249 200 Million Views Later: What Actually Works

Leah Bolden built a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers and nearly 200 million views by teaching one thing really well: how to fix your home. And she did it by speaking to people exactly like a friend would, not like a tradesperson trying to impress anyone.

Dominik sat down with Leah to talk about how See Jane Drill went from a classroom suggestion to a full course business, and the conversation ended up being one of the more grounded and honest ones we've had on this show.

Leah talks about how a video on tape measures quietly racked up 18 million views and got Good Morning America calling. She explains why her audience turned out to be 78% men when she expected mostly women. And she gets into the real engine behind her course sales, which is soft mentions in YouTube videos and a newsletter, not complicated funnels or big launches.

What really stood out was her take on community. She meets with her course students once a month on Zoom, takes their questions, and says that single hour is probably the most valuable thing she offers. She also gets honest about what she would do differently if she started over, and her answer on the membership model is worth the listen on its own.

There is a book coming, some thoughts on AI that she is genuinely uncertain about, and a clear through-line across the whole conversation: authority and trust come before anything else.

I think you'll enjoy this one.

Check out Leah's work:
🌐  https://seejanedrill.com
▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@UCraGaDLfWec67xl9FEPndtw

Transcript

The Viral Tape Measure Moment

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I created a video about a tape measure. I didn't really think too much of it, but it really took off. Wound up having 18 million views. I seldom make videos thinking, oh, this is gonna get a lot of views because it just doesn't work that way. There have been videos where I thought never in a million years would it get views. You don't want to just create a course to make money. You want to create a course that's going to have value for people that you're an expert in and that you loved to do share. Instead of building trust, you have to have trust before you want to course.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Hello and welcome to the Art of Selling online course. We are here to share winning strategies and secret facts on top performance in the online course. My name is Dominic Dragon, and today we are talking with Leah Bolden, the creator behind the New Chain Real YouTube channel where she taught millions of people on how to tackle home repair and with yourself projects with confidence. With over 1 million subscribers and nearly 200 million views, Leah has built a massive audience by teaching practical, evergreen skills that people are actively searching for. But what's really interesting is how she's turned that audience into a course business and what we can all learn from her approach to trust teaching and building a business around helping people solving real problems. Leah, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Thanks a lot, Dominic. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Of course. What's interesting about your story is that you didn't start as a course creator, but you started as a teacher first. And a lot of the most successful course businesses actually start that way. So they start teaching first and the course comes later. So can you tell us more about how did C Jane Dreel start at first?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Well, I was a trades instructor. Well, actually, I was uh I'm a journeyman in my craft. So I started off in construction, and after about 25, 30 years, you want to move on. You want to move on from the hard labor. Um so that's what I did. I started teaching in the classroom, working with the, you know, the building trades here in this country and just teaching pre-apprentices that wanted to make that their career. Okay. So during the course of teaching in the classroom, a lot of my students came up to me and said, Leah, listen, they're not teaching this in, you know, in grade school and high school anymore. And um, so you have a lot of people graduating from high school and from college. They don't they don't know how to maintain their homes. So you should make YouTube videos. And I was just out of touch. I'm like, I gotta tell you, I didn't know anything about YouTube back then. But I thought about it, and they were absolutely right. People just they didn't know how to maintain their homes because they weren't really taught anything in in high school or college. I started off by just making some random YouTube videos to help homeowners, you know, learn a few things about how to maintain their homes. And that's how I got started.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Nice, nice. And at what point did you realize that this could become a business and not just a YouTube channel of sort?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

I was really surprised. I was really, really surprised because I have to honestly tell you, when YouTube first came out, I didn't get it. I didn't get it. I was like, well, I guess that that could be kind of fun. I did not realize at the time what a learning tool it could be for so many people because YouTube for a lot of folks is like the world's largest visual library. And so I really took advantage of uh using that to teach people. Now, what was the aha moment for me? Well, I created a video about a tape measure, and I didn't really think too much of it, but it really took off. Wound up having 18 million views, and Good Morning America, a television show here in um this country, uh, reached out to me. They wanted me to come on the show. But unfortunately, at the time, there was this huge snowstorm that took place right when I was supposed to fly into New York, and so I didn't get an opportunity to do that. But I realized, I think at that moment, what an opportunity uh that platform was in terms of teaching and reaching so many people globally.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Makes sense. And um when you started with the YouTube channel, did you start with a goal of building a course or did that come later? What would you say?

SPEAKER_00 4:49

It came it came much later. I think that I was more focused, and I I really think that this is really important, okay? I was focused more on helping people and helping people with something that I was passionate about and that I was really very, very experienced in in. And I think that that's very key. I mean, you don't want to just create a course to make money, you want to create a course that's going to have value for people, that you're an expert in, and that you love to do and share. And I I would say that the most important thing is that well, it's kind of in tandem, but that you love what you do and and you want to help people. Like you wanna you wanna create some value for them.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

So that's I definitely yeah, I definitely agree with that, and that's something that we see a lot actually. So the best courses usually come from people that um that have already been teaching for years, and then the course isn't actually the start of the business, but it's actually a result of already helping people. And um you actually grew by teaching practical skills, people who are actively searching for and not just chasing trends. So uh that usually leads to a very different type of audience, a very intent-driven audience. So, can you tell us more about who is your typical viewer and what problems are they trying to solve when they find your videos?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

You know, interestingly, when I first started uploading the YouTube, um, I really thought that the majority of my audience would be women. I thought it was gonna be women, home uh makers, women that were maybe single, that wanted to have some kind of control over um who comes into their house to make repairs and be a little more educated about the folks that make repairs in their homes. But that was not the case at all. The majority of my audience are it's men. It's like 78% men. And that really surprised me. So they tend to be men that are not necessarily really handy, but want to be. And so that's that's my typical audience. Men that want to be handy and are working on those skills and aren't intimidated by things that are unfamiliar. So that's my core audience.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Nice. So um when you think about the content, are you thinking growth? So uh creating videos that will eventually grow even further above million views and stuff, or are you thinking more of a help helping a specific person, as you just mentioned, men that are not very handy?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Well, to tell you the truth, I seldom think about what will go viral. That's that's just rare. It's a majority, well, the I would say it's 50-50. 50% of the content comes from viewers who say, Leah, listen, I'm reaching out because I don't know how to do this. Can you help me? And sometimes those things are very common repairs that a lot of people would like to know how to go about. And sometimes it's kind of a specialty request where maybe not that many people need to know how to do X, Y, and Z, but there isn't any content out there covering those kinds of things. So I go ahead and I make those um videos as well. So I seldom make videos thinking, oh, this is gonna get a lot of views because it just doesn't work that way. There have been videos where I thought never in a million years would it get views, and that tape measure video is a perfect example where I think it has 18 million views, and it's about a tape measure. There's no way that you could plan for something like that. So I just tend to make videos that I feel people need, and I make video content so that it's easy to follow. Anyone could sit down and watch one of my videos and say, Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense. I can do that. I don't really talk, um I don't use um um labor terms, you know, terms that we use in the trades. Um I tend to just speak to homeowners like um like I'm talking to my friend, you know, like I'm talking to friends that need to know how to do things. So um it comes, it's easily digestible for the average person. And um I think that that's why it's worked so well for CJ and Drill.

Soft Selling A Course On YouTube

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Exactly, exactly. Um there are generally two types of audiences. So you have the entertainment audience and the problem solving audience, which is in your case. And the problem-solving audiences are usually much easier to monetize because they are actively searching for or trying to fix something or learn something. So um can you tell us more? How do you sell that uh that course of yours um that you have? Is it the YouTube? Is it the email list?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

How you're asking me how I went about selling my course? Is that the question?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah, so what's the channel where you promote your course the most? Is it through YouTube videos or do you send them uh promotional emails through the email list, or how do you typically sell your course to your own?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I've done it all through my uh email list. Uh I have a newsletter that I put out, and I have a website, but most of my my um sales have come through my YouTube channel because I like to mention that I have a course in the middle of my uh uh video because I upload weekly, and that content is for everyone. But I always make certain that I mention at the end of the video or in the middle of the video that I have a course. And if you're interested in taking your DIY skills to the next level, you know, I'll place some link in the description of the video so you can check it out for yourself. And that's it's a soft sell. I do a real, real soft sell. Um and generally it's it's uh worked out very well. Again, I mention it in my videos, I mention it in my newsletter, I mention it on my website, and um I have an email list. So, and then of course, you know, when the holidays come up, like you know, Christmas and uh Father's Day or Mother's Day, I always make certain that I mention the course and I also offer a discount during those holidays. Yeah.

Email List Growth With Requests

SPEAKER_01 11:49

What about the email list? So, how do people join your email list? Do you have a lead magnet of sort, or do you just invite them to join your newsletter?

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Well, there are a couple ways that I do it. On my website, there is a request. If you want to request a video from me, if you need something, you're struggling with uh making a repair at home, you don't quite, you can't quite find the video on YouTube or on my website, or you just can't gather any information that you need, you can make that request that I make that video for you. So you send in your email address. I also try to run contests um a couple times a year where I just give away tools, and naturally people have to send in their um uh email addresses, and and that's one of the ways that uh we gather email addresses. So we give away things uh regularly and good stuff. We're not giving away little tiny stuff, we give away really nice tools. And um that's generally how we get email addresses. And then, of course, you know, just over time, people just write in to me at CJ and Drill and they ask me, Leah, can you help me with this? And so all those email addresses are saved as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

And uh tell us more about your course. So, what problem does it actually solve? And um who is the the course and what's the transformation that it does for someone uh after taking your course? So what problem does it solve?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Initially it it tied into what's called the ugly house. I'm here in Florida, I purchased a piece of property in Florida and I looked for the ugliest, most dilapidated, dated house I could find in Florida. And you know what? I found it. It needed a lot of work. And so I started thinking that you know what, this could be a course. And and what I mean by that is nowadays um the the real estate market is is a challenge because people can't necessarily afford the homes that they want. They're stuck with where they are because of interest rates, plus lots of other things that factor in. So my thinking was I don't care where you live or what kind of house you own or how much work it needs, you can take that house, no matter what it looks like, and make it your dream home. And so that was the idea for the course, you know, that you could create your dream home, even if it was a house that you weren't in love with. You could fall in love with it if you knew how to maintain it and repair it and transform it into what was appealing to you and do it for pennies on a dollar compared to what a contractor would charge you. So that was the whole idea of the course. You know, it's called the Dream Home Accelerator Course, and that's what we teach. You know, we teach plumbing and electrical and carpentry and just the just everything you could imagine um for taking that house that may be a little bit of an ugly duckling and turning it into a swan. So there are many, many modules to the course, but the thing that really honestly helps people the most is that I meet with my my um course students once a month. We meet on a Zoom call and then I just take their questions. And so a lot of times during the month, folks are, you know, they have challenges or something doesn't quite go right, or a lot of times, people just want to share their success stories with the other people in the community. So, like I said, I meet with folks uh once a month on Zoom and I just take their questions and try to answer their problems. And the truth is that's probably the most valuable part of the course, having direct contact with me once a month and um and working with others because it is a community. And folks have gotten to know each other just through the Zoom and the community page that um uh the uh that folks interact on and they share their successes or ask questions like, hey, listen, does anybody know how I can go about doing this? And so that's been a really, really um valuable tool in terms of the course itself, the the the community.

Community Calls That Boost Value

SPEAKER_01 16:24

So is this something that you would recommend to other course creators as well? Just having that community where people can interact with each other, but they can also interact to you as a face behind the brand and which makes the course better, which makes the course even more valuable because they can connect with like-minded individuals and to the person uh behind the brand as well to ask questions. Is this something that most of the course creators should think about in order to make their courses even more valuable, or do you think they can go without it as well?

SPEAKER_00 16:59

That's a good question. And and and there are a couple of reasons why it's a good question. And that is number one, does it create more value for the person that's purchasing the course? Absolutely, because sometimes you just have questions that you need to ask someone directly. I don't care how good your course is, I don't care what you cover, you may cover everything from A to Z, but there's always that one question that you didn't cover in your course, and people really need to know. So instead of like answering a gazillion emails from folks that have purchased the course that they're trying to figure out how to do something, or maybe I, you know, just there's a disconnect there. Um, it just makes it more manageable and easy if I can just meet with people once a month and then I can field their questions there in that form. It makes it manageable for me. And I think that it helps people a lot more when they can speak to somebody directly. Because when you're sending emails back and forth, a lot of stuff gets lost, or sometimes there's more questions. So when we meet on Zoom and a question comes up, we can talk back and forth for a while. Maybe sometimes uh, no, no, Leah, you're not getting what I'm saying. This is what's going on. And so there's that back and forth sometimes, and you make I make certain that after the Zoom call they know exactly what they need to do, or I've helped them, or someone else in the uh community has helped them. So it's a real valuable tool. It adds a lot of value to your course, it cuts down on having to send out multiple emails a month from people that have questions. And then you get the people that really want to know. You know, a lot of times people ask questions and emails, and maybe they never even use the information, but here you've taken the time to answer those questions. And email can be very, very time consuming for a creator. So if you can meet once a month for an hour with all the students that really want to participate in the community, it just makes it manageable. So I would say it helps you as a person who's selling your course, manage your time, and it gives you real direct contact with the people that have purchased your course, and then there's of course that feeling of being connected. So that's what that's I think that's where the value comes in for both people, the the creator of the course and the person purchasing the course.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

That was nicely said. Would you also say that it helps you as a course creator to sell future courses or products that you have to those people because they know the value that you're providing? They know that they already talk to you, they see how much effort you're putting in the course and the community, and it makes it easier for you to then launch another product in the future, and you will have those people uh which have built trust towards you, and it's gonna make it easier for you to uh to run different kind of launches with different kinds of products.

Trust, Credentials, And Credibility

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Exactly. In fact, this past uh Zoom call with my community, I mentioned that um the C Jane Drill um um homeowners survival guide. That's a book that C Jane Drill I've created, I've written, is gonna launch in about a month, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to be the first to uh um purchase the um autograph books. And folks were just so enthusiastic about it. So it does, it helps with additional launches you may have because you've got that built-in customer base with if when you have uh satisfied customers, you know you're not gonna be able to sell additional items to um uh uh your students or customers or course purchasers, if you're not selling a quality product that really helps people. And see, that's that really is what it boils down to. If you're if you're offering something of true value that folks are really benefiting from and saving money from, my course is intended to save people money on uh home repairs, and it does. So it just makes it easier to offer other um things, items later down the road, because you've got that track record of uh providing value. So it helps. It was a couple things. Number one, um it's just the state of the economy right now. Mm things are very, very, very expensive. Number one, I've been requested to write a book for a very long time. That's number one. Number two, I realized not everyone could afford the course, but just about everyone can afford a book. And so that's where how that was born. Um, I wanted to take advantage of being able. I didn't want to be, I didn't want there to be like tunnel vision. I wanted to be able to really touch all kinds of people. Those that could afford the course and those that couldn't but needed help. And that's why the book was born. It's gonna make it easy for me to sell the book in my course, but it's also makes it um possible to reach those people that don't necessarily have the money for course, but they can be good customers. They have the money to purchase a book. So that's why I decided to do the book. So I could reach all kinds of people and help everyone.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

That's a really good idea. And what about the future courses? Have you thought about creating some new courses, maybe uh smaller ones instead of a full, advanced, more expensive course just to cover more topics or specific topics that uh some people.

AI Uncertainty For Course Creators

SPEAKER_00 23:38

I have thought about that. We've thought about creating just a kitchen course where we show you how to remodel your kitchen from beginning to end. Thought about bathroom courses, and I've also thought about doing tile, how to do tile, how to do floors, how to do walls. So, yeah, we we've thought about specialized courses. However, what I will say is creating courses is very time consuming. And the CJ Drill um Dreamhouse Accelerator course, it took like several months to create. So when you create a course, it is takes a great deal of time. So, yes, I plan on creating other courses down the road, but for right now, I'm just focused on the one course in the book, and as time goes on, we'll roll out more. I think that what makes uh our course and content unique is the fact that it's evergreen. For the most part, it's like 90% of it is evergreen, so it's not gonna go out of style. There will be new and innovative products on the market that will make doing things easier, but beyond you know, how to sweat pipe, how to sweat copper pipe, or how to um glaze a window, those things are just they're not gonna change. It's gonna remain evergreen. So that's always gonna be a demand for for the course.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

So, what would you say what excites you the most uh for the future of your business? Where do you see what's the direction that you would like to go in the future?

SPEAKER_00 25:19

You know what? That's a real i it's a good question because artificial intelligence is gonna play an enormous role. And I'm not certain how much it's going to impact us as creators who create courses. So I don't really know how to answer that question, other than artificial intelligence is gonna play a huge role, and it's either gonna benefit us in a big way or it's gonna hurt us. And right now, I'm just not certain.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

That makes sense. And would you make um or what would you do differently if you started again today? Is there anything that you would do differently if you get a chance to start with the course creation and the whole course business again from the start?

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Yes, I there were definitely there'd be things that I would do differently. I don't think that I would have made it as broad of a course where so many things are covered. And then the other thing is it has to do with um marketing. I don't think that I would have gone I went I would have gone with a membership um early on that instead of just this is a course, this is what it's gonna cost, and just selling it once, I would have gone with a monthly membership. Yeah. So those are the two things that I would have done differently. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Would you say what or what would you say what matters the most then? Is it the audience size or building the trust that you have built so far in the course business like yours?

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Oh, you've got to build trust. And you have to have trust before you even launch a course. People don't trust you. If they don't believe you know what you're you're doing, first of all, you have to be an expert in what you're doing. That's number one. You have to be an expert, you have to be an authority, and people have to trust you. And I would say that you have to be an authority first, and then people have to trust you secondly, because people aren't going to trust people that are an authority. And so that's what I would say would be number one. Become an expert at what you're teaching, and number two, um, develop trust by being ethical, you know? So those are the two key things.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

What would you say? Um you're obviously a very, very good expert in your field. How did you build that trust uh right from the beginning in your case?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Aaron Powell Well, I have the credentials to support what I do. I'm a journeyman in my craft, which means I'm a master at my craft. And as time went by, um there were other things that came about that supported that. Number one, um, beyond being a master in my craft, then I went on to teach. And then, well, I wound up with a television show on the History Channel where I'm recognized as one of the top authorities in the country for everything home improvement. And that really supported me as well. And then I went on to go to the White House. I was invited to the White House's um authority in um home improvement. So just those things alone really um added credibility, you know, in terms of being an expert in my field. And um, and then of course the whole YouTube thing with um having over a million subscribers just on YouTube, that it that doesn't even count TikTok or Facebook and and all like that.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yeah, so trust is not something that you can build overnight. Uh you need to build trust.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Oh, I'm sorry. Right, absolutely. You can't. And people that think that they're just gonna create a course and folks are gonna purchase, unless, of course, it's something incredibly unique. Bottom line is yeah, it takes time. It takes time to to build credibility and and be someone that folks trust. And again, you have to have the credentials to support whatever you're selling. You have to have the credentials to support it, and you have to have the passion to support it as well. You know, you may know a whole lot, but if you don't like what you're doing, forget about it. The two go hand in hand. You have to love what you're doing and be passionate about it, and you have to know what you're doing. And that's I think that's the secret.

What She Would Change Next Time

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, exactly. And the results will show eventually. Absolutely. Is there any sort of advice that you would give to a course creator that is looking to scale his business or start his own course business from the beginning, or any sort of tips that you would give them?

SPEAKER_00 30:13

Well, one of the things that I I thought that was very, very helpful for me is I had a focus group of people that knew nothing about home improvement. So once the course was put together, we sat that we sat that focus group down and had them view the course because it's directed toward people that need to improve their home improvement skills. And but what better way to do it but to take a focus group that knew nothing about home improvement and see what resonated, what didn't resonate, and what um was easy to digest and what wasn't, what they liked about the course, what they didn't like about the course. And then we were able to build on that and make corrections based on that focus group. So that's what I would say. The most important thing is um a lot of times as experts ourselves, we'll look at something that we've created and we think, oh yeah, that that's easy to understand because we know what we're doing, and we just assume that we've presented it in a way that's easy to understand. That's not always the case. So having a focus group, and a focus group doesn't have to be some big group of people that you pay to view your content. It can just be family and friends, you know, if you have a budget that's restricted. So that's what I would say. Just have others look at the course before you launch it.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Yeah, they can see stuff that you're just unable to see, and you're kind of blindfolded, I guess, when you create something on your own like that.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Absolutely.

Final Advice And Where To Find Leah

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Perfect. Uh Leah, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I think what you what really stands out from this conversation is just how you have built your entire business around trust and teaching, and not just chasing trends, not overcomplicating things, but just consistent consistently helping people solve real problems that they're having in their everyday lives. And that's a really important reminder for everyone uh who is building a course business uh as yours. Um, everyone else, if you enjoyed this episode and want to go deeper into this topic, I recommend listening to the episode 168. 1 million subscribe uh subscriber YouTuber exposes how to actually grow a channel, and also episode 193, need a man who gets 7 million monthly YouTube views. Both of these episodes break down what it really takes to grow a YouTube channel, and more importantly, how to turn that audience into an actual business. Leah, thank you again for being here. Uh, if people want to learn more from you, where can they find you?

Testing With A Beginner Focus Group

SPEAKER_00 33:02

You can find me on YouTube at CJDrill, and they can also find me on TikTok, tick TikTok Why Beginners, and I'm also on Facebook. So there you go. Or you can just reach out to me on my website, LeahCjindrill.com. Hey Dominic, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

It was. Thank you so much for coming. And everyone else, thank you for listening. We'll link everything in the show notes so we can check out the CJ Drill and Leah's work. And I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you for watching.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Bye.