The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #71: Sean Cannell, Building a YouTube Channel, Creating Video Content, Making a living using online Video

Episode Date: July 18, 2017

Sean Cannell (@seancannell) is a YouTube expert, online video content creator and entrepreneur. Sean has helped influencers and YouTubers build their channels and capture large audiences. Sean's personal Youtube channel is called Think Media and he is also the second half of The Video Influencers with Benji Travis. On this episode we interview Sean about how to start a YouTube Channel. How to create compelling video content and use that content to build a brand, capture an audience, and eventually turn that content into a business. We dive into the things that work and things that don't work on YouTube and discuss the best way to build your channel.  All Show notes and products mentioned in this episode can be found in the show notes on The Skinny Confidential here Connect with Sean Here Sean's Channel Think Media Here Video Influencers Here Connect with Lauryn Connect with Michael This Episode is brought to you by Canna-Pet Canna-Pet is an organic CBD supplement made from industrial hemp that is non-psychoactive, safe, legal and produced specifically for animals/pets. Canna-Pet is a holistic alternative to pharmaceuticals. It helps with things like arthritis, anxiety, inflammation, pain, allergies, seizures, vomiting, cancer and more. For healthy animals it can help with longevity like eating your vegetables. We use Canna-Pet with our chihuahua Pixy and it has helped her to recover from temporary paralysis and anxiety. We continue to use it to help with her arthritis and keep her calm.  USE PROMO CODE: PIXY at checkout for 50% off all purchases  

The following podcast is a Bostik Media production. This episode is brought to you by Canipet. Canipet? Canipet. Yeah, let's talk about the latest. So, this week, as some of you know, we were up in L.A. And before we could go up there, we had to drop our dogs off to be babysat, watched. They could not make it up to LA this time. We were too busy and we didn't want to leave them. As some of you know, Pixie's back has been hurt.

And when we go up to LA, a lot of the time, either we'll leave them with Mimi, who you all know, or our godparents. Do you call them our godparents? Yeah, they're our godparents. They're also podcasters at Wrinkled Not Dead. Mike and Jen Bell. Mike and Jen Bell. If you hear the Bostic Media intro in the beginning of this episode, that's Mike's velvety voice. Yes. And they have a really great podcast. Highly recommend it. They interview a lot of interesting people and they're just really,

really good people. They watch our dogs for us. And I actually lived with them for five years, but that's another story. And if you want to hear about that, that's on another episode. Anyway, they watch our dogs for us, but we were a little worried because they just got a new dog named Emma. Emma's like a big, what is a big poodle? Emma is a larger poodle. She's not a toy poodle. I really get my, my poodle breeds mixed up. I mean, there's not a lot, Michael. It was, it's a bigger poodle and you know, Pixie, she lost her hearing and she's already been struggling with her health. She has back problems, as you guys heard from last week. And we were really nervous because she goes over there and she attacks Emma, the new dog.

She's super jealous. She doesn't attack, Michael. She goes nuts. Yeah, she goes John Rambo on these dogs. She just goes crazy so i was i was freaking out because i was like listen we've been we're finally getting her back under control she's walking normally she's doing well and we knew we had to give her something so we turned to our trusty canapet product okay so canapet is an organic cbd supplement made from industrial hemp

that's a non-psychoactive, safe, legal, and produced specifically for animals. And that's any animal, not just dogs. Yeah. And Canapet is a holistic alternative to pharmaceuticals. It helps with things like arthritis, anxiety, which is why we gave it to Pixie this time, hoping that she would be calm, inflammation, pain, allergies, seizures, vomiting, cancer, and more. For healthy animals, you could use it as a healthy supplement for longevity. It's really just like a great product, Lauren. I fall in love with it. So the ingredients will not get your pet high because it's made from industrial hemp, not marijuana.

Yeah, it means it's strictly controlled levels of THC. They will not get the pet high. It won't be all loopy. She won't be all loopy. Products that are made from marijuana and sold in like dispensaries, they're actually not legal for pets and could be harmful. Canapet is fully legal and vet recommended. So there's no negative side effects and you can use it alongside any medication. Pixie was just kind of super chill. I would call her a chiller when she was on it. She wasn't really acting different other than she didn't have any anxiety, which was ideal in the Emma situation. It's available in capsules, liquid and cannabis biscuits. Oh, she needs to try the cannabis biscuits.

Right now, she's just using the capsules with sprinkle a little bit on her food because, you know, she's smart. She like she knows how to spit pills out and stuff. So I use the little capsules and she doesn't notice. And it's very Skinny Confidential-esque because it's non-GMO, vegan, and free of animal products, preservatives, gelatin, wheat, sugar, and dairy, making it healthy and clean for our furry friends. So long and short of it, Pixie, successful trip visiting with Emma. They got along. I think it was Pixie was calm the whole time. And we didn't have to worry. So she's still in recovery.

Her back is still fine. She's walking around. So the guys at Canapet are giving 50% off to all Skinny Confidential podcast listeners if you use promo code PIXY at checkout. That's PIXY, P-I-X-Y for 50% off. Go to www.canapet.com, then promo code PIXY, and that's C-A-N-N-A-P-E-T.com. And remember, your dogs, cats, horses, and other animals, even lions and guinea pigs can use it.

If you have a lion... You're cool. You're cool. And you should call me. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie.

And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Ha ha! Hi guys, welcome back to the Skin confidential him and her. I got a little cough going on. Oh God. You know, he doesn't really have a cough. It's like one small sniffle. I don't know why we have to do this every time. I got a cough. All right. Well, I've had to hear about that all day. I've heard I was sick yesterday when we did this workout and I still beat everyone

in the workout. I want everyone to know how strong and how much willpower I have. Michael, a sniffle doesn't count as being sick. Welcome back to my show. Okay. And I guess Lauren's show. All right. Well, I'm Lauren Everett's creator of the Skinny Confidential. Michael Bostic, entrepreneur, businessman, one smart cookie apparently. Super sick. Okay. Well, we want to really get into this show because it's all about video and I've been wanting to do a podcast on video forever. So we went to the expert. Our friend Sean Cannell, he's a YouTube guru. You're going to hear all about him pretty soon. I would say that this episode is one of our more hyper-targeted episodes. It's really,

really a lot of really good information. I think it's really focused down on YouTube, building a YouTube channel, monetizing you, how to produce video online. It's a lot of really good information, but it's a lot of information. So just be forewarned that this episode really is, it's a very hyper-focused episode, but a very valuable episode, especially if you're thinking about getting into creating video content or if you're a video content creator. Here's why I think you guys should listen to it if you're in the creative space or any space, really. I think video is so important, especially now. I think on any channel, video is key. I think a lot of us don't know how to execute on the video. So I wanted to sit down with Sean for

selfish reasons to go over exactly what to do, like a game plan strategy that laid it out and showed you exactly what to do, how to do it, how to monetize, how to create that network that's you and what to do underneath that network. So we really picked his brain and got really into it. So if you're interested in branding, video, what's coming up, how to evolve, you'll love this episode. Yeah. And I like talking to people that are no BS and he's no BS. I mean, you get so many of these like gurus or coaches and you know, you, you kind of look at their criteria and you say, what have you done? What have you accomplished? And really it's just like a lot of nothing. He actually has built two very successful YouTube channels. He coaches people all the time. He knows what he's doing. I know he knows what

he's doing. And I think if you listen to this episode, you'll see that as well. So, you know, we're going to get into that in a minute. But first, we want to get a little caught up. Lauren, what's been going on? Well, we went to LA and I had a dinner with Simply with a bunch of other influencers that were going to be speaking on the Simply panel on Saturday morning. So I woke up super early on Saturday, got ready and went and spoke on makeup and beauty trends. What exactly? I mean, I was there. And so, but what exactly, how would you describe the Simply panel? Because I know it's a, I know it was a conference and I know there was a lot of different companies, but like what, how would you describe it? Is it just a conference? It's basically a lot of people in the fashion and

beauty industry that are either influencers or, um, you know, makeup artists or professionals. And it was really interesting to get all together and kind of share our tips and tricks. Um, I spoke with a makeup artist and a YouTube guru, and it was really interesting to have all of us on stage because we all had a different perspective. And we talked to a bunch of girls that are bloggers. I got to meet a bunch of you guys. Everyone is so fucking cool and amazing. Everyone that came up to us had a different story. Some of the stories that I even want to tell on the Skinny Confidential.

So stay tuned for that. And it was just awesome to be around a bunch of creatives and connect. So after we were done, it was probably like, I would say one o'clock and Michael was hypo. I was hypoglycemic. I mean, listen, I try to be as supportive as I can be, but you know, this is not to put anybody down, but I can only listen to so much beauty information before I zone out. Michael needed a cookie stat. So we called Mimi. She was up there working with me and we Ubered to a restaurant called Bouchon. Now I

wasn't a Bouchon fan to begin with, but now I'm obsessed with it because I had this really good butter salad. It had this champagne vinaigrette with like shallots, parsley and lemon and olive oil and red wine vinegar. I could go on and on. And I ordered it with avocado. And then I got a BLT with no bun wrapped in lettuce. And we got a bottle of French rosé. So I was happy as a clam. Couldn't have been happier, in fact. It's kind of my vibe. Yeah. And then I ran into Justin Bieber and I was just, yeah, that's just, I guess that's it. That's it. Let's get into it. Anyways, thanks for listening. Here we go. Yeah. So then after, or while I was eating my butter lettuce salad with avocado and lemon, Michael had a little run in with someone. Well,

as some of you know, when I talk on the phone, I can sometimes pace around and I don't like to sometimes pace around most of the time. If I'm on the phone and you catch me on the phone, I can sometimes pace around and I don't like to. You can sometimes pace around. Most of the time, if I'm on the phone and you catch me on the phone, I'm pacing around. Like I actually go outside of my office when I'm at my office and pace around with headphones or on my phone to talk. I just, I just feel more productive for some reason. I don't like sitting down and talking on the phone. It kind of makes me want to stop my eyeballs out.

So I was out there pacing around on Cannon Drive, which is right by the Montage Hotel and right by Bouchon. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was standing on the sidewalk and right next to this underground parking garage. And all of a sudden, I almost got hit by a giant lifted Mercedes G wagon. And the first thing I thought to myself was, what kind of douchebag is driving a lifted G wagon? Is that like a douchebag thing to do? Listen, I'm sorry douchebag is driving a lifted g-wagon so i'm like a douchebag thing to do listen i'm sorry maybe somebody's got a lifted car listen don't lift the cars unless you're going out into the you're like in the dirt or in the desert like what the hell are you doing

like you know come on why do people lift their cars like i don't we all gotta live in the same society like why do people do that i don't know they're probably making up for other things but okay moving on whoa yeah moving on um i look i'm stuck i'm i'm in the i'm in the parking garage in the ramp the car's in front of me and there's a cop behind with the lights on and all of a sudden i look in the driver's seat and it's justin bieber and i told weston i was on the phone you can ask him said weston hold on gotta call you back justin bieber's here and i stood there and it was just me and him in this cop. And it was super awkward. So it was you and the Biebs. It was me and the Biebs. And actually this is the second time I've had a run in with him, which, you know,

Lauren, but I was just, it was just us three. And I'm standing there too late to say, sorry, it was a little too late to say sorry for buying that G wagon anyways. So I'm standing there and all of a sudden the cop comes out and he's there and i'm just and i'm there and i'm kind of frozen in time and i couldn't get away because at this time i sort of got i kind of felt bad for the guy like 20 paparazzi run up out of nowhere uh they had all these fans the security from the hotel ran down to block it right off but they blocked everyone except for me they blocked me in with the action and so all these people what do you mean like i was like i was stuck because that's his song oh i don't know

but i was stuck in there and so um everyone was like filming him and i kind of felt bad and like i'm not going to film the guy that's just not how i am i think it's kind of a dick move and so i left and if you look at tmz now in search like justin bieber pulled over in la you'll see all these shots of him being pulled over from behind so i was actually in front you can't see me so you didn't make tmz no um after weston called me he's like yo man you should have been filming that you could have sold it but again something i would never do so anyways i called mimi and i told her hey justin bieber's down here and mimi said no no he's not yeah she said no he's not but then all of a sudden like i snapped i looked I looked around and she ran around the corner sweating and

like hyperventilates. She threw her knife and fork on her butter lettuce salad and ran out behind. She looked like she'd seen a monster chasing her. She was running as fast as possible. Then she believed me. But I had a Bouchon hot dog, so I had to get back to that. And I went back and ate my hot dog. And then we went to-

That's really good on the baguette. It was good. I mean, Justin Bieber was important, but to me, not as important as my Bouchon hot dog. Shout out to Bouchon. You're doing a good job with the hot dog. I'm really into it. And then I went up to the roof with Lauren and Mimi. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You went up to the roof. What does that mean? We went up to the montage. And the reason that's important is because that's where Justin lives. Yeah. So we went up there for a drink. I mean, it's a nice place. If anybody's in LA and you go to the montage, go up there for a drink. You'll see what we're talking about.

It's great. And for those of you who go, if you ever see us there, come say hi. Unless you're trying to steal my hot dog, then don't come say hi. But anyways, so we're up there and he pops up behind us, like literally right behind us. And I said, Lauren, Bieber's here again. And Lauren got whiplash. Her neck almost broke. Well,

I think he's really cute. Yeah. Her neck almost broke. Is that creepy? Like, I think he's really cute. Yeah. And I'm much stronger than him.

Okay. And wait, can I just set the scene before you like tell the rest of the story? He was wearing a wife beater from target and these, how do you know it's from target? Cause I could tell. And these yellow jersey like lower than the knee shorts that said Purpose Tour on them. And I actually went and bought them for

Michael as a joke afterwards. But go on. So then I was just sitting there. I was trying to enjoy my glass of rosé. And what does he do? He comes up to me. He's like, hey, man. And I was like, hey, Justin, I'm really busy right now. I'm trying to enjoy my glass of rosé. And that was about it. You didn't say that. You just said, hey, man, too. film him so you know i think that's a dickhead move when people do it so like and also listen these are people like you know like if i was if i was had that level of fame and someone ran up to me with a phone in my face i'd be bummed okay but i know you're saying that but mimi i had to film mimi with him in the background and zoom in on him for one second yeah that's i mean as long as it's not like in his face but anyways in his face and he was wearing yellow shorts i mean you know so yeah justin give me a call and and i will say he sat by the pool by himself and it was wearing yellow shorts i mean you know so yeah justin give me a call and and i will say

he sat by the pool by himself and it was kind of sad and he was hanging out with the kids there was kids it wasn't sad he's fine i was making a narrative no me and mimi made a whole narrative about his whole story in his whole life another thing is arnold schwarzenegger's son was there and i was actually more pumped him because i really would actually name dropping i would try to know it's not i'm not name dropping because of that i'm hoping that someone gets this back to him i want to get in with schwarzenegger why because he's rad that's somebody i'd get starstruck over him and axel rose axel rose if you listen to this what about all the star wars characters oh yeah uh mark hamill yeah for sure like what if you saw r2d2 like, like in the montage? Lauren, you need to watch Star Wars. That's not how this works. Okay. All right, guys. Well, let's not keep this any longer.

Sean is coming on the show. We interviewed him last week in Vegas. You know, you hear my, you can hear my Vegas voice a little bit. We were partying a little bit out there, but it was a really good show. We got into a lot of really good stuff. And if you listen, you're going to hear a lot more. He drops a lot more gems than just YouTube. There's a lot of really good stuff. And if you listen, you're going to hear a lot more. She drops a lot more gems than just YouTube. There's a lot of really smart stuff that Sean says. Yeah, he's a genius. All right. With that, here is Sean.

This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. All right, Sean, tell the audience all about yourself. Give us all the deets. Well, first of all, I'm super pumped to be on the Him and Her podcast and man, that we are able to get together and do this. Yeah, my name is Sean Cannell and I help people build their influence with online video and specifically YouTube and I've been doing video production for about 15 years. Been in front of the camera, behind the camera, working with clients, shooting commercials,

shooting YouTube videos, scripting content, and all of that experience kind of came to a convergence recently to help other people really build their influence, income, and impact with online video. Couple YouTube channels, Video Influencers, and Think Media, and those add up to somewhere between 400 to 500,000 subscribers,

and it's been really cool, helping a lot of people. Wow, so back me up 15 years ago. Where's your head at? How'd you get into this? So the way I actually started video was I was volunteering at my local church and the youth pastor handed me a camera and he said, Hey, start making weekly video announcements. Now, first thing I do not want you guys or anybody listening to ever see these original videos. Do they exist? They still exist, but they are in the vault and that's my garage. And I plan on not public. Who knows if I can. VHS? DVD? They're actually burned to DVDs. And it's funny you bring that up because that

original camera was a Canon HV30. It had mini DV tapes and I would have to capture minute for minute into my computer, edit it all, capture it back onto a tape. And then we put it into a VHS converter to play at youth group on Wednesday night. So like, that's how long I've been doing video. Like, and plus churches are kind of behind because why, why do we have VHS tapes in 2003? I don't know. That's weird. But that was two years before YouTube. And you know, one of the things I learned in that season was because I did these every single week, that was 52 videos a year. And then eventually, like the lead pastor was like, hey, can you do these on Sundays, too?

So now that's 104 videos a year. So I got kind of a consistency in pumping out video content before YouTube even started. And then our church YouTube channel started in 2007. And so, again, I was kind of learning things. I didn't know what was going on yet, but I was kind of my hands dirty if you will I was in the trenches and as my skills increased I started a business started working with like phil spart mercedes and ymca things like that And then eventually really went heavily on youtube first helping authors speakers influencers Really use youtube. I was behind the scenes guy started working with some big youtubers more on the optimization and production side and then eventually

launched some of my own brands as well as collaboration project with Benji Travis called video influencers So before YouTube before you were doing YouTube you were actually producing video for businesses or outside or just the church So just the church for a while and then I started to produce videos for businesses, local businesses. So anything from like Mexican restaurants to some different things about an hour North of Seattle and a little bit in Seattle at the time where we lived. So you self-taught or take classes or how do you, how did you learn all this? Completely self-taught. And I think that we kind of live in the new world as it pertains to video where there are so many resources out there, but I still started so early. I remember when the DSLR revolution started, my first camera was a Canon 7D because it

was a little bit cheaper than the 5D Mark II back when it all happened. And I bought a DVD from a guy called Philip Bloom for like $300, which taught me how to do everything with that camera. So I'd go to seminars, conferences, try to invest in whatever resources I could to learn, but also just practicing a lot. And I was never afraid to reach out to anyone that I saw online and just say hey how'd you do this or how'd you do that and I just built up all the video knowledge through trial and error and continuous learning I mean that's old school because now if you want to learn anything you

go YouTube like that's what you do is you search YouTube I watch your videos to figure out okay how am I supposed to use this piece of equipment or what equipment should I get here but back then you had to buy DVDs or go to seminars or read manuals. Like, oh man, that was tough back then. How has YouTube evolved since you first got on it? Like, I want to know the whole history of how it started and where it is now. Well, I have to say that very early on, I remember watching a few people like Julian Smith, who's still in LA doing some really cool stuff. Um, some of the early pot pioneers, my good friends, Benji and Judy, she started as a beauty guru. And so we lived in the same town an hour North of Seattle and that's how we met. And I

would never have expected to run into somebody else that was progressive on YouTube. And that's kind of why our friendship began to grew, uh, grow years ago. But early on, I think YouTube was like, nobody knew you could make money there. It wasn't as clear as it is now of all the possibilities and potential, but people were just on there for the pure art of it, the creativity of it, and the fact that there was this really cool platform

that you could share your work, you could share your message, and you could meet other people, you could share your message, and you could meet other people. And so those early years, I kind of feel like I was a little bit second generation because my channel started around 2009, 2010. And so although that church channel was pretty early, I didn't quite embed myself in the YouTube community yet. And so I think like anything, it's kind of like that first generation was also, you know, maybe people get nostalgic about it. They just say, Oh, that's when it was so pure. And then everybody comes on and, and maybe the ambitions and intentions of people

change, but it's been cool to watch it evolve. And, um, I also still think that it's very much evolving. I was just at VidCon this year, which is the largest YouTube conference in Anaheim. And somebody was saying, you know what, do you think that the YouTube ship has sailed? And another guy I was standing next to that I respect says, it sailed? The ship's not even fully built yet. And so I really believe that's true about YouTube. It's been cool to see, you know, it started in 2005. We're almost 12 years later, but I still think it's just beginning and people are just figuring it out. It's interesting you say that. One of the questions I had written down was, what would you tell someone who's trying to break into it now? It's 2017. It's been around for a

long time. It's definitely saturated. If someone is trying to get into YouTube and they're starting fresh, they have no following, they have no platform, they're just starting out. What would you tell that person? Yeah, I think I would encourage them and say a couple things. One, I just read an article written by Peter Diamandis, if I said his name right, on Huffington Post that said the rising billion of consumers and that between now and 2020, three to five billion new people are coming online and it's going to cause the greatest global surge to the global economy that we've ever seen, at least in his prediction. So there's new people coming online. Susan, the CEO of YouTube, just reported that there's 1.5 billion logged in active users on YouTube every month. And so the number is

growing. The platform is very healthy. And we are also seeing over an hour of consumption per day of those number of people, mostly on their mobile devices. So there's more people coming to the platform and there's more content being consumed on the platform than ever before. Is competition increasing? Sure. But I would say that it's still an incredible time to start. And the biggest piece of advice is kind of one of the universal online marketing principles in general. And that is, you'll hear it said, the riches are in the niches. And so the biggest piece of advice I think for standing out on YouTube is to niche down, to niche down and really began to find, you know, to not try to reach everybody. Cause if you try that, you end up reaching nobody, but to really

find a smaller, you know, segment of whatever your niche is to stand out. I say start small to get big. That sounds like a common theme that we've heard on the show. But honestly, I think that applies to every industry, right? Everybody wants the mass following or they want the mass consumer base, but really you have to start small to go big. And I think that's, Lauren and I found that to be true in everything we've done. So I think it's really smart advice. So let's go a little bit more into detail on niching down on YouTube, because I know that it's not as simple as it sounds. Yeah, that's a great question. Because again, the point and why it's so important to niche down on YouTube is because I really believe you only have five seconds when someone lands on your channel, call it the five second rule. Someone

lands on your channel, they're gonna make an impression about it. And the words and the images and the thumbnails of the top videos and your cover image, they're gonna try to figure out what your channel's about and if it's confusing and it doesn't make sense, people will bail and that's true across all social media. So you want that clear, niche down branding, but then sometimes I think people go to the extreme and they feel like that's limiting.

And so the best illustration I like is that you should think of your YouTube channel like a TV network or a TV channel and think about it. If you have Comedy Central, then that's all comedy content, but there's tons of different shows under that umbrella. HGTV. Again, you may like some shows, not other shows, but there's a cohesive brand on the channel. News networks is one thing, or you've got entertainment on other channels. So that way, and just because on YouTube, just because someone maybe likes you and they like your channel doesn't mean they necessarily like all your shows. So some people are like, I feel limited. I kind of want to vlog, but I also want to do tips videos. And is that not niching down? I'm like, well, it could be if you really

create a cohesive brand for your channel. The second thing I like to say is think of it like a magazine real simple has a clear brand but tons of different articles that could touch on food they could touch on decor they could touch on a lot of things but people know what the brand is when it comes to that magazine and if you're a personal brand even like Oh Oprah different things when someone sees the magazine the colors, the look, the vibe, that's the clear brand. You may pass some articles, but you're bought into the brand, the magazine itself, or the channel itself. And so that gives people a little freedom

in being so narrow in their niche. But the general principle, right, is that you just want people to go, okay, I get what this vibe is all about. I get what the channel is all about. And then communicate with people to say, Hey, if you also want to check out behind the scenes, well, that's the Sunday show. If you don't, don't even watch it. And that's not going to alienate an audience. Um, if you were to communicate like that, I think that's some of the best advice anyone's ever said for a content creator. No, it's amazing. And so like to get even more concrete and more in detail. And I know like, you know, cause this is a audio experience. Let's take your channel, for example, what, what have you done to kind of break down your niches? So like if someone lands

on your channel right now, they're going to see like, and then they see the Sean candle network, right? What different, let's say stations do they see on the network? So, you know, is it like tutorials, reviews, how to's? Yeah, it's a great question. And so video influencers is really clear. And that is a weekly interview show. So you get an interview a week and then you get a tips and strategy video. And so those are kind of the two pieces of content. But we would never hesitate. In fact, there's some things in the work right now to do some like vlog style videos and some kind of behind the scenes videos but the key is we want to stay aligned with the value proposition of the channel and that is you're gonna learn how to build your influence income and impact with

online video so any vlogs we ever did on that channel would be 80% content maybe tips throughout the day still on that value proposition with maybe 20%, at least to start, of a little bit of behind the scenes and not giving something that people never subscribed for in the first place, if that makes sense. My other channel, Think Media, I reserve a little bit of freedom to share a lot of different videos and shows. Yes, you could see reviews there. You could also see how to set up lighting. You could see how to use a camera, best settings for a camera tips for live streaming So it seems like it's all over the board

but I think one of the biggest challenges and And even action items or homework for people listening is you really want to come up with a cohesive? Brand statement a tagline if you will that can also be not just maybe give a little bit of clarity to your viewers, your tribe, your audience, but also even give you a North Star for your own brand. And so we recently just updated Think Media and I say bring you the best tips and tools for building your influence with online video. That is so clear. I want you to say that again so the audience can hear how clear that is and how clear your brand is. Yeah.

So every video now I'll start. I'll say, hey, what's up, everybody? Sean here with Think Media bringing you the best tips and tools for building your influence with online video. And I add this little statement. I say, and on this channel, we do tech gear reviews as well as tips and strategy videos just like this one if I happen to be in like a strategy video. And you do that to let – I know the people that are familiar with you, they don't need to see that. But it's for new people to understand exactly what they're getting when they tune into one of your shows. 100%.

And that's such a big deal because not only what I teach on YouTube is it's the second largest search engine in the world. So if you're doing it right, your content is showing up in front of people's questions. So if they type in what is the best camera for YouTube or what is the best lighting for YouTube in my case and in my niche, then they find me, but they might just be meeting me for the first time. So I always tell people,

you always should be having a dual conversation, acknowledging people who are there for the first time and not assuming anyone knows you while also speaking to your audience. So some people go to the two extremes. They don't really build the community and tribe by talking to the people who know them kind of in an intimate way, but they also are just like, hey guys, glad you're back. And all the new people might be like, I'm just meeting you for the first time. And they're not maybe figuring out what you're all about. So you're always having a dual conversation. I think that's so interesting because you know, like with a podcast or a blog, it's a little bit different, right? I mean, you are going to capture new people every now and then, but for the majority of people, it's either

return people or people like word of mouth with YouTube. Like you said, it really is a huge search engine. So I would disagree with you on the podcast though. I think that it's so important to say a mission statement. No, it is. But I mean, I think with a podcast every once in a while, but you don't want to maybe, I don't think we don't even tell people who we are every single time. I think people get it by now. Yeah. I just really like though, how you started with a mission statement and you tell everyone exactly who you are. And it also reminds the returning subscriber. It gets that brand out there every single time. So I kind of like it. You don't want to do a mission statement every time. We'll have to come up

with a mission statement. Yeah, I think we should. It also could be part of just your intro. So you might not even say it yourself. That tagline could find its way just into the bumper, the musical. Wait, wait, wait. Ours is he's a real smart cookie. That can't be my mission statement, Sean. That's my mission statement. It could be though. I don smart cookie. That can't be my mission statement, Sean. That's my mission statement. It could be though. I don't know. That's pretty inspiring. Kind of makes me hungry too. Is that weird? I know. I make a lot of people hungry. So, okay. Moving forward, what would you tell someone starting out? I'm starting out right now. Michael Bostic, he's getting going. What is the first thing you

should, like, what is the first step I should take starting a YouTube channel? Like what, what would you, if you're starting all over from scratch, no experience, no platform, what would you do to start? On a budget? Yeah. So it depends. And so let me ask you this and we could talk about two different people, but does this person have clarity yet about what they even want to do? And that now they just want to start YouTube or are they in a place where like, they don't even know what they want to do? I think, I think let's use the example of someone who has a pretty good idea of what they want to do. They kind of have their mission statement. They have their brand. They have an idea.

And they're getting a little bit overwhelmed with how do I start? What do I set up first? What do I buy first? How do I do this? So I actually think the first step that you'd want to sit down is sit down with a piece of paper. And you could do this digitally, but I think there's something powerful about paper and actually write a plan out. And on that plan, think about, okay, just what's the name of the channel going to be? And what is that value proposition? The two most important questions that you ask, have to ask when you're starting a YouTube channel is who is my target audience and what is the value proposition? And so in your case, you're saying this person has clarity, but they're just wanting to maybe move on to a new platform.

So they know their target audience is stay-at-home moms who are homeschooling their kids and who are vegan. Well, that's great, that's a lot of clarity. And then what's your value proposition to them? That is where on paper you're gonna develop a strategy to say weekly vegan recipes, or weekly the latest studies of whatever, or you're brainstorming that you could do all of the above daily, you know, vlogs once a week that show you through my life of being a vegan

lifestyle. Plus Wednesdays is the day where you do a cooking recipe. And then Friday is news in the industry or something. So how important is that consistency? That consistency is everything. And it's kind of true, like almost for any platform, but especially on YouTube, news in the industry or something. So how important is that consistency? That consistency is everything. And it's kind of true, like almost for any platform, but especially on YouTube, but it just like anything else, like if a TV show launches and then advertises that every Sunday night, the new episode is going to be at seven. You can bet that the first time you miss that already, people are not only going to be upset, but they also might drop off. They might just be like, huh, I guess this thing wasn't going to follow through. It wasn't going to be consistent. No credibility, no credibility, but also YouTube rewards consistency.

And so there there's even things, I know this can be intimidating to some, I re I recommend one once a week is the minimum to post videos. Absolute minimum. Like don't go below that. Don't even start. If, if you're not going to post once a week, you could do it as like a side thing. But I mean, if you want big results and consistent results there, you have to commit to being consistent there. And so, but nowadays they're saying two to three videos a week. YouTube is wanting more because they are an advertising platform just like Facebook or anybody else. They make money through advertising, making money through creators, people who create content. And so they like it when people post consistent quality content. And so if we're back to that piece of paper, I would be just brainstorming your ideas. And I would also spend some time just researching what other people are doing as you're doing that,

because you might have a blank slate. So type in the top kind of search phrases and keywords related to, you know, vegan recipes, if that's your, or whatever it is, type those in, begin to watch some other people, begin to brainstorm your ideas, and then to really map a plan to say, okay, it's gonna be a weekly cooking show. All right, it's gonna be a weekly favorite products show. And you don't have to feel limited,

that's just something you're gonna start with, but get those ideas on paper first. The content value is always infinitely more important than the production value. So a lot of people, yes, cameras matter and lighting matters. We could talk about that, but no one is ever one on YouTube because of production value alone. The content itself matters so much. Can you go deeper there?

Explain that, like what you just said really, really well and really thoroughly. Yeah. So there is plenty of people who've built huge influence on YouTube with refurbished $80 cameras or even just the webcam on their laptop or whatever it is. And then there's plenty of people who have the most expensive equipment in the world, but can't break through and can't actually build that influence. Yes, production value matters, but content value doesn't just matter a little bit more. It's everything. So that's why I'd say start with the content, like start on paper. Like what's the value you're going to add? How is it going to either entertain, educate, inspire, motivate? Could just be information. It could be news-based, but it has to have some sort of value. And that's

why if you can really get clear on who your target audience is and what your value proposition is to them and then how you're going to consistently deliver that value by saying you know whatever piece of content you're going to do once a week and then just consistently doing that and clearly communicating along the way that is the bare minimum of just kind of a basic youtube strategy from there then you can start filling in the gaps like okay well how am i actually going to shoot this thing or do do I need help? Am I going to work with somebody else? You know, what are the practical steps of shooting it and editing this? Or is it even not going to be edited? Am I just going to hit record and go a lot, you know, just go straight through or whatever

it is so many different ways to do it. But that strategic plan is really, is really huge. And as I'm sure you teach and talk about all the time as well, this whole principle of starting with the end in mind and then reverse engineering your behaviors to get to that destination is the best way to start, absolutely. Okay, but talk to me about businesses, like big businesses or companies. How can they break into the YouTube space in the same way that an individual can? Like I feel like businesses are confused right

now. You talked to a lot about individuals. Say I'm a company I'm just starting out, or maybe I'm a company that's established. How can I get involved in the YouTube culture without looking like a dildo? Or maybe you work for a company and that's your, you know, and they say, Hey, Sally, go set up our YouTube channel. And she's sitting there like, what the fuck? What does Sally do? Yeah. I mean, I think Sally works at a big company. Sally works at a big, let's, let's do two instances. It's like a medium company. Let's say Sally is a startup and then let's do Sally at a big, huge company. Like even say like Coca-Cola that big. Sure. Well, you have two options. I think on the one hand you should, you could just have a presence that serves your current customers and tribe and maybe gets a little bit beyond that, but that's your core thing.

And so these are channels who maybe just give you deeper insights into the product. For instance, I think of some software companies where they have a lot to just help people with tutorials, giving them updates, and helping their customers win on the platform. So maybe we're not on their platform, on their piece of software. And they use YouTube as that channel to distribute that content, especially if their software solves a problem. And that's where YouTube shines because it's a search engine. So if someone is even curious about how to remove that mildew from their pool, a company, a business, medium-sized company could rank a video that helps you get that result. And even their product is attached to that tutorial that also shows you how to do it. And so that's very direct though. But you said, what could a big company

like Coca-Cola do? And I think that they could do a lot of things, a lot more related to, they have big budgets, they could create entertaining content, they could do a lot of things a lot more related to they have big budgets they could create entertaining content they could create you know news content that maybe covers sports or covers popular entertainment like e-news like style or like even BuzzFeed style content but the entire thing could just be brought to you by coca-cola as as like, all the branding, all the product placements. They're producing content that either entertains, inspires, motivates, but then they're able

to just own the show. All the product placement is just brought to you by them, but it's also not intrusive, because you're like, wow, Coca-Cola is creating some MTV-style content or, you know, ESPN-style content. Their own show delivering all this value and then you're getting all the messaging and brand messaging from them. Like their own network like you were saying.

Correct. Okay, but let's say it's a startup with no followers, no engagement. What do you do? Yeah. Well, I think it's a little bit challenging to do this on the podcast, but what I would recommend anyone listening, if they're in leadership in whatever, is to sit down and make a plan and think, what do you have at your disposal? Do you have somebody who is really good at creating content, really good at being on camera? Number one, do you have

the right person? Because in your startup, and that might even be picking the medium of which you want to grow your brand. It might be a better play to go on podcast or to start blogging if you don't have the talent directly related to that thing. Maybe also thinking you have someone who really gets viral trends and these things. I think people can become very limited on YouTube by thinking it can only look one way. If you've seen beauty YouTubers doing makeup tutorials, you feel like you have to stand in front of the camera and talk and carry everything. But you can also do a lot of content these days where you use B-roll, you use photos, and then you narrate over it, like BuzzFeed in a way. They eventually learned that people on camera was usually not as powerful as even just hands. So voiceover or hands, like showing you

how to cook something. You need a strong personality if you're going to be on camera. You need to be good. You need to have the. If you're going to be on camera and you need to be good, you need to have, you need to have the chops to be able to get on camera. Right. I think the reason I think Buzzfeed works with the hands is because in your own people, whoever's watching and say, you know, they can relate like, Oh, those could be my hands or those could be my mom's hands or friends hands. But when, when, when you have a face on camera, like that's the face and that has to hold up. Buzzfeed also isn't an individual. Exactly. People are more open to seeing the hands, you know? Yeah. It Buzzfeed and they have a huge team, but that's why I say like, think about what you

have at your disposal. If you have somebody who's like, I hate being on camera, but they're just awesome at thinking through creative content and even some kind of viral type content or whatever it is. Again, you could do, there's plenty of channels. If we were talking about like a company that was in food or health, there's plenty of channels if we were talking about like a company that was in food or health There's plenty of channels that can show whole videos without anyone being on camera and they can be compelling Do you think every single brand and business should find an angle of how to get that brand on youtube? Um, I think every single brand and business should figure out how to win on social media period and pick the best platforms for that I also think that every person Should try to be everywhere if you can, because it's

kind of like saying, well, like, so how big do you want your business to actually grow? Like if there's a whole nother tribe that you could reach somewhere, we were just talking before we started recording about how I do a lot of video, but I want to start podcasting. You're saying, hey, that might be. And I'm like, well, yeah, I mean, I want as far as our strategy for our company and also my personal brand. I mean, I'm not opposed far as our strategy for our company and also my personal brand, I mean, I'm not opposed to doing anything. Like we actually wanna be heavily on Pinterest

because out of all the other social media platforms, Pinterest is also a search engine. And so it's only YouTube and Pinterest out of the platforms that are search engines. So people can even look up how to set up lighting and you could do an infographic, best cameras, you could do five cameras. So best cameras. You could do five cameras. So I could see a strategy that could go there, but then it comes down to bandwidth.

So just to answer your question, should every business, it'd be like, well, yeah, every business I think should use every relevant means possible. Shouldn't rule anything out. They shouldn't rule anything out. But YouTube, if your audience is there, should every business use Snapchat? Maybe not, depending on the age or if it's practical. But everyone's on YouTube, every age, every demographic, pretty much every country. I mean, the global infrastructure to reach people with any kind of message, brand, cause, thing that you want to build, YouTube is a super relevant place to be.

I can't imagine somebody just saying, oh, yeah, I want to leave all that opportunity and not seize it. You just have to figure out what tools, you know, resources, human resources you have that you could deploy against the platform. So we've been, we've been talking a lot about getting started and I want to get, I want to ask one more question getting started. Then for the people that are listening that have YouTube channels, we're going to get into growth and how to like in monetization and all that stuff. But someone starting out last thing, what is absolutely necessary pieces of equipment and what is something that is completely unnecessary that a lot of people think is necessary? You know, what's funny about what I think is the most important things on YouTube in order is actually first audio. A lot of people will tolerate bad video quality, but bad audio is

pretty unforgivable, especially as more people maybe want to consume that content just on their headphones and maybe not even be watching it. So if the room's really echoey or there's a lot of- I'm taking notes right now as you're talking in my head, just to let you know. Great, great. That's awesome. Because yeah, but audio, that's number one. So even if the video doesn't look great, right? The second would be lighting because lighting can make a bad camera look awesome. But actually the best camera with bad lighting still might not be that great. Video works with light, period. And so most people's smartphone that they have in their pocket or that they're listening to this podcast on, you know, at the gym is capable

of producing a great YouTube show. Tell us about light though with the smartphone. Cause I'm so curious about that. I want to know everything, how you get the best light on that smartphone. I mean, a, you could just shoot during the day. Well, probably the best hack is to sit in front of a window so that the window is, you know, lighting you and then your living room or your room or your office is behind you, that's free. It's just based on the time of day. That's the worst part for some people. Maybe their job or their hours means it's going to be dark. Then you got to buy a light kit. But if you go to amazon.com and you type in Limo Studio light kit and look at the video light kit that's there for about $68, it's going to soft boxes it's not gonna be revolutionary quality but just that

is gonna give you enough boost and because it's a soft box it's gonna be great for a lot of women as well to give soft lighting not harsh lighting or harsh shadows and just tweak it so it looks great then you set up those two soft boxes use that smartphone but what I'd recommend is again, good audio. And so these smartphones have jacks where if you get the right kind of mic, and it's getting a little technical here, but you know, headphones have two rings on it.

They're TRS cables. They have two little black rings. The plugins you want, they look like your Apple earbuds. They have three rings, TRRS. And so there's mics that make sure it just works with the smartphone and you can get a lavalier mic that clips on your shirt, plug that in your smartphone. We're talking like $12, $18 on Amazon. And we'll link all this stuff in the show notes. Definitely, definitely. So yeah, so then just your smartphone that you have, but with definitely

good lighting and good audio, that's the raw material you need. And if you do happen to be on an Apple device, a lot of people that even I coach and I work with will just use iMovie. They shoot on their iPhone and they use iMovie. There's certainly apps on Android. I'm not as familiar with those. But keeping it simple or just then taking that footage off your phone

to either a laptop of any kind, editing it really quick, and you're good to go. So is there any... Oh, sorry. It's okay. Ladies first. I was just going to ask

all about what to wear because sometimes it's too distracting when they're... Wait, actually I'm going to interrupt you again. Before we do that, what is it? I had to hop in again. What is like the final question? What is a waste of time? What's a waste of equipment that people think they need that you don't actually think they need? Well, it also probably depends on your skill level. I think what a lot of people want is they want to get like a fancy DSLR that somebody else has, but sometimes they get sidelined because they don't know how to use it. And so I like to remove as much friction from people's journey as possible. So if you overinvest in equipment, not only might it be overkill, but you also might just slow down your actual execution because you're like, I don't even use this camera with all these crazy settings.

So I think getting too complicated too fast is what people should avoid. And then you could just level up as you go. That's the key too, is I think the other thing is you maybe go all in on production value when you haven't even tested or vetted the idea yet. You know, some of the biggest YouTubers out there, if you go back to their first videos, they're shot so bad, so terrible, but that's where they started. And it clearly, it worked to start. Shout out to Michelle Phan. Absolutely. Is that how you say her last name? Uh, yep. Okay. And, and it's get the proof of concept. So like why go, you know, because you can get that with your smartphone, you don't necessarily need to invest in a ton of other stuff. But on the flip side, I mean, I have a channel that is all about

gear. So I think good gear and good production value is important. And it is some, depending on what your niche is or what you're like, speaking of you guys, like you have a chic, you know, aesthetic that has a vibe and that's bright and is clean. And so you do have a brand for those listening. If they're also wanting their Instagram account that has the clean photos, if they want to bring that same kind of production value over to YouTube, they should. And then in that case, you would want to make sure you invest just in the right tools. Now back to Lauren's question, are the girls that listen to the show will rip my head off and call me misogynistic? Yeah, Michael, I want to know what you wear. You don't wear stripes, right?

You absolutely don't wear stripes. And actually I would recommend don't wear any stripes, but you can wear large stripes, but it's the mini ones that cameras trip out on. They actually, yeah, it, it kind of looks weird and, and, uh, affects how the video looks. So you're usually wearing solids. You could wear a pattern shirt, like if it was a floral print or something like that, you'd be fine. But yeah, it's those thin lines that you want to avoid. I typically try to go for like solid colors. And I also, you have to experiment with your own lighting. So as a Caucasian, that's kind of more pale on a typical basis, white or even light blue doesn't really help me, kind of washes me out. And so, and also even all black sometimes does kind of the opposite. It makes me look more,

so you just kind of learn your own skin tones, your own colors. What makes you like look really flattering and like super tight and toned? Blue is great for me. I have blue eyes too. So my eyes pop when I wear blue and it's taken just repetition to learn that. I've started looking like, geez, I look like a ghost if I'm wearing maybe all black and also depends on your lighting. So I think, you know, don't be afraid to just turn it on, look at it, play it back. You know, that's probably one of the biggest, just actionable quick tips. Whenever recording, always do a test clip. I can't tell you how many times that I forgot to turn the mic on or something was wrong. Or once I got to my computer, I'm like,

was that really in the background the whole time? Like why, my garbage can is visible and overflowing under the desk or something. So always do a test clip and you are gonna save yourself so much pain, you know? And you'd be like, I gotta change my shirt. I look awful because of whatever reason. And like, things are always changing,

lighting, the daylight changes, all these variables. That test clip will help you out a lot. Get it on your computer, get it big full screen, and then look at the details and then be like, that looks and sounds great, all right, cool, let's shoot it. And we can talk about this later, I think the importance of batching for consistency on YouTube,

which means more than shooting just one video at a time, shooting a couple of videos so you have them in the can so you can be consistent. That's especially important that you get it right. Cause you don't want your whole batch to be ruined. And then you're like, shoot, I just shot four videos and I didn't realize, you know, the picture on the wall was crooked, which I still might say publish that, but you never know. You want to get it right. So at this point, Sally has a channel. She's up and running. She's going, she's got a lot of, she's producing videos. What do you see the best way after so many years of doing this, the best way to grow your audience? Is it through collaboration? Is it through

consistency? It's combination. If somebody wants to grow their channel and they want to get outside of their initial like friends and family word of mouth round. So the best way I think for people to grow their audience audience on YouTube, in my opinion, is search and collaborations are a great way to do it. But that's not something that everybody has access to. Video influencer certainly has grown because we have an interview show. Each one of those interviews is like a collaboration and there's a certain level of crossover exposure that happens in that particular case. We had a blast on your show, by the way. Yeah, it was great having you guys on.

Yeah, we got to call that out. You guys go listen to our episode. We got to call that out. Link in the show notes. Watch the episode. Yeah, we'll link it in the show notes. Yeah, we will link it in the show notes. Yeah.

That was early. That was one of the greatest. Yeah. One of the greatest. A year and a half ago, probably. Yeah. I was like right around the time we were starting this podcast. Cold call emailed me and said, would you come on my show? I saw you on Gary Vee. And I

was like, hell yes. That's right. And the serendipity of we were on this LA tour. So we were already slated to be in LA and I was like watching Gary and all these things. And sure enough, I reached out. And so that is a great way. Collaborations is a great way to do it. Interview show is practical, but for some people that is maybe not as practical or where if they're established yet, who knows? And so, but my channel think media, which recently I think crossed about 280,000 subscribers has been built with almost no collaborations. And it's really been built on one fundamental thing. And that is YouTube search. The thing that I would tell Sally to do is to go to the YouTube search bar and she could do this on Google too right as she's listening to this podcast open up your laptop go to Google go to YouTube and start typing the topics and questions that your

audience is searching for what you're gonna see is you're gonna see predictions pop up have you ever seen this before? When you start typing in YouTube and it finishes your sentence? Those predictions are actual search terms that real people are searching for in order of their volume. So when Sally starts to type in how to do a smokey eye, whatever, and clearly that's not my niche so I don't know about how to do your hair straight from not straight anyways she starts she's going to see those predictions those are actual video ideas and that is how you should title your video you should put that in your YouTube description

and in your YouTube tags because those are humans are searching for those things and then your video can show up on the other side of search. So because I've built a library of what I call ranked videos, you get views while you snooze. Right now, Think Media grows about 15,000 subscribers a month. Whether I post new videos or not, because there's such a large library

of people that are just typing in what is the best camera for YouTube, or even how to use Facebook Live or whatever it is. And those videos show up, we meet, they might hang out for a while, might watch a few videos, they might subscribe, and that's all being done because YouTube is a search engine. This is such a big deal,

and this is why I love YouTube the most because it has such high ROI. One of the things that we're talking about is kinda how hard it is to produce YouTube content. It's like, man, I gotta get ready and get a camera and turn on the lighting. And that's true. But the reason I love it is I'm willing to put in the work because the reward is so disproportionate. I can make a video once and it still gets viewed a year, two years, three years, five years.

Five years later, I have videos that still, even the time that we were doing this podcast, there's videos that get 20 views an hour, a hundred views an hour, 200 views an hour. That kind of ROI is so attractive to me. It fuels the hustle it takes to publish consistent content. Is that kind of like a podcast though, right? Uh, podcasts are not really searchable. No. So, and there's not a ton of discoverability happening to your old episodes. Okay. That makes total sense. But there's not a ton of discoverability happening to your old episodes okay that makes total sense but there's tons of discoverability happening all day every day on youtube so it's not just it could be anything you go to youtube and and especially this is why it's important that you actually know your stuff but let's assume sally does right so you know all the different angles of search terms so it it could be, you know, for me,

best camera for YouTube, or it could be very specific things. And this is where then the tip goes, not just in niching down on your channel overall, niching down in your actual video ideas. So when you type in how to do a smoky eye, it's going to be really hard to rank for just that. There's a lot of beauty YouTubers out there. But what you'll notice is you actually start noticing it'll say how to do a smokey eye with Sephora, whatever, for black women with oily skin. And those, you could start discovering some of those, you're like, okay.

So they're like really, really niching down with, they're taking a subject and then they're putting it in a category. Or people are searching that, but then you type, then you see that that is being searched. When you do this thing, go to the YouTube search bar. As you're listening to this, start typing variations of the top 10 to 20 questions related to your niche and see what's predicted there. You'll see some of those things are underserved or there's no content on the other side.

That's why I still believe there's so much white space and so much opportunity if you can find those really good video ideas. And then some of those, you also might be like, well, they only get 10 searches a month, 100 searches a month. That's great. And that'll grow exponentially. That'll grow exponentially if you do that every single time. Get in there. 100%. I have two more questions and then we have some listener questions to get into,

if that's okay with you. I would love it. Let me just give one illustration of somebody though to illustrate this point. Her name's Heather. She lives here in Las Vegas where we're recording this podcast and she is on my team, but she also started a YouTube channel kind of as also a case study to be like, hey, does Sean's stuff work? Like is this stuff even practical? So she's a homeschool mom, homeschools two kids. So she started a channel all about homeschooling now what's cool is the stuff we're talking about in this podcast 99 out of 100 people they don't have a clue about this so they go on YouTube you can still win with quality

content do some collabs whatever it is but she just went and started finding these underserved search terms like homeschool advice for beginners or homeschool for certain ages, which is going to change. Like think about content ideas, homeschool tips for five, six, seven. That's the progression of her life. Even as she's doing this different curriculum, a day in the life. And she'll do like showing her day in the life video in a short time. She's grown 5,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel. She also has recently landed a multi-thousand dollar deal brand deal. And that's not a very big audience. Now, maybe some listeners might be like, man, I would just kill for 5,000 subscribers. But you know, there's people with millions, hundreds of thousands. But yet, because it's

so targeted and so focused, that brand knows, well, these are 5,000 homeschool moms who are also probably in her similar demo because they're relating to what she's doing. And so she's doing that. She's doing affiliate marketing. She's doing, you know, YouTube ads. And so she's crushing it, but because she went in and she's discovering all the, I mean, it could be like homeschool summer activities and just everything seasonally. And when you're, I wanna say, well-versed in your niche, when you just have depth, there's so many content ideas. I would try to start, and this is actually throwback advice from one of the great books, Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk.

He said, if you can't write down 50 video ideas relatively quick on a piece of paper, then maybe you're not quite ready to have the depth it would take. That is such good advice. Yeah. Guys, listen to that. If you can't write down 50 ideas,

you gotta write down 50 ideas. So what Heather discovered was she now has, she has like hundreds of ideas. As she started using the tools, as she thought about her own experience, and so she has this well of content to draw from. She has this very focused niche. It's based on her life.

Now she's monetizing her lifestyle on the side, building this brand. Blogs have been reaching out to her because there's not a ton of homeschool influencers on YouTube that more are traditional on blogs are saying, can you contribute? Can you be a part of this? And she's like, whoa, I never even thought

I would kind of be a thought leader in this space all because she started with YouTube. But she started with this idea of not just kind of being random on the platform, but being very specific, serving the questions that YouTube itself will tell you people are asking. So your advice works. It does. So what have you seen now? All this great advice. What have you seen to be, I don't want to say a death blow, but a big mistake new vloggers make? Or something that you say like, whoa, that's a big no-no in this space. Don't do that. That's going to hurt your channel or that's going to hurt your brand.

Anything come to mind? Or is it one of those things where you can kind of recover on this platform? Yeah, I do think that sometimes, you know, just like anything, and maybe you could even say, I mean, I, I think doing the same thing consistently year after year, you can have a propensity to maybe get bored and you might drift from your mission. Now that could be good or bad, but what I do see some YouTubers do is again, the focus is power. Clarity is is power and you start with an original promise but if you change that all the time you know if you change your your

your niche too much like so I've built up I'm saying I'm bringing you the best tips and tools for online video but if I have some epiphany and decide that you know what I don't want to do video anymore and I am going all into you know alternative medicine and I started posting those videos on my channel, what do you think would happen? Now, that's an extreme example, but I do see that people maybe, it's hard to stay fresh maybe over the long haul. And so staying focused and staying on mission and keep doing the same thing.

They talk about in leadership that to, you, uh, to really get a vision to connect with, uh, you know, followers, you have to repeat yourself so much that you are so sick of it. Plus you also think other people are plus you think that it's getting old and stale. And about the time that you're feeling that way is just about the time that your tribe community or audience is starting to kind of get it. I relate to that. 100%. And so, but it's hard because I know as creatives and I'm every like, this is a creative, you know, tribe listening to this, right? To as creatives, like we want to change a lot. And I think that that overall is one of the biggest mistakes people make online too. Again, you got to pivot if your passion

changes, if you shift a little bit, I mean, you don't want to be miserable just for consistency sake. But what's so hard is it's kind of like that book that I know I'm sure I heard you recommend, Essentialism, where if you're going in one direction for a long time and you build up a brand in one direction a long time, you build up momentum in one direction a long time and you build up a brand in one direction a long time, you build up momentum in one direction a long time and you shift, you do lose that momentum at least a little bit, if not a lot. And that constant changing of direction is what I think that YouTubers suffer from a lot. You do need to experiment maybe sometimes. That happens with, I mean, I think that's a story of my life. I'm around, like I would consider myself somewhat creative, but the people I surround myself with are much more creative than me and I feel a lot of the time it's you know like hey

let's stay on track and while this could be a really awesome great idea over here on the right side let's keep going down the path we're on like yes no yes totally I think that for me like I I like to grow with my audience like I started out as a very broke bartender, um, working very late nights, teaching fitness during the day. And now obviously that's changed. So I make sure to grow with the audience and evolve in a way that works with the audience as opposed to against the audience. Um, I've seen a lot of creators work against the audience. You have to make sure you're growing in the same direction. That's great advice. And I think also your content is lifestyle and you're also very much a personal brand. I want to project. I want to hear that word, but I would agree.

We have to find another word for lifestyle. Because it's not very specific too. It's just like so broad and there's so many people that do that. I need like a fun, witty word if you can think of one. I would say though, to be fair, people, and this is self awareness for listeners. If you build a personal brand, there are plenty of YouTube channels that are built around a first name and a last name, and they can kind of be seem random, but you're following the person and you're following their interests and what they want to make content about. And the reason why I just don't recommend

that for the majority of people is I think the majority of people are actually, the majority, I believe this will actually lose on that model. Why? Talk to me about that. Because their charisma, their personality, their maybe consistency, or even their timing and showing up in that model. Like some of those people started so early, built a large enough audience, but now people are trying to come in and just say, hey, be interested in everything that I care about and they don't have that diehard tribe.

It's narcissistic. It's not even that it's narcissistic. I think it's just, again, it's self-awareness that if you think people will care enough and your personality can carry it enough and you started at a good time. I mean, you take some of the early Vine people and not only were they really funny and they figured that out, but they were also the early Vine people.

And you take some of the early YouTubers, same thing. And again, that's why it's a self-awareness thing. If somebody's like, yeah, I know I got what it takes. My channel is going to be called, you know, first name, last name, and it's going to kind of be recipes and workouts and then travel vlogs. But if your personality or charisma can carry that, you could do it with the reason I recommend like a niche account that is a little more specific and value based is I just believe that's so practical and really that pretty much anybody can succeed building even a side part-time or eventually a

full-time income if they can find that magic spot that kind of leads with that practical value. And I actually believe if you start that niche account, right, I believe it's easier to then later develop a personal brand if people really care. But it's difficult if you start personal brand and people don't care to then go into a niche, right? Couldn't have been said, I couldn't have said it better myself. So I think about, I've logged for a while with my wife daily vlogged on my other channel, Sean candle for about, we did daily seven days a week, seven days a week. That's why it didn't last very long. But, uh, I got to, you know, shout out to, to my friends, Benji and Judy, who daily vlogged for seven years. Now they're down to six days or five days a week, but daily,

like how many subscribers, the grind at 1.4 million or something, but they put in the work, but they put in the work. But so to, to what you said, Michael, uh, Judy built a beauty channel first. So she moved. Yeah. And then moved. And the big mistake that a lot of people who just want to just start vlogging now there's always variables. They're like, well, if you already have big Snapchat or big Instagram audience, like if you already have an audience, you might be able to shift them there. But if you're zero everywhere and you just start talking about for 10 to 15 minutes of your day, Hey guys, this is what I'm doing today. No one's going to care. So that's why, yeah, starting with that kind of value. So when we daily vlogged, we, we were getting about a thousand or

2000 views a day. And I don't want to complain about that. You know, that was great. But it wasn't close enough to something sustainable. And the rate of growth at that rate was not going to get anywhere sustainable or business or even economically practical anytime soon. So I abandoned that, focused on what I'm describing right now. Double down on your strengths. Double down on my strengths. And I do believe, though, if I wanted to pivot back to what I'm describing right now. Double down on your strengths. Double down on my strengths. And I do believe, though, if I wanted to pivot back to vlogging, maybe not even now, once

the channel's maybe 500K or so, then maybe 5,000 people out of there would care about my day-to-day life and I'd have a core group that could then grow like a vlog. So what he's saying, you guys, is what we always say. You have to content market before you put yourself out there on a vlog. What is your space on the internet? How are you content marketing for that vlog? I love how you said that you may go back to vlogging once you've content marketed with Think and Video Influencers, and then you'll go on there and people will really, really be invested in what you're doing every day. Absolutely. It's funny because I didn't really have a choice in the matter, right? I really didn't because-

You love it. You love it. If I was just starting out on myself, I probably would have niched down into something like marketing and done video. And I was probably going into stuff like that. Maybe had to brush your eyebrows up. But Lauren, with her platform, just threw me out there on my personal, me, Michael Bostic, myself. So I didn't really have a choice to niche. Not that I have a big personal brand anyway. But for me, if I could have started by myself alone, I would have done something with that was very targeted. Probably wouldn't have had to do with me personally.

Probably would have been teaching people how to do things or start a business, something like that. And then I probably would have gone out, but that's just me. Well, you can always look back. Don't look in the review mirror. You know, and like, this could just be my two cents and I follow you guys relatively closely and follow you on social and stuff and see what you're doing. But I do think you're focused, Michael specifically. I mean, like, and I could throw out some words and maybe the audience and you guys would say if these are accurate, but I think, okay, you guys, you know, like definitely style influencers, um, definitely, uh, you know, best products, travel, but then the business shines

through, the podcast. So the reason I say that is because the whole Skinny Confidential brand, but then even your brand, it has a magazine feel to it. And that's the thing that you're anchored to. That Skinny Confidential brand, and then even your personal brand, it is like a magazine that I could flip through and it's gonna be different. It's gonna be GQ. And if I wanted though to read Surfer, then that's not you, right? Does that make sense?

It makes sense. I mean, I think for me, what's the most important, especially with this podcast, and I always say to Lauren, and I hope that people who listen to this get it, is that I really want people to get some type of value every time, whether they're learning something or they're getting a tip or they're getting a laugh or

entertainment. And if they, and I tell Lauren all the time, like if we don't provide that and we don't get it, then there's no point in doing the show for me. Like I have, that's, that's my main focus for this. Well, the reason we had you on the show is because we know you're on the same page with that. You love giving people value. Yeah. Lifestyle entrepreneur. That's what you guys are too. Your lifestyle entrepreneurs that carries through. And so you're also living the lifestyle, but then you're also teaching and sharing tips about how to live the lifestyle and, and, and everything else, obviously a lot more depth there, but speaking to that. So, I mean, you mentioned it

again, I, when, when I tell people to niche down, sometimes they get too narrow and they get so stuck in there, you know, and I think too narrow and they get so stuck and they're, you know, and I think that if you just have a cohesive and consistent message that comes out in different ways on different platforms, I mean, that's the consistency that builds brands. Yeah. You got to be careful niching too. Like you, you can't be an expert in one field and then all of a sudden go completely left field on something else. People were like, wait a minute, that's the guy that was into like hamster racing. And now he's trying to tell me about style. I don't know why that came to my mind. I know you guys want to talk about hamster racing, but we need to get into the reader's questions because we got to go get some sashimi. How do you say it? Sashimi.

Sashimi. Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. Listener questions. Here we go. Let's see here. Okay. You'll know a lot about this one because I know you do this this tips for recording at home. And what if you're recording at home in a small space? Okay. So, you know, tip number one is actually, we should put in the show notes, a video called YouTube checklist. And, um, you actually found, so I went to the search, I typed in, does anyone look for a YouTube shooting checklist? Nobody had really made a video on it. I made a video on it. So if you just type in YouTube checklist to the search bar, you could find it, but we could put it in the show notes. And, um, that is my checklist of like going through

practical things, but I'll go two directions. I mean, tips for shooting at home. If you're in a small room, you just got to kind of make it work, you know, adjust the lighting a lot to try to remove shadows. So they're not on the wall or really try to open yourself up to maybe just look for your other shooting opportunities I mean you can shoot outside if you shoot in a quiet area and daylight you can do other things But yeah, I mean just start like on that side just start, you know AVL audio video lighting but my biggest tip just kind of also that question, what I do at home is people say, how do you be consistent? You said like, you know, once a week, if you're gonna post a video once a week,

is I always encourage people to batch produce content if their content can be related to that. So if you are shooting at home and your channel is all about, again, meal prep, then you can just go into your kitchen, write out two to four video ideas, and then show all four video ideas, shoot all four videos during one session. Take Saturday morning, shoot all your videos. If you're sharing marketing advice, sit down four different videos

on one tip, each video, you know, build it out. And then that way you have a whole month's worth of content shot in one batch. That is such good advice. You can get it all done at once. You need four shirts though, right? And then, yeah. And then, so that video breaks that down. So I get four shirts ready, all those videos. I don't, I don't like, um, you know, read off a teleprompter or anything, but I do,

I do put, get notes and I tape those notes below the lens. So like, what's the intro? What are the points? And then also what's the call to action So like, what's the intro, what are the points? And then also what's the call to action? Like what's even the point of this? And so if you want to drive business results, like maybe having somebody join an email list or go check something else out. I mean, I plan that out ahead of time, you know, prior planning prevents poor performance. And so I think spending some time planning on paper first is so critical, you know, or even digitally. So you have your notes and then you can bang out all those episodes. And so think about that. That

would only be, if you did four videos, that's only 12 shoot days a year. And that's a year's worth of weekly content. Um, that's a good way to break it down. I think when you, when you look at goals like that and you break them down to small goals, it becomes a lot less overwhelming because right when you said that that resonated with me. Because when I think about producing weekly content, I'm like, wow, that's overwhelming. But I don't know why, because I think about this stuff all the time. But right when you said that, that completely resonated with me. He's going to go get his four shirts ready.

You need four different hairstyles. What are you going to do about that? That's going to be difficult for me. OK, next question. And a lot of people want to know this. What is the one piece of equipment you should splurge on when you can? I mean, I would say your camera, because the one thing with your camera too, is if you can get a good camera that can be used for multi-purpose, that's good. And so what I mean is, um, let's say you want, I think a Canon G seven X or a Canon RX 100. These are

point and shoot cameras that almost have DSLR size sensors. So they shoot beautiful footage. They could still fit in your pocket or your purse and they could be used for vlogging. So walking throughout. So they're so multi-purpose. You could take people with you behind the scenes, do like a daily vlog. They have zoom lenses on them. So you could, if you're traveling, you could get beautiful shots of everything around you and you could edit all that together, but they're also just as good for sitting down and talking directly to the camera. So if there was one multi-purpose tool and you know, the, the newest version of that G7X is about $600. And so still, I mean, relatively practical investment, but that's, that's like, you can produce almost everything

you need from that. The other thing though, actually, which this would be really splurging is, is level up your laptop. Like, you know, especially I know you, you value time so much and you'd value productivity. And so when I hear somebody, especially if they are, if they have the means and they're like, yeah, it's the workflow of editing is so slow. And I just think, why would you tolerate that? Like, if you could cut that time in your half, that's gonna save you, it's gonna speed up everything if you could edit faster.

So for instance, practically, if you've got the means, we pay for the fastest internet we can get. And I work from home out of a home studio. You know, my computer just crushes video. I'm doing 4K now. It crushes that that but it's practical because i'm pumping out so much content so what kind of computer it's actually a built pc so it's weird it's weird i'm a pc guy i'm sorry i'm still a pc guy alienware okay there you go so

it's kind of like that it was just it was actually built by a custom builder it's got air cooling and stuff it's kind of a gaming pc that i use for i know about about that. Yeah, there you go. So yeah, but yeah, I think I always think about removing friction in the workflow. Every piece matters. And these days, speed is so important. So some people, they're like, yeah, it takes forever to render and export and so on and so forth. It's like, well, then speed that up. Especially if you really have a vision for this. It's like, do we want to go... Maybe you're just dabbling. That's fine. But if you want to move from dabbling to dominating, then really invest what it takes to like pump out quality, consistent content. Okay. And I know you touched on lighting earlier, so you might

have already answered this, but everyone wants to know, and I know Lauren wants to know, what do you recommend for lighting, lighting equipment for vloggers? Besides standing in front of the window. Or did you already answer that earlier? Because if you did, we'll link it. But I would also say, I mean, I would say that actually standing in front of the window is actually almost better than some lighting situations because, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, is it not flattering, Lauren? It is so flattering. I am in front of my window. My neighbors think I'm fucking crazy. I stand in front of my window. The second I have makeup on, I love the window.

Yeah. And it's actually better. Uh, I think that natural lighting lends itself a little bit better to color accuracy, especially if skin tones and makeup colors matter, or, you know, especially female, if you're really wanting that, it's going to be so much easier to get that, that lighting with that natural light from a window than it is with setting up lights. My biggest tip with lights is number one, if you should buy some, you know, off of Amazon, a lighting kit, which ones, or do you want me to, you know what you could just tell, you could send them over and I'll put it. Yeah, I can send them over. And then there's certainly some videos on think media. I think it, I use some led lights, but those also are not necessarily

as flattering for skin. So soft boxes are, are for especially women and if you want to get that the whatever is the most flattering and then and then but the my biggest tip is to to really block some time to experiment and be patient like maybe hours to set it up and then just move the light a little bit and then watch the Footage and be like whoa, there's like this huge shadow under my chin or it's like causing these weird dark circles under my eyes. So then shift the lights, shift the lights, move it around, move it around and be like, okay, that's...

And then, you know, watch YouTube videos for the tutorials. But like, don't just sit down and be frustrated with that first, the way the first shot looks because it probably will look terrible. But then just keep tweaking it and then eventually you can figure out that magic as well as you continue to study and learn as well. I just got this mirror in the mail. I'll link it in the show notes. And it is this mirror that has

lights around the mirror. Weston actually ordered it for me. He's behind you laying on the couch. Sucking down a beer. Sucking down a Stella. We're in Vegas. How many beers? I think that's two. Um, so he ordered me this mirror that has lights around the mirror. It's a small little mirror and in it goes your phone and it's a Bluetooth connector and I love it, but I do find that natural light is still more flattering. Yeah. Do you like those little mirrors? Do you know what I'm talking about? Um, I think,

I don't know specifically about those mirrors, but I just talked to another beauty YouTuber who uses like her vanity, which is going to be probably decent light. You're sitting in front of a vanity. There's lights all the way around it and your camera is just right in front of the mirror. Plus you still have the mirror. So yeah, definitely use what you have. The other tip there, if we just took it another level deeper, is learn white balance and study white balance. And so a lot of cameras, in fact, if you're ever frustrated and you, you did this,

maybe you bumped the dial on your camera. If for some reason it's not on auto white balance, um, and it got bumped off, that's why the camera turned really orange or really, really blue, or it looks weird. But if you ever get stuck and you're like the image colors don't look right, that's a white balance issue. And, and it's probably too much to go in here, but, but that is probably one of the biggest needle movers when, especially when color accuracy matters, if you're trying to show off a palette, you know, or some color of some kind, white balance matters. I kind of want to have you back on the podcast again. We can do a whole podcast about white balance. Cause I love that. Um, My last question for Sean. Do you want to answer the listener questions or no?

Yeah, it's a listener question. I want you to give us an example of someone that has just done it right on YouTube. That's a girl. That's someone that maybe, you know, the skinny confidential community can relate to. Or a guy. No, do a girl, do a girl, a girl that's done it right that they can go look as a point of reference. You're pretty sexist, man. Yeah. You know, I think, um, we were talking about Desi Perkins before this. I think she's doing YouTube really well. You know, she did a couple of things. Number one, she had influence, um, on Instagram first, I believe maybe Instagram first that also

helped her grow, uh, her Snapchat and her YouTube. Cause I think she went from zero to a million on YouTube in one year year Which is pretty amazing Um, she but one of the things that she came out with was she came out with depth like really great tutorials But she also came out with extraordinarily high production value and talent. Yeah depth talent depth talent And but then her videos too there was like no shortcuts. There wasn't a rush in those She wanted to put out a great product and sometimes I do think done is better than perfect. I do think you should just get started and then, you know, iterate as you go. But then I think there's also something to be said about just coming out with world-class excellence from the get-go. And that's kind

of been her path. I think like that set, like the first example is very much resonates with me. Like my things get it done, go fast. Cause, and the reason being is I don't think there's a true definition of perfect. And I also think that it, it slows you down too much, right? Like you wait and wait and wait. And maybe YouTube's a little different because it's so big and so massive and you really can find your tribe. But I just think for everybody listening, like so many people are so scared to get started until it's perfect. And I, and I think nine times out of 10, that's a mistake. There is the one, you know, let's take Desi Perkins, for example. I don't really know too much about her, but she sounds like somebody that came out the gate, executed, had all the talent. Like that is a very small percentage of

people that can do that, in my opinion. Correct. And that's how I would agree with you. I believe that done is better than perfect. But the thing is, I bet, I mean, if we really studied her life, that had to have been her and Steven's execution before that. They were able to even launch with that because of talent they had developed somewhere else. They got started somewhere else. They definitely, yeah. So done is better than perfect is everyone's starting point. It should be. Because if you're paralyzed before you know how to do something, they had to figure out how to actually get the videos edited and shot right. And they

had to figure out what white balance was at some point in their journey. And so no matter where you start, you know, it's kind of like analyze what resources do you have at your disposal and then deploy on your strengths, as you mentioned. Okay. Two more questions. And I know this show has primarily been about YouTube and that's been the focus, but I want to touch a little bit and get your opinion on Facebook video, Facebook Live, Instagram Live. How are you using those channels? How are you using Facebook video? Are you using it the same way as YouTube, same content?

Are you posting teasers and directing to YouTube? How do you suggest people go about using those platforms? Because those are different beasts in themselves. Oh, man, let's get into it. So I think that a couple of things, one thing that was interesting at VidCon this year has been predominantly, it's an online video conference, 30,000 people come to Anaheim Convention Center, whether they're fans, creators, or industry people. And it's been predominantly YouTube. But this year, one of the big things I was making waves was Facebook had a huge presence there. They announced

they're releasing another app that is for video creators. So if you think about it, you could have a Facebook app, Facebook Pages app, Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook Mentions, Facebook Messenger, and a Facebook,

this is a separate app. Facebook Groups. Yeah, it's insane. So, but I digress. So they are focusing heavily on video. And I think one of the things that's interesting about Facebook, even though I'm a YouTube guy and I recommend people go on YouTube, is I think one of the things that's interesting about Facebook, even though I'm a YouTube

guy and I recommend people go on YouTube, is I think there's a huge opportunity right now to just deploy your video strategy on Facebook alone. For instance, people know of YouTube as a place for daily vloggers or people who vlog a few times a week. But it's very few who have started to do that on Facebook. And with Facebook pivoting to investing in original content, so Facebook's gonna be having shows come out like Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime,

they're creating their own original and varied lengths, but also longer form content. That trend means that I think attention's gonna go that way. So there's a lot of opportunity to just be a video influencer on Facebook solely, or also in addition to YouTube. You asked my strategy. We definitely do teasers. And the key, of course, on- So teasers directing to YouTube?

Teasers directing to YouTube, which is good. But the problem is, right, is Facebook does not want people to leave the platform. So whenever you link away, it'll reduce the amount of reach because they want people to stay on Facebook. We met with them a couple of weeks ago and here's what they told us. They said that they want – what they don't like, like you said, is linking out. But what they actually themselves recommended doing teaser videos natively in Facebook, meaning posting the video natively to Facebook, and then having a link that says, okay, if you want to see more, you can go to YouTube. They like that stuff. They just don't like when you like do the click out. 100%. And that's what we do. So we'll do some sort of a teaser. And then we also will invest

in ads because Facebook is definitely more of a pay to play platform, even if that's five or $10, just to get that reach out of that post that links over to the YouTube video. And so, yeah, I think, you know, social media examiner marketing world in San Diego this year, one of the big themes was omni-channel, which simply meant that smart brands and smart influencers are not being siloed in their social media endeavors, but they're focusing on omni-channel, multiple channels, multiple platforms. So also on Instagram, I think the same thing. And where people's head spinning, even as my head spins as well, as I start thinking, my gosh, like how can you be everywhere? But the way we're doing it is we're at a place where I'm scaling with the team. So at some point, depending on where you are in your business and building your

brand, it's hard to be everywhere as a solo creator or solo influencer. So I think you really should think of your, your main platform and then probably have a secondary one. But you know, why not seize all the opportunity of the world that we're living in? If you can through team, through collaboration. And so on Instagram, native videos,

stories, live video, I mean, we're doing it all and trying to execute well everywhere, but probably the biggest tip here is is to Reverse engineer that when it comes to your content creation Let me say that better when you're on your shoot day And when you're making your notes at this point micro content is finding its way into my notes

Let me explain what that means that might mean where we shoot the YouTube video And then as soon as it's over, if it, all it is, is me, uh, then the camera gets turned off. I turn it back on and then I'm like, Hey, what's up Facebook fam, Sean here, you know, here's a quick tip. Talk directly to Facebook, turn it off, and then maybe send them over to YouTube. And then sometimes I'll do that for all the platforms. Hey, what's up Instagram fam. So I'm kind of speaking natively, just repurposing everything. And by the way, while he's doing all this, he's also creating behind the scenes content for Snapchat and Instagram story.

So you're utilizing all platforms and then maybe at the end of it, you decide to hop on Instagram live because you're all dressed up. Yep, exactly. And so I think it becomes less overwhelming when you just have a plan, a strategy and a system. And so shooting those micro videos, I'm like, well, those weren't hard, which would paralyze me in the past is I would just be getting up.

I hadn't taken a shower. I'm in my boxers. The new YouTube video would come out and I'm like, shoot, I don't have any content for Facebook. You know, I'd have to get ready. Whereas now it's like not only do we batch all the videos, but we also batched all the micro content. And not only that, we also will batch thumbnails and photo shoots and different things like that. Just trying to be smarter and- Trying to maximize your time. Maximize time. Do you pick one day a week or is it two days?

What's like, what is your plan? Yeah, typically, and maybe not even every week. Some shoot days, if they're very effective, can, like I said, be even a month's worth of content. But in one day. In a day. Wow. Yeah.

No excuses, guys. And one way to look at that, too, is I think if your videos can be better with B-roll or maybe like, you know, if you did a lookbook, some sort of a video, like in your case on your YouTube channel, you might have shot all of the looks and all the B-roll just when you guys were out having fun even, or like you're on a date or something, like you could do that. And then you just do even that intentionally.

So when it comes down to producing the content, you shoot down and kind of narrate the episodes, but you're maybe collecting the content for those episodes in other places. Like for us, if I review a drone, I'll shoot drone footage out. My wife and I would just be hanging out. We'll do whatever.

We get footage. We're getting cool thumbnails like in cool places. So that way, if you're just at home, you know, by yourself and at night with lights on and you're like, well, that is cool. But that's just the base level. And then you can bring in B-roll and photography, whatever other content, if that's relevant. So just being like strategic with thinking like that. Well, Sean, you are a wealth of knowledge and we have a lot of work to do with YouTube. A lot of work to do with video. I know, Michael, I can already see your brain spinning. I do want to have you back on to talk about white balance. I think that's the

whole podcast. I would love to, or we maybe just video production in general, but I mean, I I'm just pumped to be here and always super inspired by everything you guys are doing. And, and like you said, bringing value to people and the brand you guys are building. It's well, ditto, where can everyone find you? You obviously have so much stuff on YouTube, pimp yourself out. I think, uh, yeah, the, uh, video influencers is, uh, a channel that is more of the tips and strategy side of online video on YouTube. And then think media is more of the tech and tool side. Um, so if you're curious about what cameras, what lighting, and you know, if anybody wants to just dive into like a free training on YouTube at learn youtube today.com, there is a training that

just kind of goes through a lot of stuff and to make a lot more clear sort of step by step stuff. So that's learn YouTube today dot com. And we'll also link all of your social handles and your channel in the show notes. What's your Instagram handle? At Sean Cannell everywhere. That's S-E-A-N-C-A-N-N-E-L-L. It's kind of like a Gary V name. How do you spell Cannell? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. You know what? Sorry, girls. He's married too. We got to throw that in. Happily married. So back off, ladies. Thank you so much for being here.

We'll have you back on. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you guys so much for listening and subscribing to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her podcast. Remember, if you want my five secret beauty tips and tricks, all you have to do is review the podcast and send a screenshot to asklauren at theskinnyconfidential.com. That's asklauren, L-A-U-R-Y-N at theskinnyconfidential.com. And just to remind you, this episode was brought to you by Canapet, the organic CBD supplement for pets. Canapet helps pets with arthritis, anxiety, inflammation, and it's a

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