TubeTalk: Your YouTube How-To Guide

How A $1.50 Hot Dog Built A Viral YouTube Channel

• vidIQ • Season 6 • Episode 8

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We trace Sir Yacht’s leap from $40,000 debt to 500,000 subscribers by betting on a $1.50 Costco hot dog and a repeatable challenge format shot on a phone. The story unpacks slow-burn growth, honest failure, and why vulnerability beats polish.

• the origin of the Costco hot dog week and the debt-driven pivot
• why slow-burn virality compounds through a catalog
• thumbnail and title decisions that changed the trajectory
• filming first, scripting later, and the radio edit workflow
• flavor fatigue, quitting the Cheesecake Factory menu, and using failure as stakes
• why story and emotion beat gear and gloss
• building peer support to navigate analytics and isolation
• meeting superfans and seeing view counts as people
• what he’d do starting over: title-first ideas, repeatable formats, real fun

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Cold Open: Story And Humanity

SPEAKER_01

It's a story. It's connecting with somebody. Like it makes you human.

Hosts Introduce Sir Yacht

SPEAKER_00

It's not like you woke up the next day and you're like, oh my god, I'm a YouTube millionaire. You're like, no, this actually worked and I should probably do this again.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, welcome to the only podcast that's here to eat more food than you will. Of course, I'm here as always, Travis. And for those of you that were super excited to have Jen back just a couple weeks ago, she back again. What's up, Jen?

SPEAKER_00

Back again.

SPEAKER_02

Good to be back. Back again. But today we have a very special guest, and one of the reasons Jen is actually on is a story that we'll tell later on. Saryat in the house. What's going down?

SPEAKER_01

Guys, you guys are absolute pros. That was an incredible intro. Uh, thank you for having me on. I'm I'm really excited to dive into this stuff.

SPEAKER_02

We got lots to talk about, lots of fun to talk about. But of course, if you're new here, we're here to help you grow a YouTube channel through different advice that we give and sometimes interviews like we're doing today. Uh, if you're new here, hit that subscribe button. If you're listening to the audio podcast, just sit back. I know you're driving to work. Some of y'all email us tell us you're driving to work and do this. You're gonna love this episode because Sir Yacht's been doing some cool stuff on YouTube. I want to real quick start off by talking to you about like who you are. For those of you out there who don't know who he is, Sir Yacht, how do we explain who you are and what you do on YouTube?

The $1.50 Costco Hot Dog Origin

SPEAKER_01

So I tagline myself as a professional dumbass, so that probably like takes care of everything. But oh, it's like I've I was at Vid Summit um in in Dallas in October, and I forget who the guy was. Uh John Ushay, is that how you say his name? I forget, but he's like, you want to have like one word to describe your channel so you can say it's anybody. My word, I think, was like uh unnecessary or like insane. So like basically all my challenges are insane or unnecessary. I'm a food and challenge, I'm a food and travel challenge content creator. That's the best way I would describe it. I love that.

SPEAKER_02

And the reason why I know who you are is because Jen and I had a conversation a little bit over a year ago. I'm trying to look for the actual messaging.

SPEAKER_00

We used to do a segment at the end of the podcast that was who are we watching this?

SPEAKER_02

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I forgot about that. Is that when that came up?

SPEAKER_00

That's when your Costco hot dog video came out. And I'm like, I found the weirdest creator that's like addicting to watch, but like kind of pointless, also.

SPEAKER_01

Like in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_00

But it was just such a unique spin. And I remember we talked about it on the podcast, and then kind of in the background, Travis and I kept an eye on the channel because you had really insane growth, like really quick, which we covered in the long on the main channel. Um we covered the full story.

SPEAKER_02

And Jen just made a video about Sariata. If you haven't seen that, go check out the main vid IQ channel. I'm looking back through my Discord conversation with uh my former editor and used to used to work here guy, John Scott, because back when I was doing my Travis Tries the World channel, I uh after you sent me the link to his channel, I sent it to John and I go, we need to look at this guy because he's doing it. He's doing kind of what we're doing, but doing it. Kind of look at him. And uh, I'm trying to see when that was. And I'm scrolling back a very long way. Anyway, it must have been a couple years ago. And uh from there, with the one that you're kind of known for, is the Costco hot dog thing. I do want to start with some of these easy, like, I'm sure you've been asked a million times questions before we get into the deeper stuff. Okay. How in the world did you come up with the hot Costco hot dog thing? And like, was that a thing you're like, oh, this is gonna be a banger, or you're just like, I just I'm hungry, I need to do something fun like this.

From High-Cost Stunts To Severe Debt

SPEAKER_01

No, so it was kind of just because of my limitations at the time. So I don't think I've really talked about this before, at least in public, but um, I had I had Jen touched into it like in the video that she uh made, and um, I was kind of just doing a bunch of like different challenges, uh, like biking across the state of Ohio. Uh, I went to all 50 capitals in 30 days, like just like a bunch of like random things that were like physically and mentally exhausting. Um high production, high quality videos. Uh just it it cost a lot of money. So, long story short, I ended up getting into like I guess I'll just say the number,$40,000 in debt with the IRS, like at the end of 2023. And I had maybe$1,000 in my bank account, and I was like, oh my God, I don't know what to do. So I I wanted to like I was like YouTube, like I I really want to make it on YouTube. So I started like a new channel, and I was like, I'm gonna make 52 videos this year. 52 long form videos one a week. Clearly did not know what I was getting myself into because that is on your own very, very difficult. But I was thinking of ideas and I was like, I don't have a lot of money. So started, I I've done like food challenge stuff, like on my um short form content. I would I would go to sporting events and I would eat a hot dog for every touchdown the Cleveland Browns scored, or like do like stuff like that. So like I was already doing food stuff, so it made sense to do something like that on my long form. So Costco hot dog meal is a dollar fifty, so I was like, I'll just eat nothing but the Costco hot dog meal for a week. And I didn't think about it, like I figured it would do well on short form. I had like a kind of like a proof of concept on that. No idea, but on long form, but I was like, you know, maybe if my videos start to get like a thousand views at like the end of the year average, you know, I'll be happy with that. I just want to have fun making YouTube videos on and then like pay for it via short form. Well, first video out the gate took off and did well, and I had like other ideas that were not food related, but I was like, you strike an iron when it's hot. I was like, I'll just people on YouTube like repeatable formats and things like that, so I'm just gonna keep going with it. So that was literally because I was in severe debt. That is why I did it. It ended up being the best blessing of my life. But at the time, I was like, oh my god, this is the worst.

SPEAKER_00

That's so crazy the story behind that video. Because I think a lot of people watch YouTube at like a very surface level. Like, I don't think many people would watch that video and be like, oh, you made this video because you ran out of money and had no money to continue traveling and stuff. It's it adds so much more to the story itself. It that's a really cool thing to share. But how do you think the short form affected that video? Do you feel like there was a push cross platforms from TikTok? Because you weren't uploading shorts on YouTube, were you?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so I had a previous channel that was my main channel that now is my shorts channel. I made this other channel that is my main channel. So yes, I was. Um, but I was also uploading shorts to whatever. I was uploading short form content to TikTok, Instagram, and things like that. Um for whatever reason, like this story like took off. Like I was on the Drew Barrymore show. Uh, today's show wrote an article about me, um, places in Los Angeles, like any like Fox News, CNN, like whatever the like whoever could write something about it, they wrote something or like had a um had a video thing about it. So I literally like the I mean you touched on it in in the in the video you made, Jen. Not to keep plugging it, but I'm gonna keep plugging it.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it doesn't hurt.

Short Form Momentum And Media Lift

SPEAKER_01

No, but it's yeah, it doesn't hurt. Uh but 50 capitals in 30 days. I thought that was gonna be the video that like kind of really started the YouTube stuff. Um, and actually it's doing well right now, which is great, but at the time, like it just bombed on short form and stuff. But then the video that you know, I eat hot dogs for a week, high effort, low stakes video does well. And it's just you you just never know until you upload, but it doesn't have to be this, you know, grand, insane idea that takes off. It just like is something that is is relatable, I guess. I just didn't think it would be the hot dog thing. I just made it because I thought it'd be fun and hilarious, but that's I guess what why it kind of did well.

SPEAKER_00

It's so funny as YouTubers, like how many of the time we make a video and we're like, this is it, this is the video I'm gonna hit publish, my life is gonna be changed forever. I'm gonna know what it feels like to be viral. And like, we deal with so many creators who this mentality happens like over and over, but it's always such a big disappointment no matter what, when you work so so hard, especially on such a big idea, and then you're like in studio and you're like, okay, well, should I quit now or next week? Or like when when when should I just give this up? In that time period when you were kind of making your older style of video, how often did you feel that kind of push to be like, why isn't this working? Should I just stop? Like, what am I even doing?

Slow Burn Analytics And Thumbnail Pivot

SPEAKER_01

Probably every day, honestly. Um, you kind of just like question yourself, especially when you're so I had um I had a I had a deal with the Ohio lottery that paid me pretty well. Um, and I just assumed that I was gonna continue to get deals like that, which is like the worst idea. So I knew I ended up investing into like these really, really big projects, um, challenge videos with that are were highly produced. Uh I did have the series where I interviewed every Cleveland Brown starting quarterback or I try to, and those costed a lot of money. So um at the time, you know, I I thought all this money was gonna come in, and you know, I'm investing into my YouTube channel. Like that's what's gonna like it's a good idea and it's like highly produced, like it's gonna take off. And when it doesn't, you kind of just question everything, and you're you're like, what and and and on top of that, like the videos I'm doing, you know, I'm biking 340 miles in like five days, and I'm like physically and mentally just like questioning everything at that point, but then you know, putting the video together after that, and you're like, Why am I why am I doing this? Like, I'm having fun making these videos, I'm putting my you know body on the line, but I'm like, why am I why am I doing this? But I question it all the time. Like, I um I was tired of like having to wait for other people to make content. I was like, why can't I just like this is literally YouTube, how YouTube was founded. The first ever video was a guy at the zoo, like it wasn't this highly produced thing, so it finally clicked with me. I guess I guess it just took$40,000 of debt with the IRS to be like, I don't need these crazy cameras or anything. I just need I I have the worst iPhone ever. It's so beat up right now. Um, and but that's what I film, I would say 90-95% of my stuff on. And then I have a point and shoot Sony camera that I use incorrectly, and I put on a tripod and I film my narration shots back here. Like you to it doesn't need to be super polished, but at the time I was like, I was really thinking, like, why am I doing this?

SPEAKER_00

I I think that that's the most inspirational thing because so many creators use that as an excuse to not start their channel. I I don't have a camera, I I don't have a$3,000 lens, I don't have professional lighting. Like, you can come up with any excuse you want to not actually go after what you want to be doing. But to hear that you're like, I'm just filming on my phone and using a camera I don't even actually know how to use is like what people need to hear because it can get done. Like it can absolutely get done.

SPEAKER_01

100%. I have um Casey Knights, that's my favorite YouTuber. I have a calendar over there, and um I have a I have a quote on there, and the quote I think reads The gear doesn't matter, it never matters. Uh tell a story, tell a story really well, and your audience will forgive you for whatever you shoot it on. Like it doesn't, especially on YouTube. Like people can go to Netflix, Hulu, like HBO, wherever, if they want to see super highly polished, cinematic, well shot, like whatever. People on YouTube want to see a story, they want to connect with somebody. Um, and it it it took a little bit for me to figure that out. And yeah, I mean, you're like people always I love when people say that like, oh, I just I can't do what you do because I just don't have the equipment. I'm like, I got an iPhone. Like, do you have a smartphone? I think you do. You can do it. That's that's you're 100% right on that.

SPEAKER_00

So let's talk about this. Oh, sorry, Travis, are you gonna go?

SPEAKER_02

No, no, uh go ahead. Uh I I will say one thing. Um, it's funny you say about how like how high effort some of the stuff you do or did was. I I totally get that. Some of my favorite stuff I've ever done was on that challenge channel that I did for a little while, but it was super high effort. The editing had to be like a level above what I could do, which is why I had someone do it for me. And it just never really performed in the way that I would have needed it to perform. So I ended up, again, to this day, still some of my favorite stuff I've ever done on YouTube, period, but I had to let it go because it just couldn't take off. Um, and yeah, it's weird to like see when you go put something out, you're like, this is excellent, and then see something that you think, and we hear this from a lot of creators, something that's not as excellent as yours, do so much better. And you're like, bro, what what did I do wrong? Like, am I shadow ban? Which is what we hear all the time. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, shadow ban. Okay, so you just celebrated 500,000 subscribers. Huge congratulations.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Let's talk about the moment when that first video was taking off. How fast did it hit a million views or whatever noticeable number that you were like, holy crap, what is going on?

Gear Doesn’t Matter, Story Does

SPEAKER_01

So there's like this myth on YouTube that the algorithm will not push creators and the people that do or lucky, or whatever it is. So, but I I was always afraid of like um, I never posted anything on this channel to like like a YouTube link on Instagram or whatever, because I was always like, well, if somebody, if I'm thinking about somebody posting a YouTube link, I'm gonna go on Instagram and look at it, and it's gonna have like the YouTube browser. I'm like, oh, I'm not gonna watch it here, and then and I was always like, oh, YouTube's gonna see that as like someone watched it for five seconds, and that's gonna be like channel suicide. Like, there's no there's no way. So I posted no links. I was like, let's just let the algorithm do. I'm not even gonna tell people I posted a YouTube video. First day, I think it gets like I had like the day I posted, it was just January 17th, 2024. Who's counting? Me. Um I had 286 subscribers. Like that was it.

SPEAKER_00

Um, yeah, that was that was it.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I posted it and I think it got 40 views the first day. I think the second day it had 200, and then maybe it got up to like a thousand within like three, four days or something like that. Which for me, I was like, holy cow, like that's really cool. Like, especially like not sharing with anybody, like on a you know, a small channel. Um, and then I switched out the thumbnail. I I uh have a friend who works for Paramount Plus, and she was like, I can help you do thumbnails, I've never done them before, but I could try at it. And she absolutely like just knocked it out of the park. And that thumbnail, like it it might have been a combination of like the perfect storm of people seeing it on short form, like it getting on news stations, and then switching the thumbnail from like some janky one I made in Canva to one she made. Um, and it just took off. And I saw it go to like 25,000 views after like a couple weeks, and I was like, holy cow! And then it got to a hundred thousand a few days later, and I was like, Whoa. And I think it got to a million probably seven months in. It was like kind of like a slow burner, like a lot of YouTube videos are. I it might have been sooner, it's at 1.4 million right now. Um, but it was definitely it was the first video that hit a million on the channel, and that was like a huge thing where I was like, holy cow, I can I've had short form videos that that have performed a million views and stuff like that, but there's obviously there's just something with like a long form video. Like when it hits a million, you're just like, this is the most surreal thing. It's like that, and then hitting 100k is like I'm I'm I'm like made it. Like I I feel comfortable and I know that I can do this, especially when you have like a repeatable format that I've I've kind of uh developed. You're like, I think I can continue to do this for a while. So it's pretty cool.

Vulnerability Beats Polish

SPEAKER_00

That's incredible. I just want to like shake everybody who's listening to be like, Did you hear the time frame? Because a lot of people are thinking, cool, this just happened like literally overnight for you. Like when you publish a video, you know, staring at your analytics and seeing a big ol' fat 10 of 10, meaning your worst ranking video, and thinking, should I change absolutely everything about this right now? Should I change the title? Should I change the thumbnail? You made a great executive decision for being like, what happens if I get someone to help me out with the thumbnail and then actually change it? But we're talking about what is normal growth of a video that's happening over 24 hours, that's happening over three days, that's happening over a week, and then continuing to just get traction, you're talking potentially five to seven months and actually hitting that one million mark. So it's not like you woke up the next day and you're like, oh my god, I'm a YouTube millionaire. You're like, no, this actually worked, and I should probably do this again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, it's it, and I've been on YouTube and I I would say I've posted somewhat consistently since 2018. I had a different channel, which I still have now, it's my my shorts thing now, but I posted literally anything. Like I posted challenge stuff, I posted sports rants, skits, uh, music videos, like all in one thing. And the problem with that is YouTube, you know, it's like, how does YouTube recommend me if I don't even know what I am? Like, what is my there was no niche. It was just like literally anything. But it was like continuing education for like six years on YouTube of consistent posting until I finally struck gold with uh a format or a niche or whatever on a different uh uh channel. But it it is like it is like a slow burn. Everybody thinks like you get a million views and it's like overnight right out the gate. And a lot of times it's that slow burn. And the cool thing about a catalog on YouTube, as you guys know, is that when you build a catalog and one video does well, you know, it kind of like there's this this trickle down effect, and people watch the other videos and things like that, and those it just like the views feed into that, and then you develop loyalty and all that stuff, but it it really is more like it's the best way to go about it because it if I've experienced virality where it's like overnight, and then you're like you expect it to be like every video, like every TikTok, whatever, and it just isn't like that. But the slow burn stuff is like it's just like a steady process, like you said.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, after the first video went viral, or I didn't even like you said, it took months for it to go viral, but after it started kind of doing well, how long was it before you put the second video out? And did you know at that point when you put it out that the first one had done well? Like, did you wait a couple of weeks so they got past like 20,000 or something? And how did that video do?

Quitting The Cheesecake Factory Challenge

SPEAKER_01

So this no, actually, I um I put out another video at the time where it was like in the tens of thousands, I would say, but it wasn't like it popped off or anything at that point. Um, I hadn't switched the thumbnail out yet. But this is one of my favorite videos I've ever made, and it's like it's probably one of the worst performing videos on the channel. I uh I went to a karaoke bar and oh what's I think I sang Mr. Brightside, but I had taken the one chip challenge right before singing, like the world's hottest chip, whatever Scoville units that it was. So my mouth's on fire, I'm crying, and I'm like, I just took the one chip and I can't really breathe right now, but here we go, we're gonna sing Mr. Brightside, and I'm just like swearing during it, and like it got like copyright written because of you know it it it was Mr. Brightside by the killers, like it's not my my thing, but it didn't it like didn't perform well, but it's one of my favorite things I've ever done, it was so fun. Um, so I was like, okay, this is a fun video, but like if I want to continue this YouTube thing, I see something of this, and I'm hoping that it can continue. Like when you see 10,000 views on a YouTube video after getting like a couple hundred on videos, you're like, there's something here. Like it's not it's not gonna make me be able to be like full time quite yet, but there's something there. So the next thing I did, I think was I I ate uh Costco free samples for three days. I stayed in the Costco cinematic. Universe and I uh did that and then I had Skyline Chili for a week and then I did like repeatable weekly things, but my second video, no, it it didn't it it it didn't do well and then my first video like hadn't taken off until like a week or two after that I would say.

SPEAKER_00

This is great. I I love to hear that you kind of identified what you needed to do. Like you put that video out and you're like, this is the best thing ever, which I feel like is the YouTube curse personally. I know I can say the best videos I think I've ever made are hands down the worst performing videos, YouTube things I've made. And I just feel like that's part of the territory, like a rite of passage almost, but it's it's part of the fun. Now, when we're talking about strategizing for your content and you have these videos that you know take a lot of work, what do you do when you don't want to finish them? And I'm talking about the Cheesecake Factory. How do you push through a big idea that is really difficult?

Failure As Stakes And Connection

SPEAKER_01

Oh man, when is this? Uh do you know when this episode is going out? A couple weeks. Okay. Uh, so I have a video coming out at the end of next week, which is the end of January. It's gonna be called Can I Eat the Entire Cheesecake Factory Menu? And since this video is already gonna be out, um, I'm retiring from trying to eat the entire cheesecake. Like, I'm it's the first root like project that I'm like quitting. Um, so to answer that, like I don't know. Uh but I like for those weekly eating challenges, like it's a lot of the food, you get flavor fatigue to just eating the same thing basically over and over again. Cheesecake Factory does have a lot of items, but they're all it's made by the same person, like the same company, so it's just it just feels the same. There's still not a lot of variety. I I think um like out the gate, the Costco hot dog thing, it was it was difficult, but I was having so much fun doing it, and the videos I was posting on short form were doing well, and people were really excited about it that it kind of gave me like some energy to do it. Plus, I'm just like I'm eating hot dogs for a week. Like that's really, really cool. Like, that's even if I don't feel great right now, like this this week will pass eventually, and I'll be able to look back on it and be like, I did that silly thing. But I also have to like um from a physical side, like I have to burn like 15 to 2,000 calories a day. So I'm like, I try to move like 10 to 15 miles a day from like where whether it was like walking or running or things like that. So that was a big reason why I lost four point whatever pounds from the Costco thing, is because I'd have three to four hot dogs a day, albeit you know, big hot dogs. But I also was like, you know, exercising and like pushing myself. But I I I I love challenging myself. I think that's what really kind of pushes me through is that you know, I I have an audience now that um you know likes to see my videos, and you know, I feel like I have an obligation to put out a video for them and finish it and do the best that I can, and I don't I don't want to let them down. But even with this like Cheesecake Factory thing and me not you know theoretically completing it unless I have a change of heart next week or something, um, there's a story in that too. Like I know people are like, why don't you just lie about it and say that you did it? I'm like, because that's insane. Like there's authenticity will always be the best thing, and if and there's a story in it too. So it adds stakes to the rest of the videos. Like if I wanna um, you know, if I do something in the future, now people are gonna be like, oh, I don't know if he's gonna complete it, because I've just I just do everything, and you know, people just people know that I'm gonna complete it, but now there's there's stakes to it. So there's always there's always a story in in anything, regardless. So I I don't know. There's a lot of rambling, so hopefully I answer the question.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, not rambling, not rambling at all.

SPEAKER_02

Actually, this touches on and I never talk about any channels that I've done on this podcast. I just don't, but you're talking about things that I've literally experienced, so I just want to add a little color to this. So when you're talking about not being able to get through things, the whole premise of the channel that I created around the time that we I kind of became knowledgeable of your channel was called Travis Trives the World. So I would try things, didn't mean I would succeed at them. One of the things was I was gonna eat everything off the McDonald's menu in an hour. So that video was the first video that I launched a channel with, which I had a lot of fun doing. But I do remember the moments when I'm like, I'm literally gonna throw up. And like, what do you do with that moment? Because, like, it's not what you anticipated. It's like, I think I can do this in an hour. And um, I when you're saying that, you know, I I'm retiring from it, I know exactly that feeling because at that moment, like, I'm retiring from this channel, it's my first video. Like, I totally understand what you're talking about. But the failure is the interesting part. Like, did I succeed? Did I not succeed? And some of the videos I succeeded in and some I didn't. To me, that was the hook. And I'm so glad you said that because the same thing went through my mind. Why don't I just fake it? I'm like, well, there's if you fake it, then it's just another YouTube video because everyone always succeeds. I think it's so much more interesting to show the failures. So yeah, I love that about what you said. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's so true though.

Video Length, Trust, And Discoverability

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it just it's just uh it's a story, it's connecting with somebody, like it makes you human, like if you fail, like or succeed, or whatever the the result is. But I I I've been there with you too, though. I've I uh my my highest performing uh video on the channel is eating at McDonald's every hour for 24 hours, and there were probably like eight or nine hours where I was like, I'm I'm gonna throw it out. And then I'm combining, I'm like, yeah, and I'm not sleeping and and and whatever. But no, there's there's there's a story in that. And and at the beginning, when I was doing the Costco hot dog sub, my videos are like 12 minutes long. The ones now are probably like anywhere from 25 to 30 if I'm doing like a weekly eating challenge, sometimes longer. And I would cut the fat on a lot of the uh I would trim the fat on like a lot of the uh emotion and things like that and just show me eating the hot dog sub. But when I I realized is that people can connect it to me and and and really liked the videos more when I showed how I was feeling and kind of just got into just was more vulnerable, I would say. Just just showed my life. You know, a lot of the times I kind of just some like vlogging and and then you know, eating on the on the side of that. So people really like that stuff. And and I think if you just are yourself online, you know, that's that's like the best thing you can do.

SPEAKER_00

I totally agree. I think a way somebody can think about this is you know, what's your emotional point of view right now? Not what are you doing, but how are you feeling doing what you're doing right now? And I think that's like a little thing that takes the storytelling to the next level. Like you're saying you were cutting out all of that as like fat on the video, but that's truly like the secret sauce when you're telling a story. I think there also could be something to your first video being a little bit shorter and maybe a little bit more discoverable in those moments, and now you have such a devoted audience that they're like, we'll watch two-hour video, like we don't care. Like we just don't edit it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think I think there's some truth to that too. I mean, if I am looking at a channel that I've I've never heard of and it's like an hour-long video, I'm more I'm less likely to click on that as opposed to a video that's an interesting idea and the video is like 12 minutes long. So I think over time, like once you develop some trust and some loyalty with an audience, it's definitely easier to post a longer video out for sure. So I think I think the length was like uh the 12 minutes was was perfect right out the gate.

Workflow: Script After Filming

SPEAKER_00

So start to finish, what are we looking at for a timeline of you getting a video done from ideation to pressing publish? What does that look like?

Editing Pace, Radio Edit, And Music

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. So I there's not really a whole lot of like pre-production, which is nice because the the thing that I do, and again, you touched on the video, Jen, is I don't really do a whole lot of like talking in the moment. I do sometimes, but the video doesn't rely on it a whole lot. I'll watch everything back and then you know put together a script, put together the story, but I'm just like living in the moment at the time, like really not doing a whole lot, eating food, as you said. But so ideation, I have like an idea bank on on like a Google Sheet, and I I probab I have anywhere from like 75 to 100 ideas. Um most of them will never most of them will get never get made into a video. Um, but I I make sure that it's like a a YouTube title. I have a separate sheet for like raw ideas that I just don't think are interesting enough, or they're interesting, but they're not like a YouTube title. Like once they're a YouTube title, they'll get moved over and get considered for like a a future video. A lot of the stuff I do though is is pretty spontaneous, um, where I'm like in the moment, like, oh, this would be a really good idea. Like, I could I should strike on this, but eventually I'll go back and look at stuff. But we'll film it. So, like, for example, for like a weekly eating challenge, like you know, it takes a week to film. So once that's done, I'll uh sit down, put all the footage on the timeline, watch it, write a script. Um, and then I'll sit back here and and then and that if that'll take anywhere from like four to seven hours or something like that. Narration, um, usually it's somewhere between one and two hours of recording that, and then I condense everything into what's called the radio edit, and that'll take anywhere from like three to five hours or something like that. Maybe less if I'm like really, really focused, which is very rare. Um, but at that point the timeline is set, and then for every for every hour, no, for every minute of footage, it takes me two no Jesus, think for every hour that I'm editing, I I go through two minutes of of like footage. So if a video is 26 hour uh if a video is 26 minutes long, it would theoretically take me 13 hours to edit like all that. Um but then a lot of the times like I'll think of like really cool ideas that are like I'll I'll go and I'll sometimes it'll take me like a like the intro for my video that I put out yesterday, I ate uh only ice cream for a week. Took me about 45 minutes to like shoot uh a shot of me just like walking in the snow in like negative 14 wind chill degree weather in Cleveland, Ohio. The can't my tripod was too windy, so I had to put it in my car. And that's like a five, it was like a five-second shot, but it took me like 30, 45 minutes or whatever. So there are things like that that take longer, but then other things that are quicker. Um but it's and then I after I after the video is done, I'll add music, and then you know that takes like an hour or two, and then I'll watch it through like once and then make corrections if I need to, export it, upload it to YouTube, and then put in like my ad slots, and you got a video, and it's like holy cow! Like, I don't smoke cigarettes, but I might have to smoke one right now, typically every time. But it's just it's the pressing publishing, you feel so proud to put it out. Like once you hit that button, it's just like it's like nothing like you could ever feel especially since you know for the majority of stuff besides a thumbnail and a couple other things. Like, I I do everything right now, and that that might not be the case in the future, but like that's kind of what got me here, and it feels nice to have my print on like everything, and I feel proud. You know, I feel proud that I I you know worked really hard, had a lot of fun, albeit but worked really hard, and you know, I've I've I have 62 videos or whatever out on the on the channel right now.

SPEAKER_00

It's a lot of work, and I love to hear everybody's process. And I I love that yours is a little bit maybe backwards from what most people would consider the standard process of making a YouTube video. And it's great to hear things like that because there is no one size fits all when it comes to YouTube. Like you're scripting after the fact. I also have a friend who scripts after the fact, she videos everything and then is like, how does this make me feel? What do I want to say? And it's more emotionally driven. But there really is no one way to do everything, and you have to experiment, you have to try new things. So I absolutely love to hear that. That's that's so fun.

SPEAKER_01

I appreciate it. Yeah, I um there have been videos before where I've like scripted it before, but what I've kind of realized is you know, a lot of stuff changes. Um, and a lot of those videos that I thought, I remember I did a video on the channel where I was in the like I was off of like Lake Erie, like on a raft for 24 hours that was like anchored down, and we had a script for it. But what I realized is you know, in the moment like where I'm putting myself through duress, um I'm I'm simultaneously trying to think about what I would do in this moment for the YouTube video, instead of just being like, just live out whatever is happening, and the voiceover stuff that I do really helps like connect the story and tie everything together. So for me, it's just like easier to do, but I know for a lot of other people that have different styles of content, whatever it may it makes so much more sense to do the pre-production and script it beforehand and things like that. So you're right, yeah, definitely like you just said, not everybody's the same.

SPEAKER_00

No, but you you saw a problem that was happening there. You're like, I'm not able to necessarily get the content to be the way I want it to because this one little thing was tripping you up, and that was kind of making the entire video concept at one time versus your version now, which is scripting it after. And I think people will have a lot. I I think people's minds are gonna be a little bit blown when they're like, What do you mean? I don't have to do that. Like, what do you mean that I can be successful not doing something the same way everybody does something? Honestly, that's the coolest thing about YouTube. Like, everybody's out there doing some wacky stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it's incredible. It's so cool talking to people about that too, because you just there, I mean, a lot of people just have their own methods, or you know, you think everybody's kind of got it figured out, but everybody reacts to a 10 out of 10 the exact same way. You're like, my chat, it's done, everything's done. I gotta say, I the video I posted is a six out of ten right now, and I'm like, gotta pack it up. We're done. We're done, it's over. Yep. I'm gonna try the next video is gonna be a 10 out of 10, we're done.

SPEAKER_02

We're done.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, have you good.

SPEAKER_02

Do you have YouTube friends you talk to about? We share the same brain.

SPEAKER_00

We do share the same brain.

Creator Isolation And Finding Peers

SPEAKER_01

I do. I have I not a bunch, I would say. I'm pretty bad at like collaborating and and things like that. But I I love talking to people that are in the in the YouTube world. Um, I I I have a few friends that are like more on the I would say brand strategist type of type of thing, but definitely some other YouTubers that I I talk to. And it's cool to I guess there's like there's like Preston Goes who I talk to occasionally. Um I'm trying to think of other people, but a lot of people that are on like the same, I guess, level as me where they're they're growing basically at the same pace, or maybe the little bit above or lower or whatever. And I love just I love picking people's brains, but admittedly, like I I would like to, you know, that's something I need to work on is like having a better pool of like YouTubers to kind of like talk to and then pick their brains on.

SPEAKER_00

It's fun when you speak the same language that nobody else understands. And like, I don't know, people are trying different stuff. I mean, we have conversations like that all the time here because we're all doing God knows what on YouTube, but it's just fun to I don't know, deep dive into like I tried this weird thing and it kind of worked out, and like I think I want to try this as an idea, and then your friend is like, actually, I feel like that kind of sucks. You shouldn't do that idea, or like having a title conversation, like just going back and forth for titles and packaging.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it was cool. Going out to Vid Summit in uh in October, just like everybody there was just like a crazy YouTube nerd, just like me, and I'm like, this is like you just said, everybody kind of spoke the same language. Um, so it kind of opened my eyes to being like because it can it can feel like a pretty isolating career. Like, you know, I live in Cleveland, Ohio. There's not a whole lot of people that are doing what I'm doing. Um, maybe if I lived in LA or New York or whatever, like, but even still, there is definitely still some isolation with it. So anytime you can talk to somebody, you're like, holy cow, like this person like literally gets what I'm I'm talking about. I'm not the only person like thinking about something like this. It's it's cool. I I agree.

Meeting Fans IRL And Superfans

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I always tell people that uh going to Vid Summit for the first time is um game-changing in a lot of ways. Now, the old Vid Summit was different because it was a lot more uh it was a lot smaller, so it was a lot more intimate. Um, but it's still amazing. Like you're surrounded by people that understand what a 10 of 10 means or what a one of ten feels like or what you know, what an edit is or what CTR is. Like you go to your friends, their eyes roll into their heads, they're like, I don't know what you're talking about, bro. Just keep uploading your videos. You don't have a real job anyway. So, you know yes, yes, I've done it all the time. They're not wrong, but like, yeah. Yeah, so but it's cool to be able to go, hey, bro. I mean, did you run a A-B test on your thumbnail? Yeah, man, and it went down, and then my impressions went down, and people know what that is, and it's like, that's so cool. And it's so game-changing for something that is uh, and it's I'm glad you said it because I say it all the time. It's like it's you're in front of thousands or millions or however many people, but it's a lot more lonely than it would seem because while you're in front of those people, you're not really in front of those people, you know, you're in front of your camera, which never changes. It's like I'm in front of my phone on my camera. That's the person I'm talking to. I realize that there's other people being impacted, but what for me connects that and makes it so amazing is when you meet people in person. So have you met your quote fans or anything like that in person? Tell us about those experiences.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. And it's it's insane. Um, I have two stories on that. I got which one am I gonna tell first? Okay, so this past summer, I uh I went to all 54 Bucky's travel stops, which is in insane. And there's gonna be eight more that come out this year, so I'm I'm panicking. But for now, I've been to all 54, and I put out like a like a graphic on on YouTube and social media that I was going, and people just like showed up. I I try to respond as many DMs as possible, but I'm you know, I'm dri traveling like eight, ten hours a day, driving and and whatever, like and going to you know, sometimes there were some places I went to like 10 or 11 stops in a day because they're all in the same place in Texas. So, but people came out and they were wearing my merch, and I was like, holy cow, like these are super fans, like it was crazy. I knew people like that existed that that supported me, but it's it's again, like you just said, Travis, like it's it's you look at uh the views and it doesn't tell the whole story. You're just like 100,000 views, like that's cool, but it's a it's a 10 out of 10, or like this is whatever. It's like, but then you're like, holy cow, like I probably met like 200 to 300 people um on this trip, and then I there were probably another like 100, 150 that like like oh I couldn't make it or whatever. And it would it felt to me, it felt like I met like a million people, like it was so surreal just seeing people like get like freaking out and like giving me gifts or wearing my merch and things like that, which was insane. So that was amazing. It was it gives you like this like rejuvenated like spirit. You're like, holy cow, like not only am I doing like doing this for myself and it's really fun, but like you know, people are really enjoying it too. So like I you know, I can't let them down. Like, I gotta keep doing this. It's cool. The craziest thing I would say, um, I filmed a video in Hawaii, it was a big tax write-off, uh, where I ate the world's most expensive five guys. That's what we doubled for. I would do that.

SPEAKER_02

What's going on?

Gratitude And Perspective On Growth

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and it's so it was the the week was literally surfing, hiking, and eating you know, five guys, and it was it was incredible. It was like it was like the best, most fun thing I did. So second, second day, first meal of the day, I go to the counter or put my meal in, and the guy's like, All right, uh, this is your total, we'll have it ready for you shortly. I'm like, Thank you. He's like, No problem, love the videos, by the way. And I'm like, We're in Honolulu, five thousand miles away from like casually just saying that like we were in Cleveland or like we were like right outside or whatever. Like I've heard that before, but in Honolulu, like just a random guy. I just happened to be there that day. Like that when I that was that happened, and I was like, Holy cow! Like, this is there's something here. Like if I didn't know it before, like once you feel it in person, like that that personal connection, you're like, this is crazy. And it's loyal. It's it's much more like people are sitting down with you and watching you know, 20, 25, 30, whatever minute videos, like they really connect with you and they really appreciate you. So I felt down the other side watching, but to have it come towards me is insane.

SPEAKER_00

That's so crazy. Just walking up, seeing people wearing your merch, like what it just does. Like it's nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Like I just own this. Like you made this, and I actually just own this.

SPEAKER_01

Like so cool. So so cool. I'm so thankful. I have such I have such a great, I don't know if I I don't like calling it fan base or something. I just like because I don't want people to think like that I'm above them or anything, or I just like the people that watch me and support me are the nicest, like just the coolest people. I am like meeting them in person or talking online or whatever. They they message me and say great things. Like it it makes me feel so good. And even if I can't respond to everything, it is just like the coolest thing. There's there's nothing like YouTube love. There's nothing like it.

SPEAKER_00

There's not because you give people a that break in the day. You give somebody like that something that they needed that they looked forward to, that was just that level of escapism. Like, that's the great thing about YouTube. Like short form rots your brain in that sense, but like long form, like you're sitting there and you're like, oh my god, a new video came out, like can't wait to watch this later, or you're watching it right away. And that is such a special thing about building a community through long form videos, and like you seeing such a small, like realistically, such a small amount of people, you're talking 200, 300 people, like compared to like wrapping your brain around the millions of people viewing your videos, yeah. Like it's so wild.

SPEAKER_01

It's insane. It's I I still can't believe it sometimes, just the amount of support I get, the amount of views that have because it hasn't always been like that. So it just I I've I there's about three times a week where I kind of just like pinch myself and I'm like, dude, like this is the like I'm literally eating food this week and I'm filming it and I'm getting paid, and like that is my job. And it's because the people that like watch and support, like it's it doesn't it doesn't make any sense. Um I'm gonna I'm so thankful, I'm so appreciative of it, but there's like yeah, three times a week at least where I'm like, what is going on? Like, what am I doing? Like in like the best way possible. Like it's just it's such an awesome, awesome thing.

If Starting Over: New Channel Strategy

SPEAKER_02

So for new creators that are listening to this and are like, oh, this is so cool, it's so amazing. If you had to do it all over again, and I'm I guess I should say, let's say that tomorrow everything you get canceled, you don't have your channel anymore, people don't remember who you are. It'll happen at some point, it's fine. But you want to start a new YouTube channel, you don't have a whole bunch of money. Knowing what you know now, tell us what your new channel is and how you would uh create the first couple videos and what your strategy would be. Oh, good question. I thought about this.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I thought about like like pivoting into like not pivoting, but making like a another channel and and starting it from scratch basically. I so I've been making content for about eight years now. Um it's it's the I've done just about any type of content that you could make. If I were to make a new channel now, it would be a video game, like video essay uh channel where I would like play nostalgic games that I love, like Pokemon and things like that, and basically construct them into like the videos that I make now, where it's there's a a YouTuber I actually met at Vid Summit, his name's Annie Austin, he is so funny, but he like played super he plays like games like Super Mario Sunshine, Legend of Zelda, and he'll calculate the unemployment rate in like the towns, and it's like such an inconsequential video that I'm like I would love to do stuff like that. Like he just like finds out what the unemployment rate is, just like asking people basically if they have a job or whatever, finding out it's and it's like I love that stuff because it doesn't matter, it does not matter, but it's so captivating because it's just like I kind of want to know, I kind of want to know what it is. Um, so I would do stuff like that, and I would yeah, I I would I would I would be consistent, post twice a month, and come up basically do the same thing I'm doing right now. I have my idea bank, let's get some YouTube titles, let's have a good thumbnail. Um so important, so important in general, but especially at the beginning, having a good title thumbnail. If you don't click, they don't watch, like everyone knows that. So, but video video game things I would do because I feel like those are performing really, really well on YouTube, and it's something that I just am very interested in. But I also I think something else that I would do is like uh like I would try like because I was on two seasons of Worst Cooks in America on Food Network. Like, I was I'm pretty bad, pretty, pretty bad cook. I would make a channel where I would go from zero and then I would try to be like an iron chef or something. Like that's the North Star goal that would never happen. But basically, every video is like the progression of of that. Those are the two things that I've thought about uh uh doing. So if I to restart, that's what I would do.

Consistency, Fun, And The “Don’t Chase” Rule

SPEAKER_00

Those are fun, those are fun. I like the second one has like that North Star goal. We talk about that all the time. And I mean it's it's great advice. I feel like this is gonna be so valuable and honestly just so inspiring to creators who are just stuck in that spot where they've been on the same channel, they're just not seeing the success they want to see yet. And it's nice to hear, like you know, it honestly could just be around the corner. It's don't be afraid to try new things, don't be afraid to, you know, take a leap with a different style. Like nobody's locked into what you're doing now. Would you say that it's fair that everything you did before the style of videos you're doing now made these videos the way they are?

SPEAKER_01

1000%. 1000%. I'm so thankful for literally every bump along the way, every video I made that you know flopped, quote unquote, or whatever, because it it was like they always say about failure, it's not failure, like it's you know, you can turn anything into a learning experience. And slowly but surely, like, you know, I figured out like you know, after just repeating and and and you know not getting a lot of of views on anything, you you eventually like because I was per I I was consistent, I I persevered and I didn't give up, and I kept learning. Every video, you know, you learn, and I'm studying other people's videos and things like that. And you know, there's some luck along the way, sure, and and whatnot. But yeah, every video I made like led to what I'm what I'm doing now. And I'm making videos about stuff that I'm very interested in, and and also like I'm still figuring things out. Like, I'm I I'd like to, I you know, I want to maybe not eat as much and and make something that isn't just me, like just shoving a bunch of burgers down, you know, down into my stomach. So I'm I'm still figuring things out as well, like, but you know, I'm still you know also having a great time at the same time. So that's like the most important thing, is that it was so it was so interesting because it was almost like it was manifested. But the very first video, the Costco hot dog thing, I was like, I don't care how it performs, I want to have fun, and if it does great, awesome. If it doesn't, whatever. And it's so funny because I feel like most of the time like a project will succeed because of that, not because like, oh, it's I think this is gonna be a viral idea. So I've done stuff like that where like this is gonna be a viral idea and they don't perform well. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And then the videos, I'm like, this would be so fun to do. Those are the ones that perform the best. I'm like, all right, I guess I gotta keep that mindset going for it. So it's like consistency is really, really hard if you're not enjoying what you're doing. It's it's very, very difficult. Um if you're just you know looking at it from the back end, like how do the stats do? Like, those are important, you know, for the the health of the channel, but more important, like, are you having fun? And if you're having fun and and being consistent with that, like that's gonna take you a lot longer, like like a lot further than you know, oh I'm doing this, but and it's because it's doing well, and that's it.

SPEAKER_00

I think that's a YouTube conspiracy that we need to talk about more, which is the more you chase YouTube, the faster and harder it runs away. Because I can say from similar experience, like when you just put a video out there and you're just like this is good old YouTube fun. Like, I made this video, I love it, and here you go, internet. Anyone enjoy, and YouTube's like, well done, well done, here you go, like a million views. We love this. And then the video, you're like, This is it, this is my viral moment, and they're like, boom, 10 out of 10, try again.

Candy Corn vs Cadbury Eggs

SPEAKER_02

So very true. Um, here's what I I think is probably the most important question you'll be asked uh all day as we finish up today. And I feel like it's the only one you really need to answer. And for those that have been a long time listener to the podcast, you know I'm gonna ask, but I'm gonna ask it in a different way. If you had to make a video, and the video was one of two things, you had to eat for a week, which would you do? Would it be candy corn or cadbury eggs? Which one would be the video you would make?

SPEAKER_00

Don't break my heart.

SPEAKER_02

We're on pins and needles here. There's only one right answer.

SPEAKER_01

There's only one right answer. So, so I've eaten Halloween candy for three days for a video. Um Candy Corn was one of the meals, but I did nine different things. I don't know. I honestly don't even know what a Cadbury egg is. Uh I feel like I'm worried it's one of those things where it's like a Rocky Mountain oyster. No. Where it's like not actually Okay.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's like not actually no gooey center. They're out for Easter, so you actually can buy them in the end.

SPEAKER_01

I've had okay, I didn't know those were called that. Yeah, again, professional dumbass. You know, I just I just don't know things sometimes. Um I feel like I would have to go Cadbury Egg. Let's go! Let's go. The streak continues. Let's get it. You're on the video.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I was gonna buy merch too, and there's that.

SPEAKER_01

You're gonna delete the video. Re-upload it. It's yeah, just like a slander vid. You know what candy candy corn is super good if you throw in some like pretzels with it, that's salty, sweet, like the different textures. Like, I think it's real, real good. But Cadbury eggs, like I I don't know how it would that would, but they would both be pretty tough.

SPEAKER_02

So hopefully they would for a week, yeah. I'm not gonna lie, I don't know that I could do that either, to be perfectly honest.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, but then again, you could eat candy corn for a week, hands down.

SPEAKER_02

But the nice thing about candy corn is you just put a wick in and it's a candle, so who cares?

SPEAKER_00

I just love it. Like, I have to throw it away at the end of the season to stop eating it. Like, I love I love it. This is how this came up.

SPEAKER_02

She had some and she started eating it before we recorded a podcast. I'm like, what is that?

Plugs, Ratings, And Farewell

SPEAKER_01

That's incredible. That's incredible. I just had ice cream for a week, so like I thought, you know, as a kid, you thought, you know, you could do that. It's just there's just nothing that like you just can't substitute like actual nutrients for like no matter how good it is. I had like a tomahawk steak the next day. That night I had a triple cheeseburger from five guys. I like was I did not eat super well after eating ice cream, but I was like, I just want food. My eye, food, and a giant meal from five guys and my body was still hungry. And yeah, my creative partner Bill was like, you need to slow down, like let your body figure out this again. Yeah, you got diabetes already. It's too late.

SPEAKER_02

Uh we we appreciate Sir Yapa coming through. He's been such a fun guy. I'm sure we'll hear in the comments. You gotta have it back. You're always welcome to come back. We love talking YouTube to people. Um, just so people know, obviously they can find you on YouTube as Sir Yapa. Where else uh on social media are you?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, thank you. And uh, anytime you want to get me back on, um, I I appreciate this. It was really, really fun. Uh anywhere, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, Sur Yacht. Uh, we have a podcast called Shipheads that we put out every week. We were like, I think we're like 60 episodes in. So you can find us everywhere at Shipheads. That's one word. It's it's uh it's not a swear word. We replaced the P. Um, and then I make music. I make music, and that's also under Surya. So that's that's probably enough things to mention.

SPEAKER_00

There's probably more, but so much going on, so many places.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I like to keep myself busy.

SPEAKER_02

Well, if you're looking for entertainment, you've just found it. Uh Surya is everywhere. If you're listening to the audio podcast, thank you for uh joining us. Of course, leave us five stars as always.

SPEAKER_00

Five stars, only five stars. You know the deal.

SPEAKER_02

And if I remember, I'll leave a link to uh his YouTube channel in the show notes. It's a very hard one. The audio podcasts, uh YouTube, I always remember, but I sometimes forget audio podcasts. Uh but thank you for joining us, and we'll see y'all in the next one.