How to Build a Long-Lasting YouTube Channel: Nick Pro's Journey

if you are a YouTuber brand or creator that just wants longevity on the platform and as YouTube evolves you're trying to figure out what are the most important things that you need to consider this live stream is for you I'm really excited because I've almost been on YouTube uh for man 20 plus years it's it's so crazy to think um that in October uh it will be October 5th in 2005 is when I YouTube and it's

been quite the journey now one thing that I've seen over the course of my career I've seen creators come and creators go and creators not really see hey this is an Ever evolving process um and then two as technology as things come out things actually change a little bit and you have to analyze and adjust and so for me I'm really grateful to come on today and and have someone that I can have a conversation with

that really gets it and really has seen kind of the evolution of not only his channel but things that he had to try a little bit differently that I know is going to inspire you now if you're new to me my name is darl EES and I um obsessed with YouTube as you can see behind me I've generated over 110 billion video views on YouTube I've started 34 channels to get them over a million subscribers each

and then I've also worked with the biggest creators on the planet and brands on the planet and I've really helped uh people like you achieve success on YouTube and and I really love helping people I really love mentoring people and uh today I'm joined by someone that I I can honestly say um I I met and I was always in awe not only because of his video content because I've seen his video content uh but just

his his Essence and um I'm just really excited to have a discussion here uh with Nick Pro hey Nick how are you doing man I'm doing great thank you so much for having me dude I I'll be honest with you um when when when I heard that we were going to meet I'm like oh this is really cool because my son showed me one of your videos uh would you just take a second and kind of

explain what you do because some people might not know what you do and and would love to know what kind of you do on on YouTube so I'm a professional parkour athlete and I was always finding a way to try to turn that into a full-time job and income and um so about eight years ago I started making videos on YouTube um to try to make it fulltime and I make a lot of videos using my

parkour um acrobatics and whatnot where I recreate stunts from movies or do other challenges that involve my flips and my skills yeah and it's really cool because I I remember early on um when when um you know we we were Uh u in in Utah we have a lot of collaborations and there's a lot of people uh there was one person that was doing some Parkour that my son was just obsessed with is is you know

um and and we're we're seeing kind of him do stuff and his Ronnie Street stunts and um really cool to watch kind of that like that um that world and and then too I got really super fascinated with uh this sport um because my son love loves it um loves to kind of do the flips and kind of run and do the whole thing and and um it's it's a really a challenging uh sport I mean

there's so much that's going on some people are like what why would they even do that like why why would they do these flips off of this mountain or this this uh you know this building or whatever that may be um and it's really cool that you're not only able to do something that you love but you're able to share uh this with uh with the world um so really uh big question first is uh when

did you like I I think I want to kind of get like have a Time line of how everything infolded so like what inspired you to get into parkour and then what led you to start posting on YouTube so my friend showed me about 18 years ago uh the first ever parkour video on YouTube the platform was like very young back then um you were already on it but still it was a video called Russian climber

but it was just some guy doing that video oh my gosh got me in the sport like he showed me a YouTube video that's how what started it all and uh it was just some guy in the slums of like Russia and like the ghetto doing flips off the buildings and stuff and um the athlete was called o vorov and L later that day I was doing flips on my trampoline and my friend was like oh

do it off of your deck just like in the video I was 14 and I didn't think twice about it I just tried it and I got it I got hooked you know I that's so funny I didn't know that that was the first parkour video but I remember how insane it was because like before then you're like oh you see these little cat videos and snowboarding videos and you have all this other stuff and then

and then every once in a while you see something that's just insane right you see something that's insane and and I remember seeing that and he was jumping from building to building on that and then he was going up buildings I'm like what am I watching you know is this just like the real life Spider-Man like what was going on but so you you got inspired by that and then um how quickly did you like hey

I'm I'm G to start posting content I'm gonna I'm going to start putting you know my my tricks on on YouTube as well so technically I think the first video I ever posted was on another Channel and uh 2007 so maybe two years after when I had like um a few more tricks down because I had just started parkour back then but there was no motive behind it wasn't to try and get famous or anything I

just wanted to share it with my friends that was the whole purpose why I started uh posting I wanted to show them um my achievements what I was proud of um and video like on YouTube was just the best way back then and then I I would assume that people were kind of encouraging you and then you were kind of reading some of the comments you're like oh man this is so cool you know and it's

just like maybe I should do some some more when so when did you like say okay I this is it I'm going to start a YouTube channel um to post more frequently like when when did that shift occur so the official shift was 2017 and I had a conversation with another friend while we were just at the gym training like uh our flips and whatnot um we were just we were both big fans of like YouTube

and the the culture and everything and we're like you know what like why don't we just actually make a conscious effort and try to become like YouTubers right and um so from that moment on we were like forcing ourselves to post like at least once a week he was doing like three a week I was doing two a week and it was consistent like there it wasn't like an option it was like we're at the the

gym I was like all right what are we filming tonight and during open gym which is 9: to 11:00 p.m. we would wait after hours to be able to film and film from like 11:30 to 2: in the morning oh that was our grind and then wake up the next day edit and post and like we're on that grind for like six months so um so were you helping each other out so you're kind of capturing

footage for each other but then also um let's see if if it was uh 2017 was it even the GoPro there yet what I I can't even I can't even remember it's all blurring together when cameras come out or whatever it is I would assume that the GoPro is definitely there um but uh what um so so you had someone helping you what was what was of the things that um you you learn by this because

I mean I think a lot of people when they first start um it's like you it's like after hours staying up late you know I I would assume you're doing your own editing and and stuff like that like so you're trying to trying to get everything out very consistently um what was it what was it like um during that time in your life so without like even knowing I was pretty much implementing your system so like

well fully but like you know we would make videos and then from there we would gather data and adjust which is something you talk about all the time right yeah so without data like you're never going to start with perfection and you're never I like I'm never GNA achieve Perfection but um we just started off Gathering data like what would work what doesn't work and why and like take a step back to analyze which videos would

work and why not and um do a lot of research and Recon to see what trends were working and why and stuff so it was just like a lot of uh research and just adjusting our techniques and my content looks completely different than it did back then yeah so um so after hours you're doing doing some late night shoots early morning shoots uh just because you have the gym and and then uh you you had someone

that you could actually talk YouTube with you actually had someone that um that you were helping them they were helping you uh so there's some Synergy there um I always found that that's um really important I I a lot of the bigger creators always had someone to talk YouTube with they weren't trying to do it on their own there was like you know people around them uh that was encouraging them and say oh have you seen

this or have you tried this or whatever and I and I think that leader uh helps you kind of um not only have some encouragement but also you know there's that that Synergy of oh let's try bigger let's go bigger let's go whatever um and so you had that when was the moment that um you're like okay th this is interesting let's uh maybe let's do less of what I'm doing day to day and and then

two let's go more um let's go more Allin was it hitting a certain subscriber amount was it hitting you know something where you're like oh okay finally replaced my income or what was that what was that level so personally um I like I was pretty much all in so I was already self-employed in different ways so it gave me the freedom to not quit I was like selling uh making and selling lightsabers and stuff from scratch

with the electronics so that okay so now I know the connection here why we like each other so much is because like you're like literally making your a lightsabers that's so awesome yeah so I was always trying to find ways to be self-employed so I had that kind of freedom and the lightsaber business was doing really good but then in December of uh 2017 I had 100,000 subscribers from long form and that was like oh wow

this is um so much more efficient than um the other business that's when I was like all right like um I'm all in like uh because it was also December so high RPM month and whatnot so yeah that was when I was all in but I I I think if you're um kind of have all these hustles going on and and happening is just like where where do you put your focus and you probably put a

lot of focus towards you know what's bringing in the money um and and then two the moment that that you make the leap that that's a really hard decision for a lot of people because I I've um helped as you're well aware of I've helped a lot of creators over the the course of my career and it's like when do I when do I go all in and and what's going to happen next and um I

in fact I had a bunch of YouTubers at my house yesterday and uh we had the exact conversation um with with someone else they they actually have a I wouldn't say a full-time job but they have a job that they do um they're already making a ton of money in in so many different ways and it's like okay when do we when do we go on on this next one you know and it's just like man

there's there's always questions of when to put all your energy into something and and I found that the earlier that you can feel comfortable in doing it the more freedom that you actually have to create um because even though that you had all these side things going on and you're going from there because I know soon as the moment you're like okay we're doing this uh that's when your content just elevates it's just like oh you're

putting all your energy towards this and and you see that transition and so um how quickly because you had 100 100,000 subscribers about you know that time when you decide to do that how quickly did you start seeing Improvement in your content just because you're all focused in on it um so I I started being focused like uh even before that when I had that conversation with my friend and it was it was instant because before

that it was not intentional well not instant but like it was very obvious that like um there was like a difference in the content and stuff before that I was just making Parkour videos without an intention it was just like oh here's a compilation of Tricks it's entertaining but there's not really a reason for people to watch it where after that yeah yeah it's it's not just about like there was no story there was no like

reason to stand until the end for most people it's just like oh here's a backflip another backflip cool that yeah so it was um once we started being intentional like it's um of course like after a couple months the sixth month after six month um that was really like okay I'm able to sustain myself like um start saving up paying rent all that stuff but uh even before that it only took a couple of months for

it to to really like be visible and sometimes it just takes one video and yeah well I I wanna I wanna I want to digest what you just said uh because I think this is probably one of the most valuable things that anyone have said in in these live streams um and and the reason why I feel like it's valuable is because sometimes creators miss it and in your mind um you thought oh people want to

see me flip and and and they want to see the next thing and and they're going to come in and oh do this right and so you have that but it's more about the intentionality of the why like what why what what's going on what's the storyline here what what's that one little element and it doesn't need to be that in depth on it but it it was like how do you how do you take it

from just uh oh that was a cool reaction action type moment that you captured but now now it means something to me you know and and when you when you did that um was it was it more difficult to create the content or was it was it a little bit easier to create the content once you starting to bring in a a a why like a story behind it instead of just doing uh random flips and

and tricks on that back then um it was way like it became EAS easier to make content because to make a a parkour video with like high level of skills um could take me months and whatnot because I wanted a compilation of tricks that I was proud of and each trick take hundreds of attempts but then after that like I can get um millions or potentially hundreds of thousands of views back then off a video that

I filmed in two three hours because it was intentional there was a reason for them to stay until the end or something rather than just uh a compilation that they might get clicked out they might click out at any point it's um like it's very hard in the parkour world like there's so many impressive athletes jumping from building to building that people are almost not as impressed easily anymore so when you can actually get like an

emotional connection or Reason to stand until the end rather than just rely on shock and awe I find that it was more like effective for me at least yeah yeah I think I think you said a couple things that um I want to reiterate a little bit where you felt maybe earlier on that you needed to level up and and do more extreme things and and then two you had to get them right and and so

uh it's going to take more time just just regardless of what it is and yeah you want to push yourself as an athlete and you want to go do things but is that sustainable you know when you really look at it it's like okay is that really sustainable because every time you do a video is it going to go from there and so that I I I think I think every Creator should ask it is is

it sustainable and then two uh what's your unique value proposition because if the unique value Pro proposition is shocking awe every time in the sense of that moment then then there is going to be a time that you can't go any further or something crazy is going to happen that that everyone's going to regret right so especially in your in your world um and so for me I always like to look at what what would be

one of the most epic uh videos of all time and it's something that connects to you and then there's surprise and delight and I think that's what I love about your content is you're able to weave in some surprise and Delight because you don't necessarily see it coming sometimes you're like oh I wonder how he's going to do okay there he goes you know you have kind of that moment uh from there and so um I

I think all content creators struggle with this at times is like okay I just I got to go bigger I got to go bigger I got to go bigger you know and and I do believe that is um can be a misstep for most people I think it works in some scenarios um but I do believe it's like how do you how do you connect with people better um I just just to know I Nick I

had no idea that you made lightsabers and I guarantee you people in the comments goes oh my gosh I didn't know he did that or whatever and I've now connected with that as well because you know I'm a you know Star Wars fan geek whatever you I love it too right but it's just like it's that human connection that can make up for so much uh because that's where loyalty comes in is with connections uh spectacles

will will get the view I guarantee spectacles get the view but loyalty comes through storytelling loyalty comes through uh connection and so that that's where I love uh to see because I think I think um people can have one-offs where they that oneof video that is such the spectacle um but to have consistency and loyalty there needs to be more than just that you know so anyway yeah I that's so great so um you you're on

that journey and uh you started to figure out okay what what uh what do we need to do next like you're you're you're starting to understand storylines um when when did it get interesting for you um it was it more uh the more consistent you were putting out contents there um and then and then I I noticed that you kind of had some explosive growth um right not not shortly after you started to post uh be

become full-time but it it was around uh you know 2019 2020 there's a lot that was going on do you do you want to kind of talk through that kind of growth of your channel where you're at yeah over time I uh started to like um continue to like adjust my technique and like um what I was doing with videos and I did something that was like both good and like not good for my channel it

was great for views but um it's it's a little bit what we were just talking about so what I did is uh a lot of um I I have videos where I recreate tricks that superheroes or and anime characters do and I have some that got like quite a few views because I removed the talking in it so which made me reach a broader audience because um different audio tracks dubbing and whatnot wasn't available um like

six years ago or so yeah so I was Reacher reaching a broader audience by making a viral video but then by not talking I removed the connection with my audience so there the audience was just there for the the viral video but then they weren't like sticking around because the they weren't there for me they were just there for like oh cool he's doing the same tricks as Spider-Man so it got me a lot of subscribers

um and obviously starting 2020 a lot of people were in quarantine watching a lot of YouTube which um and I already had a foundation on the platform then so it just gave me even more of a boost yeah and I I think uh you you mentioned uh taking out the audio and and why if you could go back in time you'd probably fix that cuz you you see why you'd want that now but it was like

taking something relatable as Spider-Man because when I when I it's pretty funny when I think of of Spider-Man I think of Peter parkour you know you know Peter Parker right but it's just like you think okay that is the ultimate parkour person right so it's like okay perfect you're recreating it but then you even went further where I was like oh no but I'm doing it within uh PS5 you know so taking a game and you're

doing it you're trying to recreate it it's really cool so you have not not only the movie but you have the the video game and it's taking something super relatable uh that's pop culture and then and then blending your brand with that and that's what the content is and and and I I think that uh so many people early on YouTube was afraid to do stuff like that uh but then once it was embraced it's like

oh now now some people um overdo it too too much I I I I I think um it's just like what's the the right type of balance but with you uh there's there's one um there's there's a couple there's a couple videos that I really like because I think he learned that as like oh I took all the audio out let's put some audio in and it has more views uh you know and it's it definitely

has more views because it has that connection and and people feel like oh okay instead of it's a visually entertaining thing there's a story and there's some things that are that are interesting in that as as well and you're able to to see the growth but um you you you saw a lot of growth in Co because people were staying home uh they needed to watch something um and then I I want to say this because

I I do believe this I think two they wish they were outside doing some stuff that you're doing too because like they felt probably that quarantine and they're like oh my gosh you know I wish I could do this um how how difficult was it to capture you know content at that time to do it uh what were you kind of writing the the um momentum high that comes with when you have a lot of success

really quick um or how how was how was the um that process of content creation because I know it's so awkward for so many different creators so so it's definitely um a little challenging back then because um all the gyms because of the restrictions that we had in Canada um I wasn't I was actually in California and then I went back to to Canada and um because of that I wasn't allowed in I had to quarantine

for two weeks just because of our restrictions but then um I wasn't allowed to go into the gym because the facility where I film um my flips and whatnot was closed due to the restrictions so that's when I bought myself a house um using the the money from my like YouTube channel and um even then like I made an Among Us video when that was like kind of like popular where I played like six different characters

just because I wasn't allowed to have friends over so I edited myself as like six different characters like and uh so it was challenging back then but there was definitely a boost and whatnot and um doing stuff at home might uh I think might have made my audience a little happy because it's like okay at least he's having fun at home in quarantine as well you know like maybe I can have fun and make the best

out of it yeah that that that's great that you're able to create in how difficult it it it was in some aspects because he like oh it'd be so much easier if we could have people in it but you you found a way to make it happen that Among Us videos like I I definitely everyone should check that one out because that's was one of my one of my faves um back then uh because it was

I it kind of was funny that you're all these different characters you know that's just the way it is but um but uh around that same time and with in it um that's when YouTube was actually um doing something pretty disruptive you had uh Tik Tok that was emerging in the world and um and and and YouTube got okay what is our our response to and the first area that they did the beta with the YouTube

shorts and that's vertical video uh was in India and when they were kind of coming in the United States I I know there was 10 channels that were selected to kind of say hey we're going to roll it out in the United States we want to be able to do it um and so of the two of the 10 I was working with the shorts team uh you know as a strategist for a Creator um and

and um a couple creators on it to get it going and and I personally love uh vertical video like that that's probably more my jam of consumption um and and and so I I knew it was going to be a big thing when did you start realizing oh let's go after an audience you know across the internet um maybe you know how much are we going to do vertically like we go back um and and maybe

take some previous content and put it out there like what was what was your journey into the the uh vertical format form so I think it was uh if I was to estimate around 2022 that I really like um started to be like you know what I can't like avoid this because um back then you know filming everything myself with a quote of one to two videos a week using like acrobatics it was very demanding and

then to add long form and short form on top of that I was like kind of avoiding it since um my long forms were already returning money but then um uh after quarantine uh was done and shorts were introduced uh the algorithm like and viewership maybe it was just people's tendencies like there was a shift and I saw to affect the views on my channel like greatly so I would like um was experimenting a lot with

different things and just with me personally I can't speak for other channels but for me it's when I started making a little bit longer videos because the three to four minute ones um that I was doing back then weren't working as much so I started making a minute ones and then uh but around 2022 I also was merging shorts on my channel and posting them to Tik Tok and whatnot to to reach a broader audience and

uh some of my shorts have gotten me like uh one short has gotten me like four million subscribers so yeah there's a lot of growth to do there like it's a yeah so um so as because I think you're you're in a in a position that um most people wasn't um because like Oh short this is easy to make content we can go ahead and do it and a lot of people grew that way but they

never had the long form right so it's just like there's like this awkward tension in the beginning of of uh when YouTube introduced it and then two in YouTube's defense it's I mean a very mature platform is very hard to bring in a new feature it just is it just it complicates things there's a a ripple effect uh for me I loved it as a viewer but I hated it for the Creator because they were making

no money it's like like it for for all the stuff that you're doing it's like okay this is insane um why why would you do this and and so it was kind of a give and take which was you noticed you you analyzed oh some of my eyeballs are going elsewhere and and and I need to be able to I'm seeing the impact from it so I need to be able to uh create a plan and

an energy and an effort towards something and and that's when you know you went all in on it but that didn't mean that you're getting the money you got subscribers from it you got views from it but it it took a while before uh it became mature in the platform and and I think now um I I would say the last uh last year and I don't know maybe 18 months it's it's now fully integrated in

ways that that does make sense monetization wise and also we're starting to see it um with viewership too it's like moving over to uh long form views um but how how does this new format um how did it change you as a Creator because um it this was like at the time it was like literally you had one minute one like one minute to uh grab their attention and go through it how did that kind of

change the way you create content it's it's actually insane how different it was personally for me like uh because I wasn't used to it I was used to making maybe four minute long videos where I can have like a a slightly classier intro will say but then shorts is like no the hook they can swipe away so e easily so quick so it really made me focus on the hook and retention and different uh editing uh

skills and like pattern interruptions to really like keep their attention and I honestly think a lot of those aspects of editing um shorts for like high retention uh that have hundreds of millions of views has helped uh and changed my editing style for long forms in a way that like now my average U percentage has gone up because I know how to keep their attention a little more through my like shorts experience so it's really like

changed me that way yeah I wanna I wanna I want to focus in on this because it's like when I um uh so a little bit about my background I I was obsessed with uh advertisements uh so these are like if you really look at it that's probably why I love short so much it's like you you got 30 seconds you got one minute you need to be able to tell your whole message within that amount

of time you have to be able to hook them pull them in you know and also sell them you know so it's like it's very hard um and I was obsessed with it I used to record um on a VCR kids if you don't know what that is it was a device with a tape that you could actually record television um and so I'd actually record all these ads and I'd keep the collection of ads and

then also I loved Saturday Night Live I love you know that sketch comedy um and uh for me um I found that there was a certain Cadence of like a really good um you know really good content and and you just explain what that is it's like you you literally have just seconds uh to do what you need to do the first thing is like how are you going to pull them in because like when when

someone's coming in and they're just kind of swiping how are you going to grab their attention and then pull them into your video and and then two is just more about the pacing and the edit and and where you're more detailed with that it's like you're intentional because you have a like what are you going to cut out because you can't you can't have it be bloated right and then how are you're going to weave them

through the story and the payoff and then two you know how how you GNA get them to rewatch um and then for me though is and that's that's what I love it's like then too you you apply oh I learned this well what if we just set up my video just just right on the long form but using the same intentionality and I think that's the whole thing is the intentionality of of every little second leading

into it and then it and then once it's established then you're going to have higher retention CU like for me if if if that first minute if you can keep 10% more it's going to pay off bigger on the on on the on the back end if you can keep 20% more people on that first minute it's going to pay off so much more because humans if you can pull them in and and set up the

story you hook them and set up the story they're they're in for the journey if if you're very intentionally of how they're viewing it um and so you noticed immediately that your attention started to go Sky you know Sky High on long form just because of what you're doing for shorts what was what was the elements that you feel like was it just the editing itself or just understanding uh you're more sensitive to the viewer because

of the time code you know of trying to get that in what was what was kind of the things that you were looking for when you're editing or creating content on the long form so the first thing that was the editing like there's a lot of uh effects and whatnot that I would add in my short form such as like um rotor scoping and whatnot to highlighting certain things like effects like uh you know some graphics

and stuff just to make uh certain shots like stand out and whatnot um to make it uh also Stand Out amongst the crowd because it does take a little more editing um so it uh helps stand out so I added those aspect aspects in my long form so for example when I'm like oh I'm G to flip off of this block now I make the block like highlight just and have a little sound like aing just

to like capture them a little more instead of like back in the day I would just be like point at the Block and that's it these little things I feel like they're very small but it's just a few sound effects and visual effects kind of help grab their attention so that was the first thing and then the second thing which is a more recent one due to um like recently joining Channel jumpstart but the storytelling that's

helping the retention like quite a lot yeah yeah so I want to I want to talk about the graphic elements um that you're doing because like I I noticed that some of the videos that you really perform it felt like I was in a comic book I was seeing a comic book it had like these comicbook fills so like you're like oh here's this highlight it highlights it or whatever you know and there's like these Graphics

that correspond with it and and I think that nod too it it shows the intentionality of you're just not slapping it together it's like there's there's some int it but it also anticipates certain things that are going to happen or you're you're bringing in more curiosity oh I wonder what he's going to do next and so it's just like there is that retention along the way and um and I I I I know you know this

how um how focused I am on the viewer because I I I think far too many people they they go and do it and they're like the world's going to love it they're they're they're just going to love what I post whatever I post they're going to love and and when it doesn't they're like oh why does the world hate me instead or the YouTube algorithm hates me you know whatever that is but for me it's

like take a step back and and just look at those small details and when you're able to do that you noticed oh it's even higher with your attention um and I want to get into storytelling in a second uh because I think that uh uh um we had a great conversation you know uh this year on that as well but it's the intentionality so like like who who do you think who do you feel like your

viewers are uh we have a few of them on here I've seen that they love your channel they love watching it with their kids but who who would you say your ideal viewer would be I'd say the ideal viewer would be uh younger boys between the age of we'll say six to 13 uh boys because of the extreme nature of the stuff although there's still quite a few girls that apparently have gotten them into gymnastics and

whatnot but I'd say it's around boys six to 13 and what I noticed too is and this is where just kind of digging into your channel um it's it's also their their parent Your Guardian too like some of them like to watch content together and they they really um love it in fact one of them is here is like empowered homeowner um you know they they love your content it's okay this is so great uh where

they're able to to watch something with their kids and so for me um I can't tell you how many videos I've watched with my kids is like when they when they're into something I'm like okay I'm all in and then I'm like oh man this is really good content this is like really great content um and so yeah I I think it could be a multi-generational audience but yeah heavily focused in on the age group that

you're there um and then and then two um it's it's uh if you really look at the age of the viewer it's like that's when they're the most active that's when they the most willing that's one of the most daring in some aspects too is like hey could I go do this um and if you really look at this this is like a literally a full circle to you because you were that guy seeing a YouTube

video and you're like ah this is what I need to do you know this is so cool um and and so it's really cool for that um that it that it's like a full circle moment here uh for for a lot of people um let's uh let's go through um one aspect that I think most creators don't have that you you actually have a blurring issue um across which is you could get hurt um and when

you get hurt you can't post you can't you can't just flip you know like like if if you're look at this most creators like sit behind a camera and they're like hey you know we we're we're gonna talk but yeah you are doing these crazy stunts and and you know you have a you have a high probability of getting hurt even though how much you practice you know so you know um have you ever have you

ever got hurt that it delayed everything on your Channel and was impacted by your channel so two years ago I um I didn't have this prepared it was just by my side but two years ago I ruptured my achilles and honestly I was just training for myself I was trying to push myself as an athlete even though I'm growing a little older I was just trying to push myself and um trying a trick outside and uh

I basically just put too much power into it wasn't even on the landing it was on the takeoff and I ruptured my achilles and I was like it was the worst injury I had in my career and um I already had over 10 million subscribers by then I believe and I was like okay we need to like I need to stay positive like I need to stay like on track and uh what I did is um

I organized a hard drive here called stunts with um all like 2,000 plus stunts that I've recreated or from movies and other characters over the years and I organized them by Trick so that I was able to repurpose content and make um new content from it and uh and then that lasted like two months until I had an aircast and I was able to flip in the aircast which I don't recommend but I did very the

doctor's like no no no no I did it very gradually and I had the speediest recovery that I've ever heard of of my friends for that kind of injury but um yeah sometimes just got to adjust your content strategy because for me I had years of content to repurpose but not everyone's G to have that so I think adjust and I don't think it's it's good to rely purely on performance because when I'm 40 I I'm

not going to be doing the tricks that I'm doing right now but I still want to create content so like at some point it's good to think of the future and like you know they're they're going to be there ju more for you um at the end rather than just what tricks you can do or whatever performance so I I want to um so did you did you uh go get all those during during your downtime

so like when you got hurt that's when you're like uh bringing it all together or were you doing it before did you have that hard drive before no I uh put them all together and organized them uh once the week I got hurt got it got it and and so this is this is what um what I love about it is like sometimes when we analyze and adjust because we're forced to um that's when when um

you see the biggest opportunities because um is you're like you're put into position you're like oh crap I need to be consistent I need to get content out and then you organized luckily you had a a really big back library of stunts and then it was like okay now now I could do compilation form there's a more reaction form there's a lot of stuff that you could do um because of necessity but yet that necessity literally

brought you one other thing and this is what I want everyone to understand which is the ability to to create because you already created right and so for me um just because you know you want to put out a new video sometimes I like to get ahead where I have multiple videos so I'm not really forced to to make something just you know go out that's kind of not mature enough uh in in when I say

mature enough that's maybe not edited enough or I haven't put enough energy into it or it's not quite there you know um and and being ahead uh gives you the ability of having video that are just done or you could pull in from it and and then too with your with your scenario it's like man things can get crazy you know and whether you're you're getting um hurt or you know you're you're going into another place

or maybe on vacation or whatever but it gives you the ability to still create content in in a different way uh but uh I I just don't understand how the doctor even allowed you at at two months to even do stuff with that aircast I just I just don't get that man I well I didn't see the doctor like after uh after I got my cast removed uh or and got the aircast I didn't see a

doctor I was seeing um a um another like physiotherapist for to make sure I wasn't imbalance because all my weight was on one leg um and uh but besides that like it's not that they didn't allow me I basically I was doing it in a very smart way and gradually because the my foot I had it in an angle which shortened the Achilles making it uh but it it helped my uh recovery well cool um well

I wanna I want to uh uh kind of go through a conversation um you and I got to spend some time together in the Dominican Republic and um and and I I presented something um in the Dominican Republic for some of my students which was really storytelling like like going more intentional on storytelling and we talked about uh a technique that that I use called ABC uh storytelling you know and and I want to I want

to I want to uh really dive into some of our conversation because um from the outside of parents most people think oh it's more about the gimmick or you're going on you know somebody else's IP and you're going you know and doing these things and there's no storytelling that you can do um but you you process this and and I noticed a difference I I noticed a difference in your content uh almost immediately when when you

started to get it over you you're starting to perceive things differently um could could we talk about storytelling a minute and then how you're approaching content Now versus what you're doing prior because I think you're intentional um when you knew that you need to have storytelling but now you're super hyperfixated on it which is great that that that warms my heart but yeah could you just talk about that for a minute so for example for my

recreating stunts series before that I was doing it in 10 levels so each trick from one to 10 would get harder because my intention was like oh why stay until the end to see the harder trick but at the end of the day it's still like a performance-based Thing versus an actual like story and whatnot so after um your teaching about ABC storytelling uh I was like okay like what can I add to that video so

the my biggest like uh success story is the recent one with stunts from Sonic where the a like what am I doing I'm doing the stunts from Sonic why am I doing it because like if I complete the 10 stunts there's a a payoff so I added a payoff at the end a reason to stay until the end and that video got me on trending it got 5.1 times more views an average according to YouTube studio

um has the the biggest average view percentage that I've like had so I added a why reason to stay until the end and it also like it made my content like a little more challenging because then it um I had to be intentional instead of just going through the motions I had to like write a story but um something went wrong I guess in the in the video something unpredicted but I was like I wasn't upset

about it because I'm like whoa this just adds to story something went wrong just like in movies right and it wasn't faked it was just like oh this I have to think of a plan B for this thing to happen but that just elevated the content and the story yeah so um so I I I remember I remember the conversation my wife and I were like walking we were in the Dominican Republic we're walking in this

Resort and it was like late at night and you guys were walking this way and you're like talking about the storyline of what you're gonna do this whole thing I'm like okay it it hit it hit through but when I watch that Sonic video I'm like you got it you you actually you actually got it you got what I was trying to explain in that and and then two it was like the whole reason why people

wanted to see to the end was because of the story and and and yes they want to still see kind of you doing certain things and and the unpredictability as human nature is like how do we weave this in how do we bring this in in a unique way um but there's there's no reason why that video wasn't the the highest retention that you've ever had there's you know getting on trending all that other stuff and

when you're on trending too you're going out to a wider audience and so it's like okay something's going on here but for me um it it's like you brought value and then you brought connection that's even deeper than than what what was done in the past and and so that intentionality is really important um and so um I'm glad that you had that experience because once you once you taste it then you're like okay now what

you know now now am I how how can I really engage uh some great storylines so that um it it's much bigger than myself but it it's it's also a way that we can connect in love and it can take people through that Journey um of of these videos um so what was the comments like when you went through and and because like I know that you're hyper fixated on your your content but you you tested

something new um you tested a new type of Storytelling um you you were forgiving of yourself when something wasn't just perfect right you brought it into the story how was the comments in that one versus uh other other comments of other videos that you had it's the comments like were really good like uh as uh expected like a lot of my audience loves Sonic but they um even though there might have been a little less performance

than usual because there'd be um there were still 10 tricks but like less attempts and more focus on the story My audience didn't care that there were less tricks they were happy they were happier because they they were brought like on the journey with me and uh there's one trick um that like it took me 300 attempts to get and that one like I don't recommend that was just my athlete Spirit like force forcing it but

um I added that to the storyline and the they were super supportive and the kids and the the audience love that like in the comments that like it really uh motivates them to keep persevering in their own lives and stuff and I I love seeing that personally yeah yeah yeah I when I went through the comments it was like okay this is like I I think it engaged people that haven't seen your content in a while

because it was like oh it's it's far reaching uh they're like oh man I love you know so I saw a lot of that I love Nick I love what he's doing it's been a while you know so he had some of that uh but it was more oh man your your videos are amazing this video is super amazing uh your Park so good love love the the story of the stunts and like the story of

the stunts is there and so there's a lot of lot of great comments um and for me I love comments whether it's good or bad just so I know that there's like discussion going on right and if the discussion is going on what is that discussion um and and for me uh it's it's inspiration um you know you're inspiring those kids you did it in a way where they're like oh this is so fun and I

know I know one of the reasons why I was engaging is because they were sharing it it was like hey you got to go see this video um and and you brought in a wider audience which helped you get on trending and that even brought in a wider audience and so it's it's it's great it's great great to see that and so uh from that um uh how is that kind of how is that kind of

change your new style of videos when it comes to both shorts and long form like like like you you now see case storytelling where it's at um and and you made the comment hey when I'm 40 I don't know if I can do I can't be as Nimble of where it's at but I still want to create content um how has that kind of changed your ideas of how you create and what you create and the

intentionality of that yeah I'm a lot more intentional with the script now because back then I was just go into the gym and be like all right these are the tricks I need to land that Spider-Man or whatever character has done and now it's like okay but like now I'm a lot more strict with myself and on the script it's like okay but why am I doing it like a like you know um creating a story

with it so uh sometimes that makes it a little more challenging but as we just talked about there it's obviously like worth it so it has changed me in the way that like I'm more strict on the script and um I don't like even more intentional with the ideas now where like I make sure to before even starting recording a video that I have that like planned out the like what am I doing and why am

I doing it in the video um so being intentional I think is like very important because back then when I was just make a video to make a video sure it could get some views but if there's a reason like I study and there I'm intentional about it and I'm like this is why I think it could do well there's a lot more like uh chances that it could yeah um I'm gonna bring up a comment

um and and uh I just see coming I was going to wait a little bit earlier but this is a really really really good comment it say I I literally used that trick where it took you 200 times to teach a lesson for my kids wow like I love that that right there because it's like I wanted to teach them a lesson right she was been struggling with being perfect and she tried something new and I

said to her see it took Nick 200 freaking times you know it's just like that that is the power of this and so for me it's the relatability the authenticity the connection and if you didn't show it took 200 times that that moment in that family would have been missed right it's just like like literally it's just like it's it's it's pretty pretty pretty amazing and so for me um uh I want I want to I

want to make this prediction uh when you're 40 you'll you're gonna still be like the Tony Hawk of of Parkour it's just like it's it's in your blood it's like it's going through you if if Tony Hawks can still do a 720 on a on a big ramp you can too cuz he's like 56 like you know he's just like come on now but but I I think he'll always be there but um by mastering this

and showing you know showing the humanity part of it and the challenge part of it and that other storytelling aspects of it is perfect because like if you would have cut that out of oh this didn't go how I wanted to then then it then if you didn't weave that into the story itself it's missed opportunities from my point of view Miss opportunities to say oh okay this could go a little bit deeper into this way

but you saw the power of that one I mean that here he uses a fatherly lesson I I love that so much like perseverance is personally my like favorite trait about myself the fact that like I I don't give up and like like we were just talking about like it's the story that's more important than the actual like trick and performance but like my athlete side was not letting this trick go I was just like there's

no way I'm giving up and uh and if I can teach kids or parents or whatever to be to never give up through it then like honestly it makes it all worth it for me yeah I I'm gonna put this uh from another one it's like I've never been interested in watching this type of video but now I do because I love it teaches perseverance and dedication and and I I know as a parent like I

got five kids you've met most of my kids uh but it's like I I honestly look at the generation uh and I think they're amazing generation I think gen a and gen Z is an amazing generation and I think there's a lot of weight on their shoulders and uh social pressures and all this other stuff um and and I I I see a lot of them it's like they're not they're not willing to do the hard

things you know because they're they're afraid of criticism or whatever and if the underlining theme is uh of your channel is get out get get get your body moving you know uh push self you know don't give up when it when it doesn't work out at the same time every parent I know in the world would love to see that happen like you know they want to see their kids get get motivated and do those things

but more importantly um you know be be willing to um be willing to take that that that step of oh overemphasizing determination perseverance uh impact uh which which which which I which which which I love so it's so great so great um have you have you thought about that did I mean is was that intentional in the sense of the perseverance part where you you were you considering that as a creator that that was come across

of of encouraging people uh to be determined and preserve you know have that that determination to get uh get it right or not give up to to get it right um it wasn't intentional to show it to to my audience and but it's just such a like important and huge part of me that it was inevitably going to come out of my content like accidentally and stuff so like I never tell the kids like hey be

active do this or whatever but sometimes showing it is more important than uh than saying it so like the amount of like hundreds if not thousands of kids have gotten into parkour gymnastics or just like Jump Around in their house be more active through watching my videos without even saying it but it was never intentional to to show the perseverance it just it had to come out like be yeah I I think it's a theme that

I think you could be a little bit more on the nose it's like life like just that comment alone it's just like it's a sense of connection uh to to the child it's a sense of connection to uh parents too but it's like just to be hey life might you know and I'm not saying this you'd weave it in the way that you need to weave it in but life hits you sometimes and you can't give

up you always have to try again you know those little moments like that is is some of the most powerful messaging um in the world and what the world really needs too it's just like sometimes we're so close of succeeding and we give up you know and and so they need to be inspired by it and um I'll I'll I'll share a quick story but um I have a brother that's older than me that we had

swim pool growing up and he could flip and do things and you know he could do a two and a half on a on a low dive and and and get right into it I I couldn't even do a one and a half right I'm I'll try to do it I'll flip like that and everything everything that he did when it comes to that type of performance it was a natural thing um you know me I

don't give up like dude if if if I'm GNA do it you know whatever it was literally 50 times belly flopping on on that before I I actually could get get that rotation to uh you know one and a half and then it probably took me a good 500 times to get to a two and a half on that right but for me um you know uh that perseverance is I I think is is something and

and and and this is what I'm going to say it's like when people see you do things and you try and you show the humanity side of it and you're weaving into your story it makes them say if he can do it I can do it you know or or oh I I got got to try this now or oh my gosh if he's done hard things I can do hard things that that is a really

really powerful message and and I don't think you have to be super on the nose on it but it makes it more relatable you know because because the magic of the world and this is what I love about this is like oh everything's just perfect you know I go to Instagram everything looks just perfect you know this whole thing and that's not life you know so it's so so great so great okay um there's there's so

many people that that's uh that's uh uh coming on for questions and and and wants to kind of pick your brain a little bit before before we open it up for for questions on this ta end um I I just want to ask you like if you were to start today and and realize oh I'm gonna start a YouTube channel I'm going to put all my energy and effort into it it could be in the same

Niche that you're currently doing right now how would you approach your content differently like what what what are the some of the higher priorities that you would actually um look at doing out of the gate um like uh we're talking about long form or just in general just in general yeah just in general what would be your approach um just like being intentional I think is very important um I see a lot of content creators make

content just to make content they have like their own personal quote of let's say one video a week a month or something and they so they kind of try to force that video and stuff but sometimes it's better to not force it and be intentional like okay I'm trying let's say just because this we've talked about this stuns from Sonic because there's a new Sonic movie coming out or something and it's going to go up on

Google Trends like on YouTube search and stuff so being intentional having a reason uh why your video might do well I think uh would help um personally because I was doing less of that at the beginning y um definitely um adjusting is is uh like is 100% needing like you're NE we're never going to be perfect right off the bat and like I still so far from being like perfect but uh being flexible and able to

adjust is something that like uh would be important and um like like you always say focus on the viewer that's something that I haven't done enough consciously until like more recently is like try to think of who you're trying to reach out to because then your content's going to be more intentional since you know like okay my audience is uh people who like to travel like what does that audience want to see you know so being

more intentional is what like I would recommend yeah and I and I think to um test things too because I I think uh the short form content is a great way to test um you know get it out there see see if there's an appetite for um and and for me I I always lean towards uh long form content because you it's more sustainable for you as a Creator and a business um it just it just

is because the money is so much better in that regard but that being said uh we I I think the the platform is mature enough that you can actually test things and say oh they respond really well with this and the first question would be well what can I do now on long form that can coincide with it because it could kind of lead traffic in so cool well you down to take a couple questions on

on this okay let's do it okay so we have one uh build and fix with Mooney um and it says Super Chat thank you so much for the Super Chat uh Nick I'm having success with shorts found out that the swipe away rate doesn't matter for viral shorts 40% % and 78% and both have gone viral thoughts so I I think uh they're they're bringing in cases uh what whenever I hear um percentage points um I

just want everyone to know is there's different metrics that that we look at and sometimes it could be misunderstood uh but um uh and and and and and maybe this is a good question is have you noticed that your percentage retention rate has gone down the more more viral that it is and if so why is that um of course like the average view percentage is going to go down the more viral it is because it's

reaching a broader audience and not that entire audience is going to want to watch that short so it's going to go down and um that happens regardless but for me even though that goes down it doesn't necessarily affect it because as YouTube Studio even tells me like word for word like oh like yes um it's reaching a broader audience so that's why it's like um going down so it's um it is good to watch uh the

average you percentage to see like you know if there's any drop offs and stuff because you want to keep them for the entire time but it's going to go down at least in my experience yeah no so Nick Nick nailed it right on this one and and uh what what happens is the the bigger the video gets the more general of an audience goes all your metrics go down so clickr it goes down um average you

uh your your percentage of of view goes down um and and just kind of across board it goes down because it goes out to a wider audience now what you need to understand is YouTube also understands that and so you might be performing higher uh in that realm of of uh of viewership than you've ever done before and and it might in your internal metrics it might be lower you're like oh this is a disaster how's

this even working well it's out to a water a wider audience and so um it's it's pretty pretty cool to see that so just keep in mind the more views that it has all the all the metrics go down um on that except for watch time watch time goes through the roof and Views go through the roof on that and you remember all the other metrics that you're po possibly gauging on um you're creating a new

Baseline for those types of views and so you understand oh when it's wider um of course it's not going to have that same same percentage um from there that's a really really great question on on that um had another uh one come in um and I I don't know if you're willing to share this one but Real Deals is saying what does your avd retention look like on a two-hour long video versus a 10-minute video I've

only made a one twoh hour long video ever and the average view percentage if I'm to pull it up real quick it's pretty bad but it's I know I knew it was going to be bad because it was a compilation of me recreating stunts but by Nature the whole compilation is a little bit um repetitive yep so it's um let's see so the average R percentage is like 10% on two hours uh and four minutes and

that's uh it's pretty bad but the the compilation I personally don't think that's bad I oh really yeah yeah yeah I don't think it's bad it's like you you had a 20 22 minute um uh viewing time so the average see this is where this is where I always uh struggle when when to look at what metric right but someone just watched it 22 minutes of your video that that's a lot like especially when maybe they

only prior before that maybe watched one minute of it on a short right so it's just like there's there's ways now it would have probably been better in the 35 minute range you know what I'm saying if it was in 35 minute for two hours that's really really good when it comes to TV viewership but then two you never know oh maybe they got interrupted and they're going to come back and watch it again and so

it's like you got to understand the format of it from there is is difficult so when I look at it um and you you're Nick you're well aware of this but it's like I want to know what device type that we're talking about too because it's like overall hey yeah maybe it didn't work for mobile but on TV it might have been 40 you know 40 minutes and so I'm very curious if you're right there let's

see what that is for yeah I'm trying but load it up but for me yeah like it's definitely um it's probably 40 to 50% average view uh percentage on my normal uh videos but this one um it's just I think long like two hour long compilation or two hour long videos can be good um I've only made one that's a compilation of videos that are the same group but the the problem that I had which I

knew is they're too similar it's too um y so it's repetitive to watch that for two hours so if you're if someone's going to do that a compilation I think I'd recommend make sure there's different like um they're different enough but in the same grouping still that it all Targets the same viewer but they're not too repetitive and uh they get bored uh here's another question uh should we do multiple audience avatars or viewer avatars cold

viewers warm viewers core viewers or one is enough what what would you say on that so um I think uh obviously Avatar this sounds like a a potential jump starter um like uh you'd be the expert on that on avatars and whatnot I personally don't think I think at the beginning targeting a very specific Avatar would probably be better because you're more targeted you're it's less confusing um I think that's what be best but I think

you'd be uh better to speak on that um what what I teach what I teach uh my students to do is we're we're really going after the potential viewers so we want the people that would be the most likely to click and watch and that's that's who we're trying to understand and if we do the video right we're going to convert them into an active viewer so we're using different uh you know maybe words here but

an active viewer is when they watch more than one video uh within a certain period of time and if you notice on your audience tab in analytics you'll have a blue line and a purple line the new viewer is the Blue Line the purple line is the returning viewer and that's where loyalty comes in and YouTube does not look at subscriber base as loyalty it looks at that purple line as loyalty and so what we want

to do is bring new people clicking on and I can guarantee you uh NX had videos where it brought in you know millions of of new people coming on and subscribing and then two it those subscribers then turned into a returning viewer because they're watching more than one video um in in that in that realm so for me I always focus in on the the potential viewer because even the returning viewer will still like what the

potential viewer would love you know and then the core viewer or hardcore viewer would love kind of the elements because they're watching every little detail they know oh look he landed a little bit differently in this one than he did over here and they're leaving comments like that so that's that's kind of how we how we gauge that so um and then uh empowered uh homeowner which is one of your super fans here um says they

watch on TV too so they're they're they're consuming your content on TV which which is a a gathering moment for sure yeah it was I just found it 71% for the long long form two hour long on TV so who's gonna like some people do 133% like on the mobile phone but starting a two hour long video uh on the phone the average view um percentage is also like a huge difference when you're on the TV

you're going to watch like longer than a 2hour long video on the phone exactly it's definitely a an atmosphere that they'll they'll lean back and watch you know and and engage okay so Taylor's asking what is the difference between content that builds views and content that builds loyal viewers and how would I focus on the second one so um builds views for me and my content style would just be like um doing what's popular trying to

reach a broad audience so like what I would do in 2020 and 2021 um I would just show let's say Spider-Man do a trick and then I would recreate it no fails it would just be him then me and like that's it there would be no connection between me and the audience but that went uh viral I did a few from anime that were shared on different like uh websites and like articles and whatnot but there

was Zero connection there so um It's when um I brought in like kind of like emotion talking to my audience um I that's when I developed a connection and then they're there more for for you and like sure you still have to provide the content that they want to see but as there's going to be the core audience that are just like dedicated and watch no matter what so make sure that you have like a kind

of like a connection with them whether it's through storytelling which is probably the most effective means because then there's like emotions involved so that's what I would recommend yeah and and to kind of piggyback on what Nick was saying would be uh think of loyal viewers as loyal friends like you need to have consistency of connection with a friend if not you kind of you're still friends but you're not as loyal or whatever so it's just

like be consistent in that too and then there's moments where you really connect with friendship right so there's there certain things um that that uh friends like to do and the more consistent you are with those things it it creates a deeper Bond um and for me uh when when I when I found out that um uh you know I had a lot of a lot of perspective on audience development of understanding people how they consume

content what they actually do it's more about trying to figure out who that person is and then to bring that value proposition in where they feel like oh I can't wait for another video to go out and then two um create moments of sharability so we call it sharable moments it's like when you can like what is that moment in your video that they want to share and they're thinking about four or five other people that

they're connected to that would like this type of content and so it's kind of creates this feedback loop that brings in uh more more viewership but more importantly more loyalty um because the Loyalty factor is oh I can't wait for him to post or I can't wait for that to happen that that's what we're looking for which is that that actually brings in long-term sustainability from it so that consistency you talked about I think is important

when it's manageable for your content because if you can make one video a week let's say every Friday you're part of their lives you're part of their routine and it's like yes I get to like hang out with so and so the Creator today hang out like watch their video so you're part of their lives versus those creators who make viral videos like uh that take a lot of effort like like a few times a year

like three four times a year every couple months you're sure that video might get a lot of views but you're not like integrated like in their lives and it it creates less of a connection I think yep love it love it Erin's asking two important questions what other n niches do you study for ideas to bring into your videos that's the first question and then the second half is what's the color lightsaber blade is the best

well um I'll take the easy one out of the way best lightsaber color o um so in um in Old in Old lightsaber lore I'm not gonna get too heavy into this get nerdy wa I want nerdy come on now old lore it used to be that green is more like you're more powerful with the force and more knowledgeable where blue is more like uh you're more like physical like you're more a little more fighting and

whatnot so I prefer even though prefer blue as a color green the knowledge and experience that uh comes with it and being good with the force rather than just being good with a lightsaber is more of value to me but obviously there's other cool ones like you know yellow purple like yellow like Temple guard which I think I made one back there anyways so sorry what was the first question again no that's the important question first

so we have that one uh for for me I'm I'm the same I I love the green uh it just brings the essence of uh you know Return of the Jedi I I really loved how Luke evolved and where he was at on that one but when that green lightsaber comes on like come on now come on it was just like so powerful it's awesome okay the question was um what other niches do you study for

ideas to bring into your videos so I'll uh sometimes I'll hop on Google Trend and of course this is my Niche but uh I'll hop on Google Trends and look up uh through YouTube searches and look up the word parkour see if there's any related words and one of them that's constantly on there is Minecraft Parkour so I try to look at the gaming Niche which is also something that Daryl has told me to look at

gaming Concepts to add into my videos not necessarily recreating stunts from games but yeah um so gaming is a big one because gaming uh can get a lot of views on YouTube uh gaming and pop culture niches are the main two I also like to look at um challenge type CH channels or people that do something like for example like unspeakable and they're like oh I turned my house into this and it's just like stuff like

that um is I feel like could be interesting to my audience so I like to look at that Niche and see if there's ever a way to incorporate my skills uh and acrobatics into it at the end of the day I always try to take my Niche parkour and then merge another one with it to reach a broader audience which is I think why um I grew so much it wasn't just the parkour it was the

pop culture with it yeah I I think for me um I I love to get ideas of inspiration um you know uh I I think you know when when you're going out um if you're looking at it through the eyes of a viewer and seeing what it is like you can get inspired by any anything you literally can um I'm more of an idea person when it comes around visual uh inspiration so like images actually will

do more than video Concepts will like I I can think of a hundred hundred things uh that we can do uh but I I think the big thing would be uh just taking time energy and effort to get outside of your Niche you know where where Nick's using Google Trends that's great it's like try to figure out what's happening where momentum is that's that's a great opportunity for me I I do something similar but I I

I go into images and I'm like I just say search for a topic and images and I actually use Google images for it because it's like I um I just kind of scroll um on that I know I'm not watching a video if I do it on YouTube I I watch videos and it it's not as productive so for me it's just more oh here's an idea oh this is a really interesting thing or I can

go down a rabbit hole but um when when um when you really want to succeed it's more about what inspires you to create and and sometimes you just need some type of ignition of that of that if not you're going to always do the same type of things um in the uh in the uh uh world of of content creation I know I've worked with enough content creators on YouTube but also in Hollywood and and they

have something that inspired them in fact uh a TV show that I I produce and co-founded it's called The Chosen uh we just opened up season five this week in theaters and you're thinking wait TV show and theaters well we we were doing that for multiple reasons but it is a theatrical experience and and season 5 is the Holy Week and it's in three parts and so part one just opened up in the theaters this week

um and I know for a fact that the Creator who my partner is um that is a writer director of the show was inspired by Breaking Bad okay Breaking Bad and Jesus Breaking Bad in Jesus and it was it was just like the the dialogue and then he was also inspired by westwing uh uh the TV show of the walk and talks a lot of the stuff was walking and talking and so he took that inspiration

of of oh it's really interesting to see how decision-making and how things impact from Breaking Bad and that really good character development that that Vince Gilligan does but also westering of like Jesus walked a lot so maybe a lot of these moments are walking talks and so the thing for me is like you can get inspiration from anywhere but it's more about how you apply it uniquely to you and and what's your unique value proposition when

it comes to that and I think that's the interesting thing it's like you can you could talk about certain things all different ways but what makes this uh a Creator is the unique approach we take on it because like anyone can copy and I think that's the laziest thing in the world to do is just like literally copy it right but but realistically uh and you've seen this like everyone copies you Nick like you literally down

to the detail of oh I I'm using even his same image and body and you know just switching out my head but um but it's like anyone can copy and that's a form of flattery but it's like how do you uniquely make it your own is is a is a big deal so love it um okay so let me um Let me let me hit uh one right here this one's it looks like coming from a

jump starter how is your avatar evolves since joining channel jumpstar uh what are the distinct differences of your avatar how you look at your avatar so personally I didn't start uh that long ago uh Channel jump start but um I it hasn't really evolved too much because I uh when I started Channel jumpstart I already had my channel um for like seven years so I've met like thousands of my fans in real life so I had

a really good idea of who was watching me already so it's a different experience for me because I already knew who my avatar was but it's really really helped me be intentional about them because I was always just trying to create the video based off of what was doing well for others or what I knew would do well for my channel but I wasn't really thinking about focusing what do what do they want to see what

would make them happy you know so it's made me more intentional well I I want to talk about that because that's one of the things that um that you did that I always encourage it's like we have this like preon received idea who our viewer is and it can shift when when you see who they are in real life in fact I I was having a discussion with the Creator and they're like oh no our Avatar

is this I'm like I just I can't buy it I'm sorry you know they're ah we know we've been doing content whatever and they were going on tour they actually were doing a performance and I'm like just tell me who shows up and I says this is the person that's going to show up and they're like I don't I don't I don't think so and so anyway I went to one of their performance in Vegas and

guess who showed up it was literally the age and the demographic of exactly what I said and they're like ah now we get it and I says it's not that you don't have those other ones but these are the ones that are the most obsessed and yeah you might have some other people but this the ones that you're actually speaking to and the value proposition is they they see a sense of connection of something that they

wish they had and that was the light bulb moment for them and and it helps you really now see oh I'm creating content this is the eyes and lens of the viewer that I'm making for what what can we do to hook him what can we do to set up the story what can we do to to bring in that sharable moment you know and and that connection point to go from there which which I love

so uh here's a great question from uh josek um was asking how do you train your instincts to spot attention grabbing moments before they happen on camera o um I I honestly that's a hard one for me um attention grabbing moments sometimes like sometimes I try to like manufacture them not necessarily like fake them per se but like it's very much um I it's it's like kind of intuitive the more you do it um the more

you just make content and the more you analyze retention graphs you see what grabs their attention on other videos and it's not just what grabbed their attention but why did it grab their attention you know so it's just like is it a fall is it this is it not like a lot of times for me um I learned through the retention graphs on other um videos I see that I recreated a trick then I have the

side by side of the character doing it and me doing it and it's different than how I just recreated it because I added some movie Magic to make it look more accurate but the movie Magic is not what they expected so having something unexpected made them replay and there's a huge bump in the graph so now that I learned from the retention graph um that's helped me do that in future videos but um it's yeah it's

a little hard to to do in person for me at least personally yeah I I would say um there was there was one moment and I've shared this on a stream before but I think it's really important there's one moment um when you know you found a really good Creator um and and uh they do a great job visualizing so uh I was actually uh working very closely with Mr Beast and they he invited in these

YouTubers and these YouTubers were were literally congregating by each other uh talking or whatever and Mr Beast was like setting up a scene um you know in in his head and I went over to those creators I go you guys are the dumbest people I've ever been around and they're like whoa that's that's that's really you got the number one YouTuber over here doing something that you're not seeing what he's doing and you can learn from

it which is he's literally editing the video in his head right now and he knows that there's a freaking disconnect and and he's trying to fix it and you guys are over here thinking oh this has been so fun or whatever when you could be looking at hey he's thinking I'm losing the viewer right now in the video how can I re-engage him and and they're like oh my gosh and so you know I said just

watch him very closely of of what's happening cuz cuz good good content creators when they're making content they're thinking of the end product and did they have the shot do they have that moment is this going to grab them if it not they need to adjust right and so anyway uh they went and watched over and and he goes he snaps he goes yep yep I know what we're gonna do now and and so he he

directed the people to come do it they moved over a big scale on it and and and it was this moment that really brought the the video back in and so the point that I'm going talking about Zeke is like all good creators are not thinking of what's in the moment they're thinking about how it's received on on the screen and and is it is it going to grab it is g to is it going to

connect them or whatever so for me um I I've done this enough where an image can pull in oh here's that that moment here's the the grabit attening moment um here's something that you can you can do very visually to pull them in even deeper uh but great creators were looking at oh I don't think this is going to pull off really well I might need to switch the camera or we need to set this up

differently uh but that's that's where I think your train is more trying to edit in your head of what you got and and realize maybe this isn't the best way to do it so okay uh there's a really good question that it just kind of went bent down I let me see if I can grab it it was really really good question I should have started and I didn't do it but um okay right um right

here um okay uh NOP that that wasn't it but we'll answer this one it was from the same person but uh uh creating the Avatar of our ideal view has been the most valuable part of CGS so far so they're a CGI a CGS student um this is the question I was looking for um how much feedback on a video do you get before posting it and whose opinions do you trust this is probably one of

the best questions ever had how much feedback do I get um almost almost none I'll be honest like uh this it is very good to surround yourself with uh people who who might know like um it's it's important to get feedback I do value that and um sometimes like um like I try to but it it's hard because uh I have a lot of content creator friends but they're all short forms so when I show them

a long form it's a little hard and I don't necessarily want to put that burden on them but it's also that like one of the persons that understands my audience best is like me so I'll watch that video 10 12 times or whatever and um to like I'll see like you know what I was kind of bored during that moment or something's going to bother me but uh I'll like let it slide but by the 10th

time I'm rewatching and editing the video I'm like no I need to change that so I personally I do value other people's opinion I think it's important to look into but at the end of the day um take their opinions and if you don't think that's what's best with your audience I'd say go with your gut because at the end of the day if uh if you do what you think is right you're you shouldn't have

any regrets but if you take someone's opinion and uh and it like doesn't like pay out then you might regret not listening to your gut but yeah well this is really easy for me um I want to take uh opinions from people that understand what I'm trying to do and uh believe it or not that's not people in your own Niche because if if they're in their own Niche they're they're going to be opinionated on it

so you got to understand people that actually understand what good content is and like well why did you choose this hook you know and I think they're going to be more um more opinionated on on what you're trying to do so for me I I like to to surround myself with people that that fall into that category and and are are willing um to say oh I understand your hook here uh I this is where I

kind of disconnected I understand the storytelling here you're trying to set this up here so I'd rather have that now noticing that you do kids songs and more let me tell you what I would do um and I would I would take your your video and put it on an iPad not upload it to YouTube hand it to a two to four yearold and see if they swipe away like like in the moment they swipe away

they've lost the retention that's your feedback loop right there like like seriously like like if if and it can't be your own kid or your own child has to be somebody else because if you can't pull them in if they're automatically getting distracted that's the best editing that you could Poss Ed right there um and trust me um uh there's a a a YouTuber that came that's creating a brand new channel that came to my house

and um they have a new content uh style in fact it's an hour and a half video um and they're they're probably doing about six or seven of these videos before they even launched the channel because they're doing in the smart way of really understanding who the viewer is um and and immediately when I saw the video I my jaw dropped like I I ain't kiding you like the hook was so freaking good and and um

and then they came to my house and they showed me another video and my jaw didn't drop as much I'm like why did you take out this part like that part literally pulled me in I was like all in on the video like why would you do this right and so they're putting it back in and I explain why it's just like it literally created something and then two you know you can get great feedback on

on Hey would this pull you into the story like if you're going to click if you're my ideal Avatar that's fine but can I can I set up do you know what's going on here and I think you can you can get surrounded by people that um are are uh trusted so every big Creator uh that I know does what Nick does they they they have their gut they know what it is um um however they

do have valued people when they're trying to get out of their own head that they'll they'll give the content to and they'll get get feedback isn't that correct Nick I mean you're gonna you're gonna have if if something's like not quite where you needed to be or you like trying to test it out or you're trying to do something there's there's always always something that someone that you trust yeah there's a like whenever there's something that

like I try to get um what we call like a Muggles like perspective I try to get like my sisters for example they don't do flips right they don't understand so I'm like you know what did this make sense to you or is this too much like flip jargon or whatever because at the end of the day it needs to make sense to people who can't flip so sometimes like um I'll try to ask them for

that but there's also my buddy Matt that who is a master in my opinion of Storytelling for shorts and stuff and he's so creative more than I could ever be in my opinion and um so I like to get his opinion especially on that kind of stuff because he's also a flipper so that helps but besides that uh I try to trust my gut yeah yep agreed agreed uh Justin Johnson saying uh most of our viral

videos hit over a million and we're all accidents we learn from those and and can now use the knowledge to make more um happy accidents are great man um and and I'll answer this one and I I'd love to hear your thoughts on this too but um I I think creating contents and it takes off um I always ask why why why did this one take off when others didn't um and the happy accidents would be

what does all your happy accidents have in common I can guarantee you there's something there there's a pattern there you just might not see it yet and so I always like to look at why why are these working and these are not what what's going on there and and look for those patterns of of of signs and sometimes you have to get into the comments for it but it should be apparent like like I I I

use this example of uh Casey neistat he's known you know as a YouTuber I says what what is Casey neistat really and literally uh 70% of all his views come from him uh doing uh reviews reviews of airplanes reviews of of uh hotels and so it's just like that that's from my point of view that's where he can get a guaranteed view if he does a a a a seat review on an airplane guaranteed um but

you can see those patterns specifically of there might be some value proposition or something that's done that there is some consistency on it I don't know what's your thoughts on that so you said something that like I fully agree with and sometimes like sometimes it's in the comments and that's what I try to look at so sometimes I'll try to look at other people's um videos you know for ideas and stuff and I'm like this idea

like I don't understand why this got like millions of views like let's say as a short and I'm like this idea does not seem that special doesn't stand out to me so I look at the comments I'm like oh that's why something specific happened and uh sometimes I see people try to manufacture those like manually and whatnot for the comments and stuff hide certain Easter eggs and whatnot in the videos and stuff and um so I

try to look at the comments because sometimes it's not even the video concept or idea it's something specific that happen that people comment on so that's usually how I determine like um the the luck or the the accident aspect yep love it um this this is is pretty funny um was saying darl looking at other stuff online and not listening I'm literally going through comments so I can bring those comments on as questions so there you

go on that one I thought that was funny okay here's here's a great one uh what's an the most eye-opening thing you learned uh from uh from Matt about storytelling I I don't know who Matt is I don't know if he's I don't know what that is Matt is uh I mentioned my buddy uh with got it yeah so he he makes uh some Parkour challenges he'll like do voice over of like trying something and um

he's also been doing parkour for 18 years like me and like you know AG is slowly catching up to us and uh he focuses more on the story and stuff and sometimes it's not even about the high level skill or anything it's just like what am I um like what story am I telling here and uh I love that the way he captures people audience with his hooks The Hook is so important uh for shorts because

he's a short form so um his editing style is personally like is very hard to uh it takes a lot of knowledge of After Effects Premiere Pro and whatnot so that really helps but uh his hooks are always uh 10 out of 10 for me at least uh and even though I've made content for eight years I still admire and like I'm still in shock of his content and um it's beautiful so his hooks are always

good and I'd say like that's something to Super focus on for shorts because it if you're you can have a 10 out of ten story but if they don't stay they're never gonna they're not gonna watch it yeah it's so true that's so true um for for me um I I love how you can get inspired by other creators and sometimes they're in your Niche sometimes they're not um but creators get inspired by other creators and

they look oh that's so cool how they did X Y or Z or whatever that may be and U for me um it might not even be the same format and it might not even be the same Niche but there's might might be some elements oh why did they do this and I I try to get all my students to think hey when you watch YouTube you can watch it for fun all the time but if

you really want to be a student of YouTube you need to you need to ask questions why did they choose that thumbnail why did they do that title why did they use that hook oh my gosh that camera angle was really caught me off guard but it brought me into the story why did they do that and so I really really love um you know uh getting inspiration and then two when someone's just dialed in and

it sounds like Matt just dialed in on on on shorts and and there's so much that stuff it's just like they're a master at their craft and and then to see how consistent they are at things and then two when when is it a disconnect because they they might misstep at times and disconnect on certain things and and make note of that uh because what we want to do is uh be in a position where um

where we're consistently bringing that value proposition and consistently uh you know connecting with with our audience so all right well uh you down for uh one more question and then yeah down as as many as you want oh okay all right we'll do do a couple more then um Alex was saying hey I follow you for years I was just joking yeah I know I know Alex I just I just uh wanted to put that up

there there just cuz like other people might not think that I I'm paying attention which I am I'm trying to um bring some value in and getting I mean there's not all these this time that that someone that has as many subscribers of Nick has that's willing to come on and and give back and so I want to I want to take full advantage and let you ask the questions there which is great okay um let's

see if you have a question put it in [Music] here um here here is one from Roger Wakefield Nick can you teach a 61-year-old plumber to backflip um yes I definitely think like that's possible everything like I've seen people in their 60s start uh and learn a backflip from scratch it's just about progressions and honestly it's it's very similar with YouTube too right you know you don't start like trying to make uh Mr Beast level videos

you know you it's all the progressions one step at a time so yeah I definitely think possible yeah love it love it Roger I I know that you lost like 60 pounds over the last little bit and and so uh and then two uh in the beach you're in that Speedo and I'm still trying to get that out of my head but anyway um you can do it like that'd be one of the best videos of

all time I I I think that'd be great okay so Gabe's asking is there a specific aha when you remember having during the Recon phase uh what was it super curious uh the Recon phase is very like um that's is that when you're like looking for ideas and stuff ideation yeah ideation is still one that I struggle with because um at least in my Niche I'm like uh near the top and whatnot so it's not like

I have other creators to have to broaden my like I guess that would be my aha moment that I like realize like you know what I need to do something different if I want to reach an even broader audience I can't just stick with the same ideas that I'm doing right now I need to like um I need to think of new Concepts uh that would still interest my viewer um outside of like my Niche because

if you're um having a niche super great super important and stuff but if you at a certain point it is possible that you've had like 90% of the audience from your Niche is already watching you and like then you start expanding yeah I um I know our conversation we had is like because you brought up this struggle too it's like oh how do I do Recon I mean I I see all the stuff in my my

nation I'm like well let's look at something lateral and realistically you are a video game in real life and so it's like like what's happening there and then really understanding oh from a video game perspective not like recreating video games but like what what are the challenges what are the things that are going on I think there's a lot of great ways to do it for me um the Recon phase is you can get inspired by

anything that you're watching as long as you're intentionally looking and what I mean by that is like hey if you're looking for ideas like what's grabbing your attention I I see thumbnail ideas not even remotely close related and it's not curated in a way that I'm looking for it but I'm like oh my God that's a really good that's a really good thumbnail you know so I'm like how do I app I always think how do

I apply it to what I'm doing um and I think that's that's uh amazing uh Chantel is saying congrats on hitting 26 million Subs Nick look at you man ah thank you so much I love it honestly best job in the world yeah when you first started YouTube and realizing hey um you know I'm I'm I'm GNA go all in I'm GNA get that silver play button and now to think you know there's not that many

people that get that diamond play button and then be literally in the 26 million range which is which is fantastic so at the beginning like there was like two or three parkour athletes that had maybe a hundred there was two and one of them you mentioned I think Ronnie Street stunts yeah and um there was another one and I believe those were the two in the entire world with a gold play button um they all they

like there was only two at a million so it was never even a dream it was never even a thought there's no way I ever thought I was gonna I thought one million was the peak yeah you know so so so crazy it's like uh it it I think we limit ourselves based on what we see but then seeing oh wait the audience is so massive out there when you really look at it you know worldwide

you have a worldwide audience and uh you're inspiring people all around the world which is which is fantastic and and sometimes we limit ourselves uh naturally on how we create content but I think the moment that you just like realize no no no we we want this out to to more and more people um and and how how do we actually impact more people that's that's what I love um I want to want to give away

a couple tickets to to vid Summit uh vid summit's happening again it's our 12th year October 7th through the 9th it'll be in Dallas Texas uh Nick you you went to vidsummit last year I think it was your first time right like you've been in the industry for so long and and it was your first time going to vidsummit I love to hear your perception of how it was for you at vidsummit you can say all

The Good the Bad and the Ugly too if you want to it's all good but uh what was it like for you in pure pure honesty like uh no lie like there was no bad for me you know like to hear about like industry specialist people that have been in there for like so long um and even like uh some YouTube employees right like uh I hope I'm saying this properly but Todd Boe or something like

that like uh so like hearing from them like honestly it was great even connecting with uh Brands and stuff like um I um like there was um some booths and stuff on one of the convention levels that like I met with some editing like companies and whatnot and it's it was like it was a great experience and honestly like there's not even a second thought uh in my mind that I'm going like this year again yeah

yeah I think for me when I started it was I wanted people that are like you 26 million plus subscribers and people that maybe have one subscriber uh could go in there and it's not a fan Creator experience you know where you're connecting with your fans but it's more about industry right Creator economy um where where you felt comfortable walking down and and going from session to session and you might have people notic to who you

are and maybe there might be some discussion from there but it was just like it was just like a safe place where creators can go and learn and then two be surrounded by uh you know people that get it they get what it means to to to be on YouTube they get what's the challenges that can be and there's that relatability you know and so uh for me that's that's why I started uh vidsummit and um

if you want to uh if you want to uh come to vidsummit it's happening every year we actually sold out our third hotel which has never been done before in March so it's like it's the craziest ever so I'd encourage you to get your ticket to vids but also get your accommodations if not um there's only so much accommodations in Dallas Texas you might have to drive in quite a quite a ways uh but that's October

7th through the 9th um and and it's happening um I'm going to give away two tickets and that's what we've been doing on these live streams but before we do I going to do a quick little promo um on on vid Summit so you can kind of get the feel if you've never been and then and then two we'll kind of take one uh two questions uh back and then we'll kind of end the stream so

here we go [Music] he [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on now man oh my gosh so so great um for me I I get energy every time I see that it's like it's a dream for me uh to to do this like like to have have a place that we can all gather together and all learn and grow together um and get all that inspiration and every year it just gives me that energy that I

need um and and and and focus and so really really grateful for that um that you you you're able to attend and you know and have have have a place where creators can come together and really be uh uh fed in so many different ways with knowledge like there's so many people willing to give uh and and have a platform where it's very very impactful but what was one of your favorite moments at vid Summit like

what was that like for you specifically I've been to vid con a couple times and uh I it's fun but it's nice to as you said it's more like Creator focused and less like fan Creator focused so just connecting with different creators and just like like the the amount of knowledge you get from the panels is amazing but also just talking real time like after the panels with creators was one of my favorite moments just like

sharing what we learned and like bouncing off of each other because like uh I live in Canada in Ottawa which is the capital not that many creators here so I don't get that opportunity often like it's very rare So to have that opportunity to bounce off knowledge and just inspiration with other creators was actually my favorite moment yeah I love it I love it and that that's that is for me too it's just like conversations in

the hall or going deep dive like you know um you're impacted on something you're having discussions at lunch or whatever it may be well we are going to give a couple tickets away the first one's going to go to growing to live uh you are uh G to come to vidsummit we're going to get you a ticket you can either come in person or virtual um and uh what you need to do is just DM me

either on Instagram or X or you can kind of leave something here I just made a screenshot um of your of your name so my team knows to look out for you uh and then two Chantel's here Chantel she she knows what to do on that side um to to make sure that happens um can't wait to to meet in person uh and the next one um we are getting the gang to come here and so

really excited for you guys to come to uh we have a ticket for you um that's one ticket uh but once again just DM me either on Instagram or X or Shantel will will do that as well so really grateful for that um and and uh for all of you that are on the stream um I I think for me just in closing I'm just I'm grateful for you Nick um for your willingness number one a

uh to take time with my kids um that's that's probably the the the thing that I admire most you you spent some time with one of my kids Kelton uh who who loves parkour loves the content um just is a great great kid uh but that means a lot for me as a father and so I just wanted to first off thank you for that and then two your willingness to come on this live stream uh

to share uh there's not a lot of creators are so into themselves sometimes that that they they don't see the value of giving back and just your willingness to come on to give back is I'm grateful for that obviously you make it super easy you've raised some good kids and stuff like I love your son and uh honestly with everything that you've done for the YouTube community and everything it's also like how how do I say

no like I can't you know I love uh you've given so much back you know it's I love to help uh you give back even more well thank you so much well guys thank you all for coming on thank you Nick and go out there and make some great content and just stay encouraged like you never know what's going to happen uh something can pop off for you or you know you might figure out a new

way to kind of expand the things that you're doing but I think all our goal here is to motivate you and to encourage you that this can be done I I know when Nick first saw that video all those years ago of the first parkour video taking off on YouTube it inspired him uh to go do parkour and also uh you know start on the journey that he is here today you know which is which is

great so thank you so much Nick thank you everyone we'll see you on the next one thanks everybody e