3 million subscribers.
QnA special.
Hello Aluxers and welcome back to a very special Sunday motivational video.
Considering we crossed the 3 million subscriber mark we've decided to do the QnA you've been askin' for a while now and who better to answer your questions than the CEO of Alux, Mr. Emil Anton.
We've collected questions from you on all of our social media channels, and now it's time to answer them.
I'm the founder of Alux.com and the other behind the Sunday motivational videos. Let's talk!
We asked you guys to submit your questions via social media.
So, I'm here to answer them. Laptop please!
I feel like Sean Evans when I say that, from HotOnes.
Hi Sean!
Thank you!
One of the hottest topics right now is the coronavirus pandemic.
And one of the most common questions we've received is *when will the pandemic end?*
Truth be told we don't have our crystal ball with us right now, so we don't know the answer.
We'll just have to wait and see.
The remaining covid19 questions were around investment opportunities, which businesses are likely to now survive this
And which ones will thrive post pandemic.
Let's see.
Let's get this out of the way, we've received a bunch of coronavirus questions, so let's address the issue.
First of all, I do not have a medical degree.
So, I do not have an educated enough opinion to have a say in this.
I trust medical professionals, and so should you.
With that said, I can give a hot take on the future of business and maybe the future of technology, media and this space.
So let's give it a shot.
Thinking about the coronavirus there are gonna be some businesses that are not gonna survive or at least not thrive the same way they used to do before this.
The first businesses that are gonna go under are the pretenders.
Those businesses started because it was trendy.
You did it because you saw somebody else doing it successfully.
Those are the people usually the first ones wiped out in any type of financial crisis or crisis at all.
Another industry that I believe is gonna be heavily impacted is cinemas and movie theatres.
Why?! Because the experience used to suck.
They overcharge you for everything, popcorn was too expensive.
People were sitting on their phones either way and you didn't get to enjoy the movie the same way you used to do it 20 or 30 years ago.
Movies studios took a notice of this and now they're testing premiering box office movies in the comfort of your home.
Where you can watch it with your friends, whenever you want. Just pay a premium!
They have no additional costs.
Think about movie theatres and the cost associated with running such a business.
You have the venue, you have the employees, you have the food, you have the cleaning..
These are all expensises which.. are kind of unnecessary to be honest.
I believe coronavirus will be the end of the shared office space business.
WeWork already struggled and proved that the model is not sustainable long term.
And, secondly, people learn to work from home.
People are not gonna pay money to go to a shared office space when they can simply set up an office at home.
Another category of businesses that are gonna struggle are.. startups that don't have true economics.
The startups raise money to have a 6 month runway.
Because they are unable to create a real business, and all their focus was on buying facebook ads, trying alternative growth hacking methods..
And the consumer behavior changed.
They are not gonna be profitable or sustainable.
These companies are gonna be wiped out.
*Deep thoughts* What else is gonna thrive?!..
Robotics and automation.
I think we're gonna see robot deliveries, robot kiosks..
..McDonald's has already began installing the self-serve options and I think we're gonna see alot more of those.
Delivery only restaurants are gonna be a lot more common than they are now.
Restaurants with no physical location which rely on services like UberEats, FoodPanda..
Another industry that's gonna blow up is.. work vacations.
People have been working from home for the past couple of months and they realized it isn't that hard.
Most people have found freedom by working from home, so they're gonna pick their laptop and do the same quality of work from Bali or remote locations.
Why would you go back to an office?!..
Lastly, online education!
You see.. in the past people looked down on online degrees, on online education when compared to traditional education.
But the pandemic forced us to rethink that.
Even mainstream universities have had to rely on online education and their degrees are gonna be quite the same.
Which is why more and more people will begin to rely on alternative means of education with the same credentials as traditional ones.
We strongly believe in online education..
We've developed Alux into an eLearning platform because of this.
I believe the future of education lies in taking your classes online, learning new skills and then being able to transfer those skills into the market place.
With the pandemic theme out of the way let's go on to IG to our next question.
Giorgio_nawfal asked on IG
*Do you believe that youtube is the future of media and television?*
First of all, hi Giorgio! Thanks for being an Aluxer :)
About the future of media and television..
Well, short answer yes!
Long answer, yes and no.
Here's why!
Whenever talking about trends and the future I like to look at the behavior of the younger generation.
You see, you and I probably grew up watching cartoons on Cartoon Network.
But, the younger generation doesn't do that anymore..
They grow up watching Jojo Siwa, here on youtube, watching MrBeast and other influencers.
But, and I think it's important to know this there are advantages to traditional television.
The big advantage, big media companies and traditional television has over youtube is that they have budgets.
They can afford to send 3 journalists to warzones across the world with entires teams and high-quality production.
The kind of involvement that you cannot possibly get here on youtube at least at this stage.
We're obviously betting on youtube, but you should never keep all your eggs in the same basket Aluxers.
Let's move on to the next question.
Mali_K_Mh and a lot of other people asked
*How do you find your passion?*
When it comes to finding your passion you basically have to try a bunch of things!
The more things you try the more you are able to understand what you like and what you don't.
Don't worry if you haven't found your passion yet.
Most people take a couple of years to learn more about themselves, to identify the things that they enjoy doing and how they can do it as work.
Also, there's not only one passion in life that you need to find in order to be successful or be happy and fulfilled.
Passion ties everything together.
You can be passionate of one thing next to another and when those things come together you can turn that into a business.
But here's something we want you to take a note of
The more passionate you are about something the quicker you are able to improve in that regard.
Also, please note that not every job needs to be driven by passion
It's obviously a plus if you're lucky enough to have your cake and eat it too.
But the average person will go for what they are good at in life and pursue passions on the side.
Now, onto the next one!
Laura asks
*What advice do you have for students just starting out? What mistakes should we avoid making?*
Mistakes to avoid!
Well, first things first don't get trapped.
Getting trapped means going into a job that you hate just because it pays the bills and sticking around for the long run.
The second mistake students make is that they sell themselves short.
Do not let your current salary determine your value to the marketplace.
The last mistake I think students make is that they wait to become rich to start living.
Throughout life there are gonna be different versions of you that enjoy different things.
There are somethings you can only do now.
Also, just because you've invested 4 years into a diploma doesn't mean it defines what you'll do for a living for the rest of your life.
The things you learn stick with you along the way and you never know what skill set will come into play and be your competitive advantage.
Today, things are quite different.
You need to be many things with one of the, to be the driving force.
You're only going to figure this out by trying as many things as you can for yourself.
Anyways, next question.
Oh, here's a good one!
Therealayush79 asked
*What was it like starting Alux from scratch?*
"What was it like starting Alux from scratch...?"
Well, it as an incredibly awesome experience!
Many of you know the story of the Tumblr blog that I've been running for 3 years and it was time to make a move to a publishing website.
After a couple of weeks of work I was ready to hit publish and go live with everything.
I set it up! Went live! And then, decided to go out with my friends and party.
At the end of the evening when I came back home I checked my analytics and I made 3 dollars and 50 cents.
That was the best fucking day of my life.
Why?! Because if I made 3 dollars and 50 cents once, I can do it again. This is gonna become a business.
The "secret" to the early Alux success in growth was reinvesting everything.
Every single dollar that came in I used to hire different writers, invest in a better website design, invest in more technology, in a better laptop..
Everything I could do to increase the quality of our end product.
In the early days of running any startups, every single dollar coming in should be reinvested.
Learn as much as possible, hire the best people you can hire for your budget.. learn to do many of the things yourself.
Back in the day, I was the editor, I was the photographer, I was writing articles, I was editing images in Photoshop,
I was doing everything I could to push this project forward.
When the money started coming in, I started hiring people who knew to do things better than I can.
Another thing to mention, it was time consuming but exciting.. I was working for myself.
This could become my future.
And I decided to go all-in on it.
We're so glad everything worked out the way it did. Next one.
This next question comes from The Brave on twitter.
*What country is the best when starting a business?*
"Which country is the best for starting a business...?!"
Well, the country you live in.
Why?! You know the people, you know the customers, you know the mindset.
Think of it like this: You are the person you are selling to.
What would it take for you to buy a product or a service?!
Then market to people just like you.
The second best country is, go where the money is.
If there's not enough money in your country, MOVE!
You might've heard this before Aluxers, but
It's one of those things rich people always say at casual events
The next question come from abdufathighanayem on IG
*How is Alux planning on growing as an educational platform in the future?*
In terms of eLearning and educational growth, we're gonna do more courses
We've wrapped up the production on goal mastery and that's gonna go out in a couple of months.
We've almost finished a course on bitcoin and blockchain and crypto investing.
We plan on doing more interviews for you guys and
..although this is kind of a secret, we're thinking of publishing our first book, sometime soon, no promises.
What do you think about the book idea Aluxers?!
What should we focus on?!
While you're busy leaving your recommendations in the comments let's jump over to the next one.
It comes from @joansico on Twitter and goes like this
*Have you ever considered Alux meetings/events for these groups of like minded people?!*
It might be the next natural step!
We get this question quite a lot!
Putting up events is quite a different business than what we're doing right now.
These are highly expensive, they take a lot of logistics, the venues, plus our audience is so distributed all around the world
that it would be difficult to figure out a location where everybody would just come in.
Also, would you guys show up?!
Who knows?!.. If there's enough interest maybe we'll do an event at some point.
Maybe we'll bring some interesting people we've met along the way in our own journey that could be quite fun.
Until then, let's see the next question.
Robert Welch asked on Facebook.
*Have you thought about a luxury publication?*
Initially, Alux was supposed to be a luxury publication, a luxury magazine that you would get delivered to your house.
But, who reads magazines these days?!
We're so accustomed to giving the information for free here at Alux that it might be a bit weird
to ask you guys to pay for a subscription just to get some premium articles in the mail.
We're betting the future is digital we're #teamtrees here.
The next question is asked by Miracle Erameh right here on Youtube.
*I'm a teenager about to leave college, what skills do you recommend I learn and what advice do you have for me?!*
First of all, English is the default business language and you should know it by now, you're watching this in English.
Secondly, in terms of skills my bet would be on 2 categories:
The first one, digital skills.
The internet is the new marketplace, you should be able to engage with it.
In the age of internet, content creation is king.
So, you gotta learn Photoshop, AfterEffects, how to create an ad, how to communicate your message, how to write good copy..
All of these skills can be learned and are vital to running an internet business.
The second category are people skills.
With technology changing so much, people are starting to lack human skills.
So, that's actually a competitive advantage right now.
The next question is quite an interesting one and we've never really addresed it, so here it is.
*What does Alux even mean?!*
The short answer is ALUX stands for anything luxury, but there's more to that.
There's a mythological story behind the name.
So, story time!
An Alux is actually a mythological creature in the Mayan culture very much like a leprechaun in our land.
The story says that while you were walking the fields you would encounter this alux,
and your fate would be decided right then and there.
If you treat the alux nicely, you would be rewarded with fortunes and riches and good crops and health in your life.
If you didn't, all hell would break loose.
We find the name quite fitting.
We've received questions about the behind the scenes process so let's do a lightning round on this.
Team, time, inspiration, Sunday video, travel videos and the Alux lady.
Oh that's me!! :)
A bunch of you were wondering what's Alux like behind the scenes, how do we make the videos, what's our process like..
First of all, our team is scattered all around the world
We've been working from home way before it was cool.
*How long does it take to make an Alux video?!*
We get this question quite a lot.. Well, it depends.
It can take a couple of weeks, or it can take a couple of days.
How many people work on an Alux video?
That depends as well.
We have 2 or 3 researchers on a topic, 1 or 2 editors,
Of course, the Alux Lady, the voiceover.
And then there's me overseeing the entire process.
*Where do we get our inspiration from?*
Because we have such a diverse team of people working at Alux they all have different interests.
They are passioned about different things and they look into it.
Our job is to figure out how to turn their interests into valuable content that can be applied by you guys, the Aluxers.
My job here at Alux is to not only oversee the entire process, but also write the Sunday motivational video.
The Sunday motivational video is quite special because it began as myself simply documenting the things I was learning and experiencing in the business world.
It wasn't meant to go public, it was just me taking notes in a notepad or a google doc and then I realized
Okay, if I'm learning and benefitting from this thing why don't I share the things I learn with other people through this platform we've been able to create.
*Are we gonna do more travel videos?!*
That's another question we get quite alot.
Well, first of all, coronavirus hit
Everything was stalled.
Personally, I love doing them.
They're super exciting, I get to meet all those people, I travel all around the world, I get to bring you guys with us, but
they're quite expensive and time-consuming.
And, right now we need to focus our priorities on what's bringing
more revenue and more value to you guys.
And travel videos fall somewhere behind the quality content we push everyday.
*When can we meet the Alux Lady?!*
Well, that's not up to me!
Ahh, yes! When we will get to meet the Alux lady...
Seems to be on a lot of minds huh?!..
And my friend the answer is.. We'll play that one by ear.
You might've heard a say once, twice of five times before that privacy is a luxury.
And it's one I'm enjoying... For now!
Who knows what could happen when we meet 10 million subscribers..
I guess you'll just have to wait and see.
Alux growth.
*Where do you think Alux is gonna be in terms of growth and valuation in the coming years?!*
Well, I strongly believe that Alux is gonna be a 10 million subscriber youtube channel.
And, we're gonna be at least 20 million $ business in the next 5 years.
I'm working my ass to do it.
Alux and the pandemic!
"How did covid affect Alux and the business?!..."
It didn't affect us much really!
In terms of revenue, advertising rates dropped a little bit because not so many advertisers were purchasing ads on youtube.
But on the other hand a bunch of more people were sitting at home watching youtube and choosing to watch us.
Speaking of youtube, you know what would be a great way to celebrate this milestone?!
Turning on the bell notification!
You never hear us ask for it, but Youtube has this algorithm change where the push harder the channels which have
the most people with notifications turned on.
It's no longer enough to subscribe to a channel.
You have to do this weird dance where you have to get notified, watch it and then like the video otherwise Youtube won't show it to the rest of our audience..
The journey so far has been incredible.
And believe us when we say it; We're just getting started.
On behalf of everyone here at Alux, we're incredibly thankful for continuous support
As long as you guys keep coming back and watching these videos we'll keep making them.
We can't wait to hear from you in the comments.
The QnA continues there.
Thank you. <3