She Got 3x More YouTube Reach

Discover how Mikki grew her unique mindful art journaling YouTube channel to over 2,000 subscribers and built two thriving memberships... all by embracing video content and strategies from Video Brand Academy. In this episode, Mikki shares her journey, the spiderweb and snowball strategies, and how organizing her videos led to more engagement, watch time, and a growing community. Get inspired by her creative approach and learn how you can turn your passion into a business!

Mikki's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mikkisteyn

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Transcript

Mikki has been such a bright light of energy inside of Video Brand Academy, and I knew that I needed you to hear some of the things that she has done with her YouTube channel recently. I will let Mikki explain it. She's in a very unique niche, a very creative niche. And she's somebody who has really embraced video and video content to its fullest on YouTube and is now growing her membership. I think she has two memberships from the community and the audience that she has built on YouTube. So let's get right to it. Here's my conversation with Mikki. Hey Mikki, thanks for being here on the Video Brand Infusion podcast. Hi, Meredith. It's such a pleasure to be here. I am so excited to talk with you because you joined Video Brand Academy a few months ago. Ever since you joined, you've been on fire with doing the work, doing the strategies, and reporting back on how it's working for you. You just recently reached over 2,000 subscribers on YouTube. So I want to ask, what has your journey been like getting to 2,000 subscribers? Well, I started my YouTube channel already in 2021. I didn't know what I was doing. Sometimes I watched your videos. I always liked your videos, but I was not really into it. I didn't really believe in myself, and I just created without knowing anything. So for me, the big change came in episode 70 of your podcast. I watched that. I had heard of Video Brand Academy sometimes in your videos. I stumbled upon it, but I never joined. And then in that podcast, there was something, it triggered a light switch, and it was amazing. I just had to join. From there on, since I joined, the live sessions helped me a lot. Of course, the homework in Video Brand Academy, that was amazing. It was like, wow. It's like I won the jackpot or something at that point. So that was middle of October, and by November, I think I announced that in our discussions on VBA, I reached 2,000 subscribers. So that was from middle October to, I think it was more or less somewhere in November. And of course I learned how to look at the stats and actually understand what they mean. So that was a breakthrough. Then the impressions went up. That's quite impressive, from 18,559 to 64,646. Wow, that's like 3x. Yes. Three times as many people just seeing you. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing personally, it gives one power. So if anybody's listening and wondering, it's amazing. I get goosebumps when I think about it, and I'm so grateful to you because it's a mixture of going through the curriculum and also attending the live sessions. I think the two sort of complement each other, and I learn in every live session. I have missed a few live sessions because they're just so interesting and so rich and worthwhile, and the ones that I missed, I watch the replays, and every time I make a lot of notes, I give myself homework. Yeah. So you had a pretty big spike in impressions, but also I think if I remember one of your posts in the community, you posted your stats and you had actually a really big spike in watch time. So watch time means that when people hit play and watch the video, they're watching longer than they were before, like on average across your channel. Was there something specific that you did differently to make that happen? Well, just before I say what I did, I just want to say the spiderweb strategy actually put everything in place for me. It was before, in French you say c'est un bazar, but it means it's chaos. I just made videos, whatever I felt like. And when I studied the spiderweb strategy, everything fell into place. It was organized and it was such a relief. And then the next thing I watched, the snowball strategy, and of course that is so interesting. I went to have a look at my own videos and I thought, oh wow, I'll just remake those videos, not exactly the same ones because my niche is mindful art journaling. So I can every time create something new, add a new technique or whatever. And parallel to that, I have to mention this, I also watched the YouTube Funnel masterclass. And in that masterclass, the examples that you showed, for the first time it actually clicked, you know, what my audience needs, because you explain it so clearly. So between the spiderweb strategy, where everything now becomes a little bit narrower, a little bit more concentrated, a bit more focused, the way you explain it in the masterclass, that was like a light bulb moment for me because the way you express it, I thought, oh, okay, that's easy. And then of course your vehicle to get them from here and all the chaos in between. Then when I made the videos, they were much more geared toward what my audience needed. So you think organizing your videos into the spiderweb strategy helped to really focus the topics to things that your audience was more interested in, and do you think that's why they watched longer? Yes, definitely. And also I got a lot more comments. Yeah. Okay, more engagement, more comments? Yeah. So tell me about your niche because you mentioned mindful art journaling, and that sounds really unique to me, and so I want to hear, where did this niche come from? Did you invent it? There are a lot of people art journaling on the web, but I'm very much into spirituality and mindfulness. During the COVID period, I'm also a musician, and for many, many years art was just, I wouldn't call it a hobby because I did it since I was very little. My mum's an artist, so I grew up in that context. I always did art, many different things, and during the COVID period my music studio folded because I live in a small village in the south of France and people couldn't come to the lessons, so I had to find something else to do. And then I thought, well, why not make creative videos? And that's how it all started. And then gradually I learned, watching other people's videos, what they focus on, and it was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to go deeper into it. In September 2024, I created a subscription community, a paid community, where I focused more on the mindfulness approach, which means connecting to yourself, creating from a space of stillness and silence, being curious, and believing in yourself and expressing yourself intuitively. But then some people who joined that group were more interested just in the creative part, learning new techniques and creating art journaling pages. In October last year, I started a new group. So that's more general, but although the journeys are different, they arrive at the same place. They arrive at a place where they can create with confidence. They create intuitively. It's fulfilling because the way I teach, my vehicle, if you want to know, is the first part of this engine, the motor, is to connect to yourself. The second is to be curious, and to be curious you become courageous. You develop your courage, and then after that you're confident in what you are doing. Because the main problems, or the main difficulties for my audience, are that they think they don't have enough time. They do have enough time, and they block in front of a blank page. They buy all these art materials. That's what happens when people watch like hundreds of YouTube videos. They say, oh, this art material, that's wonderful, I'm going to buy that. So they spend like thousands of euros on art materials and then they don't know what to do with it. So what my approach is: few art materials, choose wisely, good quality, and I show them how they can create to their heart's content with few art materials. So that's it. And then blocking in front of the blank page, how they express themselves: I'm blocked, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to use my art materials. And so that is basically overthinking, the mind that takes over instead of allowing yourself to be connected to yourself and to create from your heart. With the two groups, I start with the first group, I always start with a meditation, connecting to yourself. At the moment our theme for this year is, I have to translate it from French, Journey to Joy. So the whole year we'll explore that and then they obviously create in a journal. So it's a book that holds all those good experiences and lessons that they learn along their journey. They have that forever. And for the other group, I choose the themes per month. Obviously for the Journey to Joy, no, not vo vo, Journey to Joy in English. It works. It works either way. Yeah, yeah. So for the other, under that umbrella, monthly we work on certain things. So at the moment we're working on who is stealing our joy. And they express themselves through colors, through textures, through forms, and et cetera. And then the other group, I choose a theme per month because they're new, so I'm still kind of getting to know them. The first group I've had now for one and a half years, so I actually know who was there, and new ones who come in, they quickly find their place. So the second group, I choose the theme per month because with them I start with techniques. I teach them techniques. Still, they don't know it, but I still teach from a place of curiosity and connectedness. And then there are three live sessions per month in both groups, and then we work toward creating an entire art journaling page with the techniques that they learned in the first and second sessions. So the approach is different, but it's also very interesting, and some people are in both groups. You mentioned that you had watched my video for episode 70, and so I looked that up, which was Five Ways to Sell Your Course or Membership with YouTube. So I'm really curious, how are you selling your membership with YouTube? What does it look like for creating free content, bringing people in, and then having a membership that people pay for as well? Okay, well this is the first time, it's recent, that I would use YouTube as a funnel. And so after that video I obviously did the YouTube Funnel masterclass. And then I was going, my intention, in fact, in Video Brand Academy, as you know, with Karen we set our goals. I set my goal to do that in December, to set up my funnel and everything. But then that's the thing with you, Meredith, you have too many good things. Then I watched this Ultimate User Guide strategy, and that gave me an idea because I suddenly realized also in one of our live sessions you asked someone else, what do you need most now? And the person said, to build the list. And I realized, gosh, Mikki, yes, that's what you should do. You should actually build your list. And then this video, I wrote on my own notes, wow, because suddenly there was a wonderful idea that came to me. I created a freebie on my website. So the freebie, the intention was to gain more subscribers. And also what you said in this strategy is, you call PDFs like a cheat sheet or a checklist. Yes. So that gave me the idea to create a PDF that I've got here. I created 42 creative prompts, and I divided them into six categories. But the title is, I have to translate, Creation of 42 Inspiration Cards to Guide and Accompany Your Art Journaling. And so what I did was they can print out the PDF, but I created a card deck from that. Like physical cards. Yes. So I show them how to create everything, even the little box. So the cards are, yeah. And there's six categories. So I'll just show you the back of the card like this, and then on the other side there's the prompt. And so they can play. And each category has another color because each category is something that you do. So you can start at any point. If you only want to create a background, you take the category that focuses on backgrounds. If you're stuck with color, then you only take out the cards that are based on colors. But you can also just play with all the cards, spread them out and pick up one and then do what's on the card. Because can you see how clever that is? Those who are stuck looking at the blank page, suddenly it becomes a game and it's light and it's joyful and it takes all the pressure off them. And then the next thing in this strategy, the Ultimate User Guide, you talk about the series of videos. So then I made a series of videos where I play with the cards in different ways. And what happened was the people who subscribed to the workshop were sent to YouTube, so that increased my YouTube subscribers and my watch time, and the people on YouTube who didn't know about the workshop, the link is obviously in the description and that sent them back to my website. So it was a win-win in both directions. And that increased my email list. And lo and behold, there are now 75 people subscribed to this workshop. And in the meantime I opened the doors again, which brings me back to the YouTube funnel. The beautiful thing is on Podia I can have conversations with them. So I had been communicating with the people who enrolled for the workshop, keeping them encouraged, and they commented. So there was a back-and-forth conversation going. So with the 75 subscribers, I thought I will do a workshop on Sunday, and I will also use the opportunity to tell them more about my memberships, and of course send them back to YouTube. And then on YouTube, what I want to do now is make a series of videos, take snippets from my sales pages and present it in an active, creative way, meaning if I talk about something, I will show them something that would keep them watching. So let me make sure that I understand the flow of everything correctly for the viewers. So you created a free download, a PDF guide, that people put in their email address, they get it sent to them. Yes. It's a PDF, but there are 10 videos because I explain a little bit more in the course. Okay, so they get that for free. And the card deck that you created, how does that fit in? Is that something you're selling? Do they buy it from you and you send it to them? No, that's what the videos are for. Oh, they create their own cards. They create their own cards and they love that to bits. So even in my groups, people started asking each other, how far are you with your card deck? Have you finished your card deck? Yeah. Okay. That's so interesting. I want to create a deck of cards that I can sell, but I don't know what to put on them. But this is totally different. You are having the people create their own deck of cards with the prompts for them to get out of blank canvas mode and start just creating. Okay. So, and then you have put together a live workshop that you've invited people to. You have 75 people, and that's something that's coming up for you, right? Yes. Yeah, and I'm not going to send the link to my subscriber list. I'm telling them about it in a newsletter, or I have told them, and I'm repeating that, but they have to subscribe to the workshop and I'll put the link in the workshop details. So that means that sends more people and that will send more people to YouTube because those people who then discover the workshop will want to watch the videos. People love the videos. When it comes to actually creating videos now, I love that the card deck idea comes with what they opt into having videos because it makes sense that your viewers found you through video. They like consuming your content through video, and so what you're giving them is more of you on video than just a PDF. But tell me about your video creation. Have you always felt comfortable talking to the camera? Does it come naturally to you? Yeah, I'm not shy in front of the camera. I talk easily in French, French not being my first language, my mother tongue. I make some mistakes, but that's okay. Comments that I get, people congratulated me, not now because now I speak much better, but when I started people said, oh wow, you're doing this in French. What do I create? In fact, there are a few things. People don't know what journals to get, so that's where you normally start. So I make videos on what you would need to start. I still have to do that as to what journal to get, what art materials to get, what to look for when you buy art materials, because art materials are very expensive, so you have to select. So I guide them to select their art materials wisely because otherwise many people end up with a lot of stuff that they don't use. Then there are techniques. Techniques are very important, but obviously in my free videos on YouTube, I just give them a little taste of it. And the thing is, what happens is with those people just watching the free videos, they do a little bit here and they do a little bit there, but there's no progression. And that's where the communities come in. In the community, I take them step by step, and gradually one person in a community might be on this level, another there, another there, but it's easy in a community to guide everyone. Like you do with us in VBA, each one is in a different place, but we all find our place. So my YouTube videos sometimes are geared toward people who are already advanced in art journaling, sometimes just for beginners. I'm very curious myself, so I'm always experimenting with art materials. And just this week I found a wonderful technique where you use an old credit card and acrylic paints, and then you build layers like this. It's not just the end result, because in our journey the end result will happen by itself. It's the journey, it's the process that's interesting. And that's also something people struggle with. When they start, they want to create pretty pages, but it doesn't work like that because if you say, I want to create a pretty page, immediately your mind takes over, so you're not creative. So that's what I teach in my videos. Most of the time when I talk, they only see my hands. I've got my overhead camera. So sometimes in a video I would talk at the beginning. Sometimes it's just overhead and they just see my hands. I show them the tools I'm going to use, et cetera. And so I show how to make backgrounds, what they can do if they've started creating something and then suddenly their mind goes blank and they don't know how to get out of that situation. So that's where the mindfulness comes in. I give them some ideas for exercises, breathing, and lightness. Smile. When you smile or touch your heart, because when you smile, nothing can go wrong. Right. And when you touch your heart and you breathe into your heart and you feel all the love that's always available to you there, it changes everything. Everybody's creative and it resides within you. It's not on the outside. You can't learn creativity. You are already creative and you just have to awaken that or realize that every person on this earth is creative. You mentioned, it's interesting, the way you are talking about art journaling and creativity, and it's the journey, not just the end result creation. It's so similar to creating videos. So I'm curious, did you have any mindset hurdles like, who am I to make YouTube videos? Or I'm afraid of people leaving bad comments? Were you ever afraid of any of that stuff, or did you just ignore it? No, I think meditation and yoga helped me a lot to realize, you know, I am where I am. I love who I am. And if I make a video and someone doesn't like it, it's okay because it's normal. Not everybody can love what we do or would love my approach. And some people that I've noticed over the years, the few years that I had my channel, someone would insist on certain things, like yes, but we want to create pretty pages. We want to learn techniques. And then gradually, watching my videos, after a year the same person writes a comment, thank you for your videos, we love the calm way you present this, that, and the other. So I think some people might go away and come back. Some people might keep on watching and eventually get something from it. I just stay myself. Yeah. That's perfect. There's no other way to be, right? So I want to get a little feel for the gear that you use and your editing and that kind of technical stuff. But I'm curious, is there anything you're excited about for 2026 when it comes to YouTube? What are you looking forward to this year? Well, I definitely want to start using YouTube as my funnel, so that's the part that I really want to look into. So then the last meetup, you talked about different funnels, and immediately I wrote a whole new course. Yeah. And that will be a second funnel. So the first funnel is to promote my communities, my memberships, and this one I thought, why not do just a three-day course and focus, for instance, on overthinking and stress, because overthinking and stress is what blocks your creativity. So that's the new funnel that will happen. So here I am now. I'm still at the beginning of this, very much at the beginning. It's exciting. I am excited for you because what you have done so far is working, right? You are saying, oh, I'm going to create a YouTube funnel, but you've already basically created a YouTube funnel. Your membership is growing from people finding you on YouTube. So great job so far. You are doing wonderful. I'm excited for you for 2026. Yeah, so what I want to do is then feed my memberships. That's my main objective, to get more people in. And obviously I love making videos. I absolutely adore that. I could do that all day. You suggested to us to write 100 video topics. Why did you do that? Because I have, and I'm so excited to look at my list and I think, oh, I want to do this one, but now this one. Yeah. And really that's the reason why I have people make a list of 100. It's so they have all these videos they feel excited about. It's not to overwhelm you, but because sometimes people get to like five videos and they can't think of anything else, and it's either because they are kind of bored of the topic already. Yeah. That's the reason why you make this long list, because it's like if you can't even make a list of 100 things that you're excited to talk about, then maybe we need to adjust your niche a little bit and find what you are excited about. So it sounds like you really did hit the jackpot with topics you're excited about, and also you just love creating videos. Yes. Something else that I would like to mention was for someone who starts and is still sort of feeling into their niche, just do something because at the beginning I didn't know where I was going with this, but I kept on making videos. And then from the comments that you get, good advice is make notes of the comments because there you will know what your viewers are struggling with. So I have lists of comments and that really helps a lot. And you will see the comments are how people express themselves. That's also what you then have, how people express themselves in their own words. So that's very useful. So tell me about your gear and your setup, because you mentioned that you make a lot of your videos top down. Yeah, I have a Logitech camera above me. Okay, so is that like a webcam? It's just a simple webcam, yeah. Simple webcam. And then I have a Blue Yeti mic in front of me, and I record with my iPhone. And I still use iMovie. Yeah, that's fine. That's good. And I edit on iMovie and that's it. Do you use any special lighting? Yes, I have spots all around me. I have two large spots and obviously here so that it's well lit here. I have a ring light, yeah. And I have daylight to my left because it's very important that people see the colors that I'm working with as real as possible. Yeah. And then maybe that's not important for YouTube, but for other art journalists I have a craft mat in front of me. It's heat resistant, water doesn't go through it, you can spill paint on it, and you can scratch it off with your nail. Nothing sticks to it. Oh, nice. That's very important. And I actually advise my students also to get that because it just makes your life easy. You don't have to clean stuff afterward. Thank you so much, Mikki. Where can people find you? Obviously I will put a link to your channel in the description, in the show notes. But where can people find you online? Well, mikkiesteyn.podia.com. I will definitely link to that and your channel. Thank you, Mikki. Thank you so much for this, Meredith. It was really fun. It's always fun with you, and thank you for what you do for us. You changed my life. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I hope Mikki inspires you as much as she inspires me. She really is such a bright light and a joy to work with inside of Video Brand Academy. Now, if you want to be featured in a future video here on the Video Brand Infusion podcast, all of my guests come from inside Video Brand Academy. I like to show off my clients and students inside of the program because I believe that what they're doing on YouTube is more than what I could tell you to do: do this, do that, and whatever, and this, that, and the other thing here on this podcast. I like that they can demonstrate what they've done that's new and different and creative in their own way. And if they're inspiring me, I believe they inspire you too. So that's why my guests here on the Video Brand Infusion podcast come from inside Video Brand Academy. I'll put a link down below if you want to be the next student, and I hope to see you on the inside.