B (4:55)

So what exactly is the content on your channel? So we talk about rustic living. You're living off the grid. This is a type of channel that has really exploded in the past three to five. There's a lot of really successful off the grid Channels. I consume some of it honestly as plugged in technology wise and as interested in tech that as I am. I think I use it as a form of kind of self soothing and it's almost, it's methodical and it's just really enjoyable to me. Someone who is not living the off the grid lifestyle. What exactly is the stuff that you're.

A (5:33)

Producing on the channel originally, before I, before anything back in the 90s, I've been a builder ever since I got out of school. I barely got out of school. And I do mean that like barely. And I got into, I got into the building trades. I started doing concrete construction out of high school and when I moved up to Alaska, I'm from, originally from Michigan. Now I split my time between Michigan and Alaska. When I moved up to Alaska I was building, I was on concrete crews. I did carpentry work and building my first house. We bought a two acre piece of land for $6,000 back in 2001 and we used the logs from the property to build a little tiny log cabin. So building has always been a big part of my life. I've built most of the houses I've ever lived in. So to do the, to do the content on YouTube that I do is not a jump. I'm just doing what I've always done. And a lot of the thought behind that is when you build yourself, you end up with 100% ownership into property. As long as you're paying cash for materials, you build something and then you own it, you're not stuck in this 30 year mortgage cycle. So I've always saw the freedom of doing things yourself. It's always appealed to me. And that's just probably the big part of what is on Bush Radical is building projects. I've built probably seven cabins on that channel and then different videos that accompany those. I started out like a lot of people, just chasing ideas that I thought might be interesting. I really didn't have a, a good grasp of picking a subject that has a broad audience and has a high ceiling. I'm just like, this would be cool. And I put this up and then I started to become a student of the channel. Tim Schmoyer was somebody I used to watch all the time. Sure you're familiar with Tim. And I just wanted to do better with the limited set of tools I had to work with. So I was always studying the channel, trying to figure out like what is it that I have to offer that has a broad audience where I can bring those two things together and do the best I can with the video, work with the subject, with the title, with the thumbnail. But most of the stuff that's on Bush Radical is either how to. Or it's project based, building, building projects and there's some other ancillary things in there. But that's basically the heart of the channel.

B (8:06)

Why do you think the channel has done so well? Because I get clients that I coach all the time and people contact me and they've been doing this thing for a couple of years or a couple of months sometimes, and they're wanting that success now. They're wanting it instantaneous. But like for you and your channel growing so quickly to such a large viewer base, what would you attribute that to?

A (8:31)

I did have a first couple years of very slow growth and I was happy with that. I'd put a video up and it would get 2 or 3,000 views and then maybe later it would grow to 10 or 15,000 views. I was very into the whole concept of putting out YouTube videos. So I was always answering comments and I answered every single comment until I had 80,000 subscribers. And I just couldn't do it anymore. It was just too much. But I would probably tell new creators, you're going to make a bunch of videos that probably aren't that great. Become a student of the platform. Really focus on your subject, your title and your thumbnail. Never, ever waste anybody's time. I think that's one of the things that right from the very beginning of my channel, I got that feedback all the time because the first video I put out was a knife review. Brooke and I were on season four of Alone right before I went on to, to start my YouTube channel. So I had this knife I'd carried for seven weeks. And on Vancouver Island, I'm like, I'll do a review. I'm, I'm an authority on this knife. You know, I have, I have as much insight onto this piece of equipment as anybody else. And I shot a video and it was just bang. This is what I like, this is what I don't. Here's the pros and cons and pluses and minuses. And I got this feedback from that video. Finally somebody just gets to the point. I'm like, yeah, that's what I wish every YouTuber would do. Dive right in and give you the goods. Never waste your time and try to deliver an enjoyable viewing experience. And for new people starting out, don't start a video like, yeah, it's Wednesday and it's sunny out. Just shoot me. Just shoot Me. So I don't know if that answered your question or if that was a little too far around the block.

B (10:21)

No, it did. And I think that people have to understand that oftentimes channel like yours don't just grow within a snap of the finger. It does take time. And as you said, you built upon getting those smaller amounts of views as time progressed. As far as, like, getting into the video, I'm with you. That's how I built my tutorial. Channel is just, hey, I'm going to give you the answer you came here for. I'm not going to give you the fluff. This is why you came here. So I'm trying to give you that solution. Absolutely love that. Now, how do you do storytelling? Because I watched your most recent video. You're talking about a specific build that you're doing over extended amount of time. You're really good at storytelling. How have you improved that skill set of being able to take what you're doing, whether it be a project or a review of a product or whatever it may be, and incorporate some bit of storytelling? Because I do believe that is what really fuels channels that grow quickly is storytelling and being able for the audience to relate to that creator.

A (11:22)

Yes, yes. That is pretty key, actually. And the way I go about it is I always think about, what's the heart of this video, about what's the real value that somebody is going to get? Are they watching it for entertainment? Do they want to know the details? What, What. How am I positioning this video? So you start with your subject, and then you figure out how the video is going to be positioned. Is it going to be about this part of the subject? This part of the subject. And once you know that, you can film the video or compile the video. And I always like to start nowadays anyway, not always, but I like to start with a hook. And with a hook, I like to jump right in, be like, this is the thing we're watching. This is why it's amazing. It's going to help you in these ways. That's the thing. So you've met that audience expectation. They saw the thumbnail. They're like, oh, that looks good. They read the title. The title supported the thumbnail. So, like, okay, they give you the click, which is everything. And then that hook, you want to make sure that you let them know that they're in the right spot, like they made the right choice. And here's everything you're going to get. I always try to get that in 15, 20 seconds and then dive right in and then the storytelling aspect. At that point, I edit all my videos so they're completely edited. And then I'll sit down, like we're sitting down right here. Plug in my voiceover mic and I'll start watching the video and I'll just start talking about what's going on in the video. I never, ever script anything. And the reason is I tried. When I first started, I was like, okay, this is what I want to say. It just sounded stupid. You sound like a robot. So I'm like, it's got to be conversational. I've got to wing it. I can always re record a spot. So I'll just sit down and I'll be watching a video and I'll just tell you what I'm thinking about it. This building Pro. Yeah, I wish I would have done it different, which is an honest thing to say. So it's always. It always has to be conversational. And if I ramble too long, which I'm prone to, I'll be like, I can say that in fewer words. So I'll erase that section of voiceover and I'll just try to say it more cleanly, try to say it more accurately with fewer words. And that's basically. I always want to build up to the end of the video where you feel like you've been on the arc. You've. You see the beginning, the middle, and the end of the process. And one other thing, I always like to put kind of personal insights into the video. I used to listen to Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor years ago, and that dude was the best storyteller. He'd tell these stories of this fictitious town he grew up in. And there was always an emotional insight to it. And everything everybody does has that little aspect to it. So I always put that in there, too. And that's basically the whole process for storytelling. Do it on the fly, conversational. And put your little nuggets in there if you got them.

B (14:29)

What is your approach to branding and packaging as far as thumbnails and titles? And how has that evolved over time?

A (14:38)

Oh, I love that question, Dusty. As far as thumbnails, let's start with thumbnails. I like the dumbest thumbnail possible. If I'm fixing a boat motor, the thumbnail is going to be a picture of a boat motor. 90% of the time. It will never have any writing on it whatsoever. I just want a good, clean photo cropped in as tight as makes sense. Go too tight, you don't even know what you're looking at but a single good photo. And then I like the dumbest titles in the world. If I build a shed, which I have, the title's going to be like how to Build a Shed. And it's not going to be how to build a Goat Shed because that excludes everybody that doesn't have goats or how to Build a Horse Shed. Same thing. It excludes everybody. It's just gonna be how to Build a Shed. And so I'm gonna have the most basic thumbnail, I'm gonna have the most basic title and I'm gonna try to make that video deliver. Start with a hook, try to crush it with shots. Good angle shots, good voiceover. And when it's done, make sure it's done.

B (15:45)

As far as the thumbnail goes, you mentioned you you very rarely put text on the thumbnail. It's something that I'm more and more recommending to my clients that hire me to, to coach them with their channels. Is that let the image do the talking for you. And I'm looking at your channel now and you have a title called how to Build an Outhouse. And you got a picture of you standing next to the outhouse. That's pretty self explanatory, right? Yep. Saving the off grid Cabin. A picture of the cabin. Then you have a comparison video. Harbor Freight Sawmill versus Wood Miser. Right. You got a picture of both of the things that you're comparing. So you're letting the image do the talking for you. And have you found that when you do that, the click through rate is better than when you just try to get too fancy with it and put a bunch of text on the thumbnail and such.

A (16:35)

I feel. And this is going to rub some people the wrong way. I think it's nervous energy, it's insecurity. People will have a thumbnail that's decent and they'll just cover it with lettering like I need to make it better, I need to make it. And if you get a thumbnail too cluttered, it no longer serves its purpose. The only purpose it serves is to show the viewer what they can expect. And as soon as you put text over it. Let me clarify this for you. If we were having a discussion about politics and it was about some specific thing in politics, text would be appropriate because you can't get a concept or discussion across in a photograph. It's very difficult. So text is appropriate in that. But if you're building a doghouse, man, the thumbnail should be a picture of the doghouse and it doesn't need anything else.

B (17:28)

I love that.

A (17:29)

Yeah, it just. The cleaner a thumbnail is, the more bold and simple. And I give this analogy back in the mid ages, Middle ages, a lot of people couldn't read. So when they would go into a town like the bakery, the local baker would just have a loaf of bread as the sign because you didn't need to read it to understand that's where you get your bread. It's just a big iron loaf of bread. And that's the same way I look at thumbnails. As long as it's about a thing, thumbnail should be the thing. The best shot you can get, best cropping, best contrast, best lighting. And if it's about a concept or discussion or theological or political debate, then use text because you can't get those things across in a photograph.

B (18:18)

That's a great analogy. Dave, why do you think most channels now fail or get little to no views or creators burnout? Why do you think that is?

A (18:28)

Yeah, that is a really good question. Ever since I started, I. I've checked on people's channels. If somebody leaves an interesting comment, I'll click on their channel to see what they're doing. If I know that they have a channel. I think a lot of people there. There's a subsection of people anyway, a group that think that because they're on YouTube, everybody should watch them and like they can do anything that they want and it's supposed to work and that's not right. It's just like television. If there was a show called Watching Paint Dry and it was just a wet painted wall, who's going to watch that? You have to identify the value that you're going to offer. You have to convey it. And a crystal clear thumbnail. You have to convey it and support that thumbnail with a title. And I see a lot of creators missing that. The thumbnails are super busy. They don't really know what their own video is about. I've encountered this problem with a lot of people I've talked to where they will shoot a ton of footage and then they'll try to make a video out of the footage. And that's like building a house from the roof down. Like, you need to start with, what am I going to deliver? You need to vet that pro. You need to vet that subject to see if it has a high ceiling. If you're going to. If I'm. You're going to shoot this huge video and it's. You're not really sure what to title it and you're not really sure what the thumbnail is and it's going to cover all these subjects. Like how do you market that? I like the idea of shooting a video like how to change a tire and the thumbnail is a tire and it's like the best shots, the best angles and the best information about how to change the tire. It's 12 minutes long, it tells you everything. And you watch it and you're like that's exactly what I hoped it would be. And the quicker creators internalize that and say I've got to know what I'm doing and then it's easy to film and edit and then it's easy to market and the sooner they internalize that, the faster they're going to grow.

B (20:31)

I want to interrupt this conversation just briefly to talk about our channel review service. If you're looking for a low barrier to entry way of getting another set of eyes on your channel. I record a 7 to 10 minute video screencast overviewing your channel, talking about things that I see you might could do differently, things that you're doing well and just an overall channel audit for you to get a better thought process of what you should be doing and where you should putting be putting your time. Also, don't forget we do offer one on one coaching as well as our creators corner community group with the Mastermind calls and much more. But with that said, let's jump into. But with that said, let's hop back into the conversation. When did you realize or think to yourself this could be more than just a hobby? Like this could be something that sustains me and my family. This can be actual real income. Do you remember the moment or the video or the time?

A (21:23)

I had grown to probably 35,000 subscribers by year three. And I think it was, I think it was the end of my third year. I had a video that broke a million for the first time and I paid off like a credit card. And I think I became debt free for the first time in a few years. At that point I'm like, okay, this is to a level where I'm in a good spot now. And I see these other channels out there that have 5 million, 6 million, 7 million view videos. I'm like that. I can see now that is a possibility. I would have been okay making $5,000 a month in perpetuity and just living inexpensively, that would have been fine. But after making that first million view video I'm like, okay, this is really actually doable. And it became not just like this is a subsistence Way to live. But like this could be a really substantial income. And all I have to do is just do better, be more focused, turn in a better version of what I hope to share and make sure it already has an audience before I ever record. And that's a big point a lot of people miss.

B (22:46)

Yeah, let's talk about monetization now and the ways that you make money. Can you talk about that? And maybe on average give us the amount of income that you're able to make through your content on an average month or so.

A (23:00)

As far as monetization, I am a AdSense only channel. I don't do endorsements. I don't get products and review them for, for and income. A lot of middle sized channels will do that. They'll be reviewing products a couple times a month. I generally do one video a month. I make sure it has an audience. Like it's gotta have a, it's gotta have high enough potential that it's worth my time. It's gotta be in my wheelhouse. It's gotta be something I want to do anyway. And once all those things line up, the last question is, am I willing to film this video? Because I'm generally doing 30 shots a minute in my editing process. I'm changing the shot so it's a lot of physical work moving the camera. So I'm only AdSense revenue. And I think last year I made just shy of 300,000, which, and I think the year before I was over 4. And then 2000, 2002 was probably my biggest year and I was pretty close to a half a million that year.

B (24:08)

Yeah, and as far as that goes, what do you think attributes to that? Your videos are long, your cadence is only one a month. They're very story driven. These people who love the type of content that you create, they consume that content and they eat it up. They watch these videos throughout. And if I go to your channel right now, a lot of your videos are 25, 30, some upwards of 45 minutes long. And so you're getting a bunch of ads through that, the pre roll, the post roll, a few mid rolls and all of that. What do you think are the pros and cons? Because I never really encourage people to just do AdSense. But for you doing it for a few years now and you've making really good money, what do you see as the pros and cons of that?

A (24:56)

The pros and cons of just being an AdSense channel is pretty simple. The con is you're leaving a ton of money. On the table, there's people that do reviews and they're making a. Probably a similar income without getting. Without needing the skills to make a 10 million view video and. But I'm not into sales and most everything that I have and use, especially in the videos, is old used stuff. So I don't want new gear. I wouldn't feel right about trying to hock it. On one hand, being adsense only is very freeing because I just go do what I want to do and I don't have contracts, I don't have to get my script approved to endorse a solar panel or a TV or whatever. So it is very freeing in that aspect. It's also very limiting because people who do education channels create courses, coaching and stuff like that, they make way more money than I do. But they're also dealing with tech and email lists and such like that. Which kind of. It brings me onto another point I'd like to make is that's one of the reasons I started my second channel, just Dave Whipple, to help content creators. Because one of the most confusing things in my opinion today is YouTube advice. Because you have this online business advice that's centered around YouTube and then you have like content creation advice. And a lot of times they're so intermingled with each other. Somebody who's just starting out and wants to make good videos is they're consuming this information about emailing lists and how to run kajabi and they're like, I don't understand any of this because there's two different languages being spoken, if you know what I mean.

B (26:45)

Yes.

A (26:45)

Yeah.

B (26:46)

Yes. I really appreciate you being honest about that because I do have creators say, oh, that's what I want to do. But they really underestimate that. If you're just solely an AdSense channel, your niche has to be specific. If you're in a space where the ad rates are super bad, then you're going to have to get tens of millions of views and you really have to do some research to figure out if it's even sustainable. Are there channels doing it? And a channel like yours is perfectly fit, fit for that. So with the new channel, which is just YouTube advice and stuff of that nature, what would you say are some of the common misconceptions about YouTube and maybe some bad advice that people give?

A (27:29)

Uploading schedule is one of the first things that comes to mind.

B (27:34)

Go ahead and dive into that.

A (27:35)

If you were a online business doing coaching courses and you were trying to build a presence, constantly uploading at the Same time every week would be beneficial to you. If you're an entertainment or an edutainment channel or a vlog style channel. Quantity is never going to win that game. And people are like, I've been told I've got to upload twice a week. That's the upload. When you've got something really solid that you have, every reasonable expectation is going to work. And if you don't, you're just basically adding another piece of junk to your channel. And I hate to say it that way, but it's. If you go into a thrift store, they might have 10,000 things in that thrift store, but none of them really have any value. Where you go into a guitar center, they have a hundred guitars and every guitar is between 300 and $3,000. Many fewer items, but they're all of more value. So I tell people all the time it's all about quality, not quantity. The upload schedule fits the business model, but it's not going to move the ball forward. What's going to move the ball forward is shooting a video on a subject that has a really high potential, where the other really good performing videos in that space are 1, 2, 3, 10 million views. And if you nail a great video in a on a subject that has a high ceiling and you get high viewer retention and it's well received and it takes off and you end up with 3 million views from it, you're probably going to pick up a couple hundred thousand subscribers. It's very possible to pick up fifty, sixty, a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand subscribers from a video like that. And then all of a sudden you're a mid level player off one video. You're never going to get there. Hey, it's Thursday. I said I'd upload and here I am. That doesn't work.

B (29:43)

With AI and the future looking so crazy, with technology just evolving so fast, everything's changing. What do you think is going to be the future of the platform? What do you think the creator space looks like?

A (30:00)

I don't know. That's a very, that's above my pay grade. I build outhouses and film them. The whole AI thing, I don't know that I'll ever dabble in it at all. It, I think there, I think you're going to have to jump on one side or the other. You're going to, you're going to figure out AI and use it and wield it and there's going to be people that, that can really wield AI and know how to make it work for them. And then I think everybody else is going to have to, they're going to have to go the exact opposite direction. Personal connection. Being a flawed human being is going to become a commodity to some extent and I think it's going to be split. People using AI. Oh, go ahead, go ahead, sorry.

B (30:48)

Explain what you mean by that because I think I agree with you, but I want to hear your thoughts on that as far as being a flawed, let's say for in this case, like a flawed creator. Like, how is that going to set you apart? Because when I do these channel reviews every week I'm getting more and more of these AI generated channels where it's just some of them are going to work and they're going to make good money, but the majority of them are not. And we don't know how YouTube in the future is going to classify content. So explain what you meant by that.

A (31:16)

When I click on a video and it's slick and it's AI generated photographs, AI generated concept drawings and stuff like that, and I'm hearing this manufactured voice reading a script that was just a transcript downloaded, I'm like, I don't want this. I don't care what it has to offer. It's. It's plastic in a lot of ways. I'd rather hear a human being tell me a lesser version of the same video than I would have an AI created video. It just, I don't feel any connection to it. It there. You can get some amazing information across in an AI video and support it with amazing AI generated photographs, but it's still, it's fake, it's a prompt and there's nothing behind it. I don't think people with AI generated channels should, I don't really even think they should get credit. All they did is make a suggestion of what they wanted, probably upload a transcript and then you've got yourself a video. So I think that, I hope, I hope that AI generated videos are going to exceed their shelf life and people are going to be like, ah, I just don't really want to see any more of this. You want that human connection even if the person on the other end is flawed and maybe they don't edit and flow as smooth as AI. At least they're real. So I think you jump on one side of that fence or the other. Ultimately.

B (32:48)

My thoughts are that you can utilize AI as a helpmate, as someone that, as a tool, as we've used software for years, but, but we are going to get into a future where AI becomes a replacement. And like I said, you, you can sit back and like you said, you'll have to go one side of the fence or the other. You can't really be in the middle where, oh, I may think of. No, you've either got to go all in or you're just kind of like what you're saying where you're just like, hey, I'm not going to dabble in it. I'm going to do my things working, and we're just going to continue on from there. So I, I absolutely, I, I do agree with that sentiment, Dave. You've been an amazing guest and I am really excited for you to continue to grow your other channel where you're doing the blue collar advice for YouTube success. I absolutely love that. And I think that we just went through a segment talking about artificial intelligence, but the beauty of YouTube still lays or lies in creators like you starting a channel called Bush Radical, talking about a knife. And then fast forward 5, 6, 7 years later, 1 million subscribers later, hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. Having that as a platform is why I do what I do. I love talking to creators like you, because there can be a creator who has an opinion like you on something and then someone who I talk to next week who has the complete opposite of opinion. But that's why people always say when it comes to YouTube, you got to do it your way. You got to be passionate about what you're talking about. You really got to find what makes you different, what sets you apart. So, Dave, thank you again. Do you have any parting words to the creators that are.

A (34:25)

Listen, today I think anybody can succeed on YouTube. I don't think everybody will, but I think you can. You can't go about it all wrong and not find the value in what you have to offer and just be like, hey, here I am. But if you do want to succeed, I think it is possible for just about anybody. The tech is very easy. You upload one video once and you basically, you're just going to be repeating that process every time. And if you can focus on value and be yourself and offer a. Your perspective and make sure you never waste anybody's time. I've said that before, but that's a big, that's a big problem. I think it's possible. I think everybody has a shot at it. And I think you should have my brother on the podcast, my brother's name, talk about it. Yeah, his name is Ryan Whipple. His channel is Black Spruce, and his very first video got a million views. Views. Oh, wow, that's awesome. Six months. Number one video. It's, it's a proof of concept that somebody, if they focus correctly and they're viewer centered, you can knock it out of the park on day one if you have the right mindset. And if you don't, it's a long learning curve, but anybody can do it.

B (35:43)

I agree with that as well. Guys. We've been joined today by Dave Whipple from the Bush Radical YouTube channel as well as his new education channel. I will link everything that he talked about today, both those channels in the show Notes. And Dave, we really appreciate you joining us this week and we'll talk to you later.

A (36:00)

Thanks, Dusty. I had a great time. We'll see you soon.

B (36:03)

And that's a wrap on this week's episode of the Creator's Hub podcast. If you enjoyed what you listened to today and you have not subscribed to the show, whether it be on our YouTube channel with we release the videos every week. Whether it be that your podcast player of choice, Spotify, Google Play, Apple podcasts, just subscribe to the show that way every Friday when we go live with a new episode. You'll be notified also if you would leave us a review if this has been helpful to you in any way, I would really appreciate that. Don't forget to check out all of our services that I've mentioned a couple times already, our coaching services or channel auditing, as well as our creators group and mastermind. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next week.