[00:02] about how to get your first or next 10,000 subscribers and to get your YouTube channel monetized quickly. Let me ask you a question. What if getting monetized on YouTube didn't have to take years? What if you could reach that
[00:17] crucial 1,000 subscriber milestone with just one strategic video? You know, I started making videos on YouTube while I was waiting tables at Red Robin. And I was filming quick videos in my car on the way to work between shifts. And I
[00:31] started like everybody else, right? Zero subscribers, wondering if anyone would you're feeling stuck right now, it's not your fault. The YouTube algorithm can feel impossible to crack. Most creators spend years trying to figure it out
[00:45] through painful trial and error. But here's the thing. After countless hours discovered something that changes everything. And I've really been going deeper on this strategy that led to getting 4.3 million views and nearly
[01:00] getting 4.3 million views and nearly $40,000 in revenue from one singular video. Like, what if one video posted in could actually get your channel monetized, get you that 1,000
[01:13] subscribers? Here's the video. I posted this a few years ago and the video has this a few years ago and the video has generated 179,000 hours of watch time by itself. It grew my channel 56,000 subscribers and generated almost $40,000
[01:28] from one video. Now, you might say, "But Sean, you know, easy for you to say you've been doing this a long time or you have a head start." But imagine if you just got 10% of those results. Like for example, if you posted one video
[01:40] that got 10% of the results you see on screen right now, that would be 17,900 hours of watch time. That would be enough to single-handedly get your channel qualified for the YouTube Partner Program. That would be 5,670
[01:54] subscribers. That would be enough to cross the,000 subscriber threshold to qualify for monetization. And that would be four grand actually made from the video you posted. $4,000 actually made from just one video. if you got 10% of
[02:08] class is all about. I've got three big strategies, a lot of nuance tactics, some cool software that can help you along the way. And since this time, you know, I've continued to double down.
[02:20] get a thousand subscribers, but eventually led me to getting a silver today, I'm going to share that exact system with you in this first session of talking about three simple steps to grow from zero to a,000 YouTube subscribers.
[02:36] and to get monetized fast. No fancy equipment needed. But hey, if we're just meeting, my name is Sean Kel and I help people grow profitable YouTube channels. I've started multiple channels over the years and gotten a few silver play
[02:50] buttons, some gold play buttons, wrote a book with my friend Benji called YouTube Secrets. The second edition is out now and uh I think this is maybe the bestselling YouTube strategy book in the world. Something like 140,000 copies
[03:03] what we're going to be talking about today. The number one strategy for predictable YouTube growth in 2025. A simple tool to find video ideas that get views. Why now is the perfect time to start on YouTube. And how I earned
[03:18] almost $40,000 from one video. But here's the question. Is it too late to start YouTube in 2025? Well, the answer is no. And let's look at the data. You know, right now there's 2.9 billion monthly active users
[03:34] on YouTube and the platform continues to grow and the demand for good content is skyrocketing. Here's one of the things we have to realize. Competition is rising as well. And that's no surprise to you. I'm sure you feel it. You're
[03:49] YouTube. It feels like it's hard to stand out." I agree. That's why having a higher level of strategy and developing necessary skills is going to be crucial. competition, consumption continues to rise. I think in the US they say
[04:04] something like the average person's watching 45 minutes of YouTube a day. I uh am raising those stats because I personally watch YouTube like all day video podcast in the background. In fact, you know, let me know what's like
[04:18] like how much YouTube do you watch yourself and what kind of stuff do you watch on YouTube? The demand for good content is skyrocketing. People want educational, entertaining content and if you deliver valuable content then you
[04:32] can grow. YouTube's also a global opportunity. YouTube is localized in more than 100 countries and is available in over 80 languages. So non-Englishspeaking YouTube channels is a big opportunity. This surprised me.
[04:46] The Washington Post did an article and they said this. They said YouTube is the most consequential technology in America. Now, that's just the opinion of one journalist, but it's pretty crazy. Like, the most consequential and they
[05:02] said it's the most popular social app. True. Music service. Yep. YouTube Music. It's the healthiest economy on the internet. If you kind of zoom in there, economy on the internet. What does that mean? YouTube itself is like its own
[05:16] economy. Like the creator economy, but like the YouTube economy. people making money, people quitting their jobs, working from home, making side income, building their own independent businesses, like streaming, turning on
[05:28] their camera, plugging in a USB microphone, and earning money. YouTube America. It's crazy. And the financial opportunity continues to expand. Yahoo
[05:40] fastest growing segment of small business. Goldman Sachs Research said the creator economy could approach a half a trillion dollars by 2027. So, at the time of this live stream, I'm here live. Maybe you're watching on the
[05:54] replay. You know, we're about to go into May 2025. And what's crazy about this is total addressable market, like how much money is in the system, is $250 billion.
[06:07] By the way, if it didn't grow, the opportunity would be massive. But what their research revealed was that really between now 2025 and 2027 in the next two years the creator economy is going to double. Now I was I was just in Miami
[06:21] at an event called uh the global marketing summit speaking for uh YPO young professionals organization. So, I was around to be to be in the room, you had to be making, I think, over $10 million your business revenue. And you
[06:35] have like 50 staff and you have uh a $2.5 million budget for your staff. That's your payroll at least. And um all kinds of metrics like YPO is a very serious organization. So, I got exposed to a lot of um highle business owners.
[06:51] economy and they it was wild because I talked about this stat that it's going talked about this stat that it's going to double in the next two years. And one you realize how crazy that is? That's 100% growth in two years." And I was
[07:06] way. I was like, "Yeah." No. Like literally it doubling compared to even other industries. Like how much growth is happening in the creator economy, how much acceleration, that's 100% growth in the next two years.
[07:21] about it, but like, you know, put it that way. You're getting me more that way. You're getting me more excited. And so, this is in a training like this, it might, oh, Sean's out here hyping things up. Here he goes. You
[07:33] know, it's like, no, I'm not trying to hype things up. I am authentically excited based on real factual data, but I'm not trying to hype things up like it's just going to be easy. That's why our whole company is an education
[07:46] company to help people win in a fiercely competitive market on YouTube. But the growth is there. So my challenge to you is are you going to keep sitting on the
[07:58] sidelines or are you going to get off the couch and get in the game and press record? Because the truth is YouTube is healthy growing and it's the most profitable platform to establish your brand. So, our question today though is,
[08:11] what's the fastest and most predictable way to get 1,000 subscribers on YouTube? If you don't have a big budget, if you don't even have special skills yet, you don't have like worldclass charisma, you're not a super model, you're not
[08:25] predictable way? Because I know there's some YouTubers that have like every advantage going for them. But what about the underdogs? What about those that are just trying to figure out how to start a practical channel where I propose to you
[08:40] this is the best strategy for getting the most predictable practical strategy getting your channel monetized quickly. And the strategy is this. We call it the
[08:53] And the strategy is this. We call it the ASQ method. And it stands for answer ASQ method. And it stands for answer specific questions. Here's how it works. First, you want to ask, what is a question that your ideal YouTube
[09:06] subscriber wants to know? Now, this actually assumes something. This assumes you know who your ideal YouTube subscriber is. You know, it's kind of funny. I was sitting at this table in Miami and and they were like throwing
[09:21] because I have the smallest business at at this table and they go, "What's your ICP?" And I was like, "I don't know what what ICP is." It's like I was kind of your CAC? What's your LTB? Like I know a lot of them but I never heard the ICP. I
[09:36] grew up kind of like in the hood like kind of like the farm hood. And so I thought ICP stand for insane clown posy niche reference. Woot woot. Okay, relax.
[09:48] like what does that even mean? They're like your ideal customer profile. I was like okay got it. Like target audience. Like you could have said a term I knew. What's your what's your ICP? Hey, what's your ideal customer profile? Now, if
[10:03] you know, you might be like, well, I'm not really after customers, but I think people are going to be consumers or customers of your channel. Okay? And so,
[10:16] customers of your channel. Okay? And so, what is a question your ideal YouTube subscriber wants to know? So on Think Media, for example, myself and some of our other uh team like Nathan and Craig, we create videos that help people create
[10:29] content. For example, Craig posted a video just a few months ago on how to start a podcast in 2025, start to finish. Now, remember our thesis here?
[10:41] monetized and get you a thousand subscribers? This brand new video just a few months old. This v video single-handedly grew the channel single-handedly grew the channel 1.6 1,600 subscribers, 10,000 hours of
[10:56] enough to qualify for the YouTube partner program and earn $1,600 a singular video. And what was that video doing? Answering a specific question. So
[11:08] here's the ASQ strategy. It's the most predictable path to YouTube growth. create clear videos that answer specific questions that people are searching for. part of our program, it's called video ranking academy. This is the
[11:24] used not just to get a th000 subscribers, but to grow to a 100,000 gold and silver play buttons and impacting so many people through their channels. And so we're going to be talking about three simple steps to grow
[11:39] from zero to 1,000 YouTube subscribers with no fancy equipment. We're going to take the ASQ strategy and break it into three parts. And each of these parts will work together so you can master this strategy so you can start getting
[11:51] results today and this week. Not next year, but right now. Let's get into number one. Number one, smart creators use tools to find what viewers are searching for before recording. So meet Mary. She's a former New Yorker now
[12:06] living the simple life with her sweet husband in the Texas Hill Country. And she's a content creator, but she didn't start that way. In fact, when she first thought about starting YouTube, she didn't know where to start or how to do
[12:18] YouTube right or even what videos to make. But she knew she had a passion for traditional cooking, bone broth, fermentss, sourdough. And so she eventually found our channel, Think Media, and started to get on camera.
[12:35] Like she just pressed record. I say you got to just press record. Today she says you got to just put the apron on. So this was her filming in her kitchen. And using the ASQ method, answering specific questions, she started to have some
[12:49] success and she discovered that YouTube's actually the second largest search engine in the world. That's still true today. Second to people going to Google and looking for information, people are going to YouTube and looking
[13:03] for answers to their specific questions. In fact, YouTube is the only platform where your content lives forever. Videos work for you when you are not working. So, for example, she made a video on how to make apple cider vinegar with the
[13:18] mother. The specific question would be like, "How do I make apple cider vinegar specifically with the mother?" which for any food geeks out there, the mother is like a little bit of yeast that turns into like a slimy growth that helps your
[13:32] apple cider vinegar become a prob probiotic wonderland, you know, delicious. And so, how to make apple cider vinegar with the mother, a DIY from scratch recipe. And she posted that video. Now, what's crazy is this video
[13:46] video. Now, what's crazy is this video is now 5 years old. It has over 900,000 views. See, this video singlehandedly got her 1,000 subscribers. Single-handedly got her enough watchtime hours to monetize her
[14:00] channel. It's crazy because now her channel's grown a lot bigger. But the answering a specific question that people were actively searching for. And as she continued to do that over and over, and when she first started, right,
[14:13] oh man, she was nervous on camera and her first videos were her worst videos. But her confidence grew. And this is very important, her skill set of how she structured a video, how she taught, how she story would storyt tell in a video,
[14:29] learning thumbnails, learning titles. I don't want to oversimplify things too much, but the big idea is like the reason a lot of creators fail before they even start is they're making videos that nobody's looking for. They're
[14:41] making videos that nobody's searching for. So, as Mary mastered this, well, fast forward to today, she's over a million subscribers. It's kind of crazy. And she's impacting the world really with her message. Like her vision is
[14:55] whether your kitchen is in a city apartment or a house in the suburb or a farmhouse in the country, anyone can join her in preserving traditional cooking skills and find joy living as modern pioneers in the kitchen. You
[15:10] know, we're on a mission at Think Media to help 1 million purpose-driven people they love while making a difference in the world and to experience that success without losing their soul. And so, we love creators like Mary because it's not
[15:23] just the numbers and the money and the different income they've built and the lifestyle they've created in retirement. She started when she was 60. She's 65 now. Her channel has grown. But it's also just the fact that we can have
[15:35] make a great living, but also make a significant difference in the lives of other people. And here's a stat you need to know. 70% of viewers use YouTube to
[15:47] help them solve a problem. Seven out of 10 people use YouTube to help them solve 10 people use YouTube to help them solve a problem. And so if you start creating strategic content answering specific questions, then you can start getting
[16:02] traction, getting views, and growing your channel. So, what questions are YouTube? Well, I want to share a tool with you that's free and that's really up with ideas. And let me just tell you a quick story about how I discovered
[16:18] a quick story about how I discovered this. So, my story in answering specific questions started in a farm town an hour north of Seattle. I grew up on 6 acres where my childhood was mud, manure, and endless chores. The high school hallways
[16:32] at Arlington High School were packed with kids wearing carhe heart. Not as a trend, but because they actually worked on farms. I know today, especially in the fall, right? Girls have like a car heart beanie and a pumpkin spice latte.
[16:44] heart beanie and a pumpkin spice latte. Bonqui kiwi nails, right? Lashes. They they haven't been on a farm in their lives. I grew up on a farm. Horse shoeing, picking horse hooves. True. Like resentment just starts bleeding
[16:57] through. shoveling horse manure. Uh my horse name was little. She bit me three times. True story. Like, mom, why did you get me this horse? I didn't even ask for it. Uh so, listen, if you if you know what Future Farmers
[17:11] world and my high school. And but I always felt like I didn't quite fit in boy who loved skate culture, punk rock, and underground hiphop. And while other kids talk tractors, I dreamed about dropping a turbo in my 1994 Honda Civic.
[17:27] you think about that teal and like yellow trim? Come on, Fast and Furious. That I had a green ground lighting kit. Fast and Furious one hit so hard in my childhood. Sometimes though, not fitting in pushes you to create your own path
[17:42] and that became one of my first real lessons. And then video came into my life unexpectedly. In 2003, I volunteered at my church youth group. And when the pastor handed me a camera and some video editing software, I had
[17:54] zero clue what I was doing. But something clicked and video by video, I early videos were terrible, I realized something powerful. Everything is figure live or even on the replay, you can drop
[18:08] know how to spell figure outable, but give it a shot. Type that in the chat or type it in the comments. Everything is figure figure outable. f i g u r e outudable figure
[18:21] outable it is like if you just keep learning you keep going you don't quit you can learn the skills right you can learn the strategies and so we started a eventually 2007 all 45 subscribers you can see on
[18:35] screen there are still subscribed we haven't uploaded since the church is actually gone now um but we started a YouTube channel for our church which gave me experience on YouTube just just did its 20 year
[18:47] anniversary by by the way, which is kind of crazy. And so I would I started two years after YouTube started and I finally mustered the courage to get on camera myself during this season. In fact, let me actually just uh play a
[19:00] little clip of my first video here. All right, so uh this is I guess the first Sean thanks vlog and uh I'm going to try to vlog every single day. um mainly so I
[19:12] can remember what I'm even doing um and have a lot that I'm thinking about and I figured hey why not share it and if you find something interesting that's awesome. Now this is definitely uh as
[19:25] real as it gets. So I'm not going to try to be energetic or entertaining. Um though maybe sometimes I will. But anyways,
[19:37] sometimes I will. But anyways, uh, so as you can see, my first video was a little rough, you know, and so I hope that encourages you and maybe you could chuckle at my early days because I I had no background, you know, I had
[19:50] that white sheet, but I didn't put it up. No energy, no strategy. I literally declared, I'm not going to be energetic or entertaining, and I have no plan, which are all lessons of what not to do. So, you could take those to the bank,
[20:02] you know. But here's two essential insights I discovered about success on YouTube. One, you got to start before you're ready. Action beats perfection you're ready. Action beats perfection every time. If you wait until you feel
[20:15] ready, you'll be waiting the rest of your life. But you also got to commit to learning new skills. If I would have stayed at the same skill level I was during that first video, you would not be watching this right now. You wouldn't
[20:29] have showed up. I had to commit to learning new skills, to growing as a works, to learning how to create content, to learning how to structure teaching or storytelling and all of this different stuff. And I had to actually
[20:41] figure out how to get discovered online, how to actually make content when you're you're at zero. How do you get found? Well, you answer specific questions. That's the game's changing strategy. So, when I was waiting tables at Red Robin,
[20:57] which is a burger place in the United States that has bottomless fries, come ever been there? I'm going to get a little blue cheese with the buzz sauce. You know, a little It's kind of like buffalo melted butter and Frank's red
[21:10] buffalo melted butter and Frank's red hot mixed together into buffalo goodness. Um, and I started to make videos even on my drive to work. You can see the screenshot here. I had a Droid X camera and I mounted it to my dashboard
[21:25] and I made a video and this video was titled how to get started in video that was my life experience up to that time. Right when I did this in 2010, I'd been doing video for seven years. So, I just started to like share what I had
[21:40] learned about starting video because I knew there'd be other people who might want to learn that. And as you can see, that video got 7,100 views when I was brand new. And that's why a lot of people's videos stay in obscurity
[21:53] things that people actually care about or topics with verified or topics with verified interest. And so, how do you find good video ideas? Well, one of the coolest tools is totally free and it's using the
[22:08] YouTube search bar or Google by the way and you could type in start typing your topic like how to get started in video editing. So, let me demonstrate. If we were to go to YouTube and go to the YouTube search bar and we were to type
[22:24] YouTube search bar and we were to type in how to get started in video editing, see these predictions right here? videography, video editing, video game development, different wedding videography. These predictions are
[22:39] searching for. So what you can do is you can start typing in how to get started and look at all this. How to get started in sports videography, how to get if we just said this? What if we said how to how to get started
[22:55] how to how to get started in let's go uh video production production because that's what I was doing. Video production for beginners video production business best practices. But
[23:08] check this out. Let's get a little ninja here. Let's go underscore space video production and then let's maybe put an a here before here. A video production course best practices. Let's do a B. Video production LLC is to a C. Let's do
[23:23] a D. Okay, let's go back. Let's change it to video editing and go. So, you do go through the alphabet. But notice how I kind of hit a dead end there. I'm going back to changing the topic to video editing. A underscore uh a video
[23:39] editing app uh for video editing song, best app, best laptop. Now, by the way, so what are we doing? We're identifying strategic topics like, okay, maybe I video editing or make a video on the best app for video editing. So, but we
[23:55] could change that to B-roll video editing. Hm. B-roll video editing in cap cut. Now, when we say answer specific questions, notice how specific we are getting. B-roll video editing for Da Vinci Resolve. See, when
[24:10] people say, "Sean, I'm struggling to get traction to get notice." A lot of times it's because even if they are answering questions, they're not doing ASQ, they're doing AGQ, they're answering generic questions or general questions.
[24:24] more specific. And so just using the YouTube search bar can give you so much insight and clarity. And you could try your topics. Video editing, video shooting, video production would be my channel
[24:39] video production would be my channel topic. And so I can continue to do nuances around the YouTube search bar. And just by doing that, that's how I started. I started to say, whoa, okay, how am I? And this influenced how I was
[24:51] going to title my videos. This influenced how I knew what the video was another one. I did video editing PC tips, how to build an HD video editing had started this company called Clear
[25:06] Vision Media, which was just me as a freelancer, and I incorporated and I built a video editing PC so I could edit my video content. And I thought that'll something I just did. Let me talk about how I did it. And I filmed it on the way
[25:20] to work because there's a busy season, right? I want to encourage you. One of the biggest things that holds us back is this like myth like we're too busy. And I know you're busy. Of course you are. You got kids, you're in school, you got
[25:32] a job, you got stuff to do. But it's really not about how much time you have. It's about the priorities and the intentionality of your schedule that you this. I'm gonna find a way to do this. Even if that means that extra 15 minutes
[25:48] or 30 minutes I'm going to shoot in my car in the parking lot on break. You outable. I made a video how to record Skype interviews which throwback. I mean, there was no Zoom, no Streamyard, no
[26:02] Riverside, and even Skype itself was, video podcast. We're living in an era where there's like really cool technology that's available to you right now in 2025. But at that time, that was
[26:17] people were trying to figure out, which is why YouTube will never be saturated is why YouTube will never be saturated or will never be full. like it'll it problems. There'll always be new software, new thing software will come
[26:33] and go, new trends will happen. There'll be new videos to create. No one wants to anymore. That's no longer the way to do it. But there's new things they're to figure out AI. People are trying to figure out new things about motherhood
[26:47] health or all this stuff. The world is always evolving and changing. And if you evolve and change with it, there'll always be opportunity on YouTube. You know, eventually I started to learn more and I started a separate channel around
[27:02] my personal name, just Sean Kel, and I made some different videos around all case, a health product, and I made a video called best greens powder. The
[27:14] specific question is, what is the best greens powder? These days, people might be like athletic greens or AG1, right? You ever seen an ad for them? The CEO of Athletic Greens was the first session at the YPO thing I was at like and she told
[27:28] about how much that you know they advertise on podcasts. If you like you aren't living on YouTube if you haven't seen an ad for AG1, you know what I mean? But anyways, at the time of this and a product I personally used, my
[27:43] friend Lewis recommended. I tried it out. I made a video about this Organifi greens juice product. And guess what? No exaggeration. This video has exaggeration. This video has single-handedly earned me over
[27:56] internet claims that just sounds ridiculous. It's true though, like like, you know, it's one video. And remember, a thousand subscribers and get your channel monetized, but that wasn't from
[28:10] from what's called affiliate marketing, which we're going to talk more about on Friday, by the way. And we're going to go super deep into really the eight different onplatform ways to make money on YouTube in 2025 and the 14
[28:23] off-platform ways to make money on YouTube in 2025. That's happening this coming Friday. If you are a part of this challenge live, you might be watching which shout out Think Media. Smash like if you're getting value, but you'll want
[28:38] to hit the link in the description and register because the rest of the sessions happen in our circle group, which is kind of like a cool community that we have uh during these challenges. It's free, but
[28:51] you got to go to tube1kchallenge.com to register for five sessions just like this. This is the first session, and again on Friday, we're going to be going deeper into all those different monetization strategies.
[29:04] But let's get into number two. Number two, start with simple videos that are easy to create. Remember our thesis. How to get your first thousand subscribers with no fancy equipment. How to get your first thousand subscribers
[29:17] to get your first thousand subscribers and get monetized if you have no special and get monetized if you have no special advantages. See, I think one of the popular myths right now is like, man, YouTube is, you know, it's only for
[29:30] the top 1%. If you don't have Mr. Beast's budget. If you don't have a film crew like Diary of the CEO, I don't know if you've ever seen that podcast, but Diary of a CEO has 10 cameras. Like when they film their podcast, 10 camera
[29:44] like, man, I'm a I'm like a video guy and I don't even know what would you do with all of those. Like that's a lot of footage to edit through. I guess AI could help you. But you know, when you look at some of the competition out
[29:56] Like I started just filming in my car and started solo. But today, a team has lot more because it's not just me by myself. But it's not going to be helpful
[30:08] myself. But it's not going to be helpful for you to overanalyze your competition everybody else is doing. You got to be resourceful with what you've got right now. My friend John Auff says it like this. Never be never compare your
[30:22] this. Never be never compare your beginning to somebody else's middle. anybody that's already built something like you're looking at their middle. But when you're just starting, you got to start scrappy. You got to start like,
[30:35] man, I may not have a lot of resources, but I can be resourceful. I can figure this thing out. So, while there's a lot of videos you can make in your career that get more complex as you go, my challenge to you number two is to start
[30:49] with simple video ideas that are easy to create. like one of our students uh in video raking academy he has a YouTube channel called Weber Enthusiast okay so it's all about grilling uh you know smoking different meats all
[31:02] that kind of stuff and I want to show you a video that he made can we look at this together here's what here's what the video is it is titled how to remove
[31:14] the video is it is titled how to remove salt grinder top save money the easy way to refill disposal ible salt and pepper shakers. It's 1 minute and 42 seconds long. No simpler video has ever been made on the internet. No more boring
[31:31] topic has ever been created. But this video has video has 97,000 views. So whenever I see someone complaining like, "San, your strategies don't work." I'm like, "You're not
[31:44] working them." Like simple video, smartphone, 97,000 views. If you can learn the skill of discovering these golden video opportunities, and more opportunities show up every single day, my friends. Richard Branson put it like
[31:58] this. Opportunities are like buses. There's always new ones coming. And so, if you can just make simple videos at the start, you can start getting discovered. I'm not saying these are the only videos you'll ever create. I'm just
[32:11] saying answering specific questions is a really great way to get started. Did you need any special levels of charisma to make this video? Did you need any special because you have to have 10 years of video experience? No. Like how
[32:26] years of video experience? No. Like how to remove the salt grinder top? What are we talking about? And that's why legit you are one video away. The big idea is one video could get you a thousand subscribers. One video could get you
[32:39] meet Andrew Finny. So, he's a real estate agent and uh he's got a background in the United States uh Marine Corps. He's a veteran. In fact, if you have uh served our country, thank you so much for your service. Um
[32:53] you so much for your service. Um appreciate you. Freedom is not free. And appreciate you. Freedom is not free. And this is a screenshot of his setup today. Nice lighting, got the nice fancy microphone, LED subscribe button behind
[33:07] there behind him. That's not where he started. He started shooting on the most basic webcam, bad video quality, but he was
[33:19] answering specific questions. In fact, this video was called six questions to Like people want to know if I'm buying new construction, what should I ask? Like if I'm buying new construction, what do I need to know? And that video
[33:32] got 126,000 views. Not because of a fancy camera or the best lens or the best lighting or anything like that. He had none of those things. Here's what matters. Great content and real value matter more than perfect visuals. And
[33:50] thing right here, this VPH, in fact, if you're taking notes, write this down. you're taking notes, write this down. VPH stands for views per hour. I've got In fact, I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a second. But this video
[34:06] about that in a second. But this video that's 6 years old is still getting that's 6 years old is still getting seven.7 views per hour. That's 17 views a day. Every 24 hours, this video gets 17 views. That's 6,25 views a year. And
[34:20] fact that the video has over 100,000 views, but consider this. Andrew is a real estate agent. People are discovering him all the time, getting to know him, discovering his channel, which can lead to business, but also grows his
[34:33] online personal brand and becomes a win-winwin win-win. A video he created six years ago is still getting views today. How? Answering specific questions and doing it in a strategic way. Which brings us to number three. Write catchy
[34:47] titles that make viewers want to click. Write catchy titles that make viewers want to quit. I will admit, YouTube has changed. YouTube is not the same as it was in 2010 when I started filming videos on my car on the way to
[35:01] work. It's more competitive. You got to increase your skills. And one of the things, you know, some of what we're talking about here is what's called SEO. You know, search engine optimization. when someone an SEO
[35:14] title is like like how to buy a new construction home that someone's searching for that so you optimize the video so it could be
[35:26] found when someone asks a question to like that best questions to ask home seller or a real estate agent. Here's the key. Number one, you need to know what kind of keywords and topics you're aiming to rank for or to get
[35:43] views for. But in today's world, you got to be them. They got to be clickable. They got to be interesting. And it's less about them being interesting to an algorithm or a machine, and it's more about them
[35:55] being interesting to real people that watch content and watch videos. So, let me actually show you a kind of a cool way to do this. You want to write catchy titles that make viewers want to click. And there's a tool. It's called Vid IQ.
[36:08] In fact, for just $1. You could uh try this out. And I'll link to this in the show notes or you can go to vidiq.comthink. But this vidiq.comthink. But this tool right inside of your
[36:23] YouTube studio, like once you install Vid IQ, you can get Vid Vid IQ Vision. And by the way, there's a free version if you just go to vidiq.com/thank. Uh, click that link or
[36:35] and then go to Google Chrome and install the Vid IQ Vision uh, plugin. You can see I've got it up here. So, we got a video coming out this week on the DJI Pocket 3 lenses and filters. Now, at this moment, it's
[36:49] titled DJI Pocket 3 lenses and filters final V1. We should just make it public with that. That'd be funny. The final V1 being like the key, you know, make your It's like the worst. They're like, "Sunday sermon, April.mpp4." You're
[37:04] like, "Okay, we could do a little bit better." Um, so check this out. Like with Vid IQ installed, there's this little drop down window here. So, what's little drop down window here. So, what's kind of cool is Vid IQ is doing title
[37:17] kind of cool is Vid IQ is doing title um recommendations by analyzing your video. For example, expert warns DJI Pocket 3 lens mistakes are costing you quality. I tested DJI Pocket 3 lenses and filters and here's what went wrong.
[37:31] Why your DJI Pocket 3 lens choices are ruining your footage. Now, of course, you have to make the title honest. But what you can see here, for example, this second one, it still has the very searchable terms of DJI Pocket 3. That's
[37:45] going to be critical in the title. Lenses and filters, also important, but it's kind of it's putting it in a story. It's a fresh take. It's a fresh angle on the title. The key is you want to master
[37:58] stand out in 2025. Want better footage with the DJI Pocket 3? Try these lenses and filters now. And it's also giving me a score to get these other options. How cool is that? So, a lot of individuals,
[38:13] especially when they're so busy, right, love using because if we also scroll down, check out this optimization score over here on on the uh right side of the screen. This is this this starts showing up from VidIQ. When you get Vid IQ
[38:27] you install the Vid IQ Vision Google Chrome plugin, then you start getting uh these additional tools that show up in the back end of your YouTube studio. But
[38:39] because it's going to tell you such things as does your title evoke emotion? your title easy to understand? Is it too long? And then some of the lower priority things. And it's it's going to just help you make sure that you get
[38:54] just help you make sure that you get your video optimized for maximum success. And so the key is that in today's world, going and identifying like using the YouTube search bar, figuring out the specific topic you want
[39:09] your video to be about and strategically identifying topics that there's verified actually want to watch. Like that's step one. Then you got to craft the title. And so no matter how you do it, do it. And if you want to check out VidIQ, it's
[39:24] a really cool tool that can help you on the journey. That's at uh vidiq.comthink if you want to check that out. And we are an affiliate if you use we get a commission. All right. Uh meet Larry
[39:38] though. So this is a good story of how Larry didn't just identify the right topics and answering specific questions, but he also crafted his titles. So Larry is a chartered financial analyst but he faced a lot of cha challenges on his
[39:52] faced a lot of cha challenges on his journey. In fact um for several years he struggled with comparing himself to others and he originally failed the level three CFA exam which caused him to get passed up for a promotion at his
[40:07] job. But sometimes the biggest setbacks actually can be the biggest opportunities and set us up for even future blessings. Because after failing that exam, he kind of had a little in a way chip on his shoulder like well I
[40:22] have this passion for content creation. Let me pick up a camera. Let me start, perseverance and growing his confidence and developing the right mindset and learning new skills, he stepped out and started making YouTube content. And his
[40:36] first video wasn't fancy, right? As you can see, this wasn't award-winning lighting or camera quality. He just filmed in his office. But in the first six months of his channel, he grew 53,000 subscribers, got almost a million
[40:48] 53,000 subscribers, got almost a million views, and he only posted 13 videos. Couple things he did. One, he answered specific questions. Is it possible to live off dividends? And that video got a 100,000
[41:01] views, but even over years, it kept getting views. We call that a ranked video. We're going to be talking about those all week long. But if you look at this, this is kind of a good example of a video that is answering a question,
[41:14] but like a fresh way of writing the title. So the question could just be like um what are the best inflation stocks? You could have titled the video that way, but the way he titled it was best inflation stocks colon my mega
[41:29] profit plan. my make a plan to profit from inflation and secure the bag as a CFA. My favorite part is the secure the bag part. And that's kind of the thing is like nobody is searching, you know, how do I secure the bag? Actually, maybe
[41:42] some people are. Yo, I'm trying to secure the bag alert, you know. Um but but he leads with SEO like searchbased the intent of
[41:54] stocks? and I'm going to reveal to you my mega profit plan to protect from inflation and also secure the bag as a CFA. So, there's a lot of heart, there's a lot of soul to it. There's also some SEO to it. And this video got 1.2
[42:09] million views. Pretty wild. And listen, 86% of US viewers say they often use YouTube to learn new things. So, you might be thinking at this point too, though, you go, "But Sean, what about if I'm a vlogger? What if I, you know, I'm
[42:25] in gaming or entertainment or vlogging? Um, I don't really answer for me? Well, let me challenge you with two thoughts. Number one, stick around because this is a five-day challenge. And so, if you get registered, there's
[42:38] going to be teaching. Answer specific questions. It's not the only strategy. questions. It's not the only strategy. But number two, I would challenge you to consider your YouTube strategy overall. In fact, tomorrow is maybe the most
[42:52] important session of our five-day challenge. And we are really talking about how to create a channel strategy where you get fiercely clear on who your channel is for, the strategic positioning of your channel, what are
[43:06] money-making opportunity for your channel. Because if I was starting a channel from scratch in 2025, I would actually want to make sure I'm positioning my channel in a way that there's demand for it.
[43:23] Kind of makes sense. You know what I mean? It's like you wouldn't open up a coffee shop in a small town where nobody drinks coffee. Like if like it was a town of like a certain religious demographic and that religion was like,
[43:35] "We never drink coffee. We don't drink caffeine." So you're like, "All right, there. Stupid. That would just you're in like the wrong maybe the right thing coffee because it is the right thing in the wrong place. So if you think about
[43:48] being on YouTube, I just want to encourage you be asking yourself how could I answer specific questions in my niche. You know, I've done vlogging for a while. I think I did like 40 days straight of vlogging once and I did a
[44:00] lot of answer specific question type vlogging videos. A lot of travel channels, cruise channels, theme park channels that we coach find that this strategy actually works great for them. But sometimes it takes a while to
[44:14] understand how it works. Because here's the thing, 86% of US viewers say they often use YouTube to learn new things, which is awesome because if you tap into that statistic, you can start getting views and subscribers, you know. And
[44:28] fast forward to today, um Larry's got that silver play button, has built this autonomy and freedom. Like again, fa getting failing the level three CFA exam
[44:40] happened to him because it helped him kind of find a new path that he's more greater impact than ever before. And here's the thing, you don't need a millions of views to succeed on YouTube. as we land the plane. Smart monetization
[44:54] strategies can generate significant income with a smaller, more engaged audience. So, this session is all about how to get your first thousand subscribers and get your YouTube channel monetized quickly. But if you look at
[45:06] what's on screen, I think this is an important thing to consider. We're going to be discussing multiple different ways to earn money from YouTube that do not to earn money from YouTube that do not require getting millions of views, but
[45:18] have to do with thinking differently. For example, this is Stacy Chuchel and For example, this is Stacy Chuchel and she did a live stream that was like very it's not like a viral topic annual planning that actually works for 2025.
[45:32] You know what I mean? Like is that that's not like a broad appeal like this drama is happening with this celebrity, right? It just a very niche and she only right? It just a very niche and she only got 829 views. But because Stacy's a
[45:46] got 829 views. But because Stacy's a business owner that has uh coaching and consulting, one person reached out and jumped on the phone and she closed a business deal that was worth $30,000. Now, you might not be a high
[46:01] paid consultant and I understand that. But my point is that what if you thought millions of view views, what if you only needed one view? Like a lot of the real
[46:13] it's like well how many views do I need to succeed? I'm like one like if one view if you get one view, they call you, they buy the house. Like one of our uh students, Anton got one phone call from somebody
[46:27] that wanted to buy a $1.6 million house in the Pacific Northwest and he got a $50,000 commission. Now again, you might not be a real estate agent, but just think about that. like I don't need to sell millions of lipsticks to get to 15
[46:43] 50,000. I It's one transaction. And over the next 5 days, we're going to be hopefully really shifting your thinking. That's why I can't wait for session two because it's all about the positioning of your channel, the strategy of your
[46:57] channel, and being exposed to other opportunities that you haven't heard about yet. So, what is a specific question you could answer on your channel? What's what's a specific Maybe you went to the YouTube search bar, you
[47:10] identified an opportunity. Maybe the session has brought an epiphany of which video you could create next. Now that you know exactly how to find the questions your audience is asking and create simple videos they want to watch
[47:22] and write titles that make them want to click click. Let me ask you something as we land the plane. What if the only thing standing between you and your YouTube dreams isn't actually the strategy, though, but it's the story
[47:35] you're telling yourself about why you can't start today. You know, when I started, I was telling myself those same stories. I didn't have the perfect setup. That was true. I didn't have enough time. It was also true. I was
[47:47] very busy and I didn't feel ready. But as we've been talking about, it's not about your resources. It's about your resourcefulness. And I realized something that changed everything. And that was when I was starting filming
[47:59] videos in my car on the way to work. No fancy setup, no perfect lighting, just a phone, just a message, and just the courage to press record. I learned this. You don't have to see the full staircase to take the first step. See, this
[48:13] challenge, this 5-day challenge we're doing is all about taking action. And I'm excited because I hope you're taking notes. You're going to have action items like do some research, find video ideas, film your next video. But a lot of times
[48:27] Well, Sean, what's it going to be like in three months? What's it going to be like in six months? Here's what I've learned. You can't see the f full staircase, but you don't have to. You don't have to see step 10. You just got
[48:40] to know step one, two, three. And really, you just got to know the next step. In fact, the point of the 5day challenge is it's supposed to be there's going to be something to do, something to learn, but also something
[48:53] share today's challenge with you. Actually, Brian and Logan will. And uh Actually, Brian and Logan will. And uh and we will ultimately uh be not just and we will ultimately uh be not just learning, but doing. And I want to share
[49:07] one final mindset hack that has been incredibly helpful for me that helped me get out of introspection, worrying about what everybody else was thinking. Honestly, this is kind of so weird because I I would I would like when I
[49:20] was waiting tables at Red Robin, I remember these two girls who didn't even went to high school with them. I think they were a couple grades ahead. And I remember they would come in and uh on their lunch break and they drive up in
[49:33] like a super cool car, like a shiny Jetta is a Volkswagen Jetta, like a super cool car. Uh but it was like all clean and new. they had like some cool job, you know, and I just kind of remember, you know, I had I had high
[49:45] is legendary. I think it's one of the best jobs. One of my favorite books is unreasonable hospitality. And I love the um service industry. I think it develops a strong heart and character. But I remember they came in and I just
[49:59] remember thinking like they're judging me. And they weren't. In fact, they But like they're they're judging me. Like I was in my own mind like what are people from high school going to think? Oh, who does he think he is starting a
[50:11] started a YouTube channel cuz I was getting zero views. But like this was like the scripts in my own mind, you know? And what I realized is I had to like get out of outside of my own skin and get outside of myself. And one of
[50:23] the questions that helped me kind of do that was this question that I want you to ask yourself. Who is waiting for you to show up and take your goals
[50:35] seriously? Who is waiting for you to show up and get over your insecurity? Who is waiting for you to overcome the procrastination and even laziness and overthinking that has held
[50:51] laziness and overthinking that has held you back from taking action on your dreams. You know, at the time I I had no idea You know, at the time I I had no idea who would be impacted by me making the
[51:04] who would be impacted by me making the courageous move of pressing record. And as I started to think about the people who depend on me and count on me, my who depend on me and count on me, my family today, my two boys, and even the
[51:18] other people that would come that I never knew would be impacted by my channel. You know, you fast forward to today and my setup is a lot nicer like that. This setup compared to my car and
[51:31] that. This setup compared to my car and my Droid X is now this the whole crispy studio with the lightsaber behind me from full-time filmmaker that burnt out not to say it's low quality, but we have to order another one. Um and you know
[51:45] play button. I could have never imagined that pressing record in my car would channel into a business that's impacted millions of people. One courageous decision changed everything. And not just the people we've impacted, but now
[52:00] the team. There's like 25 people that work at Think Media. And it's grown into something bigger than myself. And this is a team. We we counted it. There's 90 mouths counting pets. Counting kids and pets. Cats and dogs. And I don't know if
[52:14] dogs, but you know, they're able to send their kids to school and build their dreams. It isn't just a community. It's uh it's not just a company. It's a dreamers. But more importantly, our students, like the real magic, our
[52:27] students have generated over 25.6 billion views. They've earned silver play buttons, built channels to support their families, and their courage to start before they were ready has changed not just their lives, but
[52:40] the millions of people who watch their videos. And right now, someone out there is searching on YouTube for help. This is what I want you to see right now. At YouTube for help, for answers, for education, and for entertainment. And
[52:54] appear in their search results. They're waiting for you to share what you know know and to be bold and to press record today. And so, will you have the courage
[53:06] today. And so, will you have the courage to press record today? To not overthink, but to punch fear in the face and punch perfectionism in the face and press part of session number one of our 5-day challenge. Today, we learned that we
[53:21] want to stop waiting for perfect because your audience is searching for you right discover exactly what videos your audience wants before you press record. And your first videos don't need to be perfect. They just need to be helpful.
[53:35] Now, we believe at Think Media that commitment is the foundation of all great accomplishments. Being committed to taking action, being committed to pressing record, being committed to the daily challenges. And I do want to
[53:47] invite you back for session number two where we're going to be talking about consistent channel growth and transforms viewers into loyal subscribers. To get you're registered at tube1kchallenge.com.
[54:03] When you do so, you'll enter your name and email and all to the way to get access will be showing up in your email inbox.