Learning on the Fly: Secrets of New YouTubers
30sEducational insight on adapting to multiple platforms, highly relevant for creators facing similar challenges.
▶ Play ClipAI Summary
Dan and Chris Powers of the hockey channel Empty Netters share their experiences launching and growing a YouTube channel, discussing challenges, idea generation, handling failure, and advice from other creators.
Chapters
[00:00]
Biggest challenge: learning on the fly
Navigating multiple platforms and tailoring content for each is a constant learning process.
[00:00]
Idea generation: shared doc
They maintain a shared document for dumping ideas and choose the most fun ones to execute.
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Handling video flops: memory of a goldfish
They advise moving on quickly from poorly performing videos, not letting negativity affect future content.
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Three-try rule
Chris enforces a rule: if an idea doesn't gain traction after three tries, abandon it and move to the next.
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Advice: speed and being first
A creator friend emphasized posting quickly on breaking news (e.g., NHL trades) without over-preparing, as timeliness is crucial.
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Repurposing content
They now release a quick hitter video immediately, followed by a full podcast the next day, cross-promoting to feed the channel.
The duo emphasizes adaptability, speed over perfection, and resilience in the face of failure as key to content creation success.
Study Flashcards (4)
What is the 'three-try rule' mentioned by Chris?
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What is the 'three-try rule' mentioned by Chris?
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If an idea doesn't gain traction after three attempts, abandon it and move to the next.
What advice did a creator friend give about breaking news?
medium
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What advice did a creator friend give about breaking news?
medium
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Post quickly without over-preparing; speed and being first are crucial.
How do the Powers brothers repurpose content?
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How do the Powers brothers repurpose content?
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They release a quick 10-minute video immediately, then a full podcast the next day with deeper analysis.
What method do they use for generating video ideas?
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What method do they use for generating video ideas?
easy
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A shared document where they dump ideas whenever they come up.
💡 Key Takeaways
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Memory of a goldfish
Describes the resilience needed to move on from failed videos without letting negativity affect future work.
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Speed over perfection
Highlights a key shift in strategy: prioritizing quick posting on news over thorough preparation.
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Three-try rule
A practical limit on persistence to avoid wasting time on unsuccessful ideas.
Full Transcript
Dan Powers. >> I'm Chris Powers. >> Uh, our channel is Empty Netters and we are about hockey. And what's been the biggest challenge in launching the channel? Oh, wow. I think learning on the fly. There are so many different elements about how many different platforms there are, what's the most important, how you should sort of curtail what you're doing to which platform and things are different across all of those things. So, it's just it's a constant
learning process, I think. Where do you get your ideas from for like the next video, the next three, four, five videos? Wow, great question. I think we're very lucky in that since we talk predominantly about the league, they give us the content. >> But, we try to keep it light, too. Play games, do trivia stuff. So, we have a shared doc that's just idea dump. Every time you see a cool video of another creator or some
random idea enters your brain, it goes on the doc and then we cruise through it and find something fun to do. And something that happens to all of us is once in a while we think that we have like a banger on our hands and it just ends up bombing. How do you handle that? Uh, memory of a goldfish. It's, you know, you got to move on and, you know, whether it's the video tanks or someone's
saying something bad about you because you didn't love their favorite team, it's the end of the day, it's the internet. We've got to just, you know, keep just being true to yourself and make new stuff and not let it phase you, I think. >> He's better than me, though. Sometimes I'll have this great social idea and I'm like, we got to run this and it won't work right away and I would run that thing forever just
to prove a point and be petty. He made a rule, listen, three tries. If we go three tries and still no one's watching, onto the next idea. And I was like, uh, we met in the middle at three. >> Was there any advice that you got from a creator or early on that sort of helped you or was an aha moment for you? Speed and being first plays a big role in this game. And sometimes you
wish it wouldn't and you know, you get to it and I get to it and I'm a busy guy, but if there's, for example, a huge trade in the NHL, it is so important for us and our channel to just get something up. Even if we're on the road, record it on Zoom, whatever, but reacting quickly because it's such a quick world these days, especially with all the tools people have on YouTube, that was a huge
impact and we weren't doing that and a creator friend was like, I know you want to go and do all your research and get prepped, but just get it up, get it up. >> And it's not like a zero-sum game. Just because you're first doesn't mean you can't follow up with like the in-depth thing, yeah. So true, so true. We've actually been trying to do that more, too, where we'll go, you know, lift a little thing,
get 10 minutes up on YouTube, the next day do our full pod, in the pod say, "Hey, this big trade happened. For more in-depth analysis, there's a quick hitter yesterday." You know, doing things like that to help feed itself is really cool.
