Why Creators Flop | Nick Nimmin | Full Battery Media

In this episode of the Full Battery Media Podcast, I sit down with YouTube educator Nick Nimmin for a real conversation about what it actually takes to grow on YouTube. 

We talk about why new creators need to start with a clear purpose before they ever hit record, how niching down can help you grow faster, why chasing the algorithm is the wrong move, and what creators should focus on instead if they want real traction. Nick breaks down YouTube strategy in a way that finally makes sense, from understanding your audience and improving thumbnails, titles, and video ideas, to knowing when your content is not getting clicks versus when the video itself needs work. We also get into beginner gear, why your phone is enough to start, how to stop comparing yourself to bigger creators, and what separates the people who stay consistent and improve from the ones who quit after a few months. For me, this one felt like a masterclass on YouTube growth, content strategy, creator mindset, and building something that actually lasts.

What do you think matters more when starting on YouTube, having the right niche or having a strong reason why you’re creating in the first place?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So, you know, there's a a problem with people that have been around for a while, like you and I, where, you know, we're older. And because of that, we remember the older YouTube and we expect things on YouTube that work like the older YouTube. But in modern YouTube, there's just so much content. There's so many options for people to watch that if you're not following the general best practices around, you know, niching down serving a, you know, a certain type of viewer, then in that case, there's going to be, you know, 20 other channels or a hundred other channels or a thousand other channels, depending on, you know, the niche that you're in, that are going to fulfill those viewers' needs. And as they're fulfilling those viewers' needs, YouTube is going to detect it. And then those channels are going to do well as the channels that are not doing those things will end up faltering and ultimately, you know, just in a constant state of struggle when it comes to getting their videos in front of people.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Welcome everybody back to the Full Battery Media Podcast. I'm actually really excited because I've got one of my dream guests on right now, and I'm not saying that lightly. Uh, can you tell people that don't know who you are and what you do?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Yeah, my name is Nick Niman. I teach people about YouTube. Essentially, you know, YouTube is a very difficult thing, and there's a lot of moving parts and a lot of skills needed and just a lot of information to get a hold of in order to really thrive on YouTube. And my whole pretty much everything it is that I do centers around teaching people how to thrive on YouTube. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

And it's interesting too, because I I have people who uh have come to me and said, hey, I want to be a YouTuber. What should I do? And like that question in of itself, because you think about the okay, well, you get a camera, you start recording yourself, but that's that's just like one tiny piece, you know. And I wanted to ask you that because as someone who teaches YouTube, you know, what the first step? Like, what's one thing a brand new creator needs to do before they even hit record? How do they get in that field and get ready?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

So, step number one is you need to figure out what it is that you are wanting to do all this for in the first place. Um, a lot of people will come onto YouTube and really any of the platforms without any direction whatsoever. And they just think about it through the lens of I just want to get a lot of views, I want people watching my videos and all that, but they don't really have a clear idea of what it is that they're actually doing it for in the first place. And when you don't know what it is that you're doing it for, you can end up in a situation to where you're essentially, you know, building your or you're building your ladder against the wrong building, so to speak, to where, you know, you might start getting views and you might start doing, you know, the thing when it comes to being a content creator. But if you don't know what it is that you're doing it for, then you could put yourself in a position to where, in a relatively short amount of time and hopefully not a long period of time of you know, dedicated and consistent work, um, that you end up in a situation to where you don't want to make the content anymore. You don't like the viewers that are watching your content because you know you're just not, you know, vibing with them for whatever reason and you're just putting in all of this effort and energy and you've put in all of this effort and energy, and you're not able to extract much from it. So, because of that, it's important if you're starting a YouTube channel, really a channel anywhere, to make sure that you're thinking about what it is that you are trying to accomplish so that you can make sure that every content decisions that you decision that you make lead you in the direction of that thing that you're trying to accomplish.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I love that. And you know, uh I love Simon Sinek Start with Why, you know, and like that's one of the books that I've always loved. And it's you know, and if you want to oversimplify the book, it just talks about you gotta have a reason for doing what you want to do because at some point in time creating content gets hard, you know. And I I have so many people that I help create podcasts, and when they get to like number three, they're like, dude, why am I doing this? Like, even before that, sometimes they'll be like, you know, showing asking people to come onto my podcast is really hard. And I'm like, yeah, but why are you doing this? You know, we were talking before we started the recording about why I created my podcasts, and one of the reasons that I did this was because a long time ago, um, when I was living in California, I got really sick. I had like a viral heart infection, and it was not easy. It made me, you know, there were days where I did not know if I was gonna make it. And like after that, I just kind of was like, whatever, you know, I didn't kind of put all of that energy out there, and I just was like, I'm okay, who cares? If something happens, it doesn't, whatever, you know? But that was until the day that I saw this ultrasound and I saw this little face, and it changed my life, you know. I saw the face of my daughter, and every single day since then I've thought, you know, I'm super blessed to have the chance to be this little girl's dad. But one of the things I noticed with my parents is that so many of the conversations that now that they're older and I'm older, I would love to have these conversations. They're busy, they're tired, they're being grandparents. They're it's harder to have some of those conversations that I really wish that I could have. And for me, I wanted to create like an archive of information so that my daughter could know a little bit more about me and what how I saw the world and my my perspectives. And that makes it very easy on difficult days to keep showing up. Because if I didn't have that, I would have quit this a long time ago. And I think that like I love that you talk about that because you know, even someone like Mr. Beast, you want to sit there and think, Oh, you know, he just wants to make no dude. That guy has a fundamental concept. I I love I was watching this earlier today. There was this one video, and I was talking about the psychology of this video to my daughter. He had this video where all of these different people had a button in front of them and they kept going up with the money, kept going up with the money. And if you cooperated with these complete strangers, you guys could get the money higher. But if someone pressed the bunny, they got all the money and the game was done. And like, what's someone gonna do? And I said, I said, Eilani, like, if we did this, it's you, me and mommy, what are we gonna do? She's like, It's easy, we're just gonna wait till it gets really high. I'm gonna watch you and mommy, and then you know, we press the button when mommy tells us to. I said, Okay, easy, right? You think that, you know. Hopefully, listen to daddy a little bit, but you know, probably the truth is it's gonna be all mommy. But the reality is, is I said, okay, now try that same thing with your class. And she's like, Oh, and she was like naming the weak links in our class right from the beginning. She's like, This person, this person, they quit soon, you know, and they would they would be the ones out. And I said, Well, what is that all about? And she's like, I said, Is this video just a fun video? She's like, No, I think it's a video asking about you know what people would do for money, what you would do in a situation. You know, it's these high stakes, it's these deep psychological questions of where what are your limits? What are the lines that you have in the sand? And you know, movies used to do that for us. There was a great like Demi Moore movie where she was in Vegas and this person said that the well, I can't remember the name of the movie. You remember that one? Like the guy in Vegas said, Hey, I want to get together with your wife, I'll pay you a million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

And the question I know the concept, but I'm right, like I remember that, but I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Neither can I, man. And so, but that's like the that's his thing. But everyone else has a core reason behind their podcast or their videos or their YouTube or their short form, but you got to figure out what that is.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

And so I I love that you bring that up, man. Yeah, and with that, also, you know, one of the things when it comes to having clear goals is it informs everything it is that you do. So it informs the videos that you're gonna make, um, it involves it informs the collaborations that you're gonna do, it informs what it is that you're gonna promote if you promote things. Um, it, it, you know, like if you know what it is that you're after, that also informs, you know, how you're going to uh, you know, generate income in order to be able to do that thing. Or if that thing is income, it'll inform how you're going to generate income, you know, all those things. So because of that, when it comes to being a content creator, the very first thing that you should get super clear on is that that reason. And a lot of subscribers can be the reason, but that's a really hollow reason and it'll keep you on this weird hamster wheel versus things that that actually mean something, right? So when it comes to things that actually mean something, you know, like in your case, Sean, you have a very clear thing, you're creating this archive. And because of that, you know, your videos can do good, bad, it doesn't really matter because she'll still have that archive which accomplishes the goal. Other people are trying to bring attention to their business. So because of that, you know, they may or may not want to make certain types of content because it might bring the right, the wrong type of attention to their business, right? To where if they make other types of content, it might bring the right type of attention to their business and it might bring the right customers to their business versus, you know, if they make wrong decisions or if they start without any any clear goals. So because of that, just knowing exactly what it is that you want can make a really big difference on what it is that you do and the approach that you take.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

I'm laughing for one reason. I just like you say that the wrong customer, and I'm just thinking about the McDonald's like video that went up last week about the CEO and the way he ate the burger. And it was this trending video, and the guy ate this burger in this way, and it's like it attracted attention, but it wasn't necessarily the attention they wanted, you know? And so I think that it's like you have to have that clarity. And one of the things, too, that I wanted to ask you about, because I've been thinking about this for myself, and I hear on LinkedIn, I hear this echo box of screaming about this concept in the niche. Get your niche, pick your niche, focus in on your niche. And I always wanted to ask someone who's really knows better than I do should a new creator niche down immediately, or is there value in like kind of exploring broadly at the start?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Uh, it depends on where you're starting from. So if you want to take a smart strategic approach, then then niche down right out of the gate. If you are not sure of the type of content that you want to make, you're not really sure what it is that you want to offer, you're not sure what it is that you're trying to do, then experiment with making videos because you're gonna have to learn how to do that as well. But make videos on anything that you want. However, in most cases in modern YouTube, that approach just doesn't work out well for people. Um, so every now and then there'll be a unicorn that it does work out for, but in most cases, that approach doesn't work out. And the rule with that approach is if you do run across something that gets a substantial amount of views compared to everything else that you're everything else that you're doing, then the general best practice there is to pull on that thread and keep making content about that thing. Because it's important to think about YouTube, like you're building a re uh a channel, which is a resource of content for a certain type of viewer. And not only does that make it easy for people, once they interact with your content, to go to your YouTube channel and start binge watching all of your videos or you know, most of your videos, or at least your most recent videos, whatever the thing is, algorithmically, it also helps you when it comes to YouTube, because what YouTube is looking for is for the people that are already responding to your content. Um, it's trying to figure out their viewing, I mean, it knows their viewing habits and all of that, but it also knows how they're interacting with your content. So when you publish a video and those viewers don't respond well to it that are already engaging in some of your other content, then what that tells YouTube is that the people that are the most engaged in what it is that you're doing, they're not enjoying this video. So because of that, it can cause your video to get temporarily suppressed, at least in that initial group of people that are supposed to be the ideal fit for the video. So it doesn't necessarily, uh I mean, it can impact long-term performance, but the idea there is when you are making everything on your channel a perfect fit for a particular type of viewer, um, then in that case, uh every single video that you publish to the channel is going to be a good candidate for them. And because of that, if somebody engages with your channel right now and you publish a video tomorrow, you're increasing the likelihood of that person actually clicking on that video and coming back. And when you keep people coming back to your YouTube channel over and over again, that gives YouTube a really good signal that those people are engaged in your channel and it increases the likelihood that they're going to see additional content. And those people start to become something that YouTube system gets information from to try to figure out other people to show your videos to that are also likely to enjoy it. Because YouTube's goal is to show the right content to the right people at the right time so that they will keep coming back to the platform, right? So when they're showing the content to the people that are the most likely to enjoy it based on the people that are already enjoying it, then those people are likely to have a satisfactory experience with that content, which then ultimately helps YouTube achieve their goal. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

One of the things that I found is that when people try to explain the algorithm, it never is that clear to me. And so I'm sitting there going, I wish that everyone could have that told of them from the beginning because you know one of the things that I hear a lot is, oh, just stay consistent, just keep doing it, keep up your consistency. But the problem is, is if you're consistent and you're not following that formula, you can be consistent into the grave. You know, it can just you can get buried, you can absolutely bury your content. And um, you know, and one of the things too that I found is like I've seen people that just like just absolutely beat a dead horse on this thing that they feel that that leads to a question. It wasn't one of the questions that I had on our uh on the questions I'd sent over, but the balance between creating what you want and what your fans want, or what the expectations, you know what I mean? Do you think people should just uh always chase like kind of the the algorithm, or should they do this, you know? Well, I want to do this because this is something that I've been running into on my daughter's channel. We changed up the direction that we did a little bit, and so she traditionally we did these green screen videos, like, hi, I'm Ilhania, we're gonna go on an adventure. And I started doing all these videos where I suddenly I was like, what would be really cool? And for me, like her channel was a place that I just said, you know what? I want my daughter to meet uh inspirational people. So I started finding NASA scientists and stuff like that. And I said, let's interview them and build that into the channel. But when we did that, our our numbers dropped, it was different, and you know, and I said, but I sat there and I said, I firmly believe that talking to these scientists and these people is a really good thing, even though the numbers dropped, like how can we make it so that we can get it to be liked? You know, so do you always chase the likes in the algorithm, or do you sometimes say, you know, well, this is what I really want to be creating? What would you say?

SPEAKER_01 14:58

So because the algorithm follows the audience, you never want to chase YouTube's algorithm. What you want to do instead is you want to think about um the people that you're trying to serve with your content. So basically, when it comes to growing a YouTube channel, the first thing you have to get clear on is your goals that you're trying to accomplish. Number two is you have to get clear on who it is that you're that you're doing it all with, which is your avatar, right? It's who it is that you're making content for. And the old school YouTube, you know, back in the day, you know, you could publish videos, publish a bunch of videos on this, change it up, publish a bunch of videos on this other thing, change it up, publish a bunch of videos on these other things. Sometimes that would work. In modern YouTube, that's all completely gone now because everything is interest-based now. Even when you hit the subscribe button on a YouTube channel, it doesn't guarantee that YouTube is going to always show you content from that channel. They've even recently modified the subscription feed to where they're also prioritizing the content that you see in the subscription feed based on channels that you are the most active on. So if you're not active on a channel recently, then in that case, they're just gonna keep falling lower and lower, even in your subscription feed. So, because of that, it's important to make sure that in modern YouTube that you're thinking about your viewers and making great content for your viewers and keeping those viewers coming back. Because if you don't do that, then you're gonna end up in a situation where you have a hodgepodge of a channel and there's no real clear direction. Um, and because there's no real clear direction and people can't count on it for a you know a consistent type of content that they are proven to enjoy, then in that case, they're they're also not going to want to participate in that channel. And then you also make things confusing for YouTube system in terms of who to show it to. So, in your example, uh your case, I should say. So if you have your the videos on her channel about one thing, and then you change it and you start bringing in these interviews. Well, if people are not responding to those interviews, then that tells you that those are not a good fit for that channel. Technically, you might be able to build that audience up, but the problem is if you start building up an audience around that stuff, and those people don't also are not also a great fit for the other content that you have on the channel, then you start diluting the power of your channel. Whereas if you're like, okay, if we're gonna do interviews, we're not gonna do them on this channel. Instead, we're gonna have a completely different channel, and that channel is gonna be our interview channel in that case, then the people that are into the interviews and those deeper conversations with those people that you're introducing her to, um, then they can go there for that information. Um, but then you keep the other channel as you know what it is that people are already responding to. So, you know, there's a problem with people that have been around for a while, like you and I, where, you know, we're older. And because of that, we remember the older YouTube and we expect things on YouTube that work like the older YouTube. But in modern YouTube, there's just so much content, there's so many options for people to watch that if you're not following the general best practices around, you know, niching down serving a, you know, a certain type of viewer, then in that case, there's gonna be, you know, 20 other channels or a hundred other channels or a thousand other channels, depending on, you know, the niche that you're in, that are going to fulfill those viewers' needs. And as they're fulfilling those viewers' needs, YouTube is gonna detect it. And then those channels are going to do well as the channels that are not doing those things will end up faltering and ultimately, you know, just in a constant state of struggle when it comes to getting their videos in front of people.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

That's super interesting. Well, one of the things too that I wanted to ask about, because for a creator that's starting out down the YouTube path, um, you know, people will talk about the gear. And we were talking about this too, because I I love your setup and it looks beautiful. But like, how much equipment actually mat does how much does equipment actually matter when you're starting? And where should someone spend their first, you know, 100 bucks, a thousand bucks? Where should people really put the money? What are the things that's most important?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Most people have a phone in their pocket right now, they're listening to this or watching this that is powerful enough to get the job done. Especially for somebody that's interested in making vertical content. Most people are doing it now on their phones anyway. So if you want to do an upgrade past that, if you're like, hey, I just want to get started and I don't want to have, you know, a bunch of complicated stuff, you know, to get in the way, or I don't want to feel like I have to, you know, make this huge investment in order to start making content, use what's already in your pocket. From there, um, because you're gonna notice when you're making videos, if you're making them in any type of environment to where you, you know, you're you're kind of like with this, right? I'm I'm kind of zoomed out away from the camera a little bit. And the camera, even though I can reach out and touch it with the length that's on here, it's wide and it's showing enough to where I can't fully extend my arms without everything being cut off, but it's pretty close. So if you want a wider shot like this, then in that case, your phone has to be a little bit far from you. So in that case, what you will notice very quickly is that your audio just sucks. And because of that, you have to do something to improve your audio. And in most cases, that's going to end up being a microphone. And if you shoot in a controlled environment like I do, you can also add, you know, sound panels and curtains and rugs and blankets and, you know, like sofas and things like that to absorb some of the sound that's going to reverberate around your room. Uh, and there's also services like Adobe Enhance where you can pay for it. And then you upload audio that's not that great and it brings it all to life and makes everything sound good. Um, you do have those types of options. But if you are somebody that is wanting to piece by piece improve your setup, um, use your phone to get started, right? So you can get in motion because there's a lot to learn and there's no reason to wait until you get a good camera because your first videos are gonna be rough anyway, even if you have a good camera. They might look nice, but in terms of how people respond to them, in most cases, they're gonna be rough. It's just it's just how it works as you know, somebody new of doing anything, just like if you pick up a guitar and you just start playing it, it's probably not gonna be that great, right? Same exact thing. And uh, and then after you get uh, you know, after you start using your phone, then the next thing you want to do is uh a microphone. And then from there, lighting. So if you have a window in your place and you have the opportunity to record your videos in the daytime, then you can just have that natural light coming in from the window, and that can be enough as long as you're close enough to the window. Um, if you do not have that or you record your videos at nighttime, that's when you start upgrading and you start getting some, you know, studio lights because you do not want to use the overhead lights in your place. Instead, you want to get some, you know, studio lights that that to where you can control the lighting in your environment. And then when you do that, then that gives you full control. You can manually control everything on your phone. There's an app called Black Magic Camera, I think is the name of it. Um, and that allows you to do full professional camera controls on your camera or on your phone. So you have those options without having to spend hardly any money at all. I love that, man.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Well, this is the you know, because I I see people that they there's the perfectionist, and I see this a lot with my clients. Like, people will be like, Yeah, oh it's not. Perfect enough. And I said, it's not going to be, you know, get started and create something. Because one of the things that I see that's so dangerous is that new creators start looking at, well, you know, he did this or that person did this. And you're like, yeah, they did, but they've also been doing this for you know five, six, seven years, and you're just starting, you know. And I I've noticed that new creators often quit because they compare themselves to established channels. And like, how do you beat that mindset?

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Well, if you if you think about it from anything that is not YouTube, it's really easy to beat that mindset. So, for example, you know, um, like how I just gave the guitar example. So if I were to pick up a guitar right now and start, you know, playing that guitar, I'm not very good at guitar. And because of that, I wouldn't look at some you know famous guitarist and say, like, oh yeah, I should probably tour with that guy, right? Because I know that we're in completely different places. They've been a guitarist for years. They've put in, you know, hundreds of hours, hundreds of thousands of hours of you know, practice uh into their instrument. Where, you know, with me, I just haven't done that. And because of that, I can't expect to get the same result that they can. YouTube's the same exact way. So when it comes to YouTube, you know, if you're doing vertical content, it's easier because it removes a lot of the required skills. But on the back end, that content typically doesn't last as long. So it's important to do long form content as well if you're gonna be on YouTube. But if uh if you are just getting started and you're doing vertical content, then in that case, you know, you it's you it's pretty easy to do, you know, on your phone and you don't have to keep people watching for that long. So there, all you have to do is grab somebody's attention with uh the beginning of the video, and then from there just take them through a relatively short experience, and then like that's it, right? Super easy. But when it comes to long form content, it's completely different. You have all of these additional skill sets that you have to do. So, one is you have to get really good at coming up with video ideas that people are likely to respond to when they just show up in places on YouTube. So when people are searching for content, they go up into the YouTube search bar and they type in how to bake a cake. Well, in that case, you know, there's gonna be some videos that come up on how to bake a cake and they just pick one and then they're probably gonna be happy with it. However, most of the views on YouTube come from YouTube recommending content to people. So what that means is you log in on a phone, you log in on a computer, you log in on your TV, YouTube shows you a grid of videos or videos and a feed. So what you have to get really good at, you know, skill number one is you have to get really good at coming up with ideas that work well when it's just being randomly presented to people that YouTube thinks is going to be a good fit from it. So the idea has to be a winner. So that's a skill set by itself. Number two is you have to get good enough at making thumbnails that you can help the people that you're trying to reach identify that your content is about something that they might care about. That's a skill set because a lot of people just overcomplicate their thumbnails. If you've never had any design experience or anything like that, you might not even know how to do any of that. You might not even know how to take like a like a good, technically accurate picture yet, you know, that would, you know, look good in a thumbnail. So, because of that, these are all additional skills that you have to learn. And then from there, you have to get really good at making titles that are compelling in some way. Right. And so you have all of those things involved just from the outside. They haven't even clicked into the video yet. And then from there, you once somebody clicks into the video, then you have to create an experience for them that is um satisfactory enough at a competitive rate against other videos on YouTube that YouTube is showing to the people that they're showing your content to. So then you have to, you know, compete within that ecosystem. So the reason I use the guitar example, um, or we can, you know, apply it to sports, you know, same exact thing, is because, you know, when it comes to guitar, you have all these skills that you have to learn. But step number one, you got to figure out what guitar you're gonna play, right? You got to figure out, you know, how to move your fingers, all that stuff. Um, when it comes to sports, you know, um, same exact thing. You got to figure out what sport to play. What are the rules? How do I, you know, play it? And then you have to get yourself, you have to practice a lot to get yourself physically able to do the sport with YouTube because there's a lot of thought involved. There's physical things involved too, but there's a lot of thought involved. So you also have to get good at that and being able to identify all of those things that I mentioned before and get your skill sets to a point to where you can do all of those things that I mentioned at a rate that's competitive against other creators on YouTube because it's all big competition. So, because of that, you can't come in and say, okay, well, um, even a channel that started at the same exact day that you did and you're in the same niche. And even with that, you can't necessarily compare yourself to what it is other people are doing because you're coming from two different life experiences. So, for example, when I first started my YouTube channel 11 years ago, um, I already had experience in the SEO world. So uh one thing that I used to do is make blogs, and then I would try to get those blogs to show up in Google search. So, because of that, I, you know, during those years, I extensively, you know, was studying what it took to get uh uh websites to rank in search. When I came onto YouTube, that strategy also applies to YouTube. So I had that advantage. Um, before I started YouTube as a part of all of that stuff, I also had a graphic design service. Um, so I did graphic design for people. So because of that, when I came onto YouTube, I already knew you know how to make thumbnails look nice and all of that. What I didn't understand yet was I didn't understand the thing about clarity of focus and you know, things like that when it came to thumbnails. Um, but I still had to, you know, uh learn how to write titles. And and really, even 11 years later, you know, because the platform evolves and because creators just keep getting better and better and better, even 11 years later, even though I have tons of hours into all of this stuff, you know, I still have to keep working on my skill sets in order to keep up because there's just this constant evolution. So, because of that, comparing yourself to any other creator for any reason um isn't a good approach to keep yourself sane. Instead, what you should do is you should say, okay, this is where I'm at right now. Um, based on my self-awareness, this is either my self-awareness or what I'm seeing in my stats. This is what I see that doesn't seem to be working right now. So, because of that, over the next month um or the next, you know, 10 videos I'm gonna make, I'm gonna focus on trying to get this thing really good. Um, and then I'm gonna move on to the next thing once I feel that that you know that first thing is good. And then you just rinse and repeat that process over and over again as you, you know, continually try to get better.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

I love the idea of that that that iterating, you know? It's like when I first started my podcast, I was on like a cheap 720p webcam, and I I was excited that I was able to do that. And that, you know, I upgraded the camera and upgraded the camera, and then finally, like right now, I'm using the Osmo Osmo Pocket 3 just because it's great and everything. It's great little camera, and that's the webcam. I I use it as a webcam, and it's a great little camera for most of what I do, but like I've got a Sony FX30 sitting across the hallway, and I'm like, you know, seeing what you're doing, I was like, ah, all right. But it's not that I'm trying to chase it, it's just like, how do you iterate? How do I sit there and go, well, maybe that's something I can improve? But is it the most important thing to improve? You know, and that's the question I I always wonder is like, or is it that, you know, hey, maybe maybe we should look at better thumbnails? Maybe we need to look at this. Um, because I how does someone pick the next thing that they should be focusing on? What is it that is your your litmus test for the thing that is then the thing that needs the most improvement?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

So if you publish videos and people don't click on them, then step one is your video ideas, thumbnails, and titles. That's step one. Um, if you publish videos and you have people clicking on them, but your videos still don't do well, then in that case, then you need to start working on the video content or making sure that your packaging, and by packaging I mean your topic title and thumbnail, making sure that your packaging is creating the right expectation for the video content. Um, so it's one of those, one of those two things. So when you are just getting started, in most cases, you got to work on everything. Um, but if you are in a position where you're like, okay, I'm publishing these videos and what's happening after I publish these videos. And you can look in your back end of your YouTube channel in your YouTube studio. Every YouTube channel has this. And when you publish a video, you can look for what's called an impression. So an impression on YouTube is when they show your content to somebody on the platform. So what'll happen is a lot of content creators, they'll just look at their views and they'll say, Hey, I got eight views on this. That means that YouTube isn't showing my content to anybody. But if you go into your back end and you look at impressions, you'll see that maybe they showed your video to see if you had eight views, maybe they showed your video to 30 people or 50 people or 100 people, but you were just able to get those people to click on it, right? Um, so that proves to you that they're showing your content to people, but you're not able to get people to respond enough. So then once you have that information, then you start saying, okay, well, what's involved in this then? And that thing that's involved when it comes to your click-through rate is your topic, your title, and your thumbnail. So then that would be that first place that you would start. And then once you get that problem solved and you have more people clicking, then from there, that's when you start, you know, working on the video content itself. But one thing that I recommend to everybody when it comes to YouTube is just become a student of YouTube. It's really easy to kind of, you know, detach from studying YouTube because content creators are so good at getting your attention and just getting you to watch it and enjoy it instead. But, you know, one thing that I recommend is that you watch other channels that make content like yours and you write down, okay, for the successful channels that are doing this, like what is it that they are doing? How are they starting their videos once they start their videos? What do they move into next? What are their thumbnails look like compared to mine? Google put out this new feature recently. Um, if you are a Google Chrome user, you can right-click a Chrome tab. So you can open up a channel, like your channel in one tab, and then open up another competitor channel in another tab. And then you can right-click on, let's say, the tab with your channel, um, up in the little the tab there inside of Chrome, and you can choose split view. And then when it opens up that split view, you can choose the second channel. And then from there, what you can do is you can literally start going down the page on their videos page and say, okay, what are they doing with their thumbnails and what am I doing with mine? And just that exercise by itself, we found, um, really helps emphasize to people how, you know, the things that they're not doing to grab people's attention. Because, you know, when you do that with the largest channels in your niche, those are the people that are leaning the space. So you want to be able to see what they're doing. But then you also want to look at channels that are, you know, they're bigger than yours, but they're not huge and they're getting a lot of views compared to the amount of subscribers that they have. Those are the, that's the next group that you look at. And then when you start comparing these things, you start finding similarities. Like, wow, it's interesting that, you know, almost all of these people that I'm looking at, you know, me, I'm writing entire stories on my thumbnails where these people are just using, you know, like one to three words, or they're not using any text at all. And then you start noticing these patterns across all these different channels that you study. And then once you get that figured out on the outside, you start looking at how they're formatting their titles and all that, you can start, you know, blending some of that into what it is that you do as you're taking notes on all these things. And then in that same uh feature that they have with that split view, you can do that with your videos too. Click into one of their videos, click into one of your videos, pause them immediately when you click in there, and then say, okay, I'm gonna watch mine for the first five seconds. Okay, pause. I'm gonna watch theirs for five seconds. Okay, take a note. What did you notice differently that you do compared to what it is that they do? Did they have music playing? Were they on camera? Were they not on camera? Did they have motion stepping into the scene? Um are they just sitting there static like we are here, you know, on this podcast? Um, you know, are they talking directly to the viewer? Are they talking to somebody else? Like, you know, what are they doing um compared to what it is that we're doing? And you can also start to see patterns across video after video after video when you're doing that type of study as well. So, you know, becoming a student of YouTube, so to speak, and watching content for the sake of seeing what people are doing, um, so that you can start understanding what works within your niche is also a really important thing to do when you're trying to, you know, level things up. But when it comes to the comparison of, you know, I'm not enough because they are getting results and I'm not, never do that. Instead, just stay in your lane and say, okay, this is where I'm at. These are the things that I think that I'm, you know, that I need to work on right now. And then just keep trying to be better than yourself, right? Keep trying to be better than your previous self. And then if you do that, then, you know, over time you're going to get better. And as you continue to get better, then eventually hopefully you'll end up being one of those channels that other people are like, hey, how come they're doing awesome and I'm not? Right. So that's the, that's the, you know, that's what you're that's what you're after.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Leads to my my next question, which is a really core question. Like, what separates the creators who make it from the ones who disappear after six months?

unknown 34:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Um, I would say expectation and intention. So on the expectation side, um, there's a lot of people that start YouTube and they expect it to be easy because they see it as a viewer and they see it as okay, you just make a video, you publish that video, and it's gonna get a bunch of views. And then you're off to the races, and then you just keep publishing videos, you just keep getting a lot of views, and that's how YouTube works. So that's how a lot of people think you know, the experience is gonna be like. In reality, most content creators don't break a hundred views. Even more don't break a thousand views. So even if you're hitting a hundred views or a thousand views, you're still doing well in the scale of YouTube. So, you know, when you're looking at those other channels and you're expecting to start getting results, you know, the same results on a channel that's been on YouTube for a year or you know, five years or 10 years or whatever the time limit is, compared to your new channel that where you have eight videos and they have 500, you know, you're you're just creating tension for yourself that, you know, that isn't needed. Um, but when it comes to the intention side, um, if you are intentional about everything it is that you're going with your YouTube channel, then that means you're paying attention to all of the details. So inside of our uh school that we have for YouTubers, um, there is a, I believe it's a 31 or 32 page document that we have people fill out just on who it is that they're trying to reach. Um, there's another, I think, the goal setting workshop. I think that one is something like 18 or 19 pages, um, just getting clear on that. But like the whole beginning of that for you know, several phases is just understanding what it is that you're trying to do as a creator, who it is that you're trying to do it for, positioning your channel and just getting clear on all those things because people just get caught in this loop of making videos. They you know, they don't do that great, make another video, they don't do that great, but they're not intentionally trying to work on one thing, then the next thing, then the next thing. Instead, they're just publishing videos and just hoping as long as I stay consistent, then something's gonna work. But in reality, you know, if you're not intentionally trying to improve, you're not intentionally trying to understand what works for your niche and for the viewers that you're trying to reach, then you're just gonna spin your wheels. So, because of that, you know, just being intentional about everything it is that you're doing is gonna help you see progress a lot faster. Now, with that said, I'm a creative at heart. You know, I play music, I draw, you know, I build apps, I, you know, make videos, like I, you know, I do do all of these things that are creative. And, you know, when I first started YouTube, I had to get myself into the mindset of, okay, well, you know, I'm a creative at heart, but in order for all this stuff to work, I need to, you know, get analytical here and I need to make very clear decisions around this, even though, you know, some of those decisions, because I'm making videos for other people, not just for me, because I want other people to watch them. I don't want to just watch them myself. So, because of that, I need to make sure that I'm making decisions for those viewers that I'm trying to reach and not just decisions based around my creativity and what it is that I want. Right. So then that way you you find that kind of marriage between um, you know, what it is that you want to give and what it is that you need to give um in order for everything to work out on your channel. So yeah, expectations and intention. Those those two things will make will make or break you.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

If you were to go back in time and give a younger version of yourself some advice about your your career in creative, this creative world, what advice would you give yourself early on?

SPEAKER_01 38:28

You know, um uh my journey on YouTube was has been spectacular. So I I actually would not request that anything worked out any differently than it did. Um, but one piece of advice that I can give people that was given to me and I didn't take it and it caused a period of tension for me was when I first started my channel, just like a lot of people, I didn't know what it was that I was doing. I came onto YouTube looking for a way to get out of my design business because I was having some um a couple of customers that, you know, that I just wasn't enjoying working with and it kind of took the fun out of what I was doing. And I started not liking it. So I was looking for a solution. So when I came onto YouTube, I started publishing videos over here, and there was another YouTube channel that uh they were getting ready to cross 100,000 subscribers and they said, Hey, make a video for our channel or make a video letting me know, you know, if any of our advice or anything like that has ever helped you and those types of things. And I said, Okay, yeah, let me just set up the camera real quick, make a video. And, you know, I was, you know, honest and sincere and all that in the video. And I made it and I submitted it to them. And they ended up reaching out to me. Um, and this person, um, he worked with like Red Bull and like all these other big creators and all these major brands. And he reached out and he said, Hey, I would love to work with you just based on, you know, your camera quality, because I invested in cameras and stuff at the beginning, but he is like your camera quality, your audio quality, camera presence, all that stuff. Like, I think we could really do something cool, um, you know, if you're open to it. And we ended up starting a completely new channel. I spent um about nine months on that project, made like 90 something videos for it. And his advice when we first started working together on this, because he had experience, he'd been on YouTube since its inception practically. And one of the things that he mentioned was um, because I asked the question that everybody asked, like, how often should I upload? And his answer was upload at a pace that you're gonna be able to sustain for a long time because YouTube is a is a marathon, it's not a sprint. So, because of that, upload at a pace that you're gonna be able to stick to. Me, because I really wanted this to work, I went all in and I was like, okay, I'm gonna publish a lot and I'm just gonna, you know, do that. And that particular type of content that I made, it it was challenging to make it because I had to do all this research and all these things beforehand. And next thing you know, I'm in a position to where I'm waking up every day and I'm either working on my design business or I'm working on the YouTube channel. I didn't have any additional time. And I was running that like that for about nine months. And I put myself in a situation where I was like, you know what, I this just isn't sustainable. I can't do this anymore. And I ended up having to leave that channel, come back to the channel that people know me for now. And uh, and I did that because the channel that I have now, at that time, the content was just easier to make because I was sharing things about my life and, you know, that kind of stuff. So because of that, um, the advice that I would give, you know, anybody is that same advice because, you know, especially if you're looking at it as a solution of some kind, um, then in that case, make sure that you're doing it in a way that is sustainable and understand from jump. It's gonna take, it's gonna take work. Like you're gonna see tons of videos on YouTube that are like, hey, this is how you do it easily. Hey, easily grow your channel, do this easy. Turn on this one button in your YouTube settings, and everything's gonna be different. None of that is true. When it comes to YouTube, it requires work, it requires understanding, it requires clarity on on what it is that you're offering, who it is that you're offering it to, what you're trying to accomplish, all of those things that we mentioned before. And you have to, you know, make sure that you're doing those things. There's not an easy button. Fortunately and unfortunately, when it comes to YouTube, there's not an easy button. Um, so just make sure that you are you know there for the ride. Make sure that you are, you know, doing it at a pace that you can sustain. So that would be my advice. I love it. Where can people go to look and find out more about you and what you do? Um, so you can go to nickniman.com. Um, all roads lead to road from there. That's n-kn-i-m-m-in- dot com. Uh, it's my personal website. I've got links to apps and our school for YouTubers and a bunch of other stuff over there that uh that you may or may not find useful.