I get from A to B? You know, like, the process, I think is really important. And like, even if it's inefficient, if you can enjoy the process, you can make something that you're proud of. So, so. And that goes right into my second one. Like you were saying, being efficient. I also say be, be human. And, and that's part of it is like we're more and more so, you know, in a domain where, you know, you can Mechanize things and you can get AI programs to, you know, like cut your videos for the most part and do all this stuff. And there's totally a place for all of these tools. But I think being yourself with your flaws and I think being okay with your mistakes and your own perspective, I think there needs to be a soul in your videos. And so for me, the inefficiency and being human go hand in hand. It kind of goes into my third one which is, which is make things you like. It's like you have your own taste, you know, like make things that you are interested in and that you would like to watch or just that, that, that you want to make. Like that's, that's some of my biggest advice is just make something that you yourself, you know, want to exist and are excited to make. Follow your own taste. It will come through. I just make the videos until I think that they're good. And then your audience, you know, you, you'll find a, an audience that resonates with that.
- [26:28]
A
Yeah. So the three things are again, be inefficient, be human and make things that you like. I agree with all three of them. I think that obviously everything is going to be applicable to different channels, different seasons, different different times stages of their YouTube channel's journey. But Lucas, you have been an amazing guest. If you want to check Lucas has going on, it's just simple. Lucas over on YouTube and I'll leave all of his links in the show notes as I always do. And Lucas, we will talk to you next time.
- [26:59]
B
There you go. Yeah, sounds good. Appreciate it. Dusty.
- [27:03]
A
That's a wrap on this week's episode of the Creators Hub show. Again, my name is Dusty. If you haven't already subscribe to the show, whether you're listening to it through your podcast player or over on our YouTube channel if you'd prefer to watch the video version. As I've mentioned earlier, we have a ton of different offerings for creators. At least go down there and see if there's something that might fit your needs. Whether it be joining our mastermind group to hang out with other creators. The, I mean five dollar entry fee is nothing. It's just to keep the bots out. And then we have YouTube channel reviews where I take a look at your channel. And then Lastly I offer one on one coaching which is a more in depth 30 to 90 minute session every time where we discuss different needs that you may have different things you're going through on your channel. And it's just a great way to get another set of eyes on your chann. We also have an email newsletter and a running list of tools that are mentioned here on the show. All of those things are down below. And with that said, we'll talk to you guys next week.