Next Level Pros - #78: How to Leverage YouTube for Entrepreneurship: Nolan Molt, YouTube Master

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Welcome back to The Founder Podcast with special guest, Nolan Molt! In this episode, we explore the dynamic world of content creation, entrepreneurship, and the evolving landscape of digital media. Discover how spending time with content creators can lead to a greater sense of community and creativity. Throughout the episode, we discuss the power of aligning products and services with influencers to generate revenue and the ongoing debate between YouTube and TikTok. We share practical tips for building a personal brand, balancing education and entertainment, and the importance of long-term vision in achieving success. Highlights: "Figure out ways to align yourself with products, with services, with entrepreneurship, whether it's your own product or through a joint venture." "YouTube pays its creators better... YouTube genuinely cares about their creators... when the creators win, we win." "Success on platforms like YouTube often requires patience, consistency, and a genuine desire to provide value rather than focusing solely on immediate results." Timestamps: 00:14 - Content Creation & Entrepreneurship 08:36 - Content Consumption & Relationships 15:42 - Influencer Marketing for Business 22:22 - Viewer Perception & Content Impact 26:16 - Sports Trends: Contracts to Equity 32:02 - YouTube's Future: Updates & Support 36:50 - Growing a Niche Audience 40:28 - Blending Entertainment & Education 45:04 - Tips for Entrepreneurial Content Creators 47:59 - Conclusion: The Value of Long-Term Vision

My senior year of high school, I have a video I post on, I post on Twitter and I post it on YouTube. On Twitter, it goes absolutely viral. Every meme account is reposting this thing and taking the video. What is this video? You got to tell us. It's a prompt proposal. That video goes viral. And so I just kind of like looking back, I'm like, I've had all these videos go viral, like random, right? You know, I remember on Facebook, that prompt proposal video had like 30 million views after like a day, like viral and so how many 30 million views what yo yo welcome to another episode of the founder podcast today i'm joined by mr nolan molt nolan is a local here to the tri-cities which is super dope we don't get too many people

passing through Eastern Washington over here. But Nolan, man, you got a really cool story and stuff, but let's jump into the nitty gritty. You are a YouTube expert, someone that is a master at launching channels, getting views, making YouTube viral. What is working right now in 2024? Yeah, I mean, what's working right now, I think people love and can connect with authenticity. And I think when people just even just pull up their phone and start documenting their journey, they start giving value. We're seeing, you know, guys like Sam Selleck just document his his bodybuilding journey and there's no editing. And, um, you know, there's a place for that on YouTube where people can sit down like this, have a conversation.

And as long as I think people are real, authentic, vulnerable in front of the camera sharing, I think what you've done on the podcast, uh, there's just a lot of success there because people want to relate with people you know people want to hear your story people want to hear your advice yeah and i think about alex hermosi and i know i think you've had him on the podcast or you mentioned you're friends with him yeah yeah we're buddies yeah on the pod yep and early on in his youtube journey you know people like kind of roasted him because he would just shoot on a little webcam and he would just shoot these videos in his little like it looked like a closet it was his office no. No, it was literally a closet. It was a closet. It

was underneath his stairs. Okay, perfect. So he's under stairs like Harry Potter, just shooting these YouTube videos, but they're getting a lot of views and they're helping a ton of people and he's growing his brand. And it's not because of the editing. It's not because he's doing anything fancy, but he's extraordinary, you know's extraordinary. He's someone who's achieved a lot and now he's documenting and helping and kind of giving back and people, how can you not watch that? I love that you use the word authentic. Authenticity is something that I've always strived for throughout my career. And we live in a day and age where there's a lot of unauthentic people, right? Inauthentic or whatever, however the word is, right?

You know, a lot of fakers, a lot of people that are flexing and, you know, look at my Ferrari and, you know, all that jazz. It's funny. I was actually just one of my business partners, Levi, I was talking with him earlier, and we were talking about how just like authenticity is really the thing that sells these days. And that, you know, I've had a chance throughout my career, and especially with launching this podcast, to be in the same room of a lot of very successful people,

guys that are worth tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. And it's interesting, once you kind of pass that 10 million threshold, the people are way more down to earth and authentic than you would ever think. But it's a lot of people that are just starting to make it. They think that there's a certain way you're supposed to act, right? You're supposed to be in your face with the cars and the girls and, and like all, all these things. But the reality is, is like the true successful individuals, like that's not what they're about, you know? And, uh, I think a lot of people are finally starting to catch onto that.

Like, huh, maybe, maybe these guys aren't rich. They're just acting like they're rich or, you know, they aren't successful, or maybe there is happiness outside of money. Right. Like, you know, and so I love that word. I love that. That's the stuff that's working in 2024. And you like, you know, you got to be careful because people only see, you know, a lot of people are just going to see you on YouTube, see you online, and then they're going to meet you in person. And if you're a different person, you know, it's like, that's, that's not a good thing. And so I think it's like, it's just a good thing. Like just be yourself and show up on camera. People, I think people feel that and can relate to that. And so, um, it's interesting though,

hearing you say that, like, you know, cause I think from my perspective and oftentimes what gets views on YouTube is the flashiness and it, but I, I really think, um, I think like Gen Z and I think a lot of just young people can relate to, to, to guys like you who say, listen, I can't have all these things, but I don't have these things. It doesn't make me happy. So it's kind of, it's, I guess it's refreshing too, just to hear you say that. But yeah, always think too, like, you know, what you're posting online, it's like, people are going to meet you in person one day too, you know? Right, right. They're going to say like, does this really check out or is it just fake? And yeah, yeah. It's's uh it's an interesting day and age that we that we live in so tell us like some of your your strategies so obviously authenticity is is a big big one

on 2024 what are what are some other things that are working on in the youtube scene let's uh yeah there's a lot that can work let's talk about the podcast maybe for example i think podcasts we're kind of seeing um a lot of growth on youtube with podcasts part of it is more people are watching on their tvs and so a lot and a lot of people on their tv will put on podcasts and so they'll watch it a little bit my wife does this she'll you know put it on she's cleaning downstairs and then she's just listening but then she'll kind of come sit down watch again or um and so if you have a podcast a big part of it there's part of it, there's two parts here. The first part is the packaging, which is your title, your thumbnail, and your topic.

So this video on YouTube, this podcast, the difference between it potentially getting 1,000 views and 500,000 views could just be around the packaging. And the second part that I'll get to in a second, but the packaging is so important. So it's like, how do you frame the title, the thumbnail to actually entice someone to click on that video? Right. So that's your click through rate. And it's just getting people interested in. And at the end of the day, it's like, it's, it's like human psychology and it's marketing. It's like, what are people actually interested in and framing it around that most interesting, you know, curiosity, core desire, whatever, you know, elements you want to implement into that. Once you can get someone to click, then on a podcast, it is, it's long form. And so you really need to hook them in

the beginning. And, um, I started working with, um, this with this guy who has a podcast as well. It's a Christian entrepreneurship type podcast. One of the things we started doing with him was doing hooks that are like these coming up trailers. And you'll see people do these on podcasts, but they work really, really well. And you can see it in the analytics of the percentage of like 50% of people dropping off in the first 30 seconds. And then we start basically just showcasing, making it really fast paced editing. There's text, there's sound effects, there's music. We're pulling in emotions here,

pulling the best moments from the podcast. Showcasing that in the first 30 seconds to a minute. It's what TV does. It's the trailer. They give you a preview or even what happened the last episode that this episode is going to answer. Right. Yes. Yes. Yes. And so, you know, taking that, those elements, implementing that into that intro of your podcast, like that helps a lot. And so the cool thing about podcasts, I was like, it doesn't, once you get into

it, like people get invested, like listening to this conversation right now, unless we get way off topic on based on what you guys title it or position it, or we just get super boring. They're probably bought in and they, they might've heard something that we said at the beginning of the episode that was teased and now they want to just stay and hang around and listen to that. And so, um, but I think podcasts are, I'm excited for you cause I, podcasts are the move, you know, and I know you were talking to Omar and he's got a podcast that like he just launched like eight episodes in and he's generating just like, I think a couple hundred thousand views on the YouTube side. Um, that's pretty wild,

you know? So there's a, there's a big opportunity there. So you mentioned something, the click-through rate. What would you say is like the definition of like a viral click-through rate? Because I know like at least, you know, in my experience, like we haven't been fantastic at YouTube, right? Like we're awesome on Apple. We're awesome on Spotify because those listeners, when they go there, they're like, I'm going to go invest a full hour, right? A YouTube listener isn't necessarily there yet, right? They see it, they click on it. Did it catch my attention? Right. Does it actually fulfill a nice hook based off of the title and those types of things? So what would you say is

like a stellar click-through on YouTube? Like a percentage? Yeah. So ideally in the first 24 hours, I'm aiming for eight to 10%, which is pretty high. Yes. But you also gotta think, someone who watched your previous episodes, that and they really enjoyed that episode,

that's gonna influence them to click on the next one. Right. So there's other elements like that. But, so your subscriber base, if you're getting like 10% of them in the first 24 hours to click, that's pretty good. However, when YouTube,

what I love about YouTube versus just like people who just do audio, you know, they find you somehow and then they're watching all your, which is powerful. But what I love about YouTube and even like Instagram and, you know, other social media platforms

for the podcast world is that it brings in these new people and it's continually bringing in new people. And when that happens on YouTube, as you start to YouTube starts to push it to more and more people, it does start to widen the the actual avatar it's going for. Right. And so the target audience. And so you'll actually, I have viral videos that have 8 million views. And I think the click-through rate is at like 1.8%. And so a lot of people are like, that's a terrible thumbnail. That's a terrible title. You should change it. It's like, well, it's been shown to 8 million people and probably like three of million of these people, like they're not even interested in basketball or whatever. They just clicked on the video because it was super interesting. So that number is going to go down as it gets more views. So, but typically if you

get eight to 10%, they're going to open up that wide audience. YouTube is going to feed that to more and more people. Yep. The two main things that it's looking for is that click-through rate and then average view duration. And so it is comparing your previous episodes. Is it duration or is it percentage of the total video? Yeah, it can be both, but it's more duration than it is percentage. Right. Because I'm thinking, you know, I got an hour long videos out there and someone hangs on for 10 minutes, you know, that's a sucky percentage, but pretty awesome compared to everybody else is producing two minute videos.

Yeah. So you want to compare your videos to like, to other people who have similar links and also like similar topics. So, cause if you could get someone to watch 10 minutes of a 15 minute long video on the same topic, that would probably perform better than 10 minutes of an hour long. Yeah. But if everyone who's doing hour long videos are just getting 10 minutes and then it's like you're on par with everybody else. Uh, so, you know, it kind of depends there, but. So what are your thoughts? So we're talking like podcasts on, on YouTube's right. So, you know, my, my standard podcast episode is anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes long. Would you recommend only putting that content out?

Are you also pairing it with shorts? Are you doing mid-level stuff, like 10 to 15 minutes, which is like a compressed version of the 60 minute and having all three? What would you recommend there? I'd do all three. Yeah. Yeah, I'd do all three. Nice.

You know, it's more at bats. I know you're a baseball. Did you play baseball? I know you played football. I did play baseball until my uh junior year in high school yeah um you know you get more at bats when you post content so if you post one long form podcast a week that's one at bat but what if you could post one long form and then you got five i call them clips you know when it's what you're mentioning like let's say we just talked about click-through rate

and you wanna pull that out and put that on YouTube. It's like that could be a click or a clip and you can post those throughout the day or throughout the week and then you have your shorts going out and now on YouTube there's a new feature called related video. So as you're watching shorts, what you wanna do is link them in. However,

one of the issues that we're kind of running into that I've had a lot of friends, you know, tell me, you know, just has been hurting their actual long form videos is the shorts viewers will click on an hour long podcast, but it doesn't go into the thing they saw in the short right away. And they're like, they don't know where to find it. There's no time codes on the podcast. They, then they click out and they're gone and you're just crushing average. Right. So you're saying this particular topic isn't addressed in the first 60 seconds on the long form. So best case scenario, you'd go short to the clip, the long form five, six, seven minute clip that is directly related to that short. And then you go link in description. People want to see the full talk from there. So that would be the ideal

way to do it. But, um, I've also, I've also heard that the more that you, that you create traffic on YouTube, right. Linking from video to video and pushing them, right. Rather than sending them to external sales page or whatnot, the more that YouTube's going to reward you. Is that correct? Yeah, the head of the YouTube algorithm, basically his simplified version of it is that they just, they're optimizing for satisfaction. And if you think about it, like people are satisfied

when they, if someone finds your videos and they start binge watching all your videos, that's a really, really good sign that they love your channel. And they're going to push that out to more people and more people should discover this. And they're an advertiser, you know, company. And so they're going to want people to sit down and watch 10 videos and not one video. And so if you can be a channel that is bingeable, that has a lot of content, long form content, then, you know,

it's just more ads that YouTube gets to play for that viewer. Right. And so they're going to promote that too. Nice. Nice. And so you guys know, uh, Nolan, like, uh, we, we didn't give your credentials to him. I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions of views that you've had on YouTube or directly, you know, attributed to the content that you've created. Right. So, I mean, you've done some pretty cool things in YouTube. Thanks, man. Yeah. I, uh, I mean, just a little backstory too. You know, I've, I was thinking about this the other day. I was like, I've actually been doing social media video for, since I was 14 years old, my freshman year. And you're what, 26 now? 26. Yep. Okay. So 12 years. 12 years years 12 years and uh my freshman year there before vine do you

remember vine oh yeah so before vine vine the original tiktok that didn't work for whatever reason i don't know rest in peace but um you know before vine there was this app called viddy v-i-d-d-y and instagram didn't have video at this point. Um, and vine was not a thing yet. And on viddy, I just started posting these videos. It was just like short form videos. And I started blowing up fast. Like in 30 days, I like just had a ton of momentum. I think I had like 50,000 followers. One of my videos was the number one, like number one trending in the world on the app. You know, I don't know how many people are on the app, but, um, that was like my start in the world of like, how many views did it have? I don't even remember. I honestly don't know. It had a lot of views, but then that dies.

Vine comes out. I'm like, uh, you know, I'm just like, I'm just in high school. I'm doing other stuff. I'm playing sports. I'm like, whatever, you know, and literally the app like vanished. Like it was weird. So that's gone. And, um, my senior year of high school, I have a video I post on, I post on Twitter and I posted it on YouTube on Twitter. It goes absolutely viral. Every meme account is reposting this thing and taking the video. What is this video? You got to tell us, you got to tell us what this video was. It's a prom proposal. And I can show it to you later. Love it.

Hey, we'll drop this thing in the notes. Edit team, make sure that thing's in the notes. Let's go, baby. If you want to see me get birthed in a diaper at Southerd High School. Wow. And then say I was born to go to prom with you, go watch that video.

Wow, wow. We are going to send people over to your channel. Is that thing still live on YouTube? Yeah, I should. Oh, yeah, we're dropping it. We're putting it in. We're linking that sucker in. Let's go.

We're talking all strategies YouTube today, baby. So that video goes viral. And so I just kind of like looking back, I'm like, I've had all these videos go viral, like random, right? I remember on Facebook, that prom proposal video had like 30 million views after like a day like ultra viral and so how many 30 million million views what and so everyone's like taking this video and posting it you know on all those like meme pages and so i kind of i think that like in high school i kind of found this like love for like social media virality you know youtube

and so yeah i started working for uh think media I actually moved out to LA to work in the film industry, was a production assistant in Hollywood. Do you think it all stemmed from this video? Why? Well, not necessarily. I mean, like your love for, was it your love, passion and resume all in one? It might've been, you know, But I always wanted to make movies since I was a little kid. Okay, got it. And so I've always been like I had the camera, and so I was doing different stuff. I was getting paid to do videos in high school and just like started, you know, going down that path and doing social media stuff.

And anyways, moved out to L.A., working on sets, and wanted to go into the film industry. At the same time, I'm time i'm in la there's all these youtubers there's guys from vine and i'm helping them with their youtube channels and then i meet uh sean cannell go you know think media and start working for the media long story short you know um found a love for youtube found a love for social media and uh working at think media as a content creator and creative director, kind of overseeing the channel. And by the way, if you guys aren't following Think Media, how many subscribers

does Think Media have? 2.8 million. 2.8 million. These guys teach you all the media tactics, right? Like, I mean, that's really what the channel's based on? Yeah, it's the tech side of YouTube, right? Cameras, audio lighting, and also just like practical tips and stuff for, um, so cool. So cool. And you and, and a couple other guys are like kind of some of the main directors and, and, uh, content creators. Yeah. Yeah. So there, there's kind of three of us right now, but it's, uh, it's a whole thing. And, and I, I kind of wanted to ask you about this too, because it's such like the company, it's a media company, you know, it's so different than like your brick and mortar, a soul gin. And even what you're doing now with the founder project,

I kind of wanted to pick your brain a little bit about your thoughts on like, you know, you're going all in on the media side of stuff. I'm kind of curious, like, just on your connections, who you're talking to, is this something that like people are aware of? Like, yeah, we need to go all in on, on social media. We're seeing a lot of guys like, you know, it's interesting. So in the entrepreneur space, right? Uh, all entrepreneurs want to be influencers and all influencers want to be entrepreneurs, right?

Like, I mean, it's, it's kind of, kind of the, the, the old switcheroo. And in fact, I mean, I, I would say kind of, kind of the, the, the old switcheroo. And in fact, I mean, I, I would say that the best thing you can do is first is be an entrepreneur because entrepreneurs create real money, right? Like they, they create real, and it's not that influencers don't, but it's a little bit more difficult. Right. And, and it's, it's very like flash in the pan. Like it may work, it may not work versus something that's like continual uh but yeah man i think in 2024 like building a personal brand is one of the most important things you can do because at the end of the day we don't do business with buildings or you know sky rises or anything else we do business with people and the more connection that we can create with a human being, right, the better.

And, you know, there's an interesting fact out there. I don't know if you've ever heard this. It's the 750-300 rule of content creation or actually friendship. Have you heard this? No, I haven't. It's fantastic. Basically, the mind cannot tell the difference between spending time with somebody and listening to somebody's content. And so subconsciously, when you spend seven hours listening to somebody's content, it's as if you spent seven hours with them and your mind automatically thinks that you're friends.

50 hours, your mind thinks that you are close friends. And 300 hours, your mind thinks that you are close friends. And 300 hours, your mind thinks you are best friends. And this goes for all forms of media. This goes for visual, audio, music, anything, right? Like, for example, my daughter, I'm sure she's probably listened to 300 hours plus of Taylor Swift. In her mind, her and Taylor Swift are best friends, right? She may never admit that, but subconsciously she does. And this is the reason why influencer marketing works, right?

Because when your best friend says, go buy something, you do it. You're like, wow, my best friend recommended this. I probably should do it. It's the reason why the Kardashians are making the kind of money that they are. You know, everybody is starting to realize in the whole movie, you know, industry that, man, I just need to put my name on a brand. Right. And I can recommend something because I'm best friends with millions of people. Right. Yeah. And the other oddity of this whole thing is like when I when I go out because I've got a lot of content out there now with my social media and my podcast and everything else. And there's certain people that have binge watched my stuff and probably have approached that best friend

category. And so I go to a, an event that I'm speaking at and somebody will come up to me and they will think that we know each other, right? Like even though they know that we've never met in life, they treat me like I should know everything about them, right? Because they've spent so much. It's such an interesting concept. But understanding that, that's the reason why people like myself or whatnot are going all in on content creation.

It's like I want to be able to... I mean, influence is cool, but I have a message that I want to share with the world. And the only way that I'm going to be able to accomplish that is by creating digital assets that can be watched and watched. And I mean, really a legacy to my own life, you know. And so that's that's really the focus that we're going after. Yeah, I love that. I've never heard that before. But it makes sense because I'm like, that's, that's how I, you know, view content and people too. And, and, uh, so I love that. And I think

what, what was really interesting, what you said there too, was like, I think you said content creators want to be entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs want to be content creators. Yeah. And so I always, I always look at people who are more successful than me. And I don't always just think about what they're saying, but I look at what they're doing. And I'm like, I mean, you got these very wealthy people. You have these entrepreneurs going all in on podcasts, going all in on social media. And so for me, I'm on the other side of it,

I am in the social media world. What advice would you give to like someone who's watching this and they are a creator? Is it is it partnering with entrepreneurs? Is it becoming an entrepreneur? It's it's it's probably a little of both. Right. Like let's look at Ryan Reynolds for an example. Right. He's a content creator. Yeah. Right. He's been in movies, holds a lot of influence.

Have you seen what he's been doing recently? No, but I know he's like got, I know he like sold Mint Mobile, right? And there's some other business ventures. Let's use that. So traditionally content creators, and I think most content creators fall in this camp, they create content,

they get paid to create that content, right? I was on a movie, I was on a movie, I was on a commercial, I got AdSense from a YouTube account, right? I'm essentially just getting, I'm trading my time or my content for money, right? What Ryan Reynolds and a lot of people are starting to realize is that they have more influence than just the selling of their content. They can actually push product. They can actually partner up. And so you got Ryan Reynolds, JVN with Mint Mobile, and in one year's time sold for over a billion dollars, right? Now, all of a sudden, instead of just selling his time for maybe 20

million a year or whatnot, he's able to become an entrepreneur or create a joint venture with an actual brand and make hundreds of millions of dollars, right? Like that's where the real opportunity exists with content creation is actually aligning yourself with products and services, right? And it's the same thing that we're starting to see in sports now. You know, sports previously, it's trade your time and your energy in the sport for a contract, right? It's like I make, as a quarterback in the NFL, I make $20 million a year or whatnot. Now you're starting to see

with some of these soccer franchises, instead of getting a contract to just play and get paid for each season, they're actually negotiating equity in the actual team, right? And so they're realizing that the product isn't the game, it's the team, it's the franchise, it's everything else. And so realizing that their influence has impact over the overall value of the franchise. And so I think in the next five to 10 years, we're going to see more and more of that in professional sports

where they're going to be aligned with management and ownership and everything else because they realize that my influence is worth more than just switching out the time. And so that's what I would say to content creators, like figure out ways to align yourself with products, with services, with entrepreneurship, whether it's your own product or through a joint venture. I love that. I think too, like if you're an entrepreneur, you can make it simple to get started with content creation. It doesn't have to be build a set, start a podcast, you know, right away. It's like, you literally can just start posting videos from your phone and it, and it resonates with people. And so, um, you know, cause I think about like, what's the difference now, you know, with these stories that you're sharing versus maybe 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. And I think it's like, we have social media now and it's so easy to get in front

of millions of people. Right. And, but not everyone is taking the opportunity to actually get out there and produce content, but it really, it's like, just dumb it down. It could, you can just get started on your phone and YouTube. What I love about YouTube versus the other social media platforms is it people spend a lot of time there. People spend a lot of time on YouTube. And so if you have long form content, you know, five, seven minute videos, an hour long thing, it's like people spend that time with you. And that adds up on the, you know, we're about to become best friends, you know, here in here in a little bit. And so what are your thoughts on YouTube versus TikTok? Well, I, uh, so I'm not on TikTok right now,

but I am excited. I've been excited for TikTok. I think TikTok, I love YouTube, and I think YouTube just stands its ground over the long haul, whereas TikTok is a little more dicey for me. But I think TikTok is cool because a lot of there's, I think it came out in 2023. It was the most amount of time from people spending on social media apps. It actually outperformed YouTube as the number one spot on people on TikTok more than on YouTube as far as time. And it's short form video. And so that kind of, you know, made me go, OK, hold up.

You know, let me look at this a little bit deeper. But obviously, like YouTube has YouTube shorts now and that's still kind of evolving. And it's an interesting dichotomy. You have YouTube trying to be Tik TOK and Tik TOK trying to be YouTube because recently they extended their watch or their video length to 10 minutes. Right. And so where it used to be, I think, you know, 60 seconds and then they upped it to three minutes and then I think five minutes and now it, now it's at 10 minutes. And so, yeah, they're they're they're both like trying. They're kind of morphing into each other, which is it's it's interesting. I will say, though, YouTube pays its creators better.

And for that reason, I think YouTube will continue to have the creators support. And also, like I went to New York, I got to meet the ceo of youtube and just like talk with their a lot of the people behind their products and and they were talking about what they were working on for the upcoming year and they really genuinely care about their creators and they're very vocal about that and it's like of course how could they not because the creators you know are the platform right right um, that was one of the things that I was like is so cool is they genuinely, they believe like, I don't know if it's their slogan or what, but I kept hearing people say this. It's like when the creator wins, we win.

Like this is what they say at YouTube when the creators win, we win. And so they, you know, you know, people are always going to have their thing with YouTube or whatever, but like, it's pretty good. Like they, they pay, they're paying more than Tik TOK. And for that reason, you know, you see Tik TOKers wanting to become, get a million subscribers on YouTube. And usually it's not necessarily the way around. It's more so people on Tik TOK, they're like, okay, I'm viral here. Maybe I'm making a little bit with brand deals, but like, I want to go over to YouTube. Why? Because that's like, it feels like the legit platform that's like there to stay. And I think it holds more weight too. And I heard this story about, um, this is a true story, but I can't remember who it was, but there was this Tik talker with like a million, um, followers. And then there was this YouTuber, it was like 10,000

or a hundred thousand subscribers. And they both like held these different events and there was barely anyone that came to the TikTok person's event and it was just like packed out at the YouTuber's event. And so I think there's something there too with the diehard. Which at the end of the day, like I understand that argument, but it's like what content were they creating, right? Like, yeah, exactly. You know, if you're there for pure entertainment,, that's not like a loyal fan versus somebody that is informational-based or helping them improve their life or their financial. I can see it or whatever, right? So, you know, it's interesting. What would you say?

But I agree. Like there's definitely this thing about YouTube that the value of a subscriber is very high for the most part, right? Sure. There's certain channels like, eh, whatever. Yeah. But what would you say your prediction is for YouTube five years from now? What do you see happening with YouTube and potentially in regards to TikTok? Well, I think they're definitely going to keep up with YouTube shorts and try and make

that successful. I think they're going to keep pushing views into YouTube shorts. And I've even noticed on my phone when I open up YouTube, I'm getting recommended on my homepage a lot more YouTube shorts. And it will just be like, shorts, take up my entire thing. And I'm going to have to scroll down just to get to a long form video. So they are doing that already, but I think they'll continue to push shorts and try and give something they're doing now. And I think we'll continue is to compete with Tik TOK. They're giving smaller channels or new channels, a little bit of push in the algorithm. And I think it's because on Tik TOK, like anyone can go viral. You can have, you can literally post your first video on Tik TOK and go viral. And, um, you have that kind

of opportunity there. Whereas I think YouTube is trying to get these new channels, and they're also experimenting with trying to push smaller creators out. Which is interesting. I wonder if I screwed myself with my channel because I took an old channel that had like two subscribers, and I rebranded it when I launched the founder podcast, I probably would have been better off starting fresh because YouTube would have probably said, hey, this is a new channel. Let's give it a few kicks. But at that point, I think it was like two years old

with two subscribers. Yeah, I don't know. I wonder if the algorithm messed me up. I don't know. But I will say this though. That's not... I met with a guy today. He has 3 million subscribers and he's debating deleting his channel or starting over because

he blew up on shorts. So people are always going to be like, you know, what if, what if this, what if that? And I just told him, I was like, dude, I know. So you want to do long form, right? I was like, okay, then stop doing these shorts that are like building your brand. But like, you're not even in it. No one knows who you are when they watch this. They don't, they don't know you like you and trust you from watching these shorts you're doing. So stop doing those, keep doing these where you're in it, you know? And then I gave him some

strategies to try and get people from shorts to long form. But, and in your case, I'm like, even though maybe that, that could be true, that very well could be true. You know, I've thought about that as well. YouTube does a very good job if you have quality content with finding the right audience. That's great. And so as long as you are committed to being consistent, playing the game, trying new things, and just getting better and evolving. And YouTube's a snowball effect. So once your podcast starts gaining some steam, it's going to be a snowball effect of more and more. Cause people are going to find one episode and want to watch another one and another one. Um, and so as long as you're like, stay committed

to it, you know, you're not hurt in the long run. Yeah. Maybe in that short term little push or whatever, but yeah, I think I'm in a unique position. The fact that like what we're doing on YouTube, like I don't need results tomorrow. Right. Like I think a lot of a unique position. The fact that like what we're doing on YouTube, like I don't need results tomorrow. Right. Like I think a lot of times they get in, people get into this type of thing. They're like,

I need to start making money 30 days from now. I need to start like for me, like I have inattention to the results. I'm just like, I'm going to provide incredible value. I'm going to just continue to do it. I don't care how many subscribers I get, how many views I get or whatnot. And so I think we're in a unique...

Is that because you just have long-term vision? Yeah, man. It's long-term vision. But at the same time, I've been blessed financially to the fact where this isn't for money, right? This is to leave a legacy and to be able to share incredible information with the world, which I know eventually will be a snowball effect right i know eventually people are going to be like man this is awesome in fact like uh so we're at we're sitting at like at the time of the show uh like 1900 subscribers or something on on uh which which is not a lot on youtube but i remember when we were at like 200 just a few months back and people like how how does a show only have 200 subscribers? You know, I'd get comments and stuff like that, which always makes me feel good. Uh, but, uh, yeah,

it's interesting. So, um, advice that you would have. So my, my son, uh, launched a YouTube channel about a year ago. Um, he's a speed cuber, uh, and, uh, he's one of the best in the world. He, uh, for those that don't know Caden I think I can't remember if he changed the name of his channel it's Cuber Caden but he can solve a Rubik's Cube as fastest time ever is 4.5 seconds and so he I mean super fast that's like 55 turns in four and a half seconds like just crazy craziness but he's built a little subscriber base like 1400 you know subscribers but these guys are like diehards i mean he's he's getting

thousands of views every single every single uh video he puts out you know probably 50 to 100 comments or whatnot because his stuff is like very niche yeah very cool um what advice would uh would you give to him to continue to grow in his because you know there was a couple months ago he's like dad i think i'm just gonna start a new channel this isn't you know this is only getting like 500 to a thousand views a time i'm like dude what are you talking about like 500 a thousand is pretty dang awesome but you have a really loyal audience like what what advice would you give to someone like that well it's interesting you said that because i i would ask her and say, well, why are you doing this? Are you doing it for the views or are you doing like what you said, you know, you're doing,

you have a long-term vision of helping people. And usually at least in my, you know, when I was in high school, it's like, I was not doing it for that because, and I also didn't have really much to give. And so I would, I would ask him, And so I would ask him, are you wanting to start a YouTube channel because you love Rubik's Cubes and you want to build this community? And if that is the case, are you wanting to do entertainment or are you wanting to do education? Because that's going to depend on the kind of videos you make. And the reason I'm going there is because to get more views and to grow, you need to make better content. And so you need to know,

well, what value am I bringing? This podcast is not entertainment though. We might be, you know, funny, good looking guys. I like to refer to as edutainment. It's edgy. It's, it's a little bit of edutainment, but you know, get the right angle, you know, and, and we'll be there but um with you know on his channel let's say he's like well i want to make entertainment content that's like fun it's unique no one's really doing this in the space and that could actually have the potential to reach a wider audience right and even a chance to pivot eventually if that was his goal whereas if he just wanted to help like if he made tutorial videos here's how to solve a Rubik's cube. Here's how to do this. Those would get a lot of views and be the right audience. And you know, you can monetize that and sell a course or something.

I don't know, but let's like, it's, why are you doing it? And then going down the route, because if he wanted to do it for entertainment, make better videos, how do you make better videos? Utilize, if it's entertainment, utilize storytelling, you know, utilize, uh, there's different things you could do. Like he could do a challenge where he has, uh, you know, let's go Mr. Beast with it. Uh, how many Rubik's cubes can I solve in 24 hours? You know, like that would kind of suck to do that, but like he probably could get millions of views on that video. Right. And, and now he's kind of like, this is, you know, I'm wanting to kind of, so it just depends on like, why are you doing YouTube? And I think probably a lot of people even listening to this too, it's like they are an entrepreneur and they

want to get high quality leads. They're not really doing it for the entertainment aspect, but the cool thing about YouTube is it's so big. There's places for both for both people. Right. You know, and, and it's interesting, I bring up the word edutainment. I really think that that is the key, right? Like educating people while entertaining people, right? Like there's, I think there's a good middle ground where you can do both and it can be like, hey, this is how you solve a Rubik's cube. And these are the crazy things I do with it. Yeah. Right. You know, and part of that is like, it's going back to authentic, you know, being authentic. I think what people like about the, you know, people can get bored if we're just talking here,

but like people want to connect with us. So like sharing stories, even if it's not like super funny and people think they got to like be, you know, crazy on YouTube, it's like not necessarily, you just got to connect with your viewer. And so you probably know the viewer best too. And it's like, you're opening up about struggles. You're talking about like some of your pitfalls and I'm listening to your podcast and I'm like, you know, it's resonating with me and I feel like you're being vulnerable and all those, you know, I'm like, that makes me feel closer to you from a viewing standpoint. And so, yeah, like entertainment, but I think what's deeper than that is just like genuine connection.

And of course entertainment, you know, like look at some of the biggest creators on the platform. They're connecting with people because they make them laugh, they make them happy. They, you know, they're entertaining them and they're entertainers. Awesome. So Nolan, dude, tell us, you're obviously king of YouTube.

You got all kinds of really cool things. You're meeting with guys that have millions of subscribers. You're doing all this stuff. What pushes you and drives you, or what do you see the future for you? I mean, because it sounds like you're wanting to become more of an entrepreneur. What are your dreams and goals? Yeah, no, that's a good question. I think, you know, earlier I told you I was 26 and you said I was a baby, I think is what you said. You know, I was like.

Well, you know, I think back to myself, I'm like, dude, when I was 26 years old, you know, I was literally in the middle of almost filing bankruptcy and losing everything, right? And to me, that seems so long ago in my career, you know, and I'm still, I'm still a baby, you know, I'm 39 turned 40 next month. And, and so, but yeah, dude, you, you still at the, just the beginning of the runway. Thank you. Yeah. And I think like, I, I don't know necessarily what the future holds. However, I know I love YouTube. I do love business. But when you talk about like creators wanting to be entrepreneurs, that more fits my, so I'm like, I'm learning more about business.

I'm very passionate about it. Maybe one day I start like a YouTube channel that is tailored around like starting a business for beginners or something. Like I think I would just enjoy that. And so, and emerging like the entertainment and education, I had an idea for a YouTube channel where I would just do these like side hustles. This was a long time ago. I probably won't do this because you're going to hear this and be like, yeah, you probably can't make a ton of money off that or something, you know? But this was the idea, which I think would be entertaining.

And it would be like doing these 30 day challenges to start different little side hustle businesses. So like going in 30 days doing like a pinball, uh, you know, or like candy machine business and seeing how much money I make. I mean, dude, these, these things would definitely be entertaining. It'd be, that's the key there is you'd be entertaining. And educating, right? Is a pinball business good to do? And then I upgrade over time. Right. So then I take the profits from that. I invest in a vending machine, do some of those. And like, I think it'd be fun and some educational value there as well. But is that in the future for me? Probably not. I don't

think I mentioned this on the podcast, but I started a faceless YouTube channel just over a year ago. I actually started to bat in the basketball niche and you know, that made me $60,000. And so i think there's something there with starting like these faceless channels um that i can also sell at one point it's it is interesting right because the biggest struggle with creating a personal brain is that you are forever connected to it right and so these faceless channels yeah has it where it's it's replicable uh it can be it's sellable in fact I have a friend well a friend of a friend so one of one of my employees his brother was the king

of random I don't know if you know the king of random so big youtuber in the day had 10 11 million subscribers you know doing phenomenal things he had replaced himself in the business where he had other co-hosts and different things like that and ultimately removed himself He's one of the very few YouTubers that has ever been able to successfully do that and maintain good revenues after the fact, right? And, you know, interesting enough, he ended up passing away. He got in a tragic accident, but because he had done so and removed himself, he, his family still benefits from that YouTube channel where most YouTubers, they get hit by a bus or whatnot.

I guess what their family's probably not going to make a dime after the fact, right? Because so much is connected to the face. And so the fact that you're doing this, right? Like doing a faceless channel, I think is pretty unique. Thanks. Yeah. I mean, my ultimate goal is just to provide for my family. It is to, you know, I want to give my wife and I have a second son on the way. I want to give them a good life. I want to be able to travel, you know, and, and so, you know, that's a, that's a big part of just why I, you know, in pursuing entrepreneurship is wanting to provide for my family. But what vehicle to get me there, I don't know, but I am is wanting to provide for my family. But, um, what vehicle

to get me there? I don't know, but I am leaning into, I love YouTube. I'm leaning all in on that. And, uh, and I just, I have a blast doing it. So entrepreneurs like me that are trying to get into more of the content creation, what are two or three, uh, next steps or small things that they can do to get their brand out there, start building their personal brand, whether it's on YouTube, TikTok, what would you say the three pieces of advice you'd give to them? Yeah, I think a big one is just making sure that, because a lot of people will make a video and I'm assuming these, you know, it's like step one, start making content. Okay, cool. You're doing that. You're making some content. Step two is some people will just start making

content and they're like, eventually I'll monetize this as an entrepreneur. Like eventually I'll monetize this. Like what you did, which was, you know, like I don't have to, you know, this doesn't have to make me money right now, but a lot of people like AdSense, it's going to be nothing for an entrepreneur. Right. I think my AdSense to this day has been like $40 yeah yeah you know the Wi-Fi bill for a week however one thing that I noticed you I think you I don't know if you've been doing this a whole time or started doing this which I think is what entrepreneurs need to be doing which is in your video doing a direct call out to whatever your call to action is. So if it's your coaching where you, you know, coach entrepreneurs, you know, mentioning that in the video and then actually in

the description, you will need it in the top two lines because then there's a fold where that's click see more. And so just simply by getting that, you know, just the description optimized where you have that call to action at the top, maybe you pin it in the comment that is just going to get so many more eyeballs on that, um, link where really you want to get people in. And so that would be like a simple way to do it. But the other thing is on YouTube, it's just focus on the viewer. And I know it's not like a super practical tip, but it's like focus on the viewer. And I know it's not like a super practical tip, but it's like, focus on the viewer. What are they watching you for? And double down on that. They're watching you for the value that you're bringing through your experiences or how you built this business. And they want to hear more about that. Double down on that. Avoid the stuff that they don't

really care as much about. And that's a quick way to grow. And then I do think though, like over time, of course, like be yourself because people are going to connect with you. And then, you know, that that's the ultimate goal is that you just find those people who want to hear anything you have to say. Right. And they're, and they're listening to like, at first they came for business and then they stayed for a little bit of faith. And then they stayed for like your, when you talk about family, man, that resonates with me. And now they want to, they just want to see your, your whole day and they just love you. And, and so it takes time. Just be patient and consistent with it.

I think. Nolan, man, I appreciate it. You've dropped a lot of really good knowledge and information and bombs for the, for the viewers. Speaking of, you know, speaking to the viewer, I think these are good practical things that, that, uh, those that are watching today and the way that they can go and start their content creation journey. And, uh, whether it's a YouTube channel or whatever it may be getting it out there. So dude, appreciate you, uh, taking your time out of your day, being a part of it. I know time is the most valuable

asset that we have. And I appreciate you sharing that with us. Awesome. Thank you. Until next time.