YouTube Strategy Session: How to Build a Community and Make Millions

There are so many great things about YouTube and what I love more than anything is the opportunity we have to build something bigger than just a YouTube channel. We can actually build a business or an empire. And so if you've been on YouTube for quite some time, go ahead and put that in the chat. uh because today we are going to do a in-depth consultation really helping you really grasp the concepts of really building a strong

foundation of audience development but also converting that audience into money into a business. Uh so really super excited about this. Now if you are new to me I'm Daryl Ees. I've been able to generate over 140 billion video views on YouTube. I've been doing it for a very long time. some sometime probably before a lot of you were born. I've been on YouTube since 2005. Uh but I'm obsessed with the the platform. I've leveraged it in

so many different ways and all I want to do is help you be successful on the platform. And so every once in a while I I'm able to jump on and really give back to the community. Uh and also I I like to look for upand cominging talent. I just love that. Uh and and maybe you can learn something too along the way. So really grateful that you're here. Uh share this uh live stream out with

the world and let's go ahead and jump right in. Now I can tell you what uh when I first started YouTube, it was like oh a place that you put up your YouTube videos and you know whatever it's a thing of your snowboarding adventures or skiing adventures or whatever it may be. And really quickly it there's like an economics in it. Uh ways that you can actually make money. And in fact 2006 uh there's a lot

of this uh coming on board where you can actually started to monetize and they did a a small little sample group and then in 20 2007 they opened it up uh to a bigger sample size because that's what YouTube always does start small go big and uh that's when I had the biggest epiphany which is YouTube's here to stay because they're sharing revenue with you and with me and ultimately they're not in the content creation game

and so they needed to motivate you to to create content and basically that was the beginning of you know the YouTube partnership program and it led to so many other opportunities. Now that being said, I just saw a lot of my friends that would come on to YouTube that wouldn't treat YouTube as a business, wouldn't treat YouTube as, you know, really understand that they're building uh bu bigging uh building something bigger enough uh than just uploading

videos. And then they would come and go because, you know, they'd have a ton of views, but then they'd lose the views. And they really didn't have uh anything bigger than just the view count and some, you know, ads. they didn't treat it treat it in in a way that you would as as a business to diversify and so on and then they go out of business. So that's actually the reason why I started VidSummit. VidSummit

is a conference that really helps you understand the creator economy and and understand how to leverage it to be something bigger than just uploading videos. Now don't get me wrong, I love to upload videos. I love to uh you know have that uh that value proposition where you're bringing value to a viewer, but ultimately I want to help you really see this differently. And so uh today I have on a special guest uh that has very

very big ambitions. And I love people that have goals and ambitions uh and and ultimately I am going to jump on and do a consultation, a strategy session to help him reach where he wants to reach. And so really excited to have JC on. Hey JC, how are you doing? >> I'm great. Thanks for having me on, Darl. >> Dude, I am excited about this for a couple reasons. Uh number one, I love when um when

when creators see the true opportunity of YouTube and are willing to take the steps necessary uh to to achieve those things. And why don't you share everybody kind of what you're doing on YouTube and then also uh kind of some of your goals and ambitions? I think they can kind of see that in the title, but uh go ahead and share that a little bit with everybody on here. >> Yeah. So, the way I initially grew

a YouTube channel was through shorts. So, I actually had an an old channel. It's under my name, JC Rodriguez, and it was all personal finance street interviews. So, I would be on the street talking to people about how much debt they have or maybe asking college students some financial literacy questions. Um, and the the channel really grew off of this entertainment value of the shorts. But whenever I finally tried to pivot and start educating my audience

with a long form video, it would it would flop time after time. And this channel, granted, was was grown up to 500,000 subscribers. And we would upload a long form video and get maybe 500 to a,000 views. So there was a huge disconnect between the shorts audience versus the long form audience. And that's, you know, I tried that for a few months and then I decided to pivot and go ahead to to start a brand new

channel. And that was kind of contrary to a lot of people's advice of trying to make it work on the shorts channel, but I knew I wanted to be become more of like a an expert and someone that can coach people through personal finances, frugal living, living on a budget, and that was just different from like the entertainment of the shorts. And so once I started that, >> you know, >> so I want to I want

to kind of dive into that a little bit because I I know a lot of people on YouTube, at least the ones that I do the consultation for, is they start somewhere and sometimes it's not where they end. Uh but they're using it to learn and grow. Uh and so what was one of the biggest things that you learned in launching the first channel that that you were able to just comprehend? And and then what I

want to do next is just like dig right into uh what people are here for, which is let's do a strategy session. Let's try to figure out exactly how to help you uh achieve the goals that you want. >> Yeah. One thing I learned is you want to create videos for an audience that you're excited to make content for. I realized I was attracting more of a younger audience and I kind of wanted a more mature

audience. And so I was making content that optimized for Gen Z, Gen Alpha, a lot of quick edits, a lot of um, you know, flashiness, entertainment value. And so I learned that, you know, if you want to attract a different audience, like you have to make content that makes you excited to make content for that audience. And so that's why with the Frugal Rich pacing is totally different now. It's a lot slower. >> It's a lot

more of me just speaking to people. And I still thankfully have found a way to include some street interviews because I do love that. and it's been a a bucket on this channel as well. >> Yeah. No, I I love that. And I think there's a lot of of things that we can actually learn. So, let's kind of let's kind of dive right in. Uh so so tell me what what is your goal that you have

uh for YouTube? What are you building? What is the foundation that you're trying to create? And then let's kind of dig in a little bit deeper to your content strategy. Uh this is where I think a lot of people get stuck. they have a lot of ambition, but they don't know kind of the strategy to pull it off. And we'll see uh we'll we'll basically go in depth and do a review and and really see if

if you're heading in the right direction. >> For sure. I think this is very common for those uh initial firsttime I like to call them like middle class creators. Like they they grow quickly from short form content, maybe Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube shorts, and they just monetize off of brand deals and sponsorships. Ultimately for me, my goal is to not have to rely on those sponsorship deals or the the UGC deals that I also have. Um,

but I want to eventually start moving towards uh creating my own offerings and being able to provide service in a different way outside of just being a media company, media platform for advertising, which I'm not mad at. Like I'm cool with being an advertiser, but you know, not just solely relying on that. O diversifying my income stream and eventually would love to do some cohorts or group coaching with the audience I'm building on the frugal rich

so it's very community-minded. >> Who would you say your audience is? And then uh let's let's kind of talk about audience. Um just just so that we have context like who's who's watching these videos from your perspective? Who are you creating content for? Yeah, I love this because when I first started, right, most finance channels are very finance bro energy, like guys sitting in a dark room telling you how to day trade or buy crypto. And

that attracts a lot of males. For me, I wanted to focus on more of that frugal living, saving on your daily expenses, grocery shopping, and that actually attracts a lot of older women. So even though like I'm a male talking about finances, like these specific topics attract a lot of [snorts] 30 to 65 year old woman who are interested in just saving around the house, saving on groceries, um frugal living tips, and getting hacks from real

people. And so honestly, the retention is great. I am not I am I'm pretty happy about that and the audience we're we're building here. >> Yeah. So, so for me, uh when when I when I dig into uh a consultation, I want to know who you're creating content for. um what what type of demographic uh that that that is more more so because demographics help us know how to communicate uh know how to share uh can

bring some relatability and then and then two uh basically I like to understand you know where they're going to find value like what where where is that curiosity that's going to lead them in and then where there's going to find value and so if you were to say just off the top of your head we're going to check the data uh but who is your audience demographically? What does it skew? Uh let's get very into the

weeds on this. And if if you don't know, it's okay because we're going to we're going to we're going to dig into this for sure. >> Yeah, it's a little split. So, if I upload a video on frugal living or grocery savings, it's strongly like older women, like 35 plus a woman, usually moms or or like spouses watching. And then if I talk about investing or something a little more finance two 2011, it'll attract a lot

of male audience. And so I think I also wanted to figure out like should I just hone in on one of these demographics? So I'm kind of right after uploading both kinds of videos, I'm pretty half and half, like 50% male, 50% female after doing this mix of content. >> Yeah. Well, let let's kind of dig right in and and see specifically on this because like when I when I was first just looking at the channel,

not even in the back end, I'm like, "Oh, you got a split audience. I can guarantee it." Um, and and for me, that's where I'm probably the most hyper sensitive. Uh because if you have similar traits and patterns in people that they're they're anticipating every video that you're doing, uh YouTube knows what to do, which is go find more people like that that have the same similar uh you know, viewing patterns and traits. And so uh

for me, that's always one of those those uh considerations that we do uh from there. So let me let me kind of dive into the channel specific itself. We'll go to the back end real quick. Um, and thank you let for letting us share, you know, kind of where you're at on your journey on this. A lot of people don't like to share stuff like this, but for me, uh, if we're doing a consultation, we we

like to, uh, break it down for, uh specifically. >> Um, so, uh, basically the first thing that I'm going to dig into is like what's happening right now. I'm very sensitive to momentum on the YouTube channel. I know want to know where it comes from. And it looks like you just uh had a video last month that was released that's still getting you uh the uh you know the most views and and it's it's getting some

great momentum on it. [snorts] Um um I'm looking at older content too. Um so you have some in 2005 um which which is good. It's not too old still relevant. Uh just trickling in some traffic over time. Uh and and then uh for me uh I I would assume you don't do any shorts on this channel because I'm not seeing any shorts pop uh pop up. Is that is that correct? >> I don't do shorts. >>

Okay. [clears throat] Okay. So So I I I want to kind of dig in just a little bit of what's happening right now and where the traffic's coming from. So like like momentum is so important uh for the channel itself. And so whenever I see this right here, uh that tells me that um YouTube found its audience. So it like it it did right here. If you notice right here, um and if you look at it,

this will be if we if we break it down timewise, you got day one, day two, and then on day three, it started to come up. You see that this this uh thing there? >> Um I know that YouTube has like a sample size audience, and it kind of flattens out a little bit and then it goes up again. And so, uh, not surprising that it's around day, you know, 2830, uh, that you see an increase.

And then you're going to see it about every about every 30 to 90 days, you're going to see an increase on this. Uh, because it it's responding really well with browse. And so, YouTube says, "Hey, great video. Want to respond it with browse. Uh, we're going to get that traffic." And it and it will run its cycle. I can tell you, it's going to run its cycle. And so, for me, I want to kind of dig

into what's happening here. um who's the the new viewer, you know, experience. And so you can tell that bulk of the views are coming from new viewers. And this um I am so grateful that YouTube gives us this data right here. Um because I had to guess before it was like, oh, new and returning viewer, but it didn't really drill down to see exactly what's going on. And I can see that your regular viewer is only

3%. Now, that has to do with a lot of things. It has to do with how old your channel is and how how much content they've been able to consume in the last six months or so. Um and and how long have you been doing this channel for? >> Uh a little over a year. So around 14 months. >> Okay. So So uh this is telling me at least on this video um that you have uh

really new viewership, not really converting those new viewers or it's not really converting uh viewers into returning viewers. you have some casual viewers. Um, and and and and we don't have as many regular viewers. So, like they'll watch an occasional video. Uh, that would also indicate that maybe not every video is for them and so they skip a video. Uh, next thing is device type. I want to know where they're watching it and how they're watching

it. So, we can see that uh they're watching it from the mobile phone. That tells me that they're on the go. They're seeing it. You know, a quick dip into the internet uh especially on YouTube. Uh, but TV's uh a close close second. Um, I mean it's not too close, but it's it's at 33% which is decent. Uh, that might have to do with the length of the video. Uh, because like people are consuming it differently

on different platforms. Uh, I always try to go on TV because there's less opportunity for them to skip. Uh, they're more engaged and they're leaning back a little bit in that experience. And then ultimately um it's something that um that we're looking very very specifically for which is can we can we engage them well enough and retain them through the videos. So all in all this is great. Uh the skews male. So you have 76% male

>> uh 32% female. Did this surprise you at all on this one? Yeah, I think because I think initially it was more of that female audience and then maybe within that second uh when it picked up it might have >> Yeah, because generally YouTube goes off of the audience that we're that we're catering to, right? And it'll say, "Hey, does it work with them?" And it might respond, okay? But YouTube's always trying to find an audience

for it. >> And that's that's where it kicks in. And so, um, for me though is this is the indicator right here. So I want you just to remember these uh 67% almost 68% male and then look at that 25 to 34 uh uh in in the age demo. >> Okay. But if you take in 18 to 24 that is 51% you know 50 50 uh 51.5% of your views. So that's literally half your views uh

that are coming in on this. So, we want to just kind of keep in mind, we can see that they're coming from uh you uh United States and that they're subscribed. And so, there's a lot of lot of pattern, but I like to look at this very specifically, too. Um because you can see when you release a video, that's going to your your audience, right? And then it comes down and then YouTube found your audience. See,

this this finding the audience, this is what I always want to look for. And it what I know that it's going to be a binger is when it's almost as high or it surpasses the first initial release. So you see right here. >> Mhm. >> This is very rare that it comes down and then it goes back up. Uh that ma basically tells me that this is going to happen over here. It just does it every

time. I've seen it way too many times not to do that. And so for me uh this is the interesting aspect of this video. And so we we uh what we do um and this is really important, JC, what we do is lean in on this one. Okay. >> Okay. >> So many people lean into their YouTube channel, but they don't really understand when they have good content. When I look at this, this is great content

because it's doing everything that I want it to do. YouTube's finding who the audience is and we're able to to uh start gathering some information to see how it responds. Okay. And so for me, um, I I never really look at this aspect. If you also watch this, I just don't do that. Um, and it's not that I don't love YouTube give me this data, but look, it's all your stuff, right? >> Um, and so and

and that's great. And we want YouTube to do that, too. But if we come to reach here, you can see the number one traffic source that you have, not even a close second, is browse feature. That means when someone comes to YouTube homepage and or the subscription fee, but I'll just say the homepage because you don't have many uh many uh subscribers that are watching this. Um they're watching this video. Okay, they're literally watching this video.

And then and then two um one thing that I found is uh when we start breaking down uh you know how we're communicating with people uh you know there's there's some signs. And so one of my questions is because I want to know when did it started to kick off? Um and and you you did some AB testing. When when did this occur um in relationship of the video? Did you do it did you do AB

test immediately within the video or was it a couple days after? Give me give me the context of when you hit that that uh title and thumbnail testing. >> Yep. Uh I started right when I hit upload. I already had the three options which is what I typically do. >> Okay. So here's my thing. Um, and please take this for what uh what it is. And I want everyone to see the seriousness of my face. Don't

do that. That's the worst thing you could ever do. And the reason why is you have three options of testing out the most critical time of your video. Um, and what I what I teach is understanding where your baseline's at. And you should know, are you under your baseline or above your baseline? If you're under your baseline, what do you do JC? >> You should switch out your thumbnail, right? >> And and that's what it is.

It's just where's the baseline at? And you need to understand, well, if all my traffic's coming from browse feature, that's your most prime uh view. And and you should do that. Now, that being said, uh you had some winners and you know, some stuff from there. I'm not saying it's the same thing because I I don't know if that's the case because you did the split test too early. And so for me, could [clears throat] I

have done more because you got more impressions on a thumbnail uh specifically. So I I like to uh hold everything after and I I'll show you exactly when. It's just it's super easy when I do it. >> Um when when I release a video, uh it is literally I'm looking at three and seven hours of when I'm saying is it below baseline? Is above baseline? If so, if it's below, switch out the thumbnail. I already have

it made. Okay? Don't don't worry about that. Uh now now now too um the question is is what was the number one uh thumbnail that you uploaded um do I don't know if you remember which one was your first original thumbnail or anything like that. Do do you remember? >> Oh when I when I put up the test >> Yeah. >> Oh I'm I'm not sure. I didn't even know there was like a number one thumbnail.

>> Well, but but that's my whole problem is like if you don't know which one's best for you, you're not anticipating who your viewer is and how they're going to respond. you're just saying, "Oh, I'm going to put it out here and whatever responds best instead of you learning," oh, these types of thumbnails really are banger for this type of audience. And so, I need you to understand that like that should be your YouTube success. There

should there should not even really uh, you know, be engaged uh in in in doing anything outside of that because I want you to predict what the viewer wants to watch. That's what the AI is doing. And then two, we're going to use the tools when the tools are needed. And I would say if it's below baseline, you already know it's not getting the reach that it should. It's probably not hitting the audience it should. You

should probably switch out the thumbnail and and and you're good to go. So, that being said, uh after 48 hours, that's the most important traffic you could ever get on your your title thumbnail. I don't mind doing AB test. I think it's great to do an AB test. Um I had a student that um we would kind of leverage and learn, oh, do you know what? All my traffic's come from browse feature if I switch it

out about 22 days. um you know because it just dropped off. He could get another million views if they just switch out the thumbnail to go more appealing to the traffic source as suggested traffic. And so for me, it's it's all about it's all about traffic and where it comes from. And then two, not to monkey around with things uh uh in in that in that uh realm because you never know what you're getting. And you

might say, well, 35.1%'s better than 34%. Well, my question is who's responding to what? Is it going to skew more male on a certain thumbnail? Is it going to score uh you know skew more female? That is a big difference because they female and male respond differently to uh thumbnail and packaging. And so for me, I want to know what we're actually growing here and going from there. So that being said, u this is uh another

thing that I look at is your traffic sources. Um look, there's no search on here, so I'm going to just disregard anything search. Okay, YouTube's recommending at 97%. So, it's like, hey, it's it's found your audience. It's leaning into your audience. And so, we want to make sure that we keep that into consideration. Now, the next thing I always look at is comments. And the reason why is because it helps me understand psychologically the demographic that

we're actually doing and the value that they actually found in the video. And so, as I'm coming through this, you can see, yeah, we got some female, we got some male. Got to disagree with about the barber shop, bro. you know, u huge uh gamble on whatever. Okay, look, I'm going to tell you something. I've literally saved $60,000 plus uh at least over the course of my life by cutting my own hair and cutting my kids

hair. Like that that is I literally cut my own hair. Yeah, it probably looks like that, but I literally cut my own hair. You generally every week, it's been a couple weeks now, but like I generally keep it nice and tidy on it. And I can tell you that that I'm saving a ton of money. And then two, you know, I don't need to wait to go to a barber shop. I can I can have it

look good every time. You know what I'm saying? But but it's just like that that it itself is is understanding these comments. And so you're starting to understand um you know, you know it where they're at. Now he's in a little bit more style because you got to get a decent fade, you know, on it. But I honestly like to see where people are at and what they're actually doing. And then that'll help me understand where

to go. Um, and and also kind of uh contentwise, how to speak to people, but also how to package these things. You know what I'm saying? >> I asked for comments like for in this video. I'll I think I talked about big venue concerts aren't worth it, but let me know in the comments if there is a concert you've been to that's been worth it for you. And then that's >> Well, and [clears throat] I think

it's more about this. Uh, I think Ben big venue concerts are worth it if you can figure out a way to pay for it for free, you know, to get it for free, right? >> Yeah. >> Um, and and so when you really break it down, uh, you know, do are you going to just shelter yourself and endure pain? Is that what being frugal means? Or does it mean, and this is a really important, and we

probably should have this conversation because I don't know how you see it, but do you do you try to take advantage of every deal possible to enjoy life at its maximum amount or are you literally just going to scrimp on beans and and rice? >> Beans. Yeah. That's so that's a huge part of the the message is like frugality is different from being cheap. Like being frugal is just being intentional about what you want to buy.

For example, you cut out the things that you don't really value. Like for example, if you don't really care for cars, you don't have to buy a new car, but spend frivolously on the things you do value. So like for me, that's travel or like international travel. Like we'll splurge on that. And so that's what we pretty much kind of define each video. But yeah, >> definitely I think uh and and uh I'm not here to

tell you your own niche. Um but um the frugality is a lifestyle of of saving and and yeah, you can put money where you have your priority, but uh frugality is almost a mindset of trying to get something uh for less regardless of what it is. Doesn't matter the situation, you're going to try to figure out the hack and or uh the longevity. So, I I'll I'll tell you a hack that I've done uh over the

per period of time. If you notice, I wear the same black shirt. It it literally is. It's like I I can get a packet of six on Amazon for 19 bucks. You know, I don't have to think about it at all. I just put the shirt on. I don't have to you think now it does get old for my wife and she's like, "Could you do something else?" And I'm like, "No, I just this is just

me, man." You know, black black shirt or whatever. But the point that I'm getting at is, you know, that is that is a hack. I mean, if you l literally look up some of my uh, you know, friends that that, you know, they they they might spend a couple grand on, you know, on clothes, you know, every other month or whatever. And I'm like, man, that's that's too much for me. I I I I could never

do that, right? >> Um, now that being said, it's just like where we we prioritize and where we're going with it. But ultimately, um, these comments are good to help us understand how we're doing it. great budgeting trips, agree on the concerts getting uh pricey. Bruce Springsteen, you know, you're starting to get contextually that um you know, uh my girlfriend likes our fast food only on weekends, but coupons. See that? That's usually 20 30 bucks uh

for both of us. Good, good, great. They they can we can get into the specifics of the demographics for this. Now, my question is, if you remember, I wanted you to look at at a couple things. Number one would be device type. Okay, we know that this is where it is, right? Uh and it's at 67% 32% and then we we have this. And so my my question is um what what is this comparatively, right? Uh

when you when you break it down um when you literally break it down uh from demographic, you know what I'm saying? Um and and I I I I'm very interested on this um is where this where this lies on a specific uh channel, right? So I'm going to go ahead and just take a look at your channelwide versus the video and see where it lies and then we can make assumptions from it. So the blue is

is the skew, right? So you're you're skewing um you know in in this uh you know uh uh uh it's the video itself male female on that one. Uh and then the channel is female male. So you can see right now um you're at 77% versus 67%. Now you might say wait the difference was the um uh you know it it didn't skew that way uh when you looked at it. I was only looking at the

28 day view. Um, and so if we did the full video view, which we didn't do, um, you can start seeing where it skews back to that 67 to 32%. But I wanted to know where the traffic was actually coming on. Um, this actually helps me understand that it's skewing male. So the new views that are coming in are skewing male. Um, and then and then two, when we break it down, uh, you know, over and

over again, uh, it was heavier female. But guess what? I want you to look at this this indicator. This is your channel itself. You're at 58%. >> When I go to the next 28 days, so where's it skewing? >> Male. >> Male. Okay. So, I can guarantee you a male will respond to males better than males respond to females when it comes to doing stuff like this. When you're talking about frugality, they they'll go they'll generally

go to a female uh creator or or business. They just they just do. And and ultimately, you just got to you got to unpack it. Now, you might say, "I'm going for couples uh and and I want couples to do it." Well, well, someone's has to be the entry point. Uh someone has to find it and then share it with their significant other. That that's just basically what what what happens. >> And and then two, uh

the question would be, is it a co-viewing experience? Is it a co-viewing or are you using language that only responds to a certain demographic? And so for me, I'm always always looking at that uh just to help me truly understand um the the way to communicate because if I can communicate on a deeper level, uh then then then it really speaks to them. Then then I don't just get a view, I get a fan. And if

I do it consistently, that fan converts into a community. And that's what you're looking to do. Like long-term sustainability on YouTube is not about views, it's about community. long-term sustainability on YouTube is not about views. It's about community. Okay. So, we need to get people into that and that that is a very very important aspect. Is this making sense, JC? >> Yeah. No, big time. I feel like one thing I've noticed is that it's more the

females who are more engaged or like I have a a Facebook group that people can join from the the channel. >> Stop. Stop. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Like tell me tell me the the the guys that are really involved that are 25 to 35 year old that's on Facebook. Are you kidding me? Like when you break it down like ser I'm being I'm being truly serious here. Okay. You give me a 25 to 34 year old male.

Are they on Facebook? I mean yeah I think there's a definitely a fraction there. I can tell you, okay, I can tell you fractions are one thing I want to know where they're at. Like I I want to know where they congregate off of YouTube. And I can tell you it's like when you break it down, uh younger generation DM Instagram all the freaking way like that that like it is. And then it's on X, too.

Like you have X and Instagram that would do it. Then they lean into social networks outside of that which was like Discord and stuff even though it's not a network on there. It is that you know communities from there. And so it's like when you really break it down um I I I I can guarantee you uh you know they might have the tendency to say look there's a lot of business opportunities. I'm going to I'm

going to lean into that. But the first place of source that they're actually looking for that content I the data doesn't support that. Um it it just doesn't. And so I want to know that I I want to know where they congregate. Now, uh heavy older females, abso freakingutely they're on Facebook. Okay? Guaranteed they're on Facebook. And and then two, when you really break it down on Instagram, they're on Instagram, too. Um so like my wife,

uh you know, she's in her 50s, young 50s, she doesn't like Facebook, she just likes IG. Um there's too much drama on Facebook for her. Uh so like for her it's just hey just show me the cute pictures and reals and stuff like that great. You just got to understand where people congregate and then two wherever you start building your business keep in mind it's going to skew the demographics that are going to be appealing to

that and and then uh not not so much on on the other end. Okay. And so, uh, an easy way to do it is is, uh, really do your own surveys on your own channel and ask them, you know what, hey, if you're a a 25 to 34 year old man, how often do you use Facebook? And just give the thing and just start seeing, you know, seeing from there, are they engaging with you? If so,

>> why would they want to go build something over there where they don't really want to be? >> You know what I'm saying? Would they connect with you daily over there, >> a place where they're not, you know? And so for me, it's it's understanding the demographics. I could say IG is the closer place of where they're at. And that's probably where I would start leveraging that younger audience that that is at least for the video

that we're that we're uh consuming on here right now. Does that make sense? >> Yeah, that makes sense. >> Okay. So on this, I want to keep special note that this one responded really well. Uh and let's go ahead and just go to content uh specifically. Um, and and we could break it down, but I'm going to just sort by views real quick. And um, I want you to just say skew female, skew male, and we're

going to uh do just a little thing. What What do you think? Does this >> 93% of the people grocery? Okay. >> So, let's go ahead and look at that one. Your number one video, it does the exact same thing. You know what I'm saying? You see that? It's always coming into it. That's what we want. >> Um, and then let's go ahead and look at this one. uh TV viewership. So, it's not necessarily mobile phone,

but TV is off the charts. And then it's uh pretty much uh 63% female in it says published. Let's look at the last uh 28 days. You see that? >> Oh, yeah. A little more >> closer to split right there. >> Okay. Well, why is that? Um maybe the influx from the other video too or >> so when you have momentum coming in with a certain demographic is going to appeal to a certain demographic. Okay, this

is when I would actually say don't change your thumbnail because it responds really well with anyone that's that's trying to be frugal because the question is I can only spend 800 a year and pay for you know groceries or whatever whatever that may be. And so ultimately it's like it it brings this into uh a context that is super relevant. However, if we're watching the video, does it respond more to a female or a male audience?

How is that going to intertwine? Right? And so for me, I'm always always always looking at it. Now, I want you to look at one other thing. Um and and look very closely. Okay. Very very closely to sense upload and look at traffic source. >> I'm sorry. Uh device type. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Watch this. 28 days. So, you've seen a big increase in television. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, that's telling me that it's skewing

more mail now than it did previous. And it's skewing more television than it than it did previous. And so, there's there's people that are actually uh uh going through your content. Now, this might be the second video that could be engaged or it could be the first video. We can kind of engage in there. But, if you look at it, I want you to look at this demographic, too. 66% versus8%. Okay, 08%. Um, and let's do

this one. You can see um can't can't do it because it there's no reporting on it. So, let me go back to just this year. [snorts] Um, and let's do last year. See if it will do it this way. Okay. [snorts] So, let me go back to September when it was released here. Give me one second. >> That's cool. And so let me just do let's do um okay and it was probably uh August that it

was right. So let me just do August real quick. [snorts] >> Oh yeah. End of August. >> Okay. So we got we got that since the let me just give give this right there. There we go. See if it will give me that. No, it's not giving it to me. Gotta love this sometimes. [snorts] Okay, it's not it's not letting me pull that in on an August. >> Interesting. >> So, let me do nine. Okay, there

it is. I don't know what exactly the date that it it came in, but anyways, you can you can see that it that it that it pulls it in differently. Uh let me just give it um just a like a week or so. [sighs] [snorts] And so yeah, same same thing. So a lot of new viewers are coming in on this. So this is the first video that they're that they're probably seeing on your channel. And

then some are engaging a little bit with previous content. Now, uh we can we can uh lock in to see where that was coming from. But you can see that 71% is browse feature, 22% is suggested videos. So, if we go into suggested videos, you can see, oh, here's here's some other uh other videos that are recommending it. 10 frugal habits that saved me $100,000 at the top 25. Um, and I would assume you know these

people, right? You're you're doing research and you're able to see a lot of this stuff. Word word of caution uh for me when I see this and I want to maybe do lifetime uh just so that we we can see if it does anything different and it and it and it does it has your your videos [snorts] but if I'm seeing other people's content here on traffic source for uh suggest suggested videos what does that tell

me from your perspective JC if I'm seeing other people's content besides yours? um that we might have similar viewership. >> Okay. So, it tells me that you don't have a strong content strategy cuz like number one, if there's any type of content that YouTube wants to promote, it's your content. And so, for me, um and and a lot of people says, "Oh, no, no, no. I get it all across the board." But I'm telling you, no.

uh the bigger your library gets, you should be uh recommending content uh to yourself, right? And it it comes from suggested videos. And I'm telling you, if you can do it, if it's like, let's say the top 25, you have 12 of the top 25 that are your videos, you're going to probably see an increase of probably 30 40% of more views per month that's just coming from that. And you're going to elevate you're going to

elevate your browse feature traffic because what's happening is this. They capture you on browse, right? And then they go in and then they see all the recommended content and it's your videos and they're clicking on it. So they not only just watch one video but they watch two videos. Okay. >> So like a healthy channel would have majority my videos within this traffic source >> in Yeah. in in s suggested Yeah. Yeah. suggested traffic and and

the reason why is it's basically saying hey they love your content. So that that tells me that you have a weak audience of regular viewers. And we can we can go back, but it was just on this one. We can come back here and take a look on channelwide, but you have 2.7% regular viewers in the last 28 days. Let's do the last 90 days. Um, and still have 2 point Well, I guess it's monthly audience

uh that they're that they're g gathering that, but uh but ultimately um yeah, it's like you you need more loyalty on that. Um, so you're not converting you're you're doing a great job at converting people on on a view. You're getting them to watch a new video. You're doing that very consistently. And then you might get another video too out of them. And that's that casual viewership. They're not going deeper into becoming a regular viewer. Okay?

And what I mean by a regular viewer, it it's like literally, you know, when you upload a video that they're consuming the um you know, they're they're consuming that content in in depth uh of everything that you're uploading instead of saying, "Oh, no. I I'm interested in that topic, maybe not the creator." Does that make sense? So, are are regular viewers going to be is it good if they're like equal with the casual viewers or is

there like a ideal ratio? >> Okay, so there's a couple things you need to look out for. Number one, if uh you're looking at this audience tab by watch behavior, if you have shorts engaged, um then then it's going to be skewed. I like to break it down so that I I can minimize it. And you can do it like in the advanced mode. you can just kind of put the the content type. Um, but you

want to see the content type on just uh just long form videos. Now, I'm saying that for the people that are watching, you don't have any shorts, so we don't need to worry about that, right? Um, but what I'm looking for is a healthy channel uh would be a third, a third, and a third. So, a third of your views coming in from new new traffic, a third of your traffic's coming from casual viewers, and a

third to regular viewers. So like that third for regular viewers is really important. That's that community aspect that we're looking at. And then sometimes you're hitting people casually and it might be a different demographic that responds different well, you know, with different type things or uh they don't watch YouTube as much as the regular viewer does. And so that's kind of the thing that we're we're trying to engage with on on that. And so um now

that being said, uh don't misunderstand uh you what I'm saying here. Um, that's for a community driven. Now, you can still make great money on just getting new traffic and then converting that traffic off of YouTube on some monetization outside of ads. And you can do ads here and then there might be another monetization thing. I've helped uh many channels make definitely high eight figures on stuff like that uh with very minimal subscribers, but the right

view coming in and going into a funnel of some sort. >> So, don't get me wrong. However, I I heard you say immediately that that you want this long term and the long-term aspect of it is if you're not posting videos, you know, can you still get the views? And so, if that's the case, where is that coming from? And it's more that content strategy that you're looking for. And so, if if you would say who's

number one in the financial space uh over the last 20 years, who would that be? >> Finance niche, probably Graham Stefen. >> Okay. Uh, think again. Think think bigger. >> Um, oh, Dave Ramsey. >> Okay, Dave Ramsey. Okay, so Dave Ramsey is is by far been doing it uh consistently growing that audience. Uh, uh, >> down the street from me, too. >> Yeah, the long the longest. Okay. In Nashville. Yeah. Um, now I want you to

think about this one one thing. Okay. What is this is what what is this value prop? Would you say Dave Ramsey, what's his value prop? >> Um, I think it's like simplicity for like the the general public. Like most Americans, I think it's Yeah. His his seven baby steps is his framework that just works for pretty much anyone that goes through it. >> Okay. And then what is his goal for everyone that watches or listens? >>

A lot of them it's uh financial peace, but specifically debt freedom. I think that's what >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. financial peace that and the only way you can have financial peace is when you're debtree, right? >> Yeah. >> And I this is really important. This is probably the most important thing I can teach you around the community. Okay. Uh what is a community ritual that happens when people either jump on the radio with him or on

an interview? >> We're debtree. >> Okay. Okay. Now let's talk about that. So the debtree scream. Okay. Uh why is that one of the most brilliant m moves on a community development of people that are trying to understand their finances? >> Because they're using their their customer, whoever they're making videos for, like they're putting them in the story like that they're building of Ramsay. So like they're >> being included. >> Okay. So I'm going to tell

you this. That's true. That would be an elementary way to look at it. But the way that I'm looking at it is anyone that's not debtree that are dreaming of the day that they can be debtree. Okay? And then those that are debtree remembers the time that they became debtree. Okay? And it's that moment that moment can I tell you that I uh I did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Okay? And I remember the moment that

I uh went debtree. It was like 27 years ago or whatever. And it it it and we're not talking that that we're talking no mortgage, no nothing, nothing like that. I pay everything cash. Um and and two, um I I don't play the credit card game. I don't own a credit card. I don't I I have debit cards. Uh but I have a different type of debit card that can do so much. I mean, you just

have to see that. It's pretty crazy. But the the reality is is like you and everybody says, "Well, you're dumb because you can't um you know, you you can't leverage debt." Kind of like Robert Kiyosaki says or Grant Cardone, but I sleep freaking really good at night, man. I really do. So, like for me, um I really don't care about it. And the reason why I did Dave Ramsey's thing is because hey, there's systems and processes.

My wife is a like an accountant, so I'm not really worried about it. she manages all the money, but it's just more what's the principle and then two, what can we learn along the way that could help us expedite uh our our freedom. Now, when you're talking about your community, um it's a little bit complicated um from my point of view, the way that you're you're introducing everything. I watched a couple videos. What would you say

you're like if someone's jumping on for the first time, meeting you, JC, for the first time, what are they gathering from your content? Um, I think when they see frugal living, they do probably think of more of the just saving money style, but I feel like if you go deeper, it starts to lean a little bit more towards fire movement, like the retiring early, financial independence, because I feel like that has both aspects. >> If you

don't say that, if you don't say that, they'll never stick around to know that >> because they're not they're not uh regular viewers, brother. uh they're just coming and grabbing the little tidbit of information that you're sharing and having an opinion if it's going to work or not work. Okay. If you're going to get a regular viewer, JC, you have to actually share your vision for what you're doing, but also the people that are watching. And

you got to do it in a very concise way where they get it. You know, frugality is not compromising lifestyle. um you know it's a type of lifestyle that will help you do whatever you want in this life right whatever whatever that is I mean you got to figure out what that that whole thing is um that is by far the most important thing that you can that you can uh capture the reason why is because

when you share the vision of it then it gathers people right uh it gathers people in a unique way um and then two it inspires people to take action daily. Frugality is taking action daily. Okay? And um my my whole thing is when you really break it down and and you help people navigate it, it's like what do you do with the excess? Because you're going to have excess. Do you just do do you just uh

get like 1% back in a in an account or do you figure out how to leverage it to actually be an income producing uh you know, opportunity? Okay. And so I want to I want to share with you uh a a couple things and this is really important because this is going to lead uh you to a sevenf figureure channel if you do it right. Okay? But you got to know what you are and what you're

not. You you got to know what your value proposition is. You got to understand who you're communicating with and then ultimately taking the steps necessary uh to uh uh to help people know the next actual uh uh gradual step. Okay, whatever that next gradual step where they're at, they need to know where that's at. So, uh when Dave Ramsey did it, he has baby steps and he is hasn't changed. It literally hasn't changed in 30 years,

you know. And and then two his system financial peace university has not changed you know it might be uh refreshed but it hasn't changed it these are principles of truth it is his core his core doctrine when it comes around that >> my question is what do you stand for and what is yours because if you don't have it you need to start defining it and I'm not saying you have to have it overnight but you

need to start developing it because you need to have your specific system of understanding how to navigate how to be frugal and enjoy life in ways that you haven't even imagined, right? Whatever that may be. And so for me, um that is a concept that you need to grab grab around and utilize in very short snippets. So like when you introduce yourself, it it should be a short snippet of what you're all about. Okay? Um and

it's not just being frugal. It it can't be that, right? It's like no and it should represent something and it should be a power statement, right? And so then I know what you're getting into. And then when you're talking in videos, it's like when you actually have these uh you're saving excess amount of money because you you've uh been frugal in this area, you should be wise with that money and and then have that have that

actually grow. Okay. One of my favorite parables of all time, not even a close second, is the parable of the talents. I love Jesus. I'm a Jesus freak. I I am like I am I I He is my Lord and Savior. He is the biggest influencer of all time in in in eternity from my point of view. And the parable of the talents JC is so powerful because those that just hold it, those talents don't grow.

Okay. Those that use those talents are able not only to grow the talents, get more, but they get those excess talents that are out there. And so for me, it's it's very biblical when it comes around this. And so you can't just sit on your money. You need to make opportunities grow. And so ultimately, what I would do is this. You need to understand who's going to naturally gravitate content for you. Okay? We know that it's

it's going to be split. Okay? I'm going to say the the one if we go back through and look at your videos as of late and then to uh some other ones, you're going to see some of your top performing videos actually skew more male than female. Maybe not too much, but they do. Okay, great. We just need to lean into that, right? And we don't know where it's coming from or how you can appeal to

both demographics. I'm not saying you can't, but you got to lean into one, okay? Because then then then you're you're you're you're growing something in in a whole thing. Now Dave Ramsey does a really great thing. It says you can't do your financial journey alone if you're married. It needs to be a joint effort. Okay, great. You can have those conversations too in that same way just so that you you know that you're you're in one

heart, one mind making these financial decisions. It's great because that's a way to expedite it. And so >> there has to be like an entry point at least with one of them, you know, one of >> an entry point and then they know uh they know where they need to go, right? They they definitely know where they what what the next step is. I don't know what your next step is, man. I clicked on some of

the links on your channel. It says, "Hey, here's here's this little mini course, whatever." And it goes to a broken link. And I'm like, I I don't know what's going on. And so what I want you to do in 2026 is this, okay? is this you're going to be more intentional about creating content with the uh you know with the audience that you're developing, right? I.e. where's the momentum coming from? Who's watching content now? And you're

starting to think of four or five different videos that they would respond to based on the content that is engaging with it, right? And then I want you to know an entry point. Like it cannot be a quiz. Uh I know you're doing it to build emails or whatever. Give me give me something, you know, give me something solid. So, create something. It could be a free offer. I really don't freaking care, but I need something

that's starting to say, "Hey, here's something that uh that we did to save x amount of dollars in a year or we did this, you know, getting married that we're we're adjusting it, you know, blah blah blah blah blah." You don't need to be completely out of debt. You don't need to be on uh that whole thing. I don't know your situation in this regard, but you need to be on a journey and you're active. Now,

a journey is, hey, let's gather other people uh around you that are on that same journey. I can get behind that. That is a community-based thing. >> Yeah. >> And don't think YouTube >> should it be driven around a an outcome like like for example Dave Ramsey debtree uh retiring early. >> Dave Ramsey is not about debtree. That is just the first stage of financial peace. >> Yeah. >> Like the people literally listen to him still

and watch him still uh and and they're out of debt. Like why why would they do that if that's the whole outcome right? >> They got entree leadership. They got all these other >> Exactly. That's one of that's the first stage of really getting financial peace is getting, you know, you're you're debt under control and you're creating a system to get out of debt and you're not making dumb decisions. Okay. >> Once you're you're able to

get debtree, then what are you doing next? And and and to don't get me wrong, like I I think Dave and I uh like like conceptually like from a finance point of view uh are very similar of how we view things. Uh I don't know if that was because I went through, you know, financial financial peace university or whatever, but I had a father that did the same thing. So I'm not I'm not saying that it's

it's off. Um and then two, like, you know, drowning in debt is never fun. Uh you know, worrying about things is never fun. I like to uh you know be in a position where I don't need to worry about money. Like I really don't know how much money I have in the bank. I just know that I have everything covered. Everything's out of debt. If I need to specifically go ask my wife, you know, and and

>> that's the point. So you don't have to think about money. >> Exactly. Exactly. And I really don't, you know, I can do whatever I want at any time and I I don't I don't need to worry about stuff like that. Okay. >> Is this making sense? >> Yeah, definitely. So, you know what I'm saying is give them a first real step uh like from just the YouTube video. Um when I create content, think of the

audience that I'm developing and >> the step should be in the video itself. >> Yeah, like you said, power statement. So that's like I really want to hone in on like because because right now like you said as I'm explaining I'm like yeah frugal living but you're a little bit more aspirational so you kind of invest and I want to have a more defined like one sentence banger that can you know show like what our >>

whole purpose is here and then creating like you said a system or a framework like my seven baby steps. I I feel like it doesn't even have to be. >> Don't rip off Dave because everyone after another. And then I would say Dave doesn't respond to the generation that you're that you're connecting with. Okay. I think you know uh Caleb Hammer or you know Graham Stefen would would actually do that. Um and so what what you

need to do is like hey how do we get finances under control and then have a path for freedom? What is that path? and and it could be the things that you're thinking about and doing and and how you're investing. Um, and I I feel like you do that a little bit in the stuff that you post online, but it needs to be more ahead. You know, it's like just because you saved uh, you know, $300

a month in groceries, where does that $300 a month go? >> I want that excess. >> You know what I'm saying? Where does that go? Because the whole po purpose of why you're doing it is is is is not the game. Uh you know the whole person of why you're doing it is it's basically the strategy of of where you're going with it. [clears throat] >> Okay. >> Let me um so so uh I it's pretty

pretty funny when it comes to finances. Um like I I haven't had to work in a long time. Like I I could just do whatever I want um and I' I'd be comfortable for the rest of my life. Um, and my um my goal is to make an impact, right? And the first impact that I only care about is within the walls of my own home. So, with my children, that's the the highest uh area of

impact that I could have uh generationally because it'll be my kids, their grandkids once they start having kids and stuff like that. And it can it can kind of trickle down. Um, I've seen wealth rip apart families in ways that um create stuff that I hate, the number one thing that I hate more than anything else. Like there's not even a close second, which is entitlement. I hate people feeling entitled to something just because they think

that they they're all that. Um, and so we growing up um we never you let our kids uh know we had money. um they had to buy their own school clothes. Um they had to navigate finances, you know, and we we'd help them out every once in a while because we I didn't want them getting a job. Uh but they can come work for one of the companies that we own, but I wanted them to to

be more of a student because if they were going to uh further their education, I want them to be in a position where, you know, scholarships is their, you know, job like getting that scholarships and and so uh just want to give you a scenario. So, I have a son that's in law school right now, and uh most uh most people that go through law school are in debt up to their eyeballs for at least 10

years after the fact, and they have to go work in crazy crazy scenarios uh just to take down that debt. Uh the proudest moment of my life when it comes to that kid is when he got married to the woman that he married. She is amazing. That was like the proudest I was for him and his journey. and then how they manage finances. Like she's the sugar bomber right now and um putting him through school, but

they're debtree in every scenario. Like they they don't have school debt. They have they have money set aside that they save for to pay for school, but they also get scholarships. They had a scholarship to get there. It wasn't quite a full ride, but particularly dang close, right? >> And then and then after the first semester at law school, he was on the deans list, got another scholarship. And so it's like he's there when it comes

that he will be if he keeps going the way that he does he and being smart uh he he uh packs all his food they they they do food prep but the whole reason why is like hey we we want to be completely debtree um out of law school because that gives us opportunities not to make choices based on our debt. We can make choices where we want to go and we're not we're not tethered right

now. my other son that works uh for one of the companies um he wants to do what I do and he's doing a great job. He's been on YouTube like like he understands YouTube like in levels that you can't even imagine. Um and so he helps me with my group coaching program channel Jumpstart. He's one of the coaches there and he's married too. Like his his wife is so amazing. Uh and that was like the proudest

moment for him is having him know who he needed to marry and they they just they're just perfect for each other, right? That's the perfect thing for a father to want to see. Okay. The next thing is they're frugal. They get it. Uh they they know how to to live life. Now, uh they're in a in a situation where they can save a lot more and and he says, "What do I do, Dad?" And I'm like,

"You need to save to get this much money in the bank." And they're about halfway there and it's substantial amount of money for how young they are. Substantial. I mean, we're talking >> I I'm like, "Put all your excess there while you can. Still go enjoy life. go and travel and do what you want, but literally put it in here just to save because once you have that, I'll teach you how to make as much money

as you need to. Um, in in ways that you haven't even thought of and and and you know, in fact, we just had them over the the um the house and had dinner and really helping them because they're like halfway there and you know, within a maybe a year or two that they'll be right on track with it. And I need them to think ahead of that. And when they do it, when they start thinking ahead,

that's when they're making good decisions now because they know where they're going. And so for you, you need to do the same thing. You got to actually understand where people are going on that journey with you and where what stages there are. And right now, I don't know what that is. It's just a video that you actually upload. >> Um, and so you can tell them stages of where they're at in their journey and where they're

actually going and what that actually represents. then you're actually then you're actually building something bigger than just uploading a YouTube video. Okay, so here's where you're going to leverage this is this is how you get uh this is how you get a million dollars a year. Okay, a million dollars a year. Um and okay, very very simple. A thousand people paying you $1,000 is a million dollars. >> Okay. >> Yeah. 10,000 people paying $100 is a

million dollars. That's easy math. >> Okay. Now, you can do AdSense. You could do you could do your affiliate, which I see you're doing affiliate, right? Um and >> good last week. >> Yeah. >> And it's just like those are pillars of income, right? When you get a course that you can you can introduce it for 99 bucks. You just need 10,000 people to do it over a course of a year and that's a million dollars.

Okay. So, for me, the most valuable thing that you can possibly do is get an email address. Okay? Why? Because then you can start developing the relationship off of YouTube. Um, and then I'm I'm telling you, I also want a a cell phone number if you can. you know, it might take a little time before you can get that, but if you can, then you're giving, you know, quick tip advice on that on a on a

cell phone because the open rate is like through the roof >> because SMS usually people pick that up once they're already on the email list, right? >> I would say yes. There's not a world that I would want to do it unless I want a deeper relationship with you. >> Gotcha. >> Okay. Okay. That that is what I want you to start looking at is, okay, what is what are those things? because you you now know

uh you do the affiliate game, you have the sponsorship game, you have the ad AdSense game, you um uh now can do products, but it's just as small as, you know, a thousand people if you want or even less if you charge more. You know what I'm saying? And so there needs to be something of value that would translate into that. And you might think well man $1,000 that's way too much. But it might be, hey,

$1,000 over the course of a year that they're paying you. you know, you can break that down into 12, whatever. And so it makes it smaller. It just equates to that. >> Um, so for me, that's where I would do it. And then there's another there's another angle. And Caleb Caleb just did this too, which is he introduced his own his own ecosystem and and software, right? Uh just doing that right now is a smart move

because it's a community play and then it's a money play on the back end. And I'm here to tell you, um, if if you were to take all my AdSense and put it in a bucket, it's like 5% of my income. Uh, not just this channel, all the channels that I have, like like I I I don't want it that high. And some channels, it's a little bit higher. It's about, uh, 18 25% on some channels.

I always try to get that as low as possible because then I know that YouTube isn't I'm not relying on on that. I I I built something bigger than just that. And so for me, um, doesn't matter what I'm doing. Uh, uh, here's little known fact. Um, we we start a business every year. I don't know why [laughter] we do. Uh, if you saw kind of my, you know, how I build out my business, it it's

very strategic of why we do it. Um, and and we try to get we we take a a run rate of of, you know, 12 months to get it self-sufficient. And then we we really leverage it in a unique way. So we just barely launched a channel. I'm not a channel. Um not a channel yet. It's actually a business first. Uh and we got quite a bit of money coming in the first of the launch. And

now we strategically trying to bring it in. And the whole reason why we're doing that is because everything is intertwined and and when you're really building something, you need real estate, you need uh brick and mortar business, you need uh constant flows of income, you know, and we're trying to create that. uh my wife and I and what we're what we're doing is not giving any inheritance to our kids. It goes into a nonprofit. We already

have the nonprofit um and all the money comes in and we're able to distribute it through the nonprofit. Um we have trusts and stuff like that as well, >> but realistically I want it perpetually helping people. Um, and and for me, if the businesses if the dividends go into the nonprofit and then use the nonprofit to make impact in the world, man, you've you've actually cracked the code on something. Uh, now for me, I will literally

teach all my kids how to make a million dollars, whatever they need to do yearly or whatever, how to how to leverage it that way. But it's their responsibility to do it. I'm not not going to I'm not going to just hand them money. It's just never going to happen that way. I might partner with them on a business um if it makes sense, but I'll treat it like I do everything else. My partner has to

be out of debt. Like I don't I don't do partnerships in when they're encumbered. Um and it's just like, okay, let's really figure it out. Uh but ultimately, you need to be on that journey of of those pillars. And if you're not developing those pillars, you need to really look at, okay, what are you really about? What is your community about? How do we take a a viewer to a fan, a fan to a community? Okay?

And that's having them go deeper with you. And if there's not a go deeper moment, then then you need to start creating that now. Um, and don't get me wrong, affiliates great and you're going to make money on that. Uh, sponsorship's great. You're going to make money on that. Uh, and ads are great. You're going to make money on that. But that's all everything outside of your control. Every single one of those things are outside of

your control. What you can control is your community offplatform. And that's what I want you to start building. And so, you need to know what what you're creating, what you're doing, uh, to to build that. um in in that unique way. Now, if you don't do this, it's okay, but uh ultimately for your freedom to do it uh you know, you can do it anytime, any way that you want once you're able to have your core

community off off platform, it gives you more freedom uh and it gives you more opportunity to make money and to leverage the money that you need uh you need uh to to really grow what you're looking for. Does that make sense? Yeah, I'm glad to hear that cuz that's literally the the priority this year has been like building up the email list and I have like a strategist now helping me to write those emails, having a

nurture sequence, all that. When it comes to creating an offer, >> why are we paying a strategist for that? That's what that's what freaking AI is for, man. Like, you literally train an agent on just the best. Like, you literally I'm being serious here. >> Mhm. >> Be frugal on that aspect. I'm I'm being serious, man. because guaranteed they're doing the same thing. >> Why not just cut them out of it? Like AI is so like

if you look right now I have a open claw right here >> and what it's doing right now is in freaking insane and it's just like why why would we want a lot of this stuff? Seriously, >> you know was to like learn learn from them but yeah and then eventually >> are you really learning from there that you know anyway it it like don't get me wrong I I pay for consultations. I get I get

uh experts in, but they come in very very uh specifically. We get all that we can and then we grow it. But ultimately, you know, um I couldn't see I could not see a footprint. Maybe they're in the early stages of your consultation, the strategy, but I just couldn't see the footprint on there because like the first thing I do is like literally have an offer that is something that's building your community and I I didn't

see that. >> So, Gotcha. >> Okay. >> Yep. Perfect. And then as far as like building offerings out, like do you usually start with like what do they say like a flagship offering and then >> you gota you got to know you got to know what you're building first. So you need to know hey here's here's the the stages of where you're going >> and then and then you can look for the offering right now. Um

and the offering would be based on what's going to be an easy content for you to create that would resonate with your audience. And so you can start uh doing surveys, you can do it in videos and get them into comments and start seeing where they uh where they struggle, where they need to go because it's all about a problem. It's where they struggle that they need clarity. So like the financial peace university is more here's

the babyset systems, you know, here's your envelope thing, whatever. It's very simple things, but it's just done in a way that it helps progressively you get where you need to be, which is debtree and then having the financial freedom. And that's why it's called financial peace freedom. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. Yeah. Because I know a lot of these kind of finance 101 creators who maybe their audience just trying to save money. No one wants

to pay money to learn how to save money. Like it's usually they feel like they're >> I disagree with that. I've paid a lot of money to save money. I will pay money to save money every single time >> for business or and personal because I'm >> Isn't it all the same? >> Money's money. >> You know what I'm saying? >> Mhm. >> What? Why wouldn't you pay $100 to make you $1,000? >> Well, yeah. See,

that's why I mean Yeah. Yeah. And saving your increasing your net worth by that amount, too. >> Yeah. And that's why I think there's a disconnect on your your content because it's not clear what are you frugal or you this or this or this. Like for me it's maybe um you know maybe it's just adding um maybe adding a variable where it's like you're the frugal rich mindset. What does that actually mean? You know um and

it's it's frugality but leveraging that frugality to expand your wealth. you know, that that that's what I would look at more than more than anything. But you're going to need to define that and then it's going to say, okay, where where is that? Um because if you're saying that um that that people won't pay money uh to that that are frugal uh to make more money, I'm just saying um it's not about coupon saving. It's not

about leveraging Chipotle discounts, okay? It's about saving the money to you leverage the money. >> That that that right there is the key. When I told my son, I go, "You got to get have $100,000 in the bank." And for a young kid, that's a lot of money, right? And he's like, "Well, why?" And I'm like, "I can show you how to leverage that in ways you haven't even thought of, you know?" And that's the whole

thing is when you really break it down, it's about leverage. Okay? Debt's about leverage. I personally don't do it. Owning assets about leverage. Okay? Okay, I like that. Okay. Uh, multiple streams of income and and cash flow. That's leverage. Okay. I love that. Right. So, at the end of the day, you know, it's going from there. My whole thing is when you're if they're coming on and the value prop is um and and I want you

to keep this in mind, okay? Uh, your value prop is I'm going to show you what to do with the money that you save in this video. I'm on a I'm not just watching for the save. Now, if let's just say you get 100,000 views, okay? And of those 100,000 views, a thousand people are in the journey with you, okay? >> They're in the journey with you because they want to save and they want to be

frugal and they want to leverage, but they want to do it the right way because they're on the journey with you to go where you want to be. that that's what I'm saying is it's it's that offer is to them, not to the person that's looking to save on their groceries just because they they're just not not leveraging the money. They're just uh they're just uh you know being tight on their budget uh because they're not

okay. Well, now it's more of a mindset. It's like they have a fixed budget and they're just trying to to save money to have a little bit more instead of using that little bit more to make a ton more. Okay. Some of the richest people I've ever met in my life were um they they had boring freaking jobs. Like the most boring jobs in the history of it. Like my brother, one of them, he's a data

analyst. Uh works for the state. And and yet he is wealthy, man. And how does he do it? He leverages his money and he's smart when he does that, man. He is so smart and he has a multiple things that he's doing, but he knows how to compound that thing. Um, now he has an MBA and does all that fun stuff. Funny beyond just an index fund. >> No, no, no. Index funds boring for him. He

he he has index funds a leg, but it's a smaller leg. Uh he he does a lot of real real estate stuff and that's what my dad uh did growing up and you know it's just he he knows how to leverage that. But then two, um, you know, he'll he'll build a house, take every tax advantage he can possibly take in a house and then and then sell it and then roll it over. He said one

time rollover. He's just barely doing that right now on a house that he's doing taxfree. Like he he knows he knows the game on it, right? And so for me, that's what it's all about. And all you need to do is have a a you know thousand people that are engaging with you to do it because they're the one the ones that are willing to do it. And trust me, I know this for a fact because

for me, you know, uh you you got to you got to you got to you got to focus in on where they're going, not what they're doing to get there. >> And I think that's where a lot of finance creators, they don't talk about that. Like you're actually helping someone transform. This is just like a aha moment for me right now, but people always think like, "Oh, you're in the frugal living space, so the only the

people you talk to, they're only about saving money or you have to make videos for the aspirational side hustle bros that are willing to do that." But actually, like your purpose is to help transform like the people who are, you know, willing to have that shift instead of just only meeting them where they're at and just giving them the same stuff that they're always getting. >> Yeah. Yeah. Let me let me let me just say this.

Um, okay. So, I I had a consultation with a lady in in Wyoming that did frugal living and that was her content and she would show you how to save everything. Uh, and I had her reframe her [snorts] journey. Um, because when I heard it, it didn't feel like it was frugal living. It was independent living and it's completely different than frugal living. Um and and and it was like more preparedness than anything else. And so

I'm like, "Hey, do this." She did a uh a preparedness book and made $2.7 million in a year. >> But >> guess what it's for to the people that were buying how to be frugal with coupons and everything like that. She was able to bring in a narrative that made sense and built something outside of it. So like so like for me it's not hard once you have an audience that that is a community. Okay. It's

not hard if you have an audience that's community. It's just more finding something that that is in line that would bring them so much value that they don't want to miss out. They don't want to miss out on it because it's that that is that part of that community of people that get it and it's going in the same direction of where they're going. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. No, that's that's huge. That's a big

mindset Do you mind sharing that channel? [laughter] >> I not publicly uh deep things unless I ask that I can do it. But yeah, we we can >> we can give you the the dates on that for sure. But uh the the key to this is um you know finding your own uh tribe. Uh and the only way you can do that is knowing what you're trying to do. Like like I I like Graham Stefan a

lot. Okay. A lot. He's a great guy. It's very short, by the way. >> Yeah. >> Um but but he he's known for real estate, real estate investing. He doesn't like to do real estate anymore. It's like it's like he >> sold everything. >> He did, right? Um and and yet that's what he was known for in the beginning. And things can can change. Meet Kevin was the same thing. Real estate, whatever, and he's doing a

lot of different things, right? >> But at the end of the day, know your jam. And if your jam is about, hey, I want to get into a position uh to leverage the money that I save in ways that it can start compounding. And then two, having multiple streams of income so that I'm not relying on one thing. And that everybody can understand that because you're trying to do that on YouTube. If you only had one

stream of income, you just do ads. You wouldn't do brand deals. You wouldn't do affiliate. You wouldn't look think of products. Okay? Um but that's what you're looking to do. And it doesn't matter if you're a school teacher. Uh my I I have a I have a brother that's a school teacher and he flips houses. He'll go in uh build a house and flip it, right? And why does he do that? Because his house is paid

for. He didn't have to do your original mortgage type thing. He just build enough houses and got the value out of it and just applied it to the other ones. You can roll it over taxree. you know, you it has to be someone something similar or equal or you know, increase in value, which it was. And so great, that's that's where it's at. So, does that make sense? >> Yes. No, very very actionable. Like you said,

I I think I got to do some soularching with that in the upcoming week. But I think I'm in my mind I'm leaning more towards that retire like the fire movement almost like adjacent to that. But >> but but here's here's here's something I want you to understand too, okay? Um my generation is uh a generation that saw I'm Gen X, but saw technology go from uh five five uh uh channels on TV to uh satellite

and to cable that had thousands of channels that saw the internet come on. uh that that saw social media being born um and and was would would go on a unique uh perspective. Okay. >> Now, the older generation, the boomer generation didn't they they saw that all too, but they were afraid of it along the way. We were just early adopters and we're just early adopters. Were like don't we'll do it on our own. We don't

need your opinion. Whatever whatever it is, you know, but we we look for we look for our tribe and and that's really important. Okay. the generation that you're responding to is is older Gen Z, okay? Um, and that's your audience. And they do not they do not want to do what they see their boomer parents doing. They don't they don't want to see some of the Gen X parents do it. They want they want to enjoy

life now. Okay? >> They [clears throat] do. Okay? And so that has to be a a part of they they want that's why they do crypto. That's why they go through this whole thing. It's like why wait when we can do it now, right? My thing is is is taking very strategic steps in the direction that they need to go. Okay, which is being frugal in some areas because they love hacks. If you show them a

Chipotle hack >> where they can save 12 bucks by going to Chipotle by doing that, it's what do they do with that 12 bucks? But it's not really 12 bucks because if you if it's 12 bucks, you know, it's really $48 a month is what it really is. And where do you put that $48, right? Where do you put that $48? And if you times that out by a year, it could even be more than that

if they're just doing weekly Chipotle, right? It's like, where do you put that money? And if you're helping them understand that, man, that's powerful because I can tell you this, uh, I I I've known I I know more I know more Gen Z millionaires than I do Gen Xers. >> Wild. >> And why? probably because I'm in the space of YouTube, but that's not how it's like here's here's a here's an interesting tidbit. Okay, people don't

understand this. They think Mr. Beast got all his money on YouTube. Do you realize that he made a million dollars in high school? >> No, I didn't. >> And it wasn't YouTube. It was freaking crypto. Okay. >> Oh, what? >> Yeah. >> No idea. >> He's a crypto bro, man. Like way back in the day. So, it's like everybody assumes these things of what they see a parent, but they don't even know. And I can I

can tell you I've seen like I I I had this consult and it was probably one of the coolest consults I've ever had. It's with a 16-year-old and he and he paid like $1,000 to do a consult with me. And I'm like, "Okay, where's the parents?" Because you're thinking, "Okay, parents are coming in um and we're we're going to have this conversation." And I jump on like, "Well, where's your parents? I mean, you're you're under 18,

dude." you know, like where's where's your parents on this one? Oh, they're at work. I'm like, okay. Do they know you're doing it? Like, no. Do they know you do YouTube? Yeah. And and we get into his channel. He did like $385,000 that month. And I'm like, gosh, >> let me let me stop here real quick. Okay. Cuz because I'm I'm having a hard time. >> I met some of those kids at VidSummit, man. >> No,

I'm telling you. I'm He was at VidSummit. But it's just like um and I and I and I pull him on. And I'm like, "Tell me how big's your team." He's like, "You got a team of seven." And and anyway, we go through this whole thing and I'm like, "Do I go because I had this weird suspicion. I goes, "Does your mom and dad know how much money you make?" "No." And I'm like, "Are you insane?

Do you have a business set up?" "No." I'm like, "Okay, we got we got to fix this, man." Because it's like you're you're like gonna get nailed. And so anyways, I says, "Look, I'm going to give you all the advice. Do whatever." I go I go tell me what is your number one thing of making more content issue of making more content do you want he said school and I'm like okay don't drop out you're not

that I know that could be appealing don't drop out and I'm like uh let's get on with your mom and dad and so anyway mom and dad jumped on and it was like really weird it's like hey go meet with this guy and like who is this guy what is he doing and so he had to like they had to pull out the book and you bestseller and consultant, whatever. And you know, and then what won

them over was the chosen because they're like, "Oh, I'm a Jesus. They like Jesus, too." So, it's like, "Okay." We got on and we we started having the conversation and I says, "Do do you realize um your son um is making a ton of money online and they're thinking a couple thousand dollars or whatever." And and and I says, "Is it okay?" And he says, "They, yeah." So, I explained to them how much he was making

and their jaw just dropped. They went white as white. And I and I says, "Look, um, I'm not here to do your parenting. That's not what it is. But, um, he needs to get a company set up. He's going to get nailed with taxes. There's a lot of things that we need to do. >> Um, and this was within him three months. So, he just started to to up. So, he just he started to compound, but

it wasn't going to go away. It wasn't going to just be a one-hit wonder." And I says, "And do you I go, "Do you realize that he has seven employees?" And they're like, "What?" You know, to start going into this whole thing. And I I says, "This is what I would do, okay? Um, let's get a company set up. Let's go from there. He doesn't need any money management. He's actually really smart when it comes to

that. Um, but let's let's strategically do this." And I kind of mapped it out of what he needed to do. And they're very supportive, right? But he he made more in a month than they they did um together uh both working at Home Depot uh in a year. Mhm. >> Um and and so they they saw they weren't parents to take away whatever or weasel their yourself in. And they're like, "Just tell me what we need

to do." And I says, I says, "He can afford to do this. I want him to uh uh get a tutor. He is not dropping out of school. He's going to get a high school diploma. Here's a program at uh BYU that they have a high school degree that you can get. It's online and you get a tutor to do it." And I says, "He just he just wants to be out of school so he can

focus in on this." And so let's just have him work really hard quickly to see if he can graduate, right? And and the tutor would do it. And I kind of go from there. It was awesome. >> One of my crazy >> my favorite texts of all time when it comes to consulting like this was getting a text from him says, "Yo, can you jump on for a call?" And I like, "Sure." So I jump on

and he goes, "Man, I just graduated high school." You know, 16 years old, graduated high school. and and he goes, "And then two, we just had our biggest month ever. Uh we just hit we hit a million dollars." And I'm like, "Okay, great." So, the point that I'm getting at is is um this generation that you're hitting are not the frugal people that that are the boomers. If you got an older boomer, okay, you are not

talking to the right type of person because they're not going to be able to buy. But I can guarantee you this younger generation will invest where they need to invest and they're smart. And if you just show them what they can do with it, it it literally, you know, it will build something bigger. These people are not on Facebook, they're on Discord. You got to have your own Discord server. Okay? That that is your control set.

Okay? Facebook will always limit you and you're always competing with everybody else. Discord is not for this group. Now, not saying that you can't leverage that that group because you you build it and it's going, it's great. I'm just saying where they want to congregate is not on Facebook. I can guarantee you that. >> Okay. >> Okay. Is it is this making sense? >> Yeah. I mean, because I feel like I have been kind of resisting

who already is naturally, you know, appealing to me. >> Do you know why you're resisting it though? >> Because you think they have no money. >> That's why you're resisting it >> and you're thinking, "No, strategically, I need to do this." And I'm like, "No, man. Like, I you could appeal your content can appeal to that older demographic." Okay? Mhm. >> They can't, but they're not the ones. They're on the later stage of their life. You're

wanting to get someone that is like you. Cuz like if you look at the demographic as that last video, you're what are you? 25, 24, 26, >> 26. >> 26. You are that viewer. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, why not lean into that? >> That's big. No, that Yeah, that's my big takeaway, dude. Just lean into it, man. Lean into me, you know? >> Yeah. It it's it's that that's why I'm saying if you're clear of

what you're doing with it, you don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be an expert at it, but you have to have a plan and a strategy, and you got to grow a community around that. >> Is there a reason you recommend uh Discord? >> Yeah. Just go talk to everyone that's your age. They started Discord because they started playing Minecraft. You know, it it's like when you break it down, they have a Discord

guaranteed. It's like that that's where it's at. They're not on Slack. They're not on they're on IG. Um you know, they'll do some Tik Tok. They'll do some shorts, but from a a place to communicate. They're on Discord guaranteed. >> And as a as a community, just like is that just a free place for them to, you know, work through the journey together. >> It sounds like you haven't been on Discord before. >> No, not too

much. I mean, I'm in I'm in a few, but like Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So go go go go go go buy something that helps you understand how to leverage Discord and then you'll get it. You'll get it, you know, and and at the end of the day once you get it, you know, uh you Discord, you have to create a community in it. You can't do it on your own. You'll spend too much time.

Um and see see this last uh uh things Chantel Hills right there. Um, see she is my moderator on here, but she's also my moderator in my uh group coaching program and then she's my moderator on Discord. So, it's like literally she is part of the community and she's one of the coolest people ever. Uh, she lives like she's staying up super late right now because she's in Australia, you know, but she's here cuz she's she's

she's awesome. She's like super awesome. One of the things that I always wanted to do for her and I did. She's never been to VidSummit before and I'm like, "Hey, for my moderators, I want you there." And she was able to do it. And it was more because of that, you know, it's 4:30 a.m. right now. So, she is up literally cranking it because of that, right? >> That's that's the power of community. That's the power

of what she's doing on Discord for me. Okay. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. I literally have a kid that I financially coached and he's now debtree and now he's moderating my Facebook group, but he's literally my age once again. Like, >> Yeah. Yeah. But once again, >> pretty much the moderator of Facebook, >> you're going to a place that will throttle you from doing it. It's not as intimate as it could be because it's Facebook.

>> Yeah. >> So, don't get me wrong, you can still do that and it could be an entry point, but you're like, "Hey, my private groups in Discord." >> For sure. Yeah. It's like it's just another freebie, you know, [laughter] point too. >> Okay. So, um, lot to take away on this, man. >> Rewatch this thing a ton. >> Yeah. Let me just end on this. This is really important. Um, you can't just randomly put up

content and say, "Hey, this is going to resonate with my target audience." What you need to do is know who your audience is. And you can go back through and you can say, "Oh man, these are starting to skew Mel. Then then we need to lean into that. Some of the best content you actually have is for male." Well, great. It is actually your same uh um age. What you need to understand is how they view

life. You need to start breaking that down. Where they congregate online, what they do offline. You need to start seeing what are they concerned with. Like I can guarantee you 25 year olds will go to Chipotle, okay? They're not going to they're not going to another restaurant like you know whatever. They're going to Chipotle or whatever. Okay, great. You want to start looking at the commonalities of things that they do. That's the type of content that

you're looking for, right? And you're interweaving. It's like, how do you save this? Right? How do you save that? Okay, great. How do you make $12 here? But it's not about saving the money. It's about leveraging the money. That is your that is your value proposition. Okay, I'm going to show you not only to save but where to to invest. >> Uh that's where it's all, you know, that that's it. That's where I would I would

literally lead. And then two, you need to have a system and you might be still developing it out. So maybe it's like, hey, get this first, >> you know, uh things that you're able to do or whatever that is. Could get it first. It could be for free, but start building up that list. And then two, literally go in every one of your um your your videos, uh all the descriptions and take out stuff that's broke

and put in the stuff that is leading it to the right place because you have a lot of broken stuff in there. You tried a lot of different things. Keep in mind, it still gets traffic. Uh the way that I usually do it is look at what's getting traffic now and do those first and then I can do the rest. But TubeBuddy's really good at find and replace and you can find and replace a lot of

that stuff. That's what I would do. >> Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. Got to go in and clean that up for sure. >> Okay. So, JC, I'm really excited. I do believe what you're doing, you you foundationally hit it. Um I would assume uh just based on what I'm looking at, you're uh probably like two years away from hitting a million dollars a year. Uh if you if you leverage it right, uh this is a year to

really course credit own your audience and start building these things out. Uh 2027, early late 2026, early 2027 is when I'd start hitting some of those things from there. Uh, I know that you put fiveyear plan to do it. You don't need it in five years. You can literally do it in two years. Uh, you're already on the journey for it. Um, you're going to hit it 100,000 subscribers pretty quick here. You'll hit it faster if

it if they can self uh self-identify with your with your audience. That's why it's really important. And then it's just more leveraging that. Now, I'm going to give you the last bit of advice. Um, and this is by far the most important advice I could ever give you when it comes to building a community. Okay? If you don't meet in person, it's not a community. Okay? You have to create something. Now, I don't care if it's

just, hey, meeting in Nashville, you know, meeting up, whatever. That's it. You have to. Okay? I got on stage to some crazy chosen fans just this last week. Okay? And the whole reason why we did it is we're building something bigger than just a TV show. We have a movement and movements are needed with a community. Okay? But if you look at every company that I build, I always build that inerson moment. >> I do it

every single time. Like we're just getting ready. Uh one of my channels that I own along with a a YouTube creator and we actually own a quite a few businesses. It's Matt's Off-Road Recovery. We're just getting Matt's Off-Road Games. Okay, that's a in-person event. It's the biggest outdoor event in Utah. Why do we do it? It's about community, man. It's about community. So, you really, really, really, really need to look at this. And you don't necessarily

need to execute on any of these big things there, but you can meet in person. You can do meetups right now. >> Might as well. >> That's true. >> Okay. Great. >> Okay. >> Wow. Love it. >> All right, my man. Um, really excited for what you're doing. And, uh, for me, your heart's right in the right place. Um, but you really need to dial in who you're talking to, what your value proposition is, and you

can state it in a very quick statement, right? And then need to have steps of where they're going once they start saving their money, why they're saving the money, where they need to invest it. That's what I I could do. And then I'm in the I'm in I drink the Kool-Aid instead of watching a video to save money or watching a video to invest. I feel like I'm a part of something bigger. Okay, guys. Thank you

so much. And we'll see you on the next one. Thanks, everybody. >> Thanks, Darl.