- In this video, I interview entrepreneur Evan Carmichael,
and we talk about how to build a business
around your YouTube channel, tips for building a team,
no matter what size of subscribers you have so far,
and why your mindset could be holding back your growth.
- Coming up.
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- Hey, what's up, guys?
Sean here with Video Influencers,
helping you build your influence, income, and impact
with online video, and I'm super pumped
to have Evan Carmichael back on Video Influencers.
How's it going?
- Good, man.
Good to be back.
- Super pumped to be here at Clamour in Palm Springs,
and we actually just got off a panel
talking all about how to really build a business
around your YouTube channel.
- Yeah.
- And I wanted to have a conversation with you
because you help entrepreneurs grow,
and really you're really not really a YouTuber first,
you're a CEO first, a business mind first,
and so we'll unpack that and really talk
about how creators can start creating
other revenue streams and things like that.
But before we get into it, for those who maybe don't
know you yet, talk a little bit about your journey,
about what you do as an entrepreneur and things like that.
- So, I had a biotech software company at 19, built and
sold at 22, became a venture capitalist, then just wanted
to get back, help entrepreneurs not have
to struggle like I did.
I think your purpose comes from your pain, so I struggled
a lot to get my business off the ground and I just want
to make it easy for other people to do it.
I have a channel called, off my name, Evan Carmichael.
Motivation content for entrepreneurs, 1.3 million subs,
it's grown a lot like since, you've grown a lot too
in the past year too, man.
It's great.
It's like the circle of influence helps everybody grow.
Daily content three times a day, usually.
Videos that help entrepreneurs build and grow.
I always approached it like a business and
that's the topic, right?
I think a lot of YouTubers, this is their first business.
And they're artists, and you're artists, and you're creators
and I love it.
Like, I'm an artist in what I do.
But it's an artist/CEO and you need to have a CEO
in a business.
If you want to grow, if you want to just be you all
the time and it's a solo operation
or you and one person, great.
But if you want to build something big, significant,
create wealth, generational wealth, it's going to come
from you thinking like a CEO or recognizing that you
don't have the skills or interests to do it,
and bringing on somebody who wants to be the CEO.
- I love that.
And, you know, one of the reasons I want to talk to you is
because even here at Clamour, we are connecting with
other YouTubers, other creators, and many people
in this community are on the rise.
And they might look at somebody who has got a lot
of subscribers, maybe even doing well financially,
but behind the scenes what's gonna happen in the YouTube
space is creators are still sometimes paycheck to paycheck
even though they are making a lot of income.
Or they are also on the verge of burnout because they've
grown, they're popular, they're getting some momentum,
but its impossible to sustain because they're doing
everything themselves, they're stressed.
So what would you say to those watching, at any stage
of the journey, that they should change in their thinking
to avoid those types of things?
And, as entrepreneurs, of course we're going to hit hard
seasons, of course we are going to hit the time where
you burn the candle at both ends but you can't sustain
that forever.
So what do you say to that?
Even if they're crushing it, how we should be thinking.
- Yeah, I think, you know, I was here last year and I met
a guy who had five million subscribers on his channel
and it was still him and his wife and they couldn't afford
to hire anybody on their time and I thought
it was crazy and sad, right?
That you have such a big channel, you put so much work in
and you still can't afford to build anything and you're
spending 80 hours a week just putting it in?
So, at the beginning it just starts with the mindset.
If you want to develop the skills and you want to build
something bigger then you need to go invest in yourself
and the training and the skills, your courses, go
to the events, right?
If that's what you want to do.
If its not, if that's not who you are, then again, you have
to bring on that partner.
But you need to be thinking, how do I make money
in the process of me pursuing my art?
Money is really important.
I think a lot of people ...
Some people think money is everything and that's a mistake,
you do the wrong things for money.
And some people think money is the root of all evil
and making money is a bad thing.
Money is really important.
Even if you're a charity, money is important.
But it's just not number one.
It's number two or three or four.
You gotta find the thing that is above money
but then recognize that you need to make money in order
to go off and do that thing on a bigger scale.
And so to build a team, do you want to build a team?
You know, I have eight people on my YouTube team.
Do you want to be a leader?
Do you want to manage people?
Do you want to care about their growth and help
them learn as individuals?
Or is that something that is not interesting for you
and you just want to focus on the art?
In which case, to get your mission and
your purpose out there, you need to find the person
who is going to help you do it.
- That's really good.
And one of the things you were mentioning on the panel
we were just on is the skillset.
So let's assume those watching are like, I do want to run
this or I at least want to know what to look for
in someone that could help me run this.
Let's talk about it, kind of one by one.
You mentioned, yeah, if you are going to be an entrepreneur,
not just a YouTuber, you need leadership, you need teamwork,
you need, you know, some kind of bis-dev skill.
Break that down.
Let's talk about leadership first.
What would you say the importance of leadership is
for those that are, now, no longer really calling
themselves just YouTubers but calling themselves,
okay I'm a CEO, I'm a business owner.
Like Jay-Z says, "I'm not a businessman,
"I'm a business, man!"
- Yeah.
- So, for leadership, how can leaders grow, how can you grow
as a leader, and how important is that?
- I think the most important thing about leadership
is that you care about the person's growth in the
business more than you care about the business.
And so recognizing that for you
that this might be a lifetime thing.
Like, this is your baby, this is your vision, you're
trying to do this, maybe, forever.
For other people, they may not be with you forever.
You're running a parallel path for a certain amount of time
and at some point, they may need to jump off.
And a lot of people, when they're first bringing on people,
you think, wait, I can outsource, I can delegate, now
I don't have to do all the work.
You can't just treat a human being like
a machine or a monkey.
You have to care about their growth.
And so a lot of what you do has to be what are
the skills this person is missing and what are the
mindset leaps that this person has to take?
And sometimes it means that the best thing for them
is to kick them out of your business to allow them
to go off and do their thing at the detriment
of your business, which is a really hard thing to do.
But at the end it always comes back.
You always win.
Like, doing the right thing is always the right thing.
And so, most important to be a leader is you need
to care about the people on your team and care
about their growth.
The people who are around you have to be getting better
as human beings, not just providing you
a product or service.
- I love that.
And you know, I would add that one of the things you do
so great is, your YouTube channel is
for developing entrepreneurs.
We could talk about that later but
of course we'll link to it.
You have such great content from a lot of great leaders
for those watching to grow as leaders.
I think that it's just the mindset that you may
have never thought that.
You may have never thought, I'm a YouTuber, I'm a creative,
you may not think of yourself as a leader.
I think that's kinda step one.
And then maybe starting to read books on leadership.
I know John Maxwell has been a huge influence on my life.
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is actually a
pretty must-read 'cause it can start helping you
at least think that way.
And leadership is definitely a journey, wouldn't you agree?
It's not a onetime thing.
It is a lifelong process.
- Yeah.
It starts with self awareness, to figure out do you want
to be the leader?
And if you do then you can read books
and you can watch videos.
I think there is, yes, a certain amount you can
learn from books but I think the environment and
the habits and routine you set for yourself
is actually more important.
You know, if you want to learn confidence, yeah you can
read this book on seven ways to be more confident
but it doesn't mean you are actually going to do
those seven things and become more confident.
The best way to be more confident is
to be around confident people.
So whether that's your actual circle of influence,
your networking, your meeting people, or whether that's
through aspirational, it's what I do with my videos.
If you are watching Elon Musk or Jay-Z be confident,
Jay-Z's a great example.
Have you seen the clip with Warren Buffett?
- On your channel?
- It's on my channel but it's out there, too.
- I don't think I've seen it though.
- It's Jay-Z, Warren Buffet, and the guy that started Forbes
doing an interview together.
- That' crazy!
- Which is awesome that like Jay-Z is in the circle
of Warren Buffet and they're friends, right?
And they ask Jay-Z, "Jay-Z, you're in these board rooms
"now, you're not in the streets,
"you're in these board rooms.
"You don't have a college degree, you didn't go to school.
"How do you have the confidence to go off and
"be in these board rooms and talk CEO talk?"
And he's like, "I'm just myself in every room.
"I didn't go to universities
"but I went to the school of life."
And just watching that, just feeling the confidence
and the leadership coming from him creates
an emotional reaction, it creates a shift for yourself.
And so the more you are around that, whether through
a computer screen or with people, the more you will adopt
the mindset and the belief systems that you need
to go off and do the thing.
So yes, the tactics are really important, the seven ways,
the 21 ways, all that stuff.
But what ends up happening with a book, often, is you read
it, and you're in it while you read it, then you close
the book and you forget to implement.
It doesn't mean you're doing all those things, right?
Everybody knows how to do pushups, but you're not
out doing pushups.
- Clearly, I have not been doing the pushups.
- Right?
(laughs)
We got to do Clamour workout after this.
- No doubt.
- But why?
It's the mindset.
It's not important enough to you.
You could do it, and sure, could a trainer come
and tweak it and say, like, "Sean, that angle's wrong."
Yeah, you can get a little bit better at it,
but the mindset, you haven't made the decision that you
want to be great at doing pushups.
- So powerful.
So now, let's pivot to teamwork and probably one
of the biggest things for creators at all levels,
but especially as they grow they have a lot of blocks.
Oh, I don't know if I can delegate editing.
Like, I've been creating all my content, I don't think
anyone can edit as good as me.
Or I don't know if I could trust anybody.
Or where do I find people?
How do I even get started if I want to start rallying
some people around me and building a team of any size
as a creator or a video influencer?
- So at the start, again, it always comes down to mindset.
With any new thing that you are starting, there is
a million reasons why it's not going to work out
and maybe five or six ways how it will.
And if you only focus on the negative then you don't
take any action and you're right, it won't work out.
Or you look at how do I make it work out?
So Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, his advice
to new entrepreneurs is stop looking for the resources
you don't have, start asking what can you do
with what you do have?
And so any new thing you want to do, there's a million
reasons why it will not work, so stop focusing on that
and try to figure out what are the one, two, three things
I need to do that will help me get there.
With every problem there is an opportunity.
So do you look at the problem or the opportunity?
- Wow.
- Right?
- Very powerful.
And what insights have you had, I mean, did you start
by yourself on the YouTube channel?
- Always.
I love starting by myself.
I had built and sold this business, I had a second
business that I was running and I hate spending money
until I'm making money.
So everything I did, even though I had money, was ghetto.
Like, I used a Flip camera, no audio, it was shaky,
I did all the editing myself in MovieMaker.
Like, I just did everything.
And as soon as I started making a little bit of money,
I poured it back into -
- Reinvested it.
- Exactly.
Because look, anybody can spend money.
And this came from my venture capitol days.
People would come in and say, "Hey we need $100,000
"or a million dollars," or whatever it is.
It's easy to spend money.
If I gave someone a million dollars, you could find
a million ways to spend it.
- Yep.
- Doesn't mean you can make money.
And often, giving people money too soon is a curse
because you don't know how to make money, you don't know
if any of these things are going to work out.
So, take that idea.
The challenge with entrepreneurs, with YouTubers, is you
gotta big vision, like, I wanna build a million subscriber
channel, I wanna build a ten million dollar empire.
Like, you've got a big vision.
And then you think to make that happen I need
all of these resources.
And it just becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger
which is amazing, your dream.
But then it becomes so big that you don't do anything.
So let the big dream be your motivation, but as soon as
you come up with a goal find the smallest, stupidest,
easiest possible way to just start.
- Wow.
- Start!
Get out your phone and film.
Like, that's it.
Make a video.
And then start again tomorrow, and the next day,
and you're working towards the big dream.
- And that's what you did.
You got started but then overtime, you're team grew.
So just, what are the few insights and timeline
as you started to grow your team and how you did it,
where you found 'em.
- So, most of my team is overseas.
We use Upwork a lot.
We've a whole hiring process that works really well.
- Upwork.com.
And what is that?
We'll link it up.
- Its a resource where there are freelancers from around
the world who bid on projects.
So editing, research, community management, a lot of that
you can find through Upwork.
Actually filming content, so my video team is in my city,
they're with me.
But everything else is overseas.
So it allows you to get high quality talent without
spending much money.
It allows your dollar to stretch a lot further.
- And maybe, at only five hours a week, or ten hours
a week at first.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%
That's a huge mistake people make too.
They start off saying well I don't have 50K
to hire somebody.
Your first hire should never be full time.
One, because you can't afford it and you can start
it a lot sooner.
And two, you probably suck as a manager.
Like, managing someone full time is work.
So start on five hours a week.
The first guy I ever hired was for one hour a day.
One hour a day.
He was doing data entry work and that saved one and a half
hours of my time 'cause he was better at it than I was.
Right?
And that allows you to start developing and train
the skills of how to manage and lead a person and then
you can start scaling up.
It lets you do it sooner.
If you wait until you have 50K burning a hole in your
pocket, you might be waiting another three years
before that happens.
- Yep.
Really, really good advice.
Well hey, are you ready for the lightning round?
- Lightning round!
I'm ready, let's go!
- Lightning round, lightning round.
Three, two, one.
Coffee or tea?
- Coffee.
- Cat or dog.
- Dog.
- What kind of dog do you have?
- Shih-poo.
- Shih-poo?
What is shih-poo dog's name?
- Temo.
Temo the shih-poo.
- Yep.
- Poopity scoop.
- Right?
Lot's of poop.
It's (bleep) and the poo.
Shih-poo.
- Favorite TV show or Netflix show to binge?
- Oh, I don't want a lot of TV.
Billions.
- Oh!
That's a good show.
I like that show.
- Silicon Valley, number two.
- Awesome, awesome.
One book every influencer watching should read.
- The Top 10 Rules For Success.
Read one page a day.
- Mmmmm, we'll link that up if you want
to check that out in the YouTube description.
Favorite social network besides YouTube.
- Instagram.
- It's hot right now.
It's everybody's answer.
We just know the answer ahead of time.
- I love the live, where you can bring somebody in.
That's the thing.
- Right?
- Live, you bring somebody in, you coach them one on one,
that's the jam.
- Done that a couple times.
So rad.
- Do it more, like four times a week.
- Yeah, I need to do it more.
- More, more more.
- I love that.
Recommended documentary or movie that could help, maybe,
those watching as entrepreneurs?
- I like the Jobs, the first Jobs one.
I think it was just called Jobs?
- Yeah.
- Kutcher.
- Yeah, I saw it.
I didn't see the newest one.
- The Kutcher one.
- Yeah.
It was a good movie.
- Watch that one.
- Hidden talent that maybe, not only our audience
wouldn't know about, but maybe your audience wouldn't
know about it?
- I'd say salsa dancing, but people know that
in my audience.
Hidden talent.
I can do the world's quietest sneeze.
- Just on command or?
- Whenever you feel like sneezing, just before you sneeze,
blow all the air out of your system.
- And then it just kinda ...
- Nothing comes out.
- Wow.
- Like, those messy, nasty sneezes.
So you're about to sneeze.
And then sneeze.
- Yeah, this is power.
This is all tactics, you're giving techniques,
you're demonstrating.
- I don't know if I've said that on my channel.
- This is why I hope you're subscribed here
at Video Influencers cause we bring you the best tips.
- The best!
- The best hacks.
- That's a practical hack.
That's life skills, right there.
- Right, social situations.
- Right?
How to quietly sneeze without crap coming out, that's
important stuff.
- I love it, I love it.
- You're chewing on a banana, you don't want
to sneeze that out.
- It's true.
- What's the worst food to have in your mouth when sneezing?
- Salsa.
Or if you've put a lot of hot sauce on your food.
'Cause then it goes up, and then the burn
and you're like, ahhhh!
- I was thinking banana because when it comes out
you can't tell the difference of what's what.
- Oh, that's true.
- Right?
That's what you get here.
- That's right.
You get the gold here on Video Influencers.
If you could give a TED Talk, what would it be about?
- Mindset.
- Deeper.
- People play small by default.
You know, even here, sitting here, I've already played
small five times.
Every major breakthrough that you will have in your life
will come from smashing a limited belief.
And that starts with your mindset.
- So powerful.
No miss morning ritual for you?
- Right now, I wake up, I read a page from my top ten
rules of success book, and then I have to share.
For me, sharing gets me ...
- Share a subject, so you post something on social,
you share a thought.
- I'll make, like, a video.
I'll make a video.
Like the morning rant, like a 15 second black and white
Instagram video and that's how I start my day.
Get inspired by something and then I make a video.
So it's the inspiration plus the sharing
is the thing that gets me going.
- That's powerful.
Inspire yourself, inspire others to start your day.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It doesn't work as well if it's just me.
I have to share it for me to feel the juice.
- Man, that's really powerful.
What advice would you now give to your 20 year old self?
- Believe more.
- Yeah.
Believe harder, believe more.
And it's the same advice that my seven year old self
would tell my 38 year old self right now.
Mindset dude, it's mindset.
- Do you have a favorite quote that you like
to live by or think about often?
Especially from the quote guy, I mean you know
so many quotes.
- A lot of them.
Like, I like a lot of them.
Nothing comes to mind.
- Machine gun.
- I know, right?
There's just so many...
Here's my answer.
I don't think there's one quote that you can live
your life by.
Like, I think the same quote, if you just repeat it
over and over again just fades.
It's like when you tattoo something on your arm
and it's supposed to remind you of something,
it starts to not remind you of that anymore.
If you watch the same video over and over again
you won't get motivated by it anymore.
Right?
- You need fresh inspiration.
- Exactly.
But like, pointing at the same thing.
- You need that new word, that fresh word.
- The new thought, but still pointing at the same thing
of where you want to go.
You can't watch the same, like if you watch the Jobs
movie it will blow your mind.
You watch it 100 times, efficiency drops
off each time, right?
So that's why I don't have a quote I live by.
- Favorite place in the whole wide world.
- Toronto, Canada.
Shout out, Canada.
- Hey, if you're from Canada let us know
in the comments below.
- Canada love.
- Lightning round.
Awesome.
Well Evan, so much value.
Thanks so much for taking the time today.
Of course, you got some cool things out, we'd love
to talk about your book, talk about your channel.
But where can people find you and we'll link that
in the description below.
- So, the YouTube channel, easiest place to get the content.
If you want to interact one on one with me, Instagram,
Twitter, Snapchat are the three places
I'm hanging out the most.
- I love that, I love that.
And influencers, question of the day.
Taking this from Evan's channel.
What point in this video, or principle, or topic
that was shared do you need to implement next?
Let us know in the comments and remember that by sharing
that, you are putting it out there into the world
and it will get you closer to taking action
than by not doing it.
So post that in the comments.
Evan, can you give one final word of inspiration?
You know, the entrepreneurial journey, Darren Hardy wrote
a book called It's a Roller-Coaster.
There's ups, there's downs.
Some people right now may be super encouraged.
Some might be going through a harder season.
Can you just share a few final words just to keep
going and keep building for the influencers watching?
- Enjoy the pain.
Pain is good.
Like, all the crap, if you can learn to see the crap
that's in your life and say, this is my chance to grow,
that's when, again it's a mindset thing, right?
Whatever is wrong in your life right now, say good.
This is my chance to overcome it and that will help other
people overcome it too.
- I love that, I love that.
Thanks again so much for coming on.
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