- Growing as a small YouTuber may be hard,
but it doesn't have to be complicated.
We've got some simple tips
to help you grow as a small YouTuber
with my buddy, Brian G. Johnson.
Let's jump into the video.
Hey, everybody, this is Roberto Blake
helping you create something awesome today
with my buddy, Brian G. Johnson.
- What is happening?
Good to be back.
- Welcome back to the channel.
So, for those of you who may not be familiar,
as if you don't know who this guy is,
this is Brian G. Johnson.
This is one of the top tier YouTube educators.
You probably have seen his video on viral triggers
that can actually help you explode on YouTube.
He also broke down big YouTuber secrets
of how new YouTubers alike,
and those who are established, can grow,
like content creators like Janelle Eliana and Joana Ceddia.
And so, if you wanna learn the secrets to YouTube success,
check out this man's channel.
Link is in description down below.
So, Brian, what we were talking about
here at Social Media Marketing World,
you and I were having a lot of conversations,
but one of the big things we talked about was
how to grow as a small YouTuber
and we were talking about that there are like
perceived barriers to entry and people saying
I can't grow, it's too hard and it's too saturated,
all these things.
But you were telling me that there's some simple ways
people can overcome that.
What did you mean by that?
- Yeah, for me, the thing that we really wanna focus on
is what is most important
in order to grow, to get the views,
and it really begins with a great idea.
It doesn't begin with like how to get views.
It doesn't begin with I've got a fancy camera.
It begins with a good idea that people are interested in.
And one of the things I focused on
over the last few weeks and months
is really how can I break down the complexity of YouTube
and all the things that we think about.
I don't have the gear, I have the gear.
If I got the camera, what's the best camera?
What's the f-stop and the editing and jump cuts,
and how do I do all these things?
Those are things you will overcome and you'll answer.
But when you get started, as a human being,
a lot of those things can create overwhelm and can stop us.
So, wait for it.
This device right here is my iPhone.
And I gotta tell you, the power of being able to...
Like literally I just created a pretty fun time lapse.
I didn't show you.
Like just us setting up.
It looks dope, it looks cool, it looks killer.
And one of the things you can do as a YouTuber
is really ask yourself how can I simplify my workflow
right now wherever I'm at today.
If you're just getting started,
the only thing you wanna think about
is publishing a video, that's it.
And along the way, you can upscale
and improve and increase your skill set.
You can ask more questions.
You can ask how can how can I improve this?
What camera do I need?
But early on, the more you're able
just to come up with an idea and execute on that idea,
will free you and will allow you to build your skill set,
allowing you to gain the confidence
that is really the thing that triggers greatness on YouTube.
- You know, I'm glad you brought that up.
Our friend Dee Nimmin is the master of mobile,
and he advocates for mobile content creators.
He tells people how to start with your smartphone.
I mean, we talk about the fact that you can.
He shows you how to do it.
I'm gonna link to Dee Nimmin's channel
here and the info card and in the description down below.
You should absolutely check him out.
Something I'm also glad you brought up was having the idea
and then marry it to an execution.
Our mentor, GaryVee says ideas are crap,
executions the game. - 100%.
And I couldn't agree more,
because I see people that leave good ideas to die, Brian.
They have good ideas that they never get around to.
Or they make it so complicated to execute that idea
that they never do it in a timely matter.
They miss their moment, they miss the timing.
And you and I both know that a lot of the reason
that the biggest YouTubers have been successful
was the timing.
It wasn't really luck.
There is a skill to timing.
It's paying attention, and it's also being ready to move
at the moment opportunity comes.
Most people never reach out and take it.
- Right, absolutely.
So the thing you can think about, do this step one,
is just begin with a simple idea.
And then furthermore, the more you can break it down
and simplify it, the easier, the more likely
you're gonna be able to take that idea,
move forward and run with it,
and ultimately create that video that you publish.
That is the key.
The key is to constantly be moving, be motivating yourself,
asking yourself how to improve,
to stay on the cycle, and gaining really momentum,
which is the path that will really allow you to create
and get the views and all the things
that we're so excited about here on YouTube.
- You know, when I talked to Mr. Beast at VidSummit,
he said something very similar.
And the thing that I've talked about with him a lot
in our conversations in Twitter has always been,
and what I talk about is his journey,
the fact that he did 100 videos
to only get about 780 subscribers,
and how MKBHD as a kid was on YouTube in the beginning
and he did a hundred videos, he had only 74 subscribers.
Can you imagine if either of those creators had quit.
I mean, Marquez has 10 million subs now.
Mr. Beast has, Jimmy has like 30 million subs.
And what they did was they improved their content.
They didn't stop at a hundred videos
and say I'm not getting anywhere.
They realized that something is better than nothing.
GaryVee says, "One is always greater than zero",
and he's right.
They had the commitment that like an athlete has.
I mean, imagine doing push-ups one day
and expecting a result.
That's what people do here on YouTube.
They do something for one day, 10 days.
It's like I haven't really seen anybody
that's an artist, an athlete, a musician,
do 10 days of work and get anything out of it.
I see them show up every day for years
to just get a little bit better.
- Yeah, you know, one of the things you can do
is to think about the goal
that you wanna have for your video.
And here's what's up.
If you want the views, do this.
'Cause I guarantee if you do this,
it's gonna allow you to move forward and capture that.
And the thing you do is, early you make it really easy,
again, easy and simple to achieve the goal of you're after.
I just mention this to Roberto.
Anytime I take kind of any extended break
where I'm not uploading on a regular basis,
I will keep it really simple and easy on myself,
and I'm not trying to publish a video
and hit 10,000 views in an hour.
I'm simply wanting to publish a video
in a realistic time frame.
I wanna come up with an idea, film the video,
edit and upload.
And then, when I come back on the second video
a number of days later, three-four days later,
then I'm like, okay you did that, do it again.
And now it might be I wanna get a hundred views
in the first 24 hours.
And again, this is really where you gain momentum,
because you've got a realistic expectation,
which is absolutely the thing that crushes hopes and dreams,
and so much potential on YouTube, which sadly--
- Just abusing yourself with completely
unrealistic. - Unrealistic.
Bam, and it's like.
But aging, and it's like but I want the views.
This is how to get the views.
You step up to the plate.
You can't be in the Olympics running hurdles
the first time you ever run hurdles.
You can't physically do that.
You can't make that work.
You don't have the skills, abilities.
You don't have the fitness level.
You don't have the mental capacity to make it work.
- And that's not talking down to you.
That is realistically telling you to stop abusing yourself
with unreasonable expectations and demands.
If you if you had a boss, if you were at a job
and they put those kind of expectations on you.
If they told you that this video has to do this,
you would start yelling about how that's out of your control
and how that's not fair
and how they're setting you up to fail,
and yet you'll do that to yourself.
And that is why the majority of YouTubers
actually do get discouraged, get burned out,
and they give up.
- And what's so really exciting for me
is this is what I know is gonna work for you.
This is gonna allow you to move forward
and absolutely crush it, is when you do step up
and you publish maybe two videos a week.
That's very doable.
If you really wanna grow,
if you wanna see the results and you do that,
I guarantee 30 days into that process
you're gonna see all kinds of improvements,
but you're also gonna see the views
that we all crave and desire, and the subscribers,
when you get on the path of just really refining,
looking at what you're doing, striving to improve,
and then asking yourself,
well, what is it an audience wants on YouTube,
and then you get in the habit of practicing that,
it really does work.
And this is what I know.
I have been a marketer for 20 years now, 18 years.
That's a long, long time.
And a lot of the things I've focused on
are always based on getting a group of people
to take an action like click an email,
like click subscribe, like click on my video.
And what I know is people don't fail,
they simply give up before the magic happens.
So don't put yourself in a position
where sadly those expectations are so blown out
that you're unable to achieve them
and then you feel deflated, frustrated, sad.
- Small victories count.
- Yeah, and that's by having those simple
and achievable goals early.
Like today, like I haven't published a video.
That's the goal.
A day two is like, well, I published a video,
I've gotta make a thumbnail.
That's the goal.
Because it's like you can't have extreme views
until you can make a good thumbnail.
If you focus on the very core elements of success.
That's the YouTube title, that's thumbnails,
that's view duration,
getting people to the end of the video.
When you focus on the key elements, the key ingredients,
then you have the opportunity to create something
that truly matters to people, and success will have you.
It like won't even be a thing.
You won't be able to get out of the way.
It's just gonna come to you,
because you're focused on the thing that sadly
not enough YouTubers focus on.
It's the views, the views.
Well, you gotta focus on the thumbnails and the titles.
And sometimes that can be like challenging
and I've heard that,
but that's a skill that you develop over time.
And again, like just small achievable goals,
and learning to love the game.
I gotta tell you, I'm sitting next to Nick Nimmin here.
We're gonna shoot a video in a second.
Nick's gonna jump in here.
What's up?
Hey, everybody, Nick Nimmin here.
- Start right now. - Start right now.
And it's like all of us here love the game.
- Oh yeah.
- We will get knocked down and we will get up again
because we love the game.
And the more you can just find the joy in the journey.
Because I gotta be honest, like it really is fun,
but it's hard when you're on the other side
and you haven't had a small win yet.
And that's why creating these really achievable goals
can be super rewarding.
Because when you look back and you say,
well, you know what, I did achieve the goal.
I did upload the video, I did make the thumbnail,
I learned about creating a compelling title.
When you start focus on those things, you will,
all the sudden one day you'll be like,
wow, I am driving the views and I am having the success.
- I'll tell you guys one last thing before we wrap up,
and then Brian's gonna ask you guys the question of the day.
Everything he's saying is true,
because I am a process driven creator.
And in fact, I think a lot of creators, pure creators are.
Because the fact is I would rush through my school work
just so that I could draw more.
You talk about idea versus execution.
I came up with the idea for these creator shirts.
This merch and everything like that.
And the thing is, even if nobody bought it,
I was excited to just be wearing it.
Like I was excited to just more cool merch
and have a new uniform for the channel.
And that's what happen the first time I made merchandise.
But the thing is, you guys actually have loved this
and it's been giving you ideas
for more product and stuff like that,
so I made the creator shirt, creator hoodies.
Link in the description and in the merch shore.
The merch store.
Why'd I say shore?
Jersey Shore, that's on my mind.
Anyway, like yeah no, this isn't a merch store.
But here's the thing, if nobody bought it
that wasn't the drive for me to make it.
The thing is the game, the idea of like,
you know, it's been a while since I designed a T-shirt,
and let me check out like how this stuff on Teespring works,
and then it gave me the excitement
of I wanna make a tutorial about making merch.
I made it.
I made this more to set up for the tutorial
that I wanna make to teach people about merch
and about another way to monetize YouTube outside of ads.
'Cause maybe they don't have AdSense
but they can start selling merch
and posters and mugs and make some money.
I think it's faster to make a hundred bucks that way
than to make it on ads.
And that got me excited.
I was excited about bringing an idea of the life
and I was excited about having a physical manifestation
of an idea, something that I had in a notebook,
and bringing it into the world.
And when I upload and why make a YouTube video,
it's the same thing. I'm taking an idea.
I'm taking a thought, I'm turning it into a thing,
and regardless of what else happens, I did that
and no one can tell me differently.
And so, that's what I think you have to fall in love with,
is you have to get back to being in love with the process,
you have to love playing the game, win or lose.
And people think that that's like stupid
or like, oh, you don't remember what it's like.
It's like everyone starts at zero.
You think we forget what it's like?
- Well, and it's still, like I think we...
It's easy to look at someone with 300,000?
- 400 and something. - 400,000.
Like so many subscribers, ridiculous.
But at the end of the day, we're all human beings.
We all strive to achieve a higher level.
And the fact of the matter is if we don't feel
like we're living up to our potential,
that is the core struggle.
It's not because I don't have enough subscribers.
It's because I'm not living up to really my core potential.
And the thing that I love what you just said, Roberto,
is you really just highlighted
how you took and you created a very achievable goal.
Your goal was to make a shirt.
Your goal wasn't I need to make $10,000
creating a shirt and selling it.
'Cause quite frankly, if that was your goal,
I believe that would've been unrealistic for you
on shirt number one.
Now, to be fair.
Do I think Roberto Blake could make
$10,000 a month on merchandise?
If that's the thing he really wanted to do,
unquestionably the answer is yes.
I know he can do it.
But it might take him 50 shirts.
It might take them 250 shirts, but he would get there.
So, here's the question of the day is,
the question of the day is,
what is it that's holding you back mentally?
And what I wanna ask you, with that in mind,
is are you willing to maybe just let that go
and be just maybe a little bit better
than that thing that you feel is holding you captive?
I encourage you to give me a yes in the comment
and move forward with your dreams, goals, aspirations.
Decide it shall be, stake your claim,
and success will have you.
- I love it.
Guys, you know what to do.
Hit us up, answer that question of the day.
Make sure you're checking out Brian's channel
Linked in the info card and the description.
Like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe to both of us.
As always, you guys, thanks so very much for watching,
we really do appreciate it.
And remember, go out there
and create something awesome today.
- Dig. - Take care.