Hi friend.
Okay, in today's video, we're going to talk about how making videos online changed my
life and how it can do the same for you.
And I know you might be trying to figure it out, and it can feel really overwhelming.
So I wanted to break it down.
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Let's get into it.
My journey started six years, ago and I have this black binder of dreams is what I call
it.
I keep it on my bedside table and I look back at it often.
And it's where I stored my research, everything I was learning, and the big vision that I
wanted to create for making videos online when I got started.
And it's crazy how aligned it is with what I've actually created.
So in it, it says what I really want is freedom, time for my family and friends, impact more
people in a big, positive way, simplicity in life and business.
I want to change lives and I want to feel creative, joyful, aligned, confident and powerful.
But there was one little problem, actually, a couple of little problems.
One, I didn't know what to talk about in my videos.
Two, there were already so many other people doing it.
And three, I didn't feel like an expert because I didn't have an audience, even though I'd
been and working in marketing and social media for years prior to that.
So if you can relate to any of that, I'm going to show you exactly how to overcome it in
this video.
Okay.
So we're going to dive into what to say, how to grow an audience from absolute zero, the
huge advantage of being a beginner on this platform and on any platform, and where my
revenue actually comes from and what it looks like.
So let's start with what to say.
Two questions to get you started, and an exercise.
So the first question is what do you light up about?
What gets you super, super pumped to talk about?
I can guarantee you that not everybody in the world gets excited about the same things
that you do when it comes to having conversations around them, or endlessly studying that topic
or that category, on the internet or through books.
So think about those things in your life that light you up.
Those topics that you can't get enough of.
That's a really big clue as to what you can start creating content on.
And the second question is what do people ask you for help with?
And what's something that you love doing for other people?
I loved making videos my whole life.
They weren't great, but I made them for friends and I made them for family.
And I really honestly thought everybody in the world did the same thing, until I realized
they didn't, and that was unique to me.
And then when I got into social media and I ran my business, I was obsessed, and I loved
talking about social media.
I was so interested in it.
And that's really where I started when I started putting myself out there.
And putting herself out there feels weird.
It doesn't come naturally to most people, that's normal.
So one thing that you can do every single day, because it is like building a muscle,
is every day, write down one idea for video.
Just one.
That's it.
And I got this idea from Jerry Seinfeld, because as a comedian, not every joke he does is going
to land or be great.
But he forces himself to write one joke a day, because it keeps his mind in the space
of always creating.
So you can do the same thing.
How to grow from zero.
There truly, and I mean this, because I've worked with thousands of people now in creating
their YouTube channels and creating their businesses online.
There's an audience for everything, truly, but it has to start with you.
So the true key to success in business and particularly on YouTube is relevancy + intent
+ you = success.
You want to think about this in terms of, I don't want to be the next so-and-so, I want
to be the first me.
And that comes right back to, what do you want to talk about?
So growing an audience from zero is actually easier than you think, but you have to understand
how the algorithm works, so the algorithm can help you grow.
Because you showing up as yourself is one thing.
The algorithm understanding who to put you in front of, so you can grow an audience,
is a whole other thing.
So how the algorithm really works is you have to tell it, you have to feed it the information
for where to put you.
And that's why oftentimes people talk a lot about niching, And I talk about niche down
to blow up.
Because I've seen it firsthand.
You have to start with one thing to be known for everything.
Because if you just talk generally about motivation, it's really hard for the algorithm to understand
who are you trying to motivate and what are you trying to motivate them to do?
So then you just stay stuck and stagnant, and no one will ever see your content.
So you have to learn to be specific.
And everybody's unique.
Everyone has a niche that's unique to them.
And really it starts with what you're interested in.
So with the algorithms, you can either let the algorithm dictate you, or you can dictate
the algorithm.
The algorithm will dictate you if you just start making content on things that you think
will do well, or you think will be successful, based on what other people have done.
But the danger of that is then the algorithm is going to take that information.
And that's really the only topic you're ever going to be successful on.
Whereas if you dictate the algorithm, you show up with what you're actually interested
in and you make content that's unique to you.
And the algorithm will use the traffic sources on YouTube, search, suggested, browse, to
push you in front of more viewers like that.
And that's how your channel starts to grow.
You're really leveraging robots, but you have to tell the robots what to do, and not have
the robots telling you what to do.
And if you don't believe me that there's truly an audience for everyone, I came across, don't
ask how, a gentleman named Kent Hamilton, who makes videos about desk drumming with
pool noodles and has racked up 200,000 views on one of his videos.
I don't know you, Kent, but I love you.
So if that doesn't tell you there's a niche for everybody.
I don't know what will.
Being a beginner is a massive advantage.
It may not feel like it, but as somebody who's built an audience and been through a lot in
growing this audience, and really navigating and understanding this platform over the last
six years, I can tell you that being a beginner is beautiful.
Why?
Because you have the advantage to learn as you go, and to share as you go, and to test
different ideas, and to test different thoughts around what you want to create content on,
until you find your own rhythm.
To test things and try things when you already have an audience breeds a lot of judgment.
And it breeds a lot of ego because you're like, "Oh, if I test this, then nobody's going
to see it or watch it, and then my views are going to crash.
And everyone's going to think I suck."
When you're a beginner, you have the full opportunity and right to find your own rhythm
and find your own path.
And it doesn't always happen right away.
You need to practice, practice, practice to get where you want to go.
The only way to do so is to actually start creating content.
So embrace and lean into being a beginner.
You can try different things.
You can learn on the fly.
You can share and document as you're learning because no one's expecting you to be an expert.
But I think you need to understand is you are always, always one to 10 steps ahead of
somebody else out there.
And I'm telling you right now, there's somebody out there who is waiting for you to show up.
They're waiting to learn from you, and they're waiting to watch you, because there truly
is an audience for everyone.
Don't make me talk about Kent again.
There truly is an audience for everyone.
And being a beginner is a beautiful way to start on this platform, and it's not too late.
I watch people grow from zero all the time, but the best way to do that is to talk about
things that actually interest you so that again, you're serving the algorithm with the
right information, so that it can help you grow and it can help to categorize you.
And when I talk about that, part of my growth on this platform, especially I would say over
the last year, I really had a mental and mindset shift around YouTube where the views just
don't matter.
And how I look at it now is it's about the viewer much more than it's about the views.
Because what happens is if you all of a sudden go viral on a specific topic, that audience
is what I call surface audience.
And they're kind of like drive by subscribers, or drive by viewers.
And what that means is they're not really invested in you and your future content.
They're just invested in that one piece of content, and it can negatively affect sometimes
the rest of the content that you create on your channel.
So you want depth with your audience.
Go deep, not wide.
And that depth will eventually hit a tipping point, because truthfully, if YouTube knows
the kind of viewer you're trying to attract and what they're interested in, and often
it's a mirror for who you are and what you're interested in, it then knows how to support
you within those traffic sources, to help find more viewers just like that.
And you'd be surprised at how many are out there waiting for you.
And another part about being a beginner... which is something that I've really tried
to embrace in the last year, I always try to act like a beginner and think like a beginner...
is that it allows me to get out of the state of mind of knowing everything.
I don't ever want to know everything.
I want to continue to learn, and I want to continue to share.
So don't worry if you're not as much of an expert as the next person out there with a
massive audience, because sharing from a place of actually going through something and being
a tactician is so much more beneficial to people than sharing from a place of, "Oh,
I've been doing this for 10 years," and you already know too much.
So it's really hard to relate to a brand new viewer.
So I keep this posted near me.
You must be familiar with it now, but test, fail, learn, grow, repeat.
That's the motto.
That's the mantra to embrace when it comes to YouTube.
Now, like I said at the beginning of this video, I have been doing this for six years,
and I want to be totally transparent about where my revenue comes from, because it doesn't
really come from YouTube.
So 1.5% of my revenue overall, since I started my business really has come from AdSense and
about 1% has come from affiliates.
So affiliates are companies that I believe in, that I work with and that I promote, and
I get a commission if I promote their products or their services, and somebody ends up buying
it or using it, which is awesome because there's a lot of great companies that I do believe
in and want to share.
And they're ultimately helping you.
But 97.5% of my revenue comes from my actual business, which is online programs.
And I never would have really understood online programs or online courses until I tapped
into YouTube.
Because I realized that there's this huge world out there where people did really care
about what I was talking about, and what a bunch of other people are talking about, and
this was a great place to share tactics.
And then I created these courses that really created an entire transformation.
And my courses have stood the test of time.
They've been around now for years and they created ridiculous results.
We have hundreds and hundreds of testimonials, and that comes back to my true goal of really
changing lives and making an impact.
And if you want to learn more about creating courses, I made a video on it right here.
And I wanted to share what it truly looks like for me.
So this is an example month in my business.
We have AdSense.
This is in February with AdSense.
This is how much I made in ad sense in the month of February.
This is how much I actually made using YouTube to drive to my online courses.
So we have PayPal here, and then we have Stripe payments for the month of February here.
So in all, it's about $512,000, and this isn't due to some crazy launch, or anything out
of the ordinary.
And you know, it does feel weird to share these numbers because they're beyond what
I ever anticipated, but this is just consistent growth.
And this is part of what I talked about in my black binder of dreams, that I wanted to
create consistency and simplicity.
And I've been able to achieve that in large part because of the combination of YouTube
and online courses.
Now, listen, was all of that revenue directly from organic traffic on YouTube.
No, but we do over 50% of our revenue from organic traffic on YouTube.
We got to a point where we have generated so much revenue with my programs that it was
time to scale.
And we started using paid ads because we had a proven offer that we knew worked, and we
knew if we invested in ads, we could reach more people and impact more people.
So I think it's good to put that in perspective.
So overall AdSense makes up 1.5% of my revenue.
It's a little bit different on a monthly basis, but that's overall with the history of my
company.
And I think that's important to understand, because there are so many opportunities on
this platform to grow your impact, but also to grow your income.
And through growing an income, you can actually create an even bigger impact.
Feels a little weird to talk about that.
I've talked about it before, but it will never not be weird for me to share that because
this all started with just a vision.
And I had no idea what I was going to be able to create, and it's surpassed anything that
I ever thought was possible.
And the truth is if I didn't take the step to put myself out there, and take the action
and start from a very small and humble beginning, I wouldn't be here and you wouldn't be watching
me today.
And the same goes for you.
If you don't start, no one's ever going to see you, and you have something to share and
there are people that want to see you.
So this all started with this crazy vision that I put in my black binder of dreams.
And I highly encourage you to have one of these.
Have a notebook, have something that you can keep with you, to remind you of the journey
and how far you've come, and to never forget the intent of why you start it.
And I hope that you took from this, that until you take the action to put yourself out there,
what you want to achieve can't happen, because the right people aren't able to find you.
And the other big takeaway I hope you take from this is that it's not about the views.
It's about the viewer.
And that's really what matters.
I would rather have a hundred really invested people than a hundred million who just don't
really care.
I'm so excited for you to tackle your own dreams and to get out there, and to start
showing up in the world, because you have something important to share.
Are you with me?
I have a whole extra training I put together.
You can grab that below this video in the description, and check out this video next
to check out how this dancer went from zero to $100,000 in revenue using YouTube.
It's an amazing story and super inspirational, so check out that next.
I'll see you in the next video.
Thanks for watching.
Bye.