Tech and Devices with Ivan Kam

Tech and growing on YouTube in 2021 from Ivan Kam. Ivan also discusses tech product trends and the daily grid of producing tech reviews. HINT: The #1 factor in long term YouTube growth is not chasing trends, catchy titles, or spammy thumbnails. Rather, it's about doing the HARD WORK each day to produce your videos on a regular, consistent basis. Focus on what YOU can control, e.g., how often you upload --- and by doing that, the views and subscribers will come.

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- What do you do with all these devices? I mean, every video you've got the latest iPad, the latest tablet. Do they just... Do you have like a massive room, like in Raiders of the Lost Ark at the end, with all the crates. And you just box them up, and put them in there. What do you do with all these things?(upbeat music) Welcome to the Done. Over Perfect podcast. My name is Chris Lee, also known as pal2tech. And on the show today is tech product reviewer, Ivan Kam. I wanted to have Ivan here with us on this channel for a long time. And I am so excited to talk to him today. Ivan runs a YouTube channel that has seen some very impressive growth over the past year. Ivan's attention to product detail, his professionalism, and his great personality is just the perfect combo. Let me put it to you this way. I won't get a device in this studio, unless Ivan says it's okay. Without any further ado, please welcome to the show, Ivan Kam.(tech beeping noise) Ivan, are you there?- Hey Chris, I'm here.- There he is! How you doing?(Ivan laughs)- I'm doing great-- Awesome, great to see you-- Thank you so much for having me.- Your YouTube channel has really exploded in the past year. I mean, I remember when you had four, maybe 3000 subs. And man, you're almost at 30,000. And it's been a very short time. Has that surprised you?- It has, it has Chris to a certain extent. I put in so much work... You know, I gotta put it this way. It's just so demanding in terms of, you know, time, and power.- Right, right.(Chris laughing)- And, you know. And I don't mind, I'm naturally... And I'm not trying to, you know, flatter myself here. I'm naturally a grinder. I don't mind really get down and dirty. So, I just put this one goal of trying to do like at least five videos a week. At least I try. You know, some weeks I do like three, or four.- Five YouTube videos a week. I can't even... I, honestly, I'm struggling to do two.(Ivan laughing)- It's really tough, especially because, you know, you have to go through the whole process. I do outlines, right? So I will come up with an outline of things that I'm gonna be talking about. And I, you know, come up with the outline, and then shoot the video, do the B-roll if I'm able to. And then I have to edit. You know, after I do my A-roll shot. And then I have to edit it, and do that stuff. And upload, SEO, research, all that stuff. It's been rough. So I guess to your point, it's been surprising... for sure. Because I kind of just put down... You know, put my head down and just work, work, work. And then look up, and I'm like, "Whoa! We just hit 20,000 subs." And then I put it back down, work, work, work. Look up, 25K. This is going pretty nicely. So yeah, that's kind of how the journey has been going at least over the past year, or so. It's been moving rather fast.(Ivan laughs)- That is exactly why I wanted to have you on this show. What you just said. Because you said, "I just... I keep my head down, and I just go, go, go." And suddenly you just notice,"Oh yeah, the subs, right.""They've grown." But that's... That's out of your control. You can't control the views, the subs, or any of that. But what you can control is, you know, five videos a week. That's within your control. How many videos you put out, how hard you work. And the fact that... I've seen your videos. And let's take a look at 'em here. I mean, you've got... Your channel is just... You cover every single device. Let me ask you something. What do you do with all these devices? I mean, every video you've got the latest iPad, the latest tablet. Do they just... Do you have like a massive room, like in Raiders of the Lost Ark at the end, with all the crates. And you just box them up and put them in there. What do you do with all these things?- That is such a good question. And it's come up quite a few times, you know, I should add, I should add. Every time I get a device, you know, I use it. And after maybe a month, or so. Then I go ahead and, you know, trade that in for something else. And then I'll use that, and also make a video. Make multiple video... What I typically do is I make multiple videos on each device. That's also why it seems like I have so many devices, because, you know, some of them, I just make multiple videos on them.- Now you're not a professional photographer, correct?- Not at all, not at all.- Okay, we'll let that one slide on this channel. Because my audience is going,"Wait, what do you mean he's not a professional photographer?" That's okay. Because look at your background here. I mean, you put out iPhone 12 Mini review. If you look at the background. I mean, did you... Do you have any experience with that? Or did you just kind of go,"Oh, that looks good, I'm gonna make the light..." Because, it's very well done.- You know, just watching so much YouTube. And being able to unconsciously just pick up, you know, this, and that from this video, or from that YouTuber. I was able to compile that into, I guess, this set up.- And I'll tell you why I put this up on the screen, because this is a time capsule video. And what I love about time capsule videos is that it shows kind of how far you've progressed with your background. So like you shot this in the past, and it's very dark. I mean, the background is dark, and the foreground is dark. You're not... I mean, to be honest with you, it's not the best lighting in the world. However, let's jump forward right now to the beginning of the video. Look at that. You see that. So clearly you are progressing with that. What you're doing is not the easiest thing in the world, because, and I'll tell you why. Reflected screens, right? So when you're showing product, you have to be very careful how you're lighting it. And, you know. So, for example, if you've got an overhead shot, and you do all the kinds of top-down shots. You got to avoid stuff like this, you know, where you're getting the lights in the screen, and the glare, and that kind of thing. I've seen a lot of YouTube videos where they talk about a new iPhone. And, you know, the guy will be there holding it up like this. But you can't really see it up close, unless they do this kind of B-roll cutaway. And then they get real fancy with it. Yours are very... Don't take simple for not professional. When I say simple, I mean it's professional, because it is so easy to see the changes. Say, if you're reviewing two iPhones, and you're showing a comparison. Or a Galaxy tab, or whatever. You can see very clearly, even the subtle differences. And that's what I love about your videos so much, is the attention to detail-- Thank you.- That you have, yeah. You are such an expert with these devices. And I got to tell you, I know my channel's called pal2tech. But it's almost a goof, because I struggle with technology, a lot of the newer stuff. I mean, I'm used to having lots of ports. I get so frustrated, because it has two ports. Do you think things are gonna go back to having SD Card slots, and maybe having three USB ports, and getting rid of the Lightning cables? What's your thoughts on that?- I even talked about this in, you know, my video. My review of the MacBook Air, the M1 MacBook Air. That might be an issue, because, again, you only get two. And you don't even have... Well all you have here is just the headphone jack. They want to keep things simple. But at the same time, they also want to be able to continue selling the accessories, right? So, they want to be able to sell you the adapter for the USB Type-2, the splitter for the USB... I'm sorry the USB Type-C, and a splitter for the Thunderbolt port. I would say the only manufacturer that's still hanging on is Samsung.'Cause... And I don't even have my... The gala... Yeah, there you go.- Look at this, the battery explodes. Look at this, another problem.(Chris and Ivan laughing)- Uh geez. Oh yeah, there's always something.- That's the S7, I think.- Oh, you have the S7? Ohhh.- You can't take the batteries out, and replace 'em. So when they expand like this, you have to toss it. I mean, who's gonna get this thing fixed? Look at that-- I don't know if it's minimalist... I don't know what it is. Where Apple tries to get rid of so many things. And you looking at how are they getting rid of the headphones. You know, when you buy an iPhone now you don't get...(Ivan laughs) You don't get a power break. You don't get headphones.- AirPods!(sneezes into hands) Excuse me, you know, to buy more AirPods.(Chris laughs) Right?- That's right, that's right.- That's the reason they did it, come on.- That's the whole reason. They are really taking the whole maximizing profit to the next level, you know. I remember back when they still cared about, just, you know, the consumer experience. But now they're very focused on just, you know, maximizing the... Of course, they're gonna use all type of excuses talking about, "Well, you know, we trying to help the environment," and all that stuff. But we all know what it's about.- One of your more popular videos was the iPhone 12 Mini being a little bit on the small side. Here we have iPhone 3, iPhone 4.- Oh! iPhone 4.- Now, if you compare it to an iPhone... Let's compare the iPhone 4, which we all love and remember. To say the iPhone 12 Pro. Look at the size, look at that. When this came out, I thought this thing was huge. Now I look at it, and I would think this belongs in Hobbiton. You know, Bilbo Baggins would be on it. I mean, it's tiny, right? Do you think we've reached as big as they're gonna get, or are we gonna go...? What do you think the trend is gonna be?- It's... I'm thinking even bigger. But, now-(Chris laughs)- Are we gonna be like "Uhhh!"(Chris laughing)- I'm thinking what's being considered a gimmick today is the future. And I'll tell you what, I have my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2. I don't use it that often. And I loved that phone. So, the folding phone, I truly believe that is the future. So we're gonna have larger phones, but because they... You know, because of that form factor when they fold, they're gonna seem like today's regular phone. They're just gonna be a bit chunky, a bit bulky. You had Samsung that came out with, you know, the first Galaxy Note. Which was considered a phablet, and people were making fun of it,"Who's gonna be using such a huge phone?" Today, the average phone is larger than the first Galaxy Note. That just tells you that we are really on a tangent for something else. It's... The future is definitely folding, at least, I personally believe the future is folding phones.- Keyboards. The IBM 1984. This is the best keyboard ever made. Honestly, look at this thing. It weighs as much as the state of Wyoming, okay. But, it's great. It's... Our hands are not changing. I mean, are you finding that it needs to kind of stop, and not make them any smaller, or...?- Yes. I have always had huge hands. I have gigantic hands-- I saw your iPhone video, you do have huge... Or you shot it with a special lens, or something. But yeah, you do.- Yeah, I know it's... I have gigantic hands. So if they could stop. Apple has kind of converted me into just... Apple keyboard. So I prefer... Now I prefer Apple keyboards, because they're quieter. And I still get some level of feedback.- You shoot these videos. You shoot five a week. And then what do you edit them in? Final Cut?- No, actually DaVinci Resolve.- Nice, okay. I gotta learn that one. Oh, so your in DaVinci. What are you shooting them on?- Something affordable, because... I don't know. You know, I'm not an expert. But I know that lens, you know, lenses make the camera. Well, at least partially, right? So, I bought-- Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. Stop right there. I just need this moment, for everyone in my audience. They already know this, okay.- Okay, okay.- But let me say, you're not with a real photography background. Yet, you said something very deep just there. It is all about the lens. You... I'll put it to you in another way. You date your cameras, you marry your lenses.- Oh, that's good.- All right. So (Chris sniffs deeply) smells like Canon though. Is that what you got? What did you get?- How did you...? Yeah, yeah. But yes, wow!- But I want everyone right now. Go ahead, you can close this browser tab. Open up... Go to Ivan's channel, and look at the quality of his videos because he-- Oh, thank you.- You bought a budget camera, reasonable budget camera. And you invested mostly in the lens. And look at the quality of his videos, because it shows. And it's all about the lens more than it is the camera.- And I really went budget. I went just for the... the EOSSL...2, the Canon SL2. So like the-- I just went budget. Yet, you're about 30,000 subs. And you are growing faster than most YouTube channels I've seen.- I know. I'm very grateful for... Yeah, I'm very grateful, you know, for having that camera. It's been great. And when I look back, I just... cringe.(Chris laughing)- I love that screenshot. That's gonna be... Can I use that as the YouTube thumbnail?(Chris and Ivan laughing)- I know, it's... yeah. It's brutal. Doing this whole YouTube thing. It's rewarding in a way where you know that you're putting in all of this work. And you look at that one content, that one thing, that creation that comes out of it. And you feel good about it. But you don't wanna dwell... At least in my case, I don't dwell too much on that. I just go,"Well, is there something I could do better?" You know, and then I would figure out something that is wrong with that video. And then, you know, next time around try to fix it. So over time, you know... And color grading is something else, man. I'm still... I feel like I'm no where near... You know, the average photographer, like no where near.'Cause every day, every day that I come up with a new vid... I'm like, "My goodness, this is better than last one." So, I get that feeling. That means I still have a ton of things to learn.- There is no way, you can crank out five videos a week, or even two a week where they are up to your standards of perfection. What advice would you give someone starting out when they get to that point where they're just... They want to quit. They want to not finish the video, because it's not perfect, or it's not up to their level?- Yeah. That is a fantastic question. One thing that would always keep you going is to, I guess, surround yourself with people who, you know, kind of have the same vision. Who have their own channels, and who are trying to do as much as possible. I have, you know, my good sidekick here is Adam from TechOdyssey. I think he cranks out like a good eight to 10 videos a week.(Ivan laughing) I don't know how he does it. But Adam is a mad man.- I feel so unproductive around you guys, geez.(Ivan laughs)- So, when you have people who are encouraging you. Who really want for you to succeed at that... So your environment, I would say, people you surround yourself with is really key. And just have that mentality of, you know, that grinder's mentality. Just put your head down, and just do it all. Even on days I don't feel like making videos, I still know, I gotta put something out. I just gotta put something out.- It's funny, because I see some YouTubers that started around the time you did. And I don't want to mention names, because their channels didn't go anywhere. And I know why. And they didn't push through the grind like you did.- Yeah!- It's so critical to just tell yourself,"I'm gonna put this video up there. It's not the A job this week, it's just, it's not. It's the B job, but it's better than no job!" And it's, you know... And you will learn, like you said, you will just start out simple. So from about October of 2020, look at how his subscriber base has jumped, and his views have jumped. And, you know. Again, I always tell people,"What if you gave up around here?" Flat line, flat line, flat line, flat line. What if you just quit right here?- That's such a good point.- Right?- Such a good point.- And that's what I want anyone who might be contemplating doing YouTube. They may not come from a videography, or a photography background. Go to Ivan's channel, and look at what he's doing. And I'm not saying copy him.(Ivan laughs) But find your own style.- I don't mind.(Ivan laughing)- Because part of it's personality, too.- It is, yeah.- I don't want... You know, if I took your lighting, and your set, and your background, and all those gadgets that you review. And I put somebody else, I wouldn't watch it. I want Ivan doing the review. Even if Ivan goes in the middle of a park somewhere in downtown... You know, Wichita. That's okay, it's still Ivan. So if we put Ivan... But now we've got Ivan with his touch on it, and his lighting, and all that. And so that's why your channel, I think, is seeing the success that it is. because it's got your personality. But also you keep focusing on that which you can control. Which is five videos a week, or two videos a week. Whatever it is, that's what you're focused on. And you keep doing it. You keep that going. And you are continuously getting better.- One thing I needed to highlight, to quickly highlight. Is just the theme of this podcast. You know, Done. Over... That, you know, encapsulates everything that I do. Especially when you have for a goal to make this many videos, you know, a week. If you need to, you know, meet that quota. You have to some days just be like,"You know what? Is it done?" When I look at some of my videos, I just cringe.- Oh! (Chris laughs)- I'm like, "What am I...?""Why?!"- Yes! Yes!- But, you know, viewers...- Ahhh!(Chris and Ivan laughing)- You know, I have an AirPod video, it's still my most popular video, and it just sucks. I mean, it's horrible.- I was shooting, and I took a quick break. And I took a sip of water, and a drop of water just got stuck on a part of my beard here. And when I went back, and I resumed, and I kept shooting. That video, if I could... I could just like crawl somewhere, and hide, and die. But my wife was like,"I didn't even notice, until you told me about it." I was like, "Ah, I guess..."(Chris and Ivan laughing) But yeah, it was... I definitely feel your pain, for sure.- 'Cause if you just keep going, you'll get there again. You'll come back. You'll get there again. All right, well thank you for your time, Ivan. This is awesome. I love talking to you.- Oh, thank you for having me.- Go check out Ivan's channel. I will have a link in the description below this video.- Thank you so much for having me, Chris. You have a great one also. It was great.- All right, thank you, take care.