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YouTube Creators Hub
Long-Form Is Still King On YouTube | Cara Nicole Interview
00:44:12
In this episode of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast, Dusty Porter interviews Cara Nicole, a full-time YouTuber known for her educational video essays that blend personal finance with pop culture. Kara shares her journey from sporadic video creation in...
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- [00:00]
Kara Nicole
Probably to no surprise if people have watched my channel. I'm quite risk averse when it comes to money. Like I love to save, I love to have a financial cushion. And so I didn't go full time until over a year of making probably over a year and a half of making enough to live on and like over a year of it making more than my full time income.
- [00:21]
Dusty Porter
And welcome to this week's conversation on the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. My name is Dusty Porter. I host this show and I do deep dives with creatives and I talk with them about their journey on YouTube. We talk everything from habits, how they got started on YouTube, different monetization methods and much more. So if you're new, welcome, subscribe to the show however and wherever you listen to your podcast and we're brought to you today by just us and what we have to offer you. I offer one on one YouTube coaching and channel audits if that's interesting to you. Check that out down below. We also have one of the fastest growing YouTube creator communities on the Internet. It's called Creators Corner. You get an exclusive podcast episode from me each and every week on Friday. With the release of this episode and podcast here, you also get access to our monthly Mastermind calls that I host on Zoom. We just did our one for April 2025 this week and it was amazing. And then lastly, we do have a email newsletter that goes out every Friday. So if you were an entrepreneur and you're looking to grow your online business, you're just looking for maybe some tools and resources each week. I'm not gonna spam your email inbox. It's once a week on Friday mornings and I believe it's very, very valuable. We have over 5,000 creators subscribed to that now. So with all of that said, let's go ahead and jump into this week's conversation. Hello everyone and welcome to this week's conversation on the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. Super excited today to be joined by Kara Nicole. As always, her links will be down below in the show notes. Kara is a full time YouTuber who makes educational video essays at the intersection of money, media and culture. She has over 250 subscribers as of this recording. She's known for breaking down personal finance and economic topics through the lens of pop culture, which I think is a very unique and different perspective. She's formerly a program manager in tech and Cara blend storytelling with strategy to make financial education more engaging and accessible. Cara, how are you doing today?
- [02:17]
Kara Nicole
I'm doing great, thank you so much. Dusty and it is such an honor to be here. Very surreal because I used to listen to your podcast when I was first starting the current iteration of my channel, so just. Yeah, such an honor. Thank you.
- [02:28]
Dusty Porter
That's awesome. Yeah, I, I, I'm so thankful and honored when people say that. The guest from last week actually said she's like, yeah, I listen to the show all the time and have been forever. And that really humbles me and makes me want to work hard and make the show the best that it possibly can be. For the creators that are listening and tune in each and every week, tell us the origin story of your YouTube channel. How did it start? Just give us the full rundown.
- [02:53]
Kara Nicole
Yeah. So there's kind of two stories to it if you were to go back to the official start of the YouTube channel. It was actually in 2013, when I had just turned 17 years old. I was a senior in high school, and I was watching a bunch of YouTubers at the time, the kind of 2013 ESK YouTubers. I was like, I had a huge crush on Connor Franta at the time. And I was like, oh, my God, it'd be so cool to be a YouTuber. And I wanted to make videos, but none of my friends would be in my videos with me. I thought it'd be cool to make short films and sketches. And so I was like, all right, well, maybe I just put the camera on myself and I do that. And so I made videos, like, through high school and a little bit in college, but it was so sporadically. It was really just to learn the ropes of how to film and edit, which helped me with some freelancing I was doing on the side in college. And then I stopped for a while. I got into kind of my big girl job post grad. And then in 2022, fall of 2022, I'd gotten really into personal finance, and I was craving a creative outlet at my tech job. And I was talking to so many people in my life, like my friends and my family, about personal finance. I was bothering them about, like, hey, are you maxing out your 401k? And. And eventually people started being like, you should make videos about this, Kara. Which I think was their version of, can you please shut up about this? Go, like, funnel that energy somewhere else. And so I started doing these essays, and I'd always loved writing essays. I'd always loved making videos. And so I started making, like, one a month from, like, maybe September 2022 until, like, March 2023. And then that's when I got an editor because I was like, I really want to invest a little bit more in this. I have, you know, money coming in from my 9 to 5. I just want to see. I was spending so long editing. What if I could up the process a little bit? And then weirdly, like a month later, a video that I'd made a few months before ended up being on a react channel of a really big streamer that went viral, that went onto the front page of Red. And then slowly like my. After that it was kind of a big spike and then a steady increase in following. After that I kind of got a really good feel of my niche and my format. And I've been making videos ever since. And then I went full time this past fall, so about six months ago. And it's been really great. It was scary at first, but it's been really great. And I feel super grateful as someone.
- [05:14]
Dusty Porter
Who is a big consumer of video essays, not necessarily in the financial space, but I do like a good video essay. Sometimes I'll listen to them like a podcast. What exactly is a video essay? Can you explain to the audience exactly what types of videos you're doing? Because a lot of your videos, the majority of them are between the 17 to 25 minute range. So explain. Because a video essay is more than just a long video.
- [05:42]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, I mean, I think emphasis on the essay part. I always loved writing essays when I was younger and I really try to stick to that format that you learn in school where you kind of have a hook and you have your thesis, you lay out exactly what people are going to learn throughout it within the first few paragraphs. And then usually I'll do something like kind of three body paragraphs in a way that, that drive home the point and then a conclusion to wrap up. And so it's utilizing that as the framework. And you know, for me, I see video essays as just such a great way to make writing more accessible because video is such a popular format. But the video element also plays an important role because now you can bring in visuals to emphasize a point. So if you watch my videos, you'll see I tons of B roll because not only is it interesting, and I think it helps viewers with our attention spans these days, but it also helps you get a stronger grasp of what I'm trying to get across in, in subtle ways and direct ways. And so that's what I see a video essay as. It's just this new way to explore a topic and hopefully make it more engaging and shareable for people.
- [06:49]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, A month ago, you did a video called let's Talk Being Car Poor, which I think is a fantastic, minimal title, now has over half a million views in just over or just under a month. Do you know when a video, like when you're recording and you're scripting and you're working on a video, let's say that one in particular. Do you know this is going to be one of the ones that takes off, or is it just random? How do you. Do you have any kind of internal gauge of just like, as you're getting close to, you know, upload, you're like, man, this one has the potential to be a really big hit.
- [07:24]
Kara Nicole
I think it's a lot of hindsight bias. I think there's a lot of videos, including the Car Poor video where I'm like, oh, man, this one's going to do great. And the Car Poor one, because I'd done one a month and a half before called let's Talk Being House Poor. I wasn't sure if that one was going to do well, but I was. I thought there was potential there and then it did really well. So I felt like, okay, Car Poor is a natural evolution to that. So I felt more confident there. But there are absolutely videos where I'm so jazzed about them, I think they're going to do great. There was one and then they do awfully. And there was one in December. Granted, I posted between Christmas and New Year's, but it was like a financial audit of Michael Scott. And I remember thinking, like, this is gonna blow up. This is so, so good. It has like 12,000 views. No one watched it, but. So, yeah, you never fully know. But I think I'm. As I go on and I make more videos, I'm getting a better sense of what people want. I'm getting a sense of like, what's an umbrella topic versus kind of a more niche down topic. And also how to build and series that people know and recognize and therefore want to click on. So that whole title format of let's Talk Blank, even let's Talk Being Blank Poor. Same with my other series of, like, how blank keeps you poor. I try to fit as many topics into those formats because I think people just know them now and they often do a lot better when they're packaged that way.
- [08:48]
Dusty Porter
Yeah. With my coaching clients, I call those, like content buckets. And you might have two or three of those, or some people call them programming. But I was going to ask you about that, but you basically answered my question because once you find Something that does well, do you lean into it in the way that you're talking about? Because you've done, you know, let's talk being car poor. You did one eight days ago. Let's talk planned obsolescence. So it's kind of become a bucket of yours or a bit of programming. And once you see it, do well. And we've seen this on YouTube over and over where, whether it be comparison videos, listicle videos, if you find something that works for your channel and in your niche, you can kind of go back to the well over and over again with the packaging. If the content's really good.
- [09:32]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, I think I'm understanding how much I need to lean into that type of packaging. I have this internal battle that I'm starting to overcome where I'm worried, oh, but is that creatively boring? Are people going to get tired and exhausted of that format? Even though I'm touching lots of different topics every single time, just the fact that it's being packaged in that way, is it going to get tiring to people? But when I reflect on my own consuming habits with media, I love a series like I love, when I know I'm going to expect something, even if the topic will be different, just the fact that it'll be in that same format is nice for me. And so I think that's going to be the same case for my audience. I think I can still do a better job of leaning into topics that do well. So like car poor, house poor, Buy Now, Pay Later. Those were all videos I did in the past few months that have done really well. I probably should lean into that more where like maybe I make one about car loans or houses as an investment or Coachella and how that was on Buy Now, Pay later for the majority of people. And I don't think I'm agile enough with that yet. And I need to improve that process.
- [10:39]
Dusty Porter
But I think as a creator, you're very smart to be humble and realize that yes, there are areas where I could fill in the gap or I could be better. And it's really neat to hear you talk about kind of that thought process. So thank you for sharing that with us. I want to ask you this. When was the moment or video or season that you realized you could do this YouTube thing full time? Like, what was that for you?
- [11:05]
Kara Nicole
Oh my gosh, that's a good question. It was a long process for me, probably to no surprise if people have watched my channel. I'm quite risk averse when it comes to money. Like, I love to save. I love to have a financial cushion. And so I didn't go full time until over a year of making well multiple probably over a year and a half of making enough to live on and like over a year of it making more than my full time income. So I was very slow with that. I think when the video like when I hit a hundred thousand subscribers and I was having kind of the steady growth, it definitely started popping up in my mind of like oh wow, I think this could be a thing. But it really wasn't until like a couple months before I went full time. So this past summer that I really committed to it because I'd been seeing consistent growth and income but also I guess because I reflected on kind of what would 90 year old Kara want? That's something I think about a lot as how I make my decisions in life. And I felt like this is a great opportunity to do something that I love to potentially make impact and make money. I should do it. But I loved my 9 to 5 and so that was a really hard decision to walk away. But I can't pinpoint like an exact moment. But I think yeah it was that longer process of reflecting and seeing the data support that decision.
- [12:32]
Dusty Porter
Yeah, I remember when I did it I was kind of forced to as I got laid off from my nine to five they were kind of condensing some departments that I was in and I'm so thankful that that was the case because it kind of forced me to, to really put myself out there and try to grow the YouTube channel as far as time management and being able to as an entrepreneur and a creator, we don't have a necessarily where we're going and punching a clock. So we don't have anyone overlooking what we do day to day. How do you manage that and make sure that you get the things that have to be done for the channel so you don't miss an upload. Can you just talk about kind of maybe some systems or strategies you've put in place to make sure that you're consistent with what you're doing as a creator?
- [13:14]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, I think that's where it was really helpful for me to come from a corporate environment for so many years I really tried to take a lot of what I learned from there and do it here. So kind of having quarterly goals for me what we called okrs at my last company, I definitely have a to do list every day. Sometimes I'll do time blocking. I, I, I think that's kind of the, those are the main things I know my process now and I know how long it tends to take for each chunk. Like, I know how long my editor's turnaround period is. I long my writing period tends to be so I can kind of reverse engineer. Like, these are the deadlines they have with brands. That's definitely the strictest stuff that I have. And now I know when I need to be getting something done. And I've been so far pretty good about keeping up with that. I don't think I've ever delivered a brand deal late in my whole time, or at least by the month. And yeah, so I would say lists, time blocking, sometimes accountability partners. So I have other creator friends and there's one of my friends, she's in a completely different niche in short form. But we connected at the beginning of the year and every month we connect and we'll talk about some of our goals and we'll check in that next time be like, well, did you actually do that? And it's someone who now knows if I'm doing something right or not. And then I also have my parents who like my mom calls herself my momager. And my dad, he doesn't call himself a name, but he also acts like that where I'll talk to them about what's going on. And they love to nag me of like, well, did you do this and did you do this? And it's done very lovingly, but it is helpful just to have someone else checking in. So those are sort of the processes that I have in place right now. And as for the tools that I use, I'll use Notion quite a lot, my notes app for kind of brainstorming ideas. Google ecosystem like the drive folder and spreadsheets to track deals. There's a lot of those tools that I use all together to help me with my process.
- [15:15]
Dusty Porter
How often are you posting?
- [15:18]
Kara Nicole
Right now it's, I would say on average once a week. I don't have a like set posting schedule where like Every Tuesday at 9am I post. And some people have told me like in the kind of management influencer agency space that I should do that. But. And maybe one day I will, but it's just not for me right now. I think I'm a little too fluid for it. And so far my audience hasn't seemed to mind. But yeah, I would say it's on average once a week, I think like May, when. When we're about. When we're kind of filming this. I have more videos coming out, so it'll be a little more frequent at the beginning of the year I took a break just to kind of post Q4 was. Q4 was really busy. So I took a break in the kind of January, February and slowed down so it was fewer videos then. But yeah, about, about four a month.
- [16:08]
Dusty Porter
So you do have a popular like tick tock and Instagram account as far as outside of YouTube. What advice can you give listeners who are thinking, you know, well I maybe should start a tick tock or I should start streaming or on Instagram or Facebook or you know, it goes on and on. How many of these places or avenues should they go to and when should they do it?
- [16:33]
Kara Nicole
I think whatever manageable. I think a lot about what is my bread and butter. Like what really moves the needle in terms of my business. Ultimately it's my long form YouTube videos. And so that's what I prioritize above all else. I do have a TikTok. I just started an Instagram. They. I don't put a lot of videos out there. I think what I do a lot more is deconstruct my, my long form videos with something like opus clips so that I can cut it up and share it out. I'm trying to have a stronger short form strategy. It's something I want to talk to some of my short form creator friends and understand how I might be able to do that in a scalable way. But it is hard because I remember hearing advice on some podcast or some person a long time ago that as you grow you can get so many opportunities and there's just so many different platforms you can post on and things you can do. You really need to think about what is the core of your business and what's making the difference. There's also some 80, 20 principle about like 20% of the work makes 80% of the impact and 80% of the work makes 20% of the impact. So I try to reflect a lot on like what's that 20% that's going to make the 80% impact. And that's why I'm always going to prioritize the long form. So advice I would give is just to think about for folks listening, what is your 20% work that makes 80% impact? And don't get too caught up in trying to be everywhere and do everything, you know, grow your core thing and then you can always delegate in the future. You can hire virtual assistants or get friends to help you break things down. But I, I think that there's a risk in getting burnt out and not focusing on what's really going to Help you grow if you're trying to be everywhere.
- [18:16]
Dusty Porter
I think that's it right there. What you just said at the end about finding your what that 20 like what moves the needle and everything to. Tim Ferriss talks about this in his book, book, you know, the four hour Work Week. He talks about just finding those things that are moving the needle of things that you know are bringing income, income generating and everything else throughout the week. Whether you have to time track for a week to figure out what that is, just, just put those to the side and delegate. If you still want to do them and you still think you can grow a TikTok in a short form kind of strategy, then find like that's what I'm doing right now with this podcast I'm in the middle of trying to figure out. I've got a couple editors that have kind of sent me their, their stuff and I've sent over my long form podcast to have them break it down into short form. I'm midst of it right now and it is such a frustrating process because I don't want to deal with it. I don't want to do shorts. I want to do these long form podcast conversations, long form videos. And that's where my bread and butter is and that's kind of where I want to live. So I love to hear you, hear you talk about that. As far as you talk about you do have an editor and you kind of did that early on. Can you talk about your video process? And we'll kind of separate it from packaging as far as like thumbnails and titles and descriptions. But as far as just like when you have an idea or you have your idea list and you're like, okay, this week we're going to do this video or you're scheduling them for the month, what does that process look like for you?
- [19:37]
Kara Nicole
I have a notes doc up that I had started I guess in the fall that I had multiple like idea docs but this one I'd labeled like all bangers lineup. I think because I was like this is going to be the best of the best videos. Now it's just become my dumping ground for all videos. But every video idea starts there now where it can be a set time. I'm trying to more and more have set times where I'm really intentionally brainstorming. I'm looking at what other channels are doing and completely at different niches and what formats are working. What are people talking about, what are my, what's my audience looking at? But then I also will just have sometimes spur of the moments, I'll be at the gym or I'll be on a walk and I just have an idea and I'll jot it down in that notes app. And then the next part is like the filtering because there's going to be a lot of ideas that maybe it'll make a good newsletter because I have a newsletter now, so maybe it'll make a good newsletter post, but it's not a really good video idea. And so I try to separate, like what, what kind of format or platform should that go to? And then, then I want to figure out kind of the, I guess the mix of the content strategy. So I don't want to do like let's talk being car poor right after let's talk being house poor. I want to try to keep a little bit of variety. And. And then I also see, you know, with my brand deals, are there brands that make more sense with a certain topic? Because there are some that are just going to tie in a little bit better. And so I'll try to match that to them. I will also, like transparently, if there's a brand that has been really great with me and has, you know, is paying well and is treating me well and all that, I will probably try to match them to a video that's going to do better because I want to work with them again. And so I think about that a little bit too. And then comes like the brainstorming part. And I don't know if you want me to get into that aspect of the writing.
- [21:30]
Dusty Porter
Yes, absolutely.
- [21:32]
Kara Nicole
And then, yeah, so brainstorming. I open a doc, I label it, I put the link to the doc in my spreadsheet tracker that shows like my deals, so the brand deals, how much, when is it due? I link it all so it's all in one place. And then in the document, I'll always start with brainstorming. And I'll do just like word vomit at first. Like everything that I'm thinking about with this topic, it doesn't really have to make sense. Maybe I'll start outlining. I'll just kind of throwing in resources. And then I want to start shaping that into an outline into that type of essay format I was talking about earlier. So what's the hook? What's the thesis? What are the main three things that we're going to talk about in this video? I'll try to make that outline. Sometimes it's a really basic outline. Sometimes I'll try to make a really detailed one that even has like Specific lines that I'll say media that I'll use and incorporate in there. And then I'll start the writing process where I'll just be putting pen to paper and do start to finish. My videos end up being anywhere from maybe 2500 to 4000 words. And so I have that and then I film what I do. Depending on. I now have a teleprompter, which makes it a lot easier so I can just read the whole thing without having to worry about memorizing scripts. But if I don't have my teleprompter, what I'll do is I'll go through the script and visualize like where do I want B roll to be and where do I want a roll or the talking head me staring at the camera to be. When it's something of me talking to the camera, I bold it. And anytime it's gonna have B roll on top of it, I don't bold it. And that way I know when I'm filming I can look away from the camera to talk whenever there's gonna be B roll. Because why would I look at the camera anyways? That speeds up my filming a lot. It less so with the teleprompter. Now it's just the teleprompter cut my filming time in half. And then after that's all filmed, I'll go in and I'll go edit the A roll. So the talking head. So I'll have you know, take it from being like an hour long footage to like the 17 minute footage that you end up seeing. I'll upload that to Google Drive, I send that over to my editor Rafaet, shout out to him, he's awesome. And then he and his team will go and edit that after the next few days. But they can only edit it once I have shown the script with all the B roll. And so the script document I then take and everything that's bolded, he knows that's when I want the talking head to be. So I eventually have to do that anyways. And then everything else that's going to have B roll I put in brackets B roll. And then I'll link it out to exactly the B roll that I want. Even the timestamp I want. I'll put other, other descriptors. Maybe I'll put relevant stock footage if it doesn't matter what the B roll is too much. Or I'll put text screen here. So I try to be really descriptive about exactly what I want the video to look like. And then he is just such a better editor than me and a faster editor, and he knows motion graphics. So he's able to bring that all together. And I think it' him too, because he has those exact instructions. I send that off, he sends it to me a few days later, I review it, I send my edits. Usually they're very minimal. He sends it back the next day. And then usually it's good to go somewhere in that process, he has sent the brand segment ahead of time. So like usually the next day after I've sent the video so that I can get approval from the brand and Eddie edits, I can then loop in or I can lump that into my edits for the full video for Rafa at my editor. And then, then once the brand's approved, once the video's approved, then I upload and I do all the packaging piece and I do the thumbnail and descriptor and it goes live.
- [25:03]
Dusty Porter
How much do you pay your editor?
- [25:06]
Kara Nicole
I pay him. It's about 150 a video. And so we were able to negotiate that. I do bulk deals with him too, over time, so I think that's helped. And then I do all the A roll so he doesn't have to kind of go through stuff. But he's been, yeah, very, very affordable and great partner on this.
- [25:25]
Dusty Porter
What was the process like of finding him Fiverr?
- [25:30]
Kara Nicole
I found him on Fiverr. He. I had been looking for a long time trying to figure out what delegation even looks like, because I started doing that in the spring of 2023 and I'd never really delegated before and I was very possessive about my editing. And so I found him. I loved his style. He's a YouTuber himself. And so he really got the vibe and of like, how to make a. Make content engaging. I reached out, we had a call immediately. I kind of walked him through what I was thinking about. And I will say it took some time to figure out how to work together that more on my end. I think he was always good to work with, but I just was so not used to delegating. And so every time something would come back and I hadn't given sufficient descriptors and it didn't look exactly how I envisioned I would get. I would feel internally frustrated. I would never tell him. I would, you know, people pleaser me, I was like, oh, it looks great. But in my head I was like, this isn't what I wanted. But once I really understood what I needed to do and I kind of came to the format, I'm at now where I'm giving the exact B roll and I'm. I'll usually say what type of style I'm looking for. Like one of my recent videos on social media, I told him like, I want this to have a little more of a documentary feel to it. And so he's really good about adjusting based on, um. So yeah, once I learned how to communicate and give better feedback and delegate, the process got so much easier.
- [26:55]
Dusty Porter
So if you're paying someone 150 and you're able to delegate other parts of your business, you're obviously making money. So let's talk about the financial side of things for your business. Can you just talk about just the different monetization methods that you use for your business and then maybe on average how much you make as a creator each month?
- [27:15]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, I'm not as diversified as I know some creators you have on this podcast are. I don't sell a lot of digital digital products. I have like a couple budgeting spreadsheets on etsy for like $3 and that's about it. Something I want to work on a little bit more. But so the bulk of my income from YouTube is coming from AdSense and brand deals, and that's the majority. And I would say brand deals are probably like 65 to 70% maybe, and then adsense the rest and then small amounts of other things like Patreon, I licensed some of my short form content, but that was very, very small amounts. And as for the amount, it can range. So beginning of the year, because there was so little going on, it was maybe around 12 to $15,000. And nowadays it's anywhere from like 25 to $35,000 a month. And I'm hoping to grow that more. I think that the channels has been growing more and more and so I would like to expand that and hopefully invest a little more in short form to, to kind of open that up as a revenue source.
- [28:27]
Dusty Porter
As far as the brand deals go for your channel, can you talk about how you land those deals? Do you do it yourself? Do you outsource kind of the cold email side of it? Walk us through that process. Process. Because there's a lot of people listening that would love to and feel like they're in a place where they can and should. And maybe you can speak on that because a lot of people think they have to have a million subscribers to get brand deals, and that's not necessarily the case. So can you just speak on your process?
- [28:54]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, you definitely don't need a million subscribers to get Brand deals. And I'll be honest, I don't do any cold emailing at all. I do no cold reach outs. I think I tried one time at the start of my channel and no one replied. So everything comes inbound at this point, which is really n. There's a lot of different agencies that work with a lot of brands that I have contacts with, so they'll come back with things or sometimes it's directly the brand and they have their own brand partnerships team. So I manage those all myself at this point. I had worked with management last year, didn't have a great experience. You know, they were nice people, but I just felt like they were, you know, kind of glamorized assistants who were like monitoring an inbox and then taking 20%. They weren't bringing any new deal, almost no new deals to me. They were just taking things that I was already getting offered, barely ever negotiating. And then again they got to take 20%, which was very frustrating. And so I have taken it over now. I personally love that side of it. I think again, that's where coming from, like a corporate background, I'd done things like negotiation and account management and partnerships at my last job. And so it feels very familiar to do this type of work. And I feel like I'm pretty good at it and, and good at figuring out how to structure a deal for myself. And so, yeah, I've liked it. I don't think it's for everyone though. I think there's a lot of folks who maybe, maybe are more on the creative side and they don't want anything to do with that business piece. And so maybe management makes sense. Or maybe getting a virtual assistant who knows what your rates are and how to like monitor your inbox, that might be a good option. But yeah, at this point I'm kind of doing all the brand deals myself and I probably want to keep it that way. I could see if short form ends up getting bigger for me, getting management just for my short form work, because I have some friends who have some really good management for that. And I do think that can help you reach contacts that maybe I couldn't. But at this point for YouTube long form, I feel comfortable with where I'm at.
- [31:01]
Dusty Porter
And when you're negotiating these brand deals, is it normally you're doing mid rolls, pre rolls, post rolls? Like, what does that kind of format look like for you? Is it different for each video?
- [31:14]
Kara Nicole
It stays pretty the same. I think the, the deliverables across brand deals are almost always like 60 seconds maybe, maybe 120 seconds. But usually like 60 to 90 seconds though I am, I'm a chatty person. And so sometimes my brand segments go longer than they even contracted, which I think they're fine with. But maybe my audience is. But I just again I'm, I'm a little too chatty. So it's. Yeah, it's usually like 60 to 90 seconds. And some brands will have a stipulation of like, oh, it needs to be in the first half of the video or the first, you need to mention in the first 10 seconds. I try to avoid things like that just because I don't want to have that level of structure to my scripting process. I want to try to bring it in where it makes sense but usually I'm doing it somewhere in the first third and then I don't have any usage rights included though that's something that brands can pay extra if they want to have usage rights or exclusivity. And so that tends to be the structure of those brand deals. And then I've also tried to work with renewals. So that's working with a brand again, they want to kind of re up with you and multi video deals or long term deals. So I have had deals in the past and have some active that are ongoing and so we negotiate at the beginning of the year for like six videos for the year or three videos for the year. And I always love those because those are usually brands that are easier to work with. You know that there's that guaranteed income and yeah, they're often brands that work really well with the channel and with the audience. Fit.
- [32:51]
Dusty Porter
Awesome. Thank you for sharing all that. I appreciate it because there's so many people listen, listening to this show that are just, just they're on the precipice of getting a brand deal or they just don't know how to communicate back and forth or what they should be getting or the questions they should be asking. And so it's, it's really interesting and very helpful to hear someone like you that's succeeding at such a high level talk about that. So I appreciate that. Let's talk about what has been the hardest part for you as being a creator that maybe most people don't see or talk about about Man.
- [33:26]
Kara Nicole
I think like the, the lack of structure and lack of community can be really tricky. I've always worked remote which has kind of given me a foundational understanding of, you know, working at your desk all day and not having co workers. I sort of envy people who get to go into the office sometimes in like a hybrid way, because if you get along with your co workers, that just. It sounds so fun. And so that, that was one thing I thought about a lot whenever I left corporate, really like my co workers. And even if it was virtual, and that was something I struggled with at the beginning and still continue to struggle with a little bit as a creator is just that lack of community, lack of people understanding. You know, I can talk with some of my friends and I try to see friends every single day for that social element. But it's hard to, you know, talk about this kind of world if they don't have it, if they're not too familiar with it. That's why, though, I think I've gotten a lot better with connecting with other creators and now I have friends who are creators that I can tell, talk about with and text with. I'll go and try to meet up, create with creators if I'm in a city with, with some that I know. And so that's really helped. And I think there's also sort of this responsibility that I feel that, that I don't know if it's like, it's a hard thing. It's, you know, it's just something that's on my mind, I think, especially as my platform grows. And the type of things that I'm talking about when it's personal finance and sustainability and economics, like, I want to get it right, right. And it's scary, the idea of not getting it right because I'm just one person and I don't have a research team and I'm going to make mistakes. And there's a lot of pressure in getting it right and wanting to do right by the audience. So that's something I think about a lot too. And just honestly, like, how do I make the most of this platform? This is probably something I'm putting too much pressure on myself. But I just feel, I feel very grateful for the opportunities I've had and the platform that I have. And I want to understand, like, how can I make the most positive impact and what should I be talking about? How should I be using my time? I've tried to incorporate in the past couple years, like several video series that are all fundraiser focused on all the brand money. And adsense goes to fundraisers. And I'm trying to think about how can I do more things like that or partner with progressive groups I believe in to help get messaging out. And that's something that, again, it's not like the hardest part of being a creator. But it's something that's on my mind, and there's not a blueprint that I've found yet for how to do it right. But that's a lot. Just internal pressure.
- [36:05]
Dusty Porter
What advice would you give your younger creator self?
- [36:13]
Kara Nicole
Ooh, well, I guess with the caveat of I wouldn't want her to do anything different because it led me here and I'm quite happy with where I'm at now. But I would say if I had to go back, I would say, like, focus on, you know, focus on format, focus on series. I think that's a really important thing, is to nail that down. In the past, when I was younger creator, I just kind of created anything like top of the Brain, you know, oh, I have to make a video tomorrow. Let me think about what I should make or what I should talk about. And just didn't plan it out. And for me, and this might not be the case for every creator, but I think. I think I've seen a lot of reward come from being really planned out and being really strategic with the content and with the writing. And I have found a linear relationship between the work that I've put in to the craft and to the writing and success. Because when I was just bullet pointing and kind of off the cuff talking to the camera and then trying to edit that, it just wasn't effective for me. I think that works really well for someone, but I'm not like an Emma Chamberlain. I. I think I'm fun to be around, but I'm not like that entertaining off the cuff on camera. And so for me, it's been, yeah, very, very good to be very intentional with how I've crafted a video. And I think I would want her to try that earlier and to lean into that, because she had that ability. She just wasn't doing that at all.
- [37:47]
Dusty Porter
What trends do you see shaping the future of YouTube next three to five years? Like, what are. What are you seeing? Put your tinfoil hat on.
- [37:54]
Kara Nicole
Oh, my gosh. The tinfoil hat. Who knows if this is, you know, kind of clouded by my own hopes and dreams, But I like to think that long form is going to be such a foundational part of YouTube as it gets bigger, just because I know for myself, I do watch a lot of short form, but it's also can be exhausting. And I think people can get burnt out from it. And so I. It's funny, even though I watch, like, TikTok all the time, I'm always looking for a long video on there. Like, I want something that I can kind of put down while I'm doing my makeup in the morning or I'm cooking and it can play and I can have kind of deeper thoughts and analyses. And so I think people are craving that more and I like to think that's going to be a bigger part of YouTube. And so yes, have your short form strategy. I think it's really important and you, you develop a lot of craft by doing short form. But also think about what could be your long form version of that and how can you get deeper with an aud. I think more and more and this has been a trend for a while. YouTube and YouTubers are going to be the media companies of the future. I see traditional media as just shrinking more and more. Like I don't really watch Netflix shows and whatnot anymore. I think the younger generations are going to continue that trend. And so yeah, I think long form and people taking themselves seriously and really seeing themselves as media companies, like that's what I'm trying to see myself as. Even though I'm one person and you know, I contract out some more, but that's about it. I want to consider myself a media company and I think that is going to be the future of YouTube.
- [39:34]
Dusty Porter
As someone who consumes very little short form, I hope you're right because I, I just, I mean I do, I like short form. My wife loves it. I mean she's a teacher and she, the only content she consumes, you know, really on her phone is just, you know, Facebook or Instagram reels of people organizing their classrooms or you know, that's her space. And so short form is just the media format that she enjoy for me. I love long form podcasts, I love long form video essays, like what you're doing on your channel. And so I hope, I hope you are, are correct about that. All right, so that's been the, the, the more topical, serious stuff. Now we're going to go into the lightning round, maybe take maybe two or three minutes asking some fun questions, just quick answers. So let's go ahead and hop into that last video that you watched on YouTube.
- [40:23]
Kara Nicole
Oh my God, probably one on the tariffs because I'm writing a video about tariffs right now. So I've been watching a clips about that.
- [40:31]
Dusty Porter
Not very exciting, but a content creator, everyone should be subscribed to on YouTube besides Karen Nicole.
- [40:42]
Kara Nicole
I, I mean this is an oldie but a goodie. The Vlog brothers, they are my absolute north star for how I want to be as a person and creator. And they, they just, they've been doing it so long for a reason. They're great.
- [40:56]
Dusty Porter
Yeah. First job that you ever had?
- [41:01]
Kara Nicole
Babysitter. But yeah, I guess babysitter, dog sitter would officially be the first job I had.
- [41:09]
Dusty Porter
What's your go to snack while editing or working on YouTube stuff?
- [41:13]
Kara Nicole
Anything. Chocolate. I am obsessed with chocolate.
- [41:17]
Dusty Porter
Do you have a hidden talent?
- [41:19]
Kara Nicole
I can write backwards. I'm a lefty and I read one time when I was younger that lefties can write backwards really well. So it's like where you write from right to left and then in the mirror it's correct. And I tried it and I was actually really good at it. So I can do that.
- [41:33]
Dusty Porter
What's the funniest comment you've ever received on a video?
- [41:42]
Kara Nicole
I'm thinking of the inappropriate ones first. I've been called lately. They're like, are you an onlyfans model and they're just feeding you scripts? And I don't know if that's funny or that's just offensive because it's like they can't conceptualize a woman beyond a sexualized creature. But I got, I've gotten a lot of comments over the years about doppelgangers. For the longest time it was that I sounded like Jeanette McCurdy from iCarly, who plays Sam. And lately it's been so many comments about me looking like Aubrey Plaza. So that always cracks me up. Someone called me Kirkland Brand, Aubrey Plaza, and that was funny. I don't fully. I kind of get it, but I don't fully see it.
- [42:23]
Dusty Porter
Love it. Love it. All right, so a little bit in closing here. What's the best way to get in touch with you? People listening to this want to reach out to you. What's the best way to do that?
- [42:32]
Kara Nicole
Yeah, I mean, definitely YouTube. I'm, I'm constantly scanning the comments. Um, I also have my email on my YouTube that's available. I have a personal Instagram. Um, and you can follow me there as well. Uh, so, yeah, those are some of the different places you can find me.
- [42:48]
Dusty Porter
And again, I'll have all of Kara's links. Her Instagram YouTube channel, TikTok Newsletter will be down below in the show notes. So if you want to reach out or you want to connect with her, see what she has going on beyond this podcast, you can, can definitely do so, Kara, it has been an absolute pleasure. Congratulations on all your success and hopefully we can have you back on here in a couple of years when you have a million subscribers and do a follow up episode.
- [43:13]
Kara Nicole
Thank you. So, so much Dusty. I really appreciate it. I love what you're doing and thank you for having me on.
- [43:18]
Dusty Porter
And that's a wrap on this week's conversation of the YouTube Creators Hub podcast. Love to have you subscribe to the show. Whether you listen and watch on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, doesn't matter. Subscribe that way. Every Friday morning you get access to our new episod. Also, if you are interested in taking your YouTube channel to the next level, we got two methods for you. You can hire me as your YouTube coach and we can work together and plan, strategize. You can ask me any questions that you may have and then you can for $5 have access to our Creators Corner community. You get an exclusive podcast episode every single Friday morning. You get Mastermind calls. You get the ability to rub elbows with other creators all throughout the week on our Discord Server server. And then lastly, if you would subscribe to our email newsletter, the Entrepreneurs Minute. I share resources, tools and a behind the scenes look of what it takes to run and grow an online business and brand. And with that said, we'll talk to you next week.