YouTube Is His #1 Salesman — $1.3M With Only 15K Subs

[00:02] >> How much revenue can you actually attribute because you're making YouTube >> In the video, you're just sitting in the back of your truck. What are you doing >> That's just really kind of my personality. Pretty laid-back, pretty

[00:15] chill. I'm not good at marketing, but I can give away information. >> Welcome to the Think Media Podcast, the number one show bringing you unfiltered channel. I'm Nathan Eswine, co-host of the podcast, and today I'm hanging out

[00:29] with Tracy from Homestead Roofing. Tracy, how's it going? >> It's going very well. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, you bet. I'm pumped for our wouldn't mind, go ahead and fill us in about your channel, like what's it about

[00:41] and who are you making videos for? >> My channel is for my roofing company, Homestead Roofing in Colorado Springs. And all of the content is geared exclusively for homeowners. A lot of roofing channels out there are more for

[00:57] roofing channels out there are more for roofers. This is to just give education be going through the roofing process or their insurance claim process. So that's my my target audience. >> Very cool. So YouTube is supporting your

[01:12] business in your business. How big of a player is YouTube? It is uh the number one source for sales for us consistently

[01:25] source for sales for us consistently over the this year so far, all of last over the this year so far, all of last year. Uh before that, it was like rising up through the ranks. It was like number three the previous two years. So, it has

[01:37] three the previous two years. So, it has overtaken everything for us now. And um overtaken everything for us now. And um like I say, we get more sales that come through YouTube. Even though our channel has national reach and we're just a

[01:50] local company, we still get most of our business from YouTube. business from YouTube. >> Okay. Wow. How much revenue can you YouTube videos? >> This year, first half of this year,

[02:04] $230,000 has come to us from YouTube. um since has come to us from YouTube. um since the beginning of 2024 through today, the beginning of 2024 through today, it's about a half a million. And then

[02:16] since we actually started trying to keep track of all of it at the beginning of 2019. So here, what's that? Seven and a half years. About $1.3 million. >> It's just like it's just like going this like this.

[02:31] >> It's just going up. Yeah. It's like Okay. So, [laughter] it's funny, Tracy. The question I find myself wanting to ask you is why is that? You know, it's like, gee, okay, pulling in over a million dollars because of YouTube

[02:44] It's only growing. What What What are you doing in these YouTube videos? >> It's 100% uh giving homeowners information based uh giving homeowners information based on things that they're asking us

[02:58] or things that I think that they're they're thinking about. Like right now the one of the best performing videos on my channel is called Asphalt Shingles Are Dead. You know, a lot of people are

[03:12] you know, why do I want to go back on with an asphalt shingle roof, right? I every seven years because it gets hailed on or whatever reason. And so people are thinking through some more sustainable, some more longer

[03:28] more sustainable, some more longer living roofing materials. So that uh that video I think has over 300,000 views right now. And it's just just trying to think through what specific questions are homeowners going to be

[03:43] thinking about and asking and how can I serve them with information? video for a second because it's it's doing really well. Well, it's your was posted a year ago. I'm looking at it now. Over 300,000 views. The title is

[03:58] now. Over 300,000 views. The title is Asphalt Shingles Aret Dead. But in the video, you're just sitting in the back of your truck. But I think part of why wrong if you've seen this in your content, is like there's a very

[04:10] Like it's almost like >> if I were to hire you or if I were to hire a roofer, it's like I would like it to me >> almost like we're f we're close friends

[04:23] or family members. Like there's an intimate vibe in this video. Was that on set everything up like this? >> The answer to that question is really twofold. Number one, that's just really kind of my personality. Just pretty

[04:36] laid-back, pretty pretty chill. Um although I can get excited and that some of that does come across in some of my videos when I start talking about uh videos when I start talking about uh roofing scams. But the other thing that

[04:50] roofing scams. But the other thing that um prompted me to make these videos um prompted me to make these videos was I started Homestead Roofing in 2013 and I started my YouTube channel almost right away like within a a few months. I

[05:03] right away like within a a few months. I had seen a video back in 2012 2013 that was made it was almost like a TED talk although it wasn't a TED talk and it was by a guy named Jason Frerieded who owned a company called 37 signals at the time

[05:18] a company called 37 signals at the time now it's become Base Camp and he was in that talk talking about how he grew his software company to a ninef figureure company without marketing. He just gave away

[05:33] without marketing. He just gave away information. Just gave away education. >> I was like, I can do that because I'm not a very good I'm not good at not a very good I'm not good at marketing. Um I've I've tried it

[05:45] numerous times and I stink at it, but I can give away information. And so we can give away information. And so we started doing that. And it took well I got my first job from a YouTube video that same year,

[06:01] but I I the light bulb still didn't come on. And so I was really inconsistent making videos. And then about 2018, I thought, man, I'm going to really jump into this. And so we started being consistent making

[06:16] videos pretty much every week. And then I fell out of it because we get really >> Yeah. So I kind of went on this roller coaster. You know, we would see and they we always ask them, "How did you hear about us? Oh, I saw your

[06:30] YouTube videos." Then about 2022, that's when everything it was like grow. It started growing exponentially, meaning the the amount of revenue that we started seeing from it. The the amount of people that would call us. Now, we

[06:44] get calls from people all over the country and emails. um you know, people asking for help about this. How do I how do I choose a trying to scam me. What do I do with my about my insurance claim, etc., etc. But

[06:57] the nice thing about me having a vi uh a YouTube channel that has a national scope of interest, meaning people nationally are interested in my topic. nationally are interested in my topic. >> Yeah. is I think then that the YouTube,

[07:12] this is my opinion, it seems like the YouTube algorithm then is feeding my YouTube algorithm then is feeding my channel to to more people here locally. You see what I'm saying? If my channel was just roofing Colorado Springs, I

[07:26] many people. >> Real quick, a little behind the scenes one. So, recently I was recording an interview, exact same setup as today, me on what I thought was an awesome conversation, but I looked at the

[07:39] dashboard and the footage on my guest side hadn't finished uploading yet. So, things weren't fully uploaded. That's usually the moment that your stomach completely drops as a content creator, but we record on Riverside, which is the

[07:53] Riverside records everything [music] locally on each person's device and up to 4K with clean, separate audio and video tracks. So, every frame on my guest side was actually already saved even though we stopped recording and it

[08:08] just finished uploading on its own in the background. No re-shoot, no lost interview. And honestly, that's like why I sat down with Tracy today with total this one, got a business owner walking you through how a small channel did over

[08:21] videos. [music] Like, you know, you get you get one shot at that and you could miss something if if the software you're using isn't trustworthy. like and it just feels good that I'm not babysitting a recording, you know, like I'm just

[08:34] here present, hanging out. And it's the same lesson Tracy's whole story teaches, right? Which is like the tools that you choose matter. So if you're trying to deliver quality content, the tool just has to match the job in my opinion. But

[08:46] conversation's captured, Riverside actually gets you from raw footage to published episode way faster. You can edit from the transcript, which is my new favorite way to edit. Just edit the text and the video updates itself. AI

[08:59] those awkward pauses, and even generate captions automatically. And the magic clips feature can even turn the best moments from this conversation into shorts, [music] reels, and Tik Toks, all from the same dashboard. And for fellow

[09:12] podcasters out there, Riverside can also host your show and even distribute it on Spotify, Apple Music, even publish directly to YouTube. So again, the whole pipeline just lives in one place. So, if interviews or podcasts are part of your

[09:24] someone like Tracy who's a business owner, limited time, already a full workload, Riverside keeps the whole process simple. Plan it, record it, edit it, publish it. Use code think media at checkout for [music] 1 month free of

[09:38] Riverside's Pro plan. Again, that's code think media at checkout. You'll find show notes down below. But for now, let's head back to Tracy. That's huge. I that because what you're it's kind of like instead of tagging Colorado Springs

[09:53] or having that sort of kind of niching down ahead of time, it's like you're niche itself down, if I could phrase it that way. So, it's like you're kind of going broad. You are making videos about roofing in general, like asphalt

[10:07] shingles in general, home insurance in general. And so, you acrewue a lot of there's going to be people that are local. Can I ask you there like just tactically as a local business owner like brick-andmortar location like what

[10:23] do you do with the global traffic? So like if you have because right if you videos you can only serve the people that are local I'm assuming but what do >> There's been a few different things that we're trying to do because I'm trying to

[10:36] figure out how to monetize that. Uh, and that's mostly because I mean I love I love helping people, but the reality is I only have so much >> Yeah. >> And we used to get a ton of people call

[10:51] uh just wanting help. And so on my drive home, because I have like a 40-minute drive home, so I would try to talk to them then because then try to talk to them then because then it's like it's not sucking up my time.

[11:04] >> Um, then we started when people would call, we'd say, "Yeah, okay. Well, Tracy can, you know, I have my gatekeeper, right? He would he would say, "Yeah, Tracy can can talk with you. Let's set aside a 30-minut time frame, and that

[11:18] will cost such and such." That weeds out >> because they just want the free information. We have a series of videos on how to choose a roofer, and I turned that into a PDF that now people can

[11:33] download for free >> off our website. So, they just go to the website and we have TubeBuddy set up with a a canned response. So, that way if somebody's asking for that, I just click the canned response and it tells

[11:47] >> Nice. >> That's eliminated so many of our calls uh and emails. So, I'm not making money off of that, but I got my time back and I'm still

[12:01] serving people, if that makes sense. >> Oh, 100%. And I'm even thinking about you're just creating an opportunity for future products and services. I'm sure through now, right? Is like, okay, what is the digital stuff I could put

[12:13] >> Actually, what I'm thinking through on that is I'm trying to build a network of like-minded roofers, right? Roofers that operate like we do

[12:25] >> all over the country. >> So that way I can refer these people to them. Soam, for example, if somebody calls me from Houston, we get calls from Texas a lot. Somebody calls me from Houston, I can say, "Yeah, here's here's

[12:38] a roofer in Houston, call him." Somebody calls me from DFW, it's like, "Here's here's a roofer down there in the Dallas area, call him. Somebody from Orlando." Right? So, I've got roofers in these other places

[12:51] and but I'm still looking for more, right? because I'd like to expand this so that I can always help these people and get them connected with a roofer that's going to treat them right and not take advantage of them.

[13:03] wrote down as you were talking as we were kind of looking at this one of these big videos of yours and it's personality plus information. And that I was like watching several of your videos, right, in preparation to hang

[13:17] out together. Personality plus information. And I would say like if there was an equal sign, it's almost like personality plus information equals reputation. But over time, you're giving away insane value from your years of

[13:30] experience and expertise and just like literally sharing decades, I'm sure, people. And I think that that combination of you being yourself plus the things that you have a well of of knowledge about, this is why YouTube is

[13:45] just like the wild west. Like so much stuff can happen. And by the way, it your your channel is at 15,000 subscribers. So, we're also not talking just gone viral with every single video and you h you have a gold play button

[13:58] and you're like you're massive, but you're having massive impact. And I think this is this is this is what's beyond uh posting a video more than just the cool thing about like people getting into your business, but it's this brand

[14:11] play that like I've been obsessed with lately. when you started YouTube, you started making videos. Like what was what was the hardest part for you? right? Because I didn't have any experience with editing.

[14:27] >> I had a little bit, right? I mean, >> when I had my personal channel, I I was, you know, dinking around with editing, but very amateur-ish. but very amateur-ish. And so when I started with Homestead,

[14:41] everything was amateur. It wasn't polished. It wasn't professional looking. So, that was probably the hardest part. And my my if you sort on my channel by oldest. You can see my thumbnails back then were horrific. They

[14:56] were terrible. [laughter] >> Yo, this is good. But you I got to say you mastered the classic YouTuber face of like shock and awe. You know, like the big what is happening? I'd kind of love it if you'd walk us through a

[15:10] little bit of like a mini master class that I almost want to call like the that I almost want to call like the anatomy of a YouTube video that gets leads. So like you you're right because okay to

[15:22] do over a million dollars because of these YouTube videos in business revenue. It's okay it's sure we talked about personality talked about information. We talked about being yourself and like really sharing things

[15:35] doing in these videos? Because I would if I'm listening I'm like okay how do you connect dots between someone being a viewer and then becoming a lead? Like getting them to go where you'd like them to go where you can pick up the phone

[15:48] process like? And then what do you do in your videos to point people there? >> It was very rudimentary for the longest was doing. >> So, we just have an end card at the end

[16:01] of every video and that has our phone number on it. I mean, I was so dumb about it. I wasn't even putting our phone number in the description of the videos. Now, the we did have the contact info on the channel banner,

[16:17] >> okay? But we didn't I didn't have it in the descriptions. I wasn't putting a the descriptions. I wasn't putting a pinned comment on there. And I didn't I was so naive. I didn't honestly know that people didn't watch the entire

[16:30] >> Right. >> So good. just recently within the last few months, you know, we've started putting above the fold. >> Nice. and making sure that's on that's

[16:47] on the channel banner. Trying to remember. So, I don't ever want my remember. So, I don't ever want my videos to come across as salesy. >> I want the I want the viewer to feel safe when they're watching it that they

[17:02] they don't feel like I'm trying to sell them something. them something. >> Yeah. So instead of it being a hard cell, you know, like, "Hey, and by the way, if you need a

[17:15] call this phone number." And you know, that kind of thing. All we do is we just pop up a a banner, a graphic at the bottom that says, "If you're in the phone number." And it's there for like five seconds and then it goes away

[17:30] >> inside the video. And this is called a lower thirds, right, Tracy? this like little graphic that'll pop up that'll sit on the bottom of the screen. I love could take and run with right away. Do you mind if I ask where do you in the

[17:44] video do you put that call to action? Like do you wait after a specific point? when does this pop up in >> Yeah, my editor. Um, so

[17:56] >> Yeah, my editor. Um, so I I have six kids. My oldest son work I have five boys, one daughter. My oldest son works for me. He's doing sales and my video editor. >> So, I have a full-time editor,

[18:10] >> So, I have a full-time editor, thankfully. And he tries to put that graphic, that popup graphic somewhere in the first oneird of the video. the first oneird of the video. >> That's good. um just to because you know

[18:25] we look at our retention graphs and we understand once you get to that 50% mark most of the people are gone right that's real strong. Um, so you're putting the

[18:37] call to action even though it's it's not a hard sell like you said. It's just a it's it's a um it's almost like you're saying would you like fries with that? something like would you like you know you're already here getting great value.

[18:50] you like you know here and it's just kind of popping up that feels like it's non-intrusive but it's genius to put it at the part where most people are still watching. I think that's actually like a lot of people like we've both have done

[19:02] this like putting the call to action at the end of a video when all of our right? You're a business owner and you have business objectives. There's lead genen, there's sales to close, right, to keep the lights on. But you are creating

[19:19] there's certain things that you need to care about for your videos to do well and find the right people. So you care about things like titles and thumbnails about things like titles and thumbnails and retention curves, right? And so with

[19:32] and retention curves, right? And so with the we the reason I phrase it like that had to learn on the YouTube side. Like what are the metrics that you really pay attention to or have learned to pay attention to to help a video perform

[19:45] better? >> Man, what a great question. And I have to um um give give credit to the Think Media VRA

[19:59] give give credit to the Think Media VRA coach that I have who's really walking me through. Okay, this is what you should be paying attention to. Um and should be paying attention to. Um and so, you know, I'm looking at

[20:12] let's see what's probably the main thing that I'm looking at right now. Right now, the thing that I'm looking at the most is over a 90-day period, >> which videos of mine are performing the best. Meaning, which which ones are

[20:28] getting the most views? Because then that's telling me where the interest lies. What that enabled me to do like what I was had my weekly meeting with my editor [snorts] today. We just pulled up studio

[20:43] sorted it by 90 days said okay out of our top five long form videos three of them are about shingles. Mhm. >> So, let's take let's and right now the the best

[20:58] performing one in that 90-day period is about shingle colors. about shingle colors. So, I told him, okay, take that video So, I told him, okay, take that video and let's assume two things. Number one,

[21:12] viewers are finding this video because they have a question. What color shingle should I put on my house? or they have a pain point in that

[21:24] um I don't I don't know whether I should trust my roofer or I don't know whether I can put this shingle on my house or I this shingle might look crummy on my house. Okay, so we now we've got two bits of information. We know what people

[21:38] bits of information. We know what people most likely are asking. and we know which video is answering those questions. So I said, "Okay, now go through and pick out all of the relevant information in this video that

[21:55] will address those two things and make a short out of it, 59 seconds or less." And so now we're doing that each week because I can if it's 59 seconds, I can post that on my Google business profile because it has to be less than 60

[22:10] seconds. M. >> So now I can take that, we can put that on our YouTube channel, but I can also put it on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, >> Can we stay on that for just a second? Because what Tracy just said is the

[22:23] whole unlock. He's got the expertise. He's got a real business, but the growth his corner calling the plays. That's his coach, Samuel. And that's exactly what business owner and YouTube feels like the second job that you're still

[22:37] guessing at. You film, you post, you hope something happens, you can apply to get in the exact same small group coaching experience that Tracy is a part of. Get weekly access to a real coach with a real game plan and [music] in a

[22:49] the same thing. You can go to viralvideocoach.com to apply. Again, that's viralvideocoach.com. Links in the description or show notes down below. But for now, back to Tracy.

[23:02] something that you and your editor do? Like what's your review schedule? Like analysis? Is it every 90 days? Like once a quarter? >> This this is like brand new for us. >> Okay.

[23:15] >> So it was before um I was using Opus Clip. >> And Right. And I would just pop in the link for one of my videos. It would spit out 15 different shorts >> and I would just be like, "Okay, I like

[23:29] this one. I don't like this one." and I would pick out one or two and publish spaghetti against the wall, right? Let me see which one sticks. Most of them don't. And most people aren't really going to be looking for shorts on my

[23:44] channel, and I'm fine with that. It's more just to for the additional content that's out there. Plus, it's giving me something to post on these other social media sites. >> Sure. Yeah.

[23:58] Now, we're trying to be more strategic again, thanks to my coach >> who's like, "Look, you got to you got to start answering these questions. You not just spitballing and throwing shorts out there just to put shorts out there."

[24:11] >> Nice. >> But be smart about it. Light bulb moment, right? Okay. I'm not I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box, so I'm thankful to have somebody who's telling me this is what you got to do.

[24:24] >> I actually would like to break this down. Two things come to my mind. So, you're no longer you're no longer doing the opus clip strategy and you're you're going to create it from the ground up. Okay. And the reason being

[24:41] get more specific like you're trying to create for the format. Is that the idea? video, not trying to pull it out of somewhere else. >> Yes. We're trying to be specific about answering the questions that a homeowner

[24:55] has instead of just letting AI randomly throw together a short just so that I >> I'm hearing you have a different, you know, measurement of success. Of course, everything. And if you know that you put out a video that got 500 views, but it

[25:10] made a sale or made a few sales. It's just like as a business, that's what I mean by being a business owner in a YouTuber's costume where we know views want to optimize for them because then more people get aware of us. But it's

[25:23] also like h a video can kind of bomb to use your language on views but not bomb on the sales end. And now is that video actually a loss? You know, no. I would

[25:35] say it's actually still a win. It served its job. It's doing its purpose. Um that's so cool. And that's why I feel like I have to I've got to keep I've got to keep putting out videos >> because I don't have a way to track

[25:50] >> Yeah. >> Right. There's not a way to track that because when we ask people how did you find out about us? Well, I found you on YouTube. Great. What video did you watch? About 20 of them. Right.

[26:05] is >> Yeah. Who sits down and watches six >> Yeah. Who sits down and watches six hours of roofing information videos? person. [laughter]

[26:18] >> Which is also proves the cool point about YouTube too is that YouTube can be a is YouTube can be one of your salesmen to like put it a different way, right? you know that person gets on the phone and you're closing, you know, and it's

[26:32] or they would have spent hours with you. It's like you you were building rapport like eating dinner. You were on a job site. You were doing you were doing something else as a business owner. >> But you've effectively cloned yourself

[26:45] over here on your YouTube channel. And you're out here bringing that personality plus information equaling reputation. Just people can find your content all around the clock. So that by the time someone gets on the call, it's

[26:57] And >> and that's exactly it. that that right there >> just crystallizes everything about my YouTube channel that we want to accomplish is when they call

[27:10] us, they feel like they already know us. So, I told you we have that PDF. Um, in that PDF is a list of interview questions. Nobody knows what questions questions. Nobody knows what questions to ask a roofer, right? It's like,

[27:24] roofer? You gonna install shingles on my roof? Yeah. Okay, you're hired. We have this big list of interview questions and we went to one person's house u my son and I and

[27:40] and um they were asking us our own >> No way. >> She had them printed out. [laughter] >> She So they were asking us our own questions and I'm like this is awesome.

[27:53] I know all the answers. >> Yes. and and they told us that they had been using those interview questions on all the other roofers that they had >> Wow. >> And and most of them didn't have a way

[28:05] to answer the questions. And then I know a guy who owns a company in Houston. out to go meet with a homeowner and they're asking me your questions." >> Wow. Yeah. >> So that's validation right there because

[28:22] >> So that's validation right there because that is to your point that >> Mhm. >> Which means that they trust us. the wild card. >> Exactly. No.

[28:36] >> Exactly. We've been hired and done jobs for people we have never even met. They don't even live in the state, but they own a a house or like a rental house and they're fine with not ever meeting us.

[28:50] where could people spy on you? [laughter] "Hey, I'd love to know how he's doing things." Like, could you shout out your channel or shout out your site, like whatever you want to share for people to

[29:02] find out. >> Yeah. Website is homesteadingcol.com. Colorado is all spelled out. Uh the YouTube channel is Homestead Roofing. Um I mean you can find us on Facebook, but I'm not a big Facebook guy.

[29:17] Facebook, Instagram. >> Uh you can find us on LinkedIn. Also, classic question, if someone's listening to this episode right now and they're pretty intrigued or they are they are a small business owner and are trying to

[29:31] connect the dots between YouTube and their business, like what what would you encourage them with? >> It's a lot like farming. It's not like hunting. >> I do both.

[29:45] And hunting, you know, you go out, maybe you stock your animal, you find it, you done. Uh, and really, it's not even like

[29:57] Uh, and really, it's not even like farming. It's like owning an orchard >> because that takes years before you finally start to see the fruit. And it finally start to see the fruit. And it took me I didn't get I didn't get my I

[30:10] didn't get to thousand subscribers 1,000 subscribers. It took me eight years to get to a th000 subscribers. And I got monetized shortly after that. monetized shortly after that. And so that was in 20

[30:25] And so that was in 20 21 I think. So [snorts] it took me eight years to get that first thousand subscribers and get monetized. Since then, now I'm at almost 16,000 subscribers.

[30:40] And like I say, this this the graph is just going like this. So, the thing that I would leave somebody with if it's a business owner is you've got to put in the time. It's it's that concept of the apple tree. You know, when's the best

[30:54] time to plant an apple tree? 20 years ago. When's the best time to have started a YouTube channel? Five years ago. But get started now. so that five years from now those those seeds are coming to fruition

[31:09] of it. >> Tracy, thank you so much, man, for the journey and we are just doing nothing but cheering you on. Cheers to the next five years, huh? To you and you that's listening. Hey, come on podcast. There's

[31:23] no way you didn't get value out of this conversation. Let Tracy and I know. Like, rate, [music] share, review, wherever you're watching or listening. wherever you're watching or listening. This is the Think Media podcast.