[00:00:00] Hala Taha: Hey, young and profiters, welcome to the show today. I am so excited to talk about YouTube. I personally am investing in my YouTube channel. I'm about to move to in person interviews. I can't wait. It's something that I've been waiting years to do. And so for all the entrepreneurs and content creators out there, I think you're going to find this episode tremendously interesting.

YouTube is a platform that we have to be focusing on. It has so much potential in 2024 and beyond. It acts so much differently than other social channels and I just feel like it's so important for us to get a core understanding of this channel and why it may be a good avenue for us to invest in. If you don't know Sean Cannell, he is one of the biggest YouTube experts in the world.

He's got a huge YouTube channel himself called Think Media. He's also an author and an entrepreneur. He's the CEO and founder of Think Media. In part one of this series, we're going to talk all things foundation. Why is YouTube a good opportunity in 2024? Is it too late to start? What are some of the questions and considerations that we should be asking ourselves before we launch a YouTube channel?

How should we be titling our YouTube channel? And in part two, we're going to talk about all things monetization and growth, organic growth, as well as paid ad growth strategies. And so if you want to learn about YouTube, this is essentially a YouTube masterclass. So without further ado, here is part one of my YouTube series with Sean Cannell.

Sean, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. 

[00:02:56] Sean Cannell: Thank you so much for having me. Pumped to be here. 

[00:02:59] Hala Taha: I am very looking forward to this conversation because YouTube is actually one of my top priorities for the year. I'm investing heavily in YouTube. And so selfishly, I'm so excited to ask you all these different questions about how to grow on YouTube, what kind of videos we should be putting on YouTube.

But my first question for you is, why do you feel like YouTube is still a force to be reckoned with in 2024? 

[00:03:24] Sean Cannell: I think that YouTube presents advantages over really every other social media platform. And disclaimer, I'm active on different social media platforms. Our company posts 300 pieces of content a week right now, and that includes vertical video across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.

So I love the different platforms. But YouTube has some distinct advantages. Number one, it is the biggest video platform with the largest focused audience that's consuming content there. So it's 2. 7 billion monthly active users on YouTube right now. It's about a third of the world's population. You also have YouTube in over a hundred countries and over 80 different native languages as far as the different versions of YouTube.

So there's an international opportunity. I think though that YouTube is different than all the other platforms because it's still the second largest search engine and it's the only platform where your content lives forever. Here's what I mean. All of the other social media platforms are content feeds, LinkedIn feed, your Instagram feed, your Facebook feed, and When you post content there, you hope it goes viral, gets views, gets noticed.

But it's very rare, if not impossible, for anyone to ever discover your content that's six months old, let alone multiple years old, on these other platforms. Whereas on YouTube, YouTube's kind of like a fine wine. It gets better with age. So when you post content on YouTube that is ranked or that has evergreen value to it, You can have videos that are one year old, five years old, ten years old that are still getting views and still driving leads, customers, prospects, sales, still generating passive income for your business.

So I think for entrepreneurs and business owners, it's thinking about leverage. Smart business owners are always looking for leverage. Like Nivelle Ravikant talks about leverage is team, leverage is capital, leverage is code, leverage is media. But not only is media leverage because you create one video and if it's seen by millions of people, you only had to create it once.

But YouTube even has an advantage over that. It cannot just be seen by millions of people maybe in a few weeks or months, but it could still be getting views years later. So it becomes this asset for your business that continues to drive traffic. So that's why I like YouTube over every other platform.

And if other platforms are content feeds, YouTube is a content library. And even the YouTube algorithm recommends, oftentimes, as we start consuming more YouTube, videos that are 6 months old, 10 months old, 2 years old. And so for the business owner, they definitely should be paying attention to YouTube. 

[00:06:00] Hala Taha: Oh my gosh.

This resonates with me so heavily because I've been running a YouTube channel for years and some of my most popular videos, even like this month, they're old videos from when I first started that are getting the most views till this day. It's just what is a hot topic that people are still searching for to your point.

It's really the evergreen content that can live forever on YouTube. So another like big picture question before we really dive into different strategies in your story is video in general is becoming so important as part of a way to sell for entrepreneurs. So can you talk to us about why video is so important in general for your business?

[00:06:36] Sean Cannell: We do business with people we know, like, and trust, and video is the best trust accelerator. If people read something you've written, they can get to know you a little bit. If they hear your voice on audio, that's great. They can get to know you better. But if they see you, they can get to know you best. And so, it's kinda like old school, small town rules.

We meet someone face to face for coffee, you wanna connect with your real estate agent in person, look them in the eye, firm handshake, what are you wearing, all those details speak something about you. Well in video, we are able to now communicate those details Google released a report years ago called I believe the7 11 4 rule which was people need to consume 7 hours of your content over 11 different touch points on 4 different platforms and depending on your ticket price of your offer.

For there to be trust for them to become a lead or even more so a customer. And so the power of video is you're giving people a chance to get to know you pre sale, pre sales conversation and get to know your expertise, get to know some of your values and your principles. In fact, this would be like a checklist of the types of buckets of content that you'd want to have.

It's why that, yes, you want to establish your authority. So you have videos that, Oh, this person knows what they're talking about. You establish something that'll help them. Wow, this person got me results in advance. So their content helped me solve a micro problem compared to the big problem they solve.

Dang, I can see they're good for it. They know what they're talking about and they've already helped me for free. But one of the missing pieces is they also maybe hear bits and pieces of your story. This whole idea of we do business with people with shared beliefs and we do business with people with similar values.

And sometimes we just go so logical and so practical, like, okay, cool. This person can help me with Facebook ads. This person can help me with my taxes. But when you start weaving in bits and pieces of your story, they start saying, oh, wow, this person has family values. Oh, wow. This person is of a particular faith.

Wow. This person maybe kind of leans this way or that way in their ideology. You don't have to put like politics and religion in your content necessarily. However, a lot of times those are polarized people to you as well as away from you, but the people polarized to you will be even better customers and will resonate with you even deeper.

So over seven hours of content consumed, 11 different touch points could include a YouTube video. Seeing you on Instagram, connecting you within the DMs, landing on your website and watching the explainer video and four platforms also speaks to the power of being on LinkedIn, seeing a deeper dive, training, listening to you on an audio podcast.

This is the whole vision of content marketing, is then all of this trust has been built and this familiarity has been built. And so for a lot of listeners, they might have a sales team or somebody eventually jumps on a sales call. You're not dealing with, if you will, cold traffic or even just slightly warm traffic at that point.

You're actually maybe dealing with somebody who's like, listen, I already really know I can trust you. I've seen this content. I'm just curious the details of your offer. Conversions increase. Impact increases, sales increases, and you grow your brand wider and wider in the process. 

[00:09:50] Hala Taha: You just said so many smart things.

And I actually just had a personal branding expert. His name is Rory Vaden on the show. And we were talking about how it's so important for people to give personal details, because when you think about the people that you trust the most in your own personal life, you know, their names, you know what they look like, you know, their kids names, you know, what street they live on.

You might know their favorite hobbies. And so if you want to gain that same trust with Strangers Online, you need to give away some of those personal details so they feel like they can relate to you, that you're human and just showing your face. I feel like as an entrepreneur is just so important for people to build that trust.

And of course, video is a great way to show your face and so people can learn more about you. Okay, so I want to get into more strategies for you two, but first I wanted to learn more about your story. When I was doing research on you, I found out that you actually got kicked out of high school, Christian High School, and you had a bit of a troubled teenage years.

So can you talk to us about that, what you were going through and how you came out of it? 

[00:10:49] Sean Cannell: Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty wild story because I first went to a school an hour north of Seattle. that was kind of known for a lot of my peers freshman year in high school ended up getting super deep into drugs and some of them unfortunately lost their life or lost their mind and that was of course not the whole school but there was a big culture of that, at least in the friend group I was in.

So my mom was worried about me, and as soon as I turned 16 and got my license, she sent me to private school, which was actually a commute. So I started commuting an hour every day down to Shoreline from Arlington, Washington, to a private Christian school called King's High School. And her thinking was, he's probably not going to get in trouble at Christian High School.

But sure enough, you could get in trouble anywhere, and you can always find some, uh, good friends, maybe some bad friends. And then of course, the personal responsibility, maybe I was the bad friend, but ultimately after a couple of years of Christian high school, I was partying, but it got pretty extreme.

And

 the school board and the principal was not too fond of that. I'd been there two years and it was right before my senior year during the summer, once that information came out, that they were like, okay, you're not coming back.

You have violated the school's policies. And that was absolutely the right decision. I certainly had in many ways. So from there though, it didn't get better. It got worse. I actually went deeper into rave culture. You know, mushrooms and ecstasy and smoking weed every day and just really didn't have vision, didn't have purpose.

It wasn't really going anywhere with my life. I didn't see anywhere else I wanted to go. So it was kind of, it was true depression, kind of, or just, just definitely a downward spiral. And so, finished out high school at community college after getting expelled. And the real turning point for me was hitting rock bottom after just partying multiple nights in a row and like not sleeping and just taking insane amounts of drugs and rock bottom can really be a blessing.

Cause it was from that point that my parents then said, Hey, what would you think about going to Bible college? And normally I would say that would be super boring and I wouldn't want to go there. But at that moment I was like, man, I definitely need to do something different. And, That was what shifted everything for me, and I studied the Bible cover to cover and really found a faith in Jesus and an authentic faith in terms of just more principles, vision, values.

And as those things got to begin to be clear for me, things began to shift. But then the final turning point was then coming home from Bible college. I wanted to stay out of trouble. I knew that I still actually loved all his friends, but I knew that they were bad influences, so I was like, you know what, I'm going to stay busy.

So I got a job, waiting tables, and I volunteered at a local church, and in doing so, I heard Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, say once that interning, volunteering, getting plugged in someplace where you can learn and develop and grow is one of the best moves you could ever make. Ken Coleman wrote a book called The Proximity Principle.

Get in proximity with the future you that you want to be or the kind of career or skill sets that you want. Now, my vision wasn't that clear. But by volunteering at this youth ministry, here's what's wild. 2003, the youth pastor handed me a video camera and Adobe Premiere. And so me getting into video 20 years ago was not because I pursued video.

I just volunteered someplace to just help build something. And in doing so, I also started to get teamwork and leadership and learned working with people and learned event promotion and then was doing video and I'm starting to learn marketing. And then the first YouTube channel we started was for that small church in 2007, 17 years ago.

So I've been on YouTube 17 years. And so really, I think it was a just a real discovery of my faith and values and principles. And then also getting in the right environments and getting around the right people and getting in an environment where I could level up, learn new skills. And fast forward to today, the combination of those two things is really the central core of our company, Think Media, and of my personal life.

 It's such an incredible story. I feel so happy for you that you were able to turn your life around because you found your faith, that you were given this opportunity to really get your feet wet on YouTube right when it was coming out, two years after the platform launched. Being an early adopter on YouTube, you must have really seen how it's really changed over time because you have been there since the beginning.

[00:15:20] Hala Taha: So can you talk to us about some of the advantages people have as early adopters on YouTube? 

[00:15:25] Sean Cannell: I've got good news for people because I think that YouTube has had so many eras and I think there's a big conclusion with data that would say it's not too late to start because as the eras shift, I also think if you're the earliest first adopters, sometimes that's a little too soon.

There's the whole curve too, and if you're on like the bleeding, bleeding edge, it's almost like version 1. your competitors are going to copy you anyways. So now that you've paid the price, they're still early, but they come in and they learn some stuff. So if you really started in those super early days, the reason I say that is most of those people are no longer around for many reasons, but they didn't last.

In 2007, you had 15 minute upload limits, you couldn't do custom thumbnails, the whole platform looked different, and tech was generally more expensive and video editing was harder and computers were slower, and even though it was already like, wow, look at how far technology is, internet speeds. That was all a little bit different as well.

So there was some cost prohibition. That's the good news of today. AI is helping you go faster. Tools are cheaper. Smartphones are all you need. And then I think that YouTube started to hit a little bit of maturity around 2010, which is when I got on the platform personally, where the partner program, early days partner program was only if you got selected.

It was like humans chose individuals to invite them into the partner program, or then they kind of had like a qualification. that were defined and then you could apply. And then there was kind of like a wave. I would say 2010 was a wave that spiked and then maybe settled off. 2015 was kind of another wave.

And so we've seen these different eras. And one fascinating thing is the biggest event is called VidCon. It's in Anaheim. I think it's the biggest online video event. This last year it was sponsored by TikTok and there's been evolution. So it hits all the platforms. But central to it's always been YouTube.

I think I've been attending for 10 years. I've spoken probably half of those. And then otherwise I usually attend or get brought out by a brand or a sponsor. And so to that point, what's been fascinating is the turnover. A lot of OG creators, a lot of the creators that started, I think there's lessons there.

15 minutes of YouTube fame is one thing, but are you building a sustainable business? Can you reinvent yourself? I think YouTube and business mirrors music in a lot of ways. It's very rare to have a career like the Rolling Stones or like Madonna. Or Taylor Swift, where you've reinvented yourself year after year, decade after decade versus we've heard about it.

One hit wonders. And so in YouTube, sometimes people, they write a wave or a trend, but is their depth or their actual business model or their brand deep enough? Or are they going to search for that depth, take the virality, but then turn it into something sustainable? And so I've kind of noticed those cycles.

I think we went through the vlogging era with Casey Neistat and he took vlogging to another level. There was a family vlogging era. We've seen some of those people come and go. The most recent era, I heard it termed the era of excess. Where from a YouTube influencer standpoint, it's the Mr.

Beastification of YouTube, where it was just how we shred 10 supercars in a metal grinder. We go into the most expensive mansions, going to the most expensive airlines. And even in the business context, you know, Noah Kagan is a YouTube channel to be studied for entrepreneurs, one of the top entrepreneur YouTube channels.

And he's doing things like interviewing billionaires and interviewing millionaires. And it's this juxtaposition of you know, billionaire reveals. And so that's great. That's a lot to learn there. But the average small business owner in America actually makes like 58, 000 a year, like it's probably a freelancer, but that's like literally the average, even if they make it, you know, if they don't go out of business in the first year or the first five or the first 10, the newest era, it's been interesting is there has been a shift to authenticity and authenticity was the most searched word on Merriam Webster in 2023.

And we're seeing new creators like Ryan Trahan and Sam Sulek that are now in reaction to the mystification of YouTube. Which, don't get me wrong, I don't think that's going anywhere. That content is entertaining and it is sensational. What's really working now with this new wave is this stripped down, not overproduced.

And this is exciting for everybody listening to this because it's an opportunity. You just being you, I think things like you being authentically you, knowing your own voice, vulnerability still being very powerful. I recently talked with my friend, uh, Ravi Abuvala, he was talking about how we're in a trust recession and that a study came out that we're in the lowest level of trust in the last 40 years.

And how people's funnels, their opt ins, people are doing fake information, less consumption of your sales cycle, less people showing up for sales calls. And I think what we see is also since the pandemic, since misinformation out there and so much division out there and so many politicians just being exposed on every side for just dishonesty and deceit, and then also fake gurus and all kinds of stuff happening online.

So I think that's what that authenticity wave that we're in now, and I think that's some things of thinking about where we can pivot. I mentioned, I'll end with some good news here is you might think 17 years. I've been on YouTube 19 years. I think the platforms existed. Oh man, it must be established and it's too late.

Well, Goldman Sachs research released a study that said that the creator economy is going to double by 2027. And what that means is the TAM, the total addressable market for the creator economy is 250 billion roughly right now. And they, it's going to be a half a trillion dollar industry in the next three years.

Now, The business owners listening to this, entrepreneurs, you're not even calculated in that you got a whole business. You should leverage YouTube for leads into a business that they're not calculating. But what's fascinating for everybody listening to this is the ability for you to maybe create extra income streams or start building a personal brand in addition to creating lead flow for your business.

Why is Gary Vaynerchuk and Grant Cardone and Layla Hermie and Noah Kagan and Alex Hermie investing so heavily in content? Why? When they have other businesses and other things to do. I think it's because they understand that personal brand is the most valuable asset you can possibly have. 

And by building out in content, the wave of the creator economy itself, you tapping into being a creator, publishing content, basically the next three years are going to be the best three years in the creator economy. And Mr. Beast himself, the biggest independent YouTuber, also mentioned that you YouTube's algorithm is one of the most generous algorithms as we speak.

That new creators are being suggested on people's homepages and getting a shot in people's suggested feeds. That if you start a brand new channel right now and you Make the right video around the right topics with the right content. You can grow from scratch right now in 2024 so I think that when you think all the platform has aged out or whatever or it's just already saturated saturation is actually impossible by the dictionary definition if it's still increasing if the total addressable markets increasing if Consumption of content it's increasing which it is if more users are appearing there Which they are and if these?

Users are more individual and unique. Speaking to you, finding your niche and your a thousand true fans. It's not saturated. It's not too late. And the next three years are actually going to be double of what's happened in the last 17. So we're actually in a crazy strategic time for YouTube. And so I think that's actually data backed good news for business owners listening to this right now for really tapping into the power and the wave that's happening.

[00:23:12] Hala Taha: Oh my God, you're getting me so excited because I feel it too. I feel like YouTube is Not primed for disruption, but it doesn't seem as competitive as I once thought it was. Like I just see this opportunity where I can stand out, have in person interviews, just understand the platform a little bit better.

So it's really good news that you're saying that we can all still grow on YouTube. And I know for myself, when I started podcasting six years ago, everyone told me that it's too late. Look at me now, I'm top of the charts, podcast princess. So it's never too late to start on your dreams. So if somebody is Looking to start a YouTube channel and they're an entrepreneur, which is most of my listeners, they've got to ask themselves some key questions, even before they start creating videos.

What are the key questions and considerations people should think through before they actually start a YouTube channel for their business? 

[00:24:05] Sean Cannell: Yeah, I think number one is why do you want to start a YouTube channel? And that answer to that might not be super. Obvious. It's general good problem or a good question to ask is what are we solving for?

We're solving for X. Do we need more revenue? Are we using it as lead gen? And we could get into some granular questions. What is the potential of YouTube for my particular business? Is there a good alignment there? And then also, how much time do I have to invest and what am I trying to achieve? Another interesting question is to say, do you have any desire to create content that you're in yourself?

Or how committed do you think you could be to creating content? Because sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. We've seen brands, this is an interesting opportunity, where you could hire talent. It happens. Moment Lenses did it. To this day, Kensington Memory has Tersha Hershberger, who is a solo influencer that also is like talent hired for the channel.

At the early stage, do you want to build your personal brand? Do you want to have your own show? Are you interested in creating content? Who are 5 to 10 YouTube channels that you maybe watch and inspire you? And would you like to have a YouTube channel like theirs? If you haven't spent some time on YouTube, I would encourage that to be a first step.

Do some reconnaissance and research to see what else is out there in your niche. And then do you want to build your business, leads and clients, or do you want to build your next business, aka maybe your personal brand, because what you've already accomplished and built, you're thinking about speaking, writing, getting your name out there, getting your intellectual property, your frameworks, your processes, your teachings captured so you can make an impact and a difference in people's lives, as well as get booked to speak in invited places.

And I could get granular on case studies and use cases for how you could use YouTube for all kinds of different niches of a friend of mine just acquired a real estate education business. And then he bought a YouTube channel, which was owned by an exam YouTube channel, 35, 000 subscribers. So he could start putting like these real estate exams and lead Jen over to his Real estate education business.

He won't be in videos. He can outsource these. They can be AI. So I would say that YouTube is an asset, no matter what we're talking about, and there's a way to do it, whether you're on camera, whether it's faceless, whether it's another talent, but these self awareness questions are some really good foundational questions.

And usually the people who like come to our event and watch our stuff a lot of times say, okay, I want to create content. I want to create a video podcast. I want to be a talking head on video. I maybe want to teach or do cooking. We get into the creator side, DIY or cooking, or we have auto repair shops, all kinds of business owners too that use it.

But where a lot of times clicks best is even thinking through, do you see yourself as a personality and do you want to put yourself out there? So like a auto repair and modification shop, the owner has got a big YouTube channel, part of our podcast community. He's discovered that he loves it. Now, listening to this.

You're not going to know if you could discover that yet, and I would encourage you why you probably don't love it yet, and you probably are intimidated a little, and you're probably a little bit nervous to get on camera, but I would challenge you, one of the best experiments you could ever do is start before you're ready, start messy, make 50 to 100 videos, that might sound like a lot, but the reason, because it's going to transform you, I promise you it will improve your life, it'll just make you a better communicator, it'll help you grow, but what you might uncover is you might uncover, I love this, and I'm actually good at this, And it would be the wrong signal to think that day one, Oh, I'm not good on this.

This must not be for that. No, we're all terrible day one. So I, sometimes it's like an uncovering and appealing away the layers of the onion, if you will, to kind of discover that. But I would pause somebody that goes, no, under no circumstances, if you're the business owner that is looking for being hidden, creating a self managing company.

That runs on itself, that doesn't require energy, or consistent content creation from you, then count the cost of building the tower before you start building. Those that succeed most on YouTube Get through that uncomfortable point, but actually discover that I actually enjoy creating content. And I'm committed not to content creation as a one time event, but as a ongoing routine and habit in my life.

And the reason for that also, or what reasons to maybe get clear on that is if you start getting to a place, if you're in a place right now where you're like, I would love to have more money, more leads and clients, but I also want more impact. I have something to say, and I want others to hear that I have something I could teach and I want others to learn.

Sometimes it's history and legacy. I want to build an archive of my knowledge. And sometimes it's, when I think history and legacy, this might sound kind of morbid, but I actually have a lot of peace if I was to die this week. One, because of my faith. And two, I would be devastated that I'm leaving my three year old boy and one year old boy, Sean and John, behind.

But I'd have a lot of peace and confidence because there are so many videos that they could get to know their dad from watching. The content I've already put on the internet? I believe they would learn my principles, my values, they would learn things that I would want to instill in them, and my hope would be that they would care to watch that content, but man, if I look back and imagine, like, I think about my grandfather, who was in the Army Air Corps, fought in World War II, And I got to spend some time with him, but man, if I had some videos to watch right now to just learn, like, I would love to see those.

So I think when you start thinking about, man, if we're thinking about legacy, we're thinking about history, we're thinking about your values, principles, ideas, frameworks put on line, how your network could grow, how it could lead to income, how it could lead to connections, how you could grow your personal brand.

There's so many benefits, and then that becomes the foundation of saying, Okay, this is why I'm going to invest in this. Because what I do promise you is it will take at least some energy, and it will take some money, and it's just like starting a business in general. Of course you could just use your smartphone and a few accessories, or not, literally just your smartphone is all you need, YouTube shorts, you could get started.

But look at your setup, look at your studio, look at your microphone, look at your lighting. You're a master. You've treated this, not as an amateur would, You don't have to have that level of commitment day one, but if you look down the road and think about what could this be, if you want to have world class results, you want to approach it with a world class mindset.

And I think if you install some of those foundations and you go, okay, I'm now willing to start to invest in this when there's only seven views and then only 70, but I'm committed to this over the long haul. And those reasons of why do you want to start a YouTube channel are fueling you. Because we overestimate how much we might accomplish on YouTube in one year, but we underestimate where we could be in five years.

And imagine if your favorite video podcaster, if you were there in five years, the accolades, the invites, the awards, the money, the passive income, the ease of conversion and sales, the ease of getting a book deal from talking to a publisher, because you've built a platform. You know, Mary, one of our students who wouldn't really call herself an entrepreneur, when she turned 60 on her 60th birthday, she felt like, I actually am thinking about starting a YouTube channel.

Kind of an interesting thought. And she loves being a modern pioneer cooking in the kitchen, sourdough, bone broth, apple cider vinegar with the mother, 60 years old, doesn't know how to turn a camera on, doesn't know how to create content. And so she actually discovered Think Media and some of our programs and went through those.

Well, now she's 65. She just got a gold play button. One million subscribers. 

[00:32:04] Hala Taha: Wow! 

[00:32:06] Sean Cannell: Random House signed her for a cookbook book deal. Traditional publisher. When she was talking to them, they said, The way we search for authors is we look at YouTube channels that are established. It's like Michael Hyatt said in his book Platform.

When you have a platform, it opens up all these other doors. And all these people want to go on other people's platform. Like, I'm blessed to be on your platform right now, but we're living in a world where you could build your own platform. If you're not getting invited to the table, build your own table.

This is the opportunity you have on YouTube. And all Mary did was started before she was ready, punched fear in the face, committed to learning new skills, and then also had patience for the long haul. And literally, she wanted people to be healthier. She wanted people, whether they lived in a high rise apartment in New York City or a rural community in Seattle, Washington, she wanted people to be able to learn, you know, real foods and real ingredients and real grains.

So she's purpose driven, she's impact driven, but also for her and her husband when they looked at their pension and their retirement, retirement wasn't going to be very comfortable. They're going to make it, but it was going to be kind of a grind. And because of stepping out on YouTube, she lives in a small town in Texas and in her church, a kid came up to her and said, can I get your autograph?

I saw that you're a famous YouTuber. She was like 62 at the time. She's like, what are you taught? What? I'm a famous YouTuber, like the sweetest lady, like absolutely love her. Met her at VidCon after she'd been our program for a while, got to talk to her. So waiting for on the other side of punching fear in the face and punching perfectionism in the face and then pressing record was all these ancillary benefits, but she wanted to get her message out there, you know, she had that burning fire and she wanted to change lives.

And I think it's a commitment to say if I changed only 100 lives or 200 lives, would I be willing to do this? But it just might turn into a gold play button, and it might be millions of lives of people around the world that you could change. And so I'll end with saying that I think it's important to also ask the question is no again if your self awareness is like man I don't know.

I don't know if I want to commit to that. It's good. I'm glad I'm glad you made that decision that through those Questions you're like, I don't doesn't sound like it's for me But I would ask you who is waiting for you on the other side of this? of you taking your dreams and goals seriously. When we think about starting YouTube, we think about the haters or the critics or our own imposter syndrome or our self doubt or overthinking or it sounds like it's gonna be hard and all those things could all be true.

But who's waiting for you on the other side of overcoming your insecurities and fears? Well, there was a million people on the other side of Mary pressing record, what if she hadn't done it? There's better vacations and better retirement accounts for their kids and their children's children because she pressed record.

There's more confidence and competence that she's grown because she stepped out there, I mean, it grew steadily, but it still took five years. So that's, it's something to think about in today's viral world. If we don't get results in four or five weeks, we're like, yeah, YouTube doesn't work.

Yeah. And so I think having a mindset of this stuff does take time and patience, but with the right strategies, right skills, right community, this is doable. And uh, those are a few thoughts when starting YouTube. Sean Cannell: Start a Profitable YouTube Channel in 2024 | Part 1

[00:35:34] Hala Taha: So good, Sean. The information that you're giving away in this interview is so awesome. So many of my listeners are going to find good use from it.

And that story about Mary was like super inspiring. So let's talk about titling our YouTube channel. What should we think about when we're choosing a title? Because I know with Young and Profiting Podcast, that was a really dumb title of me to have picked. And I always regret it. I should have called it Young Entrepreneur or something that people are searching for.

So what's your advice for a title? 

[00:36:03] Sean Cannell: Well, number one, you can change your YouTube name. So if someone's listening to this. Your YouTube URL is changeable. Your YouTube name that's visual is changeable. And what they also have now is handles just like Instagram at whatever. And if you're at handle is taken.

You can flip it, change it, look for a different combination, and all those things are Changeable. So if you have an established channel, that's one thing to consider. Here's a couple frameworks for how you should name your channel. Option number one, first and last name. Tony Robbins. Chalene Johnson. Joe Rogan.

Sean Cannell. Option number two, and I love this, is Maybe first name combined with your niche in a creative way. Matt the Mortgage Guy. Cooking with Karen. Matt the Lumberjack Landlord is a cool channel. So this way you might say your first name and or last name and a brand name. I think in network marketing it's like Eric Worre GoPro or something, when he's got his kind of brand name meets his first and last name.

And then your last option is a brand name only. So it could be Think Media and Game Theory. And so those are some different options. The next layer to consider is if you already have an established business, are you gonna do a personal brand? Are you gonna do a media brand? Do you want to just name it after your business name?

But if you're also like day one, just starting, I think it's interesting to consider, you If is your rel available, does anybody else have the channel name? Is there any trademarks out there? What's actually really wild is our channel is called think media and there's probably 2000 think media channels that have started now.

Again, they're like, just like you, if you search channels and just go through them, like they don't have a lot of views, people around the world, like I don't, you don't really know. And you just got to ask yourself, you probably don't want to name your channel, Microsoft that's trademarked. That's going to be an issue.

But kind of like book titles, if somebody else has the name, especially if you combine it with your first name, like if you said influence, income and impact with Sean Cannell, like I don't know how many entrepreneurs that say they help you build your influence, impact, income and impact like a lot. And so anyways, the general practice of searching social media handles, searching for what else is out there is wise.

And then I think that's it. And then it's pick one. And I think. Saying all of that, you have personal feelings, you just said about your channel. If it could be searchable, I think that's cool, but I also don't necessarily think that's necessary. What happens with names is they come to mean something after you post the content that changes people's lives.

Your next best video is more important, really, than your channel name. Don't be lazy on your channel name, but it's a video that's going to change somebody's life, not the name of your channel. And it's a video that is going to make people connect with you. And so, this goes back to what are you trying to build?

And, Think Media, short story is, in 2010, I started a channel with my friend Jeff, who is the youth pastor that got me into video, and we started creating an interview show with church leaders. It was a church leadership podcast, video podcast, kind of. And he was sort of the talent. I was the videographer.

We did about 250 videos. Channel grew to 10, 000 subscribers. It was called Think International. Why? I have no idea. We like to think skateboards and we had been to Canada. So we were like, think international. Cool. We're global. You know, we left Seattle one time and went over the border. I'm kind of joking, but you know, think international.

It also was kind of meaning it wasn't cool. Wasn't searchable. Probably would have been, there are shows like this. It would have been smart if it was like church leadership insights. Would have actually made sense what it was. So then I started getting questions though, because I was the videographer. Hey, what lenses are you using?

How are you doing this? What's your microphone? How are you editing? And I realized there was the media side of things. So I started a channel called Think Media TV, all caps. Why I think it's necessary to put TV when we're in a digital world makes no sense. Now it's 2024. What does TV even mean? And there's URLs, we bought like thinkintl.

tv, like whatever, I mean if somebody has a URL, great, good for you. But what even is TV in today's world? So it's Think Media TV. So now fast forward to today, I also eventually was like, what does TV mean? So I just deleted the TV, and now our company and our main channel, 2. 5 million subscribers, is called Think Media.

Now, some people think it's cool, others don't think it's cool, I don't know if it's super clear, but what it's come to mean is the hundreds of videos I've posted behind it is the event that we throw and, oh yeah, you're Sean Cannell from Think Media. You're, you know, whatever.

So to that point, the people who really love it are like, what's the strategy? What were you thinking? I'm like, I don't know. I just named it Think Media TV because we called it Think International because we've been to Canada and we like, think, you know, skateboard. So we're like, let's combine these two things.

So I think, I love this conversation. Because that's my whole dream of our company is we help people avoid pain and mistakes and go faster. And I think if I started more with the end in mind, if I even thought about things being searchable or like nailing my niche by just declaring what it is, like drops shipping secrets with Sam Altman, you know, you're like, Oh, that sounds sick, you know, and it's all about drop shipping, like whatever.

So those are some thoughts. And I think again, end of the day, The reason Uber means what it means to us, or the reason Google means what it means to us, is because of the power of the search engine, or the power of the rideshare app. That spread word of mouth, and we've downloaded it, and what does Uber mean?

I don't know, but I still default to Uber over Lyft. Use both, because it's got market dominance, and it's come to mean something based on execution, time, patience, hustle, money, team. Young, profiting, putting in the work. 

[00:42:03] Hala Taha: Exactly. Yeah. And it just goes to show that you can make it while making mistakes along the way.

And if you're somebody like you or me who is pioneering a space, we're going to make mistakes because we're the ones who are thinking of things for the first time. And if you follow us and you learn from us, hopefully you can avoid some of the things that we feel are mistakes. But to your point, maybe everything's supposed to just happen the way that it was supposed to happen for you. 

 Well, yeah, fam, that is the first part of my interview with Sean Cannell on how to make the most out of YouTube and online video content. We're going to take a deeper dive into some awesome monetization strategies in part two of this episode. YouTube has some distinct advantages over other channels, according to Sean.

For starters, it's got 2. 7 billion monthly active users in over 100 countries. It's also the second largest search engine and unlike social media content feeds, it's a place that your content can live and drive value for years, forever even. Online video content can also be a powerful trust accelerator for your business.

When your clients and customers can see you, that's when they know you best. That's how they trust you more. Plus, the total addressable market for the creator economy is set to explode over the next few years. You want to be ready to ride that wave when it comes. And as big as YouTube has already become, it's far from saturated.

As we'll talk about more in the next episode, YouTube's algorithm is one of the most generous to new creators. If you launch a brand new channel right now and you make the right videos about the right topics with the right content, you've got a great chance of hitting it big on YouTube. So what's the best way to actually accomplish that?

Well Sean and I will get to that in part two of our conversation. I'll see you there later this week on Friday. Thanks for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting podcast. If you listened, learned, and profited from this deep dive into YouTube, please share this episode with your friends and family and drop us a five star review on Apple podcast.

If you prefer to watch your podcast as videos, you can find us on YouTube. How appropriate for today's episode. Just look up Young and Profiting and you'll find all of our episodes on there. You can also find me on Instagram at yapwithhalla or LinkedIn by searching my name. It's Halla Taha. Before we go, I did want to shout out my incredible YAP production team.

We have 10 people who work on the podcast full time. So it's no joke here at Young and Profiting Podcast. And thank you guys for all your hard work. Couldn't do it without you for the research team, the production team, the audio editing, the video editing, the YouTube team, Ad Ops, all of you. All that amazing stuff you guys rock.

And by the way, guys, my team at Yap Media is growing. We're hiring 10 people this month. We're going to be like 60, 65 people strong. I can't even keep count anymore. If you guys don't know, I have a couple of businesses. I have my social media agency, I have my podcast network. I also have my Yap Academy and all my courses.

So team is growing really large. And with that, this is your host, Hala Taha, signing off.